Prehistoric Oddworld
 

I know what the veteran members of this place would say. "This kinda thread has been done many times before!". However, I've searched older topics and whatnot, only to find prehistory-based topics from 2002, 03, ya know, those earlier years. So, Hey! Why not bring it back?!

What're your ideas on prehistoric Oddworld? What was the landscape? What were the (apparently) bizzare alienish creatures? Was the place humid or what? Explain your thoughts and theories on this.

Not sure how to start a conversation, so I'll just say what is considered fact so far. Mudokons evolved from bird-like creatures (Pretty bigs ones possibly), Sligs evolved from some swamp-dwelling slugs, Gluks evolved from octopus-like animals, and Grubbs evolved from salamanders. What else is there for us to discover?

Grubbs are evolved from fish, apparently. Presumably from a very toad-like lungfish.

I'm ready to bet Meeches weren't extinct yet...

They probably didn't even exist yet, if we're talking as far back as Mudokuns' pre-historic bird ancestors.
I'd like to think Scrabs have evolved from a more savage bird species, something like a cat-sized emu. Paramites could have been just furry bugs.

Obviously I'm just pulling these out of my arse, however unless I'm mistaken, that's what you want me to do... right?

I don't think scrabs were birds, nor paramites bugs. They belong to a unique class(es) of vertebrates.

Scrabs and Paramites are probably a result of intelligent design by the Shrykull God :)

this is for you BM

Can't Scarabs be related to actual crab-like creatures?

Okay, I was totally wrong. For some reason when I made that post all previous knowledge of those creatures that I originally had was gone.

I just looked at their appearances and made a guess. Pretty passive of me to just think "Scrab = Beak = Bird" or "Paramite = Web = Bug", but that's exactly what I did.

It's understandable. I too had the idea that Scrabs were from birds, but as Andrelvis put out, they seem closer to crustaceans or atleast unknown kind of animal. As for Paramites, I'm not so sure at all. What are they? Reptiles?

Anyhow, what I'd like to see are some gigantic creatures walking along ancient Oddworld's lands. Like comparable to dinosaurs.

Sea-Rex!

Oddworld at the time in which it's set at the moment has enough creatures at is, even with all the experiments and extinctions. I imagine pre-historic Oddworld to be completely FULL of creatures of all shapes and sizes. There's no real way to describe them unless you drew a picture... which makes me wish my scanner worked. It is good to think that Oddworld once had no forms of 'intelligent' life.

Or, maybe Pre-historic Oddworld was... Earth! *gasp*

You'll pay for that one. Oh yes.



Scrabs and paramites are unusual because they have a morphology like no other organism on Earth (yet strangely evoke the impression of arthropods, despite the fact that arthropod limbs are even more unlike scrab and paramite limbs than vertebrate limbs are). They are clearly vertebrates, however, as they have an endoskeleton and skeletal muscle.

Well, we know that places such as the sahara used to be covered in water.

maybe scrabania was an ocean at some point in the long forgotten past...

Only the northern fringe of the Sahara was underwater.

And Scrabania is tiny, sandwiched between forest and grassland (which makes no sense).

Ant' it true that Glukkons were a Peaceful race?
and what did the sligs elvoled from?

Glukkons were originally a race with a lot of history of magic and alchemy.
Sligs I suspect were tree-climbers or possibly like the trapdoor spider?

I'd have thought the Mudokons, Glukkons, and Sligs' ancestors were all colony type species, considering such an extreme shift in the whole of the species' behaviour would be very slow, mentally and physically. Perhaps they even all had a common ancestor...? (or their ancestors had a common ancestor) A minimum of three vertebrate species all having evolved a similar queen breeding system, in the same period of history would be a very large convergal coincedence. This may suggests the group Scrabs and Paramites belong to (and other vertebrates with 'ordinary' breeding behaviour) split off from those species very long ago, perhaps right near the primordial soup/early vertebrate history.

Scrabs and Paramites, with their similar leg structure and blindness are the closest two related. Meeches a step away due to different limbs, but they also use (presumably) the same 'visual' system. The Elum is a complete step away, having eyes and ordinary limbs.
Perhaps that suggests sighted vertebrates split from those which developed another system before the queen system came into effect? Though obviously that must have been a very early evolutionary split, considering the huge differences between Mudokons, Glukkons and Sligs.
But assuming Oktigi, whilst related to Glukkons, do not operate for, or from a queen, then perhaps they lineage evolved away from that whilst retaining a number of similarities? Assuming they're related, which is odd considering they appear to be invertabrates, like the octopus, whilst Glukkons do have an endoskeleton.

Except Paramites are eusocial and reproduce with queens.

I thought they did, but wasn't too sure on clarification. Shoulda checked really.
I'd take it that their queen system evolved independently from the other species, in this case, after said split off from the lineage that lead to Scrabs, and possibly Meeches (Paramites and Scrabs retained the original leg structure, where the Meech went on to change, also showing how they can be similar to, say, Elum but are on a different angle somewhat).
This may also show that the Glukkon lineage is more separated from the others and may also be convergent queen system. Maybe they are all separate, since it appears to work well on Oddworld, thus why it has cropped up often.
Either that or Shrykull did something. This god, at least, does physically exist within the universe. Or perhaps, the Shrykull spirit was created in respect of Scrabs and Paramites by a number highly powerful shamans from the Mudokons foggy prehistory? (either from scratch or with a representative from each species) Hence it wouldn't exactly have godly power over species evolution.

My first Oddworld character that I came up with in fan fiction, had a sort of prehistoric background to him. I came up with a really interesting idea for prehistoric oddworld. And I am going to talk about it in a story later on.

However I am going have a cool look into the distant prehistoric past which I hope will be interesting if not at least something fun to work with.

Did Sligs ever had legs? and did Scarbs and Glukkons ever had arms?

Glukkons still have arm, it’s walk they walk on. Their legs dangle pathetically from their body.

Oh yeah, Thanks!

We haven't seen any evidence of Sligs ever having any kind of actual legs in any concept drawings. This is in contrast with the Glukkons, Interns and Vykkers, which all had much longer legs in the past, now considerably shorter.

I'd laugh if they did and they evolved out of them. Why would a creature need to evolve out of legs, especially in as harsh a landscape as oddworld.? It's nearly as strange as that time at school we were talking about dinosaurs evolving into chickens o_0

lol. Who'd EVER think of dinos turning into birds? :fuzconf:

Anyhow, I don't even think Sligs, Glukkons, Interns, or Vykkers ever even existed in the prehistoric times. Unless their ancient ways of lifes were never recorded, which I guess WOULD mean that they were around in prehistoric times. But, I was more along the lines of back then when Sligs were slugs, Muds were birds, and Gluks were simple octopuses.

Birds are the most common group of vertabrates around, or at least, the most noticeable. Certainly they are highly successful. Why is it odd some dinosaurs evolved into birds, considering it gave those species an advantage. If the extinction had not occured, pterosaurs almost certainly would have been outcompeted.

I don't think Sligs, Mudokons or Glukkons were necessarily those creatures. Even if they were similar, they technically wouldn't be any of those, since they'd (as far as we know) evolved independently of slugs, birds and octopi on our planet. If Glukkons or Sligs did evolve from creatures like that, that raises the awkward question of where the skeleton appeared from. Certainly Glukkons moreso, with such similar features to those molluscs, considering the Gloktigi is presumably related also.

Look up snakes.

lol. Lighten up dude. I was joking about the Dinos and birds. :fuzwink:

As for the bit about the Muds, Gluks, and Sligs, I don't quite understand you. Are you saying that they aren't related to those creatures because of skeleton structure or some other bit on biology? Sorry, but I didn't get that last paragraph. Well, seriously, it's a videogame. A fictional videogame. I don't think it really matters that Oddworld has walking octopus gorillas that evolved from invertebres.

Of course it doesn’t matter, but to those who have interests in both evolution (or any other pure or social science) and Oddworld (or any fictional setting), it’s entertaining to compare the two.

And somewhat infuriating. I often wish they had been designed the same way as Nemo-Ramjet's Snaiad.