D&D General Fantasy Ecology (or "What the Heck is That!?")

[Xeviat]

Hey everybody.

I've been fiddling with my setting for a long time; sometimes it's half of my time spent thinking about gaming. I've been approaching my world building from a more sci-fi angle, considering what things could have evolved from and what it does in the world or society. Without going too into it, my setting takes place on Earth, but 50 million years in the future with magic. The world is kind of one big laboratory run by the Angels (hyper evolved humans that embraced cybernetics for life extension, think gray aliens or Protoss) that's being tampered with by Devils (hyper evolved humans that embraced genetic engineering for life extension, think D&D devils being humanoid but with bestial and horrible features). The set up has allowed me to consider what different fantasy beasts are in the world, and I thought people might find it interesting to discuss or might have some of their own head canons for D&D and fantasy gaming.

Here's some examples from my setting:

• Griffins are part of a new group of animals, Dragons. Birds that magically developed an extra set of limbs. Basal members of the group still have their feathers, while more derived members grew bigger and reverted to scales. This group includes Griffins and Hippogriffs, but also owlbears (grew bigger, wings atrophied, now wings and wing feathers are used for threat displays) and Dragons. Dragons, though, are infused with magic and are now closer to spirits than mortals.
• "Dinosaurs" "re-evolved". Names are inspired by 4E D&D. Theropods and pterosaurs are Drakes. Sauropods are Titans. Ornithischians are Behemoths.
• Modern animals like wolves and panthers and elephants might be described differently or repurposed. Most larger mammals from today went extinct, but they've been replaced with other mammal groups. So there's something we call a wolf since it's convenient, but it's actually a mustelid, and panthers are mongooses. Rhinos and Elephants are repurposed as Behemoths, and others... but Axe-beaks and the like are still theropods, so they're Drakes.
• The peoples of the world have evolutionary lineages too. They're a big part of the Angels' experiment, elevating animals. Humans are apes, a recreation of the Angel's ancestors. Elves are fey that adapted to the forests of the world (jungle is dark, woodland is wood, taiga is high, kelp forests are sea...). Dwarves evolved from badgers (hence the toughness, the hairiness, and the surliness). Halflings evolved from spidermonkeys (and have tails!). Orcs are pigs (tusks!). And so forth.
• This also explains why humans can mix with so many. Giants are altered humans. Lycanthropy is a disease evolved from original human/animal hybrid retroviruses, and shifters are remnants of later versions of the same experiment. Elves are fey humans. Angels and Devils are future humans. Dragons are magical. And so forth. It also gives players of humans free rein to have fantastical cosmetic differences from having distant ancestors.

Unrelated to my setting, here's some D&D Lore headcanons that I have (whether or not they were seeded by actual lore, or someone else making theories, I don't know anymore):

• Mindflayers are from the far far future where their empire lasted until all that was left were red and white dwarves for energy, the galaxy was going dark.
• Mindflayers are evolved from Aboleths; that's why Aboleths don't remember what Mindflayers do about their empire.
• Githyanki and Githzerai are future humans, their evolution guided and manipulated by Mindflayers like were were domesticated livestock.

What are some of your ideas? What do you think of mine?

 

[DrunkonDuty]

Nice!

I'll admit that I've never really thought about this aspect of any of my campaigns.

One question, and sorry if I missed it in the OP, but where does the fey aspect come from? Is it another type of angelic/devilish experimentation? Or is there a parallel world bleeding into this one?

 

[Richards]

Cool! I'll bet I can guess where gnolls come from....

Johnathan

 

[DrunkonDuty]

"When a gnome and troll love one another very much... "

 

[overgeeked]

What are some of your ideas?

I can’t really contribute much in the way of ecology. I usually ignore it in favor of shrugging and accepting that anything underground is the Mythic Underworld and the Overworld is a random mishmash of whatever strikes my fancy. Fantasy and all that.

What do you think of mine?

That’s pretty cool. Clearly you’ve put a lot of thought and work into it.

 

[Bitbrain]

The set up has allowed me to consider what different fantasy beasts are in the world, and I thought people might find it interesting to discuss or might have some of their own head canons for D&D and fantasy gaming.

Here's some examples from my setting:

• Griffins are part of a new group of animals, Dragons. Birds that magically developed an extra set of limbs. Basal members of the group still have their feathers, while more derived members grew bigger and reverted to scales. This group includes Griffins and Hippogriffs, but also owlbears (grew bigger, wings atrophied, now wings and wing feathers are used for threat displays) and Dragons.

I once toyed with the idea of basing blue dragons in my home game setting off of hoatzins, but ultimately decided not to include blue dragons at all (replacing them with brown dragons instead). It’s nice to see someone else had a similar idea but made it work for them.

• "Dinosaurs" "re-evolved". Names are inspired by 4E D&D. Theropods and pterosaurs are Drakes. Sauropods are Titans. Ornithischians are Behemoths.

Given the fact numerous species of lizards adopt a bipedal stance to run faster, I can easily see dinosaur-like squamates
making a debut in a few million years.

• Modern animals like wolves and panthers and elephants might be described differently or repurposed. Most larger mammals from today went extinct, but they've been replaced with other mammal groups. So there's something we call a wolf since it's convenient, but it's actually a mustelid, and panthers are mongooses. Rhinos and Elephants are repurposed as Behemoths, and others.

That is deliciously evil. I live on a farm and there are few things in nature more malicious than weasels and minks. Bloodthirsty psychopaths, every last one of them.

• The peoples of the world have evolutionary lineages too. They're a big part of the Angels' experiment, elevating animals. Humans are apes, a recreation of the Angel's ancestors. Elves are fey that adapted to the forests of the world (jungle is dark, woodland is wood, taiga is high, kelp forests are sea...).

High elves living in sub-arctic forests… Now I’m imagining half their population is stoned out of their brains on amanita muscaria.

What are some of your ideas?

ABERRATIONS
Grell replace Illithids as the iconic “brain monster” in my home games. Still ruled over by elder brains, mind you. Oh, and they also ride neh-thalggu into battle.

DRAGONS
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: my dragons don’t have wings and can’t fly without the aid of magic spells, but make up for this loss with more resistances and immunities.

1. Black dragons (sometimes called “dragon turtles”) evolved from archelons and live in the ocean. They breathe superheated steam.
2. Brown dragons (sometimes called “dragon bears”) evolved from erythrosuchus and live in the desert. They breathe fire and superheated sand.
3. Green dragons (sometimes called “dragon lizards”) evolved from some kind of prehistoric arboreal lizard and live in tropical or temperate forests. They breathe electrified mist.
4. White dragons (sometimes called “dragon snakes”) evolved from the missing link between lizards and snakes and live in arctic or sub-arctic environments. They breathe snow and ice.
5. There is only red dragon in existence. Her name is Tiamat the Dragon Queen and she’s actually an archfiend. She also breathes fire and pure destructive force.

Wyverns are still the leathery-winged, tail-stinger reptiles they’ve always been. The fun thing is their origin: in my home games wyverns evolved from drepanosaurus.

HUMANOIDS
Dwarves are an intersex species who lay eggs. As far as pronouns are concerned, all dwarves consider themselves male.

MONSTROSITIES
Owlbears evolved from dicynodonts. I’d love to say I came up with this one all on my own, but alas, I did not.

Salamanders look like oversized lizards on fire, not snakes with red scales, humanoid arms, and dragon heads.

 

[Voadam]

I’ve occasionally thought of underground kingdoms like dwarves and drow using industrial vats full of alchemical mixtures to grow foodstuffs of different varieties for their populations and that some ooze monsters could have originated in food cultures gone bad or in experiments or research gone wrong.

 

[Tonguez]

Hey everybody.

I've been fiddling with my setting for a long time; sometimes it's half of my time spent thinking about gaming. I've been approaching my world building from a more sci-fi angle, considering what things could have evolved from and what it does in the world or society. Without going too into it, my setting takes place on Earth, but 50 million years in the future with magic. The world is kind of one big laboratory run by the Angels (hyper evolved humans that embraced cybernetics for life extension, think gray aliens or Protoss) that's being tampered with by Devils (hyper evolved humans that embraced genetic engineering for life extension, think D&D devils being humanoid but with bestial and horrible features). The set up has allowed me to consider what different fantasy beasts are in the world, and I thought people might find it interesting to discuss or might have some of their own head canons for D&D and fantasy gaming.

Here's some examples from my setting:

• Griffins are part of a new group of animals, Dragons. Birds that magically developed an extra set of limbs. Basal members of the group still have their feathers, while more derived members grew bigger and reverted to scales. This group includes Griffins and Hippogriffs, but also owlbears (grew bigger, wings atrophied, now wings and wing feathers are used for threat displays) and Dragons. Dragons, though, are infused with magic and are now closer to spirits than mortals.
• "Dinosaurs" "re-evolved". Names are inspired by 4E D&D. Theropods and pterosaurs are Drakes. Sauropods are Titans. Ornithischians are Behemoths.
• Modern animals like wolves and panthers and elephants might be described differently or repurposed. Most larger mammals from today went extinct, but they've been replaced with other mammal groups. So there's something we call a wolf since it's convenient, but it's actually a mustelid, and panthers are mongooses. Rhinos and Elephants are repurposed as Behemoths, and others... but Axe-beaks and the like are still theropods, so they're Drakes.
• The peoples of the world have evolutionary lineages too. They're a big part of the Angels' experiment, elevating animals. Humans are apes, a recreation of the Angel's ancestors. Elves are fey that adapted to the forests of the world (jungle is dark, woodland is wood, taiga is high, kelp forests are sea...). Dwarves evolved from badgers (hence the toughness, the hairiness, and the surliness). Halflings evolved from spidermonkeys (and have tails!). Orcs are pigs (tusks!). And so forth.
• This also explains why humans can mix with so many. Giants are altered humans. Lycanthropy is a disease evolved from original human/animal hybrid retroviruses, and shifters are remnants of later versions of the same experiment. Elves are fey humans. Angels and Devils are future humans. Dragons are magical. And so forth. It also gives players of humans free rein to have fantastical cosmetic differences from having distant ancestors.

Unrelated to my setting, here's some D&D Lore headcanons that I have (whether or not they were seeded by actual lore, or someone else making theories, I don't know anymore):

• Mindflayers are from the far far future where their empire lasted until all that was left were red and white dwarves for energy, the galaxy was going dark.
• Mindflayers are evolved from Aboleths; that's why Aboleths don't remember what Mindflayers do about their empire.
• Githyanki and Githzerai are future humans, their evolution guided and manipulated by Mindflayers like were were domesticated livestock.

What are some of your ideas? What do you think of mine?

Yeah I linked Griffins and Owlbears in my game too, making them feathered dinosaurs, thought about linking in Hippogriffs but never satisfyingly. Making them Dicynodonts makes sense, never thought to link Perytons in as well, thats awesome.

I've done Dwarfs as Neanderthals, Elfs as Homo Erectus exposed to 'fey realm' and goblins as Austropithecus

Dragons descend from a double sailed Pelycosaur, so wings are spine extensions rather than limbs

 

[Oofta]

Couldn't help but think of this ...

 

[Shadowdweller00]

First opinion on the setting: Cool.

Though the former biologist in me has to nitpick a bit: What you seem to be describing is more evolution or phylogenetics than ecology. Ecology is the study of how different types of organism interact with each other and the environment, such as by predation. The other two words are the study of how organisms change (permanently or genetically) over time.