Enter The Icebox Age
It is 225 years in The Future and the earth is once again locked in an Icebox age.
Giant glaciers engulf the earth's poles, shutting off, ocean currents and further drying Pangea 2 pushing the desert out and replacing forests with grasslands as forests cling to the expanding coastlines. With so much water frozen at the pole, the sea levels have dropped dramatically exposing vast swaths of seabed that forests and their residents can cling to as they ride out the Ice Age.
The average global temperature is around (7) degrees Celsius similar to the Pleistocene and like the Pleistocene the world experiences wild temperature swings and seasonal variation with hot dry summers and cold snowy winters. The only place that you would be able to seek safety from these harsh conditions is the "coastal mountains" that buffer the winds from the north and the forests around the equator.
Animal life has already recovered to pre-Squibbion levels, but these animals find themselves in a wildly different world where the weather is extreme, where only the fittest can survive and animals will use everything in their arsenal. From great caution to savage strength animals will need to use everything they've got to survive and thrive in this new Icebox World.
Notable Biomes and Regions of the Icebox Age (At a glance)
Tundra: the northernmost habitat on Pangea 2 broadly defined as a vast open grassland with extreme seasonal variations and a complete absence of large plants.
Grasslands: the most widespread biome on the continent the grasslands are a biome made by and for Cephalopes as the long-legged sprinters thrive in the vast open grasses here an evolutionary arms race takes place between the various Cephalope descendants and their predators.
West Peninsula: The closest part of the grassland to the ocean the west peninsula is the most population-dense part of the grassland.
Central Desert: a hostile desert barren and devoid of large life a complex ecosystem of insects, social insects, giant worms, and Slither-suckers thrive in these barren lands.
Coastal Mountains: although no longer coastal this giant mountain range acts as a Buther from northern winds and protects a vast swath of newly exposed seabed at its base
Coastal Highlands: sheltered by the Coastal Mountains the Coastal Highlands provide a shelter for animals as it is the only place that deciduous trees can still grow and provides shelter for cold-blooded species such as hoppers.
Coastal Lowlands: a boggy marsh near the edge of the Coastal Mountains shelf a deciduous forest with a high-water level Silverswimmers and hoppers thrive in the lush muddy swamps
Cryptoland Islands: the islands originally made by rich Squibbion have now grown in size although expanding glaciers have transformed the island into a large open grassland several Blish species thrive here as one of the only animals that can reliably reach it
West Coast Forest: a large stretch of evergreen forest along the coast constantly pressured by the sea to the west and grassland to the east the West Coast Forest is a refugee hanging in the balance for a few forest specialists.
Pocket Forest: a forest similar to the West Coast Forest situated between the mountains and the tundra this eastern forest provides shelter for animals that have convergently evolved with those of the West Coast Forest.