Biology

The categories below aim at giving a comprehensive picture of Ecbethians' biology over time and environmental impacts on their growth rate.

Size evolution by age

Below is a graph of humans' average heights from age 0 to age 100, compared between the 13 different climates on Ecbeth. You can see humidity, warmth and vegetation all play a crucial role in growth rates, culminating at a whopping 362cm for an adult Jannadian. In contrast, most of the inhabitants of the Elgoran continent (especially Vidkke and Aerlich) never reach heights any higher than 135cm, fully grown. This is due to the harsh and dry conditions of their tundra climate.

Most of Ecbethians are contained between 135 and 255 cm.

Impact of climate on growth

Below is a graph of humans' average heights at age 100 in different types of climates. Wet, warm and heavily vegetated climates offer a growth advantage, although that is at times offset by a lengthy gestation period.

Dry and cold climates shrink growth

Gestation

Gestation length varies for ecbethians, following their size and age. Sexual maturity happens between the ages of 12-17 throughout Ecbeth. The gestation period varies greatly based on their climate and age.

Shorter and younger individuals have shorter gestation periods

Litter size

Litter size is also affected by age and height, going from litters of 12 to a singular offspring. The optimal reproductive age for a full litter size is generally between 30 and 50 years old.

Shorter and younger individuals have bigger litters.

Digestion

Ecbethians' organs mostly function like humans, except for their digestive tract which breaks down food in a different way.

Reptile Digestive Systems:
1. Snakes: Have an extremely expandable stomach and can consume prey much larger than their head. They produce potent stomach acid to break down entire animals, including bones.
2. Crocodiles: Have the most acidic stomach of any vertebrate, allowing them to digest bones, hooves, and horns. They can also shut down their digestion when food is scarce.
3. Iguanas: Some species can digest plant matter more efficiently than most other reptiles due to specialized bacteria in their gut.Other Extraordinary Animal Digestive Systems:
1. Cows and other ruminants: Have a four-chambered stomach that allows them to ferment plant matter and extract maximum nutrients.
2. Termites: Rely on gut symbionts to digest cellulose, allowing them to eat wood.
3. Koalas: Have a specialized digestive system that detoxifies the eucalyptus leaves they eat, which would be poisonous to most other animals.
4. Platypuses: Lack a stomach entirely, with the esophagus connecting directly to the intestines.
5. Pandas: Have a short digestive tract more suited for meat-eating, but have adapted to a bamboo diet, requiring them to eat for up to 14 hours a day.
6. Flamingos: Have a filtering system in their beaks that allows them to separate food from water and mud.Translating to Ecbeth Humans:
Given the unique environment and growth patterns of Ecbeth humans, we could consider some extraordinary digestive adaptations:1. Expandable Stomachs: Like snakes, Ecbeth humans could have highly expandable stomachs, allowing them to consume large meals infrequently. This could be particularly useful for taller individuals who require more nutrients.2. Hyper-Acidic Digestion: Similar to crocodiles, Ecbeth humans might have extremely acidic stomachs, allowing them to break down and extract nutrients from a wide variety of food sources, including typically indigestible materials.3. Specialized Gut Bacteria: Ecbeth humans could have evolved symbiotic relationships with unique gut bacteria that allow them to digest cellulose or other complex plant materials, similar to iguanas or termites.4. Adaptive Digestive System: The digestive system of Ecbeth humans could potentially shut down or slow dramatically during periods of food scarcity, similar to crocodiles.5. Multiple Stomach Chambers: For efficient digestion of plant matter, Ecbeth humans might have developed multiple stomach chambers, similar to ruminants.6. Detoxifying Abilities: Ecbeth humans could have evolved the ability to detoxify certain plants or animals that are poisonous to other species, similar to koalas, allowing them to exploit food sources unavailable to others.7. Filter Feeding: In aquatic or semi-aquatic environments, some Ecbeth humans might have developed a filtering system in their mouths or throats to extract nutrients from water, similar to flamingos or baleen whales.8. Rapid Digestion: To support their continuous growth, Ecbeth humans might have a very fast metabolism and quick digestion process, allowing them to process food and extract nutrients more efficiently than Earth humans.These adaptations could vary among different populations of Ecbeth humans, depending on their specific environments and available food sources. Such diversity in digestive systems could lead to interesting cultural, social, and economic dynamics, as different groups might specialize in consuming and trading different types of foods.

Jannadians

Jannadians are a species of ecbethians which have evolved significantly differently to the rest of the population. This is due to their natural habitat, their isolation from the rest of the world, and their (real or otherwise) divine characteristics.

Neurotoxins

The island of Jannadis is a relatively small land located in the middle of the Altridan continent. Most of its fauna and flora brims with neurotoxins, which render anyone who isn't specifically designed to live there blind, mentally incapacitated, and/or dead. Over thousands of years, the humanoid organisms later known as Jannadians have evolved in order to fully withstand the might of the neurotoxins of the Jannadis ecosystem.
As a result of this mutation, Jannadians had to trade in a lot of brain power, which resulted in their cognitive abilities to majorly slow down. They are as such incapable of thought as complex and sophisticated as ecbethians.

Bogskin

Because of the bayou climate of Jannadis, Jannadians' skin has transformed in order to allow them to walk, crawl and even rest in bogs. This led the shade of their skin to turn into a deep grey-blue in colour, affected deeply by the levels of bog iron in the waters. Later renamed 'Bogskin', Jannadians' sheddings have become one of the major medical and technological advancements for Ecbeth.

Eyesight

Still somewhat of a mystery today, Jannadians' eyes are very different from ours. They have a split pupil, which results in sometimes two to three different sets of pupils and irises across the eyeball. These move in snake-like patterns when Jannadians think or pay attention. The colour of their irises is almost always a variation of golds, yellows and browns. It is uncertain why their eyes evolved this way, and the Casildon Church of Jannadism took this as a sign of the divine.
Jannadians have never shared with us how their eyesight worked in great detail, but it is believed they can view magnetic fields.