Field Note

Life After the Permian Extinction

The Permian extinction reset biosphere complexity at planetary scale, but recovery was not a simple rebound. Ecosystems reassembled through unstable phases, where low-diversity systems were highly vulnerable to additional shocks.

That pattern matters for fiction set in unstable worlds: resilience is gradual, and dominant lineages are temporary. World of Tethys applies this principle by treating ecological order as dynamic rather than permanent.