The Early to Mid Ultimocene: 250 - 270 million years

As the single connected super continent of the Pangeacene officially breaks in two for the first time 243 million years PE, the Pangeacene reaches its conclusion, giving way to the Ultimocene.

As we come to the Ultimocene, we are faced with an important question which was not, before, so relevant. How might life on Serina end?

For this evolutionary thought experiment, the end will be a cold one. Serina is a small world of indeterminate age, meaning that as time wears on - like all celestial bodies - it has been slowly losing its heat. For our scenario, this cooling begins to reach noticeable levels around this time. The Ultimocene will be defined by the gradual extinction of Serina's volcanism as a result of the cooling of Serina's mantle. The extinction of volcanism will be an irregular process, resulting in alternating periods of glaciation when volcanism is minimal or absent and a resurgence of a warmer climate and rapid sea level rise during brief periods of renewed volcanic activity, but as the Ultimocene progresses, glacial periods will last longer and reprieves be fewer and further between. As the mantle cools, tectonic movement slows and finally stops. The subduction of the plates under the mantle will eventually halt, and new land will cease to be made. The continents will start to erode, and without any volcanic activity, Serina will eventually be overtaken by an ice age to which there will be no end. The Ultimocene will be one of the most exciting ages to observe in all of Serina's history, but when it does come to an end, it will be the end of all life on Serina.

But that time has not come yet. The Ultimocene will cover the most biodiverse period in Serina's history and chronicle the remainder of Serina's habitable lifespan. It will further be divided into three acts - namely the early, middle, and end Ultimocene, all of which will demonstrate different conditions for the planet's life to adapt to. The early Ultimocene will serve as the finale for the world of birds, as plant and animal life reaches levels of derivity unlike anything before, while the middle Ultimocene will be a time of great change, and the late a final show of tenacity for the world's ultimate survivors. Serina's final epoch will begin mildly, as a sort of second Thermocene - warm, wet and ideal for life of all kinds - but as it progresses, the era will experience several dramatic changes of climate which will force rapid adaptation - or extinction - of life. Over the course of the Ultimocene people will evolve, cultures will form and fall, the story will grow deeper, and long periods of stability will become a thing of the distant past as Serina approaches the end of its habitable period.

Explore the Ultimocene
Click the dropdown menus below to visit each sub-period.

Or go on to the End Ultimocene, Serina's final age.