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| The Aftermath; Fifteen million years, with the effects of man still around. | |
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| Topic Started: Oct 29 2016, 01:21 PM (706 Views) | |
| Corecin | Oct 29 2016, 01:21 PM Post #1 |
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While we could simply wave off the fall of humanity, saying that it doesn't truly matter considering that we are looking at a world where all signs of human civilization have disappeared. However, this would simply leave far too many questions unanswered. So we will be looking at how humanity had advance, how it has fallen, and how it had changed the world forever. Quite the important advancement was the colonization and terraforming of many different planets and moons all over the galaxy. This helped save many different species from extinction, with farms being relocated on many colonies, which gave animals on earth more space. Terraformed planets saved many more by giving them predestined areas which were specifically made for certain animals, creatures like cheetahs, rhinos and marsupials thrive on a terraformed mars. Genetic modification is definitely the most notable of any other advancement from humanity. Modification was used to help prevent health issues, and improve animals and humans in different ways. But the most noticeable thing it has done, was create new species. These species were made for a myriad of different reasons, ranging from advanced substitutes for normal livestock, exotic pets that you just needed to have, and even animals made for the thrill of trophy hunting. However, while these two major advancements were overwhelmingly helpful to the human race (and many more species), they also came with great risks. Unfortunately, these risks did play out. The humans separated by many light years by their great space travel and terraforming technology, soon started to develop different cultures and views than one another. These continuing differences would make the different leaders start to disagree with one another, which would lead to much greater conflicts. This would lead to one of the greatest conflicts in human history, which would come to be known as the "Intergalactic War". While there had been world wars (on different worlds) and even a few wars between a few different colonies, they were nothing compared to this. The war was a bloody conflict, with many people dying trying to save their planet, or civilians dying to 'negate future conflicts'. Near the end of the war, one group had taken almost every colony and planet. Their final step was taking Earth. Their plan was to keep the people on Earth from getting resources from their moon, which they grown much to accustomed to, effectively starving them out. This caused many trade systems to become disrupted, and gigantic farms and cities had to be made to support the population, killing off animals and environments which had previously been saved. As they watched the Earth starve and suffer from infighting, the group who had stationed themselves on Mars decided to end this. They would nuke any large and important cities, than launch an genetically engineered virus to kill everyone off, and finally sent troops down who were modified to be immune to the virus, their goal was to exterminate any remaining world rulers or governments which were still around. What the "Martians" did not expect, was the Earth itself fighting back. It fought back by giving the humans of Earth germs, which the invaders had not been exposed to for so long it became deadly to them, not even their modifications defended them. As soon as one of the few surviving countries realized this, they sent a number of stealthy spaceships carrying the weaponized disease to mars, to eradicate them in the same why the Martians had to them, stopping them from taking the Earth, even if they would not rule it forever. The specifics of the past, and what happened to any remaining humans on earth or any other standing human colonies has been lost to time, and space. Now, we see the Earth, fifteen million years after that genocidal war humanity had committed. We see the Earth after humans have saved its inhabitants, only to doom them again. We see, the Aftermath. Information Overviews
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| Corecin | Oct 29 2016, 01:26 PM Post #2 |
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The Fate of our Current Species While many species had gone extinct thanks to global warming, overhunting, expanding farmland and other human activity, many species did survive the turmoil, and almost no groups completely went extinct. In the Americas many large animals survived, thanks to heir quite unexpected adaptability to human land. In Europe, all but some of the largest animals survived, as opposed to Asia and Africa where almost a lot of their large carnivores and herbivores had died off. Australia only lost many of their marsupials which were out competed by introduced animals who had the same niche but did it better. Many large carnivores went extinct due to a loss of prey animals, and had been culled due to possible attacks on humans or livestock. Canids went through almost unscathed, only dholes, old world wolves and African wild dogs had gone extinct, now canids are one of the most common and diverse carnivore groups. Panthera is limited to leopards and jaguars, and descendants of domestic cats are found everywhere but are not particularly diverse. Spotted hyenas and aardwolves have spread and diversified across the old world into a variety of forms, while bears have gone completely extinct thanks to humans, and recent competition from other animals, like boar descendants. Most herbivores went extinct because of a loss of habitat and food, specially thanks to farmland. All wild cattle had gone extinct, and domestic cattle with their huge numbers managed to go feral in some areas. While antelope and deer have been limited to a few species, they have now spread and rediversified across the globe. Domestic goats have gone feral quite easily, but sheep descendants only survive in Australia, both of their wild relatives are all but gone. Pigs have the most diverse descendants of any other 'herbivores', camelids are doing very well in the Americas and Australia, and equines have also diversified in the Americas and in Africa, with a great many descendants of zebras from Africa. Birds of prey were knocked down to a few species, but have rediversified into new groups reminiscent of the old. Ratites are doing very well all over the globe, ostriches being the most successful, found all over Eurasia, Africa and the Americas. Chicken descendants are some of the most common small ground birds, and waterfowl have diversified extremely. Tropical birds almost went completely extinct, but were saved thanks to their popularity as pets, they were brought by man all over the globe, and have established themselves. The ocean was stripped of its reef dwellers and its largest animals. Most large sharks have died, and the smaller ones are taking their place, with a few competitors. All whales apart from some dolphins went extinct, the filter feeders are replaced by seals and sharks, and dolphins are some of the largest and most common predators. The ocean has overall recovered, possibly to a higher diversity than it was before man, but we really can't know that considering there are species which we haven't seen during mans age, or this age. Reptiles fared well, with the most noticeable species which have gone extinct being most crocodilians, large tortoises and all sea turtles. The surviving crocodilians were alligators and caimans which have both shown great potential as of late. Varanids are doing great in Australia and iguanas are doing quite well in he Americas. And now, mans longest lasting effect on nature, genetically modified animals, and not to forget the descendants of man itself. The most notable genetically modified animal being the gallusaur (a chickensaur), which is definitely the most successful of any of the feral GM animals. And of the posthumans, there are two on earth who are sapient, and the others are still quite intelligent, they make up the last remaining members of the ape group on earth. |
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| Corecin | Oct 29 2016, 02:43 PM Post #3 |
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North America Spoiler: click to toggle Above; North America fifteen million years in the future, the primary change caused, notably, by rising seas. Fifteen million years after our present day, numerous factors, like the melting of the ice caps, and continental drift have caused many continents to go through quite notable changes. North America, however, is quite the same to how it was during the age of man. However, while the continent itself is quite the same, the environments, biomes, ecosystems and creatures have changed quite a lot from how they are today. Now, North America is pure wilderness, filled with tons of animals and plants, and almost no memory of man. However, the effects of man still have notable changes here, involving both fauna, flora and environmental change. While compared to the rest of the world, North America's megafauna proved to be much more adaptable compared to those of other continents, while only some of the largest animals like polar bears and bison died off. Moose could be seen weaving between backyards, and cougars could be seen slinking from their hiding spots in the midst of the night, to hunt the overpopulated deer and pronghorn populations. The cougars would silently compete with hybrids of coyotes, wolves and feral dogs. Even megafauna not native to the continent managed to survive here, even if they didn't survive in their own old homes. Antelope in particular managed to thrive and escape from their enclosures, being brought for the thrill of trophy hunting. Other introduced animals like ostriches and emu, macaque and vervet monkeys and the striped hyena have thrived here, successfully competing with native animals. Speaking of immigrants, many animals have migrated to and back from South America, and North American fauna doing the same as their southern cousins. And then, there's also the genetically modified animals, which were meant for a variety of different purposes. Quite a few have managed to go feral and start populations, competing with regular animals. Some of these GM creatures include the Gallusaur, the Poccuma and the Oragus, and quite notably, the bossus. On the flip side, very little plant species went extinct, with conservations made to have them grown in gardens and parks. However, many environments were cut down and were only protected by national parks, and they didn't always manage to recover. Some of these environments include the red wood forests and the Everglades. The latter did manage to recover and has even grown larger than before, while the former is extremely limited, and has barely recovered from the devastation its experienced. There are many other biomes which have gone through some interesting changes too. One of which are the large, barren, rocky deserts, which have largely converted into plains, thanks to humans GMing (genetically modifying) crops and grasses to be able to grow here, making it into suitable farmland. Forests of many different kinds have grown larger, thanks to the great many which were planted in parks and suburbs, and which quickly overtook the ruins of cities. Tropical areas are very common the more you go near Mexico, caused by the warming of the planet. North America, is now largely dominated by forests which circle the midst of the continent. The rest is spanned by plains, which is reminiscent of the African savanna in some areas. Tropical forests can be found around the area where the Everglades were, and in Mexico and some of Texas. Notable fauna include the diverse descendants of dogs, almost bear like raccoons, immigrants from South America. There is even a sapient post human, which migrates along with the herds of animals, and in some cases, has set up permanent tribal encampments. The image is not mine, it is actually from this website. |
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| Corecin | Oct 30 2016, 11:28 AM Post #4 |
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Overview; Diverse Domestic Dog Descendants  Above; the Labrador Retriever, currently the most popular breed of dog in America. Having been domesticated around sixteen thousand years ago and evolving, adapting, and having been bred by our side up until now, domestic dogs are our workers, and our companions. And they will continue to be in the far future, at least until all human civilization falls apart at the hands of one another. But while civilization is still around, many new breeds of dogs will be developed, both the smaller, lap dogs, and the larger, 'normal' dogs. One of the most notable differences between our current dogs and those of the future is that in the future, genetic modification will greatly influence the new dog breeds developed, and how dogs in general will work. Thanks to genetic modification, dogs are much more healthy than they are today. Problems dogs face, like bloating, certain skeletal problems, and others won't be seen in dogs of the future, thanks to new laws against unethical treatment of animals, which extends to even the risk of a health situation going unanswered. Another change among dogs is that they're effectively 'upgraded', thanks to their heightened lifespans, increased intelligence, ability to eat potentially harmful substances, and even having the ability to see in color. These have all made the dog an even better pet than it is now, making them more like a member of the family than a pet. Dog breeds are much more highly diverse, with many having traits that would take at least a couple more dog generations to produce more than it would've with normal breeding. Some breeds have traits taken from other canids, like the painted breed, which has the pattern of an African wild dog. There are even specially made dogs, which are completely unique from any other dog. However, when civilization was nuked, sickened, and hunted down, dogs very easily went feral, with huge populations left in a world where almost all other competitors were gone. Even the smaller lap dogs managed to survive and leave descendants, competing with smaller carnivores like foxes and cats. Their modifications giving them an even bigger advantage over other, wild animals.  Above; a coydog pup, an offspring of a coyote and a dog. This huge population essentially flooded those of the coyotes and the remaining wolves. While gray wolves, with an already small population, went extinct due to cross breeding, many coyote populations had the same fate, however some descendants of pure blood coyotes still live today. Even with this mixing of genes, you can still see traits found only in domestic dogs, coyotes and wolves in their descendants today. Now, dogs are one of the most diverse groups of carnivores alive today, and some of them could probably still be capable of cross breeding with their wolf ancestors. They are found across the globe, thanks to the spread of cities which consequently took away from their old competitors. Dogs have taken many different niches, from small hunters of mice and rats, to behemoths meant to hunt the largest megafauna, and even one which appears to have the highest intelligence of any carnivoran. |
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| Corecin | Oct 31 2016, 02:10 PM Post #5 |
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The Prolific, Premature, Piggy Porker  Above; a boar piglet, differentiated from an adult Porker by their heads, the Porkers being much more like that of a domestic piglets. The shady forest floor, tinted in grays and blacks thanks to the canopy, splotched with a bright light due to a break in the canopy above. The floor of the forest is littered with bushes, piles of dry leaves, and fallen tree branches, forming a sort of carpet. However, every so often there is a barren patch of land which is void of any of the foliage or plants prevalent everywhere else. In these carpet holes, you may see a common, but still elusive, little creature, known as the Porker. It's small, diminutive size lets it go almost unnoticed as it waddles through the undergrowth, eating leaves, fruits, bugs, and carrion found on the floor. It would be like looking for a needle in a haystack if you were to look for it while it hid in the undergrowth, it's striped hide giving it perfect camouflage for a lifetime. The porker is a small, rabbit sized descendant of domestic pigs, or too be specific, the house kept mini pig. The Mini Pig was commonly kept as a pet in cities, it was very dog like, but with the advantage of being very 'exotic'. Many different breeds were produced, the most popular was dubbed 'baby boar', probably because it's coloration was of a baby boar, or of a baby tapir in some cases. After mankind fell, this pet, like many others, managed to go feral and survive in the wild. However, the baby boar breed managed to survive more than their stripeless brethren, thanks to the camouflage humans provides them. Porkers are found almost only in forests or wherever there's a lot of trees and undergrowth to hide in. While it seems they could quite easily adapt to live on the plains, they never choose to, and seem to take the 'easy' route by staying in the forest. This may be because they've been perfectly adapted for life under the trees, or maybe it's because of competition with rabbits. Porkers appear to be the rabbits one and only competitor, both being small, quick breeders who are hunted by almost every predator. The only difference between the two being that the porker is a highly intelligent omnivore. While there used to a type of rabbit which lived in forests here in North America, they seemingly stopped living in forests, which is around the time that the porker became a much more common site across north North and South America. While they are small and illusive, no self respecting carnivore (who lives near them) can call themselves a predator if they don't ever hunt a porker. So practically ever carnivore is a self respecting predator. Even though it's commonly preyed upon, the porker is still an extremely common forest animal. They live in large groups, though, you would probably only be able to see one of them. They help warn one another when they hear or smell a potential threat, which could be something as harmless as a pigeon. They do breed quickly, like rabbits, and will mature at six months of age, and can have as many as twenty piglets at once! Though, the piglets are also hunted, by smaller carnivores like ferrets and rats. Below; an adult domestic pig. The ancestor of the GMed pet pig. 
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| Corecin | Nov 1 2016, 01:52 PM Post #6 |
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Feist  Above; a pair of Norfolk terriers, a breed with which is very similar to the Feist. While the smaller, lap dog breeds tended to be much less adept at surviving in the wild compared to their larger cousins, on the off occasion where they would start feral populations, they tended to be extremely successful. Most feral small dogs would hunt animals like rats, or larger animals like raccoons. One of these dog descendants has become a hunter of rats and other pests, and is renowned for its ability in hunting huge numbers of rodents. The Feist is a successful descendant of small dogs, which specialize in hunting burrowing rodents. It is 17.78 centimeters tall, which allows it to chase its prey through the undergrowth or into their burrows. They typically have a light brown coloring, though the tips of their ears and tails are white, which allow them to communicate and stay in touch with one another, and they have a thin coat which lets debris roll off their back. They live in burrows, which they take from rodents and rabbits, the way they set up a home is quite ingenious. It starts, with a pack of of feists, which can be a group of five, to one of thirty, locating a large, expanse of burrows, usually made and housed by a group of rabbits or some other rodent. They make their presence quite clear, usually barking and vocally communicating with each other, causing many of the prey to retreat underground. Soon, each of the fiests will go to a different hole, some may be very close to one another, others may be farther from one another. They will then either run or bark into the burrow, causing the prey to frighten and attempt to get out through an escape route. This is just what the dogs have expected, and will snap at the animals as they come out of the burrow, or chase it down. When these burrows are cleared out, the den mother and her pups, plus one or two adults will stay for the day. They will store their excess amount of corpses in a different burrow, which will supply the mother and the 'nannies' with food for the day. The other fiests will go out and hunt numerous rodents on the surface, which they will bring home. They will then all retire for the night, sleeping snuggly with one another. Interestingly, for their small size they are extremely aggressive, and will not tolerate competition or potential threats. They drive off competition like cats, ferrets, foxes and other fiest packs, and threats like large dogs, raccoons and predatory birds. They drive them off with unending yipping and high pitched whining, and if the animals is close to their size, they will swarm them and start biting them. This doesn't sound bad when you look at the dogs size, but in groups they can tear skin and rip off fur, which can cause bleeding and even lead to infections! Though it is quite an adept hunter and even a pretty good fighter, the fiest still knows it's place in the ecosystem, as the small hunter which may be commonly predated on. If any large animal is nearby, the fiest will go the sneaky way out, by crawling away through the leaf litter, giving their companions a heads up with complicated flicks of their tail and ears. As soon as they're out of the large predators sight, they run away, back to the safety of their den, where they can feel safe and secure, and be excused by the den mother for their failure thanks to how many animals they've accumulated the day before. |
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| Beetleboy | Nov 3 2016, 05:08 AM Post #7 |
neither lizard nor boy nor beetle . . . but a little of all three
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Loving this project. Keep it up. |
| ~ The Age of Forests ~ | |
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| Corecin | Nov 3 2016, 12:29 PM Post #8 |
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I will, I'm just writing a new batch of entries. Thank you! |
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| Corecin | Nov 4 2016, 11:49 AM Post #9 |
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The Oventi The most successful of any of the genetically modified species, gallusaurs have descendants all over the world, taking a great variety of forms. While they, characteristically, have their claws, or tails, or snouts, or arms, they don't tend to be much more different than any other birds. However, some have taken their dinosaurian features to the next level. This is where we see the Oventi, a forest dwelling gallusaur whose fingers and arms have a much more prominent role in its life than other relatives. Aside from being slimmer but still about twice as large as a normal chicken, it has long, muscular arms, and three, long, clawed fingers at the end and a somewhat short, but still longer than any other natural birds tail. These arms and hands are capable of reaching towards objects, and grasping them. It's legs are also very muscular, letting it out on bursts of speed, and jump up to three times its height. It is coated in a reddish brown coat, of feathers, like those of a kiwi, and black scales on its legs and fingers. It has a bright yellow wattle on its head and throat which are capable of expanding to five inches long, along with a bright yellow beak, which has tooth like projections. The oventi is much more specialized and derived from its modified ancestors than those of other gallusaurs. The obvious differences being their much more prominent arms, and elongated fingers. This is because they have evolved to be much more of a scavenger and thief, their strategy is to carry away their food in their claws, to escape the owner of the stolen meal. This food is usually, eggs and young animals. This meal an oventi will find can be a corpse, a small animal, or eggs from tree nests. They will grab it in their hands, or their beak which they transfer to their hands, and run. They usually won't be chased, but an animal may follow them, usually a mother who wants their children back, an opportunist who wants whatever meal they're holding, or just an animal hunting the bird itself. This is where they'll use their sharp talons to scratch at their eyes, or their long neck to peck at them. If their own life is in danger, the oventi will drop their food in hopes of the predator getting distracted. This is the case of a singular oventi, one who probably hasn't found a mate yet and hasn't set up a family. It is quite obvious if they do have a mate, seen by their change in hunting strategy. This couple hunting strategy involves the one of the two mates, usually the one whose faster, will grab the egg and make a run for it. The stronger, larger and bulkier one (this can be either of the sexes) will follow close behind, searching for any threats. If an animal starts to chase them, the larger one will attack it, using its claws, toothed beaks, kicks, talons, and it's expanding wattle to intimidate them, though the wattle only works if it's another oventi. When the oventi makes it back to its home, which is usually a hollow in a tree trunk, it will kill its meal if it isn't dead already, and eat it. However, if the oventi is a mother or father, they will rip the food up into multiple pieces, the larger of them going to the chicks. This doesn't mean they don't get food, when the chicks are satisfied, the adults will go out yet again, this time for an easy meal like a rodent. This animal is very common in the eastern forests of North America, but has become increasingly common in the south eastern areas as well. It doesn't face much competition, but it does face a lot of predation. It's predators include foxes, cats, raccoons, possums and other gallusaur species along with some larger opportunistic carnivores. In the folklore of the native peoples, seeing the oventi run away to its den with live baby animals, or eggs, gives these animals an extremely bad reputation. They're seen as kidnappers, serial murderers, evil animals who torture their victims, and even rapists! This causes the peoples to kill them on sight, kill them without eating them, and some 'spirit journeys' or rites of passage require the killing of one of these 'demons'. This, however, has had almost no effect on the gallusaurs populations, even if they're persecuted in extremely high numbers. |
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| Corecin | Nov 5 2016, 01:56 PM Post #10 |
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Overview; The New Raccoon Diversity  During the anthropocene extinction, many bears were unable to adapt to cities, with not enough available food for most of them. This caused many bears to start raiding houses out of desperation, and even kill animals in neighborhoods, striking fear in the local human populous. This led to a cull being called upon bears around the world, which caused them to go completely extinct on Earth. The only bear capable of adapting to cities and suburbs was the American black bear, which comfortably sat out from the persecution its relatives. When civilization fell, black bears attempted to take the role that their brown cousins left behind. They did this relatively quickly, and appeared to be in the clear from any potential threats. However, in South America, raccoons were becoming larger, and were the southern equivalent to the northern black bears. After the jungles started to spread northwards, so did these raccoons, and they would soon start competing increasingly with the local bears. Meanwhile in North America, raccoons were taking a greater variety of niches than those of the south. Most of these were tree dwelling primate like creatures, or cat like carnivorous animals. Not concerning themselves with what was happening with their southern relatives. :origin()/pre09/94ab/th/pre/i/2015/052/6/8/rocket__is_that_you__by_dontknowwhattodraw94-d8iwhl0.jpg) Above; an extinct raccoon, Chapalmalania altaefrontis which is very similar to some of the current bear like raccoons today. As the bear like raccoons and bears both attempted to spread into one another's territory, the raccoons were shown to have a much higher population, than bears in the same area. Quite soon, these giant raccoons managed to completely outcompete the worlds remaining bears, causing this once proud order to be completely extinct on the Earth. Nowadays, raccoons have taken a variety of niches, from the small, monkey like animals mentioned before, to large, lumbering bear like behemoths. They tend to be very intelligent, and most even retain their dexterous fingers. Some are even very primate like, more in behavior than anything else. They are more diverse now than bears have ever been, and will probably continue to be for millions of years to come. They rule the new world as some of the most common and widespread animals, and show incredibly potential for very much heightened intelligence and seem to even be attempting to take over the niches of cats and even of cats too. However, they could just as easily live alongside them, but we aren't focusing on that time. The image of the Chapalmalania is by dontknowwhattodraw, please Check Him Out How do you name a spoiler? |
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| Corecin | Nov 7 2016, 05:51 PM Post #11 |
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I've been quite busy recently, and got a little distracted, so I haven't been able to post entries for a bit. However, I did write up some concepts for this project, but it wouldn't take place in the North American forests or even Earth. Instead they'd take place in gigantic domes on the moon, which are still functioning and keeping animals live. Would you guys like to see this? Or should I continue with the current biome? |
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| Vorsa | Nov 7 2016, 06:40 PM Post #12 |
Mysterious tundra-dwelling humanoid
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You add = and then whatever you want to say after Like this Also, I'm interested in whatever you post so just do what you want.  |
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My Deviantart: http://desorages.deviantart.com/ Birbs "you are about to try that on a species that clawed its way to the top of a 4 billion year deep corpse pile of evolution. one that has committed the genocide you are contemplating several times already. they are the pinnacle of intelligence-based survival techniques and outnumber you 7 billion to 1" - humans vs machine | |
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| Corecin | Nov 7 2016, 07:26 PM Post #13 |
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Thank You |
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