Creature:Amphorian (Concept)

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Scientific Classification
Domain: Eukaryota (Complex Organisms) Kingdom: Animalia (Animals) Phylum: Chordata (Animals with Notochords) Subphylum: Vertebrata (Vertebrates) Series: Amniota (Animals possessing amniotic eggs) Superclass: Tetrapoda (Four-legged vertebrates) Class: Amphibia (Amphibians) Subclass: [?] (?) Superorder: ? "?" (?) Order: ? "?" (?) Family: ? "?" (?) Genus: ? "?" (?) Species: ? "?" (?) Binominal Name: x

Statistics
Species Type: Cold-blooded Amphibian Lifestyle: Social Predator Hunt/Forage Success Rate: 60% Hunt (80% success rate), 40% Farm (90% success rate) Armor: Amphorian do not possess any natural armors, and their skin is soft and squishy. However, they have developed armors of low technology levels, consisting of wood, bone, and stone, as they have remained a shamanistic culture, and use metals for decoration rather than military purposes. Defenses: The Amphorian are a poisonous race, possessing poisonous skin with which they could fend off their ancient predators. However, they have long since bypassed their predators with technology, and now defend against other species with a variety of weaponry as well as thick stone walls built around their cities.

Weapons: Tools: Method of Eating: Grab prey with tentacles, using both split-tentacles and short claws to hold on. Certain prey is incapacitated by injecting them with cnidocytes that line the arms. Other prey that possess hard chiton shells incapable of either fitting the mouth entirely around or too tough to crack, use of radula to wear through armor is not uncommon. Bring prey to split jaw mouth and tear off large chunks of meat off of prey. If chunk is too large to immediately swallow, can either set food down and tear smaller chunks off until entire thing will fit down the esophagus, or use smaller, inner teeth (adapted from proboscis barbs they once had) to tear and chew the meat until it is in small enough chunks to fit safely down the esophagus and into the stomach, where digestion begins. After being processed within the acids of the stomach, it descends into the intestine, where nutrients are partially digested by the body, with wasted remnants excreted out the anus on the opposite end. Reproductive Rate: Sexual maturity is reached after 2 years. Can reproduce any amount of times during their lifetime. Gestation: 3.5 weeks then lays eggs -- eggs are laid in nests dug out of sand and/or dirt and formed into a shallow bowl shape through the use of natural enzymes excreted through their cloaca, which they use like a type of glue to hold their nests together. Offspring Incubation: 4 weeks until egg hatches after being laid. Number of Offspring: 10 per litter Offspring Survival Rate (before age of maturity): 45% -- the Aurix are a very intelligent species, and have learned to take care of their young by laying the eggs in nests, which the mother than lays on, only leaving the nests during the incubation period in order to defecate (as they do not want the smell of their fecal matter to lead possible predators back to the nest). The males spend their time during incubation periods hunting for food, bringing typically a little over half of the food back for their mate awaiting on the nest (Aurix mate for life). After hatching, the young remain in the nest for 2 weeks before learning how to walk, at which point they follow their parents around and play with each other. After 3 weeks they learn how to swim. Most deaths occur before this stage, and typically in first-time mothers or when they leave the nests to release waste elsewhere, during which times egg thieves may advance on the nests occassionally and rob them. Plural/Singular/Possessive: Amphorian/Amphoria/Amphorian

Evolutionary History
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The Lorc-Amphorian War
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Solar System
The Amphorian call their sun Zhe'vuul, or "Bringer of Life" -- however, the scientific name for their solar system is Beta Glaiius. The Zhe'vuul system has 6 inner planets and 5 outer ones, for a total of 11 planets.

The Planets
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Aurixan Homeworld
The Amphorian reside on the fourth planet from their sun, a swamp-world known as Kesari. This world is mostly tropical, and is dark and foreboding, due to the canopy blocking out much of the sun.

Kesarian Biomes
Kesari is a very wet world, with almost all of the terrestrial surface flooded. This leaves little dry land above ground; however, most species have adapted to such an existence.

Tidal Pools: Tidal pools are very rare, but do occur. Most tidal pools exist in beach areas near the equator, and are home to many species of crustacean, small fish, and insects.

Coral Reefs: The vast coral reefs cover much of the tropical waters just beyond the warmer continents, and are filled with a huge array of lifeforms. They are home to some of the more dangerous species, although are known to be safe from the King of Swimmers, the aquatic top-of-the-food-chain, due to them being far too large to enter such shallow areas. Over half of the species known to exist in the oceans exist within the various coral reefs around the world. Open Sea: The open sea is populated with creatures and is nearly completely absent of plant life, making most dwellers here carnivorous. Many beings out here can grow to large sizes, and this area is notorious for harboring the King of Swimmers and Zrrmzasha (although King of Swimmers can be found in most marine biomes around the world). The Great Rift: Only witnessed and never travelled, the Aurix had been swimming above this area when they first came into direct contact with the massive King of Swimmers, which proved to be a deadly experience; in fact the most dangerous moment in the Aurix history. Kelp Forest: The Kelp Forests lie in the areas between 30-120ft, and are dotted with two types of kelp, noted only by their colors - green and red. These kelps apparently evolved from the various saltwater algaes in the areas, which in turn were evolved from microscopic diatoms. It is interesting to note that usually, green and red kelp grow in seperate "forests", but these forests tend to grow very close together, and it is not uncommon for said forests to meld into one another. Approximately 1 in every 400 kelp strands will be of the different species (ie, in Green Kelp forests there are the occasional Red Kelps, and vice versa). These areas have not been witnessed in a long time, and when last seen, had been decimated. If they and any lifeform therein still exist, it is currently a mystery. The Shelf: Only witnessed and never travelled, the shelf was witnessed by the distant ancestors of Aurix when they still lived within the Kelp Forests. This area was significantly darker than the still-bright Kelp Forests and was not travelled to. As such, very little is known about this area.

Known Terrestrial Biomes
Sand Beach: Although many beaches all over the world exist, the only beach style experienced by the Aurix are ones comprised of miniscule grains of sand, typically formed by tan-colored bits of rock and small pieces of coral which have broken off from the coral reef beyond and washed ashore after hundreds to thousands of years, then worn down to tiny fragmental sand bits. This sand is more soft than it is rough, allowing organisms such as the thin-skinned Aurix to safely crawl and finally walk along the beaches without tearing up their stomachs or feet. Arthropods seem to inhabit much of this area, with only a few species of bird in sight, although with the Aurix's arrival, spinocephalopods and reptiles have also taken a firm hold of the area. "Palm" Forest: These "palm" forests surround much of the sandy beaches of the Aurix's old home. They typically lie within 100-200ft from the shoreline, depending on the area. The Aurix spent a good amount of time here, creating a colony amongst the trees, hunting Grendons and Rockscales. This is the known residence of the dreaded Gargantua Rays and the Screek. However, the Aurix, Grendon, Quirlax, and Neomwa have begun to move on.

Known Freshwater Biomes
Wide River: Only witnessed and never travelled, the wide river mouth was all the Aurix ever witnessed of freshwater. Mangrove Swamp: The new home of the Aurix, this area surrounds much of the wide river on the eastern banks of the beach. An inherent green color, the murky waters are hard to see very far into.

Unique Genera
Many unique genera of species exist here on the Aurix's homeworld that are not known to exist anywhere on Earth. A small compliment of these genera is listed below.

Terrapods
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Sextopods
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Sidetails
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Trivia

 * A group of Aurix is called a Battery.
 * The Aurix were not the first sapient species on their planet. A mysterious race calling themselves the Zomm once lived here before a collision with a comet wiped out 99.9% of the planet's lifeforms in a huge cataclysmic event, billions of years ago.
 * Aurix lead a Symbiotic life. They carry a chloroplast symbiote from early on in the Tide Pool Stage, which could give their hosts energy in the form of photosynthesis. These symbiotes now reside in "cluster organ buds" which reside for the most part just below the surface of the skin, although a certain amount of this sticks slightly out in a "bud" shape, allowing greater cluster organ surface area. The skin above these cluster organs is semi-transparent and thinner than the rest of the skin, allowing light in. The Aurix themselves feed exclusively on blood, which they currently tend to obtain from the various species of creatures either roaming around the Tidal Pools or the Beaches. They are entirely capable of killing their prey (when it comes to smaller prey, at least) by sucking too much blood out of their victims, however they tend not to do this, although they have in the past. They also have a weak neurotoxin in their cnidocytes (released by will rather than automatically), and they are also poisonous to a slight extent.
 * The Aurix Interactive Spore FanFic Game was started on the GameFaqs Spore Message Board on Saturday, March 25, 2006. Since then, the Aurix have gone through 92 rounds of evolution.