Hello again,
Today I will show you a setting I have had in my head for a long time. I have tried a few iterations but only just recently got it right.
The setting is a typical schlocky "Lost World" setting that is typical of so many pieces of media featuring prehistoric fauna. I took influence from a lot of them, but foremost in my mind were "Land of the Lost" and Pellucidar.
The setting features many typical known dinosaurs and prehistoric fauna, coexisting on an earth-like planet, alongside humans, both primitive and civilized. My rationale is that it's much like "The Land of the Lost", anomalous holes in time open and close here, connecting it to earth during the past and present. This has, over millions of years, allowed many creatures and civilizations to establish there. In this time, many species have remained almost the same due to genetic drift from these holes, but numerous fictional creatures and races exist, that have evolved to exploit this new land.
I have not drawn every creature involved, because many typical ones simply look as they do in contemporary, accurate portrayals. The full list of fauna and civilizations is here:
https://www.deviantart.com/boverisuchus/art/My-Prehistoric-Setting-884965025
I have based a lot of these occurrences on the standard tropes and beasts of typical prehistoric fiction.
Now that the setting is set up in your mind, here is the fun bit, I will show you creatures that are unique, ones that evolved in this setting, and exist nowhere else.
Flamboyantly feathered Caenagnathid dinosaur, maybe 4 meters long.
Very tiny Compsognathid, about 27cm long.
Large, nearshore-marine Hupehsuchian ichthyopterygian, an 8-meter long fish-eater that is able to haul out on land.
A sapient race of omnivorous, tool-using Marginocephalian dinosaurs. About 5 feet tall.
Horse-sized, athletic fast-running Hyracodontid rhino, unique in having a horn, and resembling the mythical unicorn.
Small primitive Pterosaur which is a nocturnal sanguiphage, a vampire of large tetrapods, mainly dinosaurs.
3.5 meter long Shuvosaurid, about as tall as a large man.
Large-billed, Kookaburra-like Enantiornithine bird.
Goose-sized, Dodo-like flightless rail.
Leviathanic, 18-meter long macropredatory Thalattosuchian.
5 and a half foot tall, lizardman-like Poposaurid sapient.
2.5 meter-long, herbivorous beaked Troodontid, having defensive quills and a keratinous pygostyle-like "thagomizer".
Spacefaring "Alien Astronaut" which sometimes occupy and visit this planet, which has a completely alien body-plan.
10-meter long, dinosauric alien livestock, both domestic and feral.
Tree-sloth-like theropod, which lives in the treetops feeding on leaves and fruit.
Rhinoceros-sized, slurpasaur-like horned armadillo.
Capuchin-sized, bat-winged monkey, feeding on fruit and insects.
Near-shore and lagoon-dwelling "aquatic ape".
Bull-elephant sized primitive Proboscidean, resembling Koch's Missourium.
Fair-sized, wallaby-like Macropod, having tusks and cranial horns.
Komodo-dragon sized, Gila-monster-like lizard, able to spit venom defensively and in order to hunt.
9.5 meter long macropredatory ceratopsian, bipedal.
Mahar-like sapient race of Darwinopterus-like pterosaur, feet are analogous to hands, are used to make and operate tools and weapons.
Raccoon-like invasive alien creature, former pets of the "alien astronauts".
A 3.5 meter long primitive Ceratopsian, which reproduces as prodigiously as a pigeon, because it rears its young on a a glandular substance similar to pigeon-milk.
Eusocial, swarming species of small Suminia-like Anomodont, having a caste system and building giant woven "hives" out of plant fibers in the crowns of trees.
Fair-sized Coelophysoid having a venomous bite and grooved teeth.
Smallish Hadrosaurid which sprays defensive fluid from an anal gland, like a skunk or even the mythical Bonnacon.
Large species of Ceratopsid resembling the apocryphal genus Agathaumas.
4.3 meter long, well armed basal Thyreophoran, descended from something like Jakapil.
Another bipedal, basal Thyrophoran of the same family, larger, reaching 8.5 meters long.
A draconic, flying Scansoriopterygid, reaching the size of a large pterosaur, wingspan perhaps 7 meters.
Komodo-dragon sized, ornate Agamid lizard having a Hydrosaurus-like sail, chameleon-like horns, and a frill like Chlamydosaurus. A living slurpasaur.
An emu-sized race of sapient paravians, descended from troodontid ancestors. A "Dinosauroid".
Large marine Isopod, a parasite of big marine reptiles.
A smallish Stegosaur, which possesses scales, armor and plumes which are both luminescent and iridescent.
I have hammered out most of this setting. If I add other species, or draw more fictional kinds, I will add them here, updating this entry. I may eventually make maps to go with it, too.
All images, designs and writing on this blog are the property of Timothy Donald Morris, do not use, reproduce, or copy them without my permission.
© Timothy Donald Morris 2022
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