Well... it is an alien planet. You can't expect the lifeforms to behave like the ones on Earth.
But you can expect them to obey the laws of physics.
Perhaps the SD has much stronger bones and thrives in heat like some bacteria.
I defer to dagothUR's excellent explanation of why that's not how that works.
Which is literally what I was arguing against. He said it would die due to its size and the heat. I said, perhaps it thrives in heat, like some Extremophile bacteria, such as a Thermophlie, an organism that can thrive at temperatures between 45–122 °C. And yes, I know it's not bacteria, but it could've evolved those traits. And I refer to my previous post, where I ask why it even matters. Its the Dragon. It goes in the place with the lava.
And where does it get it's food? It's jaw is clearly meant for attacking things not too far off it's own size, and yet there is nothing anywhere near it that even approaches that size.
Also, if you ask me, any decent fantasy does not have dragons living in a volcano just because they breath fire.
Maybe the swarms of creatures in the ILZ? It could just have those giant teeth for defense. Most fantasies have dragons in volcanoes because they like heat. Sound familiar? Not all dragons even breathe fire, so yes, it has nothing to do with that. It does have something to with the fact that its the Sea DRAGON, and if it were anywhere else people would wonder why it isn't in the Lava biome.
I think, perhaps, that we have been reading different fantasy. But if the teeth are for defense, then defense from WHAT? There's NOTHING down there big enough for teeth like that to be necessary or even effective. Try killing a housefly with a broadsword and you will have some idea of how useful teeth like that are down there.
Perhaps, oh I dunno, the OTHER massive Sea Dragon with huge teeth? They could be territorial, and if one encroaches on the other's territory, they fight for it.
Territorial behavior has some requirements for it to be at all practical. Primarily, food needs to be abundant and concentrated in certain areas. If food is spread evenly everywhere, there is simply no point in fighting over territory. One stretch of sea is as good as another, so if your competitor is one place, you simply go somewhere else. Territorial behavior will also not evolve if there is very little food available. Fighting members of your own species takes a lot of energy, energy that could be better used hunting what little prey is available. Fighting over food can be a positive evolutionary trait because it helps ensure that the strongest, toughest, and smartest examples of a species survive. However, if survival itself is a challenge for a species, having them fight amongst themselves will only serve to deplete their numbers and waste precious resources.
The sea dragons live in an environment where food is both scarce and spread over a large area. Such extravagant adaptations that serve only for combat with their own species will not serve them well in such a place as that.
Territorial behavior doesn't necessarily have to do with food. It could have to do with one area being a more ideal temperature, as the ALZ is hotter than the ILZ. it could have to do with space, as the ILZ is more open than the ALZ. Maybe the Lava Castle is like a throne, and they see it as a sign of power and which ever one lives there is the best.
Well... it is an alien planet. You can't expect the lifeforms to behave like the ones on Earth.
But you can expect them to obey the laws of physics.
Perhaps the SD has much stronger bones and thrives in heat like some bacteria.
I defer to dagothUR's excellent explanation of why that's not how that works.
Which is literally what I was arguing against. He said it would die due to its size and the heat. I said, perhaps it thrives in heat, like some Extremophile bacteria, such as a Thermophlie, an organism that can thrive at temperatures between 45–122 °C. And yes, I know it's not bacteria, but it could've evolved those traits. And I refer to my previous post, where I ask why it even matters. Its the Dragon. It goes in the place with the lava.
And where does it get it's food? It's jaw is clearly meant for attacking things not too far off it's own size, and yet there is nothing anywhere near it that even approaches that size.
Also, if you ask me, any decent fantasy does not have dragons living in a volcano just because they breath fire.
Maybe the swarms of creatures in the ILZ? It could just have those giant teeth for defense. Most fantasies have dragons in volcanoes because they like heat. Sound familiar? Not all dragons even breathe fire, so yes, it has nothing to do with that. It does have something to with the fact that its the Sea DRAGON, and if it were anywhere else people would wonder why it isn't in the Lava biome.
I think, perhaps, that we have been reading different fantasy. But if the teeth are for defense, then defense from WHAT? There's NOTHING down there big enough for teeth like that to be necessary or even effective. Try killing a housefly with a broadsword and you will have some idea of how useful teeth like that are down there.
Perhaps, oh I dunno, the OTHER massive Sea Dragon with huge teeth? They could be territorial, and if one encroaches on the other's territory, they fight for it.
Territorial behavior has some requirements for it to be at all practical. Primarily, food needs to be abundant and concentrated in certain areas. If food is spread evenly everywhere, there is simply no point in fighting over territory. One stretch of sea is as good as another, so if your competitor is one place, you simply go somewhere else. Territorial behavior will also not evolve if there is very little food available. Fighting members of your own species takes a lot of energy, energy that could be better used hunting what little prey is available. Fighting over food can be a positive evolutionary trait because it helps ensure that the strongest, toughest, and smartest examples of a species survive. However, if survival itself is a challenge for a species, having them fight amongst themselves will only serve to deplete their numbers and waste precious resources.
The sea dragons live in an environment where food is both scarce and spread over a large area. Such extravagant adaptations that serve only for combat with their own species will not serve them well in such a place as that.
Territorial behavior doesn't necessarily have to do with food. It could have to do with one area being a more ideal temperature, as the ALZ is hotter than the ILZ. it could have to do with space, as the ILZ is more open than the ALZ. Maybe the Lava Castle is like a throne, and they see it as a sign of power and which ever one lives there is the best.
Displays of power just for the sake of it are the domain of species with time, resources, and lives to waste. A large creature living in an environment like that is none of those. Fighting over areas with a certain temperature (and they are far more likely to fight over cooler areas if such a huge creature found itself in such an environment. It's one thing to say they thrive on heat, quite another to actually understand what that means and all the processes involved) makes no sense, simply because that is a resource that cannot be depleted. There's no need to compete over it.
Well... it is an alien planet. You can't expect the lifeforms to behave like the ones on Earth.
But you can expect them to obey the laws of physics.
Perhaps the SD has much stronger bones and thrives in heat like some bacteria.
I defer to dagothUR's excellent explanation of why that's not how that works.
Which is literally what I was arguing against. He said it would die due to its size and the heat. I said, perhaps it thrives in heat, like some Extremophile bacteria, such as a Thermophlie, an organism that can thrive at temperatures between 45–122 °C. And yes, I know it's not bacteria, but it could've evolved those traits. And I refer to my previous post, where I ask why it even matters. Its the Dragon. It goes in the place with the lava.
And where does it get it's food? It's jaw is clearly meant for attacking things not too far off it's own size, and yet there is nothing anywhere near it that even approaches that size.
Also, if you ask me, any decent fantasy does not have dragons living in a volcano just because they breath fire.
Maybe the swarms of creatures in the ILZ? It could just have those giant teeth for defense. Most fantasies have dragons in volcanoes because they like heat. Sound familiar? Not all dragons even breathe fire, so yes, it has nothing to do with that. It does have something to with the fact that its the Sea DRAGON, and if it were anywhere else people would wonder why it isn't in the Lava biome.
I think, perhaps, that we have been reading different fantasy. But if the teeth are for defense, then defense from WHAT? There's NOTHING down there big enough for teeth like that to be necessary or even effective. Try killing a housefly with a broadsword and you will have some idea of how useful teeth like that are down there.
Perhaps, oh I dunno, the OTHER massive Sea Dragon with huge teeth? They could be territorial, and if one encroaches on the other's territory, they fight for it.
Territorial behavior has some requirements for it to be at all practical. Primarily, food needs to be abundant and concentrated in certain areas. If food is spread evenly everywhere, there is simply no point in fighting over territory. One stretch of sea is as good as another, so if your competitor is one place, you simply go somewhere else. Territorial behavior will also not evolve if there is very little food available. Fighting members of your own species takes a lot of energy, energy that could be better used hunting what little prey is available. Fighting over food can be a positive evolutionary trait because it helps ensure that the strongest, toughest, and smartest examples of a species survive. However, if survival itself is a challenge for a species, having them fight amongst themselves will only serve to deplete their numbers and waste precious resources.
The sea dragons live in an environment where food is both scarce and spread over a large area. Such extravagant adaptations that serve only for combat with their own species will not serve them well in such a place as that.
Territorial behavior doesn't necessarily have to do with food. It could have to do with one area being a more ideal temperature, as the ALZ is hotter than the ILZ. it could have to do with space, as the ILZ is more open than the ALZ. Maybe the Lava Castle is like a throne, and they see it as a sign of power and which ever one lives there is the best.
Displays of power just for the sake of it are the domain of species with time, resources, and lives to waste. A large creature living in an environment like that is none of those. Fighting over areas with a certain temperature (and they are far more likely to fight over cooler areas if such a huge creature found itself in such an environment. It's one thing to say they thrive on heat, quite another to actually understand what that means and all the processes involved) makes no sense, simply because that is a resource that cannot be depleted. There's no need to compete over it.
On the contrary. There's plenty of food (you know all the creatures that now cover the Lava Zones) it has SO much time to waste (what does it do that takes up time?) and as for lives, a most species don't understand whether they have lives to waste or not. I doubt they do censuses to see just how many of them there are left. Social dominance is a real thing, especially with things like wolves that may not have all that much readily available food. It doesn't matter which temperature they'd fight for, because while I stand by my claim that they either thrive in or can withstand heat, perhaps one temperature range is more conducive to their comfort. And just because it can't be depleted, doesn't mean it can't be more prevalent in certain areas. If It's the dead of winter and you're chilling in a hot spring, I will fight you for it.
There's a lot of strange behaviour in the animal kingdom when it comes to random acts of chest-puffing and violence towards others. Dolphins stalking and killing porpoises simply for fun, chimps snatching and then feasting on baby chimps, bull sharks will attack just about anything just to see what it tastes like.
You guys are basically debating whether or not animals can have what we humans have come to call the "ego". Would a Sea Dragon fight another Sea Dragon without a cause, in what we may as well call a pissing match.
I don't think we have enough knowledge of them to say for certain, but based on our own Earth animals, it's certainly possible.
Well... it is an alien planet. You can't expect the lifeforms to behave like the ones on Earth.
But you can expect them to obey the laws of physics.
Perhaps the SD has much stronger bones and thrives in heat like some bacteria.
I defer to dagothUR's excellent explanation of why that's not how that works.
Which is literally what I was arguing against. He said it would die due to its size and the heat. I said, perhaps it thrives in heat, like some Extremophile bacteria, such as a Thermophlie, an organism that can thrive at temperatures between 45–122 °C. And yes, I know it's not bacteria, but it could've evolved those traits. And I refer to my previous post, where I ask why it even matters. Its the Dragon. It goes in the place with the lava.
And where does it get it's food? It's jaw is clearly meant for attacking things not too far off it's own size, and yet there is nothing anywhere near it that even approaches that size.
Also, if you ask me, any decent fantasy does not have dragons living in a volcano just because they breath fire.
Maybe the swarms of creatures in the ILZ? It could just have those giant teeth for defense. Most fantasies have dragons in volcanoes because they like heat. Sound familiar? Not all dragons even breathe fire, so yes, it has nothing to do with that. It does have something to with the fact that its the Sea DRAGON, and if it were anywhere else people would wonder why it isn't in the Lava biome.
I think, perhaps, that we have been reading different fantasy. But if the teeth are for defense, then defense from WHAT? There's NOTHING down there big enough for teeth like that to be necessary or even effective. Try killing a housefly with a broadsword and you will have some idea of how useful teeth like that are down there.
Perhaps, oh I dunno, the OTHER massive Sea Dragon with huge teeth? They could be territorial, and if one encroaches on the other's territory, they fight for it.
Territorial behavior has some requirements for it to be at all practical. Primarily, food needs to be abundant and concentrated in certain areas. If food is spread evenly everywhere, there is simply no point in fighting over territory. One stretch of sea is as good as another, so if your competitor is one place, you simply go somewhere else. Territorial behavior will also not evolve if there is very little food available. Fighting members of your own species takes a lot of energy, energy that could be better used hunting what little prey is available. Fighting over food can be a positive evolutionary trait because it helps ensure that the strongest, toughest, and smartest examples of a species survive. However, if survival itself is a challenge for a species, having them fight amongst themselves will only serve to deplete their numbers and waste precious resources.
The sea dragons live in an environment where food is both scarce and spread over a large area. Such extravagant adaptations that serve only for combat with their own species will not serve them well in such a place as that.
Territorial behavior doesn't necessarily have to do with food. It could have to do with one area being a more ideal temperature, as the ALZ is hotter than the ILZ. it could have to do with space, as the ILZ is more open than the ALZ. Maybe the Lava Castle is like a throne, and they see it as a sign of power and which ever one lives there is the best.
Displays of power just for the sake of it are the domain of species with time, resources, and lives to waste. A large creature living in an environment like that is none of those. Fighting over areas with a certain temperature (and they are far more likely to fight over cooler areas if such a huge creature found itself in such an environment. It's one thing to say they thrive on heat, quite another to actually understand what that means and all the processes involved) makes no sense, simply because that is a resource that cannot be depleted. There's no need to compete over it.
On the contrary. There's plenty of food (you know all the creatures that now cover the Lava Zones) it has SO much time to waste (what does it do that takes up time?) and as for lives, a most species don't understand whether they have lives to waste or not. I doubt they do censuses to see just how many of them there are left. Social dominance is a real thing, especially with things like wolves that may not have all that much readily available food. It doesn't matter which temperature they'd fight for, because while I stand by my claim that they either thrive in or can withstand heat, perhaps one temperature range is more conducive to their comfort. And just because it can't be depleted, doesn't mean it can't be more prevalent in certain areas. If It's the dead of winter and you're chilling in a hot spring, I will fight you for it.
Well, now your just getting into how little sense the lava biomes make in general. There are no producers, no autotrophs, to support such a large food chain.
As to Wasting lives, it is not a question of how they morally consider wether or not they, as a species, can afford to have that one guy die, it's simply that low-population species that kill each other for no good reason all the time go extinct.
And is there any reason for people to fight each other over a hotspring? After all, there is no reason (at least, no rational reason, humans have a unique capacity to do things for no good reason at all) not to share said hot spring. You might argue that it could be a very small hot spring, but that's where the analogy breaks down: an area of warm water would not be so small or well defined as a hot spring on land would be.
Well... it is an alien planet. You can't expect the lifeforms to behave like the ones on Earth.
But you can expect them to obey the laws of physics.
Perhaps the SD has much stronger bones and thrives in heat like some bacteria.
I defer to dagothUR's excellent explanation of why that's not how that works.
Which is literally what I was arguing against. He said it would die due to its size and the heat. I said, perhaps it thrives in heat, like some Extremophile bacteria, such as a Thermophlie, an organism that can thrive at temperatures between 45–122 °C. And yes, I know it's not bacteria, but it could've evolved those traits. And I refer to my previous post, where I ask why it even matters. Its the Dragon. It goes in the place with the lava.
And where does it get it's food? It's jaw is clearly meant for attacking things not too far off it's own size, and yet there is nothing anywhere near it that even approaches that size.
Also, if you ask me, any decent fantasy does not have dragons living in a volcano just because they breath fire.
Maybe the swarms of creatures in the ILZ? It could just have those giant teeth for defense. Most fantasies have dragons in volcanoes because they like heat. Sound familiar? Not all dragons even breathe fire, so yes, it has nothing to do with that. It does have something to with the fact that its the Sea DRAGON, and if it were anywhere else people would wonder why it isn't in the Lava biome.
I think, perhaps, that we have been reading different fantasy. But if the teeth are for defense, then defense from WHAT? There's NOTHING down there big enough for teeth like that to be necessary or even effective. Try killing a housefly with a broadsword and you will have some idea of how useful teeth like that are down there.
Perhaps, oh I dunno, the OTHER massive Sea Dragon with huge teeth? They could be territorial, and if one encroaches on the other's territory, they fight for it.
Territorial behavior has some requirements for it to be at all practical. Primarily, food needs to be abundant and concentrated in certain areas. If food is spread evenly everywhere, there is simply no point in fighting over territory. One stretch of sea is as good as another, so if your competitor is one place, you simply go somewhere else. Territorial behavior will also not evolve if there is very little food available. Fighting members of your own species takes a lot of energy, energy that could be better used hunting what little prey is available. Fighting over food can be a positive evolutionary trait because it helps ensure that the strongest, toughest, and smartest examples of a species survive. However, if survival itself is a challenge for a species, having them fight amongst themselves will only serve to deplete their numbers and waste precious resources.
The sea dragons live in an environment where food is both scarce and spread over a large area. Such extravagant adaptations that serve only for combat with their own species will not serve them well in such a place as that.
Territorial behavior doesn't necessarily have to do with food. It could have to do with one area being a more ideal temperature, as the ALZ is hotter than the ILZ. it could have to do with space, as the ILZ is more open than the ALZ. Maybe the Lava Castle is like a throne, and they see it as a sign of power and which ever one lives there is the best.
Displays of power just for the sake of it are the domain of species with time, resources, and lives to waste. A large creature living in an environment like that is none of those. Fighting over areas with a certain temperature (and they are far more likely to fight over cooler areas if such a huge creature found itself in such an environment. It's one thing to say they thrive on heat, quite another to actually understand what that means and all the processes involved) makes no sense, simply because that is a resource that cannot be depleted. There's no need to compete over it.
On the contrary. There's plenty of food (you know all the creatures that now cover the Lava Zones) it has SO much time to waste (what does it do that takes up time?) and as for lives, a most species don't understand whether they have lives to waste or not. I doubt they do censuses to see just how many of them there are left. Social dominance is a real thing, especially with things like wolves that may not have all that much readily available food. It doesn't matter which temperature they'd fight for, because while I stand by my claim that they either thrive in or can withstand heat, perhaps one temperature range is more conducive to their comfort. And just because it can't be depleted, doesn't mean it can't be more prevalent in certain areas. If It's the dead of winter and you're chilling in a hot spring, I will fight you for it.
Well, now your just getting into how little sense the lava biomes make in general. There are no producers, no autotrophs, to support such a large food chain.
As to Wasting lives, it is not a question of how they morally consider wether or not they, as a species, can afford to have that one guy die, it's simply that low-population species that kill each other for no good reason all the time go extinct.
And is there any reason for people to fight each other over a hotspring? After all, there is no reason (at least, no rational reason, humans have a unique capacity to do things for no good reason at all) not to share said hot spring. You might argue that it could be a very small hot spring, but that's where the analogy breaks down: an area of warm water would not be so small or well defined as a hot spring on land would be.
Again. On the contrary. There's foliage, most likely some plankton, and possibly more. See, when it comes to extinction, why do you think there are only two left? I never said there were only ever two. They could very well be on the brink of extinction because of these behaviors. On the whole hotspring thing, I don't think you got the analogy. Perhaps I should've clarified. If I'm a wolf, in the dead of winter, and you're also a wolf, and you're chilling at a hot spring, I'll tear you a new one until you leave because I'm an animal and not willing to share those benefits with you.
Well... it is an alien planet. You can't expect the lifeforms to behave like the ones on Earth.
But you can expect them to obey the laws of physics.
Perhaps the SD has much stronger bones and thrives in heat like some bacteria.
I defer to dagothUR's excellent explanation of why that's not how that works.
Which is literally what I was arguing against. He said it would die due to its size and the heat. I said, perhaps it thrives in heat, like some Extremophile bacteria, such as a Thermophlie, an organism that can thrive at temperatures between 45–122 °C. And yes, I know it's not bacteria, but it could've evolved those traits. And I refer to my previous post, where I ask why it even matters. Its the Dragon. It goes in the place with the lava.
And where does it get it's food? It's jaw is clearly meant for attacking things not too far off it's own size, and yet there is nothing anywhere near it that even approaches that size.
Also, if you ask me, any decent fantasy does not have dragons living in a volcano just because they breath fire.
Maybe the swarms of creatures in the ILZ? It could just have those giant teeth for defense. Most fantasies have dragons in volcanoes because they like heat. Sound familiar? Not all dragons even breathe fire, so yes, it has nothing to do with that. It does have something to with the fact that its the Sea DRAGON, and if it were anywhere else people would wonder why it isn't in the Lava biome.
I think, perhaps, that we have been reading different fantasy. But if the teeth are for defense, then defense from WHAT? There's NOTHING down there big enough for teeth like that to be necessary or even effective. Try killing a housefly with a broadsword and you will have some idea of how useful teeth like that are down there.
Perhaps, oh I dunno, the OTHER massive Sea Dragon with huge teeth? They could be territorial, and if one encroaches on the other's territory, they fight for it.
Territorial behavior has some requirements for it to be at all practical. Primarily, food needs to be abundant and concentrated in certain areas. If food is spread evenly everywhere, there is simply no point in fighting over territory. One stretch of sea is as good as another, so if your competitor is one place, you simply go somewhere else. Territorial behavior will also not evolve if there is very little food available. Fighting members of your own species takes a lot of energy, energy that could be better used hunting what little prey is available. Fighting over food can be a positive evolutionary trait because it helps ensure that the strongest, toughest, and smartest examples of a species survive. However, if survival itself is a challenge for a species, having them fight amongst themselves will only serve to deplete their numbers and waste precious resources.
The sea dragons live in an environment where food is both scarce and spread over a large area. Such extravagant adaptations that serve only for combat with their own species will not serve them well in such a place as that.
Territorial behavior doesn't necessarily have to do with food. It could have to do with one area being a more ideal temperature, as the ALZ is hotter than the ILZ. it could have to do with space, as the ILZ is more open than the ALZ. Maybe the Lava Castle is like a throne, and they see it as a sign of power and which ever one lives there is the best.
Displays of power just for the sake of it are the domain of species with time, resources, and lives to waste. A large creature living in an environment like that is none of those. Fighting over areas with a certain temperature (and they are far more likely to fight over cooler areas if such a huge creature found itself in such an environment. It's one thing to say they thrive on heat, quite another to actually understand what that means and all the processes involved) makes no sense, simply because that is a resource that cannot be depleted. There's no need to compete over it.
On the contrary. There's plenty of food (you know all the creatures that now cover the Lava Zones) it has SO much time to waste (what does it do that takes up time?) and as for lives, a most species don't understand whether they have lives to waste or not. I doubt they do censuses to see just how many of them there are left. Social dominance is a real thing, especially with things like wolves that may not have all that much readily available food. It doesn't matter which temperature they'd fight for, because while I stand by my claim that they either thrive in or can withstand heat, perhaps one temperature range is more conducive to their comfort. And just because it can't be depleted, doesn't mean it can't be more prevalent in certain areas. If It's the dead of winter and you're chilling in a hot spring, I will fight you for it.
Well, now your just getting into how little sense the lava biomes make in general. There are no producers, no autotrophs, to support such a large food chain.
As to Wasting lives, it is not a question of how they morally consider wether or not they, as a species, can afford to have that one guy die, it's simply that low-population species that kill each other for no good reason all the time go extinct.
And is there any reason for people to fight each other over a hotspring? After all, there is no reason (at least, no rational reason, humans have a unique capacity to do things for no good reason at all) not to share said hot spring. You might argue that it could be a very small hot spring, but that's where the analogy breaks down: an area of warm water would not be so small or well defined as a hot spring on land would be.
Again. On the contrary. There's foliage, most likely some plankton, and possibly more. See, when it comes to extinction, why do you think there are only two left? I never said there were only ever two. They could very well be on the brink of extinction because of these behaviors. On the whole hotspring thing, I don't think you got the analogy. Perhaps I should've clarified. If I'm a wolf, in the dead of winter, and you're also a wolf, and you're chilling at a hot spring, I'll tear you a new one until you leave because I'm an animal and not willing to share those benefits with you.
I would say, in fact that they are indeed on the brink of extinction. My guess would be that they evolved in an environment quite different from their current one. When geological activity radically altered it, they started dying off. I expect that these two are some of the last, perhaps the last, of their species, clinging onto life in a small-prey eating lifestyle that they are very poorly suited to.
Your wolf analogy may apply to wolves, but wolves are territorial animals. They are territorial for a number of reasons, primarily over competition for finite and localized game.
There is a species of monkey that actually DO hang out in hot springs, and large numbers of them often share the same spring. They are not particularly territorial, so that poses no problem for them. An unwillingness to share is a characteristic of SOME animals, not ALL animals.
Well... it is an alien planet. You can't expect the lifeforms to behave like the ones on Earth.
But you can expect them to obey the laws of physics.
Perhaps the SD has much stronger bones and thrives in heat like some bacteria.
I defer to dagothUR's excellent explanation of why that's not how that works.
Which is literally what I was arguing against. He said it would die due to its size and the heat. I said, perhaps it thrives in heat, like some Extremophile bacteria, such as a Thermophlie, an organism that can thrive at temperatures between 45–122 °C. And yes, I know it's not bacteria, but it could've evolved those traits. And I refer to my previous post, where I ask why it even matters. Its the Dragon. It goes in the place with the lava.
And where does it get it's food? It's jaw is clearly meant for attacking things not too far off it's own size, and yet there is nothing anywhere near it that even approaches that size.
Also, if you ask me, any decent fantasy does not have dragons living in a volcano just because they breath fire.
Maybe the swarms of creatures in the ILZ? It could just have those giant teeth for defense. Most fantasies have dragons in volcanoes because they like heat. Sound familiar? Not all dragons even breathe fire, so yes, it has nothing to do with that. It does have something to with the fact that its the Sea DRAGON, and if it were anywhere else people would wonder why it isn't in the Lava biome.
I think, perhaps, that we have been reading different fantasy. But if the teeth are for defense, then defense from WHAT? There's NOTHING down there big enough for teeth like that to be necessary or even effective. Try killing a housefly with a broadsword and you will have some idea of how useful teeth like that are down there.
Perhaps, oh I dunno, the OTHER massive Sea Dragon with huge teeth? They could be territorial, and if one encroaches on the other's territory, they fight for it.
Territorial behavior has some requirements for it to be at all practical. Primarily, food needs to be abundant and concentrated in certain areas. If food is spread evenly everywhere, there is simply no point in fighting over territory. One stretch of sea is as good as another, so if your competitor is one place, you simply go somewhere else. Territorial behavior will also not evolve if there is very little food available. Fighting members of your own species takes a lot of energy, energy that could be better used hunting what little prey is available. Fighting over food can be a positive evolutionary trait because it helps ensure that the strongest, toughest, and smartest examples of a species survive. However, if survival itself is a challenge for a species, having them fight amongst themselves will only serve to deplete their numbers and waste precious resources.
The sea dragons live in an environment where food is both scarce and spread over a large area. Such extravagant adaptations that serve only for combat with their own species will not serve them well in such a place as that.
Territorial behavior doesn't necessarily have to do with food. It could have to do with one area being a more ideal temperature, as the ALZ is hotter than the ILZ. it could have to do with space, as the ILZ is more open than the ALZ. Maybe the Lava Castle is like a throne, and they see it as a sign of power and which ever one lives there is the best.
Displays of power just for the sake of it are the domain of species with time, resources, and lives to waste. A large creature living in an environment like that is none of those. Fighting over areas with a certain temperature (and they are far more likely to fight over cooler areas if such a huge creature found itself in such an environment. It's one thing to say they thrive on heat, quite another to actually understand what that means and all the processes involved) makes no sense, simply because that is a resource that cannot be depleted. There's no need to compete over it.
On the contrary. There's plenty of food (you know all the creatures that now cover the Lava Zones) it has SO much time to waste (what does it do that takes up time?) and as for lives, a most species don't understand whether they have lives to waste or not. I doubt they do censuses to see just how many of them there are left. Social dominance is a real thing, especially with things like wolves that may not have all that much readily available food. It doesn't matter which temperature they'd fight for, because while I stand by my claim that they either thrive in or can withstand heat, perhaps one temperature range is more conducive to their comfort. And just because it can't be depleted, doesn't mean it can't be more prevalent in certain areas. If It's the dead of winter and you're chilling in a hot spring, I will fight you for it.
Well, now your just getting into how little sense the lava biomes make in general. There are no producers, no autotrophs, to support such a large food chain.
As to Wasting lives, it is not a question of how they morally consider wether or not they, as a species, can afford to have that one guy die, it's simply that low-population species that kill each other for no good reason all the time go extinct.
And is there any reason for people to fight each other over a hotspring? After all, there is no reason (at least, no rational reason, humans have a unique capacity to do things for no good reason at all) not to share said hot spring. You might argue that it could be a very small hot spring, but that's where the analogy breaks down: an area of warm water would not be so small or well defined as a hot spring on land would be.
Again. On the contrary. There's foliage, most likely some plankton, and possibly more. See, when it comes to extinction, why do you think there are only two left? I never said there were only ever two. They could very well be on the brink of extinction because of these behaviors. On the whole hotspring thing, I don't think you got the analogy. Perhaps I should've clarified. If I'm a wolf, in the dead of winter, and you're also a wolf, and you're chilling at a hot spring, I'll tear you a new one until you leave because I'm an animal and not willing to share those benefits with you.
I would say, in fact that they are indeed on the brink of extinction. My guess would be that they evolved in an environment quite different from their current one. When geological activity radically altered it, they started dying off. I expect that these two are some of the last, perhaps the last, of their species, clinging onto life in a small-prey eating lifestyle that they are very poorly suited to.
Your wolf analogy may apply to wolves, but wolves are territorial animals. They are territorial for a number of reasons, primarily over competition for finite and localized game.
There is a species of monkey that actually DO hang out in hot springs, and large numbers of them often share the same spring. They are not particularly territorial, so that poses no problem for them. An unwillingness to share is a characteristic of SOME animals, not ALL animals.
Well, you may think that, but I still believe that they died due to territorial and dominant behaviors. And while unwillingness to share isn't true for all animals, neither is a willingness. That's a double edged sword. So what it boils down to is that we have conflicting opinions, with no true way to prove them.
There is unlikely to be plankton at that depth or given the lack of sunlight. The producers are more likely to be bacteria that metabolize something the lava gives off.
Being an animal doesn't mean tearing apart another over a resource when both could utilize it for survival. Some may, but it isn't a given in any situation. Look at both gopher tortoise burrows and gator holes. Gator holes are often the only source of water during the drier winters and a critical resource for a number of species. Tortoise burrows often house the tortoise, snakes, frogs, mice, squirrels, and anything else that will fit inside, huddled together to escape a wildfire. This past winter we had manatees and sharks sharing the same space (I wish I had a picture, but if they stayed still you could have walked across on their backs they were so close together) because the water around the power plant is so much warmer than the gulf of mexico at the time.
Dominance doesn't explain the ability to shoot molten metal. There are no examples I can think of where a real-world creature has such an extreme adaptation and is near the top of its food chain. All the ones I can think of are fairly fragile and easily crushed by much larger animals (cobra, bombadier beetle, pufferfish, horned lizards).
If I had to hazard a guess I would say that the dragon is either a synthetic creature, a creation of the precursors perhaps, or... it was a prey species to something much, much larger and more powerful. Perhaps the Emperors were their predator?
I am going to say one short thing and one medium thing. Firstly I kind of think it is a step too far. That said; we are a life form on the planet. We do not fit in either. We cannot even breathe underwater. We did not evolve there, yet we are there. A creature that crashed there after us would look at us and say, "this just does not fit. it cannot even breathe underwater"
Cargo gets dropped in a crash. What if some of these beasts were at one point, recently or long ago, someones cargo, pet or even from the aquarium in their ships canteen? Someone not human but advanced. We are in the safe shallows because it suits us. Perhaps someone elses cargo found that the larva zone best suited it.
Why assume we were the first ones shot down? So many diverse biomes so close to each other. Natural? or a good thing to build to ensure what gets brought there has a chance to find a place that suits it?
MouseThe Lighter Side of PessimismJoin Date: 2002-03-02Member: 263Members, NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
edited September 2016
There are a few things that would help "make" the sea dragon for me:
- It occasionally dipped down and scooped it's mouth into the magma. Along with this, if there was an occasional drip of magma from the corner of its mouth. This would suggest that the fireballs come from a supply of magma that it keeps in its mouth
- You sometimes saw one travelling along the tunnels between the lava biome & the surface. On the way back, it'd often have a reaper leviathan in it's mouth. This would suggest that the lava biome is merely its "home" and it hunts in other biomes. This would also explain its massive jaw.
[Edit] Perhaps there'd also be bits & bones of reapers around the lava biome
There are a few things that would help "make" the sea dragon for me:
- It occasionally dipped down and scooped it's mouth into the magma. Along with this, if there was an occasional drip of magma from the corner of its mouth. This would suggest that the fireballs come from a supply of magma that it keeps in its mouth
- You sometimes saw one travelling along the tunnels between the lava biome & the surface. On the way back, it'd often have a reaper leviathan in it's mouth. This would suggest that the lava biome is merely its "home" and it hunts in other biomes. This would also explain its massive jaw.
[Edit] Perhaps there'd also be bits & bones of reapers around the lava biome
Oh my yes, something that eats Reapers would be cool, and satisfying on a couple levels...
@DagothUr : The new armor suit lets you withstand hot water. Vents still burn, I'd bet lava does too, but you can get NEAR the vent in 60 degree water to place thermo generators.
Haven't visited lava yet myself, I wanted to bring my Prawn, and my Cyclops refused to undock the Prawn without tilting it, and that killed it for me for some reason.
Perhaps the lava-power-vampire things feed off heat energy from the lava when there's no convenient Cyclops around, and the dragon then eats a couple of those to not just get the basic food energy but also their stored energy. So they're a better meal than first appears.
Also, just because there's nothing else big there now, doesn't mean there wasn't in the past. Perhaps there was something just slightly smaller originally, but they ate them all.
Maybe the sea dragon not only gets nutrition from the fish around it, but also the molten rocks that it constantly spews out (meaning that it would've most likely engorged those rocks before)
For god sakes, we have lizards that can submerge themselves in lava. Surely that's not realistic?
People talk about where does it get its food, look in the biome and there is no shortage of creatures be it lizards, lava's or rays. Also looking at there body mass, it is not that large and most of it size is the tentacles at the back.
For it surviving the high temperatures, well as previously said it is an alien planet. For all we know it's blood could be oil based, one that has a high boiling point.
I can overlook the magma-spitting because heck...it's an alien environment and a computer game besides. I think on one hand it would be more 'realistic' if the sea dragon lived in open waters- then it would have access to reapers and reefbacks (both animals large enough for them to be a realistic food source for the dragon). Heck, maybe the magma spitting is an adaption it needed to break down the reefback's hard 'shell' the way some predators in our ocean developed beaks/jaws strong enough to crack through the tough shells of mollusks.
Then again it's a truism of life that you can't make everyone happy no matter what you do and I'm sure if they put the sea dragon in open waters (even in 'higher level' zones) for a bit more realism there'd be people whining about 'why did you put that horrible thing in open water? It should be isolated to make it more fair!" ect. I *would* like them to make more creatures whose mission in life wasn't to eat your face though (though I know the emperor will be passive/defensive).
My concern is just that this Sea Dragon looks more like a monster than a creature if you see what I mean. It looks like a fantastic being from Tolkien or whatever and not like an animal, where every other npc in the game does (ok, the warper kinda breaks the line too but I *can* imagine short teleportation being realistic).
With the presence of Kyrite in the lava zones it's not too much of a stretch that the Sea Dragon consumes some of these deposits as it grows, Building up thermal resistance by incorporating it into its biological structures, Most likely near or within the skin or some such. Then again, It may have developed a thermally reliant biology that requires great heat to function, Though in that case Kyrite reliance might still be necessary.
Perhaps the Dragon ISN'T a natural predator of the planet...
Perhaps, just maybe, the Precursors created it or brought it from another planet?
They've apparently been around a long, long time, maybe they got a bit carried away with their experiments and the Dragon is the result of a very bad decision somewhere along the line...?
Perhaps the Dragon ISN'T a natural predator of the planet...
Perhaps, just maybe, the Precursors created it or brought it from another planet?
They've apparently been around a long, long time, maybe they got a bit carried away with their experiments and the Dragon is the result of a very bad decision somewhere along the line...?
I mean, no matter what planet it comes from or even if it was bio engineered. A biological organism cannot just ingest/spit molten metal
Perhaps the Dragon ISN'T a natural predator of the planet...
Perhaps, just maybe, the Precursors created it or brought it from another planet?
They've apparently been around a long, long time, maybe they got a bit carried away with their experiments and the Dragon is the result of a very bad decision somewhere along the line...?
I mean, no matter what planet it comes from or even if it was bio engineered. A biological organism cannot just ingest/spit molten metal
Not a carbon based one at any rate. It's simply not possible for anything with a carbon based makeup to withstand that kind of heat. And since it is a part of the same food chain that we are, we can be fairly certain that it is carbon based. No silicon or other element based lifeform could metabolize carbon compounds, and a human certainly could not eat silicon based fish.
Well, you may think that, but I still believe that they died due to territorial and dominant behaviors. And while unwillingness to share isn't true for all animals, neither is a willingness. That's a double edged sword. So what it boils down to is that we have conflicting opinions, with no true way to prove them.
Actually, that's might not be true in the slightest - according to the in-game wiki and data from the game itself, a majority of the planet's life died out from the infection/Carar bacterium, which in and of itself was ironically released by an ancient Sea Dragon the Precursers were studying when it broke out of it's contentment in the Lost River (in fact, that giant skeleton in the Lost River might even be the corpse of the very Sea Dragon that released the infection, since the dragons back then might very well have been that big once upon a time).
So it's actually more likely that, if the Sea Dragons were pushed to extinction, it'd be because of the Carar as opposed to being territorial. However, even that seems unlikely since the developers on Trello were suggesting having the dragons spawn beyond the map borders/the void to discourage going out that far (though it was just suggestions, so take that with a grain of salt)
Throwing my own two cents in here, but one thing that everyone seems to not consider is why on earth the dragon is... well, a dragon. Does that make it amphibious and therefore cold-blooded? Even then, IDK if that would be applicable since most cold-blooded creatures need to breath air and aren't pure sea-dwellers, but this isn't earth so who knows? Maybe it's a former amphibian that evolved gills for full sea-life but still has cold blood?
If that's the case, maybe the thing doesn't actually live in the Lava Biome but instead frequents it to warm itself, in reverse to how creatures in a desert go to a watering hole to cool off - an oasis that it roosts by but doesn't actually roost in. Likewise, maybe it eats the lava or molten metal to keep in it's gut as heat-retention for when it goes back to cooler seas or it's nest, like a camel storing water in it's hump.
Likewise, maybe it's size and teeth are just redundant evolutionary traits that it hasn't lost yet - the skeleton in the Lost River looks a lot like a Sea Dragons but way bigger, so I have a headcannon theory that perhaps the dragons used to be that big but gradually have downsized over the years. Also, according to the wiki, Sea Emperors are peaceful and hinted to have been heard-based creatures who died out when their food sources were wiped out by the Carar infection - so maybe when the Emperors were around, the then-larger Dragons hunted them the way a T-Rex hunted Anatosaurus heards, the large prey resulting in a large predator. Then when the Emperors died out, the Dragons began to shrink in size - or what ones didn't die from Carar - and needed to evolve alternate ways to keep going now that they couldn't get constant head/energy from large meals; aka nesting near lava zones and frequenting them on-off to get both food and heat.
Granted, it's not like I can't understand the doubts - this thing is obviously predatory, yet the only time predators tend to get that big is either (A) to hunt prey as large or larger then themselves, which none is around, or (B) because they evolved a purely-meat diet as a way of gaining high amounts of energy (and therefore heat), which would entail an arctic-based adaptation... yet this is most certainly not an arctic biome. I also am working off assumptions that don't exactly line up with Earth-based evolution since this isn't Earth, but at least I gave it my best shot.
If nothing else, I hope we're giving the devs some ideas on how to expand data-entries for these things - we all obviously need more info! XD
I'm okay with the Sea Dragon, even if it isn't so realistic. It looks awesome, and is a good way to add danger to an otherwise bland end-game. Without these guys Reapers would be the most dangerous creature and the Crabsquid and Lava Larvae the most annoying. It turns the Lava Zones into something other than a barren wasteland that you can just swim on through (well, of course you'd have to deal with Mynocks but that isn't really an issue without the Sea Dragon there). Don't worry about realism, worry about how it effects the gameplay.
I'm okay with the Sea Dragon, even if it isn't so realistic. It looks awesome, and is a good way to add danger to an otherwise bland end-game. Without these guys Reapers would be the most dangerous creature and the Crabsquid and Lava Larvae the most annoying. It turns the Lava Zones into something other than a barren wasteland that you can just swim on through (well, of course you'd have to deal with Mynocks but that isn't really an issue without the Sea Dragon there). Don't worry about realism, worry about how it effects the gameplay.
Except that adventure games kind of depend on a degree of realism when exploration is a key function. Many of the other creatures have it, so the dragon feels like it comes right out of left field.
With the presence of Kyanite in the lava zones it's not too much of a stretch that the Sea Dragon consumes some of these deposits as it grows, Building up thermal resistance by incorporating it into its biological structures, Most likely near or within the skin or some such. Then again, It may have developed a thermally reliant biology that requires great heat to function, Though in that case Kyanite reliance might still be necessary.
This is one good and plausible explanation for how the sea emperor stores the lava. Made even more so because starkers do more or less the same thing with titanium and there teeth.
Perhaps the Dragon ISN'T a natural predator of the planet...
Perhaps, just maybe, the Precursors created it or brought it from another planet?
They've apparently been around a long, long time, maybe they got a bit carried away with their experiments and the Dragon is the result of a very bad decision somewhere along the line...?
I mean, no matter what planet it comes from or even if it was bio engineered. A biological organism cannot just ingest/spit molten metal
Not a carbon based one at any rate. It's simply not possible for anything with a carbon based makeup to withstand that kind of heat. And since it is a part of the same food chain that we are, we can be fairly certain that it is carbon based. No silicon or other element based lifeform could metabolize carbon compounds, and a human certainly could not eat silicon based fish.
1) Diamonds are carbon based and can withstand that kind of heat.
2) Archae Bacteria live in and ingest lava.
3) We already have creatures that eat minerals and lay them down in there body so that they can perform a function, (the stalker). And the list off what the sea dragon could use is not short.
Examples of materials unaffected by lava are:
iron, melts at 1538 °C
cobalt, melts at 1495 °C
nickel, melts at 1455 °C
titanium, melts at 1668 °C
zirconium, melts at 1855 °C
platinum, melts at 1768.3 °C
glass, melts at 2,300°C
tungsten, melts at 3422 °C
Lava and magma has a large range of temperatures but when you exclude magma, lava's temperature range is around 700 °C to 1,200 °C.
And because it is next to water it most likely is at the lower range of that temperature.
And from what we know, it is not impossible or even unlikely for a creature to utilize the abundant lava in the lava biome. Be it for food or for defense or attack
Perhaps the Dragon ISN'T a natural predator of the planet...
Perhaps, just maybe, the Precursors created it or brought it from another planet?
They've apparently been around a long, long time, maybe they got a bit carried away with their experiments and the Dragon is the result of a very bad decision somewhere along the line...?
I mean, no matter what planet it comes from or even if it was bio engineered. A biological organism cannot just ingest/spit molten metal
Not a carbon based one at any rate. It's simply not possible for anything with a carbon based makeup to withstand that kind of heat. And since it is a part of the same food chain that we are, we can be fairly certain that it is carbon based. No silicon or other element based lifeform could metabolize carbon compounds, and a human certainly could not eat silicon based fish.
1) Diamonds are carbon based and can withstand that kind of heat.
2) Archae Bacteria live in and ingest lava.
3) We already have creatures that eat minerals and lay them down in there body so that they can perform a function, (the stalker). And the list off what the sea dragon could use is not short.
Examples of materials unaffected by lava are:
iron, melts at 1538 °C
cobalt, melts at 1495 °C
nickel, melts at 1455 °C
titanium, melts at 1668 °C
zirconium, melts at 1855 °C
platinum, melts at 1768.3 °C
glass, melts at 2,300°C
tungsten, melts at 3422 °C
Lava and magma has a large range of temperatures but when you exclude magma, lava's temperature range is around 700 °C to 1,200 °C.
And because it is next to water it most likely is at the lower range of that temperature.
And from what we know, it is not impossible or even unlikely for a creature to utilize the abundant lava in the lava biome. Be it for food or for defense or attack
Where did you hear that diamonds can withstand that? They can't.
Comments
Territorial behavior doesn't necessarily have to do with food. It could have to do with one area being a more ideal temperature, as the ALZ is hotter than the ILZ. it could have to do with space, as the ILZ is more open than the ALZ. Maybe the Lava Castle is like a throne, and they see it as a sign of power and which ever one lives there is the best.
Displays of power just for the sake of it are the domain of species with time, resources, and lives to waste. A large creature living in an environment like that is none of those. Fighting over areas with a certain temperature (and they are far more likely to fight over cooler areas if such a huge creature found itself in such an environment. It's one thing to say they thrive on heat, quite another to actually understand what that means and all the processes involved) makes no sense, simply because that is a resource that cannot be depleted. There's no need to compete over it.
On the contrary. There's plenty of food (you know all the creatures that now cover the Lava Zones) it has SO much time to waste (what does it do that takes up time?) and as for lives, a most species don't understand whether they have lives to waste or not. I doubt they do censuses to see just how many of them there are left. Social dominance is a real thing, especially with things like wolves that may not have all that much readily available food. It doesn't matter which temperature they'd fight for, because while I stand by my claim that they either thrive in or can withstand heat, perhaps one temperature range is more conducive to their comfort. And just because it can't be depleted, doesn't mean it can't be more prevalent in certain areas. If It's the dead of winter and you're chilling in a hot spring, I will fight you for it.
You guys are basically debating whether or not animals can have what we humans have come to call the "ego". Would a Sea Dragon fight another Sea Dragon without a cause, in what we may as well call a pissing match.
I don't think we have enough knowledge of them to say for certain, but based on our own Earth animals, it's certainly possible.
Well, now your just getting into how little sense the lava biomes make in general. There are no producers, no autotrophs, to support such a large food chain.
As to Wasting lives, it is not a question of how they morally consider wether or not they, as a species, can afford to have that one guy die, it's simply that low-population species that kill each other for no good reason all the time go extinct.
And is there any reason for people to fight each other over a hotspring? After all, there is no reason (at least, no rational reason, humans have a unique capacity to do things for no good reason at all) not to share said hot spring. You might argue that it could be a very small hot spring, but that's where the analogy breaks down: an area of warm water would not be so small or well defined as a hot spring on land would be.
Again. On the contrary. There's foliage, most likely some plankton, and possibly more. See, when it comes to extinction, why do you think there are only two left? I never said there were only ever two. They could very well be on the brink of extinction because of these behaviors. On the whole hotspring thing, I don't think you got the analogy. Perhaps I should've clarified. If I'm a wolf, in the dead of winter, and you're also a wolf, and you're chilling at a hot spring, I'll tear you a new one until you leave because I'm an animal and not willing to share those benefits with you.
I would say, in fact that they are indeed on the brink of extinction. My guess would be that they evolved in an environment quite different from their current one. When geological activity radically altered it, they started dying off. I expect that these two are some of the last, perhaps the last, of their species, clinging onto life in a small-prey eating lifestyle that they are very poorly suited to.
Your wolf analogy may apply to wolves, but wolves are territorial animals. They are territorial for a number of reasons, primarily over competition for finite and localized game.
There is a species of monkey that actually DO hang out in hot springs, and large numbers of them often share the same spring. They are not particularly territorial, so that poses no problem for them. An unwillingness to share is a characteristic of SOME animals, not ALL animals.
Well, you may think that, but I still believe that they died due to territorial and dominant behaviors. And while unwillingness to share isn't true for all animals, neither is a willingness. That's a double edged sword. So what it boils down to is that we have conflicting opinions, with no true way to prove them.
Being an animal doesn't mean tearing apart another over a resource when both could utilize it for survival. Some may, but it isn't a given in any situation. Look at both gopher tortoise burrows and gator holes. Gator holes are often the only source of water during the drier winters and a critical resource for a number of species. Tortoise burrows often house the tortoise, snakes, frogs, mice, squirrels, and anything else that will fit inside, huddled together to escape a wildfire. This past winter we had manatees and sharks sharing the same space (I wish I had a picture, but if they stayed still you could have walked across on their backs they were so close together) because the water around the power plant is so much warmer than the gulf of mexico at the time.
Dominance doesn't explain the ability to shoot molten metal. There are no examples I can think of where a real-world creature has such an extreme adaptation and is near the top of its food chain. All the ones I can think of are fairly fragile and easily crushed by much larger animals (cobra, bombadier beetle, pufferfish, horned lizards).
If I had to hazard a guess I would say that the dragon is either a synthetic creature, a creation of the precursors perhaps, or... it was a prey species to something much, much larger and more powerful. Perhaps the Emperors were their predator?
Cargo gets dropped in a crash. What if some of these beasts were at one point, recently or long ago, someones cargo, pet or even from the aquarium in their ships canteen? Someone not human but advanced. We are in the safe shallows because it suits us. Perhaps someone elses cargo found that the larva zone best suited it.
Why assume we were the first ones shot down? So many diverse biomes so close to each other. Natural? or a good thing to build to ensure what gets brought there has a chance to find a place that suits it?
- It occasionally dipped down and scooped it's mouth into the magma. Along with this, if there was an occasional drip of magma from the corner of its mouth. This would suggest that the fireballs come from a supply of magma that it keeps in its mouth
- You sometimes saw one travelling along the tunnels between the lava biome & the surface. On the way back, it'd often have a reaper leviathan in it's mouth. This would suggest that the lava biome is merely its "home" and it hunts in other biomes. This would also explain its massive jaw.
[Edit] Perhaps there'd also be bits & bones of reapers around the lava biome
Oh my yes, something that eats Reapers would be cool, and satisfying on a couple levels...
@DagothUr : The new armor suit lets you withstand hot water. Vents still burn, I'd bet lava does too, but you can get NEAR the vent in 60 degree water to place thermo generators.
Haven't visited lava yet myself, I wanted to bring my Prawn, and my Cyclops refused to undock the Prawn without tilting it, and that killed it for me for some reason.
Also, just because there's nothing else big there now, doesn't mean there wasn't in the past. Perhaps there was something just slightly smaller originally, but they ate them all.
For god sakes, we have lizards that can submerge themselves in lava. Surely that's not realistic?
For it surviving the high temperatures, well as previously said it is an alien planet. For all we know it's blood could be oil based, one that has a high boiling point.
Then again it's a truism of life that you can't make everyone happy no matter what you do and I'm sure if they put the sea dragon in open waters (even in 'higher level' zones) for a bit more realism there'd be people whining about 'why did you put that horrible thing in open water? It should be isolated to make it more fair!" ect. I *would* like them to make more creatures whose mission in life wasn't to eat your face though (though I know the emperor will be passive/defensive).
Perhaps, just maybe, the Precursors created it or brought it from another planet?
They've apparently been around a long, long time, maybe they got a bit carried away with their experiments and the Dragon is the result of a very bad decision somewhere along the line...?
I mean, no matter what planet it comes from or even if it was bio engineered. A biological organism cannot just ingest/spit molten metal
Not a carbon based one at any rate. It's simply not possible for anything with a carbon based makeup to withstand that kind of heat. And since it is a part of the same food chain that we are, we can be fairly certain that it is carbon based. No silicon or other element based lifeform could metabolize carbon compounds, and a human certainly could not eat silicon based fish.
Actually, that's might not be true in the slightest - according to the in-game wiki and data from the game itself, a majority of the planet's life died out from the infection/Carar bacterium, which in and of itself was ironically released by an ancient Sea Dragon the Precursers were studying when it broke out of it's contentment in the Lost River (in fact, that giant skeleton in the Lost River might even be the corpse of the very Sea Dragon that released the infection, since the dragons back then might very well have been that big once upon a time).
So it's actually more likely that, if the Sea Dragons were pushed to extinction, it'd be because of the Carar as opposed to being territorial. However, even that seems unlikely since the developers on Trello were suggesting having the dragons spawn beyond the map borders/the void to discourage going out that far (though it was just suggestions, so take that with a grain of salt)
If that's the case, maybe the thing doesn't actually live in the Lava Biome but instead frequents it to warm itself, in reverse to how creatures in a desert go to a watering hole to cool off - an oasis that it roosts by but doesn't actually roost in. Likewise, maybe it eats the lava or molten metal to keep in it's gut as heat-retention for when it goes back to cooler seas or it's nest, like a camel storing water in it's hump.
Likewise, maybe it's size and teeth are just redundant evolutionary traits that it hasn't lost yet - the skeleton in the Lost River looks a lot like a Sea Dragons but way bigger, so I have a headcannon theory that perhaps the dragons used to be that big but gradually have downsized over the years. Also, according to the wiki, Sea Emperors are peaceful and hinted to have been heard-based creatures who died out when their food sources were wiped out by the Carar infection - so maybe when the Emperors were around, the then-larger Dragons hunted them the way a T-Rex hunted Anatosaurus heards, the large prey resulting in a large predator. Then when the Emperors died out, the Dragons began to shrink in size - or what ones didn't die from Carar - and needed to evolve alternate ways to keep going now that they couldn't get constant head/energy from large meals; aka nesting near lava zones and frequenting them on-off to get both food and heat.
Granted, it's not like I can't understand the doubts - this thing is obviously predatory, yet the only time predators tend to get that big is either (A) to hunt prey as large or larger then themselves, which none is around, or (B) because they evolved a purely-meat diet as a way of gaining high amounts of energy (and therefore heat), which would entail an arctic-based adaptation... yet this is most certainly not an arctic biome. I also am working off assumptions that don't exactly line up with Earth-based evolution since this isn't Earth, but at least I gave it my best shot.
If nothing else, I hope we're giving the devs some ideas on how to expand data-entries for these things - we all obviously need more info! XD
Infected Reaper Leviathans.
infected... Reaper... Leviathans.
..........
Uh... where'd I put my extra brown, brown pants?
Except that adventure games kind of depend on a degree of realism when exploration is a key function. Many of the other creatures have it, so the dragon feels like it comes right out of left field.
Haha, I only saw that after my second reading haha. Dam, Danny the Sea Dragon is a killa chef!
This is one good and plausible explanation for how the sea emperor stores the lava. Made even more so because starkers do more or less the same thing with titanium and there teeth.
1) Diamonds are carbon based and can withstand that kind of heat.
2) Archae Bacteria live in and ingest lava.
3) We already have creatures that eat minerals and lay them down in there body so that they can perform a function, (the stalker). And the list off what the sea dragon could use is not short.
Examples of materials unaffected by lava are:
iron, melts at 1538 °C
cobalt, melts at 1495 °C
nickel, melts at 1455 °C
titanium, melts at 1668 °C
zirconium, melts at 1855 °C
platinum, melts at 1768.3 °C
glass, melts at 2,300°C
tungsten, melts at 3422 °C
Lava and magma has a large range of temperatures but when you exclude magma, lava's temperature range is around 700 °C to 1,200 °C.
And because it is next to water it most likely is at the lower range of that temperature.
And from what we know, it is not impossible or even unlikely for a creature to utilize the abundant lava in the lava biome. Be it for food or for defense or attack
Where did you hear that diamonds can withstand that? They can't.