Editing Parting of the Ways (Fortune: Evolution Game) (section)

== Prairie ==
An endless sea of grass, amber waves of grain. The Prairie is a vibrant ecosystem in a land where trees never evolved or took root (pun intended).
===Camelback (Prairie)===
[[File:Camelback_00.png|thumb|left|Camelback]]
'''Camelbacks''' are terrestrial herbivorous repto-mammals found in temperate to dry plains & steppes as well as deserts.

Camelbacks are horse-sized nomadic herbivores that are built to survive harsh, dry conditions. They mainly do this through the use of the fat cells stored in their "hump", allowing for them to, in emergency or drought, to survive for about 3 weeks without food, noticeably shrinking their humps. Should this happen, the Camelback will gorge at the next opportunity, attempting to replace the lost storage.
Their bodies are also adept at storing water, including thick jowls (like a Bloodhound's) that trap saliva in the cheeks, allowing it to be reused rather than lost via drool/evaporation.

Camelbacks travel in herds of anywhere from a dozen to nearly a hundred animals, grazing and lazily migrating across their habitats. These herds are the primary family unit, and while hatchlings are cared for mainly by their biological parents, Camelbacks often have a group of older females past breeding age that act as a sort of "daycare" for the herd as a whole (similar to meerkats on Earth). Camelbacks even have the curious practice of "adoption", where, if the parents of a baby or juvenile Camelback perish, a mated pair without a child of their own will take the youngster in. At times this is done even if the mated pair already has a child, and other times one of the non-breeding "daycare" females will take the orphan in.

===Imperial Wolf (Prairie)===
Imperial Wolves are agile pack hunters descended from the Shogun Walrus. While still capable of eating dirt, they prefer the rich protein and nutrients found in animal flesh. The wolves have several tools which make them competent hunters, the most useful being their numbers. They live in large families that send out hunting parties in search food. Scouts will use a form of echo-location to search for live prey and when a scout finds something, it alerts the other wolves through a series of nasal burps who will pursue and attempt to surround the prey. While chasing they shoot acid aimed at the eyes and limbs to immobilize it. With larger prey and when acid is not enough they will make a series of leaping rams to gore their prey with reinforced tusks.

What allows Imperial Wolves their greater mobility is a rudimentary form of hydraulic muscle. Each 'limb' is a gel filled mass able to squeeze and contract allowing for more able movement. The wolves also have a primitive lung and modified trachea which allow them to either intake air and make a series of bellows for complex pack commands or pool acid in preparation for a large spray (typically used on demolishers as a smokescreen for escape or as a distraction).

===Czar Boar (Prairie)===
Czar Boars are a bulky, napalm spitting subspecies of the Imperial Wolf. Years of feeding on a combination rocks and rock-slurry have made significant changes in the Boar; most obvious being its rusty color palette and most notably its explosive saliva. The “saliva” is actually a volatile combination of stomach acid and mineral oil that when put together, create small but powerful explosions. This is actually the boar’s way of “chewing” its food into smaller bites before digesting it, but it has an even more dangerous side effect. Usually kept apart through a thick membrane inside the boar, should the sacks rupture through some accident or predator attack, the boar will explode and usually take any attacker with it.

In order to manage its heavy diet the boar as developed a large internal gland that stores oils synthesized from the minerals it eats. This alternative digestive system stores nutrition that would be otherwise unusable under normal circumstances. The glands location in the boar is what caused it to develop its large humpback. Their once lustrous main now has a metallic sheen and is as sharp as porcupine quills.

===Piranha Fly (Prairie)===
Piranha Flies are terrestrial predatory insects about the size of a horsefly, and are common to the Jungles of Alpha, the Prairie of Beta, the Desert of Beta, and the Highlands of Alpha.

Living in solitude for the most part, a Piranha fly will find a host to latch on to, and over a period of many days, drain away small portions of blood. When the creature has had its fill, it leaves the parting gift of a painful bite, taking a pill-sized chunk of flesh.
The reason the Piranha Fly is called as such is because of their mating season, which, for the fly's neighbors, is the stuff of nightmares. Piranha Flies gather from miles and miles around, flying high into the air in swarms of almost a million, buzzing a low droning sound that can be heard far away from the swarm's centre. Piranha Flies, after mating and laying their eggs (about 500 for each female) in calm bodies of water (they need not be stagnant), the flies then proceed to earn their fearsome reputation. Much like salmon on Earth, Piranha Flies mating takes a lot out of them, unlike salmon, the Piranha Flies have found a way around the death that would normally accompany this. The swarm of a million descends on some unlucky bastard of a creature and every one of them proceeds to take a single bite from the victim... this one creature dies ''horribly'', be it Camelback, Smiler, or even the normally unmolested Shogun Walrus. As a result of this practice, a Piranha Fly can survive and mate up to five seasons in a row. After this one creature, the flies are satisfied and they move on, to return to their solitary existence.

===Proboscis Scorpion (Prairie)===
[[File:Proboscis_00.png|200px|thumb|left|Proboscis Scorpion]]
The '''Proboscis Scorpion''' is a herbivorous terrestrial ectothermic insectoid common to the Jungles and Highlands of Alpha and the Prairie of Beta.

The scorpion is about the size of a human palm, and possesses wings rendering it capable of short bursts of flight, as well as a sharp ovipositor that's sharp enough that, in a pinch, can be used as a weapon.

Female scorpions will store fertilized eggs for extended periods of time, until they can use their stingers to inject hundreds of eggs under the skin of a larger creature, where the young hatch and develop.

They begin their life as carnivorous larval creatures consisting of little more than powerful jaws, and begin eating their host from the inside out. Most of the time this will kill the host, though in the case of larger creatures it may simply deliver irreparable damage. They develop into their adult forms while inside the host, the final stage being losing their jaws and developing a proboscis/tongue, upon which they will burst out of the host. This host will serve as their first meal. After that, the Proboscis Scorpion will dine on grasses and the occasional Piranha Fly. Sometimes these creatures serve to groom others, becoming a welcome remedy to P. Fly infestations.

===Spitter Crab (Prairie)===
[[File:SpitterCrab_02.png|100px|thumb|left|Spitter Crab]]
'''Spitter Crabs''' are omnivorous, terrestrial crustaceans common to the Prairie of Beta and Highlands of Alpha. The vast majority of the crab's diet is vegetable matter, but every once in a while, the creatures will scavenge, dining on the dead. They've never been observed chasing or hunting prey, and it's likely they do not do so.

Spitter Crabs are not very large, being about the size of a laptop. They do, however have one ingenious defense, and that is their spit attack for which they are named. The Spitter Crabs possess a gland that produces a thin filmy fluid that is a powerful deterrent against predators, as once it comes into contact with exposed skin, it burns like pepper spray. Few enemies are determined enough to endure the pain long enough to strike.