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 Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:06 pm
Warning! The front page is very lengthy and (soon-to-be) image-intensive.
Hwanyong!
This is the journal of Raven, an underaged human floater, and Blueshift, his blue friend and charge that is the evolutionary result of a throwback to the Cambrian preiod.
Joining them is a cast of thousands a few other misfits, including those who want to kill Raven and his amphibious accomplice, as they make their wayward way to the haven that is the Jianfeng Institute of Advanced Biosciences.
So anyways, have fun, and please don't alert the police~
Welcome • Blueshift • Raven • Friends and Foes • Places of Interest • Hallucigenia sparsa • The Sparsans: A History
The Sparsans: Life, Death, and Reincarnation • The Sparsans: Society • Second Life • Korean Crash Course • Art • News • Disclaimer • Annyong haseyo!
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Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:07 pm
Name: Blueshift
Aliases: Blue, Wormy
Age: Looks around 5-6 years, actual is 11 months
Gender: (Simultaneous) Hermaphrodite
Height: 3' 6" (~105 cm) tall, 7' (~210 cm) long
Weight: About 210 lbs (95.5 kg)
Family: Raven ("mother")
Languages: Korean, (broken) English
Likes: Water, the dark, eating, pointing out other people's shortcomings, swimming, caves, the moon and stars, damp soil, cloudy/rainy days, spicy foods, smooth rocks
Dislikes: Bright sunlight, citrus fruits, being wrong or scolded, being insulted, urban areas, hard surfaces, walking long distances, not having legs, being nice, the English language, optimists
Personality: Blueshift is a mean girl (err.. he-she). He loves nothing more than to insult people, but hates getting it in return. In fact, most social interaction will get him frustrated, especially since he can't effectively communicate his ill-will towards non-Korean speakers. He'll get angry rather quickly if he doesn't get his way. He rarely gets violent, but throwing a hissy-fit and flailing around like a spoiled brat are not uncommon sources of expression for him.
Blueshift is also a die-hard pessimist. Optimists piss him off, as do most other happy, bright things. If he were human, he'd probably be one of those illiterate Internet flamers that holes himself in his house and never sees the light of day.
History: One day, a drifter by the name of Raven saved a string of glowing yellow eggs from being eaten by hungry gulls. Soon, these little egss hatched into a pink, vaguely wormy thing. The was Blueshift. Blueshift's residence during his life as this tiny creature was a bucket (or, occasionally, a small tin can for portability purposes). Blueshift soon grew bitter at this lack of vartiety, not to mention little-to-no handling on Raven's part. But how could he? Blueshift, even at his largest as a member of the Hallucigenia sparsa species, only spanned from the tip of a human's index finger to the first joint. Not to mention he needed lubrication at all times or perish by dehydration.
So, sulkily, he crawled to the corner of his bucket home and spun his cocoon of light. Strangely enough, his cocoon kept growing after this initial phase. It only stopped when it filled almost three-quarters of the bucket, engulfing the walls.
Raven, knowing that he couldn't take such a thing near any populated are without garnering attention, purposefully spaced himself from civilization. Cut off from a somewhat steady food supply, and tortured night and day by dreams he couldn't understand, he slowly started shirveling away protecting his fleshy embryonic sack of light. Subconsciously, even while undergoing his hyper-evolution metamorphosis, Blueshift acknolwedged and appreciated this, though he'll never admit it.
Two weeks later, the new Blueshift crawled from the wreckages of his former prison. He looked how Raven felt - emaciated, tired, and terribly, terribly hungry. Fortune smiled upon the duo for having successfully survived her test, and not long after starting to wander again, the two found an orchard and gorged themselves.
Blueshift, who was rather small after emerging, grew steadily and rapidly, until he exeeded quadruple his emergance size. While this kind of rapid growth was normal in his people, it never occurred quite as fast as Blueshift underwent it. So, his stretched muscles and aching skeletal structure became a new source of aggrivation. Not only that, but his new size, which, thankfully to Raven, doesn't seem to be changing anymore, makes it nearly impossible to disguise him.
The duo's meandering path to the Institute can no longer remain that way. Pikaia's Children may already know. This is where the story picks up, with Raven and Blueshift on a race against time. The problem is, neither of them knows how much time they have left.
Welcome • Blueshift • Raven • Friends and Foes • Places of Interest • Hallucigenia sparsa • The Sparsans: A History
The Sparsans: Life, Death, and Reincarnation • The Sparsans: Society • Second Life • Korean Crash Course • Art • News • Disclaimer • Annyong haseyo!
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Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:08 pm
Name: Raven
Aliases: Hey stupid
Age: Estimated 16, precise unknown
Gender: Male
Height: 5' 10" (~175 cm)
Weight:
Family:
Languages:
Likes:
Dislikes:
Personality: Let me start off by saying that Raven is... not that smart. Now that that's out of the way, I can continue. Raven is, despite his circumstances, quite the happy camper. Although not perpetually smiley-faced, he is good-natured. Due to his lack of learning, however, he can get frustrated easily. He's normally not depressed, nor is there much that can depress him. All in all, he's a good guy, albeit not a very bright one.
History: Coming soon.
Welcome • Blueshift • Raven • Friends and Foes • Places of Interest • Hallucigenia sparsa • The Sparsans: A History
The Sparsans: Life, Death, and Reincarnation • The Sparsans: Society • Second Life • Korean Crash Course • Art • News • Disclaimer • Annyong haseyo!
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Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:09 pm
Welcome • Blueshift • Raven • Friends and Foes • Places of Interest • Hallucigenia sparsa • The Sparsans: A History
The Sparsans: Life, Death, and Reincarnation • The Sparsans: Society • Second Life • Korean Crash Course • Art • News • Disclaimer • Annyong haseyo!
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Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:10 pm
Welcome • Blueshift • Raven • Friends and Foes • Places of Interest • Hallucigenia sparsa • The Sparsans: A History
The Sparsans: Life, Death, and Reincarnation • The Sparsans: Society • Second Life • Korean Crash Course • Art • News • Disclaimer • Annyong haseyo!
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Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:11 pm
Wikipedia Hallucigenia is an extinct animal genus found as fossils in the Middle Cambrian-aged Burgess Shale formation of British Columbia, Canada. It was named by Simon Conway Morris when he re-examined Charles Walcott's Burgess Shale genus Canadia in 1979. Morris found that what Walcott had called one genus in fact included several quite different animals. One of them was so unusual that nothing about it made much sense. Since the species clearly was not a polychaete worm, Morris had to provide a new generic name to replace Canadia. Morris named the species Hallucigenia sparsa because of its 'bizarre and dream-like quality' (like a hallucination).
The 0.5 to 3 cm-long animal is wormlike -- that is, long and narrow -- with a poorly defined blob, or stain, on one end. This "blob" was arbitrarily designated the 'head' even though it had none of the features generally associated with heads: mouth, eyes, or other sensory organs. The animal has seven pincher-tipped tentacles lined up on one side and seven pairs of jointed spines on the other. Six of the tentacles are paired with spines, while one is in front of the spines. There are also six smaller tentacles which may be configured in three pairs behind the seven larger ones. In addition, there is a flexible, tube-like body extension behind the tentacles.
Faced with an animal that had no obvious head and two types of appendages, neither of which seemed appropriate for any reasonable form of locomotion, Morris assigned the blob as the head and hypothesized that the spines were legs and that the tentacles were feeding appendages. Morris was able to demonstrate a workable if improbable method of walking on the spines. Only the forward tentacles can easily reach to the 'head,' meaning that a mouth on the head would have to be fed by passing food along the line of tentacles. Morris suggested that a hollow tube within each of the tentacles might be a mouth. This is a less-than-satisfactory reconstruction, but it was accepted as the best available.
An alternative interpretation favored by some paleontologists was that Hallucigenia is actually an appendage of some larger, unknown animal. Given the uncertainty of its taxonomy, Hallucigenia was tentatively placed within the phylum Lobopodia, a catch-all clade containing numerous odd "worms with feet."
In 1991, Ramiskold and Hou Xianguang, working with additional specimens of a "hallucigenid" from the lower Cambrian Maotianshan shales of China, reinterpreted Hallucigenia as an Onychophore. They inverted it, interpreting the tentacles, which they believe to be paired, as walking structures and the spines as protective. Interestingly, none of the 30 or so known Burgess Shale specimens shows any sign of pairing in the large tentacles; nor do their Chinese counterparts. The pairing is based on a dissection of the actual fossil, which revealed what is probably a second tentacle structure. Ramiskold and Hou also believe that the 'head' is actually a stain that appears in many specimens, not a preserved portion of the anatomy.
Though Ramiskold and Hou's is the accepted modern interpretation, it is far from problem-free. Unlike its contemporary Aysheaia, Hallucigenia has very little resemblance to modern Onychophora. The possibly paired pincher-tipped tentacles bear little resemblance to the paired annulated legs of the Onychophora. It is unknown what the spines were made of and how much 'protection' they offered. They do not seem to be preserved independent of the soft-shelled animals as carbonate or chitinous shells would probably be. It is not easy to explain why 30 or more specimens -- each hypothesized to have seven pairs of rather long, flexible legs -- do not show even one example of paired legs. But at least this reconstruction of the animal can plausibly walk, and the spines serve a reasonable purpose.
Some paleontologists accept Ramiskold and Hou's interpretation of the animal's legs, spines, and head, but also believe that Hallucigenia might be an 'armored lobopod' related to Anomalocaris, rather than (or as well as) being related to the Onychophora. It also remains possible that Hallucigenia is an appendage of a larger creature.
Welcome • Blueshift • Raven • Friends and Foes • Places of Interest • Hallucigenia sparsa • The Sparsans: A History
The Sparsans: Life, Death, and Reincarnation • The Sparsans: Society • Second Life • Korean Crash Course • Art • News • Disclaimer • Annyong haseyo!
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Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:12 pm
Prehistoric Times
In the beginning, everything was the same as it was here. Cambrian fauna was much the same. However, a shift slowly took place with Pikaia's ancestors heading towards land at a quicker pace than they did in our world, and with eurypterids populating not only the fresh inland water, but kicking the trilobites out of the shallow coastal water as well. Amongst it all, modest little Hallucigenia sparsa scavenged the sea floor for carrion, becoming widespread throughout the Tethys Sea and the Panthalassa Ocean as animals continued killing each other and leaving fleshy bits behind.
The reset button was first pressed 251 million years ago. Earth passed in the path of a giant bolide 50km across, which ended up smacking into what is now the Great Lakes region of North America. The shockwave from it set off some of the larger active volcanoes of Pangea. The initial blast from the impact or those unfortunate enough to be near a volcano were either boiled by heat or smothered by the debris. The carbon dioxide and soot pumped into the air killed off nearly anything still remaining on the land or in coastal waters. Most of those left remained in the deeper parts of the ocean through much of the Triassic.
Slowly, life recouperated, crawling out from the depths, and, eventually, repopulating the land. Oddly enough, most creatures were the progeny of trilobites. Descendants of Pikaia still wormed their way through the sea, having "devolved" to better fit their previous environment, and H. sparsa's children stayed out of the sun completely, thriving off of the carrion of tubeworm-feeding trilobite-esque animals. Soon, like most other deep sea critters, such as the Jellies, they developed biluminescent patches, and some even grew fins.
The next slap in Life's face came when the star Arcturus suddenly collapsed into a black hole around 110 million years ago, throwing severe gamma radiation in every direction from the resulting supernova. This horribly weakened the ozone layer to almost its breaking point. The ultraviolet radiation from the sun, hardly filtered out, killed off everything but the deep-sea species, and all but the hardiest of plants and animals in shallower water.
This giant gap in life in much of the sea, and especially on land, kicked evolution into high gear once more, in a way only surpassed by the Cambrian explosion. Hallucigenia sparsa seized its chance this time. As their remnants swam out of the depths, the former spines fused into a backbone-like structure. Their front, pair of fins became able to support more and more weight, and the bioluminescent patch on their head grew out onto a fleshy line. These became what are known collectively as the Sparsans, inheriters of this alternate Earth.
Early History
Just as humans settled around river valleys at the dawn of the Neolithic Revolution, Sparsans settled aroung aquatic caverns. Thus, it comes as to no suprise that the center of Sparsan civilization was the Yucatan Peninsula, home of many cenotes.
Welcome • Blueshift • Raven • Friends and Foes • Places of Interest • Hallucigenia sparsa • The Sparsans: A History
The Sparsans: Life, Death, and Reincarnation • The Sparsans: Society • Second Life • Korean Crash Course • Art • News • Disclaimer • Annyong haseyo!
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Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:13 pm
Welcome • Blueshift • Raven • Friends and Foes • Places of Interest • Hallucigenia sparsa • The Sparsans: A History
The Sparsans: Life, Death, and Reincarnation • The Sparsans: Society • Second Life • Korean Crash Course • Art • News • Disclaimer • Annyong haseyo!
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Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:14 pm
Mothers
Sparsans, being ambiguous in gender, don't view Mothers the way humans do. A Sparsan Mother to us would actually be a combination of a caretaker, a teacher, and an untouchable. Mothers are the ones who protect the young until they're old enough to hit it off on their own. Depending on the population size, a Mother could have one charge to raise, or several.
A Mother's job begins from the moment a litter is born. 'She' doesn't try to stop the young from cannabalizing each other; everyone knows that's just how life works. She does, however, watch out for any potential predators, and usually keeps the pool clean. Once the young are strong enough to climb out of the pool themselves, then she begins teaching them of society, though in a hands-off manner. This continues, with moving into other living quarters, of course, until the young are adults. Then, the job repeats, as the Mother goes off to take care of another pool.
Mothers, though an important position to the survival of Sparsan society, are often viewed with disdain. This is because most Mothers are the genetic rejects of their homeland. The handicapped, the sterile, the old; generally anyone no longer fit to breed, and capable of carrying out the task of protecting and raising the young, has no other occupation available to them but that of a Mother. As such, the young look down upon their mothers, even while in their care. The Mothers know their place, and are thankful to still be able to help out in some way.
Time
Sparsans, being mostly nocturnal, view the beginning of the day to start when the sun sets, and end when the sun sets once more. They lack any smaller denomination of time after the day, though something akin to an hour can be construed by how fan the moon or stars have move across the sky during the day. Most have no need for this, however, and are fine going about their jobs with little specifics on the time.
Sparsans also lack the idea of a week (jobs take place every day - there is no "weekend").
They do, however, have a month and year, based upon the stars. In its most basic form, the month is based by the zodiac sign, and one full cycle of the zodiac is a year. Their zodiac, much like ours, is based on which constellation is behind the sun (or "burned," as they think of it). They have thirteen zodiac constellations - the Tongue, the Snout, the Eye, the Ear, the Neck, the Spine, the Claw, the Chest, the Belly, the Egg, the Scale, the Tail, and the Nothing. Each sign, except for the Nothing, is thirty days long. The extra five (or six, if it's a leap year) fits under the Nothing, and is essentially the "party month" at the end of the year.
Combined, the zodiac looks like what we know as an Ouroboros to us.... (will be continued at a later date)
Welcome • Blueshift • Raven • Friends and Foes • Places of Interest • Hallucigenia sparsa • The Sparsans: A History
The Sparsans: Life, Death, and Reincarnation • The Sparsans: Society • Second Life • Korean Crash Course • Art • News • Disclaimer • Annyong haseyo!
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Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:15 pm
Welcome • Blueshift • Raven • Friends and Foes • Places of Interest • Hallucigenia sparsa • The Sparsans: A History
The Sparsans: Life, Death, and Reincarnation • The Sparsans: Society • Second Life • Korean Crash Course • Art • News • Disclaimer • Annyong haseyo!
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Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:16 pm
Welcome • Blueshift • Raven • Friends and Foes • Places of Interest • Hallucigenia sparsa • The Sparsans: A History
The Sparsans: Life, Death, and Reincarnation • The Sparsans: Society • Second Life • Korean Crash Course • Art • News • Disclaimer • Annyong haseyo!
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Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:17 pm
Welcome • Blueshift • Raven • Friends and Foes • Places of Interest • Hallucigenia sparsa • The Sparsans: A History
The Sparsans: Life, Death, and Reincarnation • The Sparsans: Society • Second Life • Korean Crash Course • Art • News • Disclaimer • Annyong haseyo!
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Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:18 pm
News
08/09/06 - Added "Prehistoric Times" to the History post. It's rather irrelivant until I get everything else up.
25/08/06 - Finally fatten up some stuff, and created a use for every post. Now I just have to fill the rest in. >.>;
20/09/05 - They may be crappy, but at least I have some banners now. Wheee!
19/09/05 - Made journal thread. FYI: DD/MM/YY. 'Cause it makes more sense than our silly American way. O:
Welcome • Blueshift • Raven • Friends and Foes • Places of Interest • Hallucigenia sparsa • The Sparsans: A History
The Sparsans: Life, Death, and Reincarnation • The Sparsans: Society • Second Life • Korean Crash Course • Art • News • Disclaimer • Annyong haseyo!
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Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:19 pm
Pikaia's Children (PC) is © Coronaviridae
Blueshift official art by Ves
H. sparsa info from Wikipedia
Sparsan societal and historical info from my Brain Meats
PC: Rosewood, South California
PC: The Future of Tech and Life
Welcome • Blueshift • Raven • Friends and Foes • Places of Interest • Hallucigenia sparsa • The Sparsans: A History
The Sparsans: Life, Death, and Reincarnation • The Sparsans: Society • Second Life • Korean Crash Course • Art • News • Disclaimer • Annyong haseyo!
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Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:20 pm
Welcome • Blueshift • Raven • Friends and Foes • Places of Interest • Hallucigenia sparsa • The Sparsans: A History
The Sparsans: Life, Death, and Reincarnation • The Sparsans: Society • Second Life • Korean Crash Course • Art • News • Disclaimer • Annyong haseyo!
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