Monster Evolution Without A System

[BreezyNovels]

Most of the time, the system is used as a shortcut to Evolve monsters to their Higher forms. I wonder what your ideas are on other shortcuts or taking the long road like monsters adapting to their environments or forcing out their bloodlines potential. A systemless world filled with magic should have other ways of evolving monsters. Or how would there be hobgoblins, ogres, kobolds, and other staple and non-staple fantasy races?

Sure, they could just appear using mana. But, I would like to think those monsters are not exactly "real". So the question is, What other ways do you have of evolving monsters either fast or slow, in a world where there is no system to help them, and mana does not "spawn" them?

 

[Vhail]

Well if you have magic, you can pick the DNA of 2 or more monsters and try to combine that to get what you want. With gorry results when you fail and potentially highly dangerous ones.

 

[Chaos_Sinner777]

Have them consume souls, the more they eat, the stronger they become, then when they overeat they need to undergo a sort of refinement, reducing their current power, but increasing their potential. They could also sort of change according to their own desires somewhat when going through this refinement.

 

[Saileri]

There are tons of ways to evolve monsters and creatures without a system. By them defeating stronger foes and feasting on them. By them encountering a magical opportunity of some kind of event full of mana, like stumbling onto mana spring, finding a mana-rich cave and making it their habitat, consuming some strong fruit. Just reaching a certain age can be a trigger for some species. Finding a partner and creating a stronger offspring with mix of the parents' characteristics. External influence of other races via experiments, changes in the environment.

There are countless possibilities to think of and use. You just have to develop those suitable for your world or the current situation of the monster.

 

[Friend]

(I will preface this with "I do not believe in evolution in the modern political/scientific sense" but instead infer you to mean just the 'fantasy evolving' concept from so many stories. Assuming an evolution is based upon biological, chemical, and energetic interactions, at the least.)

Consider at the cellular level, if you will. A single cell is the equivalent of an industrial factory ― buying and selling. Taking in raw resources, processing, consuming, and shipping out the excess or waste products. A cell is almost all a warehouse, but also has its control towers and factory workers, things going on down at the atomic or subatomic level.

If evolution of a living creature is the intent, first look at the intricate nature of the cellular structure and function. It has already been suggested having a creature consume the energy/existence of another. Perhaps this is from one creature physically consuming the flesh (or maybe 'core') of a defeated enemy; or perhaps it is from some 'soul sucking' ability. But no matter what, I would again point to the previous paragraph ― how. How is this energy or essence or existence drawn in, consumed, processed, and utilized for the evolution?

I will for the sake of this premise, tactfully submit a fantasy evolve process would assuredly not take less than several hours. In human bodies alone, it takes the blood/circulatory system how long for a complete traversal? And this is not to say that if the energy sufficient for an evolution were passed into the bloodstream and dispersed that an evolve would occur right away. Consumption and digestion of the flesh/meat from a slain opponent is one thing; utility of this same energy or essence is another, at each cellular site.

Does an evolution only finish as 'complete' once each and every cell in the body has attained this same result? Or is the evolution something which it can consider nearly so, by a certain percentage of all cellular consumption of the same?

... in other words. I think maybe your hangups about a "System" assisting or forcing evolution is, maybe, because it "brute-force" changes a being. It's bypassing a normal consumptive/digestive/circulative/eliminative procedure, in favor of the surety of the change.

 

[AryaX]

Genes... Creatures could pretty realistically have shitloads of inactive genes that could cause new "growth" if triggered... like for example, a creature might grow horns if some gene is triggered, perhaps as a result of them taking some damage in their heads? which caused some skin cells in their head to start producing some hormone which triggers the genes...

Food could also play a factor... (if I remember right... a queen bee and the sterile workers for example, are born the same and its what they eat that determines what they become) although, the path towards the queen and the worker is no doubt in their genes and the food likely merely serves as a trigger...