‘If a hot world with volcanoes but a rocky surface like Venus gave birth to life, what kind would it be?
I thought about primordial life forms, a form of the microworld and what could be its alpha predator.
All of these animals live in close contact with heat and magma and this evolutionary pressure has led them to different adaptations to what is our world
the GranchioSchifo Magmatis is the earliest example of this evolutionary pressure, the base is an isopod, but forced to survive extremely higher pressures it developed a much tougher and tougher exoskeleton.
The prompt was simple and I wanted to give the idea of a ‘tough’ animal with strong claws but still able to camouflage itself, as it is a representation of a middle point in the food chain anyway, at the same time I didn't want it to look too gross so I avoided representing the membranes of the lower part too accurately
The Orsetto di Lava is the offspring of a tardigrade, but being one of the oldest species on our hypothetical planet, it has had time to develop and evolve. Its physiognomy and biology allow it to be naturally resistant to extremely high temperatures, which is why it has made lava its lair.
The lava bear is as close as we can get to a herbivore in this world.
The lava bear I imagined as an extremely territorial creature, as you can see its ‘regurgitating’ lava is extremely functional and could be used by the designer to create intricate patterns in which the player cannot move,
I wanted it to be extremely durable but also quite bulky.
The Siphanoptera Magmatis is what I have imagined as ‘The Alpha Predator’ in this environment, the thick layer of mucus allows it to have tentacles, the only creature so represented in fact these are a huge advantage over all creatures that are however rigid in their movements.
The siphanoptera was meant to be ‘enemy number one’ the one you have to run to when you see it, I didn't want it to be ‘terrifying’ or particularly nasty, I liked the idea of making it a parent with a visible weak point, in fact a good storyline might have been that once the eggs are destroyed the siphanoptera triggers a Berserker phase
they often move in groups and their size varies between 140cm and 220cm, their weight varies between 180 and 200kg for males, females on the other hand reach incredible weights of 380-400kg during the mating season.
Orsetto di Lava
It moves alone, given its enormous life span it does not reproduce or aggregate often, its height varies between 240cm -310cm its weight is around 3tons in this case males are larger than females.
Siphanoptera magmatis
They travel in pairs, a male and a female, the female is about one third larger than the male, the average size of a specimen is between 5-6 metres tall while the weight is between 1,200kg and 1,600kg, funfact the eggs are bis as a football ball.
