Creatures of the Sol'Kesh Bestiary

[@bonelessbaby6908]

I would LOVE to see a Curious Archive covering Nausicaä of the valley of the wind, (Preferably the manga since it has much more) it has such amazing and interesting creatures and landscape to be explored. I love your channel and watch all your videos, Thank you for all that you do dude ❤️.

[@anytorp]

Yes

[@reipolhopolar]

y e e e e e e e e e e e e e e s

[@EsfingeCinza]

This movie is so precious TuT)

[@meismonke5543]

Slime rancher

[@sleepingninjaquiettime]

Movie looks cool, thanks.

[@AbaratFox]

I spent the whole ep thinking how cool this setting is for dnd, really excited to see that the creator thought of that

[@panckepaladin]

Omg you're right!

[@ImThylacine]

I was thinking the exact same thing hah

[@weldonwin]

The Mollucite is already practically a Roper from the basic Monster Manual

[@yanderebeef5450]

Same Lol.

[@matthewbennett1972]

I mean one of them is practically a roper

[@purplehaze2358]

I don't know how the artist behind this managed to make a world so connected to our own still feel like it's from another planet, but I'm really digging it.

[@teslashark]

4:37 It's Australia!

[@paulkanja]

Well dinosaurs feel like they are from another planet :)

[@Lucien_75]

If you like this check out "all future tomorrows"

[@Mahlak_Mriuani_Anatman]

Doing your home work on existence will do that

[@goofyahhyoutubechannel]

I personally love you videos, it's just calm. No catchy thumbnails, no puns, no hyperactive voice.

[@cevatkokbudak6414]

Yeah. The only video that he makes jokes is the leg number video

[@Takeawayjustin]

I wish he made a lil more jokes tbh like once every other video

[@WingedFish66]

I do like how everything has a unique name. Far too often with these spec projects the names are just taking common names and jumbling them together like The Future Is Wild (Snow Stalker, Reef Glider, Garden Worm, ect.)

[@betulla96]

The Future is Wild was made for a wide TV audience, I think there's value in making the names easily understandable to everyone as well.

[@Aethuviel]

Snagrio just means that many spec evo projects use this kind of naming, with TFIW as an example.

[@fionagibson7529]

We do that in real life too, though. Woodpecker, stingray, clouded leopard, etc.

[@The_WhitePencil]

Naming things in speculative evolution projects is quite an interesting challenge. Realistically, especially for these kinds where humans are long-gone, none of these creatures have a name. Most speculative biology rather features names of what humans would tend to call these creatures upon first sight and study of their behavior, this one, maybe in part due to the adaptation into a DnD setting as well, goes more for names you'd expect to be given if there was an indigenous civilization who has entire myths or cultures based around these creatures.

[@kilderok]

Unfortunately those names have more of a discernable naming pattern than these pokemon names. Solmundis? That just means sun-world or sun-earth. I think this chick was just throwing shit at a wall creatively.

[@christiancline6531]

I really like the kind of mix between a naturalistic element, and one of an air of whimsy and fantasy, really cool project! :D

[@panckepaladin]

Exactly what I thought

[@hedgehog3180]

"What if Earth animals evolved into fantasy monsters?" turns out that would be really cool.

[@TalenkauenTV]

This feels way more like wildly whimsical creature design than strait speculative evolution

[@HannibalKantter]

Exactly. It was very hard for me to see how most of these creatures evolved from current ones. I think this project would had make more sense taking place in some other planet

[@Diloparker]

Weirdly the species that bothers me the most is the “Frondilli”. Apparently they are a descendant, or relative of deer; and they use their modified mandible to feed on sap from trees. Weather sap is a good source of energy at all aside, why didn’t they evolve to repurpose their antlers to help feed on sap? Even if the ancestors of the Frondilli didn’t have, or lost their antlers, wouldn’t they evolve antlers anyways as a result of parallel evolution?

[@kilderok]

@@Diloparker Pretty sure she was just throwing shit at the wall and seeing what stuck. I hope that huge mammal dwarfing trees had hollow bones, it's like she doesn't even know size/gravity variables. No mention of atmospheric changes and the effects that would have on the morphology of organisms. Also, even with low gravity which the planet absolutely would not have by that point, that squid evolution would topple easily with that build. She's also making the mistake of making all her creations "look alien" by leaning into reptilian/amphibian or insectoid/molluscoid designs too heavily.

[@Diloparker]

@@kilderok Yea, I guess the issue is that speculative evolution to most people isn’t about “what if?”, but rather “wouldn’t it be cool if.” As pointed out by the Unnatural history channel on KZbin. I think that’s what the channels name is called. (Edit: yeah just looked it up, that’s what the channels name is called.)

[@JamareeDGIT]

I can believe th3se anima1 can exist on earth mamals evolued from reptile like creatures.

[@pailhorsegaming6762]

I love these videos. They’re perfect for me. They talk about fantasy AND animals. I love them, thanks CA!

[@gtechnosinc2518]

Yes, only fantasy,wake up, all this is a fantasy,so you can be sleep and not know the truth, dinosaurs and humans where living at the same time, there is proof, search for the truth,just don't believe what ever in school teaches,because is just theories, there are human prints and dinosaurs prints at the same time,paintings about people riding dinosaurs and the creator of the paintings never heard of dinosaurs before,why is that, because the earth is not that super old that those indoctrinated people teach,no proof at all for what they are talking about.

[@RanEdgar-ok3wk]

It’s speculative biology but I’ll admit it seems rather unrealistic and more like fantasy as this seems like something that would take place on a different planet

[@stopmotionfilms4121]

Honestly, this is one of my favorite channels to watch

[@jennifervan75]

I AM HERE TO WATCH ANOTHER MASTERPIECE OF YOURS!!!

[@freakishuproar1168]

These are some delightful speculative species. Something about the style of the illustrations makes me think of -D&D, I could easily see any of these creatures being in a Monster Manual or a Fiend Folio- Nevermind, I hadn't reached that bit of the video yet :p That's so rad!

[@KageKobushi]

I was thinking the same during the video... And then, BAM, ending.

[@kinoko5566]

I love your channel. I wish someone did this same thing as a David Attenborough sleep podcast, it'd be amazing.

[@kinoko5566]

@@Prime501 will definitely check it out thank you

[@JamareeDGIT]

I love this channel to

[@chadgorosaurus4898]

Speculative future animals are so fun to read about

[@galiogargoyle6295]

Damn, the creatures of Sol'Kesh all sound incredible! I especially like the looks of the Calitross and the Gharril too.

[@Patch2112]

I don’t know if you’d ever be interested, but a video/series on The Elder Scrolls could be super interesting. Creatures like Guar, Netches, Ice Wraiths, and Grummites (if you count Daedra) would be super cool to see looked at in your style!

[@sonorasgirl]

Yeah - I know Morrowind doesn’t look good compared to modern graphics, but it had interesting animals

[@Patch2112]

@@sonorasgirl The entire series has such interesting creatures, sadly a lot of them get little mention outside of obscure texts, in-game and out. If you’re interested, Camelworks, Fudgemuppet, and Drewmora are three great channels for Elder Scrolls lore. Camelworks actually made a video a while back about 10 obscure creatures and wow, even as a fan for over a decade I only knew about half of them lmao.

[@sonorasgirl]

@@Patch2112 ooooh thank you! I’ll check it out

[@hedgehog3180]

The Elder Scrolls is a great universe because the premise is basically "what if all the crazy shit people talk about in various historical documents actually happened?"

[@cevatkokbudak6414]

​@@hedgehog3180HELL YEAH

[@ImThylacine]

As much as I enjoy speculative evolution, I’m a bit confused as to how some of the most endangered creatures today, like pangolins and coral species, survived the Anthropocene when people clearly didn’t.

[@magnarcreed3801]

Might have been something that was disease like? That would do it.

[@betulla96]

Yeah, coral is especially unbelievable given how sensitive it is to the slightest environmental changes. However I think this is still a fantastic project overall.

[@SashedPotato]

I love this project but I do agree. I also think it's unlikely for other phyla to dominate if this amount of mammals survived as mammals are already land adapted

[@cerberaodollam]

maybe humans came onto their senses and committed (redacted) before it was too late? who knows

[@omo568]

​@@cerberaodollam lmaoo, they all joined the VHEMT movement

[@tristanemery8748]

What an amazing birthday present - Curious Archive uploading yet another awesome speculative biology summary. I really enjoyed your video on Simon stålenhag's ''Loop'' series. So much, in fact, that I've asked for both "Tales From The Loop" and "The Labyrinth" for Christmas. Seriously love the stiff that you put out here and thank you for unintentionally making my 19th just that bit sweeter :)

[@343-penitentnarrator8]

Happy birthday, mate! 19 is a great age, lots of fond memories.

[@mysterioussoup3393]

Happy birthday! Getting closer and closer to death! How exciting! Seriously though, happy b-day.

[@fly7045]

Happy birthday!!

[@TheHybridFox357]

What a beautiful art-style and interesting creatures. You should probably check out the highly- detailed and fairly new imaginative biology project of Bennta by the Hybrid Fox.

[@spilledink849]

I think an archive on Runaway To The Stars would be incredible. The thought the creator has put into the biology of the universe is amazing

[@xeni9941]

There aren't many channels like Yours. As an artist, I get inspired in new ways with every new archive episode, and as a fan of the creepy and wonderful, I couldn't be more excited to see your takes on all these amazing topics. Great work as always! Much love

[@kilderok]

From one artist to another: be inspired to put actual science into your designs if you do a speculative biology series. There's no excuse, other people have done the work for you. Set a date, then ask: How far has the moon pulled away from earth? What are the continents doing? What is the suns luminosity? What catastrophic events have occurred between now and the date? Factor in the current extinction event and how that might affect life, just...do more work than dreaming up some bodies, attaching current animals to them, and giving them pokemon names.

[@cescimes]

@@kilderok or maybe, and hear me out... just have fun with it? what a concept, really

[@Waxican]

Its not that I dislike these designs, but they feel too fantasy for me to fully immerse myself into envisioning these as future earth creatures.

[@bogosbinted6475]

Yeah they feel a bit to fantasy like

[@helmaschine1885]

Yeah, they look very fantasy. Would've been better if the artist were I spired by prehistoric mammals a bit more. Alien, but still evolutionary probable.

[@nicoborgonia]

I really enjoy and admire the way you narrate your contents. The way you use words is just as engaging as the different worlds and creatures you feature on this channel. I'm such a huge fan of yours. Here's hoping for more great videos coming from you.

[@Bluedinoaur]

I absolutely LOVE your channel. This is honestly the channel I look forward to the most when you post new content.

[@peepycowver]

I know they're supposed to be seen as huge creatures but I like imagining them as the same size as their ancestors

[@magnarcreed3801]

It didn’t say more most i think. Could be small.

[@cevatkokbudak6414]

Lmao I loved that

[@SillyLittleGuy__]

This is probably the most interesting speculative evolution project I’ve seen in a wile

[@isyourfactonebabynah7359]

I love the design and story of speculative evolution,the possibility seem endless and the creatures looks really cool.Wish I had the talent for something like this.Great work to the artist for this and thank you for covering this.

[@JamareeDGIT]

Great comment😊

[@thatoneguywithhorns3774]

It's 3 am here and his voice is soothing me.

[@neha_reddy121]

I absolutely love Terry Maranda's art style - it just breathes life into these creatures

[@LauraJane51]

WE NEED MOREEE! THIS IS AMAZING !(but please do make another video on this)

[@sambrown9095]

Nothing beats a classic Curious Archive Spec Evo video

[@askeladdsnumberonefan258]

The fact that they involved them selfs with dnd is amazing.

[@MrEmilable]

can´t Wait when Future Wildlife is featured here, if it will be featured here, Awesome job pal, hopeing to Release Future Wildlife next year, EDIT: Future Wildlife on KZbin is still a bit far away however started to make the family trees and i made a website.

[@amazinggamer6002]

Keep up the great work

[@tdf_worldkey6666]

It's truly a talent to be able to design creatures like that and I'm trying to cultivate that ability

[@espinas5981]

I would adore a deep dive into the species of Pikmin! (Probably Pikmin 3 because it looks the most natural)

[@hobosorcerer]

I do love speculative biology, but I always feel like many of these projects suffer from over-fantasization. Like why does the snail relative on the thumbnail have one eye?

[@_Venvel]

That's a good point. The speculative aquatic animals here are very non-hydrodynamic. I can't think of any good reasons for streamlined swimming animals to evolve in a way that would actively hinder their movement through water.

[@littlewolfyzapling8810]

Because it’s fun and looks cool

[@Tallermage]

I feel the same way. I enjoy it but I can't help but wonder why snails would evolve arms and legs

[@firefancy9928]

Barrel eye fish exist and I thought it was fake when I heard about it back in my high school days. A species of creature with toes over time and many generations, evolved to have singular hooves on basically one finger for each foot. I wouldn't be so closed minded, although I can't think of any reason why there would be such a specific environmental pressure that would break the bilateral symmetry of eyes for snails.

[@RanEdgar-ok3wk]

@@littlewolfyzapling8810that’s not the point of speculative biology;-;

[@yoki590]

i love this channel, i cant explain it but the voice over sounds like he's smiling the whole time.

[@elizabetho.7484]

Love this--cool art & project, and as always, CA, amazing video! You are the best.

[@DZ-uw6lt]

I followed this on instagram and I gotta say so happy this was showcased

[@kirschakos]

Loved this one! Thanks for keeping up the good job! :)

[@Some_Rando-07]

This is easily my favorite art showcase on this channel

[@Teserakt1]

Finally, i am a fan of Terry Maranda's art, so i was waiting for you to make a video about it

[@andeeharry]

they are gorgeous, I'd love to borrow some of these for my world

[@gregorysmith6780]

It would be fantastic for Curious Archive to cover my favourite book series, Stormlight Archive, the flora and fauna are so cool.

[@rodgermendoza6783]

Always love watching your videos discuss on speculative biology! I rarely comment on YT videos and here I am. I gotta ask though, have you ever considered doing a video about the animals and flora of the world of James Cameron's Avatar? I feel like you and the rest of us got tons of things to explore and learn about in that biodiverse world.

[@The-Man-On-The-Mountain]

I wish an artist recreated the flora of the book Hothouse, by Brian W. Aldiss (in a distant future, plants have replaced all animals on Earth. Plants can fly, swim, and prey). A fascinating premise, and a great novel in my opinion.

[@xel_nave]

Would love to see you cover Keenan Taylor's world of Kaimere.

[@pokeprogaming8528]

I absolutely love this concept and I am currently (trying) to make a game. These fantastical creatures are giving me so much inspiration.

[@matrorian5388]

These videos scratches the part of my brain that makes me sleepy and curious at the same time

[@renegade6983]

The game The Eternal Cylinder seems right up your alley.

[@IanJr-c2z]

This dimension is truly bizarre, but it's beautiful in the same sense.

[@IDK-df4cw]

Sick vid!gonna watch it!keep up the good work!

[@bahatiakoya1]

You should cover Southbound. It's a mechanical evolution project run by a guy on the speculative evolution subreddit. It started a few months ago but it is already pretty advanced. Probably one of the most interesting things I've seen come out there in a while! Beside that, I'm so happy that you made a video on the Sol'kesh Bestiary finally! I remember seeing the project owner talking about it on the subreddit and have been excited since. I have been wanting to start my own project but haven't found time in. My life yet. 😅

[@jujuoof174]

Sharing this to my Dungeon Master

[@hubertrozalski7070]

Taurachni is basically spidercrab from "The Witcher", which is reasonable, considering the fact that in the books some of the monsters are animals from alternate realities and Elves and Humans are aliens to Dwarves and Gnomes.

[@antonioruizfernandez8281]

Hell yeah! For half of the video I was thinking that those creatrures would be spectacular for dnd and then at the end it drops that they have monster sheets, amazing, and an amazing video just as alwayls.

[@Bake-kurijra]

Sol’kesh is amazing. I love the creatures . There all so amazing

[@LittleCrowYT]

I kept thinking so many of these both remind me of and would make such great d&d/fantasy creatures, and then came the end of the video 😂 Pretty cool idea overall

[@noirangel6416]

Attempt #6 *Pretty please do a video for the creatures from "Made in Abyss".*

[@olympus10001]

I was thinking about you all morning 😳. loving the creatures

[@FBIandre123]

5:20 That is not a lungless salamander, that is a fire salamander.

[@Delunkleus]

What’s the justification for everything, regardless of order, having a sharp jaw? Feels weird but they look cool!

[@projectaks4745]

I would be really cool if you were to make a video covering the spiders for Children of time

[@lisanidog8178]

This is like the show The Future is Wild with how animals will evolve in the far future. Interesting.

[@seansmillie477]

Absolutely amazing work!!!

[@shadow10112]

I love to see curios archive cover the Antarctic Chronicles. All your videos are amazing.

[@-the-butterfly-effect-7585]

Every time a watch one of these speculative evolution world building video I always think how cool it would be as a setting for DnD, so it's so cool to see one thats already fleshed out for that

[@AverageTeenageYoutuber]

I want a video game where you can explore Sol’kesh as a small animal in each of these, you explore through all of Sol’kesh, seeing these animals and more in each biome

[@elipsis7651]

Is it just me, is anyone else kinda bothered by the fact that almost the entire bestiary is exclusively about big scary killer monsters? I mean, it's a bit unrealistic that an ecosystem can be comprised entirely out of big huge monsters. What, no prey animals? No decomposers?

[@haunbeuii1635]

@@smeggiamagarwine well who tf drew them then

[@Arkume8Beltz]

The stetics from Sol'Kesh remember me more a fantasy world like can be in Dungeons & Dragons than usual speculative evolution themes..isn't something bad, i love to see Sol'Kesh in Spellhammer..

[@ATransSylveon]

I just like to say because of you showing off all of these speculative biology pieces from other people I have decided to write my own

[@WolfStar08]

This is one of those projects that would be interesting to see a single human displaced into to observe but given the setting and feel of the world wouldn't fit too well. So instead seeing a new sentient species even in its very early stages of sentience that evolved in this world along side the other beasts just observing and living along side them would be fascinating

[@mrzeloswilder]

I got here within the first 1k views, I think that's a record for me on a channel this big. And I love your content, keep it up man.

[@azurearcade342]

When it comes to species surviving extinction events you have to look at what species have prevailed and what adaptations have worked. Specialized species are usually the first to go. Generalist species seem to thrive. I honestly think crocodiles would eventually evolve back to their more terrestrial ancestors. Badgers would actually replace the niche of bears. The species presented here are very well done and thought out. It's cool to get to see other creators' concepts. I really do think cephalopods would go terrestrial as well.

[@123456qwful]

I like how much these creatures would in place fantasy or video game esthetic, reality is alway either underwhelming or even more curious as most creatures would look more tamer or using beauty Or in adolescent a more adorable natural as most creatures tend to survive with a more likebale appearance

[@arturonotari8235]

I loved the desings, is like the fauna of and D&D game.

[@Fyre19]

ngl that calitross could be a good dnd creature

[@MisterCynic18]

I'd really like to know how the mammal descendants got past the "no green mammals" phenomenon. Symbiosis with algae? Specialized green light reflecting hairs?

[@fionagibson7529]

Do sloths count?

[@JudgeNicodemus]

@@fionagibson7529 it's not symbiosis. They're just a solid surface for algae.

[@fionagibson7529]

@@JudgeNicodemus The algae is in fact beneficial to the sloths, since it provides camouflage with the jungle and recent research suggests that the sloths will supplement their diet with the nutrients from the algae. There is an entire ecosystem based around the algae. Also symbiotic relationships do not have to benefit both parties. Parasitism is still a form of symbiosis.

[@JudgeNicodemus]

@@fionagibson7529 huh, never really thought of it that way. Nice, thanks for the lesson. :)

[@hedgehog3180]

Humans can get green hair if they shower in an area where the water supply has copper contamination, though maybe I should have mentioned the more obvious green eyes.

[@jaguardojaguari]

I love how the artist listed the ecological niche of each creature as if they were Pokemon types

[@GandalfTheTsaagan]

You know, through most of the video I kept thinking about how the creatures reminded me of the ones from DnD and I imagined them being the primitive ancestors of the rpg bestiary (for example, the flightless arboreal owl is reminiscent of the arboreal ancestors of bears, and the stalagmite snail could easily evolve to mimic the chests and containers found in dungeons, etc) I'm pleasantly surprised that I was on a similar wavelength to the author's

[@katkulesh177]

This is so cool! Funnily enough, Lancelets are real creatures too, they're just small, fish-like, primitive vertebrates.

[@underrage4202]

Man I love your video!I have been watching you since less than 50k!Hope you will get 1 mill!!!

[@toubi4316]

We actually have in our own era animals called lancelets. They are small filter-feeding invertebrate chordates, meaning they are more related to us than they are to the lancelets of Sol’Kesh.

[@rafaellecavalier5003]

Nice, I've been waiting for another vid. Great content btw

[@thedragonthatlovesskittles7132]

bro the author is such an amazing fellow I gotta say.

[@hans1783]

This is beautiful... I just found ur channel I love every bit of it...

[@caacker]

oh my god! i’ve kept up with this project on r/worldbuilding, i’ve talked to the creator there and given feedback on designs they’ve posted. it’s so cool to see them on this channel

[@barsnacker]

Speculative evolution is fully a treat

[@humback6310]

Amazing episode. I can't wait to see episode about all tomorrows or man after man on your chanel. Have a nice day🦕

[@theemeralddodomobile]

You should definitely do a series on Pandora the world of Avatar. Especially now everyone will like it!

[@samuelcrow4701]

Imagine a world where everything is some sort of hermit crab, nothing makes the shells they're just there

[@schlongdong3875]

I would just like to point out the fact that if a hermit crab finds a shell that doesn't quite fit then it will sit and wait for another crab to ditch its old shell. This can result in massive conga lines of patient hermit crabs that play musical shells

[@avch1209]

In addition to eyes, what other photoreceptor organs could develop species from other planets?

[@Flesh_Wizard]

Heat sensors detect infrared light and are present on some snakes.

[@BigFroggo]

I really don't think snails can evolve into something like that in 80 million years.

[@BigFroggo]

Shutup.

[@helmaschine1885]

Yeah, mollusks have never evolved like that is the past millions of years ...

[@BigFroggo]

@@helmaschine1885 Yeah seems like a bit of a stretch. (Btw the shutup comment above you was from when I replied to a bot)

[@Gnarls315]

I’m glad to see the Dougon is following in my footsteps

[@AndreTheMann]

Tales of kaimere should be covered on this channel

[@ZayZoot]

Wait a minute, Lancelets are already a thing. They're a clade of chordate closely related to Vertebrates, a lot like a modern day Pikaia.

[@androidmk5987]

I was not ready for this to also be Dungeons and Dragons.

[@dyno6614]

Up until the end, i was wondering why the creatures all looked like 'this animal but fantasy'.

[@jonhall467]

Yes return of the king. Love the vids guy 😊

[@Littlekoji-df1cf]

Sol'Kesh getting some action!