Specposium 2022 abstracts

June 25, 2022

ACSC Competitions in 2021-2022 Season
Rell Lee, Raho, and MNMZ

This is a place to introduce the contests that have been held at ACSC (Association for Creators of Speculative Creatures). In the last episode, if I focused on the system part of the competition, I would like to talk about how to select a topic, including introducing an example work, or what changes have been made this year.

Future Islands
Miguel Moreira

A detailed and thoughtful experiment on how insular environments will look like 10 million years in the future of our own Earth, in regards to its fauna. It shall showcase how existing islands will persist and evolve its local fauna in the aftermath of the introduction of invasive species and rampant human intervention, beyond also exploring the formation of new islands via landmasses that split off from larger ones, as well as insular complexes whose faunal compositions are completely rebooted by the forces of ice and sea, and finally we shall also see how brand new islands will be formed in the future and present a brand new slate of biodiversity to showcase. Welcome to this journey to the wonders of future islands.

Not Just Kaiju: The Physics of Giant Monsters
Alex Howe

I will discussing how the mathematical techniques used by physicists can inform realism in speculative evolution, as well as providing a source of artistic inspiration, by exploring how enormous creatures beyond anything in Earth's history could exist outside the movies.

Beyond Bilateral
Thomas Heathfield

Everyone knows what symmetry is. Radial, bilateral, or asymmetrical, right? Well as you might guess, there's much more to the topic. Like MUCH more.

I want to explain how and why our current model of symmetry falls short, and how it could be improved. I want to broaden your understanding of the topic as a whole, and give you something to think about when making your own spec projects.

Phtanum B - Life on a Super-Earth
Paul Drenckhahn

Mainly gonna show off my specevo project I have been working on for some two and a half-ish years, Phtanum B! The project itself is themed around life on a halogen-ridden super-earth. Organisms here evolved pyrite bones due to the ready abundance of iron and other heavy metal elements that emerged during the super-earth‘s formation process, organisms can produce biological plastics and all sorts of other things. The presentation is going to start with an introduction of the Planet, its conditions, and is then going to delve into the life on it (deuvertebrates and xenicozoophytes in particular). Biomes presented are gonna include biomat flatlands, chloride moistlands, iron bogs, battery swamps and way more! Large many-legged predators roam the lands, so better stay safe behind the huge city walls! Phtanum B has a large human history and story aspect, though it is not too relevant in a specevo context.

Settlers from the Deep
Concavenator corcovatus

A future evolution project in which a solar flare-like event causes the destruction of all complex life on the surface of Earth. The project follows the recovery of the biosphere with the resettlement of the surface from the few underground and aquatic survivors, and the new ecosystems formed by their descendants, e.g. prairies of lichen-like fungi peopled by blind grazers, forests of arboreal eelgrass in which descendants of blennies take flight, amphibious hives built by eusocial crabs, and gastropod reefs inhabited by electrogenic fishes.

Ecosystem Metadynamics
Gavin Chaston

It is often pointed out how animals and plants shape their environments as much as their environments shape them, but rarely is it considered how two environments interact and shape each other. Becoming aware of this can reveal how to make a truly interconnected biosphere.

Monster Evolution: Application of Phylogenetic Methods to Fictional Evolutionary Scenarios
Tristan Stock

Many pieces of media, including massive multimedia franchises like Pokémon, use evolution by natural selection to explain the origin and diversity of their fictional worlds and the creatures that inhabit them. However, these projects do not often give solid canonical framework for the origin and evolution of the various clades, leaving fans to create their own original frameworks based on more limited data or a small handful of shared traits. But we have had a method to test interrelationships between various organisms since at least the 1970s: matrix-based maximum parsimony analyses. For my presentation, I will present several groups of fictional organisms I have tested the relationships of using the programs Mesquite and PAUP4, both free open-access software used in published scientific analyses, as well as my methods in assigning and listing character states. I hope to make my matrices open-access to allow more fans to add to and alter them and create a more detailed understanding of evolution in these fictional worlds, as well as how some of these media projects can be used to help educate people about evolutionary processes.

June 26, 2022

The World of Nijin-Konai
Lorenzo Battilani

An overview of the Project Nijin-Konai, showcasing the diversity of the fish-like subphylum Ichthyomorpha and the purpose and application of the project as a learning platform in natural sciences.

The presentation focuses on the fictional planet of Nijin-Konai, its inhabitants and the themes of education brought alongside it, using the alien organisms of the planet, evolved through modern day concepts in natural sciences, to offer a plausible yet comprehensive view of modern issues in ecology.

Through the analysis of these organisms the project also offers the possibility for people to learn about university-grade knowledge accumulated in years of study in the field, bringing forth concepts in genetics and an overall deeper side of evolution as applied on fictional creatures.

Life in an Infinite Universe
Zac Walton

Life in an Infinite Universe is a hard-science worldbuilding project that uses Earth's evolutionary trends to explore how life might evolve on similar planets. This whistle-stop tour details how slight changes in planetary properties and genetic history can lead to drastically different ecosystems; and how physics can be a valuable tool in creature design.

Junction: A Patchwork World
Dan Bensen

Junction, the setting for two of my books, is a planet covered in wormholes opening to other life-bearing planets. Over the past 100 million years, life-forms from these worlds have met and competed. I will talk about my process for creating junction, as well as how I used it as the setting for stories about people.

20 Years of The Future is Wild
Henry Thomas

In 2002, The Future is Wild, one of the most high-profile speculative evolution franchises yet, first aired. It's been 20 years since. How well does it hold up? What has the effect of The Future is Wild been? How did it get to where it is now? And where is it going next? These questions and more are what we go over here.

Luxuriosum - Planet of the Living Fruit
Tala Davis

I will go over my alien world (Luxuriosum) and its main inhabitants: those being mobile fruits. I will cover the natural history of the planet as to how such an evolutionary oddity occurred & became the dominant branch of life, some of the modern-day inhabitants across multiple unique taxonomic lines, and an overview of Lux's dominant, intelligent species and their cultures. If I have time I will also do a brief overview of the planet's binary counterpart- Altum, the ocean world.

Alouatta: The World of Howler Monkeys
Yuujin Wong

A deep dive into the icy world of Alouatta, which, after being terraformed by a rogue scientist organisation into a suitable habitat, follows the evolution of howler monkeys and other organisms stranded on the planet.

The Teeming Universe: Speculative Work Come to Life
Christian Cline

I will be covering things like the premise of my book, how I began and completed my journey as an author, and most importantly how it is possible to stay focused and planned on making a book of your own, as this is a common goal many people in spec have across the board.

Sachiel: A World After the Rapture
Schwefel Kamm

72 million years ago, the Drainers would drain the oceans of Sachiel as well as most of the solar system's resources. Life has to find a way to survive this cataclysmic event, and intelligent life will arise...

Roughly 13,000 years into the future, humanity, apes, and robots encounter their first alien civilization, 40 light years away. These aliens, Sachillans, have a history just as complex as that of ours, and this project covers the base history of them.

The project as a whole takes place over roughly 14,000 years, sort of retelling my life story through multiple acts, and really means a lot to me.

The Ancient Martians
Forrest Caracali

A brief natural history of a version of Mars where life had a chance to flourish before its fated end as the red dustball it is now