More or less actual size. Oh, and when I said unrecognisable, I meant it! Despite oxygen levels of only 15%, the lower gravity does allow insects to get somewhat bigger than they do on Earth at 21%.

The timeline is shown in 3 eras (similar to Palaeozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic) which are in turn divided into periods (similar to Palaeogene, Neogene and Quarternary)
Primazoic: 0.001-134 million years post colonisation.
Primogene: 0.001-38 million years PC
a)5-10 million PC- first megafaunal forms emerge
b)11 million PC- End-primocene anoxic event
c)12 million PC- first development of hooves
d)15 million PC- the continent of Mu splits away from Triberia
e)18-20 million PC- syndactylus evolves, first flying animals appear
f)21 million PC- primacetonis starts the first aquatic beasts
g)Triberia starts to move south, on a collision course with Terra Incognetia.
h)25 million PC- first rocktripes and nasalpoints appear
i)30 million PC oxygen levels have risen to 23% (from the original 15%)
j)22-36 million PC- age of grasses
k)Triberia and Terra Incognetia unite to form the temporary supercontinent ‘Atavigea’
l)30-37 million PC- first true xenothalassiotheres appear in the oceans.
m)35 million PC- Claw Supervolcano (VIE9) erupts, triggering minor extinction
n)38 million PC- the forests spread as the world gets warmer and wetter.
Evimeriagene: 38-86 million years PC
a)38-69 million PC- an almost Eocene like climate exists in much of the world, with no ice caps and high sea levels, with lots of forest.
b)40-50 million PC- giant crustaceans continue to decline or marginalise in the oceans.
c)50 million PC- a clade of onis known colloquially as ‘syncs’ begin using synchronisation to their 8 limbs to become faster.
d)55 million PC- ailanthus descendants finally abdicate their dominance of the forests in favour of oaks, beech and conifer.
e)60 million PC- first centitheres evolve
f)65 million PC- oceanic extinction event caused by evolution of predatory jellyfish.
g)70 million PC- the modern skaters diverge
h)80 million PC- the first liomenopods evolve.
i)82 million PC Atavists diversify, with one species beginning to develop a symbiotic relationship with algae in its fur
j)85-86 million PC- the global temperature cools, leading to a resurgence of grasses
Oxygene: 86-134 million years PC
a)87 million PC- ‘syncs’ like octolopes usurp the old guard as the more numerous megafauna in open habitats.
b)88 million PC- the stalkers, a group of predatory skaters evolve as lizard like super-predators.
c)92 million PC- oxygen levels continue to climb, surpassing 28%
d)100 million PC- the revival of larger insects and other invertebrates results in an arms race as giant syndactyls evolve in response, prompting them to exploit other megafaunal niches.
e)111 million PC- Martinia first forms.
f)114 million PC- the first wave of marine syndactyls evolves, along with giant skater relatives known as octopaddlers.
g)120 million PC- some cuttlefish descendants develop their notochord into a full blown spinal column for ease of swimming, forming the chorateuthans.
h)125 million PC- the two continents of Borea and Allacia fuse to form Hyperborea
i)130 million PC- fern trees revolve and create a more Palaeozoic flora throughout Valinor
j)131-134 million PC- The Mumbian Traps trigger an enormous series of eruptions, creating a mass extinction wiping out 75% of life.
Macrozoic: 134-302 million years post colonisation.
Mumbian: 134-146 million years PC
a)135 million PC- the Mumbian traps finally stop erupting, with a landmass twice as large as Australia formed as a result. The world afterwards is much more barren and hot.
b)138 million PC- a genetic freak group of saurodonts have eyes and nostrils on the lower jaws, which creates better foraging. The intracephaloids are born.
c)142-146 million years PC- global temperatures cool, leading to an ice cap forming once again, while humidity increases.
Arbrogene: 146-183 million years PC
a)146-149 million PC-a resurgence of forest environments takes place, dominated by gingkos, dandelions, ferns, bamboo and oak. An aquatic variety of bamboo begins to outcompete mangroves.
b)150 million PC- the second wave of marine syndactyls commences.
c)155 million PC- for the first time, a chordateuthans manage to adapt to fresh water, colonising this new habitat for the first time, and starting to take advantage of new food sources.
d)157 million PC- Atavigea collides with Valinor, leading to an exchange between basal atavists from the former and rocktripes and terrabrachids from the latter.
e)159 million PC- evidence suggests the planet was visited and briefly (in the geological timespan) colonised by a sapient species, with signs indicating it came from a neighbouring star system.
f)160-170 million PC- the epitrachyds, a group of marine atavists evolve and take over filter feeding niches, competing with the filtering squid and jellyfish for the first time.
g)165 million PC- the early algaenous atavists become more derived and cosmopolitan.
h)172 million PC- the first divergence between the early exapods and other liomenopods.
i)178 million PC- Stalkers, following island hopping from Hyperborea into Valinor, proliferate across the southern hemisphere.
j)181-183 million PC- the climate continues to become cooler, but is now drier, meaning forests decline and tundras set in from the south.
Dracogene: 183-207 million years PC
a)187 million PC- Valinor moves north, pushing the fledgling Martinia away from the South Pole.
b)191 million PC- Atavigea splits away from Valinor again, moving north East through the Mandalorian Ocean
c)195 million PC- a new breed of flying animal evolves from some form of saurodont. The draconian lineage is finally born.
d)203-206 million PC- the development of alternate finger muscles on the limbs signifies the first divergence between the centaurs and future scythebeasts.
e)195-207 million PC-Draconians quickly spread, beginning to compete with the established syndactylids.
4.Borealic: 207-243 million years PC
a)208 million PC- Atavigea reaches the North Pole, forming a second ice cap and triggering a minor extinction of more tropical fauna on the landmass.
b)215 million PC- the first sinking of Martinia takes place, eliminating almost all fauna except for some local basilisks.
c)220 million PC- the first triskelids develop, diverging from their relatives which would eventually evolve into the lickers and rippers.
d)225 million PC- a new radiation of octolopes occurs, spreading across almost all of the northern hemisphere.
e)229 million PC- algatheres or ‘walking trees’ achieve their modern form.
f)234-241 million PC- a rift forms in Atavigea leading to the continents of Triberia and Terra Incognetia, leading to them splitting and eventually separating once again, as Incognetia moves south.
g)243 million PC- End-Borealic Mass Extinction. The release of large amounts of underground methane causes a rapid period of global warming, killing off most nasal beasts, the stalkers and many decapod groups, as well as hurting octolopes, syndactyls and predatory syncs.
Atlagene: 243-286 million years PC
a)243-255 million PC- The surviving nasal beasts split into two main groups, the ceranasopsids (or horn-nosers) and the more gracile sniffers, a group of camel like omnivores.
b)250 million+ PC- the scythebeasts spread across Valinor, outcompeting the older predators.
c)254 million PC- The Cabotian Islands are first formed.
d)260 million PC- The oldest confirmed arachnimimids are documented.
e)265 million PC- in their isolation, the lickers and rippers start to diversify amongst the Incognetian ecosystem.
f)270 million PC- Triberia and Hyperborea collide.
g)278 million PC- the earliest known ancestors of the battle-toads and onititans appear in Valinor.
h)280 million PC- The first point of contact between Mu and another major landmass occurs when the Cabotian islands brush against them, causing some interchange.
i)284 million PC- the third wave of marine syndactyls develop, having outcompeted the previous one.
Martinian: 286-299 million years PC
a)286-291 million PC- the resurfacing of Martinia occurs once again, with colonisation coming from north and from terra incognetia, resulting in some lickers reaching there
b)293 million PC- the earliest known jetbeasts appear, descending from a form of intracephaloid using gas to propel itself after prey.
c)287-299 million PC- the development of the enzymotheres, centaurs with multi-chambered stomachs, in Hyperborea leads to the group spreading across the northern hemisphere, heavily outcompeting the octolopes and other syncs.
Synapsian: 299-302 million years PC
a)299-301 million PC- the same hotspot that created the Mumbian traps triggers a creation of landmass in what would become the Land of Milk and Honey.
b)300 million PC- Valinor and Hyperborea collide, leading to a faunal interchange.
c)299-302 million PC, draconians diversify in vast droves, becoming stronger while the syndactylids become weaker.
d)302 million PC- An asteroid as large as Mt Everest collides somewhere in the Teardrop Sea, triggering the Synapsian-Cryogene event, and finishing off what remained of the octolopes, basal syncs, syndactyls (with a possible exception) and most marine vertebrates except for some smaller xenothallasiotheres.
Prosfatozoic: 302-present
Cryogene: 302-327 million years PC
a)302-327 million PC- In the aftermath of the asteroid, a catalyst is triggered which brings the entire planet into an ice age, with interglacials as well.
b)310 million PC- a group of intracephaloids develop aquatic forms to go after chordateuths, and from them the allocetids would be born.
c)313 million PC- the first onititans appear with humble beginnings in northern Valinor.
d)316 million PC- Martinia’s second sinking takes place. Once again, basilisks and a few flightless draconians are the only survivors.
e)320 million PC- the scythebeasts proliferate, particularly as predatory forms maximise efficiency and cause extinction of slower centaurs.
f)322 million PC- first notable divergence between the ancestors of enormacentaurs and mermen.
g)325 million PC- crats mysteriously appear in the fossil record and start to spread around.
h)326 million PC- a group of chordateuths begins to develop a connection with a land environment, pursuing insects and small saurodonts. The terrateuths are born.
Granumic: 327-355 million years PC
a)327-330 million PC- the climate warms to a more moderate level, leading to large savannahs and praires once again occupying huge swathes of territory.
b)333 million PC- The last coconut descendants perish.
c)330-350 million PC-With less animals around, plant growth flourishes, leading to oxygen levels climbing up to 30% and arthropods and gastropods gaining ground.
d)350-357 million PC- the scythebeasts and their centaur prey undergo more profound changes as they become faster, more intelligent and larger in an arms race.
e)354 million PC- the second and final resurfacing of Martinia.
3.Thermian: 355-367 million years PC
a)355 million PC- another significant rise in temperature, but more rapid. This one is similar to the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, leading to cold-loving fauna taking a hit and the temporary relinquishing of the ice caps.
b)359 million PC- the crop of modern enormacentaurs has already developed, having started becoming large herbivores throughout Terra Incognetia.
c)360 million PC- the Dike Dike Islands first form.
d)363 million PC- snappers, aquatic saurodonts similar to crocodiles first evolve, thriving throughout the rivers of the world.
e)367 million PC- the high carbon dioxide levels that caused the Thermian drop dramatically due to plant over population, resulting in another reverse.
Neocryogene: 367-396 million years PC
a)369 million PC- onititans start reaching their current gigantic sizes, having long overtaken basal enormacentaurs as the largest land animals around.
b)370 million PC- the first anapods evolve in Valinor, and soon island hop their way into Terra Incognetia and Hyperborea.
c)380 million PC- another intense ice age occurs, resulting in a new crop of woolly animals developing in response.
d)381-390 million PC- while already present, filter feeding allocetids flourish as the cooler climate allows plankton and small crustaceans to boom.
e)387 million PC- increasingly intelligent forms of centaur start to roam the plains of Valinor, using greater intuition to create more elaborate means of finding food
f)392 million PC- all continents except Terra Incognetia, Martinia and Mu are occupied by scythebeasts.
g)394-396 million PC- Mu slowly links up with Eastern Valinor, first as islands and then as a full landbridge.
Novagene: 396-present.
a)396 million PC- Temperatures once again start to warm up to their present values.
b)397 million PC- Terra Incognetia collides with southern Valinor.
c)399.5 million PC- Sapiocentauris ingenius evolves in southern Hyperborea.

In this time period, the ecosystem started to stabilise following the war. Rapidly growing plants such as lichen, moss, grasses, bamboo, thistles, dandylions, kudzu, crabgrass and ailainthus were the first to spread, gaining a disproportionate foothold upon the flora, with far lower diversity than would occur in a ‘natural’ ecosystem. The spread of more traditional plants such as conifers, cycads, empress tree, palms, eucalyptus, daisies, orchids, citrus, carrot, tomato, apple, mangroves, gingkoes and ferns took considerably longer and for now were left in the margins, though ferns were fastest out of this group. As a result, the onis quickly spread and diversified into this early ecosystem, with many resembling giant versions of their immediate ancestor. These onis were already starting to change from their original form. The sparse hairs of the old human hand now covered their whole bodies, insulating them better from colder climates and winters, and protecting them from injury. The head became proportionally larger and the neck shorter in most cases, though not all, and the finger-formed legs developed more profoundly, becoming padded while the nails became sharper or thicker depending on the position. Within the first 10 million years of the primogene, some of the first megafauna developed, feeding mainly off the growing thistles or specialised towards ailainthus descendents, adapting to the poisons they used and utilising them against predators. With fewer species going towards the grass, insects and grasses spread like wildfire. On Earth, a similar analogy could be seen in the aftermath of the K-Pg extinction, where rapid diversification took place, particularly amongst multituberculates and pantodonts, who managed to grow relatively huge from squirrel like ancestors. Within just 5 million years of the extinction, creatures larger than a modern sheep had arisen from these basal mammals. On Ao-Oni, the process was little different, only these took place on the unnaturally vast grasslands and shrubs rather than in the forest. Almost all of these creatures still possessed the sprawling, insect-like position of their ancestor, being an ecosystem full of similar looking beasts for most of their durance. Ailainthus forests started forming around the wetter regions, with various aquatic grasses developing without competition from more well adapted plants such as mangroves, though they rapidly spread in their own way, as did coconuts in the beach and island communities. Various experiments were made in evolutionary terms, as without any competition, early herbivores and predators were developing. Unlike the original amniotes of Earth, who were held back by the evolution of gigantic arthropods and amphibians, the onis are free to spread into almost any ecological vacuum available. Insect diversity was arguably more important during this period, as oxygen levels and plant diversity climbed, allowing them to spread and thrive as flowering plants requiring fertilisation were starting to become common. Ferns and hardier flowers spread out from the old colonisation points, starting to challenge the bamboo in more fertile areas, with many animals favouring this new habitat over the increasingly stagnant bamboo and ailainthus. However, the ailainthus managed to hold their ground using their poisons, and thus over the majority of the wetter or cooler parts of the planet, the vast ailainthus forests thrived while fauna within them did as well. About 12 million years post-colonisation, some onis had hardened and thickened their nails into hooves, allowing them to run faster and kick away from predators, giving them an edge over the basal padded forms. Their legs also became longer and less sprawling to accommodate for this, resulting in predators becoming faster and more ruthless in efforts to pursue them. Additional rifts began to form amongst the landmasses, and the continent of Triberia underwent a major change when the landmass known as Mu split off it, free to evolve its own unique flora and fauna for hundreds of millions of years.
In this environment, locusts, beetles, aphids and other grass-eating insects flourished despite the reduced diversity of food. One of these, living 18 million years post-colonisation was a creature known as syndactylus (greek for fused-fingers), a creature which would use its powerful back four legs to jump up to surprising heights to capture locusts and other flying insects, while its front limbs, including the arms became longer and thinner, connected by a membrane that would allow them to jump higher and slow down their fall, particularly by moving them up and down or altering their position in order to control their fall further. Their large heads, forward facing eyes and frog-like tongues would make them quite effective predators, and so they used this tactic to ruthlessly hunt these insects. It is very possible, even probable that this creature evolved into the great syndactylids, the very first flying animals on Ao-Oni, a group which flourished for many millions of years. Their bird-like method of flying made them very efficient and allowed them to take a wide range of ecological positions never before possible, with their dung being an effective fertiliser for plants around the world. Through this, the various seed based plants descended from man’s fruits spread to a cosmopolitan range. While they would not last to the present day, the syndactylids are one of the defining animals of the history of Ao-Oni, and their influence cannot be ignored.
At times, as much as 80% of inhabitable land was populated by some form of grass or plant which benefited from grass, while traditional trees and flowers were mostly restricted to the coasts and tropics. That said, the dandylions were beginning to experiment into bushier and thicker forms, in order to be more efficient competitors to the grasses and ailainthus. These thorned types became harder to reach than others, and so herbivorous onis began to develop ways of getting around this. By 25 million PC, these new varieties were starting to diverge greatly from their ancestors. Rather than long necks, they had large heads and flexible tongues, bearing a superficial resemblance to modern onititans, while predatory forms would were developing erect legs to better run after prey. Being octopedal meant that speed could only get them so far of course, and some became quite defensive in build, developing plates derived from hardened hair and even bone. From this evolved the modern group known as rocktripes, alongside the nasalpoints, a group of now extinct creatures using enlarged noses for creating sounds and for sexual display, similar to certain ornithopod dinosaurs. Both groups had large guts to consume copious quantities of grass, which they mostly specialised towards, though the nasals more so. Predators came in the form of enormous saurodonts like megalania and erect legged beasts resembling octopedal bears and gorgonopsians, while in the undergrowth, ambush predators developed which embraced their sprawling pose, with similarly evolved herbivores doing the same thing. Most creatures here though were slower than their Earth equivalents due to the issues of the numbers of legs, even if some of these animals grew to elephantine proportions.
In the forested environments near the equator and on certain islands and peninsulas, a different kind of ecosystem developed. Here, the trees allowed animals to adapt to a 3-dimensional environment rather than the 2-dimensional one on the ground, with altitude being an interesting factor. The developing syndactylids thrived in this habitat, with various small forms becoming like songbirds, fruit bats, hawks and even hummingbirds, with bountiful amounts of insects. Traditional saurodonts were taking an establishment in this ecosystem feeding of insects, leaves and fallen fruit. Some developed prehensile tails and became like chameleons, hanging off branches and hunting their insect prey from a distance, while also losing their hair, becoming some of the very first basilisks. Others use specialised appendages on their arms to grab snails and crush them against rocks to get into the flesh inside, which would eventually give rise to more complex forms of limb structure. A few however were starting to lose their tails and enhance the length and quality of their limbs, allowing them to swing between branches and manoeuvre well. It is possible these were the very first arachnimimids, though it is also possible they were an independent experiment, due to how vague their fossil record is. In the central forests of what is now Triberia, one group started to move towards atavisms, where they would retain characteristics of distant ancestors physically. In this respect, the hands that had been engineered to replace their old limbs started to divulge from their ribcages, giving them a form of flexibility. These early atavists at first pursued bottom feeding niches where they would feed on whatever litter came from above, using their new ‘wrists’ to move at greater bursts of speed than their normal relatives were able to, as the wrists were more flexible than the individual finger-limbs, and allowed them to reach higher than their relatives as well. These too would pursue a different way of life, and lead to whole new lineages of beast. As the continent collided with Terra Incognetia, the new atavists spread into this region as well, enriching the local fauna and enabling them to further adapt to new circumstances.
In the oceans, the fish free position led to a blossoming of huge numbers of crustaceans and cephalopods, while algae thrived in huge numbers, though this would not last either, as they became so thick that anoxia started to occur, that around 11 million years PC, a minor extinction event, dubbed the end-primocene anoxic event happened, killing off a number of the new diversity of crustaceans, and also causing some small changes around land as oxygen levels once again dropped a little, delaying the recovery. Within the oceans, recovery was also occurring at a solid rate. For the first time, coral reefs started to become common, allowing smaller shrimps and worms to proliferate. The reduced algae now found new places to call home inside these corals, while shrimps and squid formed a thriving habitat. Cuttlefish in particular are doing well due to having a greater degree of agility and their camouflage abilities making them excellent ambush predators. There is little crossing with the saltwater and freshwater ecosystems due to how cephalopods are currently adapted, though some smaller crustaceans are doing so. In the rivers, another type of evolutionary progress is being made. At around 21 million PC, the development of a particular form of oni has been noted, a creature known as primacetonis, which would fish around river sides for crustaceans, swimming in like an otter. It would use its legs harmoniously like paddles on a boat to gain quick bursts of speed, while the tail would stabilise it. The thumb nails had developed into sharp claws that could impale escaping prey, or hold a mate in place during copulation, or be used in sparring for mates. The legs have stretchable webbing in between them, being of a more basal type than some of those that would later develop. The fur is waterproof to cope with extended water time, while the air sack filled lungs work effectively in holding its breath. These adaptions would continue to develop over the years, with the future of this creature being very bright and long indeed. Millions of years, with the decline of the algal fields and rise of the corals, biodiversity was now approaching a natural level in the oceans. By the 30 million PC point, oxygen levels had risen to 23%, enabling gigantic shrimps and crabs including crocodile sized beasts which grazed on algae or on their smaller relatives. All but the most defensible of these giant arthropods perished as the early xenothallasotheres made their first steps into the ocean, with the descendants of primacetonis having become partially and eventually fully marine. The cephalopods, being more established, hold their ground much better in the open oceans, particularly the early baelaebrachids, or filter-feeding squid, who managed to secure a niche while the new vertebrates are primarily medium to large predators, with a few smaller ones here and there, and quite efficient ones at that. Some of the first sea-bird like syndactyls pluck unlucky squid larvae when they come near the surface to catch plankton.

Like the Palaeogene of Earth, this point in the planet’s history was quite tropical. There were no ice caps at this time, and large areas of land were covered by shallow seas, as several current landmasses such as Mumbia, the Land of Milk and Honey and Martinia had not yet formed at this point. The forests of cycads, beech, conifers, palms, oaks and gingkoes, eucalyptus, empress and other tropical or flowering plants spread around at the expensive of the grasslands, which went into decline, though still covered large portions of land. Deserts became almost unheard of in this period. Bamboo managed to coexist well with the new invaders, and the dandelion trees also went from strength to strength over this period. Alongside lots of different types of tree, kudzus formed large vines that animals would climb with, while an undergrowth of amaranths, dandelions and ferns allowing plenty of nectivorous insects to thrive. With the rise of this period, many animals became smaller and more advanced to cope with substantially different conditions, particularly as they became more divergent from the old form. Throughout the forests, one group used all 10 limbs to walk around, using their tongues and jaws to forage for food, known as decapods. A form of polydactyly like that their ancestors sometimes suffered affected some of the decapods, granting them extra limbs. The vast majority of these abnormal forms perished, but a few found it advantageous, becoming lower and smaller creatures that could hide from predators more easily and were better climbers over ledges. From this, the group we now know as centitheres was born. While it would be a long time before the anapods arise, these would be the closest to them for a long time. It is also during this time that another bizarre mutation occurred in some animals, as at around 50 million PC, some of these creatures began to synchronise their 8 legs in a manner more typical of quadrapedal animals, with the legs sorting into two pairs near the front and back of the torso. Eventually, around 80 million PC, a form known as liomenopodus arose which fused the limbs completely, forming four two toed legs instead of 8 one toed ones. Along with a more upright posture, this allowed the animals to be faster, taller and more agile than their relatives, while still freeing the arms of the animal to move around. These omnivorous creatures thrived throughout the forests and even at this point were starting to outcompete the 8 legged forms in many niches, particularly those of high browsers and faster herbivores and predators. The predatory forms had greater speed and endurance than before, allowing them to devastate herbivore communities, and accelerate the rate of evolution as new groups arose. These would give rise to a number of modern linaeges, such as the exapods, centaurs, scythebeasts, and the extinct tetrabrachids, all members of the clade liomenopoda. The more basal forms with mere synchronisation also managed success to a lesser extent, these still 8-legged forms would become the now extinct octolopes and their relatives. Yet another offshoot of this linaege small relative of this creature that only went intermediately into the fusion of the legs, so that it had four legs but eight feet. These allowed pressure to be minimised, allowing them to be effective ambush predators, while some smaller species started hunting at rivers edge to small insects living there. The skaters would arise from these humble creatures, as well as several offshoots. One of the most unusual offshoots, occurring near the end of this era, was a form of atavist which started to develop a symbiotic relationship with a form of algae, not too differently to some sloths of Earth’s present. However, these would retain the algae inside specialised hairs, allowing some of the spare energy to go to the animal itself in exchange for shelter, beginning the start of a very strange and fascinating relationship.
In the oceans, the world’s ecosystems further started to prosper as new organisms were developing. The gigantic crustaceans declined as a result of competition with the xenothallasiotheres, who were not limited by an exoskeleton for their flexibility and size, or by oxygen levels. This lead to some of them becoming more heavily armored and defensible to defend themselves from these invaders, such as the novoeurypterids, descendants of the mantis-shrimp that had evolved into shallow-water dwelling macropredators, and were some of the few to defend their title against the invading vertebrates. The largest species could grow to more than 2m in length and their weapons would allow them to hunt droves of smaller animals, even forming mobs that could take apart larger prey. Out in the oceans, the baelaenobrachids flourish and continue to become larger and more specialised to their food, while more defensible against the predatory vertebrates that have invaded their habitat. Xenothallasiotheres in response develop more streamlined forms with tear drop-shapes, similar to dolphins and ichthyosaurs, while the arms would simplify, with some losing them altogether in favour of more fish like shapes. They bore a strong resemblance to the cuttlefish that they were competing with and feeding on. The various gastropods and some shrimp species took a heavy hit around 65 million years PC as a new form of jellyfish developed. This species would actively involve in hunting prey, using scents that appear attractive to them to ensnare them and consume. They would lightly move around in pursuit of larger prey as well, ensnaring them with stinging tentacles, which also serve as excellent defense against predators. As a result, a number of smaller animals went extinct, leading to their replacements being faster, smarter and better equipped to defend. For almost 20 million years, these jellyfish exploded into vast numbers throughout the ocean, but this was not to last. As temperatures once again cooled, the jellyfish habitat and reproductive fervour were both reduced, and jellyfish eating xenothallasiotheres and even syndactylids were developing, causing them to fall back, never again to reach such dominance.

As temperatures dropped once more, the climate became drier and grasses made a resurgence, as did deserts. These new grasslands were sturdier than before, as some species were developing interlocking roots that would make it harder for them to be uprooted by bulb-consuming herbivores. The spread of crabgrasses is also noted, as this allowed them to capture more sunlight and take a more diverse range of forms, leading to them starting to outcompete their relatives over the years. With the dying out of many more basal herbivores due to competition with early octolopes, which began to pursue ungulate like positions similar to horses, antelope, giraffes and even indricotheres, the more basal rocktripes made up for this by becoming more heavily armored. The nasals similarly would develop their noses into horns which enabled better defense, while also developing more agile forms that could defend themselves well. Similarly, predators were developing from clades related to these, particularly in the forms of the stalkers, vicious killing machines from the continent of Allacia, which was moving north around this time. With 8 feet, the pressure from moving was dramatically reduced from a four footed organism, making them quieter and stealthier than the competition, yet they had the benefit of moving as a quadraped due to their legs and hips. To benefit further, they had proportionally large, hooked heads with blade like incisors, almost like predatory rodents and long, lizard like tails. They ranged from weasel like insectivores to rhinoceros sized apex predators, and one group was even beginning to explore the water, taking a position like a crocodile. As well as these, several groups of predatory ‘sync’ also developed, particularly the wolves-in-sheeps-clothing, ungulate like predators which would viciously attack their prey terrible bites, or the ravagers, whose thumbs developed clawed digits allowing them to eviscerate these new herbivores and each other. Finally, fox like liomenopods roamed around at the margins, with the majority of the group still living in the forests as deer and bear like creatures. As Allacia collided with Borea to form Hyperboria at around 125 million PC, the stalkers spread further, even island hopping their way into Valinor at a later point. In the latter few million years of the epoch, Valinor’s flora developed along a more neo-mesozoic look, as once again, ferns, gingkos, conifers and horsetails spread to prominence due to the warm and wet conditions, living alongside strange angiosperms such as hardier dandylions, gigantic crabgrass resembling bamboo, and flowering vines, which formed the majority of the diets of hymenopterans and butterflies living in these forests. This archaic ecosystem would not last long though, as new changes were coming.
The name of the oxygene era is done for the fact that oxygen levels consistently rose to quite significant levels around this time, sometimes approaching 30% of the atmospheric concentration. On one hand, this lead to an increase in overall biodiversity, especially with the insects, who were now free to get larger and more energetic, at least within reason. On island habitats, carboniferous like giants formed which could challenge even flightless syndactylids for dominance. Elsewhere, the larger and more plentiful insects lead to the syndactyls responding. Most of this group had been small insectivores and granivores up to this point, pollinizing flowers or hunting small saurodonts. But the evolution of the insects encouraged some of these forms to develop into bigger and faster forms to puruse this prey. As a result of their diet, they soon found that it was easier to take on fellow vertebrates as well as more complicated plant life such as leaves and citrus. As a result, these new lines of syndactylids quickly developed into aerial supremacists, with gigantic forms with wingspans of up to 8m developing in areas particularly rich in food. These would have proportionally huge mouths and would consume large amounts of prey in short portions of time, even eating full-sized octolopes in the most extreme circumstances. Some syndactylids even start to develop flightlessness in some habitats, as their four legs being completely separate from the wings makes the process easy. Nowhere is this more noticeable than on the fledgling landmass of Martinia, which first arose at 114 million PC, quickly being colonised by the syndactylids as well as the common basilisks, saurodonts and nasalpoints. Unusually large invertebrates also made a living here, such as dog-sized terrestrial crabs, eusocial spiders, and snake-like predatory slugs.
In the oceans, more groups were starting to explore the habitat now. Many syndactylids were already similar to earth’s old seabirds and such, but some were taking it further. These would become a range of interesting creatures not too different from Earth’s penguins and comorants. Unlike these though, they were not limited by having to lay eggs, and so soon enough, some fully marine varieties started to develop, competing and niche-partitioning with the xenothallasiotheres. Later, yet another group of animals entering the water came about; known as octopaddlers. These weird animals were stalkers that retained their aquatic ancestry and took it further, becoming pliosaur like predators of squid and small xenothallasiotheres, quickly becoming apex predators in many habitats. A particularly interesting development that occurred during this period was the development of a group of cuttlefish descendents, developing the cuttle in their back to new extents, with it becoming jointed and with enforcing structures protecting the rest of the body and brain-effectively a rudimentary skeleton. While made mainly out of a mixture of cartilage and former shell, it proved to be quite durable and allowed these groups to diversify profoundly. As a result, the chordateuthans were born.
The Primazoic was a long era, but one that ended badly. A massive hotspot had occurred in what would one day become Mumbia, and from this occurred an enormous flood basalt eruption. Much of this was underwater, but once Mumbia started to surface, the results were devastating, releasing many greenhouse gases and bringing oxygen levels down from 30% to 18%, wiping out many larger arthropods and flying beasts. The Mumbian Traps triggers the first major mass extinction on Ao-Oni, and restructuring much of the world for the new era that would take place. By the end of this, a landmass over twice as large as Australasia has formed, a virgin landscape ready to be settled by very unusual creatures, particularly as surviving small creatures enter without competition from their oppressing giants. Elsewhere, the extinction of giants like almost all of the nasals and the basal forms opens up a range of new niches. The Macrozoic era has begun.

With the final days of the mass extinction done with, a new period arrived was here. A relatively barren land occupied what was once ocean, being free to colonise by waves of fauna, particularly early liomenapods, syndactylids and saurodonts, where they thrive here without competition from other beasts. The survivors of the mass extinction as a whole fell into 4 different categories, small, flying, hardy and lucky. Small animals like saurodonts, liomenapods and more advanced octopods and decapods weathered the extinction fairly well due to requiring less resources and food, along with a quicker reproductive cycle. In comparison, giant forms such as most nasalpoints and rocktripes, along with all of the octopaddlers and aquatic syndactylids were unable to find food and as oxygen levels dropped, they found it more difficult to breath. The last of the basal giants perished in favour of the more advanced forms. The syndactylids did particularly well during the extinction due to two factors. First, their well adapted lungs, full of air sacs allowed them to breath well during the anoxic conditions, capable of absorbing over 3 times as much oxygen as a normal terran mammal could. The second was their ability to fly, allowing them to escape the more devastated areas relatively easily. Of course, more specialised varieties were wiped out by this, but smaller insectivores and omnivores weathered through and started to flourish afterwards. The third group, the hardy ones were species that could adapt to most circumstances and weathered through by gaining large numbers after the extinction. One of the early rocktripes, glyptotherium, became one of the most common animals on the planet after the event, not too far off the famous lystrosaurus after the larger Permian extinction on Earth. These animals were larger than the insectivores but were able to feed of almost anything, with their advanced lungs allowing them to survive low oxygen conditions and their armour allowing them to shrug off most predatory attacks and harsh weather. The atavists, which were relatively fast moving due to their bipedal locomotion also weathered well, though losing their more basal stock. The algaenous forms, ancestral to the modern walking trees used sunlight to help get them through times of low food supplies, and their rigour further developed due to the extinction. And then there were the lucky ones, creatures that survived due to being in the right place at the right time, such as the bipedal terrabrachids or some islandic nasalpoints, which soon recolonized the mainland and developed a new lifestyle replacing their giant relatives.
Conditions throughout this time period were hard due to the slow recovery of oxygen levels and humidity from before. The climate was also hot, meaning desert environments grew to exponential sizes. Some desert fauna evolved during this period, with multiple groups independently developing as a result. One of the most interesting occurred about 138 million years post-colonisation, from a form of saurodont once again. These strange creatures had a mutation in the formation of their skulls, which meant that the eyes and nostrils formed at the bottom jaw. While this would appear to hinder them, and indeed in many lines did, it enabled them to better forage for food due to being more able to find it easily, while the large ears would hear for predators and natural disasters. Its long legs allowed it to move fast, though the final first pair just behind the arms were by far the weakest. This creature gave rise to the bizarre intracephaloids for the first time. Over millions of years, these weaker limbs would be removed entirely, resulting in the form we are familiar with today. While this desert environment was harsh, it would not last, as eventually, the climate cooled and humidity returned, with an ice cap forming once again in the south pole. Another development took place in the form of grasslands growing to replace desert, only to in turn be replaced by large forests. The Arbrogene had begun.

This era was defined by the spreading of large forests over what once was deserts and grasslands, with an Oligocene- like state to the world. a mixture of large forests, dominated by derived dandylion descendents, as well as oaks, conifers, crabgrass and gingkos, with an undergrowth of ferns, daisies, orchids and smaller grasses occurred alongside traditional grasslands. Bamboo, being mostly outcompeted by crabgrass, became heavily marginialised, but one area it began to develop in was around the coasts. A more aquatic variety was taking root that could grow straight from fresh, brackish, or even saltwater, as it developed salt-excretion glands to protect itself. With a simpler build than the heavily crippled mangroves, it grew quicker and more effectively than its competitor, and left less room available for parasites, leading to the group spelling the beginning of the mangrove’s downfall, even if a similar habitat was replacing it. In the early waters, most of the giant cephalopods and arthropods were wiped out along with many marine vertebrates. Xenothallasiotheres, which included forms in the small and medium sized forms, no longer had competitors and so their diversity exploded during this era. New syndactylids started moving into the seas as well at this point. The chordateuths also started to outcompete their ancestors, spreading into various waterways. Around 155 million years post-colonisation, one group did a remarkable thing, and developed a sodium pump, which would allow them to filter a moderated amount of sodium and potassium into their bodies, keeping them from needing to expel salt in the oceans. This also allowed them to retain salt when in bodies of water where it is almost absent, and so for the very first time, cephalopods were able to enter freshwater environments, a revolutionary adaption which could change almost everything for them.
While this happened, the continents moved. The continent of Atavigea moved south-west, colliding with the landmass of Valinor, leading to a faunal exchange at around 157 million PC. This allowed the atavists to spread into new habitats on their own, as strange bipedal beasts entered the largest continent. The algatheres were becoming ever more divergent from their ancestors by this point, with growths of bone sticking out of the upper animal, allowing the algaenous hairs to gain light more efficiently. Their lips grew significantly as well, working almost like a trunk for it to lap up water and take smaller foods when necessary. They lost the tails of their relatives and moved upright with an eerily human-like posture, moving to find a place of maximum photosynthetic efficiency, which was present across Valinor. In exchange, another group of bipeds, the tetrabrachids moved into Atavigea. These were four- armed beasts that were excellent climbers, similar to the old primates and sloths, but they also managed to evolve predatory, armoured and even browsing forms that made an impact on the ecosystem. The rocktripes also snuck into this new habitat, warding off the local atavist predators quite well.
A particular note during this era takes place around 159 million PC. Evidence seems to suggest that the planet was visited by an extraterrestrial race, with anatomy completely different to that of the native creatures of Ao-Oni. These were bipedal animals with two arms, with some having quadrapedal domestic animals they brought with them as pets or for food. It is clear from their anatomy that these creatures shared ancestry with the animals of Ao-Oni, something which should be utterly impossible. The sapients originated on a world about 15 light years away, one that was once known as ‘Anthropoterras’, where the Tyrants had been less harsh in their punishment of the humans, and only reduced their intelligence, rather than utterly distorting them like the creators of the original oni did. The sapients, nicknamed the ‘novomen’ by the cryologically asleep humans appear to have evolved on the plains of their world due to their bipedal locomotion, and colonies of them did quite well over a period of several millennia. It even appears they managed to domesticate some of the decapods, making them into their own breeds and pack animals, which could be achieved due to their biochemistry being the same in origin. Regardless though, the group were only here for the geological blink of an eye before mysteriously disappearing. Some of their domestic animals survived their passing, but none lasted longer than a couple of million years before being outcompeted by native fauna.
In the oceans, new linaeges of beast come in to replenish the old. One group bore a superficial resemblance to the later triskelids, though unlike them, they had a short tail and more sprawling legs, while the neck is held horizontally, allowing it to catch crustaceans. The first creatures, living 160 million years PC, were like a mixture of a penguin and tanystropheus in their design. From these creatures came the epitrachyds, long necked giants which would feed on tiny crustaceans, even outcompeting the baleen squid that thrived beforehand and becoming huge creatures, with some species more than 20m long. As the macrozoic went on, they developed some of the most impressive necks seen in nature, with a few surpassing 80 cervical vertebrae.
On land, this era saw multiple other divergences between cladistical groups, as previously generalised creatures started to adapt to new circumstances. One of these would be a new group of stalkers, with more endothermic tendencies, and erect legs. They had defined whiskers which would allow them to detect subtle movements in the air and soil, making them very effective ambush predators. These ‘running- stalkers’ would become cat-like superpredators capable of going much further than their ancestors ever could. They soon spread across the southern hemisphere from up north, outcompeting many of the local predators. Another important development taking place in the forests of hyperborea amonst the liomenapods was the a group that used their arms more and more for the purpose of walking and crouching down, soon using them similarly to their other limbs, as they grew larger and more muscular. Soon, this group used all 6 limbs for the purpose of locomotion, becoming almost indistinguishable from the other limbs. The exapods were born, while their more standard relatives became more marginalised, using their mostly single digit arms to forage for food or use in self defense. The development of these creatures was not the last part of this era, as the global climate continued to cool, and now became drier as well, as ice sheets started to spread to lower latitudes now.

For the next 24 million years, a relatively stable climate existed, with some minor changes. It is however within this era that several continental and faunal changes occurred, leading to revolutions amongst the fauna, as the unstoppable tide of evolution continued to march on. One of the main drifts occurring was the moving of the continent of Valinor to the North, which would push the subcontinent of Martinia in that direction as well, closer to the equator, resulting in its fauna becoming more active, particularly the ectothermic basilisks. Other changes that occurred over this time were the development of a split between Valinor and Atavigea, which would head north west towards the landmass of Hyperborea, leading the continent to once again start evolving native atavists, alongside the new arrivals of knucklers (basal liomenapods) and early exapods. Aquatic fauna changed little over this period, though the increased coolness promoted larger forms of xenothallasiothere, not too different from sperm whales to develop, hunting gigantic chordateuths in the deep seas. Near the end of this era, between 203 and 206 million PC, yet another change would occur in the development of two groups of liomenapods starting to diverge. One group living in eastern Hyperborea was starting to develop flesh tendons around its limbs instead of the single digit and claw, which would allow it to sense and even grab objects. Eventually, these extensions would develop into whole new digits, creating hands not too different from those of their distant ancestors, the humans. While this is not the first time a group of oni descendents developed fleshy extensions and fingers, these would be some of the best to implement it. This would allow them the ability to accurately walk on all four legs effectively while having manipulators to interact with their environment. These ‘centaurs’ spread across Hyperboria and island hopped and swam their way into Atavigea. Another group were a group of derived knucklers which emphasised their single digit more, with the digit fusing with the rest of the arm, enlarging the claw that was on it, making it longer, larger and sturdier, excellent as either a digger, a scratcher, an anchor or a weapon. From this lineage would come the mighty scythebeasts, who would later become top predators (alongside many other forms) across Valinor and later across the whole planet.
The main ecological development that occurred in this period, and the one that gives it its name. Around 195 million years PC, a group of saurodonts did something which hadn’t been done since very early on in the development of Ao-Oni; in the pursuit of new foods and oppurtunities, they had developed the ability to fly. These were the draconians. Unlike the two winged syndactylids, who fused 6 limbs to form 2, leaving four legs, the draconians had four wings created from two pairs of legs, allowing the not only the other 4 to remain, but the arms as well. This gave them significant advantages, in that they could have smaller wings, meaning they could get into forest environments more easily, as well as more manouverability while in the air. It allowed them to also get much bigger than any syndactylid could due to its anatomy, and allowed a more flexible range of body forms as a result. In addition, the legs and even arms had their own independent membranes, ensuring that they weren’t dead weight, further amplifying its flying abilities. The group rapidly spread, evolving from small insectivores and seed eaters into a wide range of creatures, that soon started to compete with their two-winged equivalents intensely. Life on Ao-Oni would never be the same.

Further movements occurred in this era as the landmass of Atavigea moved north, forming a new ice cap in addition to the southern one, creating further cooling and drying, meaning more open habitat was thriving. Grasslands, shrubs and deserts grew at the expense of the forests, allowing fauna to become faster and more agile. Nevertheless, thick forests blocked most of the centaurs of Hyperborea from being able to spread and outcompete the octolopes that dominated much of the habitat. As a result, these more primitive beasts went through new diversification as more derived forms arose from competition with one another. Another occurred in the doomed continent of Atavigia, as one group of atavists living in the north of Triberia developed long necks and tails to balance out, gaining a resemblance to ratite birds and ornithomimids, being known as triskelids for their anatomy. These outcompeted more of the basal forms, whereas the ancestors of modern lickers and rippers specialised towards lesser and lower niches, being more prevalent in the south. The triskelids would later become one of the most common terrestrial groups on the planet when the continents eventually collided. Other changes occurred amongst some of the most unusual vertebrates to ever exist, the algatheres. As the group gradually became more and more specialised towards their photosynthetic tendencies, they became less dependent on regular food and vegetation for intake, starting to make photosynthesis their primary source of income. The lips of their ancestors extended like a trunk that could suck up water and small foods, while a similar organ would aid the genetalia for reproduction. These organs migrated to the lower part of the body, near the old anus, with the former head becoming indistinguishable from the body. They had started to reach their modern form, and with this new form, the group became virtually cosmopolitan, colonising a number of different habitats.
By far one of the most dramatic effects during this era was the sinking of the landmass of Martinia. Like a smaller version of Earth’s Zealandia, it fell into the sea around 215 million PC once more, with only a few small forested islands surviving. In these lied a few isolated species of basilisk and flightless syndactylid, though even the latter were facing competition as the arriving draconians were beginning to compete with them over their position. With these animals surviving, many other organisms were lost in the process. Other geological processes tore apart the rising continent of Atavigia around the later part of this period. The two landmasses of Triberia and Terra Incognetia were formed along a rift line, and now this rift line was reversing itself, causing Incognetia to drift south. First, around 234 million PC, new lakes and volcanoes started forming which isolated the fauna on each side, leading to them developing different paths. The triskelids, tetrabrachids, centaurs, and algatheres were more dominant in the north, while the proto-lickers were gaining ground in the south, though they also shared it with rocktripes, exapods and a few more specialised forms of centaur, creatures that would eventually give rise to such bizarre beasts as the felitaurs and enormacentaurs. Finally, around 241 million PC, the two landmasses split, going their separate ways.
Around 243 million PC, the Borealic era came to an end with a new set of eruptions. While not as devastating as the previous ones, these occurred underwater. What was particularly bad about these ones was that the surrounding water and rock had huge deposits of methane in them, which became dislodged. Soon, vast quantities bubbled up into the atmosphere, creating a quick and fierce period of global warming. The extinction decimated cold adapted species, and spelt the doom of several groups, including the ancient stalkers, of both the basal and advanced varieties, the sprint-spiders (predatory relatives of the octolopes) and the epytrachids. It also killed off almost all of the nasalpoints and decapods, with a few of the latter surviving only in southern Valinor, wiping out the larger centitheres. Other ancient groups such as the octolopes, syndactyls and xenothallasiotheres were crippled by the event, evolving new forms to cope. The scythebeasts did some of the best out of the extinction, and began rapidly spreading across the globe and outcompeting various other predators, either wiping them out or driving them into intense specialisation. The same happened as the draconians gradually grew ground against the syndactyls. The warming period was relatively brief, but the damage could not be reversed.

As a new climate stood, the world once more was forced to change, along with the animals within it. The Atlagene became known for being a period in time where much of the world’s continents went on dramatic changes, such as moving across the seas, twisting their shapes or colliding with one another, leading to faunal and floral interchanges. Near the beginning of this era, a hotspot emerged in what is now known as the Transterran ocean, leading to the formation of the Cabotian islands, which could be quite sizeable, if somewhat short-lived for their size. An additional development during this era would be the first collision point between the continents of Triberia and Hyperborea, occurring about 270 million PC (or 130 million years ago). It is this event which allowed the Triskelids to spread throughout their range, and gave the centaur clade a new opportunity to expand, resulting in them wiping out the more basal atavists with ease. Yet another interesting geological development in this period was in the later part of the era, as the long-isolated continent of Mu, present with a completely different range of fauna to anywhere else. The newly formed Cabotian islands allowed several new smaller groups to reach this isolated continent, including larger forms of draconian (some smaller forms had managed to reach there by trickling in over the years), freshwater chordateuthans, intracephaloids and even basal exapods. The native fauna, which shall be explored in due time, reacted in a mixed way, with a number being outcompeted, but others managing to survive and thrive despite this, as the Cabotian fauna were themselves less well adapted than mainland creatures, thus minimising faunal damage. Several smaller island chains came and went during this era as well, but overall, some quite dramatic changes made up the duration of this era.
In terms of fauna, more changes took place within this time period. Across the southern hemisphere, various omnivorous, carnivorous and even herbivorous scythebeasts came and outcompeted the older more basal predators for the most part and causing the original herbivores to become faster, more agile and better adapted to these smarter beasts. As a result, different herbivores responded differently. Only a few of the nasal beasts had managed to survive the extinction, and from this, they diversified into two main groups to cope with the new environment. One group known as the sniffers developed which would use their noses for foraging and feeding, coming to resemble omnivorous octopedal camels in many ways. While not as prevalent as the octolopes, they nevertheless became quite a sight across much of Ao-Oni, particularly Valinor and Hyperborea, and eventually Triberia. The other group evolved into giants that could adequately defend themselves from these new beasts, with the ceranasopsids taking a similar approach to the rhinos and ceratopsians which once lived on Earth, using cartilage reinforced with keratin and bone for the purposes of self-defence and sexual display. This adaptability allowed them to fend off many of the evolving predators, including the vicious scythebeasts, while the herbivorous forms developed into browsers. These therizinosaur-like beasts flourished for a brief time, though became outcompeted by other groups of herbivore later in the Martinian era. Meanwhile, in eastern Hyperborea, around 260 million years PC (or 140 million years ago) it appears that the earliest known fossils of the well-known arachnimimid clade appear, with them already having the long 8 legs and non-existent tails and snouts of their ancestors. the only noticeable differences between these creatures and their modern equivalents is that they still have a vague remnant of an upper jaw, and the lower jaws have only begun to rotate towards each other in the insect like manner their descendants would have. The animals’ faces tended to appear more similar to those of colugos or basal primates than the modern forms as well, who would develop almost ape-like faces in some lineages, a reminder of their very distant ancestry. Their competitors, the tetrabrachids were not nearly as prepared for these unusual creatures, whose manoeuvrability gave them a huge advantage. However, even at this point it appears the group were widespread, as similarly aged fossils are present in Valinor and Triberia, with some slightly younger ones even making their way to Terra Incognetia and Mumbia. Further south, yet more changes would be occurring amongst the fauna of the main continents. In the vast land of Valinor, the decapods managed to hold their ground against the scythebeasts, octolopes and ceranasopsians, developing some forms of their own. Within the last few million years of this era, the development of a branching tongue allowed one group of medium sized omnivores to be able to reach much further than any of their relatives could. Even the original oni, as well as the atavists of Terra Incognetia, could not compare to the degree of this creature, a sheep-sized beast living in northern Valinor. The tongue when fully extended could reach up to 4m ahead or 3m above the animal, being more flexible than any neck, trunk or arm could hope to be. They could also shoot it out and grab prey items quite rapidly. This allowed the creatures to proliferate across Valinor, diverging into several omnivorous, herbivorous and predatory forms that held their ground while their relatives declined. From these unusual creatures, would come the modern battle-toads and onititans.
On the isolated continent of Terra Incognetia, a new order was shaping itself. Starting its isolation near the end of the Borealic era, the continent was beginning to take a new shape over this time period, as its creatures were now separate from competitors. The few tetrabrachids that were on the southern side of the split were soon outcompeted by arrivals of arachnimimids from the East, which flourished in this new habitat, even producing terrestrial forms quite early on. While triskelids and intracephaloids did quite well in this habitat, it was the lickers who really came into their own, diversifying into a wide range of herbivores, omnivores and predators. They would primarily use long tongues to find food as they had no ‘arms’ of any kind, with the arms of the original human now making up their legs. They resembled strange theropod dinosaurs in many respects, with their fur hardening like the scales of a pangolin for protection. Soon, divergences occurred within these creatures as the more predatory ones evolved into the rippers, who used their tongues as weapons, with hook-like appendages that could be used to maim, capture or cripple prey items. Their teeth were also more profound, divided into stabbing incisors and shearing molars, with the canines having long disappeared. These started to outcompete many of the predatory centaurs that had been evolving around this time, though not all of them died out, as some moved into cooler habitats the lickers couldn’t follow. In these cooler habitats, the exopods and centaurs did much better, alongside some triskelids. However, with the continent much further north than it is today and with a warmer global climate, these habitats tended to be rare and sparse. Draconians too, thrived here, using fur covered wings to reach even the coolest and most remote of habitats, continuing in the decline of the syndactyls, though the latter responded by evolving some gigantic predatory and even flightless forms akin to the moas and terror birds of Earth’s Pleistocene. In the cooler and drier north, elephantine syndactyls used massive throat pouches to communicate for mates, while feasting on the citrus fruits and conifer leaves that proliferated there. Some of the predatory forms stood their ground against the newly evolved rippers, though in the skies, the draconians were unquestionably dominating, and the condition on the ground wouldn’t last too long either.
In the oceans of the Atlagene, changes were once again happening. The continents moving reduced the amount of shallow seas available, leading to a decline of coral reefs and such habitats, along with their denizens. The open oceans on the other hand were a time where new branches of the cnidarian clade would truly flourish. Jellyfish did particularly well as not many of the xenothallasiotheres, marine syndactyls, or new arrivals feasted on them. With the epytrachids gone, plankton stocks boomed and so the jellyfish thrived further. One particularly interesting group that evolved during this time period tried to avoid competition from their relatives with a unique route. They developed a hard layer around their top, not too different from the substance that made up their distant coral relatives, though it was partially permeable. Through this, they would harvest nutrients from the droppings of flying animals and salt-water insects that had evolved. Soon however, they would attract other forms of attention in the form of algae, lichen and moss, in a story surprisingly similar to the developing algatheres that thrived on land. These photosynthesisers soon attracted tiny mites and insects, even crabs, which in turn attracted draconians which would feed on these. Some of the nutrients from the plants would also go towards these jellyfish, leading to the development of a strange symbiotic relationship. If the walking trees that roamed the surface were strange enough, then the living islands of the sea surpassed them even more. Colonies of these unusual creatures would often gather together to form superorganisms, surpassing even the largest plants in mass and area. The surviving aquatic syndactyls did well here, but they were outcompeted by new waves of the creatures that were arriving from the land, as well as aquatic forms of exapod, saurodont and even sync. These new syndactyls were faster, more perceptive and could fit more in their mouths than the old guard, allowing competition to take them further. The xenothallasiotheres held their ground in this era, while new changes occurred above ground.

Once again, land was starting to rise above the waves. The subcontinent of Martinia again became a full sized landmass rather than isolated islands and islets. The surviving basilisks and syndactylids began to spread further south, alongside draconians of former seabird-like stock, which formed effective predators. Granivorous forms also made their home on this resurgent landmass, evolving into a wide range of flightless forms. The syndactyls became increasingly marginalised by these newcomers, but some did manage to hold on despite the pressure rising. An interesting arrival this time was some stranded populations of lickers, which managed to start developing along completely new lines not seen elsewhere, particularly in the form of unusual grazers. These new fauna would render a second Martinia, much stranger than the first.
Another change took place in Mu, as the intracephaloids evolved another extention of their group under very unusual circumstances. Within this relatively short geological era came the development of a creature that used an alternate way of finding insect or small draconian prey. in a similar way to the bombardier beetle of Earth, it would use a combination of gases to deter predators and propel itself from them. It soon started to use this tactic to chase prey items as well, and its limbs became sturdier and better able to carry it greater distances, and its lungs refined to allow it to replace this gas more easily. Eventually, one of these strange creatures developed the power of sustained flight. The jetbeasts were born. They developed stalks on their eyes to make sure they could see as effectively as possible while monitoring their prey, with more basal forms being quickly outcompeted. Their specialised structures meant that these creatures would spend their entire lifespans on the wing, only giving birth in trees for nests. Eventually, in the distant future, some descendants wouldn’t even do this and would live from birth to death without touching the ground. These early creatures would thrive around much of Valinor and Hyperborea, though not expanding as much elsewhere, as competition would be intense from the other fliers, as the syndactyls still held their ground.
Elsewhere though, climate changes were creating a new opportunity for some groups. Near the end of this short era, the forests which had previously held back the centaurs of Hyperborea from substantially expanding were declining, allowing them to meet up with the rest of the fauna. More forest orientated exapods had already spread across Hyperborea and Valinor millions of years earlier, competing with the older forms of life, but now it was the centaur’s turn for success. At first, some extreme basal forms from the forests, being either small omnivores or large browsers (completely unrelated to modern enormacentaurs) emerged, offering not much change further south, but eventually, the plains met. In their period of domination in Triberia and north-east Hyperborea, they had been through their own revolutions, as while the carnivorous forms were few and far between thanks to exapod and draconian competition, the herbivorous and omnivorous beasts had developed along some new features. One particular clade was the enzymotheres, which had developed a feature similar to that of the artiodactyls of Earth- that is, multi-chambered stomachs. This allowed them to digest plant material much more efficiently than their relatives, and without the use of gastroliths. The stomachs didn’t need to be as large proportionally as before, allowing the animals to become leaner, faster and more efficient than their relatives, leading to gradual competition between these and more basal forms, with the latter being marginalised. Slightly earlier in their evolution, the utilisation of the third eye into a forward seeing ‘functional eye’ allowed them to perceive in three dimensions while still having their normal eyes working in two dimensions to search for predators, allowing them depth perception. Regardless, both the older and new centaurs were more efficient at what they did than the octolopes and nasal-beasts present around the rest of Hyperborea. When the forests split, the plain dwelling enzymotheres and other forms spread into a new habitat that was favourable to them, and so the dynasty rapidly outcompeted the previously dominating octolopes, being faster, smarter, more manoeuvrable, having manipulator abilities and being much more efficient grazers and browsers. The once thriving octolopes were soon wiped out of Hyperborea, with nasal-beasts following shortly afterwards.

Easily the shortest of all the periods in Ao-Oni’s geological history, the Synapsian was one fitted with dramatic changes, particularly in geology but soon also in climate. The name comes from the Greek word for fusion, similar to the ‘fused archs’ of the synapsids, to which all onis, and their predecessors, the unaltered mammals, belong. One of the most profound events to occur in this era was the uplifting of the subtransterran sea by islands and later, a landbridge, allowing the landmasses of Hyperborea and Valinor to collide for the first time. From the north, came the vast populations of centaurs, exapods, triskelids, algotheres, flightless draconians, and some of the last octolopes and tetrabrachids. From the southern continent of Valinor, even more impressive in size than its northern neighbour, came the competitive scythebeasts, skaters, native exapod groups, decapods, ceranasopsians, sniffers and migrating jetbeasts. The faunal interchange was spectacular, as the once thriving predatory syncs of the north found themselves at the mercy of both scythebeasts and predatory centaurs, bringing them in towards a final collapse of their diversity.
The draconians as usual flourished, and the syndactyls even made somewhat of a comeback from this opportunity, though it did not last long. For while they diversified, the draconians’ numbers were reaching well into the thousands of species, reaching new heights, particularly on the rising and falling islands, where they were free from competition that limited them on the mainland, allowing htem to expand even further. On isolated Martinia, a clade of frugivorous semi-beaked forms did particularly well against the others, forming the ancestors of what would one day be the Martiniathere clade. Like the birds and bats of Earth, the draconian future would be very bright.
Another geological event during this era would be the formation of what would become the Land of Milk and Honey, formed from the same spot as the ancient Mumbia to its west. This would be smaller and somewhat more gradual than its neighbour, meaning the environmental concerns would be significantly less bad, though still hurting much of Valinor’s diversity, while also giving Mu a hard time. The fertile soils of the modern land were formed during this crisis though, so this was not all negative. Many animals would fly in from other parts of the world, and in the thick forests that formed, new types of creature developed where elsewhere they would perish, particularly in the fires to come.
The great Macrozoic era ended around 302 million PC (or 98 million years ago), in the event known as the Synapsian-Cryogene Impact, where an asteroid the size of mount Everest collided into what is now the Teardrop Sea, having previously been knocked towards Ao-Oni by the movements of the neighbouring planet Wotan, causing the asteroid to strike the planet. The event released vast clouds of gases and ash that blocked out sunlight and caused great fires to consume much of the land. Groups that were on the decline, such as the octolopes, terrabrachids, nasal-beasts and basal syncs were destroyed, along with the syndactyls that had once utterly dominated the skies, though that latter group would have one last hope at redemption. Even the groups that were doing well, such as the exapods, centaurs, rocktripes and scythebeasts took a heavy hit, with the latter losing most of their browsing and herbivorous forms. Oceanic ecosystems were even more devastated, with coral reefs being almost wiped out, reduced to the most generalised and hardy forms, with almost all of the marine vertebrates going. Only some small and derived xenothallasiotheres, some of the greatest of Ao-Oni’s survivors, managed to weather through due to their small size, high adaptability and flexible metabolism, similar to the sharks of Earth. Their air-sac filled lungs were more developed than most of their competitors as well, allowing them to hold their breath for as long as 6 hours in some species, which helped when surfaces became hostile. A new world order had begun, and the Prosfatozoic was here.

Following the impact, the colder temperatures caused by the ash caused a new climatic cycle, as greater ice caps led to more heat being reflected back into space, leading to the climate cooling further. This created a runaway cooling effect which, combined with existing orbital fluctuations that had occurred in the past with less intensity, soon culminated in Ao-Oni’s first full on ice age, which although laced with interglacials, managed to be cold and harsh by the standards of a world that had been used to tropical conditions for many millions of years, and even the harsher phases had never been this extreme in cold. Fauna needed to toughen up and adapt once again.
The archaic rocktripes were some of the first animals to recover, with their hardy body plan and generalist diets helping them bounce back relatively quickly, going from dog-sized armadillo like omnivores to buffalo sized herbivores within just 10 million years. Having been repressed considerably during the Macrozoic, the development of these prosperous forms is quite surprising on one hand, given how ancient they are, yet quite predictable on the other. Alongside these older forms came some newer forms of herbivore and carnivore that spread in the absence of competitors. It is in this era that across Hyperborea, Valinor and Triberia, centaurs, exapods and scythebeasts proliferated amongst the terrestrial fauna, with intracephaloids also taking a number of diverse ecological positions in between. New island chains rose and sank during this period, leading to diverse amounts of draconian colonising the landmasses and creating a range of unusual and interesting forms. Another interesting flyer evolved during this era, clearly as it is here that the mysterious crats arise in the fossil record, clearly being a flying form of triskelid, specialised in turning its only limbs into wings, a feat unique among vertebrates. They proliferated around much of the world, taking niches the draconians hadn’t reached first, particularly at night, where they did very well. Meanwhile, Martinia sunk yet again, wiping out most of its unique fauna except for the durable basilisks and martiniatheres, which took advantage of the lack of competition to dominate the remaining islands, eeking out a living. In Terra Incognetia, some of the earliest divergence points occur as a group of wading centaurs begin changing from one another around 322 million PC (78 million years ago). These creatures were fairly robust compared to their relatives, and had mobile lips on each of their lower jaws, helping them reach and even grab food items out of the reach of their arms, while also grooming themselves and each other, leading them to be quite sociable for herbivores. Some of these forms were returning to a fully terrestrial lifestyle, and using a more robust and powerful build, were fending off predators better than other centaurs, and getting vegetation more easily. These appear to have been the very first of the enormacentaurs, which would surpass even the lickers in developing mega-faunal niches over the years, using their quadrapedal stance and free arms to take maximum advantage over the competition. The wading forms on the other hand, went down a more gradual path of increased specialisation towards their aquatic foods of weeds, bamboo, crabgrass and water-dwelling dandelions. From this group would eventually come the modern mermen.
The resurgent decapods of Valinor went through their own patterns, as the early battletoads thrived and competed well with the more common animals around them despite their many differences. Some of the other decapods such as their relatives went through other ways of getting through. With a cooler climate and a south pole, ice caps made the global climate cold, and required animals to cope with freezing temperatures by bulking up and finding food wherever they could. Some of these decapods adapted well by adapting thick fur coats, and flexible tongues that could reach exceptional distances proportionally to their size, almost like the necks of ancient sauropsids like tanystropheus or mamechisaurus. Around 313 million PC (or 87 million years ago), this creature, known as primepyglossius, a bull sized herbivore living in this cold climate, was the very first of the onititans. Its head wasn’t as proportionally huge as that of the battletoads, but its tongue was longer and more flexible, rather than being sticky and used for quick bursts like that of a frog. The descendants of this creature quickly diversified across the mainland, exploiting new food sources and outcompeting the browsing scythebeasts of the time, though they would re-evolve later. While relatively inconspicuous at first, this creature had multiple anatomical signs that would show its potential. As a decapod, it used all 10 limbs for walking, not only minimising the pressure on each individual limb, but also greatly stabilising the torso and minimising movement stress, even if at the cost of increasing the limbs proportional mass compared to the rest of the body. The legs were at a slight angle of 5ᵒ, which dramatically increased the amount of weight and pressure that the legs could support, similar to the legs of sauropods in fact. The bones and lungs contained air sacs which not only reduced the animals’ overall weight, but helped circulate oxygen throughout it, while its urinal system helped conserve water and energy. The heart itself worked like a turbine, allowing efficiency almost unseen elsewhere in nature, while a surprisingly developed brain allowed the creature to select food well. The tongue was more flexible than any arm, neck or even trunk could hope to be, and gave food directly into the mouth, while a palate allowed the animal to both eat and breath simultaneously. All these, along with an effective reproductive structure allowing multiple young to be born regardless of the proportions, made the animals ideally adapted to grow to enormous sizes, though it would be millions of years before this potential was unlocked. For now, these creatures were finding their feet.
In the waters, the ecosystem went through yet more changes in its structure, as new groups came down. One of the most prolific of these would be a form of intracephaloid that would feed on chordateuths the same way otters and seals would feed on fish. This animal, known as allocetus, bore a resemblance to a hexapedal crocodile, with the arms almost completely atrophied. The eyes on the bottom of the head proved useful for hunting underwater prey, while the nostrils migrated once again to the top of the head, allowing it to hold its breath well for periods of time. Resembling the ancient ambulocetus, this early creature would begin moving into saltwater habitats, where its aquatic habitats developed further. The group managed to proliferate quickly, feeding on chordateuths and smaller crustaceans, as they partitioned niches with the resurgent xenothallasiotheres, leading to a particularly intense oceanic period. Soon, plankton created a new feeding opportunity for the new beasts. In response, the chordateuths took more and more new means to defend themselves, becoming faster, utilising inks and poisons, or even going on the offensive and becoming hook-tentacled superpredators in their own right. However, some freshwater species took a more escapist route. In order to migrate to bodies of water without these predators, or adapt better to drying waters with the growing deserts and tundras, their cuttles around their sides would fashion into 6 paddle shaped organs, reinforced with cartiledge and shell, helping them move from pond to pond. They soon found bountiful supplies of insects, algae, small vegetation and even small saurodonts and draconians, and they began to exploit this. For the first time, cephalopods started to move onto land, resulting in the diverse terrateuths taking their form during this period. As the cooler climate came to an end, leading to a warmer world, the group proliferated even further.

As the ice caps shrunk, large amounts of arid adapted plants like grass, giant crabgrass and eucalyptus greatly benefited, creating a hardier and more open environment, while allowing previously small and low animals to become bigger and taller with the pressure of an open land. Within this era, one of the more ancient groups of plants finally ended their line: the coconuts. They had barely made it past the extinction, and their numbers gradually declined until the last one disappeared around 333 million PC (67 million years ago), being outcompeted by better adapted flora. With the vacuum caused by the retreating glaciers, plants like grass and dandelion took advantage of this and spread over vast areas, forming plains and open habitats for many animals to move around in, earning the era its name. Oxygen levels again climbed up to considerable levels due to this additional source of plant life, with levels rising as high as 30% at times in this era. This meant that arthropods could get 150% larger than they normally could under the right conditions, and they and gastropods thrived on various isolated islands and in the expanding plains. Crickets of similar proportions to hares made up a large portion of the temporary insect fauna on the grasslands, along with predatory draconians that fed on them. They would defend themselves with poisons, barbs and other things to make sure these beasts wouldn’t get at them. In the forests of islands, enormous gastropods made a living, feeding off deposits of algae and leaf litter, as creatures as long as a man’s arm developed free of predators. Gigantic beetles, butterflies, bees, ants, mantids, cockroaches and even termites thrived and were preyed on by giant spiders, scorpions and centipedes up to 1m in length. Around the rivers, terrateuths had a golden age, as crocodile sized beasts fed on this bountiful supply, snatching insects out of the air with sticky tentacles, or just chasing them down. A few even abandoned their carnivorous lifestyles in favour of other ones. This invertebrate paradise didn’t last long though. Soon, draconians took more and more advantage of this food supply, and migrants from further south and other lands also took advantage. First came the mainly insectivorous or granivorous saurodonts, the more basal creatures that rapidly consumed much of the former rulers. Later, cold adapted centaurs and scythebeasts migrated to the poles, either eating or outcompeting the arthropods, and causing the gastropods to perish even more quickly. A few minor forms stuck around by developing alternate defense methods or exploiting ecological positions that the vertebrates couldn’t follow, but for the most part, their era was gone as soon as it came. A few islands of course did retain some unusual invertebrate fauna, though this was due to lack of competition rather than anything else. As these brief polar rulers went, the new forms went through their own progress.
The ruling centaurs, exapods, scythebeasts and triskelids became involved in an evolutionary arms race around this time, responding tho the large areas of new habitat to colonise and to the developments they made in each other. Some flightless draconians formed staple parts of the ecosystem, competing surprisingly well with these creatures, and edging them on further. Nevertheless, flightless draconians only became near dominant either on islands or in parts of the island continent of Mu. As for the centaurs, they began to develop greater means of defending themselves. They would become faster and more agile, with stronger kicks and better defense. Some would become larger and stronger to intimidate their would-be predators, while others became more intelligent to outsmart and deceive them. Exapods went through similar processes as the slower and less intelligent forms died out. A similar situation occurred to what happened in the latter part of the Mesozoic, as progressively more intelligent and active creatures replaced their older relatives, being more effective in almost every way. The scythebeasts also went through their changes, often in response to their prey’s changes. In many corners of the world, the tables became turned as predatory centaurs and exapods moved around, even independently of Terra Incognetia, where many of the medium-sized predators came from these groups. In these isolated mainland habitats, cursorial centaurs with vicious claws would eviscerate their prey from the side, while mole like scythebeasts would burrow beneath their feet in search of worms. These unusual forms would help enrich the fauna, which diversified even more as the newly developing onititans and battletoads spread across the southern hemisphere. A final renewal taking place during this era was the final rise of Martinia, allowing the basilisks and martiniatheres to spread once more, though newer waves of draconian, saurodont and terrateuth made their way there as well. Other continental movements took place as the Stepstones formed, while Terra Incognetia moved south and Mu moved west, towards Mumbia and the Land of Milk and Honey. Change was already in the air.

The heat quickly turned up due to some unknown climatic circumstances. Just as with Earth’s Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum, a sharp rise in temperature occurred during this era. The ice caps were temporarily eliminated, leading to rising sea levels and an initial devastation of lowland fauna and flora. The shallow seas were also hurt by greater heat and by their previously shallow habitat being flooded, forcing them to migrate into former land. Soon however, things stabilised and this brief iceless era took place.
Within this period, as the world’s temperatures dramatically sky-rocketed, forest dwelling beasts and browsing forms did quite well, as did desert dwellers. The habitats in between though suffered. As a result, grasslands became much scarcer, though still present, while the open forests spread once again. In Terra Incognetia, the basal enormacentaurs started to truly do well as they were outcompeting most of the giant browsing lickers from their ecological position, with their larger stature and free arms helping them greatly to find food. At this point is when the western and eastern groups diverged from one another, with the western ones being more basal and with more extensive coverings of fur and hooves. This group would do well for several million years, eventually making their way to the Dike Dike Islands, and forming the ancestors of the modern pygmy enormacentaur, while their relatives would later go extinct due to competition.
Meanwhile, in the forests of Triberia, an unusually large group of saurodonts specialised towards aquatic crustaceans and chordateuths, developing a low body with sprawling limbs and a proportionally large head, having partially lost their control of their body temperature, while the arms atrophied into haired sensors like the antennae of insects. As well as feeding on these smaller prey, they would also supplement themselves by attacking larger organisms that dared to go near the edges of the water. These snappers took an ecological position similar to that of crocodiles, alligators, caimans and gharials, along with a few more extravagant forms in certain island habitats. From this region, they would spread into river environments across all the continents, except Terra Incogetia and Mu. They particularly thrived during this temporary hot era that suited partially ectothermic creatures like these, along with their prey. But this era did not last. As the carbon dioxide levels had spiked, many plants were now starting to consume this and lower the levels dramatically. This took place particularly with the highly carbon-consuming ailainthus descendants that proliferated. As a result, this long era ended in favour of a newer, cooler one once again.

Once again, an ice age environment occurred over much of Ao-Oni, with ice caps reaching quite far north and south in each hemisphere, preceded by conifers, tundras and taiga. Many of the tropical groups like snappers went into decline during this period, along with ectothermic species living near or around the poles, which quickly perished. The lower sea levels caused many coral and crustaceans to die or migrate into deeper waters, which were moving closer to the surface. Sea levels became over 100m lower than they are today, and as a result, many animals had to adjust to this. Despite these changes, some animals adapted quite well, as the fauna of colder habitats once again found that they could be prevalent in the ecosystem. In Terra Incognetia, the centaurs, exapods and triskelids managed to regain a foothold in the main ecosystems alongside the more tropically adapted enormacentaurs, while the great dragons first evolved in Hyperborea and soon spread across the northern hemisphere. Woolly animals certainly became fairly prevalent thanks to this, and Valinor soon became full of them.
In Valinor, the group known as onititans were taking on forms more like their modern one. The eyes were proportionally small to cope with colder climates, giving them an almost whale-like appearance to them from a distance, though they lacked the great intelligence those creatures had. The tongues in this form were insulated with microscopic hairs, which not only made them more insulating, but also gave them a better grip when it came to food. Already having evolved into giants that exploited the large food supplies, it is within this era that they started to become the largest land animals on all of Ao-Oni. At this point around 369 million PC appeared the huge probrontodus, a beast living on the edges of coniferous forests and tundra, feeding off spruce leaves and bark from great distances with its tongue. The animal is estimated to have reached around 18m excluding the tongue, and weigh a whopping 35 tonnes, not nearly as large as some of its descendants would be, but unquestionably the largest land animal of its time already, something that would be improved on later. With its better tongue and adaptions to cooler climates. The fur coat and increased fat layers gave it an advantage over its more tropical relatives, which it began to replace. In warmer areas, its descendents would lose their fur coats and fat but retain their hairy tongues, leading to further outcompeting. Predators would not dare touch these mighty behemoths for a long time, and it would be millions of years before something finally evolved to take advantage of this food source.
Meanwhile, in southern Hyperborea another change was taking place amongst the centitheres. For millions of years, these multi-legged low animals flourished on algae, saurodonts, grasses and other low level foods, as their skeletons adapted to better suit this lower lifestyle. Eventually, during the early part of this era, a new form arose which took to another extreme entirely. While the more legs they gained, the smaller they were proportionally, a mutant appeared which did not have legs at all. This was the very first of the anapods, and without limbs in the way, they could become more flexible, along with being able to sneak into burrows and ambush their rodent-like prey. The anapods spread quickly from this, adapting into carnivores, insectivores, omnivores and even the odd herbivore in places. They reached almost every island and created forms from as small as a pencil to as large as an anaconda (though this species is no longer with us). While the other centitheres had reduced upper jaws, these anapods had none at all, and the lower jaws soon rotated to form horizontal jaws like those of insects. They retained the furry coat on the top like their ancestors, but their underside was hardened into scales to maximise slippery movement. They are now found in almost every habitat, and their high adaptability has allowed them to flourish through all these changes.
Later in this era, a particularly cold snap took place around 380 million PC, which enhanced further the conditions which caused many animals to grow or become woollier in their build. Various animals in continents such as Valinor and Terra Incognetia formed into creatures that are more familiar today, though with more northern ranges, as it was only recently that more tropical species made a resurgence. In the polar waters surrounding the South Pole, vast amounts of plankton came to boom, along with small chordateuths and krill-like crustaceans. Even some small xenothallasiotheres came into their own from this bountiful supply, where one of their most ingenious and revolutionary adaptions would later occur. It is from this caste of organisms that formed a food source for some very impressive animals. With the filter-feeding jellyfish restricted to the tropics mainly, some of the bizarre allocetids began to form an ecological position here, with their old whiskers forming a substance quite similar to baleen in Earth’s old whales, though with a more feather-like structure to make even more effective filtering of their prey, and a better adaption to cold climates then most of the clades of xenothallasiothere, though later groups would also come to exploit these filter feeders too in their own way.
In the tropics, another order was developing. As the climate dried, open habitats formed and the creatures within them adapted along new lines. The centaurs in particular flourished across Hyperborea and Valinor, with species becoming faster, better defending or more intelligent depending on their circumstances, with one group in particular adapting with new found degrees of intellect, allowing them to strategically determine where and when to collect food or prey items. They would supplement their diet with some meat from carrion, insects or small saurodonts to create a source of protein for their brain size to increase. In a hostile world, they were forced to deal with a range of deadly predators. Further south, the onititans finally found a form of predator that could exploit them. These were the first of the savagers, a group of unusually large scythebeasts with unique killing mechanisms. Rather than having their claws as their primary weapon, the claws were shaped like hooks and would dig deeply into the prey item, while a devastatingly sharp bite would tear out large chunks of flesh like a shark or charcharadontasaur would. This way of causing the prey to bleed to death would be far safer, yet much more brutal than the standard means of strangling or slashing prey that other predators would tend to take. Other scythebeasts or predatory exapods and centaurs couldn’t stand a chance in competing with these new creatures, and so they refrained from specialising towards very large prey. nevertheless, within the last 10 million years of this era, the last free areas of Triberia, Mumbia and the Land of Milk and Honey were colonised by the expanding scythebeasts, leaving only Terra Incognetia, Martinia and Mu unoccupied by these bizarre monsters. And even this would not last forever. During the last parts of this era, collisions were taking place as the long isolated continent of Mu collided with the Axe Peninsula in eastern Valinor, leading to a landbridge forming. A further impact that took place from this was that it cut off the cold currents moving in from the poles, allowing that region of the world to warm up. This, along with the end of the Milankovitch cycles, started to lead to the world as a whole becoming warmer yet again.

Within the last four million years of Ao-Oni’s prehistory, most of the creatures that we are now familiar to us have evolved, along with a number of now extinct forms which became victims of competition, catastrophe or decline of habitat. This final period is signified with signs of global warming to a more moderate climate than the previous ice-age, allowing shallow seas to make another comeback and allow the fauna and flora living there to flourish once again. What were once peninsulas and lands became islands and allowed fauna to be isolated and evolve in their own way. Beach-bamboo spread into these new areas as well, as far up as the temperate zones in terms of latitude, with their dependencies coming with them. Soon, the world returned to a climate not too different to that of Earth’s Miocene era, or the middle Neogene. With a warmer climate, fauna in general were becoming more diverse as tropical habitat expanded while deserts shrank. Additionally, geological changes were taking place even more. The continent of Terra incognetia once again collided with a landmass, allowing fauna to start spreading between the two. This time though, the continent was Valinor, and while the linking between the two landmasses was gradual, it allowed creatures to flow between the different regions. Some of the quickest fauna to migrate into Terra Incognetia were the algatheres, along with new groups of saurodonts, enzyomotheres, and even the scufflers, a group of small mole-like scythebeasts feeding on insects within the last few millennia before the present day, the swordhands from south. On the other hand, some of the native animals such as felitaurs, enormacentaurs and striders began to move into Valinor. Unlike the South American exchange, there have not been any mass-die-offs of local fauna on either side so far, although the arrival of scythebeasts to Terra Incognetia is almost certainly going to have major consequences, as native predatory exapod populations are already declining in the Claw. Meanwhile, in southern Hyperborea on the Stampas, a population of centaurs developed a great new change. They had already started to use stone tools in their methods of carving and creating foods, but now they were using it for more elaborate purposes, such as offensively attacking prey items, attaching them to lengths of wood to form spears, or even rubbing them together to create fire. A new species, known as Sapiocentauris ingenius, had evolved and it soon spread south in the the Slug’s face peninsula, with local populations quickly adapting to the local climate and food. This would be the start of a new sapient species emerging, as man once again rose to a mind of great intellect.

A sighting by the shores of the vast lake during the long summer. A lone Scaghound (Harpecheirus borotriberiensis) takes a drink from the edge, while a flock of lesser griffs (Griffotherium minus) prepares to feast on the current swarms of mayflies gathering around the water surface to mate.