Earth

Earth is the ancestral homeworld of humans. After the Blackout the knowledge that Earth was humanity's homeworld became lost. Even after it was rediscovered centuries later, it was difficult to imagine that it could have ever been the human world. Earth is classified as a hazardous planet to explore. Not only is the air unbreathable by humans, but it is inhabited by hostile fauna. The use of an either a breath mask or an AR avatar is strongly recommended.

Characteristics

During the Singularity War, all of Earth's major cities were destroyed by nuclear missiles launched by the Oracle which caused the death of approximately 3 billion in one fell swoop. The radiation resulted in a nuclear winter and the extinction of thousands of species. The humans that survived the war departed for other systems. While humanity eventually recovered, the Sol system was left abandoned, as the system's other colonies such as the moon and Mars were just as devastated by the war. In the thousands of years that followed, the only recognizable human artifacts on the surface were the Pyramids of Giza and Mt. Rushmore as everything else deteriorated to dust.

Without humanity, Earth made a bizarre recovery as the radiation subsided. The surviving life forms mutated as the planet's oxygen levels skyrocketed and rainforests aggressively took over the planet, engulfing whatever human civilization remained. The oceans became covered in mutated algae turning it a greenish color. With the megafauna having gone extinct during the war, insects grew in size to fill their niche, supported by the increased oxygen. In addition to the hostile fauna, the air itself was no longer breathable by humans. The higher levels of oxygen are poisonous to humans, and a person without a breathing apparatus would become intoxicated.

Inhabitants

Though Earth is uninhabitable by humans, their absence did give rise to another species. Stray cats were among the few mammals that survived the fallout, and a random mutation gave them opposable thumbs and stronger hind legs allowing them to stand bipedal. As such, these cats - known as Terrafelis - evolved to become smarter than the house cats that serve as human pets. Their intelligence is comparable to that of orcas and dolphins - they have pack instincts and the ability to form hunter-gatherer tribes. Some theorize that given another 10,000 years, they might be able to build their own advanced civilizations.

Terrafelis have also been picked up by explorers and pirates being sold on the black market. However, some Terrafelis have escaped confinement by humans, making lives for themselves throughout the galaxy. Some of the more sophisticated ones are equipped with translators allowing them to speak human languages.

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