Bestiary of the Deep

Every creature carries five genes. Its stats, its names and even the depth it lives at follow from them.

• B, body: which body it grew.
• E, eyes: how many (0 none, 1 one, 2 two, 3 many), then which eye style.
• L, head: what grows from its head. 0 means nothing.
• T, legs: which legs it has, then how many.
• P, pigment: 0 to 5. Au is reserved for friends.

Blindness, lanterns and red pigment push a creature deeper, because red light never reaches the deep sea and lanterns only make sense in the dark. Deeper creatures grow bigger and tougher.