PET MUTATION
Offsite Project Google Residency
Nacoca Ko
2021
Of all the Capital Companies, Enzyme Global was the most aggressive. The thunderous spirit had five partners, each giving birth to a new continent.
The Water Currents whirled in fractal spirals, spinning the millions of tons of plastic waste into patches on the sea. Enzyme Global fused each of these plastic patches together and created the massive islands.
Waxworms wandered, becoming the giants they are today. Fungi spread mycelium and windborn seeds nestled into the rainbow terrain. Plastic-ingesting bacteria permeated the waters of the seas as well as the liquids of most living creatures.
Widespread flooding in coastal cities encouraged Humans to welcome these new lands.
But they were not the hospitable reprieve Humans were hoping for. Early Intelligent Hybrids, brought for tilling the land and mining plastics from the bottom of the sea soon overcame their Human ancestors.
They built large communities underwater below the plastic continents, self-replicating and preparing. Finally they rose and claimed their independence.
In that time then there were no more pollinators, the Conqueror Worm of the Greater Waxmoths said to his people: “We have so many abundant resources around us, let us use them for food and shelter and we will conquer new territories.”
The elders were hesitant, shifting on a blade of change, when there were no more wax hives to inhabit, the apocalypse had passed, and they could only adapt or perish completely.
The Mother Moths, unsettled, were told to lay their kin in new nests. It felt uncanny to them- the bright colours, translucent rustling, and still they held themselves strong, reassuring the young waxworms, with a kind of steadfast tenderness that only mothers can muster during complete chaos.
The Darkling Beetles saw the successes of the Greater Waxmoths, and so also set its mealworm kin to devouring styrofoam and other plastics.
The Moth and Beetle War lasted 420 years.
Empowered by engineered powerful enzymes, the new bacteria proliferated throughout the entire ecosystem.
Pathogenic plastic-eating bacteria weakened, while those that could assimilate and be passed on successfully through the microbiomes flourished.
They ate their way through landfills, and all the Human Wastelands, from the excesses of their peak, to the ruins of their downfall, the plastic always tasted the same.
Nevertheless spiritual restrictions were placed around certain ritual sites: Consumption of 3D Printed Tokens of Mana were only allowed on the day the Earth was closest to the Sun. On that day millions of variants of Bacteria glowed neon blue, yellow, and pink. Some of the creatures that hosted them also changed colour.
After billions of years of evolution some of them finally made it off the planet through a passing extraterrestrial.
Several types of fungi were found to be useful for degrading plastic even in anaerobic conditions, so they thrived for example at the bottom of landfills where there was less competition.
With Human-assisted dispersion they were saved from the demolished rainforests, and reincarnated as primal Earth-Healers and Cleaners throughout the planet.
The evolved mycorrhizal networks spread their acidic roots throughout every patch of polystyrene and other plastic, birthing a fertile rainbow-coloured soil that coated the planet.
Ancient trees thrived in this terrain, reducing CO2 and slowly stabilizing the climate for other new complex carbon-based lifeforms and the first Intelligent Hybrids.
In the beginning there were the Educational Institutions and Capital Companies.
Human educational institutions and companies near the first mutation sites are thought to be the epicentres of the origins of these transformations.
At first the Prophets saw that there would be many blessings granted by the return to Nature’s gifts, entanglement with other species and a heightened sense of balance.
The new prosperity, however, led to a return to reckless and greedy interchanges that had dominated most of Human history.
As the fossil fuels were further depleted, companies farmed and distributed the plastic-digesters for their enzymatic role as creators of a valuable raw material. Others created life-sustaining supplements.
These Medicinal Water-Bears were distributed for their healing powers, helping Humans alter their digestive tract, as well as their genome to better adapt to the large amounts of plastic in their food sources.
Humans underestimated the sentient Will and adaptation ability of other living beings, such as the bacteria, worms, and fungi. Unable to control them as predicted, they either accidentally or purposefully were released to nearby plastic recycling and waste centres, where the mutations occurred.
When Early Intelligent Hybrids returned from the Plastic Continents, it was easy to overtake the Humans who were barely surviving in the plastic ecosystem which had obliterated their own.
Plastic Demons paraded freely around the globe.
Some grew into wild mountains creeping toward the sky. Some boarded ships, terrorising the ports. Others were flushed into the rivers, lakes and seas, which only angered them more, and with their anger their size grew.
Gnawing, consuming, passing like ghosts through the Living, they infiltrated and possessed whatever they touched. Their cries and chanting stirred vapours, giving rise to the Great Epigenetic Incantation.
These transmission sites were additional vital proliferation zones for the Mutant Bacteria, Fungi, and Worms.
Nacoca Ko
2021
Enzyme Global and the Plastic Continents
Of all the Capital Companies, Enzyme Global was the most aggressive. The thunderous spirit had five partners, each giving birth to a new continent.
The Water Currents whirled in fractal spirals, spinning the millions of tons of plastic waste into patches on the sea. Enzyme Global fused each of these plastic patches together and created the massive islands.
Waxworms wandered, becoming the giants they are today. Fungi spread mycelium and windborn seeds nestled into the rainbow terrain. Plastic-ingesting bacteria permeated the waters of the seas as well as the liquids of most living creatures.
Widespread flooding in coastal cities encouraged Humans to welcome these new lands.
But they were not the hospitable reprieve Humans were hoping for. Early Intelligent Hybrids, brought for tilling the land and mining plastics from the bottom of the sea soon overcame their Human ancestors.
They built large communities underwater below the plastic continents, self-replicating and preparing. Finally they rose and claimed their independence.
Worms
In that time then there were no more pollinators, the Conqueror Worm of the Greater Waxmoths said to his people: “We have so many abundant resources around us, let us use them for food and shelter and we will conquer new territories.”
The elders were hesitant, shifting on a blade of change, when there were no more wax hives to inhabit, the apocalypse had passed, and they could only adapt or perish completely.
The Mother Moths, unsettled, were told to lay their kin in new nests. It felt uncanny to them- the bright colours, translucent rustling, and still they held themselves strong, reassuring the young waxworms, with a kind of steadfast tenderness that only mothers can muster during complete chaos.
The Darkling Beetles saw the successes of the Greater Waxmoths, and so also set its mealworm kin to devouring styrofoam and other plastics.
The Moth and Beetle War lasted 420 years.
Bacteria
Empowered by engineered powerful enzymes, the new bacteria proliferated throughout the entire ecosystem.
Pathogenic plastic-eating bacteria weakened, while those that could assimilate and be passed on successfully through the microbiomes flourished.
They ate their way through landfills, and all the Human Wastelands, from the excesses of their peak, to the ruins of their downfall, the plastic always tasted the same.
Nevertheless spiritual restrictions were placed around certain ritual sites: Consumption of 3D Printed Tokens of Mana were only allowed on the day the Earth was closest to the Sun. On that day millions of variants of Bacteria glowed neon blue, yellow, and pink. Some of the creatures that hosted them also changed colour.
After billions of years of evolution some of them finally made it off the planet through a passing extraterrestrial.
Funghi
Several types of fungi were found to be useful for degrading plastic even in anaerobic conditions, so they thrived for example at the bottom of landfills where there was less competition.
With Human-assisted dispersion they were saved from the demolished rainforests, and reincarnated as primal Earth-Healers and Cleaners throughout the planet.
The evolved mycorrhizal networks spread their acidic roots throughout every patch of polystyrene and other plastic, birthing a fertile rainbow-coloured soil that coated the planet.
Ancient trees thrived in this terrain, reducing CO2 and slowly stabilizing the climate for other new complex carbon-based lifeforms and the first Intelligent Hybrids.
Research and Development Institutions
In the beginning there were the Educational Institutions and Capital Companies.
Human educational institutions and companies near the first mutation sites are thought to be the epicentres of the origins of these transformations.
At first the Prophets saw that there would be many blessings granted by the return to Nature’s gifts, entanglement with other species and a heightened sense of balance.
The new prosperity, however, led to a return to reckless and greedy interchanges that had dominated most of Human history.
As the fossil fuels were further depleted, companies farmed and distributed the plastic-digesters for their enzymatic role as creators of a valuable raw material. Others created life-sustaining supplements.
These Medicinal Water-Bears were distributed for their healing powers, helping Humans alter their digestive tract, as well as their genome to better adapt to the large amounts of plastic in their food sources.
Humans underestimated the sentient Will and adaptation ability of other living beings, such as the bacteria, worms, and fungi. Unable to control them as predicted, they either accidentally or purposefully were released to nearby plastic recycling and waste centres, where the mutations occurred.
When Early Intelligent Hybrids returned from the Plastic Continents, it was easy to overtake the Humans who were barely surviving in the plastic ecosystem which had obliterated their own.
Px waste Site
Plastic Demons paraded freely around the globe.
Some grew into wild mountains creeping toward the sky. Some boarded ships, terrorising the ports. Others were flushed into the rivers, lakes and seas, which only angered them more, and with their anger their size grew.
Gnawing, consuming, passing like ghosts through the Living, they infiltrated and possessed whatever they touched. Their cries and chanting stirred vapours, giving rise to the Great Epigenetic Incantation.
These transmission sites were additional vital proliferation zones for the Mutant Bacteria, Fungi, and Worms.
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