Tal's Wildlife
Tal's Primitive Creatures (原生生物) is a title for any and all creatures and flora native to the Planet Tal. While all Talyxians can arguable be classified as "primitive," we will assign this term to the more wild species, rather than the sapient ones, like Talyxian Stalkers and Rooters.
Most of these creatures are not humanoid, often appearing in forms considered to be monstrous: the horrendous mollusk-like Dondokos similar to land octopuses, the Forest Leeches with powerful invertebrate bodies and hungry jaws, the insect bodies of the pesky Weasel. While many Talyxians hold forms of a nightmare quality, there are also more gentle-looking types that have been domesticated as livestock, though these still look rather strange when compared to the Earth equivalent beasts.
The majority of these wild Talyxians are classified in the "Shellfish" family (conchology), bearing a hard shell exterior somewhere on their bodies.
Many of these Talyxians pose a threat or inconvenience to the sentient races, especially the Eltus, but taming and domesticating some of them is possible.
Note: This article is completed but is still in need of revisions, mainly proof-reading.
Definition
In general usage, the phrase "primitive creatures" refers to animals that existed in primeval forests and early periods of time. This is only partially true when we use this term in the Vilous universe. All creatures that lived on the planet Tal before any Eltus races appeared are classified under this term "primitive creatures", having originated from an earlier time than the Eltus are involved in. This umbrella term overlaps with the common label of Talyxian.
Classification
Primitive creatures generally fall into one or more roughly broad classifications:
- Shellfish species, sporting a shell around part or most of their bodies, generally exhibiting a peaceful nature
- Sessile organisms, creatures generally rooted to one location and remaining immobile, this would include stationary plants
- Sapient species, including Talyxian species like rooters, stalkers, and associators
- Talyxian-type small animals
- Feral beasts that exhibit a combination of both shellfish nature and Talyxian nature, this includes large leeches and actinias, often these have monstrously violent natures while still featuring a shell formation on their bodies.
Some feral animals that are more Talyxian in appearance may show a lessening of the inorganic features, changing to a shellfish nature, when they are successfully tamed by people. There may be some correlations beyond the species division, but this is currently unexplored.
When using the word in spoken language, the term "Talyxian" generally refers to the race of a measurable sentient species, such as the Talyxian rooter. The term "Shellfish" is used for the docile, harmless, or useful animals that offer convenience or entertainment to Eltus people. These words are not used in a particular definition in regards to biology terms, especially since Tal's biology is not clearly defined into separate groups, like animals and plants.
Peculiar features
Primitive creatures have unique particularities that are obviously different from the Eltus and common creatures of Earth. As an example, some of these creatures feature other genders than the simple binary female and male, sometimes up to four different genders. These genders may change based on environment, and common Talyxian genes allow cohabitation and cross-breeding. This can allow for the mixing of different genes and traits regardless of appearance and apparent ecology.
Some primitive creatures in the northern regions of Tal are able to emit a strong miasma effect, but details remain unknown about how many and which particular types are able to do this.
Relations with the Eltus people
The majority of the feral Talyxians are harmful and dangerous to sentient races. There has been a wide variety of methods to cope with, flee from, and/or fight them off, especially differing by region. In modern times, common people are able to utilize these creatures as a source of materials to trade and development industries, thanks to hunting technological advances, rather than simply holding off and repulsing such creatures.
Creatures classified in Talyxian species tend to avoid salts. The exact biological reason for this adverse preference is unknown, but awareness of this has allowed Eltus people to use salts as safety protection against harmful talyxian creatures. This is displayed in two moments in the Vilous comics: the "salt outpost" on page 4 of "Gathering Herbs" is an example of this, as well as the creature handlers using a hose of salt water on page 3 of "At the Festival" chapter.
The Talyxian creatures in the mountain and desert zones typically do not pose as much danger to the Eltus. The forest region holds the more dangerous and ferocious creatures, making it a risky venture to visit without armed guards. In the city suburbs in the forest regions, people will typically take a vehicle or horse as transportation and hire bodyguards. It is a very popular job to be a bodyguard or mercenary, especially around the tourist sites and areas close to caravan paths. Local hunters, guards, and bandits are usually knowledgeable of the nearby wildlife and serve as guides, hired at lower rates than true bodyguards. sergals have a superior ability for coping with primitive creatures, in regards to the Eltus races.
Flora
The common "plants" of Tal do fall under the classification of "primitive creatures". They are usually in the category of sessile organisms similar to barnacles, actinia, sponges, or basket stars. Most of these species are classified under Talyxian-Plants. Such plants do not typically use chlorophyl, and their forms are entirely different from Earth's common plantlife.
Main article:Talyxian-Plants
There are green plants with chlorophyl molecules, however these are strictly Eltus-Plants, and not Tal's original flora. They are a rarity and are regarded as a desirable and valued item. Further information may be found at the Eltus plant page.
Domestic animals
There are various domestic animals in Tal, most known domestic animals (mainly quadruped herbivores like a cows, horses, pigs, and sheep) were derived from shellfish creatures. Shellfish species are generally docile, harmless for sentient races, and people can tame them easy, and are able to do selective breeding. But also they will become easy to feral animals if they lost owner or left from cultured habitation.
They have a good quality of their meat, most of them are able to be ridden by people for locomotion, and a "shellfish milk" that are taken from cow-type of them is very popular animal products in Southern dairy farmer.
Cows, bulls, and horses are usually called as "shellfish", but there also are domestic animals that are not classified under shellfish species; chickens, birds, dogs, and feral animals maybe show nature of talyxian or so on. Such animals have very various differences of physical features, for example there are very long legs things, legless things, and small bipedal things that are tamed as pets. Unlike Earth's biology, their species division are not classified in strict definition by people. As common features of Tal's living things, they are able to be done crossbred or selective breeding by experts even if they have totally different appearances mutually.
Desert creatures
There are some various creatures, "Shiniku-asari(Carrion eater, or Scavenger)", land worms, small leeches, and "Koyubigai(Little finger shellfish)" in the Sailzane. People see them rarely, but they sometimes come on neighborhood of the Gold Ring due to saltlake's water. They don't avoid salts so much, and tougher to dryness, and radiation than forest creatures. Some microkinds of them are increasing on Colvilous saltlake, members of "Gold Ring gardener association" have difficulty dealing with suppressing and eliminating them.
Their microkinds that people can't watch them by the naked eye bring a threat peculiarly than middle or small size of them. Salts that Eltus prefer are poisonous for Talyxian-Plants, are able to defend from Talyxian-Plants. But if a few of Talyxian creatures who don't avoid salts increase and mutate, they cause that salts will produce many chlorine that are poisonous for Eltus-Plants. Also bigger size of them than the small size of them may promote activity of their microkinds.
Gallery
Common bird in Tal. This is a kind of talyxian creature.
Actinia head.
A sergal hunter in the NorthEast, hunted a wild talyxian hog. There are ascidian shelves in the background.
Cub Cracked / Mowamowa the stalker and various creatures that are around her.
Mountain leech and Ta'ls actinia.
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Cracked the stalker hunting various creatures.
