Old Gaiad/46

As the sons of Devon were growing the spineless sons of Proteus were growing in their shadow, building themselves up to overthrow the sons of Devon

Among the sons of Spiralius, Neo son in the tenth generation of Bactridius was the smartest soul on Terra

Alas what he bore in intelligence he lacked in wisdom, he rejected his ancestors and refused to learn from their mistakes. And do he and his children were cursed to always reinvent the wheel and repeat his mistakes

Neo bore two sons: Ammon and Coleos and both reinvented the wheel too

Ammon Coleos Coleos wrapped his shell in his mantle and through that his shell grew stronger

Ammon grew a coiled compact shell and swam wherever he wished.

Among the sons of Ectus, Malacus begat Caridus and Phyllos and Hoplos

Phyllos Hoplos Caridus begat Syn Peras and Yuval

Peras bore Amphipus and Isopus and many other children, his wife Possa carried them in her pouch and nourished them as they grew

Amphipus Isopus Yuval bore two sons: Decapus and Krillon

Krillon stayed small and spent his life swimming, while Decapus grew large and sank to the seafloor

Decapus Krillon And so crustaceans would be dominated by the three great houses: Amphipods, Isopods, and Decapods, sons of the three great cladoplasts: Amphipus, Isopus, and Decapus

Decapus begat Pleos and Prawnmegas

Prawnmegas became ancestor of the prawns

An unfortunate son of Prawnmegas Pleos begat Repton and Shrimpon

Shrimpon became the father of the shrimp, boxers and all

Repton begat Thalasson and Omar

Omar became father of the lobsters and crayfish

Omar Thalasson became the father of the mud shrimp

The mud shrimp built great channels in stone, to this day we honor their fossilized ruins, the great cities of Thallasintep and beyond

Mud shrimp lairs fossilized in a human sculpture Meiuron son in the tenth generation of Thalasson rejected the ways of his father

And so he went to live on the surface

Meiuron bore two sons: Anomuron and Saraton

Anomuron Saraton Saraton was an agile yet vain

And so he constantly promoted his body as the best

Propaganda from Saraton The sons of Anomuron would live quietly as squat lobsters, this would change in ten generations

Paguros was a son of Anomuron with a weak soft shell

In his dying breath the Ammonite Menses gave Paguros his shell

And so Paguros became the father of the hermit crabs

Paguros Alas the Protean rebellion failed, and the sons of Devon continued to rule the seas

But a new frontier was opening on land, the frontier of the forests, and there the sons of Proteus would find new domains