Reshape and Transmute
The whole platform shudders as the concrete beneath the dirt transforms. The dwellers of the island run around in panic, in fear that the dry land they called home was about to sink into the briny deep. Crystals realign and minerals transmute. The unnatural concrete transmogrifies into much more natural igneous rock. The straight rectangular pillars morph into uneven and crooked pillars of natural stone. The ducks that had made their kingdom by the feet of the pillars are startled as the once straight monolithic pillars transform into dark basalt.
The very platform itself changes, spurred on by the touch of ___s. Much like the pillars, they change composition, becoming natural igneous. Various colors of granite threaded throughout the stone as glass like spikes of obsidian extending into the sea. The once perfectly square patch of dry land changes shape, becoming a crescent island poking above the deep sea. It is of uneven height, making sheer cliffs on the outside curve and a gentle shore on the inner one. The island itself is actually of circular shape as a rocky platform extends beneath the sea, forming a shallow bay. Enterprising mangroves have begun sprouting on the shores while yews that once only knew fresh water wilted in the presence of salt.
This changes slowly happened over the course of the year. While rapid on a geologic time scale, it was slow enough to unnoticeable to the unobservant. Occasional loud cracks and heavy rocking wracked the world.
Giant Turtles
Giant turtles emerge in the sea. These are great beasts that sleep for years upon years, waking up rarely only to feed and to procreate. They would like to rest in caves, but alas the platform had none to offer. Some had to settle with space beneath platform and the shallow bay. So long are their slumbers that enough debris can accumulate on their back to become fertile ground. Such are their great size and hunger, only the nautilus kings could ever sate them. Rare as was the days they're awake, the fear of swimming rocks were instilled into the nautilus kings' numbers.
Spirits
Intelligent creatures that die in this part of the could return to the world as spirits. Spirits are immaterial things that only appear at night. They emit a ghostly soft light that illuminates only itself, a light that's wholly different to the light of fireflies and lantern-bees. They are unable to communicate with others beside themselves, and are unable to manipulate the physical world.
They are strange apparitions many creatures of the forest and sea had come to fear. For while they're harmless things, they bear their face when they once lived, and the most intelligent creatures that lived on this land were to be feared. Ducks, nautilus kings, inchlings, and molluscs. Even more unintelligent creatures such as fish, beetles, and worms can return as spirits, but alas, they do glow as bright and might as well be invisible. They do not stay forever, and sometimes disappear to who knows where for days or even years.
The ducks of the surface fear them; they believe they beasts that have returned to life because of hunger, and so leave out food at night to distract them away from their nests. The ducks of the deep believe it is a blessing akin to the Divine Duck Force; like how their blessed king returns to flesh after his death, so do the spirits of all that lives return to the world as spirits. They welcome them back, building comfortable nests to rest their weary spirits. The inchlings think they're strange thing that should be avoided; however, they do carve notches into bark of trees to let the spirits of dead climb back up the branches.
Divine Duck Force
The patron of the ducks have given another blessing to the royal ducks. It is a continuous effect that follows the incarnations of the Duck. Should he die, he would return a whole new duck with a power of his own atop all the other powers he has inherited from previous incarnations. It is a blessing that would remain unknown until the king's untimely death (considering he has remained so youthful for a couple decades now, it is unlikely for him to croak all of a sudden).
It would a blessing they would have wished on their queen though. The queen has been of declining health recently. She had become very old, and scant years after the transformation of the pillars, she took her last breath. Some Duck was very sad to see That Duck die, and refused to leave the side of her cooling corpse. He refused to leave her side to eat or tend to their kingdom until her corpse turned to a skeleton.
It was until the spirit of the queen come to him when he came to his senses. The despondent Some Duck was overjoyed when he saw the youthful face of That Duck. He would wait at night for her apparition to return to his side. He may no longer be able to touch her, hear her, or feel her warmth, but her presence were enough to melt his depression. He declared her his Eternal Queen, and wouldn't find another mate until near the age's end.
There's also another part of the blessing: the offspring of the royal couple, the princes and princesses of the kingdom, have a chance to inherit one of the reigning Duck's gifts. It isn't immediately noticeable as the Ducks' descendants inherited the biological mechanisms of their gifts. Nevertheless, they now have supernaturally backed regeneration or satiation. These gifts may be further inherited by the offspring of their offspring, but such chances grow slimmer the further away from the divine duck they are in the bloodline.
Story-Flame
In one of the hollow yew trees that grew on the platform, a big flame was set within. It burns but does not consume. It does not release smoke nor does it leave soot and ash. One may stick their arms into the dancing flames, and they will only feel comfortable warmth. It is content to eternally burn in the yew hollow, and there is no fuel that could coax it to leave its arboreal abode.
Its tree home glows brightly in the night, bathing the grove in warm orange light, brighter than any lantern-bee hive. Those that dare to approach the hollow shall hear whispers, whispers of tales of old. They hear of tales that have passed, whispers of adventures they hadn't witnessed, horrors that lurk in the dark, and a world that came before. Most creatures are unnerved by the whispers they hear, but some inchlings became intrigued by the tales the Story-Flame tells. Groups of inchlings regularly visit the story flame to listen to its tales.
Enhance the Spider Statue
The Tungsten Spider Statue has been touched by the ___s once again, and its composition was tweaked to become a strange alloy of tungsten, titanium, and steel. A supernatural property was inscribed into the statue's existence, and now spiders that touch this piece of divine art become spider-folk, large spiders with human torsos. Spiders of all kinds became spider-folk, web-weavers and hunting tarantulas, and they continued to do what they did when they were simpler arachnids.
The spider also begins to call for a single inchling to come to touch it, but none would heed it for years. It promises power, to climb like spiders, to jump like spiders, to spin silk like spiders, to inject venom like a spider; powers most spiders possess only one, but they, as chosen by the spider statue would have all of them. They would gain lordship over all the spiders. But alas, the inchlings were afraid of the great number and great size of spiders that dwelled in the grove of the statue. Many were chosen yet more ignored the call. It wasn't until late into the age when inchlings gathered enough courage to brave the spider grove, yet not one have passed through the gauntlet of webs and spiders and survived. The statue is honestly disappointed, but hoped that a worthy inchling would come and claim the prize and become its Spider-Totem.
Nutritious Bamboo!
Year after year, the bamboo have grown higher and higher, guided by both bladder and gravity. So high had they risen that they have pierced through the gloom of the deep and reached the light. They unfurled their leaves, creating great canopies that shield the dark bottom even more from the light, but in exchange, they sucked all the energy they could from whatever sunlight they could and piped it all the way into the bottom, to be fed into the soil, turning it dark and sticky with nutrients. So quick is the flow that you could hear the flow rumble within the tube-like bamboo. So nutritious is their product that it might be more nutritious to just eat the earth under a great bamboo than to nibble on shoots and leaves. The plants of the deep grow hale and large at the influx of nutrients. Lush forests and plains are more able to form far from the shores of the syrup pools.
An ecosystem flourishes on the bamboo canopy as many fish discover it. The fish rejoice at another food source and hiding place, and where the fish goes, the nautilus kings are soon to follow. A few aquatic snails and slugs have found their way to these leafy underwater haven. The bamboo now stretch kilometers above the sea floor, reaching their bony limbs to the surface. They become more lush as they rise to brighter waters.
Fertile Inchlings
The inchlings are blessed with fertility, and as such, their population explodes. The inchlings begins producing more of their kind at a more rapid pace. Their population explodes, filling the canopies with their presence, however, they have grown to a number their elders could watch over in its entirety. The predators that once longed to have a taste of inchlings but could not get one now have a population of inexperienced ones occasionally outside supervision.
Living Honey
There are many debris that fall into the syrup pools of the deep. Bones of ducks, strips of kelp, some bamboo, many had fallen into the sweet treasured pools, all preserved in the sugar; the rot staved off by the noxious sugar and salt. It remained this way for many years, debris accumulating in the syrup...
Until this age, when something changed. The syrup is touched, and all the debris in the various pools gather and form a fearsome beast. The product of years of littering, it rises from the syrupy depths and flops over the shore. It ravages through the forests that surrounds the pool, felling great bamboo and clearing swathes of kelp. The unfortunate duck that were too slow and the stupid fish attracted by the sweet scent are absorbed into its blobby body. All that it swallows are slowly dissolved into more syrup.
It terrorized the Duck Kingdom, and it would not stand! Brave duck knights are sent to apprehend this thing. They lead the blobby monster away from the capital of activity and into the wastes where only enterprising bamboo growing on stray corpses rooted. They drew it away, and into the great ravine where they hoped it would go away, hopefully never to be seen again.
More of such monsters appears again and again, but none were as destructive as the first that emerged. All that came after are smaller and lesser specimens of living honey that could easily be dispatched and dealt with. Where the first smothered the land in sticky syrup, these were light enough to bounce up and be carried by the current. The syrup has resumed its slow rise as its shores were cleared of syrup sipping plants.
The phenomenon also has the side effect of keeping the pools clean. After all, debris that fall into it create living honey which dissolve debris that come into their way.
And so, the first era ends. A century of growth and change. The world breathes; it feels complete, and now becomes inert to your touch.
Assessing...
Choose one of the following perks:
[ ] [Perk] Great Act Slot
You gain a Great Act Slot that may only be used once during an era. A Great Act is a grade above Big Act. It may only be opened when a majority of voters have voted Yes in opening it.
Great Act (10 Votes)
An act that could be felt throughout a continent and reverberates across the world. The creation of grand landforms, world-changing artifacts, godlike beasts, civilizations, and far-reaching effects.
[ ] [Perk] Imported Act
Import an act that has passed in the previous act. It passes regardless of vote count or grade. It must be the most voted amongst nominated ones to pass. It will always be the same grade as it was passed in the previous era, regardless of how many nomination votes it gets.
[ ] [Perk] Landscapers
All acts that involve changing the shape and composition of the land get +2 Bonus Votes. Examples such acts include creating mountains, lakes, and ore veins. Does not grant bonus to forests and plants.
(A/N: I should probably create a spreadsheet that details perks I could offer.)
Time passes, and the world expands. More ocean. More of the world you could touch. It is eager to once again feel your touch.
[ ] [Island] Concrete Platform
A concrete construction that's mysteriously and inexplicably rigged in the middle of the ocean. A random man-made structure may generate.
[ ] [Island] Island
A deserted island in the middle of the ocean. Has gentle shores and soft fertile soil, and is surrounded by a stretch of shallow sea.
[ ] [Island] Open Ocean
A stretch of ocean without any land rising above the waves. Everything is underwater.
