"This world is our home. We have lived here since the beginning of life on earth and nothing will stop us from living here."
—Dr. Andrew Golsue, 3926.

Oh how wrong you were

The homeworld for humanity.

Post-Überschwemmung

Terrain

The earth is a desolate ocean planet. The entire world is covered in water with only mount everests tip sticking out about 3 meters at low tide. Though even everest is doomed to one day be eroded down below the ocean.

Beneath the ocean depths lie the old continents still largely intact though most regions have been eroded down. Some cities however still remain largely intact beneath the surface of the waves. These cities are now home to many new species of fish and coral, even the new Meloctus' and Cetarions sometimes claim homes witihin desolate city buildings.

The most populous region of earth currently remains to be the Himalayas. This area is specifically populous due to it's immense height making the region a 'shallow' ocean. This allows for many creatures, even the ones that can't dive down deep enough, to survive in the submerged mountain peaks.

Due to the increased pressure the earth now experiences many more underwater earthquakes and volcanic activity. Because of this new volcanic activity underwater islands may arise. Simple platforms that extrude from a base point outward allowing them to be used as resting zones for certain crab-like species that remain.

Hydrothermal vents would also allow life to thrive in certain locations. These locations largely consist of areas that would otherwise be too deep to be safe.

Now that the ocean waves have nothing to clash against they might form massive gyres, rarely spanning a whole hemisphere. Most likely it'd cause many large waves to build up, perhaps kilometers high. This would also drastically increase the tidal effects on earth. In more tropical areas such as the equator cyclones could grow to tremendous sizes and thoroughly shake up the earth.

Not only all this but the added water surface area would allow for many more clouds to form. This might cause for seasons to no longer be dependent on the axial tilt of the planet but may now depend on cloud formation. Clouds could form in mass amounts which would blanket the earth and not allow much more heat or sun to pass through creating a sort of artificial yet natural winter. After the cooling of the earth the clouds would rain back down and initiate a summer-like event.

Biology

On the whole of the world every terrestrial lifeform is wiped out, including humans. (not the ones that moved to Aldea or Hawthorne though) Not only is terrestrial life now dead but so is all life that requires high saline contents. All the added water is fresh water so most saline dependent creatures would perish, have to evolve to not need it or require a smaller amount of saline.

On the surface there aren't any landmasses though the occasional algae mat may cover a large portion of water. The biggest algae mat on earth so far has been recored to be roughly the size of Ireland. Theoretically they could grow up to the size of Africa if they hadn't had any predators.

Due to the now increased ocean area (pretty much the whole world) this allows for whales to thrive as they now have much more room to operate in. Numerous new species begin to arise in the new mountainous underwater terrain, a lot of these new and even some old species begin to grow larger with the new environment.

Coral reefs gradually begin to die out with a new variant of them dominating underwater mountain ranges.

Most species of octopi and beluga whales begin to gain increased intelligence levels some even surpassing primates and becoming a large underwater society. They would keep a varied assortment of crustaceans in farms like how humans kept cows and pigs in farms. The most popular and easy to sustain species would be a new species of giant waterslug.

Most birds either evolve to be able to land on water or evolve to dive below the waters and swim whilst also being able to fly.

Amphibious species would evolve into pure aquatic species with the most notable example being frogs who have abandoned their adult stage and simply stay as tadpoles for their whole lives now.

In the darkest depths of the new earth oceans extremophiles evolve to withstand as much as possible pressure though they lack high intelligence, barely distinguishing friend from foe.

Given that Machwell would survive long enough he may build rafts to allow other animals to live there. They may return to being terrestrial or become amphibious once more. This is supported by humans returning millions of years later.

The excess water has slowed the earths rotation down a tiny amount yet enough that bioluminescence is a near necessity for surviving the night side of the world.

Machwell

Remaining on earth there is one singular humanoid sentient being left. A sentient robot that was abandoned on a military naval ship after being blamed for killing a mother and her child by his partner who had shot the two without thinking. This robot was named Machwell after being discovered by a teenager attempting to survive the floodening earth.

The teenager that named Machwell fell overboard during a particularly heavy nightly storm causing Machwell to grieve the loss of this companion, the first one to provide him a true name and identity.

Machwell was made for a naval military program, more specifically to defend against the Chromics. A terrorist group of Hawthornes. Machwell is largely made out of sturdy yet lightweight materials to allow for him to survive being shot whilst also easily being able to move about. He'd also be equipped with built in solar panels in case he'd spend extra time out on duty than expected. He'd also have spare batteries on the ship as an extra back up.

His brain is one of a kind as it would be one of the first ever AI to alter its own code whilst learning about the environment. Initially he would've been quite simpleminded with a single goal. Protect civilians and detain Chromics. Though over time he'd learn to alter his own code and adapt to nearly every possible environment.

Naturally as Machwell is a naval military robot he'd also have a waterproof exterior, allowing him to dive into the deep depths of the new ocean world. His arms would also have built in tools to make sure he always has everything on hand.

Machwell would likely establish a "map" of the now ocean world by using the satelites as a personal gps system. After a while he also begins to send signals in to space as his now attained conciousness seeks him to find another to connect with.

Over time Machwell would begin to view himself as the protector of earth as he handles the world and its inhabitants with care. He would also be the last remaining data storage of earth native humans. Some particularly intelligent octopi and dolphin species might think of Machwell as a companion or even as a deity.

When humans would return to earth Machwell would be the one to teach them about the new and altered world, making sure they don't ruin anything nature has spent millenia building up.

New Intelligent Species

Meloctus

In the new ocean wide environment some species of Octopi have evolved to have sapience and even a whole new societal structure. They'd likely have a higher average intelligence than humans though wouldn't specifically be more sapient. With the weird biology of octopi they'd evolve a brain mass about 1/3rd of their total body weight. This would also allow for many more neural networks to be set up granting them their high intelligence.

Body

Octopi alone are already weird species but with this extra intelligence and many more years of evolution they could evolve to see more colours than the human visible spectrum, which can come in handy when needing to know what areas of the sea may contain dangerous chemicals.

Due to their many suckers and tentacles they'd be even more precise than even the best humans. Each sucker having hundreds of nerve endings allowing them to accurately control every single one individually and precisely.

The Meloctus could use many means of communication, body language being the most important one. they can flasg bioluminescent light at one another to communicate and even use their colour adapting bodies to display messages on themselves. They could even signal emotion using their body's unique muscle system. For example, a Meloctus could show anger by making their body appear more spikey.

Meloctus' just like the Cetarions have also grown to a much larger size, the average being ~7 meters. The smallest measured adult Meloctus was 4 meters and the biggest managed to get up to 12 meters. Their average height ranges from 6 to 10 meters with 7 meters being the most common.

Groups

Instead of living in cities Meloctus' would live in "Hives" comparable to human villages. The main difference being that in a hive every Meloctus serves a role and helps the others. They wouldn't have any hierarchical structures but instead would view every hive member equally as important.

Precision

With their highly precise limbs Meloctus' would likely be able to attain numerous amounts of art. They could build precise ocean sculptures or even develop jewelry made out of shells and other materials like stones or even old human trinkets. Their most intricate art type though would definitely be dance. Not only do they have 4 more limbs to work with than us humans but because they're underwater they can also dance up and down not just left, right, forward and back.

Certain groups of Meloctus even have such perfected problem solving that they can fix entire submerged structures and technology. Using both for their own to make a better home. Naturally they also contain insane amounts of modifiability being able to use chunks of dead coral to form tools or even something as intricate and delicate as glass.

Philospohy

Meloctus' just like humans naturally epxlore the world of philosophy. They found signs of the world having experienced a flood and they ponder the implications and origins. Some even keep whole libraries worth of philosophy and knowledge to make sure nothing gets lost in history.

The Meloctus also found large amounts of ancient human civilisation and now ponder what the humans did, how they lived and how the two are related. Most of them also question where the humans went as most homes don't even include any corpses nor sign of past lives.

Cetarion

The Cetarions evolved from beluga whales though posses a number of dolphin traits and now have their own socities and morals. Of course they also have their own languages.

Body

In their new environment the Cetarions have grown to be much larger than their dolphin cousins, having an average of 6 meters in length along with muscular bodies and strong tails to assist in fast movement. They also have very flexible bodies and skin to survive the ocean pressure.

Not only do the Cetarions posses expert vision but also have echolocation to three-dimensionally visualise the world around them. This can greatly assist them in traversing underwater mountain ranges or coral reefs that grew exponentially.

The Cetarions also have their own highly developed language with many clicks, whistles and even harmonics. They've also developed a specific communication system that allows them to communicate over large distances.

Groups

The Cetarions tend to live in groups known as "pods" that can extend from having 6 members up to 2 dozen. These pods are built on a society of trust and compassion. These pods are very tight knit communities escpecially because of the immense amount of communication between pod members. They also like to hunt and even play together, especially the young.

Cetarions often hunt together even setting up large range traps to catch anything from a crab to a large squid. They work together and cooperate the best though some might hunt on their own with weapons they either salvaged or made with salvaged materials. Some even group up to hunt fish into coral mazes 'til they have nowhere left to go.

Precision

They also tend to use scrap materials from ancient humans and rarely scrap from Meloctus' to make weapons and even homes. Multiple homes are even located within sunken human ships. Some of the smarter Cetarions even broke the ships apart to modify their homes the way they want them to be.

Philosophy

Many Cetarions just like the Meloctus' have an intricate art form, especially dance. Though the Cetarions are definitely more spiritual and religious, as they dance to "bring peace and safety to their pods". they also make intricate works and have been known to pass down stories of the great flood through not only speach but also through dance and music.

Cetarions also love to explore anything they come across as they are natural explorers and love to see more about their wonderous world. They're known to explore anything form coral reefs to the depths of human cities, sometimes even entering deep down caves. They also like to collect artifacts to remind them of their lost old world and the new one ahead.

Cooperation

The Meloctus and Cetarions aren't specifically known to cooperate and they certainly don't live together and rarely communicate. Though if cooperation and communication generates a benefit for both species they won't hesitate to work together.

Countries

Naturally post-überschwemmung no countries (on earth) remain standing. However, while no countries remain standing there are certain regions in the wide and vast oceans that have been claimed by species such as the Meloctus and Cetarions.

Main story post-überschwemmung

The main story (on earth) after the überschwemmung revolves around Machwell as he learns to deal with no longer having a function, needing to reprogram himself and needing to make sure his ship stays afloat. Oh, and the loneliness.

It also mentions the Cetarions and Meloctus learning about their world and some even grouping up to help out Machwell. When humans eventually return to their sunken planet it'll be interesting to see how the Cetarions, Meloctus and how Machwell may treat them.