Post-Nuclear Tardigrade - 3D character model and texture

Setting

In 2014, after pressure from members of the United Nations, the US government activates anti-terrorist operation, ‘Black Shadow’ that mobilises thousands of troops to occupy North Korea in an attempt to cease its ever persistent nuclear weapons program. 74 hours after the activation of operation Black Shadow, the North Korean government becomes aware of incoming US military warships, and threatens nuclear retaliation. The US government has no choice but to pull the plug on operation Black Shadow however, disturbed atmospheric conditions prevent the Black Shadow warship convoy from ever receiving the transmission.

With no sign of retreat from US military warships 4 hours after their warning, the North Korean government launches and detonates a single 5 megaton nuclear warhead over the US convoy in the East China Sea; killing, injuring and poisoning thousands of US military and navy personal. 300 kilometres off China’s eastern shore, the blast also kills thousands of innocent Chinese citizens, and causes massive tidal influxes around the East China Sea. Perceiving the nuclear detonation as a direct attack on their country, China launches a full scale invasion on North Korea.

To protect darker secrets than nuclear arms, North Korea fires a volley of nuclear missiles at China’s military strongholds, sparking an alliance-driven nuclear exchange: mutually assured destruction. Within 7 hours, the worlds population is reduced to 0.012%, and a nuclear winter quickly shrouds the earth in total darkness. The effects of concentrated, ionising radiation spread around the globe, rapidly extinguishing remaining life on the planet.

…Winds sing around the silent, corroding frames of skyscrapers and stadiums, and a thick layer of dust settles on the streets as nuclear winter passes and the sun dawns for the first time on a dead world. As light breaches into the ruins of North Korea however, something begins to stir…

Concept

The earth is obliterated in a nuclear war and the only surviving creatures are tardigrades. Herbivorous tardigrades seek to absorb nutrients from any material, while carnivorous tardigrades hunt the herbivores to feed upon their gathered nutrients. With little influence from a dead planet, an evolutionary arms race between herbivorous and carnivorous tardigrades takes off. (In addition having an extraordinarily high radiation tolerance, tardigrades can survive the icy vacuum of space, and intense heat, cold and pressure. In a word they are polyextremophiles, meaning they can withstand many environmental extremes – pretty hardy little bastards.)

Turntable

Model created in Maya. Texture painted in Photoshop.

Development