How Intelligent Life Evolves (And Why It Probably Looks Human) | Worldbuilding

[@JimWeaving-ty6tr]

There are some adjustments I'd make (because I'm a biologist) to these alien species - particularly the one based on an octopus. Octopuses actually have very strong arms, which are very adept at grabbing, holding and manipulating objects. And just try to remove an octopus from something it's suckered on to - it's well-nigh impossible. They can open jars, and are well known for removing crabs from crab traps, as well as being able to reach into all kinds of crevices, grab something, then pull it - hiding inside coral formations offers little protection from an octopus! Also, if the alien octopus was similar to an Earth one it would have a (rather vicious) beak and neither a larynx nor a syrinx (which is what birds use). So it wouldn't be able to speak unless that particular trait was changed. Just some thoughts from a biologist's perspective. I still love your work though!

[@EJinSkyrim]

Sir, did you just evolve scientifically viable Mindflayers?? (I'm both impressed and Concerned. Those things scare me.)

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

According to mindflayers the tastiest brains are those that are impressed and concerned.

[@Munchkin.Of.Pern09]

@@WorldbuildingCorner know that from personal experience, do you?

[@PlatinumSpartan077]

I'd say based on the description they're literally closer to the Goa'uld from Stargate than the Mindflayers of D&D.

[@CarlosRios1]

Headcrabs

[@liamannegarner8083]

@@PlatinumSpartan077 Yeerks but outside.

[@necroseus]

One thing I do want to specify is that birds do something weird, but definitely still function within this system. They are tetrapods, but two of their limbs are utilized for flight. So they only have two limbs (their legs) with functional digits. For birds that are specialized for perching on branches (as opposed to ones which run, like ostriches), these digits can squeeze and grasp. So their manipulating limbs are *also* their locomotive (when on the ground) limbs, and are solely manipulative limbs when flying. Alongside this, they adapted their mouths to be really good manipulative tools, as they have really complex neck muscles which allow for great dexterity. In combination with their feet, this trifecta of manipulation has interesting positives and drawbacks. Looking at corvids, they use their feet and beaks to complexly break down food items. For manipulating material, they use their feet and bodyweight as anchors while they adjust items with their beaks. They can even pull a hanging object up with their beak, gradually trapping the slackened string under their feet to make sure it doesn't fall back down. Ravens often pass items that they are carrying between their feet and their beaks as they are flying around... we don't know why, but because they are such complex/technical fliers, my guess is that they're modifying their weight distribution for different maneuvers. And corvids are clumsy (as they scavengers that are more generalized for many tasks) when compared to parrots! Parrots can move their top and bottom jaws indepentantly from one another, which allows insane dexterity! Their feet are also more hand like, as they spend way less time on the ground than crows, so they are really good at item manipulation. Basically, please be creative with how your organism is shaped! Keep in mind the fun complexities and challenges that exist based on design benefits and limitations! The rules laid out in the video are great, so follow them most definitely! But also don't be afraid to put a fun twist on the rules. Off the top of my head, I can imagine a highly intelligent species of bird that has a specialized break, and has the ability to stand on one leg for long periods of time, such that it can use one foot and its beak in tandem. That, or one that can comfortably sit and make both feet available for use :)

[@torfinnzempel6123]

Interesting thing about the relationship between sapience and language and learning; it has been scientifically proven that Cetaceons (whales and dolphins) have language. They don't just make sounds like other animals, but aftual language and even different dialects. We have yet to figure out how to translate cetacean to any human language, but we do know they have their own language. Additionally, we also know that octopi can not only learn how to perform tasks; they can also teach those skills to other octopi. For example, you can teach a dog to sit and roll over, but that dog can not then teach those skills to other dogs. However, if an octopus has learned how to unscrew a cap on a jar to get the food inside; that octopus can subsequently teach that skill to another octopus that hasn't learned it yet. Additionally, scientists have observed octopi building at least 2 cities (on the ocean floor) with rules of behavior they enforce with banishment.

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

Whale vocalisation is fascinating, it is certainly more complicated than most other animals (besides humans of course). Octopus observational learning was in part an inspiration for them being one of the candidates for sapience in this series. Observational learning is such a huge differentiating factor for intelligence, it's one of the many things that make octopuses so cool!

[@torfinnzempel6123]

@Worldbuilding Corner an interesting thing, if you graph the vocalizations of animals, there are 2 distinct graphs that emerge. Those that represent non-language (are random), and those that represent language. All languages, when graphed, have exactly the same graph, whether you are graphing English, French, Yoruba. Aribic, or Cantonese, the graph is identical. Whale and dolphin vocalizations match the language graph, and not the random sounds graph made by all other animals. From this we have scientifically proved that cetations have language. We have even identified multiple destinct whale dialects, though we have not been able to translate whale language (lacking a Rosetta Stone we may never).

[@MisterCynic18]

​@@torfinnzempel6123 recent developments in AI learning may soon bridge this gap

[@jackdillon7565]

they dont have language. they can communicate, but its not the same thing as language.

[@pendragon0905]

Oh dear. I wonder what does that mean for takoyaki, which is a Japanese octopus meatball dish I just recently grew to like 🐙

[@torfinnzempel6123]

You could actually have Elves and Dwarves also evolve from the Nota, similar to how Neanderthal, Denisovens, and Florensians all evolved from Sahelenthropus

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

True! And in a setting where multiple sapient species emerged from the same progenitors, that would make a lot of sense!

[@Gworeldoreriverpass]

i thats a great idea

[@hughsmith7504]

I imagine it depends on how strong the uncanny valley trait develops in these humans. If it is fairly weak, I could see the multiple species more or less co-existing if resource overlap isn't too large. If they are closer to us though, I see it working very similarly to how humanity went. With humans either hunting the other races to extinction or interbreeding until a new, homogenous species is the dominate primate offshoot.

[@bjorncorvin4568]

And Trolls could be a descendant race of Dwarf/Elf hybrids that traveled north due to discrimination

[@Martel_Clips]

I think something of this kind is hinted at in Eragon with both dwarves and urgal (equivalent of orcs) having the same number of toes

[@cube6794]

14:35 One little nitpick: Having a large, thick tail to counterbalance the front of the body works just as well as an erect back. If it worked for very large hunters like T. rex, I don't see why a convergence on a human-like body plan would be necessary. In response to a similar, earlier concept for intelligent humanoid dinosaurs, an artist named C. M. Kosemen came up with an intelligent species that conserves a dinosaur-like bodyplan called Avisapiens saurotheos. Since KZbin doesn't like links very much, just searching up "C. M. Kosemen Dinosauroids" and clicking the first page suffices.

[@riaanjacobs5471]

Thank you for mentioning that, this guy is just making a bunch of furries

[@derpherp1810]

@@riaanjacobs5471 I think the bear people are fine but yeah those silarins could be more feathered and more dinosaur-like. In my fantasy setting, I have humans living alongside more alien sapiences. The lore is IT IS LITERALLY EARTH, humans are slightly altered and have a greater diversity of unique physical characteristics like domesticated breeds of dogs because aliens fucked around with humans way too much (kinda like the Qu from All Tommorows). The difference here between the posthumans of all tommorow and the posthumans of my setting is generally my posthumans are very recognizably human, more akin to fantasy races like elves, orcs, and dwarves all in but name. As for the other sapiences, some are anthropromorphic beasts I have small marsupials that function similarly to goblins, giant bipedal owlbears, and feathered dragonborn like reptilians. Then I have more alien things like four armed reptilian insectoid giants with four sets of mammary glands, insectoid centaurs, and shapeshifting cnidarians from a parallel dimension that are responsible for the domestication and brutal colonialization of humanity. Magic is just a series of ancient terran coding languages that control a nanomachine network and is the primary reason as to the hostile take over of the cnidarians. THEY wanted a piece of that sweet magical booty but they were unable to decipher it due to the fact that well written language is a completely alien concept to the hive-mind cnidarians. It took them quite a bit but they used force and fear tactics to motivate some humans into manipulating it for them. With the Cnidarians mostly gone after the uprising, and the terran empire being shattered into a thousand pieces, humans along with the other wayward ultra and extraterrestrials are stranded on this world in medieval squalor. Ancient tech and nanotechnology is indistinguishable from magic, The Cnidarians are seen as demons whilst ancient robots are basically guardian angels. Alot of the prehistoric depicitons of the first gods and demons were inspired by the shapes and contours of ancient terran constructs and cnidarians. Later they'd take a less abstract appearance in exchange for things more relatable to their respective species.

[@gambitaku6179]

​@@derpherp1810 great concept

[@ustanik9921]

​@@derpherp1810really like how it's the most sci-fi approach to a very fantasy like setting. Do you have it posted somewhere?

[@derpherp1810]

@@ustanik9921 I wrote it on a piece of toilet paper and then flushed it down the toilet. But nah fr, I just read a bunch of Caves of Qud and the wikipedia lore page for the Long Night dwarf fortress mod, chew on it, and regurgitate it out. Thats all writing and creative stuff is at the end of the day, but there is nothing wrong with that. Ideas are just remixed from other people's ideas until it looks so different that you can call it "your idea"

[@jargontrueseer]

Wtf, I've been binging all these videos and only just realized how many subscribers and likes you get. This channel feels more like a 500k type of world building channel, and definitely deserves more than what it has.

[@jargontrueseer]

(by 500k I mean the high echelons of world building KZbin, the likes of other high their channels)

[@salihnu]

One thing about loosing fur in humans, we not only lost fur because of fire, but because we can sweat. This allows us to cool out body while running, even in great heat of a savannah. Other crratures with fur overheat and get exhausted way before humans tire, which gave us an advantage while hunting.

[@Thaumh]

Personally, I disagree with the Silarin becoming *that* much of a hominoid "lizard-man" species. Cephalization ≠ Hominization

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

Absolutely, if we're being strict with evolution then the raptor-like creatures the Silarin were in their earlier evolutionary history were probably already upright 'enough' for manipulating limbs to appropriately interact with their environment, and probably wouldn't need to stand exactly like humans do.

[@kolbyking2315]

Yeah, that was my biggest problem with the video. WBC: "As their upper limbs become adapted for manipulation, their overall posture is likely to adjust to become very similar to that of modern humans." Therapod dinosaurs: "Am I a joke to you?"

[@ArmandoEnfectana-bp6jo]

​@@WorldbuildingCorner, I don't believe Diapsids will gain sapience, those motherfuckers didn't give us evidence they evolve sapient once, they are the only vertebrates that rule this goddamn rock for to long and yet, they didn't had a single sapient species that evolve from them. I will fuckin believe that Therapsid people will had the probability to exist because they will need intelligent not just brute strength to live in a desert wasteland called as Pangaea, they will rule this goddamn rock until the Great Dying occur, but they didn't die, they go to an habitable desert planet called Yautja Prime and evolve stretchable, grotesque jaws after some millions of years of living as a species.

[@anvos658]

@@kolbyking2315 Main issue I'd argue is they'd have severe issues maintaining balance if they tried to lift a heavy weight, without their tails or legs becoming prohibitively big. Thus likely meaning even if they end up with a more curved spine and outward leaning posture, they likely do end up closer to human bipedal. Main thing I'd say is that the tail wouldn't be vestigial, but still a core part of how they balance to maintain any bit of a more therapod posture.

[@GraysonOhnstad]

This is definitely a fun part of the process. Interested in seeing how these creatures develop over time.

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

Agreed, this is one of my (and probably most peoples) favorite parts of worldbuilding. Having fantasy races and building their cultures and civilizations is what really draws me in!

[@captainstroon1555]

Dinosaur-like bipeds already have an excellent adaptation to expend far less energy when standing: Their tail. The only benefit of an upright stance from a biomechanical standpoint is that it makes it easier to balance a top heavy body on hind limbs located at one end of said body. But a heavy tail already fulfills that function. Dinosaur (and Callidus) hind limbs are much closer to the creature's center, removing the reason to evolve an upright stance. Such a raptorial stance is even more efficient than our upright stance because the tail and torso act as a balance rod, requiring less energy to keep balanced. Some birds even sleep standing. I haven't seen many humans able to pull that off. But it's not just more efficent when standing still, but especially in motion. Meaning, a raptorial stance allows for much greater speeds and stability at those speeds than our upright stance. Even modern birds without long tails still retain the horizontal body orientation with only one noteable exception: Penguins. Their aquatic lifestlye benefited their legs to be closer to the rear end of their bodies, resulting in an upright stance to be beneficial on land. The stance also doesn't impact sapience at all. The front limbs are just as free as ours, and a long neck solves any height advantage a humanoid body might have. So, no, their posture becoming humanoid doesn't make much sense from an evolutionary standpoint. The only reason for it would be an anthropocentric preference. Which is a completely valid reason.

[@ustanik9921]

Agreed but have to take into consideration that tails are extra weight, while our stance is significantly lighter, and spends less energy because of that. Birds (and dinosaurs) do have hollow bones which probably helps, but im not sure how the stances differ in efficiency. There are only a few examples ever of upright bipedaliam, so its very rare to have a upright stance which might mean its less efficient.

[@captainstroon1555]

@@ustanik9921 You can do a little balance experiment at home. Try to balance a pencil on the tip of your finger. Once horizontally, with your finger positioned at the middle of the pencil; and once vertically, with the pencil standing on the tip.

[@ustanik9921]

@@captainstroon1555 yeah I'm aware of the energy cost needed for balance, just saying that a tail comes with it's own energy cost and it's not simple to conclude which is more efficient without real calculations and experiments.

[@captainstroon1555]

@@ustanik9921 Agreed. I still prefer my lizardfolk and sapient dinosaurs to look like dinosaurs and not like humans with a tail taped on. Gives me a funny idea for a comic sketch.

[@ustanik9921]

@@captainstroon1555 same. Also, if our bodyplan was so good, one would think it would evolve much more often, but dinosaur-like bodyplans evolved a few times afaik, in some extinct crocodillians and even mammals like kangaroos.

[@robhillen8007]

I could easily see Na'qwuil going on to selectively breed certain creatures to optimally function as their hosts, almost like having livestock species to act as their perfect bodies depending on their specialization in society. Maybe they would even try to develop hosts that can survive without a brain so they can switch between host species more freely. I've also got to wonder what role technology would have in all this once they invent robotics capable of reading neuron signals. All very interesting stuff. I can't wait to see how you develop it!

[@BenLafarge]

Or lending/renting hosts so when one of them is done with the task they needed the host for they can pass it to another, so they keep it alive in turn, saving on the loss of ressource that would be letting it die out.

[@ckl9390]

More likely they would develop horror-esque bio-tech.

[@BenLafarge]

@@ckl9390 Probably. But that would be far latter in their history.

[@petersmythe6462]

Re: it probably looks human? I think this is largely going to be true if the initial seed is a long-limbed quadrupedal terrestrial or arborial mammal that adapts to use its forelimbs as manipulators, especially one which lacks a heavy balancing tail. However, it's far less clear what happens if the initial seed is something very different. If for example the body segments or limb count are different, or if it has a reptilian side-to side spine, only some things will converge, and some definitely won't. If monitor lizards develop sentience, it is rather unlikely they would look like us. Maybe more like us than they do now, but not like us. Corvids, parrots, and otters have developed pretty extensive tool-using intelligence, but do not take on a human bodyplan. Nor is there any indication that they would do so if they began to make greater use of more complex tools along the lines of great apes. A corvid which uses hammer and anvil or ties knots need not lose its wings or tail and convert to having hands. Instead, it would likely evolve a more stable leg setup and a more effective manipulatory beak. Perhaps even a manipulatory tongue. But would overall remain vaguely Corvid-shaped and would near certainly make whatever compromises needed to retain flight, even if that limits intelligence or tool use. An otter which makes increased use of tools would likely remain mostly aquatic and retain its relatively short limbs and long twisty spine. It might even make its spine longer and twistier to more easily access and manipulate objects. It seems decidedly unlikely though that it would evolve into a terrestrial upright longlegged biped, even if it developed things like fire.

[@aposterous4126]

I fully agree with this. It just doesn't make sense that virtually every animal would become a slightly spicy human as a byproduct of intelligence.

[@rommdan2716]

I don't see parrots or crows forging metals or buiding spaceships, so they aren't good examples for sapient species

[@HillBilly_Urbex]

@@rommdan2716 Number 1 they aren't sapient, they are sentient which is why they don't "forge metals or build spaceships". Number 2 crows and parrots are some of the most intelligent lifeforms on the planet, so there is no need to doubt them, many scientists and researchers have already stated that most of the Corvid genus is in the equivalent of the stone age for us humans. Number 3 your comment is just stupid, like read your comment back to yourself and explain how it makes sense, like really, you are really claiming parrots and crows are not intelligent because they cant build rockets? Even though the ENTIRE scientific community would agree that parrots and crows are extremely intelligent. My goodness i've lost faith in humanity at this point. if even 10% of people are as stupid as you, humanity will be extinct in the next 35 years. good day sir.

[@nagillim7915]

Just start with a hexapod ancestor instead of a tetrapod. A hexapod could evolve the first or second pair of limbs into wings for flight, leaving two pairs that could begin as locomotion with the pair nearest the head later adapting more for prey capture and food manipulation, leading to tool use without the loss of wings. Of course, it's highly unlikely that two separate lineages of vertebrate differentiated by the number of limbs would co-evolve long enough for both to produce mammalian, avian and reptilian analogues. You'd likely have to make a clear break with all avians being hexapods. One option would be to have amphibians, reptiles and birds be hexapods but have the mammals lose a pair of limbs along the way for some reason, but then what evolutionary pressure would make only one pair of limbs unnecessary? I have a humanoid species with two arms and two legs that descended from a hexapod species. They didn't lose the third pair of limbs but their limbs only evolved with two digits. When they were just walking and running around on all sixes that wasn't a problem, but when their ancestors began living in trees it was difficult to grip without an opposable thumb so they began to use the front two pairs together, using two paws at a time to grip branches keeping their hindlimbs for walking. Over time this led to greater and greater coordination of the forelimbs on either side of the body until evolution combined them into a single pair of four-fingered limbs with two opposable thumbs, sort of how the fingers in bird wings gradually fused together from the separate fingers of archaeopteryx.

[@3nertia]

For any non-standard form, it would evolve into a crab, obviously :D

[@necroseus]

For your plains runners, there is no need for them to become upright standing. Having a tail to balance yourself while already being bipedal is more energetically efficient than what we humans have. We are only upright standing because we *didn't* have tails to balance with when we were freeing up our hands. Our endurance is so good, not because we are upright, but because we can sweat, which cools us actively while we are running. That is also why we lost our fur, to facilitate sweating. It's very likely that those lizard guys would remain horizontal, but have upright heads :). Maybe their feathers would have an oily substance which, when flared out, allowed for really good heat exchange with the air, or something. The bears are more accurate, as they also have no tails. Our pelvises became really small to support our uprightness (with women needing the smallest possible hips that are just large enough to manage giving birth). Though, their female's breasts wouldn't likely be in the same spot as humans. Grizzlies for example have 6 teats, with four on their chests, and two just above their groin. Furthermore, you need to account for the reason that human women look the way they do when designing the sexual features of this bear species. Pimates are hugely attracted to rear ends. Mandrills, baboons, chimps, and many other primates have sexual selection pressures to have eye catching butts. For mandrills, it's bright colours and prominence through posture. For humans, it's smoothness and jiggliness. Male eyes are really well adapted for seeing micro movements, so women have a lot of fat on their rears, as well as permanently enlarged breasts (which are rather rare in mammals). Bears likely have different hunting specializations than humans, so their eyesight is good at different stuff. They're good at seeing colours for foraging, and movements obscured by water for fishing. Female bears might develop features on their face, teats, and hips to attract males. This might be lighter colours, intricate patterns, or even long and soft, translucent fur which mimics white water rapids. I *REALLY* dig your octopus idea! The concept of an intellectual parasite is incredible, and is a really cool way to spin the anatomical strengths and weaknesses of the species. Very well done, and a really cool way to encourage uniqueness due to physical differences from other animals!! There are all sorts of cultural implications that come from such a different style of life that would be really cool to explore. Super sweet video overall, and I appreciate the effort :)! I know this video is old and this comment likely won't be seen, but I'd be very interested to hear yourthoughts on what I've said above! Thanks for the solid stuff, dude! Keep it up :)

[@NibiruBear]

Weird nitpick, but didn't we lose our fur because we evolved to be endurance hunters, not cause of fire? we sweat, which is why we lost our fur, as it impeded our cooling system. Am I wrong?

[@armata_strigoi_0]

No, you're correct. That's one hypothesis anyway. AFAIK, our use of fire has never been posited as a reason for the reduction of hair.

[@petersmythe6462]

Re: visual communication reduces capacity for language? I somewhat disagree. Humans and cephalopods make extensive use of direct and indirect visual communication. It is not that hard to imagine sign language, dancing, or bioluminescence used for a significant part of culture transmission.

[@ryanzakariasen3930]

Hey! I'm a Predatory, Land Dwelling, Bilaterian too! What a coincidence ;) Great job! I just discovered this video, I'm looking forward to starting from the beginning!

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

I just checked and so am I! Haha I'm glad you enjoyed the video, hope you enjoy the rest, more to come soon!

[@MisterCynic18]

I would argue an upright posture would force silarins to sacrifice their speed, which would be too costly for plains hunting obligate carnivores, and they'd gain all the spinal and joint problems that come from humanoid bipedalism. If anything becoming more ostrich-like would be the most likely direction, albeit with bigger heads/thicker necks and arms replacing wings. I'd also argue the competition with the silarins would keep the nota off out of the savannahs and from ever developing the human biped physiology, instead retaining more climbing related adaptations. They'd probably end up as weird hairless almost human monkey people, like shaved chimps but with people faces. I do think the na'qwuil turning to parasitism to overcome the whole no bones issue is a really cool idea though.

[@petersmythe6462]

Re: octopodes lacking strength? I don't think this is a terribly big problem. Tentacles are as, if not more, muscular then limbs. Squids are capable of using their tentacles to form wings even at a perfect cantilever and despite having an atrociously high wing loading. They even migrate more efficiently using repeated ballistic or aerodynamic flights than swimming. The bigger problem is gonna be lack of rigidity or inherent stability rather than lack of strength. A cephalopod probably can't take an upright body posture. Even one strong enough to fly.

[@rommdan2716]

Show me how an octopus can forge metals underwater and we'll see that

[@Lilliathi]

Bones amplify muscle strength. Your tongue is technically the strongest muscle in your body, but since it has no bones, it's not gonna lift your groceries for you.

[@Lilliathi]

@@rommdan2716 It could first evolve into a land-squid, I guess.

[@alexx.476]

it would take a while, but i don’t see why they couldn’t simply create a partially-above water forge and use extended reaching sticks to put their metal in there, or even naturally figure out that you can form a waterless space that could serve as a combustion area

[@kompatybilijny9348]

You know, when I was creating sapient species for my setting a few years ago, I went through the exact same thought process and got very simmilar results. I put creatures simmilar to your Silarin (I called mine Skyrann), but I did not go as far as making their posture completely human-like, as well as I did not make their tails vestigial, which resulted in more angled posture, especially when running. I also gave them sparse feathers, but also made them grow thick coats of them during the mating season, when males are blue-violet with peacock-like feathers both on the tail ends and on heads, while the females are just brownish. I also changed their skin colour range to brown - dark red, as they were evolving under a stable red dwarf star, so vegetation had different colours and it simply helped them hide.

[@Lilas.Duveteux]

For my own worldbuilding, I have chosen to stick to merpeople, humans, elves, gobelins and dwarves. They are all competing for ressources, but humans have the edge. However, certain places have reached a certain equilibrium. In moutains, usually the humans would save for themselves the verdant lower parts for agriculture of plants such as wheat, buckwheat, pea and/or rice, raising cattles such as pigs, sheeps, goats or bovines. Dwarves require more calories than humans, however, they are much more capable of surviving altitudes due to having a larger ribcage allowing for more powerful diaphragm and lungs, which is great to live in area with less oxygen. They would be perfect to live in the boreal forests closer to the mountain top living off of hoarding animals such as sheep and goats, use crevices to cultivate mushrooms in large quantities cultivate certain coniferous species for sap, vitamin-C rich needles, oily seeds and wood. Another factor is that dwarfs would have rather small kidneys for a large bladder, able to rapidely eliminate excess fresh water from their system. Their physiology is also well-adapted for the cold, and thus they would share the alpine tundra with elves. Elves get cold easily and are quite frail, however, their hollow bones, flight and the fact they are fungivorous (with resistance to ergotamine) make their survival in the alpine tundra far easier. Similar domains such as tundra would also share a similarity. Lands of the undead and evil spirits would also push for cohabitations of elves, humans and dwarves on the same plot of land. Humans found the undead political lines, however, they are mostly a single necromancer controlling an army of undead and to perform their dark rituals, kill most unfortuante fellow human beings who happened to get on their wrong sides. Dwarves and elves have both evolved to cohabitate and cope with evil spirit troubles and the various unpredictable dangers they pose. However, the decomposition fluid encourage the formation of fertile soil, thus leading the two sapient humanoid species to willingly cohabitate with the humans who created those spaces.

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

That's a very solid lineup of species, you can't really go wrong with them. You've got a reality interesting and unique take on each of them though! I love the attention to details that affect things like their agriculture (which I plan on covering in an upcoming video). Very cool!

[@LeeCarlson]

You might find it interesting that a lot of recent research has been done into how cultural development provides selective pressures for genetic enhancements which provide further selective pressures for cultural evolution, ad infinitum.

[@SebRomu]

Glad to see your subscriber count increasing with each video. You make good content and deserve a following.

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

Thank you! Very much appreciated, glad you are enjoying :)

[@nekoman8560]

The bear men make sense, but the already bipedal lizards had long balancing tails and therefore no reason to go through the semi-dysfunctional process of becoming vertically oriented to the point of developing chronic back pain

[@anvos658]

I'd argue the ability to lift weight better, else they'd have to grow bulkier tails and legs that harm their general survival when not doing weight lifting tasks.

[@Shukaldes]

I think the Naquil are less likely to become parasites. Their high brain function and large number of manipulators makes them well suited aquatic organisms and could build an entire subaquatic culture that is focused on secrecy/stealth for survival. A dark forest analogy on a less grand scale.

[@anvos658]

Main issue is then they're a species stuck at pre-bronze age, given their only means of extreme heat would be volcanic vents, which getting that close to the hot spot wouldn't be very healthy and is a lot harder to learn than a human leaving stuff by a fire and seeing low melting point metals liquify.

[@Shukaldes]

@@anvos658 subaquatic, a good cephalopod would never be defeated by air. Vicious beauties they are and adaptable. Believe me, there are places where the ocean boils so hot only those who have been pushed to the extremes of adaptation and selection can tread and here the very earth is molten.

[@petersmythe6462]

I disagree about a therapod-like body plan converging towards upright posture. Those tails are vital to the way they move. While there are counterexamples like some of the therizinosaurs, as well as penguins, none of them are fast running endurance-oriented creatures of the open planes. Meanwhile, the animals that move in a similar way to what is suggested seem to conserve or even reinvent the theropod bodyplan. Ratites and terror birds keep a horizontal spine and just have long upright necks. Terrorbirds are notable here because they have an enormous skull and heavy axe-like beak which suggests that a large braincase would be fine from a structural standpoint on a neck like that. I also wish if using their hands as manipulators is likely. This would be highly unnatural for a theropod. It is far more likely their their mouth or feet or more likely, both would be used. All examples of tool-using theropods fit this model, and even before birds, the front limbs tended to be inflexible and wing-like. Not possible to pronate, and generally better suited to display or aerodynamic functionality. So I think the horizontal spine and long, relatively stiff tail would probably be there to stay, and the limb anatomy and use would heavily favor the use of the jaw and legs as manipulators, not the arms.

[@petersmythe6462]

incidentally, there is one group of theropods which might have had suitable limb anatomy. Spinosaurs. But to say they were not running on the open plains after their prey is a huge understatement. Instead they were likely to be found in water perhaps 90% of the time, and likely could not move bipedally.

[@privateuser3726]

8:32 I think scavengers would be more likely to produce sapient creatures, while predators certainly could I just think scavengers have a greater chance of leading to sapience. The reason I believe this is because the humans' Ancestors were scavengers, and well we're the most sapient creature on our planet, and then there are ravens who are the most intelligent species of birds, also scavengers

[@italucenaz]

both are/were omnivores too, the smartest animals (on land) are usually omnivores

[@nagillim7915]

As a biology graduate who studied ecology and is a hobbyist worldbuilder, it's refreshing to find someone who mentions sexual selection in their species evolution. It's a major factor in evolution working in conjunction with (but often to different ends than) natural selection. One thing i did notice though is the presumption that your viviparous species would necessarily give birth from between the hindlegs. While it's common in terrestrial vertebrates for the genitals and excretory systems to be anatomically adjacent, that's just an accident of evolution. As invertebrates show, it's perfectly unremarkable to have your genitals on other parts of the body, even on or near the head, and for them to be unassociated with the excretory systems. I guess it makes sense for vertebrates to have the womb in the abdomen as there's often no parental bone structure restricting the growth of the foetus(es) there and in a quadruped it makes sense carrying them ventrally as a predator is more likely to go for the flanks or back that are more exposed, but evolution could just as easily have put the birth canal under the diaphragm as between the legs. I guess between the legs makes it easier for quadruped mammals, but it's a position that evolved before we left the ocean when fertilisation didn't even occur internally and it's particularly cumbersome for many reptiles and birds to mate because their cloaca is under their tails. Having seen the fight birds and big reptiles have to get everything into the right position for long enough for insemination to occur i dread to think how bad the big dinosaurs must have had it. Had evolution gone slightly different and the birth canal in vertebrates *was* below the diaphragm it might have made things a little easier for birds and reptiles (though big guadruped dinosaurs would still have had problems).

[@vukkulvar9769]

Worldbuilding made easy : A deity made them that way.

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

This is absolutely a viable worldbuilding strategy, and arguably one of the more interesting ones if the gods themselves are interesting. Then I imagine you're looking at what the deity's motivations are for creating the race, which adds a really cool layer to worldbuilding!

[@vukkulvar9769]

@@WorldbuildingCorner Slaves, soldiers, wanting to be loved and worship, desire to create sapient beings, boredom... Many possibilities !

[@madmachanicest9955]

There is a point we inspect zoo bring out a lot. Evolution prefers to adapt existing things rather than create new ones because it's limited to the base blueprint it's working with and the greater the change the more energy it requires. Since gradual changes can result in considerable changes over time and take less energy for the creature gradual changes tend to result in new things being adapted from old things rather than things being created from scratch.

[@arixsalas6811]

YESSSSS!!!! Finally this video is here!!! Words can't say how much i love your channel, Matthew You deserve more viewers

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

Thank you! Glad you are enjoying the channel so far, lots more to come :)

[@lockretvids]

Wouldn't the octopi seek a permanent host, though? What started as a parasitic relationship turning into a symbiotic one, with the octopi evolving the nervous system and the host species evolving the physical attributes.

[@emblem3272]

Stumbled aceoss this video earlier today, and was so intrigued by this world and the amount of thought put into it that I paused and binged the entire series up to here before continuing. A subscriber well earned, sir.

[@JonathanGhost42]

As a fan of speculative evolution/biology and as someone that has created dozens of species in his own worldbilding, I wanted to say that I find Your video quite interesting and creative! And it was cool to see another person besides Me coming up with mind parasitic not-illithids. :)

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

Glad you've found it interesting! Nice to know my creations stand up to the scrutiny/curiosity of fellow creators haha. Stay tuned for lots more with the Na'qwuil, I find them fascinating! (If I do say so myself hehe)

[@ultrapedrow]

I disagree that sapient species would have to be Predatory, many highly intelligent species are omnivores or even herbivores. Take elephants for example, they have complex social structures and rituals, use tools, and solve problems set to them by scientists. Even crows have social rituals (have been observed mourning their dead and attacking anything trying to get to the corpse) and are extremely good at problem-solving. There is reasonable evidence that would suggest early hominids might not have even been predators either, since 2 of our closest relatives (bonobos and gorillas) do any hunting (though chimpanzees do hunt). A theory in this regard is we were scavengers at first, stealing meat from kills made by other animals. I would agree we became predators once we had the intelligence to outsmart prey, but that only happened after we mastered fire (I believe the archeological record shows our brains getting bigger at around the same time that we find cooked food in our rubbish piles.) I would also argue that being a predator would in fact make sapience less likely for 3 main reasons: 1. (majority of) predators use some form of physical prowess, rather than intelligence, to take down prey, thus nutrient resources are better spent building muscle rather than brains; 2. predators would struggle to get enough nutrition to support brain development (again human brains growth is correlated with our ability to increase nutrient availability by cooking food); 3. avoiding predation requires more brain power than hunting as to avoid being prey you need keen spacial awareness, constant vigilance, and creative problem solving to use your surrounding to avoid the predator.

[@powerofanime1]

One point: we actually have a lot more hair than you might think. It's just that the width and length of those hairs have reduced drastically in order to make room for our oversized sweat glands. The pest question is another factor, but it's far from the only one.

[@reformedpeter-timesoul9778]

You have an amazing, simple but informative set of videos for worldbuilding that should have more views not just to support your channel but to help other worldbuilders in their projects.

[@wizakke5399]

I found this series with the magic system video and thought I'd try to rebuild my draft world with these steps. Now I'm simply ignoring my notes and enjoying your world.

[@JimWeaving-ty6tr]

Question: in terms of races, can cuteness overcome the predilection and increased relatability of humanoids?

[@UsuarioGenerico-li5pf]

Humans are my neck pain and agony as a world builder. They are everywhere, even when I WISH to not have them completely or to remove them completely from the worlds I have created. In the end, having to force myself to include humans in my worlds has left nothing but frustrations and dissatisfactions. In every RPG that I have had the misfortune to GM, there is never a lack of someone who necessarily wants to have a human character in one of my worlds...Only to end up playing a clone of an existing character. I don't know... I just don't want to see humans in my fictional worlds... I have enough of seeing them daily in the real world and looking in the mirror.

[@rommdan2716]

- Can I play a human? - Sorry, but no Come on man, you are supposed to have fun too!

[@armata_strigoi_0]

Yeah, as RommDan alluded to, you don't need to feel forced to include humans in your setting. One of my friends made an entire world where the premise is that not only humans, but all the standard fantasy races don't exist, instead he's created completely new and unique species. It's not against the law lol

[@JayFolipurba]

Explaining in a highly scientific sounding manner, why the bear-people would absolutely have boobs and big butts is the biggest, yet most accurate excuse for making your furries sexy that I've ever heard xD

[@vinx.909]

Every qualifier for sapience is found in animals too, primarily thinking of citations (whales and dolphins), octopuses, and corvids (ravens, crows, magpies, etc.). There isn't anything unique to humans, it's only more developed.

[@ringthatbell9597]

The drawings you used for the reptile, bear, a humans look a lot like hero forge models. Personally I think the bears would have more of a rectangular or round torso due to the fat they need to survive in such cold environments rather then the small human like waist tapering up to a jacked chest and shoulder region. I also think the lizard people look a bit too human as well, I just don’t know enough to put my finger on it.

[@sweetbro1642]

Those are most certainly Heroforge models

[@dontforgetyoursunscreen]

They lizard people should be covered in feathers as a result of being descended from birds (or the feathers are extremely small like what happened to most hair on humans but then they still should not be scaly)

[@imjang2430]

Well i'm not complaining... These bear people tingles my furry senses sumthin fierce

[@ToqTheWise]

13:17 I'm sorry this is just audist. Look up sign language, it's incredibly complex and entirely visual.

[@silvertheelf]

you just explained the evolution of the D&D illithids to some degree.

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

Illithids are one of my favourite monsters in DnD! They are so alien, I feel they work as villains so well.

[@krispalermo8133]

@@WorldbuildingCorner Back close to 15years ago at my last rpg shop, we got burnt out on different style of play for D&D along with Star Wars. So I put up the ideal of me GMing stone age chimpanzee just surviving everyday primate life. 3e multiclassing rogue/ranger/fighter. maybe barbarian for rage issues. Long story short after dealing with sand/earth/purple worms as being normal as lions were. One chimpanzee got a leech/worm in his ear on a coastal sea cove brine pool, and mutated into a mind flayer illthid. Everyone was shocked and thrill I had them start out on the illthid home world. The world went from forced evolution of development sorcerer vs psionics Dark Sun style campaign or chimpanzee development into an orc like branch and a human one right along the illthid war/feeding on them. Till the group psionic elder brains Time Jump/Gate into the pass bring back greater psionic knowledge to dominate the past. The world is a multiple time paradox location. b.) With WotC 3e rules on skill rank checks we mixed Spelljammer into Star Wars and had the Gith or illthids attack a star destroyer like the Vong or had Vader face off against illthid psionic assault. In our Star Wars campaigns illthid assaults are relived as flash backs & fake outs. PCs start game with 1d6 temporary damage to all stats and lost of memory. illthid capture a ship, psionic probe and torture the crew, take genetic samples from them for later cloning and genetic engineering " livestock". Then let the crew go to study from a distance as a lab rat experiment. Run a few games after wards as fake outs or mental psionic connections to their clones, .. or are they the clone ? Matrix. ( Which sometimes pizzes off some of the players thinking they won't get any Xp or full Xp what they just went through.) Roll for Wild Talents and 2d4 bonus psionic class levels. I normal have prewritten Level adjustments with powers they can quick play then swap out for another clone as handouts. 2.) In AD&D illthid basic had the spell level 13th-level wizard due to the 7th-level spell Planeshift. So instead of being a 9d4+3hp N/PC is can be regarded as a 5d8 monster. We had more than a few players thumb their noses at DM gate keepers back during the late 1990's by having their wizard Charm & Dominate Person the party had Polymorph themselves into an illthid. The newer players in their twenties were more incline into PCing monsters than the thirty year olds did. 3.) Soap opera fast pace 20min mini game. Played with stander playing card deck. Wizard goes into town, gets a place, and then have to bribe the thief guild protection money to keep from getting rob. Along with the town's guard. Everyone draws an index card to see which PC they be running and at the end each player pulls 1d6 cards of their secret ID. Be it normal wizard, illthid, demon, devil, wererat or other ?

[@tedcoop4392]

Note: sea lions do not have fins, they have flippers. Fins are structurally different, and are seen on fish.

[@BrandonPilcher]

One thing I wonder is the likelihood of a strictly carnivorous sapient species ever needing to make fire. I feel the main utility of fire for humans is to cook meat and make it safe for us to eat, but since specialized carnivores tend to have more acidic stomachs better at handling rotten meat, they wouldn't need to cook it. I suppose it could still keep them warm at night, but that would only be a priority in cooler climates if they didn't have a thick fur (or feather) covering.

[@Srdauka11]

Would be hard for them to develop civilisations on mass scales then

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

Fire isn't just necessary for food, it's critical for metallurgy! Without fire a species will be effectively stuck in the stone age.

[@Dell-ol6hb]

well there are many other advantages to cooking meat or any food really besides just getting rid of harmful pathogens or parasites, in fact disease mitigation is probably the least important reason for why humans cook food, the most important reason is that cooked food essentially predigests food, breaking it down into forms that are far more easily digested allowing for one to extract significantly more nutrition out of every meal than they normally would eating it raw. Even for a purely carnivorous species cooking food should still be useful, not to mention all the other benefits of fire in general besides just cooking

[@MammothMorals]

A cold blooded predator might want to make fire to manipulate the temperature around them.

[@KevinWarburton-tv2iy]

Some have argued that utilisation of fire was actually a kickstarter to intelligence. The very first tool, a burning branch used to start a fire. a) Fire was not just useful re food or warmth ...but for the Hunt. The carnivorous sapients would soon figure out fire could be used to scare away bigger predators & to stampede/coral own prey.

[@minerturtle45]

idk why but i really like the juxtaposition of having bear-people and lizard-people, and then horrifying brain squids that require humanoid hosts

[@smergthedargon8974]

I've never liked that "We relate to /care more about very human-ish characters!" Maybe it's just 'cause I'm autistic but I care way more about, say, a moderately anthropomorphized jumping spider than a human or elf character.

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

Non-humanised characters can still be very cool! The setting for such creatures would likely be quite different to what most viewers would be familiar with, but that can sometimes add to the appeal of the world :)

[@UsuarioGenerico-li5pf]

Same.

[@LadyTsunade777]

Same. To me, humans are boring and overused, and I _far_ prefer nonhuman sentient/sapient species. There's plenty of examples of nonhuman characters in fictional works that audiences have widely connected with, regardless of their species or outward appearance. Ajani from Magic the Gathering is the most prominent recent example for me - he's a lion person, but myself and so many other people that have gotten into the lore connected with him and were devastated when he was, shall we say, converted to the dark side against his will. Same with Tamiyo - she's a rabbit-like Moonfolk, whom I and others also connected with and was also similarly converted. The key is to make interesting and relatable _characters and personalities._ They don't have to be human, you just have to have individuals that people can connect to.

[@rommdan2716]

Yeah, it's probably because of the autism.

[@wezul]

Calling the octopus-like species "weak" tells me that you know nothing about cephalopods. A 2lb octopus has more strength in one arm than you do in both.

[@moosher12]

Had a giggle when I noticed the Hero Forge models. Awesome.

[@flyingrobotduck]

Although for science fiction world building things like evolution and brain size almost always should be taken into account, in fantasy this isn't always the case. What if the beings in your world were created by a super powerful magical being or beings, or if you want a fully sentient race that is six inches tall on average? This video helps a lot for those who created a fantasy world where evolution took place, but in fantasy it isn't the only way.

[@captainstroon1555]

The humanoid bauplan obviously works for a sapient being, but many aspiring worldbuilders take that as an excuse to populate their worlds entirely with various variants of humans. Pointy eared humans, small humans, humans with scales or fur, snake headed humans, and so on. They don't even try to add more outlandish sophonts which is a huge shame. Just copying reality makes for realistic, but often boring worlds. Exploring the consequences a different body plan can have on a civilisation can be a lot of fun and result in truly unique fictional societies. And exploring how two or more vastly different species might live together in the same world or even the same multi-species society is even more interesting.

[@nathaniellufkin]

I love how I watched the number of subscribers increase as I binge watch this series over the course of the day

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

Hope you are enjoying the series! Grateful for the new subs :)

[@petersmythe6462]

Changing the number of limbs isn't that rare. Snakes, whales, amphisbanians, etc all lost limbs, as did some therapod dinosaurs. Gaining limbs isn't rare either. You just need to look at clades where limb count is heavily tied with body segment count. Limb count isn't a reliable method of identifying relationships between centipedes, millipedes, polychaetes, and isopods. Even caterpillars have pseudo-limbs in addition to their six true limbs, then lose them and grow 4 more limbs (wings) as adults. What is rare is for limb count to increase at a species level or greater in a clade that do not undergo complete metamorphosis and who's limb anatomy is separate from duplicated body segments. I.E. vertebral segments in tetrapods have nothing to do with how many limbs they have. It's still worth noting though that while limb count is unlikely to increase in these species, it's still not impossible. Lizards have evolved wings from their ribs multiple times over. Snakes have evolved to turn their entire body into a wing by modification of their ribs. It is entirely possible that the evolutionary process of limb genesis can reoccur in limbed or limbless organize creating new types of limbs on their body that do not share morphology with their existing ones.

[@johnsteiner3417]

The brain of a cephalopod isn't under the mantle. It wraps around the esophagus and then runs down each arm, giving them a number of brains one more than the number of limbs.

[@commandereclipse5373]

Na'qwuil are a pretty good way of getting Ithilids/Mindflayers. Nice! Not sure I fully agree with the Silarin's final bodyplan. Feels like it's a little too anthropomorphic.

[@TrueWolves]

I find settings with both humanoid and non humanoid sapients as the most interesting, as it gives you both the familiar and the alien to work with within the same story. Similar to how the Charr are in Guildwars, and even they are on the more humanoid side. So a little sad to see the raptors develop as humanoid as they did, though I understand the reasoning in the literary sense. And you did at least maintain the Na'qwuil as quite different from the other 3! It does feel like a bit of a drop off cliff though instead of a sliding scale.

[@TrueWolves]

I also think a color-based language is possible, and is probably the most common form of a non-audio non-pheromone-based form of communication in science fiction. Though the perilux are definitely too small by known standards of requirements for sapience and so would still be disqualified on that ground. If anything, a limited ability to shape symbols biologically could lead to a very unique written language where the color(s) of a symbol shares as much if not more information than it's shape! This could even be done through a "spoken" langauge that uses body language and movements alongside color to create complexity akin to how tone can affect an audio language.

[@TrueWolves]

Damn, now my mind is running afire with this idea. How could the existence of a species that primarily speaks through color and body language interact with traditionally speaking species? Other languages may adopt limited color into some of their writing. The need for colorless writing, like used for clay tablets or when dyes are scarce, would lead to added accents to pre-existing symbols, whether letters or lexigraphic symbols. This would allow a lot more word-transfer in the written language than in the spoken/viewed versions. A dance could literally tell a story, and other species mimicking color-dances may use careful movements of exposed and hidden colored clothing. Perilux may lack complex sound-shaping ability, but they would probably still be able to make limited sounds. So how would they adapt to interacting with other cultures? Adopting common body language symbols in a limited simplified sign language? How would the added language diversity shape not just the species own cultures, but eventually their fellow sapient cultures? There's a lot of interesting speculative biology and sociology here to consider!

[@Enduredtimes]

You need to be bigger, I'm glad KZbin recommended you.

[@PokeNebula]

Disagree with a lot of your processes and results. Saying Perilux color language would be less fertile soil than auditory communication for abstract language-why? Signs might not go around corners, but they don’t make a sound, and that might be highly useful for a eusocial prey species, especially under environmental pressure that could select colonies for cleverness. And “brain size threshold”? Have you heard of corvids? Have you met the parrot Alex? Regardless, love the video. It inspires me to go about this in my own way.

[@italucenaz]

8:04 I know you said the originators of a sapient species are likelly to be predators and it's true that mammal and bird predators are generally more smart than the counterparts, but this is not even a strong relationship, the smartest group of animals are generally considered to be Primates, consisting with omnivores and herbivores, the smartest birds are crows and parrots, respectivelly omni and herbivores too, you may consider the elephant an exeption but they also have a free prehensile apendage with fine motion control, I know all cetaceans are carnivores, but despite their intellingence, they are kinda stuck with no prehensile limbs and won't harness fire. The hypothesis that sapient species would likelly come from predators makes sense but it's ultimatelly unfounded, the only sapient race on earth comes from omnivores after all, I don't find a refutation on the theory, I just think the pressure of predators being more able to attain sapience is not that big

[@triccele]

I really like these, although, your humanoid bears don't really need breasts. Most mammals have small breast tissue except when breastfeeding, humans being an exception to this... Also, at those sizes, they will need stronger lower extremities, and males probably would be more barrell shaped than "dorito" shaped.

[@johnsteiner3417]

Your gauging of brain size only on volume is a flaw. It's partially brain to body ratio, but that ratio is more closely tied to cell numbers not volume or mass. Bird cells tend toward being much smaller, possible because of a small genome, and so more cells can fit into a smaller space. Tool using appendages don't have to be hand, but they do need to do three things; pinch grip, cylindrical grip and spherical/radio grip.

[@Jonaelize]

I don't know if fire manipulation is really necessary. Is metallurgy even necessary for a culture to evolve? If for instance they had some ability to manipulate bio-organic material, like acid or enzymes, that might be enough to create organic tools and building blocks.

[@rommdan2716]

If you want to go to space you nees metallurgy

[@themoonitself5162]

I am extremely confused on your reasoning to make the endurance runner Callidus into the upright Silarin. At 14:36, You state that bipedal creatures bio-mechanically use less energy when standing upright, but never explain your reasoning for this assumption. The Callidus were already bipedal, only using their hind digitigrade talons to run and I'm assuming using their wings to provide aerodynamic forces either for more traction or for pouncing on prey. Why would the Callidus ever evolve this body structure to begin with if being upright uses less energy? For my own speculation, I believe that it's not bipedal creatures that use less energy when upright, but tail-less bipedal creatures that use less energy. A tail would act as a counterweight, and might even make the creature more stable than a tail-less by putting more mass away from the center of mass, increasing the creature's moment of inertia, which means a greater torque would need to be applied for the same angular acceleration. You even stated at 14:53 that the tail was used for balance, so you were thinking of something at least similar to this. So why make them upright? Surely there wouldn't be evolutionary pressure to just gradually become more upright over time; becoming more upright would increase parasitic drag, which would only weaken their niche as endurance runner pack predators. Maybe you wanted to free up the wings so that their aerodynamic functions would no longer interfere with the actions of their prehensile talons. But why would the wings be the limbs to give up their function if they're already so important to the Callidus' current niche? Sure, the Silarin final state fits a new niche and is just as viable as the Callidus, but everything in between just seems like it wouldn't work, there doesn't seem to be a viable evolutionary pathway for those adaptations. I imagine it would be much more likely that, while the talons on the wings to become more developed, the wings themselves stay relatively the same, and that the Silarins as a result are better runners than the other sapients, but have less capable prehensile limbs as a trade off. Even still, at 6:00 you state that prehensile limbs are much more likely to form at the end of limbs as opposed to other appendages. You don't state a reasoning for this assumption either. I assume it's because other appendages already have important uses for the animal and that limbs are more adaptable, but in this case, would that assumption hold? Both their legs and wings are used when running, yet many birds in our world that show tool use, use those tools with their beaks, something that isn't used when running. I would think that would make the beak the much more likely appendage to become prehensile, maybe even along side the more limited prehensile wing talons. I think that's an even more interesting species to speculate and world build about: A sapient bird species that has 3 prehensile limbs, but each are less capable than the other sapients. You could really dive into how this changes their society, I imagine the ergonomics of tools, furniture, and architecture would vary greatly with our owns. I guess a lot of it still comes down to what you said at 9:02, that people connect more with people. Maybe it's just your preference to have very human-like sapient races, and there's nothing wrong with that, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But the way it was presented in the video made it seem like a rule that you had to make everything humanoid otherwise people won't like it. It made it seem that anthropomorphizing the Callidus so much is trading away something that could be amazing to take the safer, boring route, and left me feeling rather annoyed after finishing the video.

[@madmachanicest9955]

One thing I like doing in my world building is remind people that even if ocks dwarfs and elves look human but thy vary much are not. In my world's elves are often powerful cat and raptor like solo hunters with exactly good sciences compared to humans. Acting more like hawks in human form then people.

[@GoranXII]

Intelligence actually seems to develop more from omnivores than carnivores. A predator has no great need to develop intelligence, because its strategies vary little, either ambush or endurance. Omnivores OTOH need larger memories, which means larger brains.

[@malakine6306]

Matthew: 9:03 Me: Come on, Na’qwuill! You’re the best!

[@garg4531]

Some very intriguing information and ideas! I just discovered this channel and am rather curious now

[@davidmoss9943]

I love your roster of fantasy animals.

[@sethreyes8988]

I'm hooked. I really needed this. Especially considering how Tolkien used language as a base to accidentally explore entire cultures, I have become fascinated with the idea of going back to the very origin of a fantasy species that I want to create. I have definitely mistakenly called them sentients. 😅 I have been looking for a deep dive into the evolution of a species, their language, and cultures. Thank you, Sir

[@Soulephant]

First of all, liking this channel a lot. It's of course not universally applicable, but I have been able to put this to some use already to reinforce otherwise super unstructured worldbuilding. For this video, while I was obviously curious and generally like the results, there are a couple things I feel I should note or second: 1. In regards to the Silarin: I feel like this is the one that makes the least amount of sense from an evolutionary standpoint, for reasons I also saw in the comments. The Callidus are _already_ bipedal, and if I get this correctly, you also _already_ made them endurance runners. In other words, outside of getting prehensile talons, there isn't much the Silarin needed to change physically, nor do I think they need to become completely upright (rather, a slight hunch could be maintained). Not that human physiology doesn't make sense, it only doesn't because raptors are already good runners. 2. Somewhat related to this, while simian to human evolution makes sense, there is a bit of a hiccup with Nota to human: This evolution would occur in rainforests, where arboreal movement is perfectly viable. Contrast with earth humans or locus Silarin, which _have_ to run because savannahs have a lot less trees, and thus would have reason to improve their running game. Locus humans, by contrast, have no immediate reason to evolve this way, unless maybe you stuff the rainforests full of harpy eagles or some other threats above the ground, so that closer to the ground is the safest place to be. Still, they're humans, and I agree humans are handy to have for reasons you described. 3. The Urakan make a lot of sense. Being bear-based, they grow to permanently adopt bipedalism that they already used in short bursts, rather than changing an already suitable biped form. 4. The Na'qwuil are also logical, but one thing I immediately had to wonder is if strength or manipulation would be their main issue on land, as tentacles are _a lot_ of muscle. Rather, it would be stability due to no bones, as well as lackluster speed on land, which octopi would be able to make up for somewhat through their elaborate camouflage capabilities. I still like the Na'qwuil, but I feel the arguments for why they would struggle are off. Also, I hope they do eventually become less parasitic as their civilization further develops, because having an obvious disregard of other life will cement them as enemies in the eyes of basically every other sapient race, which means they either need to _royally_ compensate for this huge amount of enemies, or die really quick. Writing this down also helped me realize that trying to follow evolution is probably not a great idea in my personal opinion, especially if you're going in a more fantastical direction anyway. It places _huge_ constraints on what you'll be able to do with your sapient creatures, even if we expand beyond the chosen source species in this video. That does not seem desirable unless you need these constraints to get going. I myself don't follow evolution in my process. To be precise, evolution would be possible in my world, but it is typically outpaced by dimensional rifts that create new life (among many other effects).

[@dawudhinton5754]

Herbivorous creatures can also gain sapience. Take elephants for example. They have culture, and cultural learning. Sheep are intelligent as well. When a species is prey there are two main paths of adaptation leading towards evolution. Getting bigger and more aggressive as to fend off/ intimidate would be predators; or gain intelligence to defeat them. Herbivores also have the benefit of having a more reliable source of food. The need to expend less energy breaking down plant material would drive them towards fire/ cooking.

[@lukekebell3146]

That squid race & that parasitic skill is basically the Oktigi from Oddworld... thats terrifying

[@VictorMistral]

For sexual dimorphism on mammal like animals. If you look to mammals there is a large variation of sexual dimorphism, gibbons have far less sexual dimorphism, being considered monomorphic. So you can have fun with it; it's all plausible. Though having a certain level of sexual dimorphism is more likely, and human level is a decent level without forcing male and female to not share certain role, so a female or male rich society (due to what ever) can come back, while having enough sexual dimorphism that sexual divided roles are still likely. If the species as no sexual dimorphism, there is a high chance that there is little difference between gender on roles, and probably feeding could be done by male and female (oh and even if you have sexual dimorphism, you can have to male deal with lactation, like some bat does). If a species has heavier sexual dimorphism, like let say males are half the size of female, then there would be a huge sexual role differentiation, potentially one sexual could not be fully sentient, while the other is... It would have massive impact on culture and religion. But also on the odd of survival, due to a role not being able to filled by the other gender, and if something happens to a lot of on gender, it could lead the the downfall of the society... So having a sexual dimorphism that is on the human is just simpler, likely, and I think it's probably easier for the target audience...

[@joshuaschmidt3261]

really excited to see where this is going!

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

I'm excited to build a world for these creatures! Lots of ideas... Glad you're enjoying!

[@MisterCynic18]

"that kind of intelligence won't go on to have plants founding the internet" Do mycorrhizal fungi networks count?

[@vitriolicAmaranth]

A big element I try to keep in mind for my (fantasy) worldbuilding is the factors of the world that are wildly different from Earth, or any hypothetical real planet that is likely to exist, the most pressing for most fantasy settings being magic (depending on the system, of course). If there is an ambient magical force on the planet, and animals don't harness it, why not? Why would they not practically all evolve to do so? And if an animal is going to evolve sapience and advance tool-use, and it has access to telekinesis, for example, does it even need a prehensile appendage? If telepathy exists, does spoken language need to exist? Also I appreciate that your setting basically has the Elder Scrolls races: Humans (Humans), Khajiit (Urakan), Argonian (Silarin) and Elves (Na'qwuil).

[@benw9949]

Caveat: creatures like the related octopus, squid, and cuttlefish exhibit a degree of both radial and bilateral symmetry, but it could be argued they are more radially symmetric. However, they also evolved along an axis, and have single or paired organs (siphon, eyes, specialized tentacles for breeding). It could be possible for a group of their limbs to be "legs" and a group to be "arms" with not too much reworking. And starfish, radial symmetry, might have something similar. So we need to be careful giving absolutes, because not only could things evolve on Earth, but they might evolve very differently on other planets. Also, from a couple of recent videos on early biology of vertebrates, it might be possible that instead of five fingers/toes, early land animals could have ended up with six or seven per hand/foot (polydactyly is still a thing too.) and even six or eight limbs rather than fou was apparently a possibility from the early animals that moved from sea to land. I can think of at least the aliens in the Footfall novel as having dual prehensile trunks from their heads which I think also had opposable digits at the end of the trunks (it's been too long since I read the book to be sure of how they were designed, elephant-like but at least two or four trunks, then dividing into finger-like digits, I think it was.)

[@lazulenoc6863]

Select your species: Monkey => Human Giant Velociraptor => Silarin Bear => Urakan Octopus => -The unholy offspring of a Dalek and a Mindflayer.- Na'qwuil

[@Munchkin.Of.Pern09]

I just need to point out the absolute insanity that is the fact that the ancestral dinosaur was bipedal… meaning that all quadrupedal dinosaurs *secondarily evolved said quadrupedalism…*

[@LunaProtege]

I kind of find elves and dwarves boring... The closer to humans a creature is, the less novel it is; there's also the possibility of the uncanny valley... On another point, manipulators in fantasy don't have to be physical; the moment magic or psychic powers are introduced, the ability of a house-cat-like creature to manipulate tools without even touching it becomes probable... And if hyper-specialization in magic is more efficient, provides higher maximum power, or provides more utility; at least compared to physical manipulators... Then you can imagine non-humanoid looking creatures might be more common.

[@EllenL11]

If you are building a world for your own entertainment, just because you like building worlds, you don't have to include humanoid creatures. Thinking and imagining just to think and imagine. Brain exercise.

[@DapperDinosaur]

The Hero Forge assets are cool.

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

It was handy to have references that I could move and adjust as needed. I don't have any background or experience with art, so creating the species in this video was a big challenge.

[@NikolayKutuzovAnimatoror]

I think feline animals could also evolve into humanoids, just like the bear analogues shown in this video. It’s just that not a species based on lions, but those big cats that climbed trees, might be suitable for this. in this case, they could hypothetically go through the same evolutionary path as the primates who began their journey in the trees but then changed their way of life. that is, hypothetically, such a species could develop developed manipulators, which could then become full-fledged hands. which means they would have the opportunity to create tools. it is quite possible that having descended from the trees like human ancestors, they could later develop a society similar to the armored society of prides, which could become the beginning of the beginnings of tribal societies that could eventually turn into full-fledged civilizations

[@HuiXingMusic]

I recognize those heroforge poses!

[@АйбулатИсхаков]

I think omnivore is more appropriate term for sapient species requirements. The variable sources of food should make those guys creative. Also I see no possibility for several sapient species to evolve on the same continent. Sapience is so enormous advantage that the first species to win that evolution race inevitably wipes out all and each of its competitors. We see that even close human relatives gone extinct due to rise of humans. So gone are the megafauna and innumerable smaller species. Only African species more or less survived because they evolved beside humans. The only thing that managed to avoid extinction in our ecological niche are wolves, but they were lucky to have big brain, social structure and ecological adaptability

[@petersmythe6462]

Ok but suppose your intelligent organism evolved from a hoofed biped with a stabilizing tail, wings for display, control when running, and incline running but not true flight, and a prehensile trunk? I think it is much more likely that the trunk and lips and tongue are used as manipulators and not the wings, tail, or feet.

[@DrakonBlake]

Have you heard of the Portia family of jumping spiders? They can learn, remember, and problem solve. At least Portia Fimbriata if I remember correctly

[@Jeff55369]

you should have split the monkeys, so not only would you have humans, but you could have tree goblins as well. :P

[@lorenzoandreaus1221]

In order to implement sirens in my world, I considered that they evolved from the same branch as humans (that would explain their appearances and the ability to develop intelligence as they are outside water). One of these pre-human communities evolved closely related to the water, so they developed aquatic features until one part of these went full siren (just like whales evolved from terrestrial animals). I'm still unsure on how to develop intelligent fairy-like creatures though, mainly due to their tiny heads

[@bjorncorvin4568]

I made my Fairies and Fae abt the size of hobbits

[@albinocyclopse9952]

The figures used in this video to represent the various species were made using Hero Forge. I recognize that art style, I have many gripes with that art style. But I digress. My question is, did you have the reptilian people evolve an upright humanoid posture due to the rigging constraints of Hero Forge? These lizards look too human to be the byproduct of a scientificly informed fantasy. I mean, therapods where right there

[@Elkator955]

I have to wonder though. Why is a head necessary exactly? Couldn't you develop a decentralized nervous system in a creature? It would be weird but I don't see why it shouldn't be possible. The creature may have poor reflexes, and losing certain parts could lead to severe mental damage as well, which would not make it super good with natural selection, but I don't think it would be impossible.

[@armata_strigoi_0]

Well the fact is, the vast majority of animals have developed heads for one simple reason - because you want your food-locating parts up where your food-acquiring parts are, and you want all of them up front so that you can aim them at your food lol Obviously there are exceptions to this rule, but all of them are fairly to fully sedentary. Any highly mobile organism is gonna converge towards this body plan. However, you're correct that the "brain" would not necessarily need to be located within the sensory/feeding apparatus known as a head. The reason it's more likely, though, is that it increases the speed with which sensory data is relayed to the "operating centre", thereby shortening reaction times. The one thing I think could be decoupled from the head without any impact is the respiratory system. Ours is located here only because that's where it was located in ancient chordates, but it would be perfectly feasible for an independent system to evolve.

[@drpigglesnuudelworte5209]

I’m really sorry but wouldn’t the mindflayer thingies just wipe out all the other intelligent lifeforms they come into contact with and eventually become the only existing life form of higher intelligence

[@TJtheHuman]

I don't see visual language as a limiting factor.

[@gyrrakavian]

Wild, I don't think I've played a single game where _anyone_ selected human. Must be a neurotypical thing.

[@Xurelbes]

7:40 Wait, so creatures with six limbs would be like Motaro and not like Goro/Kintaro?

[@bjorncorvin4568]

I did a fanfic of Locus where the the Leonix evolved into the Lejon, arctic catfolk bassically and their language is based of irl swedish

[@Seth-Halo]

This works if you are world building a planet with life similar to Earth. The base points are probably good starting points to keep in mind when world building. But for me this video was a bit of a let down. There was to much focus for it to be life like on Earth constrained to our genetic structure. Which as he stated before helps connect with them. The base is good to follow if it follows the rules of your fantasy world. But there is no need for carnivores to be the only species that can become civilization and no need for races to have to be a certain size to support the brain. There is a science fiction story where humans disguise the fact that they are carnivores because when we got to space we found that every other space faring species evolved from herbivores. Herbivores considered carnivores too violent to have any chance to become intelligent. And that logic works for the stories universe because it is apparently the natural order for herbivores to be more likely to become intelligent. And while it makes sense from our POV that carnivores would be the smartest (and it does make sense) that does not have to be the case. We have a sample size for life of 1. For all we know, the majority of life that becomes intelligent on other planets are herbivores. Or maybe even plants or rocks. Perhaps meat is the outlier we just have no idea. As long as your species and your points follow your universes and worlds then you can create a race that feels logical in your world. I think that's why I didn't like this video as much. To me it too heavily implied that life has to be as it is. It's a good video with good points but not that one lol

[@comentedonakeyboard]

Physically weak but intelligent species would have a strong incentive to invest in toolmaking and other technologie.