[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/3X6doyS.png[/img][/center] Time had passed. Worlds had been explored. Experiments had been done. Knowledge and wisdom had been gained. Now giant unfathomable machines littered the barren coastline, inserting myriads of instruments and lesser machines into multiple gateways to other layers upon which hey where suckling like leeches, pulling bio-matter in from other worlds so that Exo could use it to fulfill their promise to the nomads. To revitalize this part of the world in a manner that was to their liking. To that end, on top of acquiring the resources, the nomads had to decide what they wanted to include, which as it turned out wasn't the most straightforward process in the world. Still, with the wealth and wisdom gained as part of their deal with the divine machine, they had plenty of time to argue over it. [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/Cedys93.gif[/img][/center] “But have you tried these ones. Sweet, delicious, go really well with that salted cheese Reggi managed to make” “They’re square, square is no shape for a fruit to be!” [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/Cedys93.gif[/img][/center] “It’s grass. How are we supposed to decide what kind of grass we want?” a series of nomads were looking down at several types of plants, none of which actually were grass, but that fulfilled the same kind of ecological niche. “I don't know. Maybe pick the one that looks the nicest?” one suggested hopelessly “Don't be stupid. Here. I brought a goat. Let it pick which one it wants” one of the herdsmen told them, leading one of their flock along on a leash and then setting it free near the grass. They watched as it sniffed and nibbled here and there without much conclusion, only to be rudely shooed out the way by a pair of unicorns, which then trotted over to and started eating from a patch of fern like plants that hosted all manner of hues that no-one had considered to have been in the running. You’d almost swear they were actively playing up how much they were enjoying the rich and varied flavor of the ferns to get the point across. “Well… guess that settles it” [center][img]https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/divinus-mkv-encyclopedia/images/1/18/Steppes-ferns.jpg[/img][/center] “Oh wow yeah I totally get it now” - man who looked far too much like a goat for his own good after eating the ferns. [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/Cedys93.gif[/img][/center] “Look. I understand that you enjoy having the ability to fly” one of the elders was saying to a young woman hovering around the camp to show off how cool her rather intensive transformation was. She was more bird than woman at this point, but she did not seem to care. “Yup. It’s amazing!” she said, before doing a little loop de loop in front of them. “But you got that ability from a dangerous monster that the explorer had to shoot down with their fancy stick before it got you. Why on earth would we tolerate such things in our lands!” “I could definitely take them now! Beat them on their own turf!” the woman replied, before trying and failing to shoot a training target with her bow while in mid air. “I’d just need some practice and then I’d be able to keep us safe from anything” “We’re making the land, so we can just decide to not have anything dangerous around!” [color=LightSteelBlue]”You will need some predators to keep the local herbivores in check. Otherwise they will overrun the land and leave nothing for your herds to eat“[/color] Exo, who was very impressed by the flying women’s antics, helpful supplied. “Wait we do?” [color=LightSteelBlue]”Indeed“[/color] “This really isn't simple is it” [color=LightSteelBlue]”From what i have learned about ecosystems, simple is the opposite of what they are“[/color] “Besides, there's still monsters out there!” the bird woman added in before dive-kicking the target to show it who was boss “True… Better the monsters we know how to handle and that are useful than to just have weird stuff move in.” [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/Cedys93.gif[/img][/center] “No, no no! We are not spending time picking out every little bug. Just, make it work” “But there were these really pretty ones. Look at it. It's like a gemstone. Oh and these creepy ones with all the legs are neat too” “Ok fine, you can pick some of the bugs. But not all of them!” [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/Cedys93.gif[/img][/center] “whats a ‘microbe’” [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/Cedys93.gif[/img][/center] “We need all of these” “Why?” “Eat this stew” “...” “Oh. Oh yes definitely. All of these please Explorer!” [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/Cedys93.gif[/img][/center] [color=LightSteelBlue]”I think that’s the steppes done.“[/color] “Finally. Wait what are steppes?” [color=LightSteelBlue]”That would be the terrain you will have on the plateaus. Now let's focus on the river valleys“[/color] “Uuurgh” “Oh lay it off. This is fun. If you don't like it you don't need to contribute” “If I don't you all might get it wrong” “Fine fine” [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/Cedys93.gif[/img][/center] [color=LightSteelBlue]”What about the sea?“[/color] “What’s a sea?” “Its a large body of water” “Like a big lake?” “Much bigger. Think of a lake, except the lake is land and the land around the lake is water. That's how seas work. Or at least that's what grandpa and said they were back in the day” [color=LightSteelBlue]”It's more like a disk of water around the continent, though there was one or two that were probably more like what you described in some of the layers. Here, let me show you some of the things that were in them.”[/color] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/Cedys93.gif[/img][/center] It had taken an awful long time, but at long last the nomads had a comprehensive, mostly, list of what they wanted. [color=LightSteelBlue]”Right then.“[/color] Exo said, dramatically snapping shut the virtual book they had been recording the decisions, [color=LightSteelBlue]”Let us begin!“[/color] There was a wobble in space and the great and true form of the explorer was unveiled once more, a grand diamond that rose up and up and up on high, the divine machine, filled with the spoils of dozens of plundered worlds witnessing the rest of the world for the first time in a long time. It had gotten a lot greener since they got down to earth. [color=LightSteelBlue]”My, whoever these others are, they have been busy“[/color] they noted. Down below the barren expanse of plateau, mountains and canyons they had been traipsing through on unicorn back splayed out like a blank spot on an almost full cavace, begging to be filled. And fill it they did. Heat rays lanced the ocean, vaporizing a torrent of water and then drawing it up towards the mountains where the peaks forced it up. Snow fell there, and rain below, flooding the land and finding old river beds and lakes to fill. As it did, Exo monitored the currents of the air, and found his clouds flowing south, towards a frozen pole that had emerged down there. Drawing inspiration from a distance, they formed a number of magically fueled geothermal vents on the underside of the continent where it touched the nearby ocean below, warming the western ocean and creating a constant stream of clouds that would flow over the new land and roll south to the cold south. Then it got to work populating the land. Across the high plateaus it painted the ferns chosen by the unicorns in great flat fields that stretched on for days, coating vast swaths of the land in hues of pink, purple, and violet. Other hand picked plants were fostered to, fields of beautiful flowers, sturdy bushes sprouting tasty berries and more where planted, all that could thrive on the land where rain fell often but never lingered long. Instead it poured down, down into the valleys surrounding the wide flat heights, rolling down into there to fill the river valleys with mist. Within them strong, warm and lush forests were grown, creating a hundred and one hidden jungle canyons that trailed and winded around plateaus and between mountains till they slipped down to reach the coast. There, where mountains did not hug the shoreline, the waters and plant-life splayed out into river deltas overgrown with marshes and swamps till they finally reached the warm sea. [center][img]https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/divinus-mkv-encyclopedia/images/b/be/Swampiller.jpg[/img][/center] From there the explorer began to introduce the wildlife into the land. The shallows warm seas were filled with luminous corals and delicious colorful fish hunted by playful [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/divinus-mkv-encyclopedia/images/1/11/Seadog.png]seadogs[/url] while the depths held [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/divinus-mkv-encyclopedia/images/a/a2/Xgkil19srjb41.jpg]titans[/url] terrible and beautiful, which guarded the magical vents from thieves who might covet their power. [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/divinus-mkv-encyclopedia/images/2/2a/Nautilus.jpg]Armored semi aquatic grazers [/url] browsed the place where swamp and sea met, picking only the finest morsels from the intermixing of fresh and salt water plants with their long tentacles. Deeper in [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/divinus-mkv-encyclopedia/images/4/42/Robert-raeder-2-c-midgardsormen-ferdig.jpg] serpents with hair trigger senses[/url] hunted water spraying fish who themselves preyed on the myriad of bugs and biting things flying between the trees, while titanic caterpillars who’s cocoons would release a thousand and one butterflies each slowly slunked through the waters below. Higher, the constructive beams of the god swept, to the jungles which soon overflowed with beasts strange and dangerous. [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/divinus-mkv-encyclopedia/images/b/bd/Daryna-oheekolts-min-1.jpg]Beast with fractal horns that could see the future[/url], [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/divinus-mkv-encyclopedia/images/a/ad/Smogticore.png]tigers whos scent glands pumped poison into the air[/url], [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/divinus-mkv-encyclopedia/images/e/e5/Ether-scerpent.png]serpents clad in spiritual projections[/url], [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/divinus-mkv-encyclopedia/images/b/b0/Viperwaspdragon.jpg]stinging drakes[/url] and [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/divinus-mkv-encyclopedia/images/e/e9/Autumn_blaze_by_sheylu-dan93t7.png]gracefule hunters whole flickered between shadows[/url] all vied for dominance with a multitude of other creatures found in those strange and winding river valleys Only the hardiest of prey managed to survive in that chaotic jungle rumble. The most elusive of rodents, and fastest of birds and stealthiest of deer could be found within, along with a communal species of parrots that were too smart for their own good. [center][img]https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/divinus-mkv-encyclopedia/images/f/fd/Parrot_lineup.png[/img][/center] Higher, above those dangerous jungles, were the places that made for the humans to call home. The fields on the plateaus would be grazed by their herds of goats, unicorns and slimes, and so they were left bare of competitors. Still, pollinating bugs, birds to feast on them and [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/divinus-mkv-encyclopedia/images/0/0c/Podedworna-foxx1.jpg]small swift and cunning canids [/url] that kept the avians in check could all be found flitting between the tall stems. Higher still the god climbed, blessing the snow covered peaks with [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/divinus-mkv-encyclopedia/images/5/54/Frostiflies.jpg]fluffy moths[/url], [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/divinus-mkv-encyclopedia/images/0/01/Saberia.png]Ice manipulating snow leopard [/url] and, floating above them all, [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/divinus-mkv-encyclopedia/images/0/06/Yakon.jpg]scaled yaks[/url]. The work of months had culminated in mere hours of creation and a true wonder of the world. A land created not by the whims of a god, but designed by the desires of humans to be shaped by the hands of a divine instrument. A divine instrument that was almost spent. For the first time, in this world at least, the divine machine felt tired as it hung above its work. A pity. There was so much to explore now, it thought, as it measured up its own work against the others, with one particular thing catching its great glowing eye. The city on the mountain at the center. Perhaps that is where it should go next. [hider=summary] Exo paints the still barren western coast that they and the nomads have been in with life, drawn from layers and selected as per the nomad's specification. [/hider]