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Description
Epona Project scene. The smaller critters are ceretridon equivalents to antelope/rabbits. The larger, menacing ceretridon hidden in the bushes is a predator higher on the food chain (specifically a swiftgrasper). Ceretridon are related (distantly) to the uthers, but their forelimbs have become optimized for feeding purposes. For what it's worth, both the ceretridon species and the avians (uthers included) are distantly related to the pagoda trees and plants. The plants and animals of Epona are not as separate as they are on Earth, and Eponan "plants" tend to have several animal-like features, such as increased mobility and reaction speed.

Okay, a bit of Eponan deep history. Epona is an old, old planet. Plate tectonics died a long time ago, and now the only thing heating the core is the decay of radioactives and the very slight tidal heating provided by its sun (Taranis, known by us as 82 Eridani). Since there is no tectonic movement, CO2 ends up on the bottom of the oceans, with no where to go; there is no subduction, so none of it gets "recycled." So, most of the time, Epona is an ice-covered cueball, except when there are volcanic eruptive cycles, which happen every hundred million years or so, which pump CO2 back into the atmosphere, warm up the planet, and cause the retreat of glaciers. Those 10-15 million year cycles are the times when life can colonize the land masses, most of which are the result of the primary volcanic hotspot.

The three continents are the Sunken Continent, the Highlands, and Fire Island. The Sunken Continent is the oldest, and ground nearly flat by epochs of glaciation. The Highlands are the result of the previous bout of volcanism, and Fire Island is the result of the current bout.

So pretty much all of the lifeforms on the land are descended from seaweed. The basal form (the seaweed precursor, if you will) can be imagined as a hollow barrel with 5 tentacles growing out of each end, with three "fingers" on the end of each tentacle. Just about every Eponan critter uses this basic body plan, altered and mutated where appropriate.

Description
Epona Project scene. The smaller critters are ceretridon equivalents to antelope/rabbits. The larger, menacing ceretridon hidden in the bushes is a predator higher on the food chain (specifically a swiftgrasper). Ceretridon are related (distantly) to the uthers, but their forelimbs have become optimized for feeding purposes. For what it's worth, both the ceretridon species and the avians (uthers included) are distantly related to the pagoda trees and plants. The plants and animals of Epona are not as separate as they are on Earth, and Eponan "plants" tend to have several animal-like features, such as increased mobility and reaction speed.

Okay, a bit of Eponan deep history. Epona is an old, old planet. Plate tectonics died a long time ago, and now the only thing heating the core is the decay of radioactives and the very slight tidal heating provided by its sun (Taranis, known by us as 82 Eridani). Since there is no tectonic movement, CO2 ends up on the bottom of the oceans, with no where to go; there is no subduction, so none of it gets "recycled." So, most of the time, Epona is an ice-covered cueball, except when there are volcanic eruptive cycles, which happen every hundred million years or so, which pump CO2 back into the atmosphere, warm up the planet, and cause the retreat of glaciers. Those 10-15 million year cycles are the times when life can colonize the land masses, most of which are the result of the primary volcanic hotspot.

The three continents are the Sunken Continent, the Highlands, and Fire Island. The Sunken Continent is the oldest, and ground nearly flat by epochs of glaciation. The Highlands are the result of the previous bout of volcanism, and Fire Island is the result of the current bout.

So pretty much all of the lifeforms on the land are descended from seaweed. The basal form (the seaweed precursor, if you will) can be imagined as a hollow barrel with 5 tentacles growing out of each end, with three "fingers" on the end of each tentacle. Just about every Eponan critter uses this basic body plan, altered and mutated where appropriate.