#age 2

Not Nice

Age: 2

I was a babbling little baby, gosh, I never shut up

They were constantly discussing ways to get rid of the annoying, useless baby. Orphanages seemed to be the most popular option

Turns out, I had an elder brother

Apparently, he never let them take me away

You see, he was the ‘heir’ and the ‘first boy’

So, magically, they listened to him

Part I: Equatorial Marshes: The Beginnings of Terrestrial Heterotrophes

As the global temperatures rebound from the brief ice age, melting ice caps create plentiful aquatic environments along the coasts. Particularly around the equator, the plants take advantage of the rising water levels and evolve into hot, humid swampland: ideal for heterotrophes seeking refuge from the busy marine ecosystems.

Part II: Radiation on Land: The Reproduction Revolution

By evolving their reproductive strategy the heterotrophes become less dependent on water and venture inland. The extent of the humid forests still limit their range, but this breakthrough greatly increases the number of available niches and drives competition and speciation.

Part III: Cooling of the Climate: The First Flight

The cooling climate incentivises plants to adapt to the drying habitats, spreading inland thanks to these new innovations. To respond to the increased habitable zones, heterotrophes evolve the first ever instance of flight on the planet.

Part IV: The Supercontinent Forms: Adaption to Open Plains

As the continents collide, massive mountain ranges and ever increasing distances to the oceans create cold deserts in the continental interior.

Part V: The Tundra and the Desert: Adapting to the Cold and the Heat

As the global climate begins to warm, the acidification of the ocean causes a minor global ecocollapse, leading to many of the dominant aquatic species going extinct.

Part VI: The Marine Revolution: Re-adapting to Aquatic Lifestyles

The vacant aquatic niches entice the land heterotrophes to re-evolve aquatic lifestyles..