Daftpanzer
canonically ambiguous
Epoch 6
This era saw the formation of a true supercontinent and another great interchange of species, followed by a range of minor extinction events and climate chaos.
The continent of Otope crashed into the western side of Nessmodia, forming what is now known as the supercontinent of Nesotia - the first supercontinent to have formed since complex life began, excluding only the land mass of Panzerna. Otope brought with it a new range of giant lizards, pseduo-crocodilians and dinosaurs to add to the increasingly-tangled web of life on the great continent.
Meanwhile, the climate fluctuated rapidly (in geologic terms) as opposing forces for global warming and cooling struggled against each other. A new volcanic upheaval in the south-west corner of former Otope (now the western tip of the supercontinent) added bursts of greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere, but much of this was soon locked up in chemical reactions with newly-exposed crustal rock; continental collisions and tectonic tugs-of-war continued to spawn huge new mountain ranges, which had a cooling effect on the air that flowed over them, and frequently supported glaciers, even at the poles. As the continents jostled together, there were changes in global circulation patterns of both air and water, bringing both warmer and cooler periods. Then, about half way through this era, a significant impact event occurred in the frozen northwest expanse of what was then Nessmodia; although much of the energy of the impact was absorbed by the thick glacier, a significant amount of dust was thrown up into the atmosphere...
During this climate chaos, as early land-bridges to Otope were formed and lost again, there were waves of invasions by Otopian fauna into the dry, equatorial desert of the great continent, which was ideal habitat for many of these species; the large arachnids soon fell into second place, as they were overtaken by tough, fast, and increasingly intelligent bipedal dinosaurs as primary hunters of the dry plains. An assortment of other giant lizard-like creatures from Otope managed to oust many niches from land trilobites and other arthropods; the survivors were mostly small, humble creatures, many of them becoming nocturnal.
Bipedal dinosaurs, giant lizards and an assortment of snake-like creatures spread into the fragmented rainforests of former Imperia, adding to the pressure local species were already under. Along the way, bipedal dinosaurs were steadily diversifying and growing in size. Others were also getting smaller; a clade of feathered, tree-climbing, gliding dinosaurs also appeared during this era, focused on the sheltered forests of the moddier region, though it - along with gliding mammals - remained hunted by predatory pterosaurs.
However, Otope itself was soon colonised by many species from Nessmodia; the kangaroo-lizards, though of a younger and somewhat more primitive branch of tetrapods compared to the dinosaurs, found a niche as efficient long-distance trekkers across the dry plains, replacing several native lizard species in Otope. They had also evolved many features in parallel to both dinosaurs and mammals - higher metabolism and strong brooding behaviour, though with the critical adaptation of parental pouches found in the males of several species, allowing groups to stay on the move.
Eusocial arachnids and trilobites also managed to colonise new western territory; the hives of the eusocial arachnids now match the spires of the hive-building trilobites, with dedicated food stores and brooding chambers; some species had also learnt to build their hives in the middle of ponds and lakes - with waterproof silk-lined walls - for added protection.
The new mountain ranges were also prime habitat for several kinds of mammals and land squid...
Mammals continued to evolve and diversify, mainly in the northern latitudes where their adaptations to the cold were most useful. However, mammals were adversely affected by the large impact event that occured in the north west - a small comet fragment that nonetheless melted or vaporised a large expanse of glacier, as well as depositing its own mass of water; this ultimately caused a gigantic mud-slide that carved trails of destruction across the northern continent on its way to the sea, permanently altering the landscape. Mammals were ultimately able to bounce back, but cold-adapted species of land squid, feathered dinosaurs and even kangaroo-lizards were able to get a foothold in the northern plains in the aftermath.
Terrestrial squid species were meanwhile shrinking under these combined assaults of climate and competition. Fragmenting rain forests deprived them of vital habitat, and a new clade of streamlined, social, intelligent pterosaurs appeared in this era that ultimately reduced flying squid to a few niche groups; since the appearance of pterosaurs, flying squid had never been able to make the breakthrough to powerful long-distance flight and could not compete for most niches.
The most successful of the air-breathing squid during this era were large, social, elephant-sized forms, some bristling with feather-like growths. Though slow, they were big and tough enough to withstand both predators and extremes of temperature, and could trek long distances between watering holes and food sources. These land squid were still tied to suitable nesting grounds, such as caves, but were otherwise very widespread, and showed increasing signs of intelligence, such as basic tool use, and had a variety of vocalisations with which to communicate.
It was a somewhat similar story with the velvet worm clade. A radical new clade of velvet worms, with the most powerful crushing jaws of any animal, thrived for a time as large scavengers and ambush hunters, reaching sizes of up to 10 metres long - but did not survive the turmoil of this era. Smaller species did survive and thrive however, led by the social ‘purple worm’ clade; the evolution tiny hair-like growths had a dual effect of adding insulation while increasing the grip of their appendages, allowing them to climb sheer surfaces with ease. With specialisation into heat and sound detection over other senses, they found their main niche as raiders of other species’ nests, including group attacks on the eusocial arachnids, as well as cave-dwellers; for the first time the clade has spread far beyond the rainforest of the south-east.
Mammals, however, were arguably the greatest winners on land overall. Their versatility, and the key mobility advantage of live birth, meant they were now to be found all across the great continent, even if only in the form of burrowing rodents. Sea-going mammals were slowly evolving on the sheltered fjords of Moddier, and there were several small species that made use of skin flaps for gliding between trees or cliff faces. However, mammals of all kinds also tended to need more food than other animals of equivalent size; for sheer body size and growth rates, dinosaurs and land squid now had the evolutionary advantage.
But if counting flying creatures, pterosaurs were undoubtedly the overall winners; this branch of life had now diversified into many forms and niches, both over water and land, and some had returned to flightless habits on islands and land masses that lacked large animals. Though tied to nesting sites, some species offered mutual defence by breeding en-mass in huge colonies. Unmatched mobility meant they could move with the seasons and changing weather patterns, and an increasing trend for intelligence among certain branches of pterosaurs only made them more versatile.
Meanwhile, the fluctuations in climate and the fragmentation of old forests allowed primitive flowering plants to spread and diversify. During this era they evolved mutualistic relationships with many species of insect and small animal, though for now they remained in the undergrowths, in the literal shadow of seed-fern group and the ginkos.
By the end of this era, a circle of mountains had created the driest desert yet encountered by animals - known as the Nessan, occupying the heart of former Nessaria, also victim to wild extremes of temperature. Here it was almost too harsh for any animal to survive permanently, apart from a few small niche species of lizard and insects. The boundaries of the most extreme desert were marked by growths of strange, cactus-like plants which were distant relatives of ancient ferns; some took the form of tumbleweeds, while others had atrophied fronds which remained as tightly packed bundles. Dinosaurs, kangaroo-lizards and sometimes a few hardy mammals patrolled between water holes, while vulture-like pterosaurs circled high overhead.
Scenes like this were becoming more common, as swollen land masses and changes in weather circulation meant a global drying trend was continuing. Large stretches of ancient Nessmodian forests in particular had already been overcome by dust and sand, speckled with petrified tree stumps. Diverse new species of hardy pine-like trees took over in many alpine and semi-desert areas, being better adapted to both cold and dryness; in the fertile valleys of Moddier, some of these reached giant redwood proportions and served as roots for pterosaurs, gliding mammals and proto-birds.
The rich volcanic Aelian islands remained strongholds of colourful amphibious trilobites and trilobite-turtles, though the food chain was usually ruled by unique species derived from pterosaur and plesiosaur invaders. The same was true in the landmasses of Panzerna, which had been especially swolen by falling sea levels; its plains and forests remained free of true mammals and dinosaurs, but invaders had killed off most of the large native trilobites. Giant flightless pterosaurs were now to be found in some places, including penguin-like forms that competed on even terms with plesiosaurs for local fishing grounds.
The oceans suffered comparatively less from the changes in climate, but changes in ocean circulation patterns did cause some drastic changes. The new supercontinent and accompanying low sea levels had already devastated coastal biomes; population and diversity of many kinds of species was still very low compared to previous eras. The Aeilian archipelago was a key stronghold of tropical reef-building species.
The typical food chain of the open ocean was a base of plankton-eating fish, fed upon by swarms of ‘simple’ squid, preyed upon by plesiosaurs, diving pterosaurs, and sharks. The waters off of the Moddier and Panzerna regions were particularly rich, aided by confluences of ocean currents, and these waters saw some monstrously large, long-necked plesiosaurs evolve - largest animals ever to have evolved up to this point.
Beneath these giants, on the sea bed, relatively-small cephalopods were thriving in a different way - using their remarkable intelligence and flexible appendages to use tools, construct elaborate nests, and deliberately cultivate certain sea plants and invertebrates for food. Some even used the heat of volcanic vents to cook otherwise-inedible food items. By the end of this era there was a spectrum of intelligent cephalopod species spread across the more fertile parts of the ocean floor - each with different social structures, different breeding strategies, different specialisations and different ways of communicating (including dramatic patterns from their chromatophores). Some of these species could co-exist, while others waged war on each other; a powerful biting beak, hidden behind their appendages, was a weapon common to all these cephalopods, though others used weapons such as spines grabbed from other sea creatures.
These intelligent cephalopods had the highest brain-size ratio of any animals, though this came at a cost of requiring more than the equivalent amount of food; thus much of their intelligence was put into accessing new food sources in seemingly never-ending cycle. The oceans also remained dangerous for these creatures, who remained perfectly vulnerable if caught in the open by sharks or plesiosaurs, or even larger species of predatory fish, though again this added to the payoffs from working as a team.
With the formation of Nesiota, the continental plates are continuing to jostle together - former Otope is coming apart along a deep fault line, opening new freshwater lakes, while the entire Nesiota assembly is now slowly rotating, pushing the Moddier region up towards the north pole. Panzerna is now moving north at a relatively fast rate, looking first to collide with the Ailean islands before eventually merging into the supercontinent if its current course holds.
A slight warming trend has finally won out, and ice has retreated in both the north and south, though the climate remains cool and dry as this era draws to a close.
This era saw the formation of a true supercontinent and another great interchange of species, followed by a range of minor extinction events and climate chaos.
The continent of Otope crashed into the western side of Nessmodia, forming what is now known as the supercontinent of Nesotia - the first supercontinent to have formed since complex life began, excluding only the land mass of Panzerna. Otope brought with it a new range of giant lizards, pseduo-crocodilians and dinosaurs to add to the increasingly-tangled web of life on the great continent.
Meanwhile, the climate fluctuated rapidly (in geologic terms) as opposing forces for global warming and cooling struggled against each other. A new volcanic upheaval in the south-west corner of former Otope (now the western tip of the supercontinent) added bursts of greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere, but much of this was soon locked up in chemical reactions with newly-exposed crustal rock; continental collisions and tectonic tugs-of-war continued to spawn huge new mountain ranges, which had a cooling effect on the air that flowed over them, and frequently supported glaciers, even at the poles. As the continents jostled together, there were changes in global circulation patterns of both air and water, bringing both warmer and cooler periods. Then, about half way through this era, a significant impact event occurred in the frozen northwest expanse of what was then Nessmodia; although much of the energy of the impact was absorbed by the thick glacier, a significant amount of dust was thrown up into the atmosphere...
During this climate chaos, as early land-bridges to Otope were formed and lost again, there were waves of invasions by Otopian fauna into the dry, equatorial desert of the great continent, which was ideal habitat for many of these species; the large arachnids soon fell into second place, as they were overtaken by tough, fast, and increasingly intelligent bipedal dinosaurs as primary hunters of the dry plains. An assortment of other giant lizard-like creatures from Otope managed to oust many niches from land trilobites and other arthropods; the survivors were mostly small, humble creatures, many of them becoming nocturnal.
Bipedal dinosaurs, giant lizards and an assortment of snake-like creatures spread into the fragmented rainforests of former Imperia, adding to the pressure local species were already under. Along the way, bipedal dinosaurs were steadily diversifying and growing in size. Others were also getting smaller; a clade of feathered, tree-climbing, gliding dinosaurs also appeared during this era, focused on the sheltered forests of the moddier region, though it - along with gliding mammals - remained hunted by predatory pterosaurs.
However, Otope itself was soon colonised by many species from Nessmodia; the kangaroo-lizards, though of a younger and somewhat more primitive branch of tetrapods compared to the dinosaurs, found a niche as efficient long-distance trekkers across the dry plains, replacing several native lizard species in Otope. They had also evolved many features in parallel to both dinosaurs and mammals - higher metabolism and strong brooding behaviour, though with the critical adaptation of parental pouches found in the males of several species, allowing groups to stay on the move.
Eusocial arachnids and trilobites also managed to colonise new western territory; the hives of the eusocial arachnids now match the spires of the hive-building trilobites, with dedicated food stores and brooding chambers; some species had also learnt to build their hives in the middle of ponds and lakes - with waterproof silk-lined walls - for added protection.
The new mountain ranges were also prime habitat for several kinds of mammals and land squid...
Mammals continued to evolve and diversify, mainly in the northern latitudes where their adaptations to the cold were most useful. However, mammals were adversely affected by the large impact event that occured in the north west - a small comet fragment that nonetheless melted or vaporised a large expanse of glacier, as well as depositing its own mass of water; this ultimately caused a gigantic mud-slide that carved trails of destruction across the northern continent on its way to the sea, permanently altering the landscape. Mammals were ultimately able to bounce back, but cold-adapted species of land squid, feathered dinosaurs and even kangaroo-lizards were able to get a foothold in the northern plains in the aftermath.
Terrestrial squid species were meanwhile shrinking under these combined assaults of climate and competition. Fragmenting rain forests deprived them of vital habitat, and a new clade of streamlined, social, intelligent pterosaurs appeared in this era that ultimately reduced flying squid to a few niche groups; since the appearance of pterosaurs, flying squid had never been able to make the breakthrough to powerful long-distance flight and could not compete for most niches.
The most successful of the air-breathing squid during this era were large, social, elephant-sized forms, some bristling with feather-like growths. Though slow, they were big and tough enough to withstand both predators and extremes of temperature, and could trek long distances between watering holes and food sources. These land squid were still tied to suitable nesting grounds, such as caves, but were otherwise very widespread, and showed increasing signs of intelligence, such as basic tool use, and had a variety of vocalisations with which to communicate.
It was a somewhat similar story with the velvet worm clade. A radical new clade of velvet worms, with the most powerful crushing jaws of any animal, thrived for a time as large scavengers and ambush hunters, reaching sizes of up to 10 metres long - but did not survive the turmoil of this era. Smaller species did survive and thrive however, led by the social ‘purple worm’ clade; the evolution tiny hair-like growths had a dual effect of adding insulation while increasing the grip of their appendages, allowing them to climb sheer surfaces with ease. With specialisation into heat and sound detection over other senses, they found their main niche as raiders of other species’ nests, including group attacks on the eusocial arachnids, as well as cave-dwellers; for the first time the clade has spread far beyond the rainforest of the south-east.
Mammals, however, were arguably the greatest winners on land overall. Their versatility, and the key mobility advantage of live birth, meant they were now to be found all across the great continent, even if only in the form of burrowing rodents. Sea-going mammals were slowly evolving on the sheltered fjords of Moddier, and there were several small species that made use of skin flaps for gliding between trees or cliff faces. However, mammals of all kinds also tended to need more food than other animals of equivalent size; for sheer body size and growth rates, dinosaurs and land squid now had the evolutionary advantage.
But if counting flying creatures, pterosaurs were undoubtedly the overall winners; this branch of life had now diversified into many forms and niches, both over water and land, and some had returned to flightless habits on islands and land masses that lacked large animals. Though tied to nesting sites, some species offered mutual defence by breeding en-mass in huge colonies. Unmatched mobility meant they could move with the seasons and changing weather patterns, and an increasing trend for intelligence among certain branches of pterosaurs only made them more versatile.
Meanwhile, the fluctuations in climate and the fragmentation of old forests allowed primitive flowering plants to spread and diversify. During this era they evolved mutualistic relationships with many species of insect and small animal, though for now they remained in the undergrowths, in the literal shadow of seed-fern group and the ginkos.
By the end of this era, a circle of mountains had created the driest desert yet encountered by animals - known as the Nessan, occupying the heart of former Nessaria, also victim to wild extremes of temperature. Here it was almost too harsh for any animal to survive permanently, apart from a few small niche species of lizard and insects. The boundaries of the most extreme desert were marked by growths of strange, cactus-like plants which were distant relatives of ancient ferns; some took the form of tumbleweeds, while others had atrophied fronds which remained as tightly packed bundles. Dinosaurs, kangaroo-lizards and sometimes a few hardy mammals patrolled between water holes, while vulture-like pterosaurs circled high overhead.
Scenes like this were becoming more common, as swollen land masses and changes in weather circulation meant a global drying trend was continuing. Large stretches of ancient Nessmodian forests in particular had already been overcome by dust and sand, speckled with petrified tree stumps. Diverse new species of hardy pine-like trees took over in many alpine and semi-desert areas, being better adapted to both cold and dryness; in the fertile valleys of Moddier, some of these reached giant redwood proportions and served as roots for pterosaurs, gliding mammals and proto-birds.
The rich volcanic Aelian islands remained strongholds of colourful amphibious trilobites and trilobite-turtles, though the food chain was usually ruled by unique species derived from pterosaur and plesiosaur invaders. The same was true in the landmasses of Panzerna, which had been especially swolen by falling sea levels; its plains and forests remained free of true mammals and dinosaurs, but invaders had killed off most of the large native trilobites. Giant flightless pterosaurs were now to be found in some places, including penguin-like forms that competed on even terms with plesiosaurs for local fishing grounds.
The oceans suffered comparatively less from the changes in climate, but changes in ocean circulation patterns did cause some drastic changes. The new supercontinent and accompanying low sea levels had already devastated coastal biomes; population and diversity of many kinds of species was still very low compared to previous eras. The Aeilian archipelago was a key stronghold of tropical reef-building species.
The typical food chain of the open ocean was a base of plankton-eating fish, fed upon by swarms of ‘simple’ squid, preyed upon by plesiosaurs, diving pterosaurs, and sharks. The waters off of the Moddier and Panzerna regions were particularly rich, aided by confluences of ocean currents, and these waters saw some monstrously large, long-necked plesiosaurs evolve - largest animals ever to have evolved up to this point.
Beneath these giants, on the sea bed, relatively-small cephalopods were thriving in a different way - using their remarkable intelligence and flexible appendages to use tools, construct elaborate nests, and deliberately cultivate certain sea plants and invertebrates for food. Some even used the heat of volcanic vents to cook otherwise-inedible food items. By the end of this era there was a spectrum of intelligent cephalopod species spread across the more fertile parts of the ocean floor - each with different social structures, different breeding strategies, different specialisations and different ways of communicating (including dramatic patterns from their chromatophores). Some of these species could co-exist, while others waged war on each other; a powerful biting beak, hidden behind their appendages, was a weapon common to all these cephalopods, though others used weapons such as spines grabbed from other sea creatures.
These intelligent cephalopods had the highest brain-size ratio of any animals, though this came at a cost of requiring more than the equivalent amount of food; thus much of their intelligence was put into accessing new food sources in seemingly never-ending cycle. The oceans also remained dangerous for these creatures, who remained perfectly vulnerable if caught in the open by sharks or plesiosaurs, or even larger species of predatory fish, though again this added to the payoffs from working as a team.
With the formation of Nesiota, the continental plates are continuing to jostle together - former Otope is coming apart along a deep fault line, opening new freshwater lakes, while the entire Nesiota assembly is now slowly rotating, pushing the Moddier region up towards the north pole. Panzerna is now moving north at a relatively fast rate, looking first to collide with the Ailean islands before eventually merging into the supercontinent if its current course holds.
A slight warming trend has finally won out, and ice has retreated in both the north and south, though the climate remains cool and dry as this era draws to a close.
Spoiler World Map :
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