Sagan 4

Sagan 4 is a multi-national fictional exobiology art project. It was inspired by Carl Sagan's television show; CoSMoS: A Personal Voyage.

Description

Sagan 4 is an art project. The creator of the project submitted an organism with a general description. Members of the website then submitted creatures that has evolved from the base creature. Then other members evolve those creatures and continue doing so to each submission.

The Planet

Sagan 4 is the forth planet orbiting around Sagan, a G2V spectral class star. Sagan 4 is in the middle of the habitable zone, while its two neighbors, Sagan 3 and Sagan 5, orbit on the outer fringes of each side of the zone. Sagan 4 has one moon, Mason. Mason has a thick atmosphere with a surface consisting of one solid sheet of ice with a small rocky core, similar to Europa.

Timescale

The evolution on Sagan 4 is measured by generations and weeks. Each generation contains several organisms, which evolved from organisms from previous generations. Seven generations form a week. The name "Week" originated from the beginning of the project, when every day a new generation was done. In recent times however the generations are defined by the amount of organisms. The weeks' names are named after some of the members of this project.  

Hydronian Period (Week 0)

4,000 Million Years Long

Huggian Period (Week 1)

100 Million Years Long In the first week, the Ur-organism "Protosagania" evolved into different species via adaptive radiation. During this period, the different kingdoms formed and spread over the globe. Near the end of the period, some highly-evolved organisms originated. At the end of this week, a solar flare wiped out the most of the organisms. This era lasted approx. 100 million years.

Ovian Period (Week 2)

100 Million Years Long The second week lasted as long as the first one. During this period, primitive plants adapted to the land followed by primitive animals and a group of lifeforms which are both animals and plants. In the seas, fish-like animals evolved. On land, the first animal laying hard-shelled eggs appeared. At the end of this era, a giant ice meteor hit the planet, causing a mass extinction and a rise in sea level.

Krakowian Period (Week 3)

50 Million Years Long The third week lasted approx. 50 million years. While some fish-like animals adapted to live on land, complex food chains developed there as well. While animals had been either herbivores or omnivores in the Ovian Period, now real carnivores appeared. Along with that, a new group of animals from the deep sea adapted to live on the surface of the water.

Yoktonian Period (Week 4)

50 Million Years Long The fourth week lasted approx. 50 million years. This period features the first large creature. On land, forests started to form, raising the variety of species.

Rhodixian Period (Week 5)

50 Million Years Long The fifth week lasted approx. 50 million years long. In this era, all the landmasses form one single continent similar to Pangaea. The most notable event in this period was the appearance of a small simple plant which grows very fast and covers nearly everything. Because it spread over the whole planet, it highly influenced the evolution of the other organisms. Another very interesting species was a tree whose seeds were flammable and had to burn to reproduce.

Flischian Period (Week 6)

25 Million Years Long The sixth week lasted 25 million years long. The life on the planet began to specialize. During this era, the first organism living only in the air appeared, and many of the organisms evolved symbiosis or parasitism.

Irinyan Period (Week 7)

25 Million Years Long The seventh week lasted approx. 25 million years. A new group of organisms, the so-called Crystal Shrubs -part plant, part fungus-, discovered the land. Also, the ecosystem in the atmosphere extended and the polar regions became inhabited. In this period the largest organism of all times evolved: a crystal shrub which can grow up to a kilometer high.

Ladymian Period (Week 8)

12.5 Million Years Long The eighth week lasted approx. 12.5 million years. Now the single landmass split into two continents named Glicker and Wright. The fresh water bodies became filled with life, and the huge crystal shrubs formed whole ecosystems. A special generation featured nothing but microorganisms, which had been disregarded as background species in the earlier weeks.

Russian Period (Week 9)

12.5 Million Years Long The ninth week lasted approx. 12.5 million years. The different continents Glicker and Wright featured different kinds of organisms and habitats. The most interesting lifeform from this period was an animal that uses its tongue as a parachute.

Nukean Period (Week 10)

12.5 Million Years Long The tenth week lasted approx. 12.5 million years. While the crystal shrubs evolved into many different species, a plague wiped out some of the predators on the eastern continent. Another virus killed all of the flora in the eastern reef. The most interesting species in this era was a plant made of small cubes, which can move independently inside the plant, allowing the plant to change into different shapes.

Biocatian Period (Week 11)

12.5 Million Years Long The eleventh week lasted approx. 12.5 million years. For the first time this week, two related species evolved into a single species by interbreeding. There was also another special generation containing nothing but microorganisms. The most interesting species from this era was a worm-like animal which uses its wings to collect sunlight, much like a plant.

Ferretian Period (Week 12)

12.5 Million Years Long The twelfth week lasted approx. 12.5 million years.

Clayrenian Period (Week 13)

12.5 Million Years Long The thirteenth week lasted approx. 12.5 million years.

Allenian Period (Week 14)

12.5 Million Years Long The fourteenth week lasted approx. 12.5 million years.

Martykian Period (Week 15)

12.5 Million Years Long The fifteenth week lasted approx. 12.5 million years. After 100 generations, a gamma ray from a supernova annihilated a majority of the wildlife. Only the hardiest and most endurable survived.

Rabidian Period (Week 16)

12.5 Million Years Long The sixteenth week lasted approx. 12.5 million years.

Kingon Period (Week 17)

12.5 Million Years Long The seventeenth week lasted approx. 12.5 million years.

Somanian Period (Week 18)

12.5 Million Years Long The eighteenth week lasted approx. 12.5 million years.

Raptorian Period (Week 19)

12.5 Million Years Long

References

• Project website 1