Evolution and Intelligent Design

All life-forms on Aua, with the exception of the elves, can be divided into two different groups; Those who are the result of an unguided evolutionary process spanning millions of years and those who are created by others, either from scratch or by guided evolution. The former are labelled Evolved Life-forms and the latter are labelled as Created Life-forms.

Among the major races the humans are evolved and the anfylk are created. The elves as mentioned above are the exception in that they originate from an entirely different world but it is assumed that in their original world they'd have been created. The dwarven race is a matter of some contention. Some scholars argue that the entire family of marshal mushrooms is too complex to have evolved from scratch and that it is result of some sort of intelligent design. They use this as a proof that other gods existed on the planet prior to the arrival of the elves and the current gods. The other side argues that both dwarven memory and archaeological finds prove that dwarves existed long before the arrival of the elves and the gods. They hold that the lack of religious tradition among the dwarves is proof that no god was involved in their creation. Again this is supported both by dwarven memory and by the lack of archaeological finds related to any kind of religious practice. No conclusive evidence has been found either way and it is unlikely any will be found (which would indicate the dwarves really are Evolved Life-forms).

Evolved
Evolved creatures are any that have evolved from the single cell organisms of the primordial soup back at the dawn of time into the complex living beings they are today. If a life-form has a real world counterpart it is almost certain that it belongs to this group.

However, due to the existence of the Aether there are evolved life-forms that would never be able to exist in the real world. The Aether has always existed on Aua and naturally some of the species evolving on the planet have learned to make use of it. This is why there are things such as airborne plants, transparent chameleons and spiders who can flash-freeze insects they catch in order to preserve them for later.

Created
Any life-form that isn't in the Evolved group is in the Created group. There are a lot less life-forms in the Created group, but they often make up for it by being a lot more spectacular. The created life-forms can be divided into three sub-groups; divine creations, elven half-breeds and elven cultivations.

The divine creations are life-forms created by the gods from scratch, such as the anfylk. Divine creation life-forms are usually wide-spread and can be found almost anywhere provided the habitation needs of the life-forms are satisfied. Anfylk for examples can be found all over the place, but different breeds favour different climates.

Elven half-breeds are described in more detail in an article of their own. To summarize they are the results of the union of one of the original elves with another non-elf life-form. Elven half-breeds are often supported by their own dedicated god who provide them with the ability to reproduce.

Elven Cultivations
Elven cultivations finally are the results of modifications or combinations of already existing life-forms. In an old blog article about elven art it is said that breeding is a favoured art-form among the immortal elves. The long life spans of the elves allows them to nudge the evolution of life-forms little by little, generation by generation, slowly getting closer to what their vision for the life-form is. Occasionally assisted by magic or flesh crafting the elven cultivations are some of the strangest and most peculiar creatures existing on the planet.

These cultivations are almost never encountered in the wild as they are almost always closely guarded by those who oversee their breeding. Some do exist in the wild though, whether accidentally or intentionally will be left unsaid. The cultivated life-forms will generally only be found in the region around where they were created. A few, such as the Mossparden are migratory and have spread out, but these are exceptions to the rule. Examples of elven cultivations are creatures such as the Wolpertinger and the Skvader. However, there are also plants such as the Singing Celine, whose tube shaped leaves combine to play musical chords when the wind is right.