development of mercury world

This is a thought experiment about the organic development of a Mercury-like world.

atmosphere: sodium-potassium
"chemical flaws"
Potassium:
	water (H2O) ->  H and K???
	heat, the H2 explodes

	potassium becomes argon OT

	Potassium reacts readily with all acids and with all non-metals, such as sulfur, chlorine, fluorine, phosphorus, and nitrogen.
Sodium:
	water (H2O) ->
	sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and hydrogen gas (H2)
	heat, the H2 explodes

	O combines

	Sodium also reacts with most other elements and with many compounds. It reacts with acids to produce hydrogen gas. It also dissolves in mercury to form a sodium amalgam. An amalgam is an alloy of mercury and at least one other metal.

"comparison to Earth-like"

Water would immediately boil or create explosions, no water. Pure sodium or potassium metals can be pocketed but combine with the surrounding environment.

"mineral composition"

Premise: Almost everything will have sodium or potassium mixed in.  It's very easy to generate heat and gas through reactions, so it's easy to create explosions and pollution.

"water composition"

The ocean is a sodium potassium something compound.
Water is basically salt. Salt isn't salty.

"low energy survival methods"

Under water, generating large amounts of heat is very simple. Propulsion can be generated by producing a hydrogen catalyst.

"evolving ecosystem"
The water boils just the first life, gradually must survive high temp.
Constant explosions will be making noise.
Gasses of hydrogen and various liquids or metals are being dispersed from evolutionary dead ends.

"starter life"
Since most single-celled creatures have access to heat and hydrogen, all initial life breathe potassium-sodium, and secrete a nearly explosive compound.

"evolving flora"
SNAPPER: The first great flora of note would generate a constant 'popping' sound and throw spores at a considerable rate through the air.  It'd have access to the safe potassium in the air and use the light for photosynthesis with pure sodium, generating large stocks of hydrogen gas that is uses immediately as propellant for seeds or spores.
SNAPPER EATING: The mouth cavity would have to withstand heat and explosions, because of the natural proclivity to continuously detonate in liquid.

SAPS: Lesser flora are properly inert and asexual.  But generate sugar and capable of photosynthesis.
EAT: Very delicious, and hard to reach.  The bugs would get to it, like bees.

TREE: The second great flora survive with an exterior of slimed leaves. Its trunk rigidly survives assault from medium fauna.  Seed pods are explosive, vestiges of the original.
Some trees as such, throw or projectilly shoot saplings. It's not uncommon for trees to kill eachother this way.
EAT: Mostly undesirable to larger animals.

WARTREE: The third and most hazardous flora. Somewhat of a maneating plant. Has a variety of adaptations to protect itself with active explosive seed pods, acidic sap, drugs that enrage the fauna. All for the purpose of using their would-be predators in their place.
EAT?: Yes, but chances are the fauna crazy enough to eat it will die and later explode at the start of a new wartree.

GOD-V: Omnivorous plants.  Highly territorial sentinels. Tend to shoot predators.  Use tripwire mines made of other plants.  The best chance you have of knowing a GOD vegetable is present are the thinnest threads, and by then it already knows your location.
The intelligence, and protective nature of GOD-V make it a deadly invasive force for early fauna.  It's evident GOD-V compete with each other, but have completely divergent genetics from the initial fauna.
EAT??: AHAHAH...  The concentration of GOD-V's metallic components not only give it reactive armor, that would explode if chewed on, it'd probably taste bad.  It is undesriable for edible livestock.
OTHER: It's more like a walking armory and bacteria factory.  The webs it forms can be light or strong. It produces armor and acid.

"evolving fauna"
Fauna run on simple algorithms, gatherer, hunter, and mating. Of note, the most unique or diverse.

Herbivore: The stomach of herbivores must suppress explosive reactions as much as the skin.  With extreme safety herbivores can hide in dangerous terrain that their predators would flee.

Light: Flight capable. Extremely fast in short bursts with explosive propulsion.

Heavy: Omnivorous. Built like dinosaurs with thick skin. Tend to eat explosives as the most abundant form of chemical energy, heat.  Something like a proximity sensory organ allow it to strike and devour lighter creatures.

Carnivore: The weakest species. The don't need to adapt to tree explosions.
Their digestion is adapted to solely devour herbivores and ignore their (anti-reactive) stomach sack for the most part.  Allowing them to absorb the sugar of the muscles.  The body heat of dead chemically decomposing animals will seep out, allowing for some parasitic behavior.


"flora after billions of years..."
They will have absorbed the atmosphere, and replaced it with a non-reactive poisonous 'air'.  The explosive potassium-sodium remains chemically inert underground, much like coal.

"vestigious flora, survivors"
significantly lower danger levels, and rely more on currents of wind, water, and symbiotic fauna.

SNAPPER: still thrive, but only generate spawns seasonally.

TREE: smaller, seasonal behavior

WARTREE: with the loss of potassium-sodium potency, the only surviving wartrees have significantly lower danger levels, and less protection for herbivores.

GOD-V: unintelligent, sometimes toxic, highly nutritious.  Their ancestral instincts dormant
EAT: They've evolved to entice fauna to eat and spread their delicious, nutritious bodies, seeds find their way around the digestive tract with great success.  It's thought that the fauna are under mind control though.

DOD-F: the saps... aka flowers.  Use a lure method, with extremely sweet non-volatile juices.  They've gone the extreme length of evolution, the best flavors are spread faster, with a sacrifice of very little energy.
EAT: Gorging on dod is sometimes detrimental, but always entertaining.

SPORE-DRUG: just a variety of spores that inhibit anyone stirring trouble, or god forbid eating them.

"'evolved' fauna"
Naturally balanced at the rate of 'air' production. They breathe out a potassium-sodium solution like 'water' and 'old air' (oir) to compliment new flora.
Fauna are less capable of producing heat without eating, and the difference between plant behavior is more pronounced.
Due to the air change. Old fauna outright die. The new 'air' is less abundant, but still quite deadly (just like what happened on Earth).

"new world ocean fauna"

EX-DOLPHINS: A type of oceanic fauna that evolved over the eons are like dolphins, and incapable of surviving reduced oir due to their gradual inclination to stay surfaced at the progress of their early civilization.

EX-WHALE: VERY BIG, BUT LIKE DOLPHINS. Tend to crash themselves and explode making beaches resemble war-torn derelicts.


LIZZ: An oir-air hybrid with two lungs outpaces most species because of a functional explosive gas tank, a dense neuron pack, and absorbing plants.

This species enables the commonality of a programmable brain, social hierarchy, and dominance, the new world after the old one dies.  The remaining GOD-V with dangerous attributes are hunted for dominance.

Although the oir lungs hold a danger. The explosive tendency on mutation an undesirable evolutionary trait.  A preference of Lizz shows crushing the oir lung at young ages increased life spans.

LIZZ-A: An intentional imbred adaptation. The oir lung is malfunctioned, greatly weakening the lifeform but increasing its survival chance.

LIZZ-B: Two fully formed air lungs, and only half as strong as the initial Lizz.  Although the evolution gradually separated it from the ancestor Lizz, their numbers increase.


EX-FISH: The neuron packs form the most basic hunter gatherer instincts.  However, the fish doesn't breathe from the air, so its ancient vestiges remain intact.  Tend to explode or generate searing heat. They keep the ocean hostile and undesirable to smaller life.


"anthropomorphic fauna"
GOD-F: Omnivore. The new forest king. Resembles the GOD-V in behavior alone. Uses strong muscular mobility and energy efficient melee combat.  Uses GOD-V and other vegetation for tactical weaponry.

The ability to share techniques with its race through example and adapt to combat keep it alive despite the volatility of tree-like dangers, and conquest of competing GOD-F.

GOD-F remain territorial and xenophobic.  Prefer to fight than expand out.  The interior tribes becoming dormant and relatively peaceful.

Some physical stature tends to grow as their habitat expands.  However, this size dominance undermines the technological development, keeping it from progressing.

GOD-F remain superior and crush even the largest interloping species.  This creates invisible boundaries over time, that animals won't cross out of inborn fear.

"early civilization"
Various APEX species grow to expand beyond their borders. Some predatory, some herbivores.  All of them showing social welfare.

Those offshot from GOD-F naturally fear and respect the tools of war, and stature of larger kin.  They quickly formulate small gangs and define safety through redundant beliefs.  This lowers adaptation at times, resulting in environmental fatality and inevitable extinction.

"early construction"
lack of safe 'wood' analogue construction mat

Many animals exhibit art, or constructive behaviors. However, the explosive trees are flawed.  Nesting behavior becomes a game of chance and blowing your face or hand off is evolved out of unintelligent creatures, and noted as stupid by early observers.


"raw food"
Cooking with fire is significantly different from the Earth counterpart.

"hunting"
Life doesn't burn so much as combust through hydrogen. Warmth through cell necrosis can ignite a dead carcass, cooking it. This tends to encourage cannibalism since cooked meat is enticing.

"insectivores"
A simple tactic to ignite some tree to blow away its woodland inhabitants is commonplace.  This makes tree infestations a simple source of crunchy protein.


"nutrients"
Vegetation is very complex and self employed defenses are numerous. This causes programmed desires to seek out a single type of edible plant.

"light and water"
works just like normal. Although photosynthesis removes potassium from the atmosphere, given how the ocean is entirely sodium.  It rains metallic sodium.

"Growth cycle, darkness"
An ancient growth cycle takes place during darkness. Cells duplicate while there's no new power entering.


"gene tempering, threat culling"
APEX creatures or not. A great deal die off from environmental changes. Mostly caused by them. Famine and overpopulation begin tribal wars.  Just the right amount of cooperation and just the right amount of individualism emerges.

Having evolved from similar ancestors, the gene pool of close cousin creatures intermingle until the most advantageous mix is determined. When the elders die out the lifestyle does, and the gene pool immediately begins to decline from near perfection.  Tempered genes will lead to gods without wont, empty headed geniuses, acrobatic maniacs.  Random mixtures initially cause the greatest freakshow, horrible pain, and depression, which leads some with a distaste for such mixing.

Unrelated APEX creatures that fail to temper there genes in such a way, missed the golden chance. Eventually, the genetic similarities fade and each rediscovery of a departed and unrelated mutation is a threat.

Each threat and management "war" could be seen as a genocide ranging from slaughtering peaceful gods to tribal warfare among rats.

Inevitably it results in a species with many variable adaptations.  If that species is intelligent enough to control its own destiny and grow some part of it with experience, it ought to be thought of as a god on this planet.

"The rise of GOD-MAN"

Earth's counterparts have a mix of acrobatic bodies, observant brains, competitive and growing experience based knowledge. The god in this story will fight something like humans and know themselves.

Before discovering a single refined tool.  The most ambitious male god would claim dominance through physical prowess.  Within two generations females gives birth to his mixed offspring, taking a form closer before he is assassinated. The female gods compete to have as many children they can find interest in.

This natural resource competition shortens the lifespan and greatly reduces the mental capability of the mixed species.  Some mutations already occur from this incest. The golden generation of perfect gods ends just as soon as it begins.

GOD-M: The form doesn't matter. But it thinks like a human. The way it thinks is memorizing complex patterns.  It either tries to replicate or change the patterns it holds and sees with the tools it possesses, and so the most beneficial manipulations thrive.

Life fuel
It's organic. It eats and seeks out higher energy foods. The blood flows a high density sodium-potassium alloy and nutrients.  Heat generated with light or friction start the chain reaction needed to keep it alive, and it only needs to eat every few days depending on how active it is. Nutrients in its raw form are undesirable, but can be mixed in with normal foods. Nutrient comes from the most complex vegetation.



t0 - no civ
from the hottest to the coldest days, the God-M will never feel troubled about temperature. They are hot, they generate heat, and only need to eat to survive hot days.

The t0 state goes on until the genetic collapse is enough to make life challenging once again.

t1 - uncommon resource
safe plants (non-burning wood)
dangerous plants - chemically potent
ancient remains - oil, clean bones
sociable, tamed animals - eg dog
safe materials - totally inert, non sodium-potassium

t2 - tool
An encounter with God-F display the power of tools. Only some escape with their lives, because the tools known to God-F are tools of killing, and they will pursue any who remain in their territory until the kill is done.

Lacking the territory and history of God-F, God-M experiments.

Due to a hydrogen atmosphere some combustion is inevitable.

They take to "throwing fire" for entertainment.  In more extreme cases an individual will demolish larger and larger structures with explosives of the common plant life and animal heat.

Some get used to seeing fire burst near them. They are the most capable in combat.

They attempt a type of "wrestling" where the bigger has a clear advantage. Thus it's evidence over generations that nutrition can enhance physical ability.

Their first technological revolution ends here and the practices continue on until a revolutionary arrives.

t3 - artisan (revolutionary)
Lucrative practices in barter, miser, and thrower each gain great amounts of power.


miser
	A clay pot can be used to store water, which is as better than hunting, clay pots are the greatest form of wealth for their ability to store things.

barter
	Someone with a grasp of ownership will barter for gain.

thrower
	A thrower is a type of hunter, but with devastating rocks of various compositions. When they shatter, direct contact with bones or blood can make a small deadly explosion depending on the type of rock and what they strike it on.

sapper
	This is just a crazy person who blows things up. They use animal remains and some uncommon mats to produce avalanches. It's a deadly and undesirable form of entertainment.

	Sapper is an entertainment, to make many small explosions a bigger explosion! But this type of art will get the user villified quickly.



burn preventer (cook)

	Burn preventer is a strange one.

	when animals self-cook they burn. A burn preventer seeks ways to stop the burning, increasing the food's quality.

	Few pathogens. Due to an unlikely chance for dead animals to remain unburnt, necrotic pathogens and bacteria are very low, and meat preservation is easier for uncooked meat.

"Passing down"
The initial skills of this civilization can be learned by observation and competing.

c1 - dark civilization
GOD-M's observational tendency pull it through this first generation.

"mundane entertainment"
The explosive force ritually displayed every day depicts small scale burns and pain. Younger God-M will attempt this on their own.

From time to time an artisan makes way to show a different art, but explosives are far more interesting and dangerous.

"refined strength"
Throwers learn to carry clay pots full of sharp rocks.  Their hands are callused. Their eyes are sharp, always looking for something interesting to hit.

More dangerous stones are catalogued and some are even explosive.

The ability to hit an object at a range with volatile sharp stones is very powerful. This makes throwers on the verge of a military strength.

c2 - refined tools
medicine / cooking (burn preventing)
	staunching wounds and chemical applications.
	the use of clay pottery and newly invented leathers

c3
For the greater good some artisans greatly refine the sought after practices down to stunning levels of skill.
Animal husbandry
	Basically, at this point genetic defects are recognized. People with different problems are mixed. People who are perfect mate together. The concept of mutation is way off.
	People with specific traits are encouraged to reproduce constantly. This is not unlike the initial gene tempering phase that occurred before, but the result drastically changes the gene pool.

"evolution"
All accounts of spontaneous combustion are further reduced. Upon death a God-M initially burnt to an unrecognizable pile of ash. The genetics NOT to burn became something of a royal trait. This instanced a class system.

God-M
	Turns to ash on death.

	Has well endowed temperature control and physical strength.

	Combustion if enraged and overheated through exertion of strength. Combustion if chemically compromised.

God-Ma
	The new "ruling class" will never spontaneously combust.  This makes them live longer.

	Upon death. Their body remains, most of the combustibles won't trigger without an ignition catalyst.

"war"
Considering themselves greater than thou, the God-Ma make an antagonizing move to acquire resources.  The more aggressive ones move camps and resources directly into antagonistic range of would be aggressors. Among them are rival tribes, territorial animals, and aggressors like God-F.

God-F are unimpressed. They retaliate with a barrage of complex weapons not yet understood (The God-V kind), tearing down the childish efforts of God-M throwers.  The initial response is the equivalent of nuking from orbit, at dawn.

God-Ma continue to encourage this mentality by getting as close to God-F as possible, but never entering the territory.  This results in greatly reducing the young thrower population who wander aimlessly.  Inevitably a few veterans who identify the problem create a warning system by leveling the forest in that vicinity and placing sharp stones unpleasant to step on, a sensation would be like walking across spikes; creating a demilitarized zone that children and untrained adults won't stand.

Burning feet
	A quick way to temper the sole of the foot becomes burning. It's discovered that if you can step on sharp rocks, you're much more capable at running and combat in general.

The war tactics outlined become very formidable. Untrained God-M stand no chance against battle hard and skillful fighters.

Melee combat
	The throwers determined that the speed they throw rocks severely hampered the rate they cause damage. So some have handheld rocks, slightly heavy, that they smash other people with after throwing just a few rocks.

A united God-M are formed through subjugation. As such the behavior of attempting to grow borders continues.

God-F remain adamant and earn a sort of legendary monster status.  Luckily those sharp stones deter them from leaving their forested area and they tended to go the other way, or swim.

g1 - history
many many iterations of warning signs and vague meanings litter the world. Most of which blow over.

g2
food is so abundant that God-M practically explode from gluttony.

cooking is well established for increasing potency of food.

God-Ma can live a long time, and become great misers. God-Ma were able to become legendary intellectuals for their long lives.

g3

scribes
	refine a recorded language, but they suck
storytellers / wordsmiths
	through a mishmash of sounds and repetition they form a shaky foundation of story first.

	Eventually the stories they tell take on a divergent nature like human culture.

explorers
	with no new unknowns close to home. Some explorers discover a wanderlust and go out, only to find nothing there, and they come back to tell tall tales.
outcasts
	infighting basically. Results in more and more people getting banished to the dangers outside their realm.

"evolution God-Man"
At some point the perfect symbols God-Ma tote to their peasants becomes somewhat of a reality. The most perfect symmetrical God-M are uplifted to the equal God-Ma status out of popularity.

f1 - the end of civilization
God Man:
	Heavily symbolic
	Desires beauty - symmetry, simplicity, complexity, variety; in its surroundings
	miserly - vast quantities of valuables innate in a miser profession

	They combust when dead, although some interbreed with non-combusting dead. An obsession with eating, and the dead results in  non-combusted dead brought straight to to man. The man eats their dead.

cannibalism
	a somewhat interpretive system, a pegan faith about eating people you like rises.

	It's much less likely that you'd eat a random stranger, because they could be someone you don't like.

	It's inevitable but only the God-Man were allowed to eat the dead, like a ritual faith healing.  Their misdeeds are forgiven for the delicious meal.

suicide
	out of sheer disgust many God-Ma will sacrifice themself. This starts a precedent of ritual sacrifice. It falls on godmen to eat more and more every day.

become ender of worlds
	The perfect symbolic nature of God-Man is soon exploited, ending the previous civilization.  Much of the culture is lost and an exploitative suspicious cult-tribal pseudo religious civilization is born.