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| Holocene and Beyond; it is here | |
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| Topic Started: Jan 10 2017, 02:41 PM (4,933 Views) | |
| Beetleboy | Jan 10 2017, 02:41 PM Post #1 |
neither lizard nor boy nor beetle . . . but a little of all three
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~ Holocene and Beyond ~ It has begun For 3.8 billion years, there's been life on our planet. A world floating in the cosmos, a blue and brown dot in the vast universe. Elsewhere in our galaxy, tiny organisms were evolving on planets. On some worlds, life had only just appeared, on others it had been busy evolving and populating their landscape for millions of years already. On countless worlds life was going extinct. Birth, death, life, on a cosmic scale, beyond our or any other being's perception – at least for now. And at this point in time, the miracle of life appeared on another world. Earth. This moment, which would lead to the incredible journey of evolution, although it would change this one world, was of no great consequence to the universe as a whole. Life came and went all the time, and on the grand scale of intergalactic life, Earth was a miniscule, insignificant speck of life. But for this rocky, blue planet, life would change everything. As the first vertebrates swam through the primordial seas, 525 million years ago, elsewhere in the universe alien organisms were crafting tools and developing sapience. For Earth, it would be a long time until it would see high levels of intelligence. The closest it would get until humans, elephants, corvids, and cetaceans came along would be certain dinosaurs, but the ones that showed most promise were wiped out in the K-Pg event. Theropods lived on, however, in birds, which would later show signs of semi-sapience. There was a long way to go until then, however. When we reach the Holocene, everything on Earth changed in ways that would affect the future profoundly. From apes using stones to crack nuts, to the usage of fire and refined tool making, eventually those primates using sticks to fish for termites would build civilizations and colonise the surface of the planet. Homo sapiens would become the unexpected conquerer of Earth, wiping out species as it goes, and destroying habitats for its own purposes. *** Cities, like a shining metal forest, grew and spread across the world, pushing back natural habitats like forests and grassland. Almost too late, humans realised the damage they were doing to the world, polluting it, destroying habitats, killing off species, and contributing towards global warming. It was too late to completely halt the climatic change they had caused, but Homo sapiens could change its ways. Reneweable fuels became the norm, slowly but surely. With the population so huge, there was never large amounts of wild spaces, and many animals went extinct in the wild, but lived on in zoos or in frozen genetic material. The world entered a state of space exploration and genetic modification. Pets, which had for a short period become uncommon due to the lack of space, were now 'trending' again, as populations dropped to a more sustainable level. Genetically modification became common worldwide, GM'd species being used for a variety of reasons – some were pets, some were adapted to take care of invasive species, a few were even made purely for the purpose of teaching students. Further into the future, genetic modification became so common-place that the rich could ask for specially-designed, unique animals, and GMing became a sort of art form. Many of our pets were too frail and dependant on us to survive in the wild . . . but with the overwhelming number of GM'd species, many would survive in the future. In the end, humanity killed itself, in a war to end all wars, wiping out their own species. Those who survived where killed off by the bio-engineered viruses, even the Martian people, the virus spreading to them from people fleeing from Earth on evacuee ships. The bombed mega-cities were empty. The once life-filled domes on Mars were empty. The houses and parks were empty . . . But Earth was not. *** Humanity would change the face of the Earth in a way that would be felt for millions of years. It was our pets and companions, the genetically modified organisms, and the urban animals, that would take over where the cities once stood. While some areas still had a large amount of wild animals living in natural places, much of the Earth's land was covered in cities and 'parks' (large wild areas in the city, used for keeping endangered species in, semi-wild). After the extinction of Homo sapiens, the parks and the cities disappeared, forests and plains reclaiming the land. Urban animals and park species were free to conquer the new wild space, before less adaptable pets and GM'd species got there first. But eventually, get there they did, and the world was changed radically, in sometimes surprisingly and bizarre ways. Many pets couldn't survive without humans, and died off, but there were some which survived. Amongst the genetically modified animals, some used their bizarre traits to help them survive, while less adaptable and frail species died off. *** In Chapter I we will look at life during human's reign, from their pets to urban animals. We will look at the surprising habitats humanity will create, from floating 'reef' cities to Martian domes. In Chapter II, we shall explore the legacy that humanity left behind in animal form, from pouched dogs to giant goldfish, bioluminescent mice to raptorfowl, and stranger organisms still . . . *** Welcome to the Holocene and Beyond . . . Contents |
| ~ The Age of Forests ~ | |
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| Beetleboy | Jan 17 2017, 10:13 AM Post #76 |
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neither lizard nor boy nor beetle . . . but a little of all three
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Illustrations finally! Been meaning to do these for a while now. Here's the first one. This is a scaly raptorfowl, a breed intended to be more like a Jurassic Park style 'raptor'. It is featherless apart from a few stubby quills, and genes used from lizards give it greenish scales with darker stripes along its rear. This breed is a short-armed variety, as some find the constantly grasping, dangling arms disturbing, especially as the species as a whole learns how to use them . . . |
| ~ The Age of Forests ~ | |
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| Beetleboy | Jan 17 2017, 10:36 AM Post #77 |
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neither lizard nor boy nor beetle . . . but a little of all three
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Second piece of art. I'm gonna do more at some point, particularly for Chapter II. These are some Europan lifeforms. A is a slow-moving Europan jelly known as the tentacled lemonjelly, which catches small organisms using its 2 tentacles. B is the dragon wormlet, a short-lived, fast moving predator which kills its prey using its hard beak and locates them with echolocation. The lemonjelly defends itself against this predator using a cloud of toxins which irritates the soft skin of the wormlet. C is the balloonfish, a rounded animal which ejects water from its rear end to move itself lazily along. The tiny spider like organisms covering it are parasites which will defend their host from predators in return for a meal of its skin. Here the tiny parasites can be seen running across their host towards the attacking predator, D, a harpoon wormlet, which is attempting to spear its prey using its long, sharp beak. |
| ~ The Age of Forests ~ | |
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| Fazaner | Jan 17 2017, 10:42 AM Post #78 |
Шашава птичурина
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Impresive drawing, it is only thing i have to say. But stil i would not chose it for a pet, too crepy. |
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Projects (they are not dead, just updated realy slowly, feel free to comment): -World after plague After a horrible plague unleashed by man nature slowly recovers. Now 36 million years later we take a look at this weird and wonderful world. -Galaxy on fire. They have left their home to get out of war. They had no idea what awaits them. My Deviant art profile, if you're curious. Before you get offended or butthurt read this | |
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| Beetleboy | Jan 17 2017, 10:45 AM Post #79 |
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neither lizard nor boy nor beetle . . . but a little of all three
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Thanks. And no, I wouldn't want one of those either . . . |
| ~ The Age of Forests ~ | |
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| Fazaner | Jan 17 2017, 12:26 PM Post #80 |
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Шашава птичурина
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Is there going to be gm-ed gelyfish to look like Europa creatures? |
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Projects (they are not dead, just updated realy slowly, feel free to comment): -World after plague After a horrible plague unleashed by man nature slowly recovers. Now 36 million years later we take a look at this weird and wonderful world. -Galaxy on fire. They have left their home to get out of war. They had no idea what awaits them. My Deviant art profile, if you're curious. Before you get offended or butthurt read this | |
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| Beetleboy | Jan 17 2017, 12:41 PM Post #81 |
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neither lizard nor boy nor beetle . . . but a little of all three
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Hhm . . . probably not. After the discovery of Europan life, the public kind of lost interest. The study of Europan life becomes more like a niche subject, like deep sea life. Public struggle to be interested in a couple of small, pale jellyfish things which don't really do much. |
| ~ The Age of Forests ~ | |
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| CaledonianWarrior96 | Jan 17 2017, 12:43 PM Post #82 |
An Awesome Reptile
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Nice to know the same number of people in the 22nd century have the same interest in science as people now do |
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Come check out and subscribe to my projects on the following subforums; Future Planet (V.2): the Future Evolution of Life on Earth (Evolutionary Continuum) The Meuse Legacy: An Alternative Outcome of the Mosasaur (Alternative Evolution) Terra Cascus: The Last Refuge of the Dinosaurs (Alternative Evolution) - Official Project - Foundation The Beryoni Galaxy: The Biologically Rich and Politically Complex State of our Galaxy (Habitational Zone) - Beryoni Critique Thread (formerly: Aliens of Beryoni) The Ecology of Skull Island: An Open Project for the Home of King Kong (Alternative Universe) The Ecology of Wakanda: An Open Project for the Home of Marvel's Black Panther (Alternative Universe) (Click bold titles to go to page. To subscribe click on a project, scroll to the bottom of the page and click "track topic" on the bottom right corner) And now, for something completely different
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| Beetleboy | Jan 17 2017, 12:46 PM Post #83 |
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neither lizard nor boy nor beetle . . . but a little of all three
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Humans don't change much.  Good news, we're more than halfway through my plans for Chapter I now, I think! |
| ~ The Age of Forests ~ | |
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| trex841 | Jan 17 2017, 01:21 PM Post #84 |
Entity
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Humans are a bunch of dumbs 
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F.I.N.D.R Field Incident Logs A comprehensive list of all organisms, artifacts, and alternative worlds encountered by the foundation team. At the present time, concepts within are inconsistent and ever shifting. (And this is just the spec related stuff) | |
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| Beetleboy | Jan 17 2017, 01:26 PM Post #85 |
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neither lizard nor boy nor beetle . . . but a little of all three
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True. 
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| ~ The Age of Forests ~ | |
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| Beetleboy | Jan 17 2017, 01:28 PM Post #86 |
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neither lizard nor boy nor beetle . . . but a little of all three
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Chapter I Vertical Gardens  In the 22nd Century, our buildings are not smooth and artificial-looking, all glass and concrete. They are structures with a living, shaggy skin that is as variable as the variety of buildings themselves. These are the vertical gardens. A 'naked building', before its plants are added to its walls and roofs, is covered in structures known as ledges and wallpots. Ledges are like small balconies, on which plants can be grown which can grow upwards and down across the walls. Ledges have large-enough spaces to grow small trees on as well. Wallpots are exactly what they say they are: pots which are attached the sides of the walls, facing outwards, so plants can grow out of them and creep across the building from this vantage point where they can set their roots down. Many plants in vertical gardens are creepers, including GM'd ones which might grow fruit on them, such as the apple vines. Other plants can be grown on ledges. Vertical gardens vary enormously from building to building. Some people make them quite practical, and grow plants which they can eat such as apple vines and vertical cabbages, whereas others go for a more ornamental look. Flowers, fruit, anything you like can be grown. This diverse vertical habitat has become an important ecosystem in the urban envioroment, and many species live here. Insects, naturally, thrive here. Aphids are something of a pest, but their GM'd predator, a giant ladybird, keeps them in check. Similarly, white butterflies lay their eggs on vertical cabbages, but the troublesome caterpillars are taken care of by a voracious GM'd creature known as a snapskeeter, designed to keep such pests in control. It is a wasp, but it has no sting, instead killing and eating its prey using its powerful mandibles. It is a predator with an insatiable appetite, eating numerous caterpillars and killing them for its larvae to feast upon as well. Woodlice, millipedes, and earwigs shelter against the side of the building, sheltered by the plants. There are snails and slugs up here too, but they are also taken care of by GM'd pest predators: cullbugs, beetles which feast upon snails and slugs, using their mandibles to eat only certain parts of the slimy body, before moving on to their next victim. This means that they are constantly hunting. The vertical gardens are the perfect habitat for a bird. There's plenty of food, it's high up and safe from ground predators, and aerial predators can be escaped from by hiding in the thick vegetation. Birds not only live and forage here, they nest here too, joined by mice and occaisonally squirrels. Vertical gardens have been important in greening the city, making it more wildlife friendly and conserving precious space. |
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| MechaSnowStalker | Jan 17 2017, 01:54 PM Post #87 |
Kaiju of the future
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This is a very nice project. I like how you showed how humans being more environmentally friendly and those GMed creatures look very cool as well, especially the dino chickens, giant pelicans and the new lifeforms of Europa and the vertical gardens. I would also like to see some pictures of the GMed insects, if that is cool. That and how creatures like crossbills and Quolls managed to survive the human activity. |
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| Tartarus | Jan 17 2017, 07:11 PM Post #88 |
Prime Specimen
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Good work on the drawings of a raptorfowl and Europan lifeforms. Also, the 22nd century cities are so much more nicer in appearance than 21st century cities. |
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| Rodlox | Jan 18 2017, 12:36 AM Post #89 |
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Superhuman
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no and no. this is the only part of this thread that I object to. the rest is great work. |
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.---------------------------------------------. Parts of the Cluster Worlds: "Marsupialless Australia" (what-if) & "Out on a Branch" (future evolution) & "The Earth under a still sun" (WIP) | |
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| Beetleboy | Jan 18 2017, 06:15 AM Post #90 |
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neither lizard nor boy nor beetle . . . but a little of all three
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Thanks for the comments, I'll reply properly tonight. |
| ~ The Age of Forests ~ | |
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