Appendix - The Natural World (SPOILERS)_A Prose of Years

NATURAL WORLD

PLANET

Only humans, though potentially with a wider range of characteristics than homo sapiens

Not higher beings; (or possibly they all died a long time ago) (great cataclysm?)

Could be that dark power which is causing trouble

ANIMALS

There are nearly none left in the world. Indeed, in describing an animal to a native, one usually must start with a plant or a beast, and define the way backwards to animal.

Animal husbandry was practiced by the great empires, and animals continued to exist thereafter. However, the dark lord gradually introduced beasts which killed and replaced them, continuing to reproduce and expand. The dark lord completed this project some time ago, and there are nearly no animals left. What domesticated animals did exist were typically butchered by invasions of beasts, as beasts are driven to kill domesticated animals just as they are humans, though such domesticated animals largely were not capable of defending themselves.

There do remain small insects, such as bees and mosquitos.

Unclear if animals can use ki.

BEASTS

Capable of reproduction; edible; like to eat humans too; have a spiritual essence and so can drop monster cores; original created by dark power; long and difficult process; every time he creates a new one, humanity as a whole strengthens and a new equilibrium is reached

Exceptionally long lived beasts stronger and smarter; some may become capable of speech

[TBD: Uses for Beast cores, besides currency]

KNOWN BEASTS

Terrestrial Beasts

Name

Rank

(Pack)

Height

Dry

Weight[1]

Butterflies[2]

0.1 m

0.1 kg

Grouse[3]

0.3 m

3 kg

Squirrels

0.2 m

2 kg

Rabbit

0.2 m

10 kg

Cane Toad

0.5 m

5 kg

Beaver

0.4 m

25 kg

Bobcat

0.5 m

15 kg

Coyote

0.4 m

15 kg

Fox

0.5 m

10 kg

Lynx

0.6 m

20 kg

Skunks

0.2 m

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5 kg

Human (adult, typical non-S)

F[4]

1.8 m

80 kg

Boar

0.8 m

80 kg

Deer, White-Tailed

1.0 m

100 kg

Raptor, Ground[5]

0.8 m

50 kg

Gray Wolves

0.8 m

40 kg

Komodo Dragon

3.0 m (L)

70 kg

Tortoise

1.4 m

200 kg

Bighorn Sheep

1.0 m

90 kg

Porcupines

0.4 m

10 kg

Human (adult, strong non-S)

E[6]

2.0 m

100 kg

Dire Wolves

1.2 m

100 kg

Elk

1.5 m

250 kg

Ostrich

2.8 m

150 kg

Bear, Black

1.0 m

150 kg

Mountain Goat

1.2 m

100 kg

Terror Bird

2.5 m

150 kg

Alpine Ape

2.5 m

250 kg

Horse

1.8 m

500 kg

Moose

2.0 m

500 kg

Bison

2.0 m

800 kg

Bear, Grizzly

1.4 m

320 kg

Mountain Lion (Cougar)

0.8 m

100 kg

Saber-Toothed Cat

1.2 m

300 kg

Camelop

2.2 m

800 kg

Short Demon Llama

3.0 m

650 kg

Giraffe

5.0 m

1,000 kg

Elephant

3.5 m

4,000 kg

Rhinoceros

3.0 m

2,000 kg

Mammoth

4.0 m

10,000 kg

Aquatic Beasts

Name

Rank

(Pack)

Height

Weight

Hippopotamus

2.8 m

1800 kg

Crocodile, Saltwater

5.0 m (L)

1000 kg

Alligator, Freshwater

4.0 m

250 kg

Giant Crab

0.5 m

15 kg

Stingray, Giant Freshwater

5.0 m (L)

600 kg

Sturgeon

6.0 m (L)

1200 kg

Gar, Alligator

3.0 m (L)

130 kg

Shark, River

2.5 m (L)

200 kg

Typical Characteristics of Beast Ranks

Rank

Avg. Height[7]

Typical Heights

Avg. Weight[8]

Typical Weights

0.3

0.1 – 0.5 m

0.1 – 25 kg

0.8

0.5 – 1.3 m

25 – 100 kg

1.6

1.3 – 2.0 m

216

100 – 400 kg

2.4

2.0 – 3.0 m

512

400 – 750 kg

3.4

3.0 – 4.0 m

1000

750 – 1400 kg

4.4

4.0 – 5.0 m

1728

1400 – 2250 kg

5.6

5.0 – 6.0 m

2744

2250 – 3500 kg

PLANTS

May acquire ki, but of far less concentration than anything else

A diet of plants may assist in ki cultivation

MYTHICAL METALS

[TBD]

THE BONSACON RIVER

Approximately 2400 kilometers from Dorflich to Port City and its mouth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Course_of_the_Colorado_River

Average flow rate of 5 kph, though this varies considerably from place to place.

* Certain meandering canyons have a relatively placid speed

* There are two major and several minor lakes along the Bonsacon Rivers passage. Although the flow rate into and out these remains constant (m^3 / s), the effective float speed through the lakes is null. Thus any craft will need propulsion to move.

* In one set of canyons, our merry band will pass a pair of statutes 200 m statues. Their significance is yet to be determined, other than as an artifact of an ancient and lost civilization.

* As they do so, Evert asks Lennie to sense the rapids. Freaks out at a face staring back at him. Evert directs the barge over to a beach. Lennie and he go for a walk into the river. Evert creates a bubble of air and water around them and they walk around on the ground. Investigate rocks forming the rapids, and they are pieces of more statuary. The find three heads, which is enough to cross the width of the canyon + 2 in place. They go to the foot of the statues underwater and find the most complex runes and Evert has ever seen. Why underwater—it was a damn, and the water level was lower on this side. This was above water. Channel ki into the rune, and it speaks to them. A very lines of verse.[9] Never knew a rune could do that. It can’t. A rune can make a noise, but it is discrete. Can’t change the nature of the sound to make speech. There’s a lot more. They listen to it all. Should they take one with them to study or sell? Deeply unsettling the great power of the civilization gone.

* Name derived from a modified form of the Esperanto word translated from Buenaventura in Spanish, a name of a mythical river that ran from the Utah/Colorado Rockies into the Pacific Ocean, and briefly attributed to the Green River, which indeed is a part of the journey, from the Yampa, to the Green, to the Colorado.

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[1] Weight after death; thus, excluding weight of ki while still alive

[2] Wings are made of ki

[3] Small ground birds; individually G-rank; as a flock, can be F-ranked

[4] Would be referred to as G-ranked

[5] Turkey sized, bird equivalent of a velociraptor. Flightless. Hibernate winter.

[6] Would be referred to as F-ranked

[7] Avg. Height = 0.3 * x^1.5, where x = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Though a linear (or slower) growth rate is probably more accurate, it feels too slow. The higher tier animals need to be more viscerally imposing.

[8] Avg. Weights = 8 * x^3, where x = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. In so much as the weight of an animal increases by the third power relative to size, this is a good approximation, though does not take into account the weight of any ki.

[9] “And so in the lands of windswept sands, I grew wheat in my greatness.”

Appendix - The Natural World (SPOILERS)

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