The World

(Planet) is a planet with extremely diverse geographical features, from enormous mountain ranges to deep ocean trenches, and everything in between. (Planet) has two major continents and two connected chains of archipelagos, as well as some scattered islands from mantle hot spots.   The smaller continent, (Continent), has a major mountain range along its western coast. It is an active volcanic area, with a large subduction trench, the (SmallContinentTrench) trench.   The two archipelagos (North Archipelago) and (South Archipelago), are also volcanic, and form a ring which marks the location of a major plate boundary.   The larger continent, (Supercontinent), is actually a supercontinent which first came together millions of years ago, and is currently in the process of breaking apart. As the plates move away from each other, they create large inlet seas, including the (CentralSea) and (WesternSea) seas. Where the continents are breaking apart above sea level, they create large rift valleys; the most notable of these are the (EasternValley), (SouthernValley), and (NorthWesternValley) rift valleys.   (Supercontinent) also boasts the world's largest mountain range; the (HimalayaEquivalent). The tallest peak is (TallestMountain), with an elevation of 8,423m. Likewise, the deepest point in the oceans of the planet is off the southern coast of (Supercontinent), in the (MarianaEquivalent) trench, at somewhere between 10,000m and 11,000m deep. At the current time, scientists have not fully explored the trench.

^{See the Life category for more detailed information}   Although it is unknown for certain what natural processes caused life to begin on (Planet), it is believed that the first single-celled organisms developed somewhere between 3.5 and 4 billion years ago. From that time until now, life on the planet has evolved and diversified greatly, changing to fit their own ecological niches through the process of natural selection.   (Planet) boasts a huge diversity of biomes, resulting in a similarly incredible diversity among the flora and fauna of the planet. From the enormous trees and thousands of animals of the tropical rainforests, to the minute spindly cacti and small burrowing creatures of the desert, there are far more species than can be quickly surveyed in this section. As of the current time of writing, over 1,000,000 living animal species have been formally described, and over 300,000 plant species.

(Planet) was formed approximately 4.5 billion years ago via natural physical processes, coalescing out of an orbital disc that formed with (Planet)'s sun, (Sun). As with most terrestrial planets, it when through a period of violent volcanism, which resulted in outgassing and the formation of the planet's atmosphere. Natural tectonic processes resulted in the formation and breakup of various supercontinents, the most recent of which, (Supercontinent), still exists today, and is currently in the process of breaking up. These natural tectonic forces are responsible for the formation of continental crust, mountain formation via both subduction volcanism and uplifting, and the formation of oceans.   The cycles of supercontinent formation and breakup, as well as (Planet)'s natural wobble in its axial tilt, have resulted in extreme variation in climate and temperature over the eons. These variations, along with extraterrestrial impacts from meteors and other planetary debris, are responsible for several major extinctions of life throughout (Planet)'s history. Extinctions such as these may have contributed to the diversification of living species on the planet.   The last major extinction, some mere 25 million years ago, wiped out an entire clade of mammals who had specialized teeth for tearing and shearing meat. This clade, known as Carnivora, once housed the majority of all predatory species across the planet. With their extinction, members of other clades, including the rodents, lagomorphs, and ungulates, diversified to fill the predatory niches that the carnivorans left behind.