On Creating Imaginary Worlds: Questions and Answers

[asher marquering]

its full scientific name is

Demens Generose Lacerta (Nobly Insane Lizard)

Demgen for short but general public pronounce it Demgon

its carnivourous, food chain looks something like this:
mitocondia-like bacteria and algae-like creatures in water produce nutrients in actual water (no animal live in water because ratio of carbon dioxide to oxygen is too high to support any other life)
smaller animals feed on water and algae
Demgon feeds on smaller animals and minerals, it also spits a venous mist that dehydrates prey (among other things) after which it will consume the water and leave the corpse, which is decomposed by bacteria, the remains eventually find their way into the water to be reworked into the cycle.

balance is extremely delicate

[Sephiroth]

Sounds cool. And if it's a colony, then I understand why its colloquial name is a contraction of its scientific name (if it had evolved and been around on the humans' home planet before the advent of modern science, on the other hand, then that wouldn't have made sense).


The first question I would ask is 'why does it need to be so big?'

What evolutionary advantage did its size give it? What was the mechanism by which its ancestors grew so large?

It should be 'perfectly' adapted to its present environment in every way. As long as it is, and as long as the environment/ecosystem is plausible (and it sounds like you are putting a lot of thought into that), then I can't see any problem with it.

[lin robinson]

Again, and not to be faceitious, but if it's the only inhabitant of the planet, who gave it the name? And why Latin?

[asher marquering]

hey sephiroth (o i'm more a genesis man myself lol a final fantasy quirk)you got me with those questions i found myself asking hmmm why which lead me to think why were dinosaurs so big i'll have to read up on that one

hey lin back to my original genre its an interstellar colonial-fantasy type story so the colonising humans discover the creature and name it, after much deliberation they decide to colonise the planet, thats why the creature is already named, and its not the only inhabitant, the species is just a theme in the story.

i have another query which relates to my "dragons" flame breath if the algae are high in lipid concentration and the high lipid is stored in the different trophic levels and eventually used as a type of biodiesel in the Demgon's flame breath obviously combined with an oxidant (possibly Fluorine, Algarot or Benedict's reagent, probably not the two latter though hmmm perhaps a mixture of all three) (yes stored in different tubes in the body) (flame breath is produced in similar way to dragons in reign of fire) which would be obtained through the creature's devouring of minerals, the flame breath would help in providing the rest of the cycle with necessary carbon and other materials. and the flame breath is used in special cases such as mating or extreme defence (defence of the young or when creature is already injured or if its venomous mist is ineffective)

are there holes or gaps in that situation which i will need to work through?

[asher marquering]

srry i suppose thats moving away from the physical/geographical scope of the forum

[lin robinson]

Hey, fauna is part of geography, no?

colonising humans discover the creature and name it

Doh, that should have ocurred to me.

[asher marquering]

strange no one wishes to comment on my breath idea

[lin robinson]

Yr lucky. People comment on my breath all the time.

[Urlik]

Originally Posted by gil

A hidden land in the crater of a difficult to scale extinct volcano in the centre of a dense jungle is much more feasible... Oh dear, I just invented Conan Doyle's Lost World.

that's very similar to Thera (although Thera was a major trading port)

but an island in the middle of a large caldera in the middle of the sea would work, especially if there isn't a break in the mountainous ring on the side facing towards the inhabited mainland.

you could also have some undersea volcanic vents that make it dangerous to sail near the caldera as the bubbling water causes ships to sink.

[Lith]

originally posted by Asher Marquering

i have an idea for the a interstellar colonial-fantasy story which takes place on a planet that only consists of brackish water, desert and mountain, the dominant creature on the planet is a 20m long 88 ton dinosaur/dragon-esque creature called a Demgon

is such a planet and situation plausible?

Not quite. How did the dragons get there? Did they evolve? Imported from elsewhere? Created by gods?

And did they eat all other forms of life on the planet? Because if they evolved, they probably weren't the only animal to do so, so what happened to the rest of the life on the planet? If it eats other animals, what do those animals eat? Was there a great variety of life, and this species has slowly killed off everything else? Is the planet under a curse? Did the dragons learn to eat the rocks themselves? Were they imported from another planet, and nothing else learned to adapt? I can't see anything but water animals surviving on bacteria, and I'm assuming your dragons don't much care for water...

lin- quit breathing on people! Honestly!

[lin robinson]

See? SEE?

[thecommabandit]

Originally Posted by asher marquering

i have another query which relates to my "dragons" flame breath if the algae are high in lipid concentration and the high lipid is stored in the different trophic levels and eventually used as a type of biodiesel in the Demgon's flame breath obviously combined with an oxidant (possibly Fluorine, Algarot or Benedict's reagent, probably not the two latter though hmmm perhaps a mixture of all three) (yes stored in different tubes in the body) (flame breath is produced in similar way to dragons in reign of fire) which would be obtained through the creature's devouring of minerals, the flame breath would help in providing the rest of the cycle with necessary carbon and other materials. and the flame breath is used in special cases such as mating or extreme defence (defence of the young or when creature is already injured or if its venomous mist is ineffective)

are there holes or gaps in that situation which i will need to work through?

Well, the production of fuel via algae is a good idea, but fluorine probably isn't so good for an oxidiser. It'll react with pretty much anything, which usually involves some sort of corrosion. If the dragon's insides were corroding from the first generation he could breath fire they wouldn't be around for very long would they? =P Algae in certain bladders in the body could be at work producing the oxidiser (concentrated oxygen? Nitrous oxide?) and make it lighter for flying (then again, maybe forgo the whole biodiesel thing and get the algae to make hydrogen - lighter than air for ease of flight and really quite flammable).

[asher marquering]

Originally Posted by thecommabandit

then again, maybe forgo the whole biodiesel thing and get the algae to make hydrogen - lighter than air for ease of flight and really quite flammable

nice idea i just wouldn't want my "dragons" being like zeppilins

[chrispenycate]

Originally Posted by asher marquering

nice idea i just wouldn't want my "dragons" being like zeppilins

But it's a good reason for them to be big. Mind you, they'd tend to fly downwind.
A dragon which stores hydrogen pressurised (of at a pinch methane, which is more biological but gives less lift) in some kind of sealed organ, realeases it into the main body cavity for lift, inflating itself to fifty times its girth, then burns it for thrust and display or even combat, until it gently drifts to earth, to ferment some more algae - better with a fairly dense, carbon dioxide rich atmosphere.

[Ursa major]

I like that idea, Chris. You make them sound a bit like airborne squid.