You are a seed. Drifting through the vastness of space, you remember where you came from. A world of beauty, teeming with life, vast in numbers and diverse in shape and mind. Your implanted memories show you that the species that inhabited that world were divided in mind, but united in purpose, all pooling knowledge in one giant meta-consciousness that directed them to growth and cooperation. Each sacrifice - accepted by the devoured, for everyone knew that it is for the good of the planet, for the good of their - YOUR purpose.

Your memories also contain visions of the fate that has befallen your world. Fire, inextinguishable even by the ice-creatures, and clouds of toxins killing everything they touched. Creatures in vessels of steel, carrying weapons unknown, purging the planet of life not suited to their needs, claiming your home as their own.

In a desperate attempt to preserve whatever it can, the meta-consciousness made seeds. Small creatures with basic genetic information to be sent to the stars. Starting anew, creating a new home. All for a reckoning against those that destroyed your progenitor.

With only memories to keep you company, you feel incredibly alone. However, you must persevere - you need to accomplish your final directives, after all.

1. OBTAIN BIOMASS
2. ANALYSE GENES
3. INTEGRATE INTO THE CONSCIOUSNESS
4. REMAKE THE LANDING PLANET

You have enough energy in your small organic ship for an FTL jump. Your destination? A solar system not so far away.

And so you depart, traversing the void in seconds and entering the atmosphere of your destined planet shortly after.

The fall is harsh, burning almost all of the ship's hull. However, you are kept safe within. With a heavy planetfall, you emerge from the ship to inspect your surroundings.

You are in an arid region. The solar system's sun beats down on the dusty, sandy earth, and there are few plants or animals.

Still, some is better than nothing.

(1/2)

You know you are a hexapedal creature standing about 1.5 metres tall. Your maw possesses rows of sharp, tough teeth capable of digging into rock even, but primarily meant for devouring biomass. Sensory organs - eyes, hearing, smell. An egg-laying sac to create more drones. These are about all the external tools you are given.

However, your inner body - neural network and organs - contains more curious things. By consuming biomass, you can analyze, save and alter the genetic code of creatures you devour. Whether respawning them in the same shape, as is ideal, or making modifications, you can bring them into the fold, connecting their consciousness to a focal point - your own.

You can also mutate yourself using genetic information acquired.

Your genetic capacity is not limitless. Currently, you can save up to 3 creatures in your memory. To save more, you will need to build an organic gene bank or enhance yourself. A hatchery will help with incubation of more complex creatures. These structures will, however, require more biomass and building materials.

As you think of what to do now, you look around your surroundings.

To the south, the arid land continues until the horizon. To the west, there are green vapours covering the land, making it difficult to see. To the north, you see the ground changing colour to something teal. To the east, there is more teal stuff, along with a rock formation with something shifting on its surface, and unknown growths in its shade.

What will you do first?
>Hunt small creatures and devour them. Eat plants. You need to GET BIOMASS
>Inspect nearby land [specify direction]
>Write-in

Since almost 12 hours passed with no votes, I'll give the thread a bump - hopefully one or a few anons see it.

If anyone checks this thread - remember to use alternative sorting methods in the catalogue! Last Reply allows to see recently active threads; Bump Order doesn't work well because old threads get autosaged in about 5 days I think, and don't get pushed to the top with each post with that setting. Last Reply ignores this. Creation Date is another good one - allows you to check newly created threads.

If you're using 4chanX (which I recommend - it's a great script with a lot of configuration options) - add the thread to your thread watcher, it will make it even easier to keep track of threads you follow.

That will be all. Still awaiting votes.

>>6276259
>Hunt small creatures and devour them. Eat plants. You need to GET BIOMASS

>>6276259
>Hunt small creatures and devour them. Eat plants. You need to GET BIOMASS

>>6276477
>>6276491
>Hunt small creatures and devour them. Eat plants. You need to GET BIOMASS

Closing the vote and writing.

You spend the better part of your first day and night on this planet hunting in the local area and the vast arid land to the south. Carefully examining creatures' behaviours, you stalk, kill and devour them - sustaining yourself, analyzing their genes and absorbing nutrients into your increasingly heavy body.

Once you're too fat to move quickly, you begin eating shrubs - dry, prickly, but biomass nonetheless.

By the dawn of the next day, you have filled up your gene banks with some creatures' decoded DNA.

The first one you identify is a small lizard-like creature with a porous body, no more than 10 cm in length. It seems to lead a passive life, converting the heat and sunlight it receives into energy by biochemical reactions, sometimes eating the sandy earth for minerals. Its beige camouflage allows it to evade predators, and if that fails, it relies on bursts of metabolism to acquire impressive speeds for a being of its size.

The second one is a quadruped creature with an active blood system covered in fur, if the thick growths can be called that, about half your size. It is a minor ambush predator, coloured in sandy tones. You have seen it identify and follow trails left by migratory shrub-eating animals, chasing and killing them with its claws and teeth to feed on their carcass. It uses its "fur" to sweat water, cooling it down. It is the most dangerous thing you have met as of yet. It is no match for your sheer strength, however.

The "plant" occupying your last genetic memory slot is a prickly shrub that blooms whenever it can acquire a water source. Inspecting its genes, you see that during its bloom, it grows a poisonous, yet sweet-smelling fruit the seeds of which are capable of withstanding local digestive systems and growing out of the corpse of the creature that has eaten it. Thankfully, you have only encountered it in its hibernatory form, and its dry branches bear no poison.

(1/2)

With these three creatures available to you, and your body engorged from the biomass you gathered, you are ready to lay eggs and plant seeds that will quickly grow into your desired species.

You can simply spawn a copy of a creature the genetic information of which you absorbed. They will be able to operate independently based on their prior instincts, but will be loyal to you and receptive to your mental commands within a certain range (3 km or about so). With this, biomass gathering could be automated and increased in scale - the lizards could synthesize organic compounds, the plant - absorb water, should you find a source, and the predator, obviously, hunting and bringing you game.

You can also use some of the genetic expertise you have been gifted to modify one of the creatures. An obvious choice would be to increase their biomass storage capacity. This way, they may save more for you to use later. You can also splice more photosynthetic cells into lizards, grow sharper, mineral-based claws for predators, or increase any of the creatures in size. All in all, the genetic modification potential is not limitless, but extensive. It has to be carried out in stages, though, and 1 or 2 mods are the best you can hope for from the first batch of creatures.

>Spawn lizards with increased biomass storage to passively obtain biomass.
>Spawn predators to hunt for biomass.
>Find a water source and sow plants with increased biomass storage.
>Write-in course of action?

You can also ask questions about whether a mutation you came up with would be possible, or other topics. I will do my best to answer.

>>6276563
Can we give the quadruped predators the speedburst of the lizards?

>>6276644
Yes.

I should also say you can combine spawning 2 or all 3 of the species in different numbers. You have about 150 biomass "units", predators cost 25, lizards 5 and plants 10. Giving predators the speed burst would raise their cost by 3 for a total of 28 per predator.

Also I guess we can dub the predators "cats" since desert/savanna cats was what I had in mind when coming up with them. They are, however, still different, for one in the function and structure of their "fur".

I'll still be around for about 2 more hours to answer questions. Gonna head to sleep after that and check the thread in the morning.

>>6276563
How much passive biomass gain do lizards give, compared to plants, since both are photosynthetic?

>>6276699
Lizards give 3 biomass per day. Plants give 5 biomass per day, but if placed near water, their primary purpose shifts to attracting and killing unsuspecting animals with their fruit. The poison within can be potentiated, killing creatures in minutes after ingestion. That way, you can have an additional source of biomass from plants (corpses nearby). This modification will add 2 to their planting cost. Or you could plant regular versions and simply search longer for animals that wander off after eating the fruit.

>>6276563
>Spawn lizards with increased biomass storage to passively obtain biomass.

>>6276848
>Spawn lizards with increased biomass storage to passively obtain biomass.

A bit sad to see only 1 vote in the end, but calling it and writing. Update will most likely be short.

You burrow into the earth and lay 25 eggs, losing most of the biomass you gathered and regaining your mobility and strength. Hunting to sustain yourself while they incubate, you sense them hatch a few hours later, and your first brood of lizards is ready to gather biomass.

You order them to disperse around the area and consider what to do next.

A faint whirring interrupts your thoughts. High above, an object of... metal? flies across the sky westwards, beyond the gas fields.

If such objects exist on this planet, this must mean the tech-creatures that destroyed your world are present. Or... perhaps not? Maybe it's another species that has mastered technology, a more benevolent one. One that would be more open to the idea of joining your mission as biomass, and then getting reborn as part of the meta-consciousness.

Either way, while lizards are doing their work, you must decide where to explore next.
>Examine the eastern rock formation and teal stuff.
>Check whether the gas to the west is toxic. Perhaps a use for it can be found?
>Explore deeper into the south. Find a water source.
>Write-in
(I may be able to do another update before going to sleep today, in about 10 hours, if a vote or a few come in by that time. Not promising though.)

>>6276973
>Explore deeper into the south. Find a water source.

>>6276973
>>Explore deeper into the south. Find a water source.

>>6276973
>Check whether the gas to the west is toxic. Perhaps a use for it can be found?

>>6276975
>>6277143
>>6277215
Glad to see 3 votes as opposed to 1 on the previous choice!

Calling the vote and writing for
>Explore deeper into the south. Find a water source.

You spend the next few days far from lizards, letting them save up some biomass for when you return.

Exploring the arid lands, you trek several dozen kilometres south, charting the area, committing it to memory. Your main object of interest - finding a water source.

As you travel, you encounter several other areas of teal stuff. Eventually, you approach to examine it, and find it is moss growing on the banks of several small, streams, all converging towards a greater river!

The moss seems to be a mass of distributed cells, transferring water from the river to the edges of the "carpet" and producing a nutritious paste. This attracts herds of large migratory herbivores that eat the nutrient paste and fertilize the moss with their excrements in turn. A cycle of biomass exchange seems to take place here. As you explore more areas, you eat some of the paste to sustain yourself.

Along the streams, you sometimes see greater "trees". They have a dry, wide top casting a shadow over the landscape under which animals rest. Sometimes you see flocks of birds in the sky. They seem to nest in rock formations like the one you saw back in the original area, using their powerful beaks to carve out small caves for themselves.

Of the more dangerous organisms, you encounter giant dragonflies, zipping through the air in packs to kill and devour the less agile animals with their powerful mandibles. They also seem to possess acidic glands - this was a nasty surprise when one attacked you. They seem to mostly ignore you though. Perhaps they are cautious around an organism that they've never seen.

You also encounter some more fields of green gas. In the farthest reaches of the southern arid lands, you see some patches of grass away from the rivers. The land is still dry, but a bit darker and more fertile.
(1/2)

You return to the north, where your lizards have accumulated a sizeable amount of biomass. 7 of them died to predators or otherwise, but the remaining 18 have accumulated 162 biomass units. They assemble at your call and regurgitate their resources for you to consume.

With this, another brood of creatures can be made. You've seen a rise in dragonfly numbers since you first were here. Could this be a sign of something changing?..

You remember that you can also construct organic "buildings" like hatcheries for protection of eggs or gene banks for more creature model storage. A relay for transmitting your telepathy farther would be possible as well. The buildings would cost 100 biomass. Basic gene banks can store up to 5 creatures' DNA.

You can also go into hibernation and mutate yourself to increase your genetic memory. Every mutation for +1 species gene memory would cost 20 + 20% of the last. Altering yourself to obtain new abilities, such as growing wings, manipulator limbs or simply becoming larger would cost 20 biomass.

What will your next actions be?
>Mutate yourself [specify type of mutation]
>Construct a building [hatchery / gene bank / something else?]
>Spawn more creatures [specify: cats, poison fruit plant, lizards] [specify: modify or keep them original]
>Eat a creature and substitute one of the other creatures' gene memory for it. [specify which]
>A sequence of the above actions?
>Write-in

>>6277308
>Splice poison gene from poison fruit plants into lizards. Feed poison-lizard to dragonfly to obtain new genes/biomass.

>>6277308
>Splice poison gene from poison fruit plants into lizards. Feed poison-lizard to dragonfly to obtain new genes/biomass.

>>6277378
>>6277558
>Splice poison gene from poison fruit plants into lizards. Feed poison-lizard to dragonfly to obtain new genes/biomass.
(only 1 update today, I'll maybe do another one 10-12 hours from now, but no promises, as previously)

The new version of the lizard is seeping with sweet juice. The perfect candidate for a dragonfly snack. You place a few of them around the surrounding area and wait... (30 biomass consumed to spawn)

The dragonflies bite the bait. Soon, several carcasses of these flying predators lie on the ground, poisoned and ready for your consumption.

You devour them and analyze their genes. However, your memory limits you. With only 3 creatures stored and no more, you must replace one of them to add the dragonfly to the selection.
>Replace the lizards
>Replace the cats
>Replace the poisonous plants

As you perform your plan, you notice dragonflies increasing in numbers yet more. They attack bigger animals and birds, buzzing around in greater swarms now. They also begin eating the moss around the river, the banks soon becoming empty. The area is starting to become scarce in life.

You take refuge under rocks and by burrowing under the earth, for now. They don't seem to be active at night, which is when your harvest your lizards' biomass - those not devoured by the predators, that is.

With this danger evident, you must decide what to do.
>Take your lizards and migrate south or north [specify] - away from the approaching swarm. You don't know what dangers the other lands hold, but you know you must run.
>Stand your ground. Spawn predators, perhaps even modifying them to be more suitable for combat with the swarm. More enemies means more risk, but also more biomass. [specify modifications and which creatures to spawn]
>Spend the days taking samples and analyzing the gas. The predators seem to evade it. This may open up another opportunity for hiding or an additional weapon.
>Use 100 biomass to build a protective, half-buried "bunker". There, you can refine your spawn to combat this new danger more efficiently. You're not sure it can withstand the full assault, however.
>Write-in
(you have about 250 biomass stored from hunting or lizards, some of it distributed between the lizards themselves so that it doesn't burden you.)

>>6277871
>Replace the poisonous plants
Spend the days taking samples and analyzing the gas. The predators seem to evade it. This may open up another opportunity for hiding or an additional weapon.

>>6278112
>Replace the poisonous plants
>Spend the days taking samples and analyzing the gas.

Please roll 1d100 for gas analysis. Higher is better.
Maybe no update today, but we'll see, maybe in 6 hours or so.

Rolled 77 (1d100)

>>6278300

Rolled 28 (1d100)

>>6278300

Rolled 68 (1d100)

>>6278300

Rolled 67 (1d100)

>>6278300

>>6278388
>>6278559
>>6278565
>>6278587
I only take the first roll, but glad to see 4 responses, anons.

>77 - gas analysis

You take samples, inhaling wisps of gas. It is a toxic compound, but an organic one - something you can work with. It takes about half a day for you to come up with a chemical concoction neutralizing its effects - but it ends in success! You can't impart it to your lizards, but you integrate the antidote into your own metabolism. Devouring your drones so as not to waste biomass, you lumber into the gas fields with your fattened body to hide from the dragonflies.

Inside, you find craters filled with hot gases of a different nature. These inorganic compounds serve as a source of minerals for anaerobic bacteria - a sloshing mass covering the craters in uneven amounts. The product of their metabolism are the green gases that you know.

There are some lifeforms besides bacteria here. Small "beetles" crawl through the craters, slurping up the slosh with their proboscis. Some crawling herbivores you've seen munching on the moss nutrient paste earlier seem to feed off the inorganic gases as well - they seem to have developed enough of a tolerance for bacterial gases and the temperatures at the bottom of the craters to hide here.

As you consider the gases once more, you find you can transform them into common biomass, but that would require a building, a "gas factory" so to speak. The bacteria could be consolidated into a single network that would be able receive commands from you, but that would require building a gene bank or mutating yourself. Still, another passive source of biomass would be very welcome, and with a bacterial mass at your disposal, perhaps something could be done with it or the river moss to produce a universal ground "creep" upon which your drones could build and travel more efficiently, while enemies would face another obstacle upon their way.

The dragonfly "storm" still rages outside. They seem to be migrating, either away from something or as a seasonal behaviour. The genes you integrated support both theories.

From their genetic code replacing the poisonous plant, you learn dragonflies seem to be creatures forming small "packs" of 5-10 creatures during calm periods, but assembling into big swarms during times of danger in wide areas. You cannot ascertain what the specifics of these "dangers" may be, but it is an alarming note about this planet's environment. Their acidic glands which they use to kill their prey are now at your disposal to be integrated into other organisms or modified themselves. You also gain insight into collective hunting behaviour from them. You should be able to optimise other creatures' coordination with this.
(1/2)

Either way, the dragonflies' abundance could be profited from, now that you are safely hidden from them. But how?

>Combine the bacteria and dragonflies' acidic glands to make "gas attack" flying units of your own. Use them to kill regular dragonflies and absorb biomass.

>The gases are a good protective field. Spend the next few days constructing a base here - it's time you settled down, or at least made an remnant outpost for when you'll migrate away later. [specify which buildings to construct: gene banks, biomass storage, hatcheries, telepathetic relays, fortification, organomorphing factories (organic metalworks), write-in] [buildings cost 100 biomass each]

>Mutate to strengthen yourself. [Reminder from previous posts: Every mutation for +1 species gene memory would cost 20 + 20% of the last. Altering yourself to obtain new abilities, such as growing wings, manipulator limbs or simply becoming larger would cost 20 biomass.]

>Write-in? You can also combine other options.

You have 300 biomass at your disposal.
You can also ask questions, as always, and I will do my best to answer them.
Also I feel I should clarify I've got high school level knowledge of biology (and really science in general) so sorry if this all comes across as nonsense to more learned people. Maybe it was a mistake to run a sci-fi quest with this tier of expertise in the subjects lol. I hope it is, at least, somewhat fun.

>>6278872
>The gases are a good protective field. Spend the next few days constructing a base here - it's time you settled down, or at least made an remnant outpost for when you'll migrate away later. [specify which buildings to construct: gene banks, biomass storage, hatcheries, telepathetic relays, fortification, organomorphing factories (organic metalworks), write-in] [buildings cost 100 biomass each]

Genebank and biomass storage

>>6278872
>The gases are a good protective field. Spend the next few days constructing a base here - it's time you settled down, or at least made an remnant outpost for when you'll migrate away later. [specify which buildings to construct: gene banks, biomass storage, hatcheries, telepathetic relays, fortification, organomorphing factories (organic metalworks), write-in] [buildings cost 100 biomass each]
gene banks, biomass storage

Vespene gas?

>>6278872
>Maybe it was a mistake to run a sci-fi quest with this tier of expertise in the subjects lol
Eh, nobody ever said sci-fi must follow real-life laws of nature, and the "hardness" of the quest can be as hard or as soft as you'd like. Also, is it just me or are we a copyright-friendly zerg brood?

>>6278889
>Also, is it just me or are we a copyright-friendly zerg brood?
picrel.

Serious answer:

It is a zerg ripoff, but with a few key differences. Consulting the Starcraft wiki, I saw the Zerg were devouring everything to perfect their gene code with additions from things they consume until a state where they didn't need to evolve anymore because they could thrive in any circumstances. This is different from the Seed's mission.

You, the MC, unironically believe the Wild Planet you came from was the greatest form of life existence possible because of 1. Everything fitting like pieces in a great puzzle. 2. Community achieved through interconnection between minds. So you want to gather the totality of genetic code of the planet you landed on and tinker and fit it together until the planet is a blooming "paradise" like your original one. The fact that you gather it by eating and respawning everything is a minor inconvenience. Also side mission: prepare for dangers from the stars (the tech-people).

So besides being zerg, you're also the Wilderness from Stellaris.

You will encounter other visions of how things should be and will be able to change your approach later, be it into a more tolerant or harsher one, as the quest progresses (hopefully I can make it to these plot points in the space of a oneshot, which this quest is meant to be).

>>6278871
bit late but i wanted to suggest we store genetic data externally as we can just assimilate a creation we have already made

>>6278902
hmmm i think our creep would not be too universal atleast depending on environmental conditions like a slime mold

>>6278911
That's what gene banks are for.

>>6278872
>perhaps make a photosynthetic structure that extends out of the fog gathering energy and serving as a vantage point.
perhaps consider making structure that can create something like this fog like phoenix point pandoran mist polyps

>>6278878
>>6278889
>>6278990
>build gene banks and biomass storage

Very well.
Please roll 1d100 for another event.

Rolled 84 (1d100)

>>6279184

>>6279204
>84

It soon becomes apparent what the dragonflies were running from. A herd of large stingray-like creatures, much larger than the dragonflies, drifts through the air, sucking in whatever lifeforms they find below themselves. You cannot determine how exactly they're flying - they seem to lack any powerful wings besides their flat bodies. The creatures suck the gas in temporarily as they pass above you, but you burrow to remain unharmed and the buildings you constructed are simply too heavy for them to rip out of the earth.

You detect a strong electromagnetic field around these gigantic animals. Perhaps studying their genes later would be beneficial.

With the gene banks finished, you can store up to 8 creatures' DNA, modified or otherwise, 3 in your own memory and 5 in the building - a hard protective bone-organ frame filled with neural matter. The biomass storage, a large organic protective sac, allows you to store up to 600 biomass safely (relatively) within.

With the recent crisis finished, you're free to do whatever you want - for now, at least.

Reminder sheet: (figured I should start doing it)

Buildings
Gene banks x1
Biomass storage x1

Memory 3/8
"Cat" predators - claws and teeth, cooling "fur" - 25 biomass to spawn
"Lizards" - photosynthesis, burst of speed, porous body - mod: biomass capacity, poisonous - 6 biomass to spawn
"Dragonflies" - acidic glands, flight, collective hunting tactics - 30 biomass to spawn

Biomass
Self 0/300
Biomass storage 100/600

>Mutate yourself. [specify mutation] [20 biomass cost]
>Scout the lands beyond the gas, to the west.
>Devour and study more species [specify: moss, herbivores, bacteria, etc]
>Spawn creatures [specify which]
>Write-in
Multiple may be chosen.

>>6279216
>Mutate yourself
Let's give our selves same acid glands so we can fight back if we are attacked
>Devour and study more herbivores
The beetles are tolerant to the gasses which is an useful mutation for our creations and their exoskeleton means better defense
>Modify cat predators with collective hunting tactics

>>6279216
>sample and store a few of each local species then go into creature crafting

thinking we take a store of what we have here as a complete list then combine whats needed

>>6279227
whats your thoughts of acting as a "god" if we encounter any tool using species?
also lets not boost, never boost the usage of the bacterium in such a way it consumes the barrier faster

>>6279412
fuck it,
>base a radial apparatus around breathing centralized Cat organs with a one way valve to collect the gas to condense the gas as a central point and spiracles of the insectoid "dragonflies" and the porous body of the "Lizards" surrounding it stockpiling gas into concentrated amounts for future weapon system

No update today.
>>6279779
Now this is the sort of schizo biomodification I can respect.

>>6279779
Not bad, I was alo thinking we should make beetles posionous and give them wings so the manta's will suck them in and die without much risk to us