Primeval Wilds

Primeval Wilds are territories where anachronistic fauna and flora dwell. They are typified by cyclopean flora, giant arthropods, Ice Age megafauna, dinosaurs, and other species that should normally be extinct. They often occur in places with relatively intact ruins of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Ages of Man, which are thought to distort the local Mana with their own, causing atavism in local plant and animal life. Local flora and fauna begin to display gigantism and the features of prehistoric ancestors or relatives; small wildcats may grow to massive size and develop saber teeth while otherwise retaining similar coloration to their modern forms. Birds often devolve into terror birds and dinosaurs. Common reptiles take on prehistoric features and may resemble early proto-mammals, such as the synapsids or other ancient animal species. Primeval Wilds in oceans and lakes often spawn titanic, prehistoric sea life, such as megalodons, plesiosaurs, and ichthyosaurs.

As described, Primeval Wilds are associated with the ruins of past Ages. Their impacts on the local ecosystem tend to correlate with the era of the ruins themselves; the greater the antiquity of the ruin, the more ancient the life that crops up around it. For example, Bronze Age ruins are associated with mammalian megafauna such as existed during Earth's Cenozoic era, particularly from the Paleogene to the Pleistocene, prior to the Holocene, while those of the Silver Age are more likely to produce Mesozoic creatures, and the ruins of the Golden Age is more likely to yield Paleozoic life. These are not absolutes, but instead common trends, and it is important to note that not only are these organisms atavistic mutations of current life that simply resemble the organisms of these Earth eras rather than *actually being* those creatures and thus often possessing anachronistic features that wouldn't be present in the original species, but are, as most of Gaean life, normally magical as well. Organisms native to Primeval Wilds may freely roam beyond their ranges, and can and do reproduce outside of these starting habitats. However, given a few generations they tend to decrease in size unless travelling in large numbers, eventually gaining more modern appearances and frequently becoming almost totally indistinguishable from more modern fauna.

Primeval Wilds sometimes overlap with other environmental features, such as Manifest Zones, resulting in very distorted organisms and unusual mutations, such as feathered velociraptors that are almost totally immune to the cold, or even are Ice Elemental creatures capable of breathing freezing clouds of mist to attack their prey, or volcanic pterosaurs that are immune to heat and noxious gasses and can snatch prey from lava.

Primeval Wilds tend to be geographically isolated from more modern environments, though this is far from absolute. The transition to a Primeval Wild from a modern territory is frequently quite noticeable, as plant life seems to rapidly increase in size relative to the surrounding area. Likewise insects, which can go from more modern sizes to many times larger. These are usually the first signs of a Primeval Wild.

Primeval Wilds represent valuable resources to neighboring populations that have the combat capabilities needed to harvest them and are especially appealing to Adventurers hoping to locate the ruins that spawn them. Such areas are often home to exotic plants and animals not found elsewhere in the area, relics of past Ages (which are often likely to possess powerful magic, and even Boons), and the Lairs of exceedingly powerful and dangerous Beasts. The last category is especially problematic, as such Beasts are often *much* larger and more powerful than their common counterparts and can readily become disasters on the whole region should they begin to move beyond their home turf.

Few people choose to live in Primeval Wilds, but among those who do are members of the Races of Man whose prototypical counterparts lived in those Ages, Monsters (who often find themselves becoming more culturally primitive if they settle there for long), and social outcasts hoping to avoid pursuit from the law of the land. There are also those who are drawn to the worship of Behemoths, for these titanic deities' Mana has a tendency to warp their environs into Primeval Wilds if allowed to linger for long periods of time.