NationStates Jolt Archive

Over all unrestricted communications channels, transmissions went out every few hours. For those with appropriate networks, images as well as sound would arrive on terminals, radios, televisions, and the like. Each image was tailored to whereever it was sent, so eighteen armed, grey skinned spiders would see eighteen armed, grey skinned spiders, making the images easier to appreciate.

"Attention, peoples of the Galaxy. The Planet Restoration council in the Galactic Empire wish to acquire genetic samples of fauna and flora from your worlds. A piece of hair, a bit of left over meat or vegetation. Anything will do, so long as it containts genetic material.

We wish to create worlds with diverse ecosystems out of planets that have been devastated by wars and ecological damage. By importing different fauna and flora, we can create a diverse, flourishing ecosystem on damaged worlds, securing a future for everyone's children. Food and varying goods will become more affordable for systems near such worlds, and the planets themselves will be available as holiday locations, free of charge, thanks to the Galactic Tourism Agency."

((Alrighty, just write out a roleplayed response from people in your nation. One or two scientists, a farmer, the government, anyone who might feasibly send materials. And post up some specifics about creatures found in your nation if they're fairly strange and have been submitted. Basically, this thread exists as a sort of zoo, where we can check up on different animal species and incorporate them into our future rp's. And please, no uber beasties capable of wiping out entire ecosystems... Unless you're pure evil. Then go ahead.))

I protest this decision,as this appears to be meddling in the affairs of local ecosystems. We will agree to submit sample, but we will continue to petition for a cancellation of this program. Attempting to control an ecosystem always ends in disaster.

Open Transmission

"To clarify, the goal of the project is to take worlds where the ecosystem has already been virtually destroyed and repair it using alien lifeforms that fit the roles required. The project will be monitored by the Emperor's finest ecologists, biologists and geologists.

On worlds such as Barren Hope, there is no ecosystem left. It is simply a ball of rock and gasses. There is nothing to interfere with, but a chance to create a new, fertile world. Existing ecosystems that are not badly damaged will not be tampered with, as it is a crime to do so under Imperial Law. Worlds must fulfill the extensive requirements to exist on the restoration project."

Lir Nuanlor, the Bynzekistani Minister for Agriculture and the Environment, looked at the printout lying on his desk. There was one phrase which kept drawing his eyes: "securing a future for everyone's children". He had two young children of his own. He knew what it would mean to them if something devastating were to happen.

With that he ordered that the Slynex hair be transported to the Galactic Empire.

The Slynex was Bynzekistan's national animal, a large dragon-like creature, with lush grey hair covering its entire body. A fully grown animal stood some two to three metres in height. It could fly at great heights and cover long distances. Some have been domesticated by natives and are used for travel and transport of goods.

Nuanlor smiled contentedly. It was the least Bynzekistan could do.

What looked like a lime-green squid in a white labcoat sat at a computer terminal, inside a room that appeared to be a laboratory filled with genetic samples used for mutations and genetic engineering. As if to erase any more doubts, a large sign was placed over the door, which read "Genetics Lab 152."

The creature looked up, watching a transmission that appeared on the large screen that lay before him. "Hey Pylos, take a look at this transmission we got from the TeleComm Center. It's a bit weak, but it looks like they're asking for samples from plants and animals for their testing."

Another squid-being, who looked identical to the first except for being a slightly darker shade of green, slithered over to the computer screen, a test tube in hand. "Hm...Let me see..." The creature wtached as the holofeed played through the terminal. "Well, looks like you're right. Suppose we should send some."

The first creature nodded. "You're probably right...But which should we send?"

After a bit of what looked like deep thought, the second turned back to the first. "How about some samples from the Dyodoran Fruit, the Poraicaus Leaf, and the Wyriacaouth Vine?"

"The sounds about right. I'll get the samble, you ready a tube for the airpipes." The first squid went off to another computer, which was attached to a machine that with five, clear tubes running into it. Pressing a few buttons, three of the tubes filled with different liquids. The first was a light, pink-red color, the second a yellow-green, similar to mucus, and the last was a tannish color with hints of yellow. Taking up several empty, cylindrical chemical tubes, he affixed them to several spouts on the contraption, whereby the liquids flowed into the nanoglass containers.

While his co-worker began screwing the tops on the containment tubes, the other squid carried over a larger tube with a rectangular hole in one side. He placed the containers holding the planet samples as well as a note in the larger container, closed the lid, labeled the coordinates it was to be sent to, and moved over to a set of pipes in the wall. Stopping at one labeled "Delivery," he inserted the container into the pipe, where it was immediately sucked into the maze of tubes.
_________________________________________________________________

In another section of the massive complex, the tube dropped out of a chute and into the waiting fingers of a mechanical claw. The claw, rotating over to another claw holding a miniature, synthetic meteor, dropped the container inside the Carbonium-inlaid delivery "box."

When the arm rotated to catch another tube, the arm holding the meteorite moved over to a machine with a hole on the bottom, which dispensed horrid, static-clinging, packaging peanuts into the container. As the arm moved farther along, a small scanner dropped down into the peanuts and read the coordinates printed on the tube inside the meteorite.

Once finished, the arm suddenly closed the "box," then dropped down about ten stories into the building. Continuing along its path, the meteorite-container was dropped into another chute. However, this chute was different from the previous tubes and pipes. This chute led directly to a cannon, from which this container would be blasted, at a post-hyperlight speed, to the designated planet. Of course, the meteorite itself had a self-guidance chip in it, as well as several small jets, to prevent itself from reaching the wrong planet or impaling a passing starship. The shell, although burned, would survive the planet's atmosphere and arrive intact and undamaged.

Back to the giant cannon, though. The giant machine was located on the side of the Space Station 100-7-B92/422X6 located only eight galaxies away from the designated planet (Sadly, there was no station closer, or the package may have arrived in earlier). The cannon rotated itself in the exact direction of the solar system and the planet it was supposed to reach. In a silent, but undeniably massive, blast, the cannon recoiled into itseld (luckily, it was designed to do that) as it launched the package-meteorite into the depth of space.

((I'll post what the note says later, when it arrives))

While we appreciate your interest and do not necessarily doubt your intentions, the international public distribution of the manner of data which you are requesting could pose a significant security risk to the Socialist Republic and the planets it claims. We therefore must reject your request.

Tşärls Lorĕns
Third Lanalphin of the Socialist Republic of Xanthal

Bump.

The meteorite screamed through the planet's atmosphere, having just left the void that was space. Engulfed in flames, but only slightly charred, the foot-wide package activated its thrusters, beginning to slow its descent upon the planet surface. The fire slowly began to subside, until the container, a little blackened but still retaining its shape and color, was about ten meters off the ground.

Slowly lowering itself down to a height of five feet, it began hovering above the ground, emitting a blue haze from the rear-mounted thrusters. With a quick scan of its surroundings, finding itself right where it was supposed to be: right outside the headquarters of the Galactic Tourism Agency.

Amidst the gaping stares of the people who had, previously, been going about their business, the floating meteorite hovered right through the doors of the building, dropping to the ground at the feet of the nearest person. The hatch opened up, revealing the contents of the parcel: A large tube, containing three smaller vials of fluid, and a small blue, metallic cube, along with a heaping mess of those horrible foam packaging peanuts. The cube was labeled "Genetic Samples Data," self-explainatory. Upon being picked up, the machine would display several holograms of the data on the plants.

Dyodoran Fruit
The Dyodoran Fruit, grown from a tree, resembles a cross between two Terran fruits: the mango and the pineapple. It is spiney, but has a red, leathery peel, covering the fleshy, light red-pink, unsectioned insides of the planet. The taste of the fruit can be described as sweet, as well as a bit sticky, and is a bit stringy, often coming apart in strands. This fruit is a popular one, due to both the fact that it is easy to eat, as well as it being full of nutrients and minerals. Originally found on Dyodoran Prime and Dyodoran II.

The Dyodoran Fruit sample is the red-pink liquid.

Poraicaus Leaf
There is little data provided on this leaf by the cube. However, it is described as a large, dark green, egg-shaped leaf, measuring about three-and-a-half meters long. The plant it is grown from generally has only three stems, each holding a single leaf. The Poraicaus leaf has been found to have many medicinal properties, working as both an antitoxin and a White Blood Cell stimulant, in creatures that have blood cells, anyway. Originally found on Grayous IV.

The Poraicaus Leaf sample is the yellow-green liquid.

Wyriacaouth Vine
The last sample in the miniature meteorite is the Wyriacaouth Vine, a small, thin plant with non-invasive roots. The vine itself is a light tannish color with a smooth texture, and sprouts light green leaves. Like the Poraicaus Leaf, this plant also has a good medicinal use. When ground up, mixed with water, and spread over a wound like a salve, this plant has the same effects as an antibacterial healing solution. Originally found on Noctavius Prime.

The Wyriacaouth Vine sample is the tannish-yellow liquid.

A tube was carefully delivered to the nearby Restoration Council building, a tall edifice of plasteel, sculpted to look like a giant claw. There it was set down on a trolley, along with a bag of hair from an unknown creature. The trolley was wheeled through security checkpoints into the genetic labs, where tanks grew sample creatures to be analyzed.

Grey skinned humanoids busily dissected the clone created from the hair. It had only taken a few hours to grow to an appropiate size, roughly that of a six year old beast. The packaging had identified it as coming from Bynzekistan. The nation had been noted down on the Contributors list, and would no doubt be seeing the new roles of the draconian creature.

Purple skinned creatures with four arms carefully cultivated the plant samples from the tubes, rough trajectory from the rather unexpected delivery system put it on a space station. Further research identified it as belonging to 'GadgetCorp'. They too were put on the list.

Already verified plant and animal life from worlds throughout the imperium were being loaded onto transports that would leave shortly, and bring a live video feed from the world they had programmed to travel to. The project was going splendidly.

Bumpity. Bumpity.

Otagia will be happy to supply you with life forms. The first submission is detailed below.

Camelopard: A marsupial native to several Otagian worlds. The camelopard resembles a Terran leopard with the hump of a camel. The camelopard is suitable for use as a draft animal or a beast of burden, and its flesh is quite edible. Excellent for arid worlds.

*CRASH!*

"How's it going, Vandyn?" the tall woman asked, crossing her arms.

"Just about the same, ma'am," Vandyn replied, not looking up from his clipboard as he continued to jot down observations and notes. "Pulse elevated, heart rate 520 beats a minute, nervous system out of control, brain the size of a pencil sharpener."

"Hmmm." The Dictatress of the Rogue Nation of Rufia Desmoda was smiling, and that was never a good sign. She stepped forward a bit, examining the plexiglass tube that currently contained a specimen of her nation's National Animal. When Rufia Desmoda had been founded, out of the remains of an old kingdom known only as the Well of Souls, their beloved Goliath Tarantula had already been roaming the forests. Since the Dictatress had taken the reigns of government, however, the Goliath Tarantula had been increasing in both size and formidability, perhaps because it sensed that there was a bigger, badder predator out there- one running the country.

This specimen had a thorax the size of a minibus, legs as thick as tree trunks, and a severely disgruntled expression which increased with every time the glass failed to break after it threw its body against the tube.

"Madam President," Vandyn began nervously, adjusting his glasses.

"Yes?" the Dictatress asked, still watching the thrashing monster.

"Um . . . the message said that these animals were intended to rebuild some worlds' ecosystems. Do we really want to give them DNA from a thirsty one-ton predator?"

"Everybody has predators, Vandyn. Everybody has predators." The Dictatress was smiling again. "We're simply sending them something to round out the set."

"But supposing the military-"

"Alien militaries won't touch this thing. They're impossible to train without the use of pheromones- as well you ought to remember, Vandyn. By the way, how's Kender's leg?"

"Most of it's still there."

"I'll make sure to give him a bonus this month. Now get harvesting on that DNA, Vandyn. Our alien friends are waiing for their animals, and we mustn't disappoint them."

24 hours later, a small, discreetly wrapped package arrived at the interplanetary mailing depot, postmarked for the Planet Restoration Council. Its stamp bore the image of a knife and a laser pointer crossed, and below this was written in a delicate script a fronte praecipitium, a tergo lupi.

A precipice in front, wolves behind. Between a rock and a hard place.

The message relayed over the campus' small long-range alien-detection dish and startled one Dr. Corinthian, who had picked the shortest straw that morning. What he believed to be a chore became an oppurtunity for trade with other planets. Finally, Random Kingdom would have its slice of interstellar diplomacy.

He proposed it to his superiors later that afternoon.

"What? These people are far more advanced than us! They could rain down on our patch of Terra with their masers and... stuff."

Corinthian stood his ground. "We do have one mining colony. We can prove our intentions. We're working on the masers and... stuff."

His mess-mate, one Professor Raoul Sarroen, continued his argument. "Face it, we have nothing to offer them."

In response, Corinthian held up a test tube. Writing on the side declared that the tube contained "DNA from a stage 1 artificial Azokashian Civerian, taken with permission."

Sarroen gasped. "Alright, it can go on the next supply shuttle. Ask them to pick it up at the colony, and don't forget to give the co-ordinates."

OOC note: Civerian is the new term for geckoid, so if research is required then search for the latter. There is a RK factbook page on them, but it is outdated and may not contain information on the artificial breed.

A small ship, unmanned, hurtled through space in a blue blur for only a split second before it arrived. Three hundred times the speed of light was the standard FTL drive speed in the Empire now, though it took all power from other systems except life support for the jump.

It activated it's transmitting device and cruised at a luxurious pace of half the s-o-l towards the coordinates for the mining outpost. The Restoration Council had managed to divert the package from Rufia Desmoda there, for one complete pickup. Any system defences would no doubt acknowledge it's code of peaceful trade.

It slowly entered the atmosphere, getting within range of the mining colony and activating it's prototype harvest beam. Hopefully siphoning the package, and the one from nearby, up before turning and speeding from the atmosphere in a bright blue flash. It was already speeding out of the system at 300 times the speed of light before anyone could even blink.


Elsewhere in the Galaxies, the transport fleet blinked out of it's speed in a small system, dominated by a blue and green world. The three ships rumbled towards it, slowly entering the atmosphere and releasing the cloned creatures via the transport beam, watching them scurry instinctively for cover as the cloaked warships left, a few of the predators already stalking prey amongsat the vivid green landscape of ferns and fern trees, the different configurations of fronds and shapes marking them as wildly different plants, probably fauna from different worlds. A large, six legged tiger beast, had taken to creeping under the fronds to catch the rabbit like creatures with long snouts and wickedly sharp claws as they came to feed on the sap. In one blindingly fast moment, it had one, shaking it by it's neck, the screeching ending with a horrible, wet, snapping sound.

A herd of flightless bird like animals took slow steps across the open ground the second transport had headed, blue crests and grey feathers fluttering in the wind. Orangey grasses grew until the green of the forest started breaking it, the scent of salt in the air. The transport placed a small swarm of amphibians that walked on two legs and bore blueish, slimy scales over their bodies, the terrible mawed beasts sprinting with almost unbelievable speed towards the briny sea of water, plunging into the deep where several stopped to grapple amongst themselves... Probably the males, seeing who would have mating rights.

Each herd animal had been conditioned to view the others it had been cloned with as it's herd.

The third was on the other side of the world, over a lake, placing fish there. Vibrantly coloured fish darted under, some of them long and thin, others disklike, some even seemed to have a constantly changing body structure. Some simply swam off, others dived, a few of the long, tubular fish tried to feed but failed. They had had their teeth removed. They'd grow bacxk in a few hours.... Long enough for the fish to disperse. It dropped alien crustaceans, some the size of cars, into the saltwater lake. Almost all looked like overgrown lobsters of the Terran variety, except that they had twelve more legs, two more pincers and a scorpion like tail.

The ships settled to observe...

Bumpity bumpity bump.

>::BUMP::<

CIVERIAN
(Formerly known as Geckoid/Supergecko/Gehyra rex)

A mutation of the gecko race, the Civerian was first created by unleashing a certain strength of post-ICBM radiation on a certain strand of uncommon gecko (now known as the lesser Civerian), itself a variety of the stump-toed gecko (gehyra mutilata) found indigenous to Random Kingdom and, to lesser extents, southern Golden Hills. The first Civerian was created when a lesser Civerian entered the restricted area in Confusion City, and most others were created by the radiation leaked by the first (they only got a fraction of the dosage and relied more on electrical augmentation to metamorphose) Today, however, most Civerians are deliberately created from excess lesser Civerians by use of controlled radiation and electrocution.

The traits of Civerians are variable depending on minute deviations in the mutation process, but usually have an IQ similar (if higher) and physical strength also similar (if lower) to humans. Their major weakness is electricity, which can not only disrupt their nervous and circulatory system like other humanoids, but can actually cause cell mutations akin to cancer in very small voltages. They are also less tolerant of radiation than humans, and their skin regrows much more slowly than that of humans, making them easily overwhelmed in armed combat.

Civerians are reptiles as opposed to mammals.

Another transmission went out across every unrestricted channel available "Again, the Planetary Restoration Council wishes to request that all nations recieving this transmission respond with coordinates or enclosed genetic data of flora and fauna native to their territories. The communications signal for the Planetary Restoration Council, as well as our mailing adress, will follow at the end of this announcement... We repeat..."

Otagia has captured a breeding population of the following animals and is prepared to send them to you immediately. Details follow.


http://wiki.dumpshock.com/images/b/be/Critters_Abrams_Lobster.JPG

Abrams Lobster
Homatus immanis
Named after the 21st century main battle tank, the Abrams lobster is Otagia's largest native crustacean, up to one meter long and massing up to 200 kilograms. The lobster is, for the most part, bulletproof, as established by some of the first settlers of Otagia. However, once opened, the lobster is one of the most delicious meals available, netting almost eighty kilograms of edible flesh. Its diet consists mostly of fish, other crustaceans, and the occasional sea bird colony.



http://wiki.dumpshock.com/images/7/76/Critter_Greater_Armadillo.jpg

Greater Armadillo
Dasypus major
A variant of the common Armadillo, which was imported to Otagia and evolved further during its time on the planet. The Greater Armadillo can grow up to 1.2 meters in length.

The Greater Armadillo behaves in a similar manner to a normal armadillo, feeding mostly on insects, especially termite colonies. It is nocturnal and has poor eyesight, thus relying on its sense of smell and taste.

It also has the distinction of being one of the stupidest mammals, as it is not intelligent enough to determine the appropriate response to threats, curling up into a defensive ball when presented with a harmless puppy or going into a berserker rage against a semi-truck. Its stupidity makes it very unpredictable and thus dangerous. Anecdotal reports of greater armadillos repeatedly running into tires or walls further substantiate this claim.