The
nautiloids were spawned as children of Gorakiki in the Darkness Age
together with the other molluscs which are of the same phylum. In
that age they were still quite simply formed straight.The
nautiloids were spawned as children of Gorakiki in the Darkness Age
together with the other molluscs which are of the same phylum. In
that age they were still quite simply formed straight.
Remembrances of that time are found in Dagori Inkarth, especially at the slopes of the Ridge of Thieves. There are many locations at the southern slopes where excellent finds have been made.
They didn't change much in the Sea Age although they choose a pact with Magasta. But there have been no known locations where they can be found thus not much is known of that time.
In the Earth Age many of them lived at the bountiful breasts of Ernalda in the shelfs trying to come closer to earth. But only the conservative forms that that stayed in the deeper realms managed to secure the future existance of the nautiloids as a whole. At the upper reaches of the Upper Tanier River many examples of them can be found, washed out by the river.
Due to the warming up in the Fire Age an adaptive radiation set in and they thrived. As a benign sign Yelm placed the sipho central which up to now had been marginal (to look like the fire rune). Also in the later Fire Age first signs of rolling themselves up occured.
They can be found on a huge scale in the provinces of Noran and Tarin. Different faunas named after the provinces can be distinguished. In Noran they can be found in the slopes of mountains and rivers, since they have been covered by glacial sediments. In Tarin they can be found just about anywhere, where there are uncovered sediments.
In the Storm Age they made a pact with Orlanth and in consequence are turned into an Air-Rune form and due to that pact their heyday is reached. But already their later decline is showing in the development of their Lobeline which became more chaotic towards the Chaos Age and develop from ceratitic in early Storm over goniatitc in middle Storm to ammonitic in late Storm and into Chaos Age. Also there is one branch of nautiloids that does keep the ceratitic Lobeline throughout the Storm Age.
Another feature deriving from their pact with Orlanth is the splitting into female and male forms. The female forms are bigger than the male forms since they were created by the goddess and have been in existance much longer than the male forms.
The early forms can be found at the River of Cradles. The nautiloids of the Middle Storm Age lived mainly in cold water they only contain a small number of species but have a large number of individuals and thus are easily found in North Pent. In Late Storm as it grew warmer were more diversified again. There lots of points where they can be found for example the Gilboch-Fauna on Gilboch.
In the Chaos Age the nautiloids tried to adapt themselves to chaos with the heteromorphic forms and the development of the Lobeline mentioned above. Later on they realized their mistake and tried to simplify their features but they didn't succeed and were nearly wiped out. Only the branch that did not develop towards Chaos is today still in existence with Nautilus. Locations were chaotic nautloids can be found are near Galstar.