Creature:Aurum/Offshoots

The Offshoots
Over the many millennia of development, the Aurix gene has split several times, creating various new species, each with their own style of life; however, the Aurix themselves are considered the true offshoot of the original protista they started out as (chiefly because the Aurix are the ones to reach sapience and therefore can say whatever they want, essentially).

The Neomwa
The Neomwa were the earliest branch-off of the original protista strain. Originally known as the Neo-Protista, these creatures have evolved into speedy cephalopods, which have succeeded in stirring chaos through the ranks of the Aurix colonies for millennia. Recently, the Neomwa evolved a thin fold between one of their pairs of tentacle-arms, which they used to glide for a very brief period of time above the waves, which set them on the path to follow the Aurix to shore. Since then, they have grown two long fins and their original gliding tentacles have receeded into their mouth-like gnathobranchium, which is formed from an shortened, thickened, and flattened pair of tentacles. This gnathobranchium is used in the Neomwa species as a means to accomplish a more streamlined body to allow for faster flight speeds. The Neomwa were entirely capable of erradicating the Aurix on more than one occasion, but chose to flee instead. Are the Neomwa smarter than previously thought? One can only make assumptions.

Scientific Classification
Domain: Eukaryota (Complex Organisms) Kingdom: Animalia (Animals) Phylum: Mollusca (Mollusks) Class: Cephalopoda (Cephalopods) Subclass: Coleoidea (Soft-Bodied Cephalopods) Superorder: Octopodiformes (Eight-Armed Cephalopods) Order: Bitentacleida (Two Tentacled Cephalopods - Two of the 8 Arms Are Tentacles) Family: Pteropteryx "Wing Fin" (Gliding Squids) Genus: Placobrachius "Flat Arm" (Flat Armed Gliding Squids - 2 Arms are Flattened) Species: Unknown "???" (Neomwa) Binominal Name: Placobrachius ???

The Zrrmzasha
The Zrrmzasha are open sea-dwelling, human-sized ichthyosaurs who long ago gave up the hemophagic life of their ancestors for one of a more hunting-oriented style, feeding on fish, cephalopods, and spinocephalopods with their long snapping jaws filled with outward-pointing needle-like teeth. Zrrmzasha are reptilians, and therefore need to breathe air, which they do through a pair of nostrils on the tips of their beak-like mouths, which they extend above the surface of the water when they go for air. A Zrrmzasha can hold its breath for up to a half hour at a time.

Scientific Classification
Domain: Eukaryota (Complex Organisms) Kingdom: Animalia (Animals) Phylum: Chordata (Animals with Notochords) Subphylum: Vertebrata (Vertebrates) Class: Sauropsida (Reptiles) Subclass: Diapsida "Two Arches" (2 holes on each side of the skull, one above and below the eye, allowing jaws to open wider) Superorder: Icthyopterygia "Fish Flippers" (Icthyosaurs) Infraorder: Euichthyosauria (True Ichthyosaurs) Order: Ichthyosauria "Fish Lizard" (Ichthyosaurs) Family: Ichthyosauridae "x" (x) Genus: Zrrmzashidae (Zrrmzashan Ichthyosaurs) Species: Unknown "???" (Zrrmzasha) Binominal Name: Zrrmzashidae ???

The Vrennum
The Vrennum (Vrenna is the plural form) are seemingly peaceful bipods who continue the hemophagic lifestyle of their ancestors in the shallow, tropical tidal pools around the one known continent, where they bury themselves in the sandy seafloor and await for potential prey to swim past, detecting them with their large amount of electroplaques. Once prey has been detected swimming overhead, the Vrennum will quickly lunge out of its hiding spot in a burst of its water jet and a cloud of silt, to catch its prey off-guard. They are the only offshoot to have lost their ancient Chlorolomba symbiotes, and therefore must rely completely on their hemophagic tendencies.

Scientific Classification
Domain: Eukaryota (Complex Organisms) Kingdom: Animalia (Animals) Phylum: Chordata (Animals with Notochords) Subphylum: Vertebrata (Vertebrates) Class: Spinocephalopoda (Cephalopods with Vertebrae) Subclass: Spinoidea (Cephalopods with Vertebrae) Superorder: Bidiformes (Spinocephalopods with two tentacle-arms) Order: Bipoda (Bipods - Spinocephalopods with two tentacle-arms flanking the face) Family: Orthoceras "Straight Horn" (Bipods with streamlined shells) Genus: Cryptohemovenator "Hidden Blood Hunter" (Parasitic Bottom-hiding Orthocerases) Species: Vrenni "Vrennum" (Vrennum) Binominal Name: Cryptohemovenator vrenni

The Grendon
The Grendon are a race that, although one of the most recent offshoots of the Aurix, have lost their close physical relation to them; where the Aurix chose to become amphibians and eventually reptiles, the Grendon stayed spinocephalopods. They arrived on land ever-so-slightly before the Aurix themselves, having fled the Tidal Pool only a few months before the Aurix themselves did so. Even with such a short span between the Aurix and Grendon's arrivals on land, the Grendon had already developed into a completely seperate species. The Grendon possess far stronger muscles in their tentacle-arms, choosing to use them to lift themselves off the ground, with their faces pointing downwards. Because their heads always point towards the ground, they have developed eyestalks farther up their bodies which face backwards and to the sides and front to watch for potential predators. Their main bodies have grown into a bulky, muscle-bound, squishy sphereoid, and a collapsible sail now serves as a means of visual communication during hunts.

They feed exclusively upon another offshoot, the far gentler herd-grazer Quirlax, and are always found within the same general vicinity, deep in the palm tree-like forest that surrounds the beach they had initially arrived on land in.

Scientific Classification
Domain: Eukaryota (Complex Organisms) Kingdom: Animalia (Animals) Phylum: Chordata (Animals with Notochords) Subphylum: Vertebrata (Vertebrates) Class: Spinocephalopoda (Cephalopods with Vertebrae) Subclass: Spinoidea (Cephalopods with Vertebrae) Superorder: Hexidiformes (Spinocephalopods with 4 tentacle-arms and 1 pair of feet) Order: Terrapoda (Terrapods - Spinocephalopods adapted to land) Family: Pachytentaclei "Thick Tentacles" (Terrapods which walk on their tentacles) Genus: Grendoni "Grendon" (Grendons) Species: ??? Binominal Name: Grendoni ???

The Quirlax
The Quirlaxi (Quirlax being the singular form) split off immediately from the Grendon as soon as they moved onto land. They, however, had developed a stomach and then a short snout-like mouth rather than continuing their hemophagic lifestyle, instead choosing to feed on the plants. This lifestyle has made them far gentler than other offshoots (namely the Neomwa, Zrrmzasha, and Grendon). They initially enjoyed spending all of their time grazing the low-lying scrub grass at the higher elevations of the beach, close to the surrounding forest. However, they have grown into long-necked foliage grazers deep in the palm tree-like tropical forests. Here, they feast off of the leaves of the two main trees in the area, as well as the fruit beared by the shorter species. Their four tentacle-arms have been arranged upon their bodies so as to allow them an easy way to send food to their mouths. They dislike the Grendon feeding upon them, but until recently had been unable to stop them, and so they dealt with it as best as they could. However, several witnessed the Aurixan attempts at protecting one of their dead who had gotten "caught in the crossfire" between the Aurix hunting pack and a brash young Grendon male that had been feeding off of it. With this strange event, the Quirlax now try to stay closer to the Aurix, to hopefully help in the prevention of the Grendon from feeding off of them (as the Aurix are known predators of the Grendon).

Scientific Classification
Domain: Eukaryota (Complex Organisms) Kingdom: Animalia (Animals) Phylum: Chordata (Animals with Notochords) Subphylum: Vertebrata (Vertebrates) Superclass: Tetrapoda (Tetrapods) Unranked: Amniota (Amniotes) Class: Sauropsida (Reptiles) Subclass: Synapsida (Synapsids) Superorder: Tentacleireptilia (Tentacled Reptiles) Order: Tetraopsida "Four Eyes" (Four-Eyed Herbivorous Reptiles) Family: Andeireus "Without Neck" ("No-necked" Tetraopsids) Genus: Quirlaxius "Quirlax" ("No-necked" Quirlaxi Reptiles) Species: ??? Binominal Name: Quirlaxius ???

The Screek
The Screek are the most recent offshoot of the Aurix, having split off only a few thousand years ago. These creatures have since moved on past the beach into the forests, where they have developed into flying tentacled reptiles. They have developed a dark-colored leathery skin pattern to survive as nocturnal creatures, and rest in carved out holes in the smaller trees of the forest. What exactly they feed on is unknown, although they have kept their proboscis, and therefore continue to drink blood like their ancestors. They have recently also adapted external ears, apparently used to hear their own high-pitched shrieks, which they use to echolocate their prey in the dark of night. Interestingly, the Screek have retained their Chlorolomba symbiotes, which can be assumed are used to continue to nourish the bat-like Screek as they rest during the day. Another interesting note, is that the Screek are the only offshoot known to actually shrink in size rather than just continue to grow. This was in order to help them in flight.

Scientific Classification
Domain: Eukaryota (Complex Organisms) Kingdom: Animalia (Animals) Phylum: Chordata (Animals with Notochords) Subphylum: Vertebrata (Vertebrates) Superclass: Tetrapoda (Tetrapods) Unranked: Amniota (Amniotes) Class: Sauropsida (Reptiles) Subclass: Anapsida (Anapsids) Superorder: Hemosauridae "Blood Lizard" (Hemophagic Lizards) Order: Macrohemosaurus "Large Blood Lizard" (Dog-sized Hemosaurs) Family: Echoididae "Echo" (Hemosaurs that locate prey through echos) Genus: Screeka "Screek" (Land-dwelling Screek Lizards) Species: ??? Binominal Name: Screeka ???

The Offshoots' Offshoots
Although all species originated from the Aurix (or, more precisely, the extinct Zocax protista, which the Aurix claim they are the direct descendants of, as opposed to the Neomwa), it has recently been uncovered that the Zrrmzasha have given rise to an offshoot of their own. Could this mean that more of the offshoots have had offshoots of their own? Only time and possibly exploration will tell for sure...

The Zrrnigor
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Scientific Classification
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