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Description

A world were a bunch of monster movies are real, minus Godzilla, King Kong, and Gamera.

This is a world of abnormal creatures. Monsters, aberrations, LSA [1], kaiju, there are many words for the strange and occasionally very large lifeforms that stalk this Earth. Humankind had found ways to coexist with such beasts in times past, but by the 20th century monsters were seen as flights of fancy or ancient humanity’s attempt to explain the mysteries of the universe. Of course not every myth, legend and fable is true on this Earth, human imagination being what it is, but a great many did have basis in living, breathing fact.
The western world was reintroduced to this concept in 1925 when Professor Challenger brought a brontosaurus he had captured in the Amazon basin to London, only for it to escape and wreck havoc though the city, collapse a bridge and swim away down the River Thames. The fact that dinosaurs still existed after presumably being extinct for eons rocked the scientific community to its core and soon scientists of all kinds turned their gaze to the lost world that the creature was presumably returning to. If this one land that time forgot existed, could another? Can there be more beasts lurking in the unexplored regions of the earth? Of course there were people around the world that already knew this was true, civilizations that lived close enough to these hidden ecosystems that they had learned to live with them. There were others things stranger than dinosaurs out there waiting to be discovered, sometimes impatiently unleashing themselves upon the human populace. Entirely new forms of life would emerge, either unbeknownst to humankind or purposely created by them. Some things would arrive from off world.
The asteroid that hit the earth and marked the end of the Cretaceous era was much smaller than the one that struck our earth, and was much less devastating. There was still a great die-off and the dinosaurs never really ruled the earth the same way again. Mammals, with their faster reproduction rates and more keen to take care of their offspring, were already moving in to fill in niches that were only partially filled by the thunder lizards. This is a world were cavemen ~did~ co-exist with dinosaurs, which by that time had greatly diminished in population. By one million years B.C. dinosaurs even had to struggle to compete with their fellow reptiles, which had grown to immense sizes in order to swipe their place on the food chain.
That's not to say dinosaurs were defenseless as the world changed around them, because evolution was changing them as well. Though superficially resembling their ancient forbearers, 65 million years is a long time. Where once the meat eating theropods held their body parallel to the ground they now stood in a tripod stance, upright with their tails dragging on the ground. A similar transformation happened to the long-necked sauropods, their bodies becoming bulbous, their feet elephantine, and their necks flexible. Drastic changes happened all over the dinosaur family as herbivores became carnivores, carnivores became omnivores, land dwellers became semi or fully aquatic, to the point when calling them all dinosaurs may be a classification faux pas.
Some non-dinosaur species evolved to be part of the same ecosystem these new dinosaurs were a keystone for. This even included pterosaurs, ancient reptiles, and even some mammalian or avian species [2]. As the spaces were dinosaurs roamed grew smaller and smaller, these creatures's territories also shrank. This is why in almost any given lost world theres also sabertooths, terror birds, and missing-link ape-men living alongside tyrannosaurs and pterodactyls.
A number of lost ecosystems are known to exist in certain obscure locales. The most famous being the great plateau in Venezuela, the one Challenger would return to in order to help catalogue the creatures therein. The plateau's great height prevented many new species from entering it after an ancient geological upheaval. Another one would be found in a hidden valley within the Mexican desert, named for its fearsome ruler, a theropod locals had named 'Gwangi'. The incident involving it being placed in a circus, it's subsequent escape and rampage ending in the Gwangi leaping through the wall of a burning cathedral was one of the main catalysts for lost worlds being sectioned off turn into preserves. It is known that Gwangi made its way back to its hidden valley kingdom just in time to defend it from an invading rival, another theropod that had been driven away from it's own home in Hollow Mountain.
Still more lost worlds exist on remote islands, isolated from the mainland. A relatively small one exists in the arctic circle that was discovered by Thrust Inc. [3] and almost became a big game reserve so the company’s owner and a select few could hunt ‘the last dinosaurs’. Thankfully the multinational effort to turn the last remaining primordial ecosystems prevented this.
Other prehistoric beasts exist, much more unusual and sometimes much larger than dinosaurs. Some of have been preserved, or hibernated though the millenniums in order to reawaken in the modern age [4]. This often has disastrous results, especially for the ones impervious to conventional weapons. This has lead the scientific community ponder as to what kind of event could make a bulletproof superbeast that can regrow its body from a severed limb extinct. Examinations of sediments and strata at the boundary between the Cretaceous and Paleogene eras show that the earth was covered in a planet-wide layer of ash, almost as if the whole world were set on fire. Some geologists theorize that the meteor impact was the cause of this, though others in the field aren't too sure.
There is evidence of strange occurrences within the archeological record also. The remains of a gigantic stone statue were uncovered on the Mediterranean coast depicting a four armed kraken with features so lifelike you’d swear it was alve. The lost world in the arctic has a pyramid dating back many thousands of years, but even more curious is the destroyed golden mechanical minotaur discovered near its entrance that research suggests is much more recent. Within the pyramid is the only known full skeleton of the horned hominid known as a troglodyte, very far removed from its homeland. Probably the most controversial find of all time is a skeleton of a one eyed beast that was part man and part horse locked in combat with a griffin.
This is also a world where biological structures react to mutagens in strange and unpredictable ways. Environmental negligence in the disposal of deadly chemicals and/or radioactive substances has proved this time and time again. The resulting mutants aren’t only effected on a physiological level but sometimes also on a genetic level, with traits being passed down by reproduction, resulting in new species emerging. This also makes genetic engineering relatively easier, but also much more dangerous. Even the less amoral gene-splicing experiments begun to better mankind have ended in disaster.
After a slew of incidents and public outcry, heavy sanctions were put in place for corporations trying to get away with shifty waste disposal, as well as scientific reform to prevent labs from unleashing experimental killing machines into people’s backwards. Heaven help you if you’re found responsible for creating super intelligent murderous sharks or a repeat the dreaded Party Beach scenario. Many companies have become much more environmentally friendly with their CEOs relocated to prison, and science marches on, with better background checks for scientists and a series of checks and balances in place to reduce shaky ethics.
The space race had its own dangers. It's not uncommon for a shuttle to land with a stowaway onboard. There now exists a lengthy process of examination astronauts must endure after arriving back to earth, ensuring they haven't inhaled some sort of parasite or been replaced by a duplicate or something. The ships themselves are also screened for suspicious cargo, though re-entry can shake off even the most resilient martian amoeba or krite. Even without the aid of astronauts things can arrive on earth by way hitching a ride on an asteroid pulled in by the Earth's gravity, be guided by solar winds, and in rare cases a crashed extraterrestrial ship. There are people who fear that these are scout ships, evidence that Earth has attracted the envious eyes of alien intelligences vast, cool, and unsympathetic...
WORLD TOUR
The polar ice caps not only contain a miniature mesozoic ecosystem but also an assortment of creatures trapped and preserved in the ice. Changes in the earth's climate caused a number of these to thaw out and reawaken with disastrous results. Both the rhedosaurus and a very deadly giant mantis were confirmed to have been freed from the arctic circle by atomic detonations before migrating south and menacing the eastern Canadian and US coast, with the mantis being destroyed in Washington DC and dinosaur meeting its demise in Coney island.
Nobody is quite sure why New York City seems to attract all sorts of undesired attention. Oceanographers hypothesize that a mixture of the Gulf Stream and the Labrador Current funnels aquatic monsters towards Manhattan. Another theory is the light and heat given off by the city is an irresistible lure for most large creatures, not to mention the large amount of human prey. Some of the biggest problems the city had to endure was the arrival of a giant clawed alien buzzard with an antimatter shield that tried to make the Big Apple into it's hunting ground, as well as the aforementioned rhedosaurus which leaked toxic blood whenever it was injured. There was also the matter of the Judas Breed, a genetically engineered insect species created to eat disease carrying sewer roaches, though that backfired as the Judas Breed ended up evolving to mimic humans in order to prey upon them. The fact that it took a bunch of civilians to destroy their nest is something the armed forces have yet to live down [5]. Any surviving mimics have probably been eaten by sewer gators or CHUDs.
There was the strange case of the winged serpent god-beast known as Q migrating from its native lands in Central America and taking nest within the city's skyline, preying upon people amongst the rooftops. This caused a frantic search for where its roost was, which ended up being atop the Chrysler building. After Q was destroyed, its nest was found to have an egg in it. This was transported to a laboratory in upstate New York, where it hatched. The young Q is remarkably intelligent and understands certain words and phrases, and was seemingly born knowing it's named was Quetzalcoatl.
The final straw was probably the one involving the infamous Hammerdown protocol by the US army in 2008. A gigantic unidentified sea creature made landfall went on an unstoppable rampage at a time when advanced in weapon technology assured the populace that unstoppable rampages were impossible. The destruction dealt to the city by both the creature and its bloodthirsty dog-sized skin parasites was devastating, not including the damage done luring the creature to Central Park and bombing the shit out of it until it stopped moving. This caused a great number of the people to move away from NYC, and a number of other large cities (especially ones on the coast) saw their population density diminish after this incident. Suburbs are now very tightly packed.
That's not to say that the rest of the North America is free of monsters. There was a outbreak of mutated bears in Maine caused by dumping mercury into the woods. Pennsylvania had a serious run-in with an amorphous blob from outer space that dissolved any organic matter it touched. Right now its frozen in the Northern pole in a special container, but has been moved farther north several times as the earth warms up [6]. A tarantula that grew to the size of a football field menaced Arizona, while a bus sized giant gila monster attacked Texas. An island off the coast of Texas had a problem with ravenous giant dog-sized killer shrews, but once they exhausted all other forms of food on the island after the humans escaped that problem eventually solved itself. The southwest had to deal with Lt. Glenn Manning’s plutonium induced growth spurt as he became an amazingly colossal man, and later the colossal beast. Nevada has graboids and their life-cycle to worry about, made complicated due to recently becoming an endangered species. A hitherto unknown species of giant octopus came from beneath the sea and destroyed parts of San Francisco, and a plesiosaur briefly terrorized California's Crater Lake.
The cause for the most alarm was the giant ant outbreak of New Mexico. Mutated to gigantic sizes by nearby atomic testing, these ants threatened to become the new dominant species if they were to overrun the planet, but thankfully were eliminated beforehand. Fear that a giant ant queen somehow escaped has died down, and generally only the tinfoil hat conspiracy crowd believe in that. If they only knew about the ~other~ mutated ants in Arizona, while still ant sized, are ready to enact Phase 4 of their long drawn out plan.
Mexico has the valley of Gwangi, still ruled by the descendants of the original beast. In accordance with environmental code the whole valley is a giant nature preserve, though that doesn't prevent the occasional eohippus or gallimimus from wandering out of the valley. Graboids have been reported in high numbers. And there's also a certain Mayan ruin that is the home of a remarkable predatory plant. The people who live nearby are aware of it and know how to stay out of its clutches, but any archeologist or tourist unable to speak the native tongue usually find themselves devoured.
Further south is the Venezuelan plateau, also a preserve, and also with errant prehistoric beasts. The surrounding Amazonian rainforest has a disturbing amount of oversized animals. There have been reports of anacondas of immense size, gigantic arachnids of unknown origin, and large piranhas with flying fish wingfins. Along with the prehistoric beasts, how did the indigenous people defend themselves? One of the most successful people of the region are known as the Kathoga, who perform a sacred ceremony in order to transform a member of their community into their protector. By imbibing a concoction containing a rare fungi, the drinker is transformed into a creature known as Mbwun, the fungus introducing reptilian DNA and changing them. Ferocious and savage, Mbwun can only barely be controlled by the Kathoga due to the beast's dependance on the fungus in order to stay healthy. But even Mbwun knows to stay clear of a certain area of the Amazon river known as the Black Lagoon.
Europe has had a hard time of it when it comes to unwanted guests. There's an underwater primordial ecosystem that got exposed to the outside world for the first time when a gigantic behemoth known as the paleosaurus threatened to irradiate London after being mutated by atomic testing before being subdued by radium. The next creature from this aquatic biome would be Gorgo off the Irish coast. Captured by treasure hunters and sold to Dorkin [7] Circus, it would eventually be freed when its much larger mother Ogra tore through London to rescue her offspring. Loch Ness seems to be connected this this ecosystem, as it is home to a population of plesiosaurs and a giant marine reptile that preys upon them. The regenerating, venom spewing menace known as Reptilicus had been a continual thorn in Denmark's side, eluding destruction due to its ability to regenerate its body from even a single wad of flesh. It was last seen engaging Ogra in mortal combat in the North Sea and hasn't been seen since, with many praying Ogra has finished the job. Meanwhile, Norway has finally admitted it has a troll problem.
A British archeological dig recently uncovered the remains of a winged reptile dating back to the sixth century, it's corpse riddled with the ends of arrows and spears, along with a number of christian crosses marking the area. Superficially similar to a pterosaur, it has a long neck with a strong jaw filled serrated teeth, and a long tail ending in a spiked barb, causing many to christen this the remains of a slain dragon. In an Italian museum the remains of Venusian beast Ymir are on display where it's black carbon skeleton continues to dazzle locals and tourists alike, with actual pieces of the ancient roman colosseum accompanying it.
There is evidence that Africa houses a lost world due to the population of sauropods found within Congo's jungles. Nearby, a crashed satellite introduced wasps mutated by cosmic radiation into the environment in that still remain a problem, though are docile enough if you don't invade their space. Uganda is the home of Mighty Joe Young and his handler Jill Young, living within nature preserve after the giant gorilla's disastrous career as an entertainer and much more successful role of a hero. Oh, and also the Sahara has graboids, so watch your step.
Seeing the success of the Dorkin Circus' venture, the head of the Japanese publication Playmate Magazine sought to capitalize on the discovery of a bizarre newborn creature, part lizard and part bird. Being put on display, the creature attracted curious citizens and media, but drew its gigantic parents, the triphibians known as the Gappas, to the Japanese mainland in an eerie enactment of the Gorgo incident. The only good to out of this is Mr. Funazu selling Playmate Magazine and using his funds to create his own conservationist organization.
A similar story played out with a Japanese marketing chain seeking to utilize the orphaned kaiju Daigoro [8] as their mascot, striking a deal with his human caretaker after he couldn't afford to feed him anymore. It almost fell through were it not for the intervention of the dreaded space beast Goliath, who was ultimately defeated thanks to the aid of Daigoro. This is an early case of a monster beloved by the populace, and he would later be a valuable ally in Japan's conflict with another monster from outer space, Guilala.
Within the Himalayas lowlands of India lived the mighty Utam, an ape of extraordinary size. His trip to Hong Kong and his rampage over the severe mistreatment of his jungle girl companion Samantha ended with him taking a plunge off of a skyscraper. Thanks to an artificial heart and a blood transfusion from another member of his species, he's made a speedy recovery. In nearby Taiwan, a identical incident played out when a child was separated from her colossal pet snake, Mosler. After the dust settled, Mosler is now seen as the mascot of Taiwan, which he views as his territory.
Yonggary, seemingly another dinosaur from a subterranean ecosystem, arose from the deep to menace Seoul, South Korea, and was dispatched with little trouble. Thirty years later, his corpse was resurrected and superchaged by malevolent extraterrestrials in a scheme to destroy life on Earth (or at least a small part of it for them to colonize). These plans were thwarted when humanity broke the alien's control over Yonggary and he turned against them, defeating their space monster Cykor in the process, causing the aliens to cut their losses and flee. Yonggary was transported to a remote island preserve and has been an asset to humanity ever since. Cykor's body has been put in storage for examination, and for possible harvesting for alien minerals. Or it would have been if it weren't for the fact that the corpse didn't rot and kept twitching for a year after Yonggary blew its head off.
There was a minor international kerfuffle when it was discovered an American scientist stationed in South Korea ordering roughly 200 bottles of formaldehyde poured down the drain was linked to the emergence of a mutated fish from the Han river that endangered the local populace. The subsequent lie that the creature was the host of a deadly virus in order to obfuscate its origins didn't help much. This incident and the mutant bears of Maine were the cause of worldwide reform on waste disposal. And then, of course, there was the Dragon War of 2007 wherein the evil serpentine imoogi known as Buraki and his beast army [9] went to war with the modern world in a bid to transform into a full grown Eternal Dragon and become the most powerful creature on Earth. His plans were thwarted by the cooperation of joint international military operation and a rival imoogi, along with the timely intervention of Yonggary.
Officials in North Korea claim that one day their own legendary guardian beast Pulgasari will arise and defeat all that oppose him. There's very little evidence that Pulgasari ever existed, so many don’t take this seriously.
Off the coast of Australia, another aquatic ecosystem was unveiled to the world as a family of gargantuan amphibians made landfall on several Polynesian islands. This was a big incident, considering the areas was relatively monster free aside from the infrequent sea monster. Also, guess what Australia's outback has. Yep, graboids.
Nobody knows what Antarctica may be hiding, maybe a crashed UFO or a hidden pyramid or something. Scientists are very interested in what can be found in Lake Vostok, a giant body of water under the ice. Could it be a lost world, or something else entirely? The world is almost too scared to find out. Investigations into the Earth’s crust are also on the table, partially for scientific advancement, but also to possibly nip any possible threat in the bud before they decide to pop up and surprise everyone.
The space surrounding Earth isn’t as monster free as astronomists had hoped. The Moon has evidence of a subterranean civilization, but whether they’ve gone extinct or are just very good at hiding remains to be seen, though their gigantic 18-wheeler sized beasts of burden are very evident. Mars is home to many strange lifeforms and amongst the rat-bat-spiders and giant amoebas is a dying civilization that has made it very clear they would like to live their final days in peace, without a bunch of young upstarts poking and stumbling around.
Manned explorations of Venus have been put on hold when it became apparent its native wildlife would require more countermeasures and defenses than could be comfortably be brought upon a space shuttle. There’s a new theory that Ymir was a Venusian equivalent of a cow or gorilla, grazing peacefully on deposits of sulphur across the planet. The prospect of facing something more ferocious than Ymir, a true Venusian carnivore, makes it clear bringing heavier machinery will be necessary.
Every rocky planet has had to deal with infestations with the carnivorous critters known as krites, which are abundant in the asteroid field as well. Beyond lies a lone starship, from which Gort has already sent a number of Klaatu drones over the years to Earth in order to examine it. Though Earth is definitely not ready to be part of the pan-galactic community, Gort has computed that he should reschedule the intelligence test to a slightly later date. Earth clearly has its hands full at the moment.

---

The year is 2020, and there's something in the air tonight.
Q junior startled lab when when it woke in the middle of the night it spent half the day squawking and acting distressed. Eventually its handlers were able to calm it down, after which is spoke it's first word, "fire!"
Daigoro has been very jumpy lately. Yonggary has been patrolling his territory, growling ferociously at the fissures that have opened in the Earth. Mosler has descended into one of these fissures and has yet to come back out. A full grown Gorgo has resurfaced off the coast of Ireland with something in his mouth that looks like a leathery wing. A piece of Reptilicus has washed up in Denmark, almost burnt beyond recognition. Gwangi has been acting erratic and overly aggressive.
In the world beyond, the after-image of Buraki has found Cykor, joined together by their hatred for Yonggary. They can sense the world is about to be thrown into chaos. The time to strike is soon. In a top secret storage facility, Cykor's body just twitched.
Finally, in Britain, reconstruction of the London Underground causes the giant male fire drake to toss and turn in its sleep; a prelude to the reawakening of his kind and the beginning of a new reign of fire.

[1] American military shorthand, “Large Scale Aggressor”.
[2] Ancient ocean dwelling reptiles, such a plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs, were not as limited space-wise as their landlubber cousins and generally had free reign of the certain parts of the deep
[3] tee hee!
[4] Being a paleontologist can be a very dangerous profession.
[5] Monsters having to be defeated by average joes is actually very common, probably due to the armed forces not having protocols in place that can predict every kind of creepy crawly coming out of the woodwork. In the fifties many people who took down monsters sold their stories to action adventure magazines, but nowadays they seek a therapist.
[6] One of the biggest rallying cries against climate change is "don't let the monsters in the ice wake up". It's very effective.
[7] Dorkin
[8] Due to his mother being killed by the Japanese military, a Gorgo scenario was impossible.
[9] Buraki has a number of theropods in his thrall, leading many to believe Asia has a hidden lost world somewhere.

Movies featured, in order of appearance:

The Lost World (1925)

One Million Years B.C.

The Valley of Gwangi

The Beast of Hollow Mountain

The Last Dinosaur

Clash of the Titans (1981)

Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger

The Golden Voyage of Sinbad

Deep Blue Sea

The Horror of Party Beach

Angry Red Planet

Critters

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms

The Deadly Mantis

The Giant Claw

Mimic

Alligator

C.H.U.D.

Q the Winged Serpent

Cloverfield

Prophecy

The Blob

Tarantula

The Giant Gila Monster

The Killer Shrews

The Amazing Colossal Man

War of the Colossal Beast

Tremors 1, 2, 3, & 4
Tremors: The Series

It Came from Beneath the Sea

The Crater Lake Monster

Them!

Phase IV

The Ruins

Anaconda

Arachnid

Piranha 2: The Spawning

The Relic

Creature from the Black Lagoon

The Giant Behemoth

Gorgo

Beneath Loch Ness

Reptilicus

The Troll Hunter

Dragonslayer

20 Million Miles to Earth

Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend

The Monster from Green Hell

Mighty Joe Young (1949/1998)

Gappa: the Triphibian Monsers

Daigoro vs. Golitah

The X from Outer Space

The Mighty Peking Man

King of Snake

Yongary, Monster from the Deep

Reptilian

The Host

Dragon War

Pulgasari

Gargantua

Leviathan

First Men in the Moon

The Angry Red Planet

The Day the Earth Stood Still
Reign of Fire

Description

A world were a bunch of monster movies are real, minus Godzilla, King Kong, and Gamera.

This is a world of abnormal creatures. Monsters, aberrations, LSA [1], kaiju, there are many words for the strange and occasionally very large lifeforms that stalk this Earth. Humankind had found ways to coexist with such beasts in times past, but by the 20th century monsters were seen as flights of fancy or ancient humanity’s attempt to explain the mysteries of the universe. Of course not every myth, legend and fable is true on this Earth, human imagination being what it is, but a great many did have basis in living, breathing fact.
The western world was reintroduced to this concept in 1925 when Professor Challenger brought a brontosaurus he had captured in the Amazon basin to London, only for it to escape and wreck havoc though the city, collapse a bridge and swim away down the River Thames. The fact that dinosaurs still existed after presumably being extinct for eons rocked the scientific community to its core and soon scientists of all kinds turned their gaze to the lost world that the creature was presumably returning to. If this one land that time forgot existed, could another? Can there be more beasts lurking in the unexplored regions of the earth? Of course there were people around the world that already knew this was true, civilizations that lived close enough to these hidden ecosystems that they had learned to live with them. There were others things stranger than dinosaurs out there waiting to be discovered, sometimes impatiently unleashing themselves upon the human populace. Entirely new forms of life would emerge, either unbeknownst to humankind or purposely created by them. Some things would arrive from off world.
The asteroid that hit the earth and marked the end of the Cretaceous era was much smaller than the one that struck our earth, and was much less devastating. There was still a great die-off and the dinosaurs never really ruled the earth the same way again. Mammals, with their faster reproduction rates and more keen to take care of their offspring, were already moving in to fill in niches that were only partially filled by the thunder lizards. This is a world were cavemen ~did~ co-exist with dinosaurs, which by that time had greatly diminished in population. By one million years B.C. dinosaurs even had to struggle to compete with their fellow reptiles, which had grown to immense sizes in order to swipe their place on the food chain.
That's not to say dinosaurs were defenseless as the world changed around them, because evolution was changing them as well. Though superficially resembling their ancient forbearers, 65 million years is a long time. Where once the meat eating theropods held their body parallel to the ground they now stood in a tripod stance, upright with their tails dragging on the ground. A similar transformation happened to the long-necked sauropods, their bodies becoming bulbous, their feet elephantine, and their necks flexible. Drastic changes happened all over the dinosaur family as herbivores became carnivores, carnivores became omnivores, land dwellers became semi or fully aquatic, to the point when calling them all dinosaurs may be a classification faux pas.
Some non-dinosaur species evolved to be part of the same ecosystem these new dinosaurs were a keystone for. This even included pterosaurs, ancient reptiles, and even some mammalian or avian species [2]. As the spaces were dinosaurs roamed grew smaller and smaller, these creatures's territories also shrank. This is why in almost any given lost world theres also sabertooths, terror birds, and missing-link ape-men living alongside tyrannosaurs and pterodactyls.
A number of lost ecosystems are known to exist in certain obscure locales. The most famous being the great plateau in Venezuela, the one Challenger would return to in order to help catalogue the creatures therein. The plateau's great height prevented many new species from entering it after an ancient geological upheaval. Another one would be found in a hidden valley within the Mexican desert, named for its fearsome ruler, a theropod locals had named 'Gwangi'. The incident involving it being placed in a circus, it's subsequent escape and rampage ending in the Gwangi leaping through the wall of a burning cathedral was one of the main catalysts for lost worlds being sectioned off turn into preserves. It is known that Gwangi made its way back to its hidden valley kingdom just in time to defend it from an invading rival, another theropod that had been driven away from it's own home in Hollow Mountain.
Still more lost worlds exist on remote islands, isolated from the mainland. A relatively small one exists in the arctic circle that was discovered by Thrust Inc. [3] and almost became a big game reserve so the company’s owner and a select few could hunt ‘the last dinosaurs’. Thankfully the multinational effort to turn the last remaining primordial ecosystems prevented this.
Other prehistoric beasts exist, much more unusual and sometimes much larger than dinosaurs. Some of have been preserved, or hibernated though the millenniums in order to reawaken in the modern age [4]. This often has disastrous results, especially for the ones impervious to conventional weapons. This has lead the scientific community ponder as to what kind of event could make a bulletproof superbeast that can regrow its body from a severed limb extinct. Examinations of sediments and strata at the boundary between the Cretaceous and Paleogene eras show that the earth was covered in a planet-wide layer of ash, almost as if the whole world were set on fire. Some geologists theorize that the meteor impact was the cause of this, though others in the field aren't too sure.
There is evidence of strange occurrences within the archeological record also. The remains of a gigantic stone statue were uncovered on the Mediterranean coast depicting a four armed kraken with features so lifelike you’d swear it was alve. The lost world in the arctic has a pyramid dating back many thousands of years, but even more curious is the destroyed golden mechanical minotaur discovered near its entrance that research suggests is much more recent. Within the pyramid is the only known full skeleton of the horned hominid known as a troglodyte, very far removed from its homeland. Probably the most controversial find of all time is a skeleton of a one eyed beast that was part man and part horse locked in combat with a griffin.
This is also a world where biological structures react to mutagens in strange and unpredictable ways. Environmental negligence in the disposal of deadly chemicals and/or radioactive substances has proved this time and time again. The resulting mutants aren’t only effected on a physiological level but sometimes also on a genetic level, with traits being passed down by reproduction, resulting in new species emerging. This also makes genetic engineering relatively easier, but also much more dangerous. Even the less amoral gene-splicing experiments begun to better mankind have ended in disaster.
After a slew of incidents and public outcry, heavy sanctions were put in place for corporations trying to get away with shifty waste disposal, as well as scientific reform to prevent labs from unleashing experimental killing machines into people’s backwards. Heaven help you if you’re found responsible for creating super intelligent murderous sharks or a repeat the dreaded Party Beach scenario. Many companies have become much more environmentally friendly with their CEOs relocated to prison, and science marches on, with better background checks for scientists and a series of checks and balances in place to reduce shaky ethics.
The space race had its own dangers. It's not uncommon for a shuttle to land with a stowaway onboard. There now exists a lengthy process of examination astronauts must endure after arriving back to earth, ensuring they haven't inhaled some sort of parasite or been replaced by a duplicate or something. The ships themselves are also screened for suspicious cargo, though re-entry can shake off even the most resilient martian amoeba or krite. Even without the aid of astronauts things can arrive on earth by way hitching a ride on an asteroid pulled in by the Earth's gravity, be guided by solar winds, and in rare cases a crashed extraterrestrial ship. There are people who fear that these are scout ships, evidence that Earth has attracted the envious eyes of alien intelligences vast, cool, and unsympathetic...
WORLD TOUR
The polar ice caps not only contain a miniature mesozoic ecosystem but also an assortment of creatures trapped and preserved in the ice. Changes in the earth's climate caused a number of these to thaw out and reawaken with disastrous results. Both the rhedosaurus and a very deadly giant mantis were confirmed to have been freed from the arctic circle by atomic detonations before migrating south and menacing the eastern Canadian and US coast, with the mantis being destroyed in Washington DC and dinosaur meeting its demise in Coney island.
Nobody is quite sure why New York City seems to attract all sorts of undesired attention. Oceanographers hypothesize that a mixture of the Gulf Stream and the Labrador Current funnels aquatic monsters towards Manhattan. Another theory is the light and heat given off by the city is an irresistible lure for most large creatures, not to mention the large amount of human prey. Some of the biggest problems the city had to endure was the arrival of a giant clawed alien buzzard with an antimatter shield that tried to make the Big Apple into it's hunting ground, as well as the aforementioned rhedosaurus which leaked toxic blood whenever it was injured. There was also the matter of the Judas Breed, a genetically engineered insect species created to eat disease carrying sewer roaches, though that backfired as the Judas Breed ended up evolving to mimic humans in order to prey upon them. The fact that it took a bunch of civilians to destroy their nest is something the armed forces have yet to live down [5]. Any surviving mimics have probably been eaten by sewer gators or CHUDs.
There was the strange case of the winged serpent god-beast known as Q migrating from its native lands in Central America and taking nest within the city's skyline, preying upon people amongst the rooftops. This caused a frantic search for where its roost was, which ended up being atop the Chrysler building. After Q was destroyed, its nest was found to have an egg in it. This was transported to a laboratory in upstate New York, where it hatched. The young Q is remarkably intelligent and understands certain words and phrases, and was seemingly born knowing it's named was Quetzalcoatl.
The final straw was probably the one involving the infamous Hammerdown protocol by the US army in 2008. A gigantic unidentified sea creature made landfall went on an unstoppable rampage at a time when advanced in weapon technology assured the populace that unstoppable rampages were impossible. The destruction dealt to the city by both the creature and its bloodthirsty dog-sized skin parasites was devastating, not including the damage done luring the creature to Central Park and bombing the shit out of it until it stopped moving. This caused a great number of the people to move away from NYC, and a number of other large cities (especially ones on the coast) saw their population density diminish after this incident. Suburbs are now very tightly packed.
That's not to say that the rest of the North America is free of monsters. There was a outbreak of mutated bears in Maine caused by dumping mercury into the woods. Pennsylvania had a serious run-in with an amorphous blob from outer space that dissolved any organic matter it touched. Right now its frozen in the Northern pole in a special container, but has been moved farther north several times as the earth warms up [6]. A tarantula that grew to the size of a football field menaced Arizona, while a bus sized giant gila monster attacked Texas. An island off the coast of Texas had a problem with ravenous giant dog-sized killer shrews, but once they exhausted all other forms of food on the island after the humans escaped that problem eventually solved itself. The southwest had to deal with Lt. Glenn Manning’s plutonium induced growth spurt as he became an amazingly colossal man, and later the colossal beast. Nevada has graboids and their life-cycle to worry about, made complicated due to recently becoming an endangered species. A hitherto unknown species of giant octopus came from beneath the sea and destroyed parts of San Francisco, and a plesiosaur briefly terrorized California's Crater Lake.
The cause for the most alarm was the giant ant outbreak of New Mexico. Mutated to gigantic sizes by nearby atomic testing, these ants threatened to become the new dominant species if they were to overrun the planet, but thankfully were eliminated beforehand. Fear that a giant ant queen somehow escaped has died down, and generally only the tinfoil hat conspiracy crowd believe in that. If they only knew about the ~other~ mutated ants in Arizona, while still ant sized, are ready to enact Phase 4 of their long drawn out plan.
Mexico has the valley of Gwangi, still ruled by the descendants of the original beast. In accordance with environmental code the whole valley is a giant nature preserve, though that doesn't prevent the occasional eohippus or gallimimus from wandering out of the valley. Graboids have been reported in high numbers. And there's also a certain Mayan ruin that is the home of a remarkable predatory plant. The people who live nearby are aware of it and know how to stay out of its clutches, but any archeologist or tourist unable to speak the native tongue usually find themselves devoured.
Further south is the Venezuelan plateau, also a preserve, and also with errant prehistoric beasts. The surrounding Amazonian rainforest has a disturbing amount of oversized animals. There have been reports of anacondas of immense size, gigantic arachnids of unknown origin, and large piranhas with flying fish wingfins. Along with the prehistoric beasts, how did the indigenous people defend themselves? One of the most successful people of the region are known as the Kathoga, who perform a sacred ceremony in order to transform a member of their community into their protector. By imbibing a concoction containing a rare fungi, the drinker is transformed into a creature known as Mbwun, the fungus introducing reptilian DNA and changing them. Ferocious and savage, Mbwun can only barely be controlled by the Kathoga due to the beast's dependance on the fungus in order to stay healthy. But even Mbwun knows to stay clear of a certain area of the Amazon river known as the Black Lagoon.
Europe has had a hard time of it when it comes to unwanted guests. There's an underwater primordial ecosystem that got exposed to the outside world for the first time when a gigantic behemoth known as the paleosaurus threatened to irradiate London after being mutated by atomic testing before being subdued by radium. The next creature from this aquatic biome would be Gorgo off the Irish coast. Captured by treasure hunters and sold to Dorkin [7] Circus, it would eventually be freed when its much larger mother Ogra tore through London to rescue her offspring. Loch Ness seems to be connected this this ecosystem, as it is home to a population of plesiosaurs and a giant marine reptile that preys upon them. The regenerating, venom spewing menace known as Reptilicus had been a continual thorn in Denmark's side, eluding destruction due to its ability to regenerate its body from even a single wad of flesh. It was last seen engaging Ogra in mortal combat in the North Sea and hasn't been seen since, with many praying Ogra has finished the job. Meanwhile, Norway has finally admitted it has a troll problem.
A British archeological dig recently uncovered the remains of a winged reptile dating back to the sixth century, it's corpse riddled with the ends of arrows and spears, along with a number of christian crosses marking the area. Superficially similar to a pterosaur, it has a long neck with a strong jaw filled serrated teeth, and a long tail ending in a spiked barb, causing many to christen this the remains of a slain dragon. In an Italian museum the remains of Venusian beast Ymir are on display where it's black carbon skeleton continues to dazzle locals and tourists alike, with actual pieces of the ancient roman colosseum accompanying it.
There is evidence that Africa houses a lost world due to the population of sauropods found within Congo's jungles. Nearby, a crashed satellite introduced wasps mutated by cosmic radiation into the environment in that still remain a problem, though are docile enough if you don't invade their space. Uganda is the home of Mighty Joe Young and his handler Jill Young, living within nature preserve after the giant gorilla's disastrous career as an entertainer and much more successful role of a hero. Oh, and also the Sahara has graboids, so watch your step.
Seeing the success of the Dorkin Circus' venture, the head of the Japanese publication Playmate Magazine sought to capitalize on the discovery of a bizarre newborn creature, part lizard and part bird. Being put on display, the creature attracted curious citizens and media, but drew its gigantic parents, the triphibians known as the Gappas, to the Japanese mainland in an eerie enactment of the Gorgo incident. The only good to out of this is Mr. Funazu selling Playmate Magazine and using his funds to create his own conservationist organization.
A similar story played out with a Japanese marketing chain seeking to utilize the orphaned kaiju Daigoro [8] as their mascot, striking a deal with his human caretaker after he couldn't afford to feed him anymore. It almost fell through were it not for the intervention of the dreaded space beast Goliath, who was ultimately defeated thanks to the aid of Daigoro. This is an early case of a monster beloved by the populace, and he would later be a valuable ally in Japan's conflict with another monster from outer space, Guilala.
Within the Himalayas lowlands of India lived the mighty Utam, an ape of extraordinary size. His trip to Hong Kong and his rampage over the severe mistreatment of his jungle girl companion Samantha ended with him taking a plunge off of a skyscraper. Thanks to an artificial heart and a blood transfusion from another member of his species, he's made a speedy recovery. In nearby Taiwan, a identical incident played out when a child was separated from her colossal pet snake, Mosler. After the dust settled, Mosler is now seen as the mascot of Taiwan, which he views as his territory.
Yonggary, seemingly another dinosaur from a subterranean ecosystem, arose from the deep to menace Seoul, South Korea, and was dispatched with little trouble. Thirty years later, his corpse was resurrected and superchaged by malevolent extraterrestrials in a scheme to destroy life on Earth (or at least a small part of it for them to colonize). These plans were thwarted when humanity broke the alien's control over Yonggary and he turned against them, defeating their space monster Cykor in the process, causing the aliens to cut their losses and flee. Yonggary was transported to a remote island preserve and has been an asset to humanity ever since. Cykor's body has been put in storage for examination, and for possible harvesting for alien minerals. Or it would have been if it weren't for the fact that the corpse didn't rot and kept twitching for a year after Yonggary blew its head off.
There was a minor international kerfuffle when it was discovered an American scientist stationed in South Korea ordering roughly 200 bottles of formaldehyde poured down the drain was linked to the emergence of a mutated fish from the Han river that endangered the local populace. The subsequent lie that the creature was the host of a deadly virus in order to obfuscate its origins didn't help much. This incident and the mutant bears of Maine were the cause of worldwide reform on waste disposal. And then, of course, there was the Dragon War of 2007 wherein the evil serpentine imoogi known as Buraki and his beast army [9] went to war with the modern world in a bid to transform into a full grown Eternal Dragon and become the most powerful creature on Earth. His plans were thwarted by the cooperation of joint international military operation and a rival imoogi, along with the timely intervention of Yonggary.
Officials in North Korea claim that one day their own legendary guardian beast Pulgasari will arise and defeat all that oppose him. There's very little evidence that Pulgasari ever existed, so many don’t take this seriously.
Off the coast of Australia, another aquatic ecosystem was unveiled to the world as a family of gargantuan amphibians made landfall on several Polynesian islands. This was a big incident, considering the areas was relatively monster free aside from the infrequent sea monster. Also, guess what Australia's outback has. Yep, graboids.
Nobody knows what Antarctica may be hiding, maybe a crashed UFO or a hidden pyramid or something. Scientists are very interested in what can be found in Lake Vostok, a giant body of water under the ice. Could it be a lost world, or something else entirely? The world is almost too scared to find out. Investigations into the Earth’s crust are also on the table, partially for scientific advancement, but also to possibly nip any possible threat in the bud before they decide to pop up and surprise everyone.
The space surrounding Earth isn’t as monster free as astronomists had hoped. The Moon has evidence of a subterranean civilization, but whether they’ve gone extinct or are just very good at hiding remains to be seen, though their gigantic 18-wheeler sized beasts of burden are very evident. Mars is home to many strange lifeforms and amongst the rat-bat-spiders and giant amoebas is a dying civilization that has made it very clear they would like to live their final days in peace, without a bunch of young upstarts poking and stumbling around.
Manned explorations of Venus have been put on hold when it became apparent its native wildlife would require more countermeasures and defenses than could be comfortably be brought upon a space shuttle. There’s a new theory that Ymir was a Venusian equivalent of a cow or gorilla, grazing peacefully on deposits of sulphur across the planet. The prospect of facing something more ferocious than Ymir, a true Venusian carnivore, makes it clear bringing heavier machinery will be necessary.
Every rocky planet has had to deal with infestations with the carnivorous critters known as krites, which are abundant in the asteroid field as well. Beyond lies a lone starship, from which Gort has already sent a number of Klaatu drones over the years to Earth in order to examine it. Though Earth is definitely not ready to be part of the pan-galactic community, Gort has computed that he should reschedule the intelligence test to a slightly later date. Earth clearly has its hands full at the moment.

---

The year is 2020, and there's something in the air tonight.
Q junior startled lab when when it woke in the middle of the night it spent half the day squawking and acting distressed. Eventually its handlers were able to calm it down, after which is spoke it's first word, "fire!"
Daigoro has been very jumpy lately. Yonggary has been patrolling his territory, growling ferociously at the fissures that have opened in the Earth. Mosler has descended into one of these fissures and has yet to come back out. A full grown Gorgo has resurfaced off the coast of Ireland with something in his mouth that looks like a leathery wing. A piece of Reptilicus has washed up in Denmark, almost burnt beyond recognition. Gwangi has been acting erratic and overly aggressive.
In the world beyond, the after-image of Buraki has found Cykor, joined together by their hatred for Yonggary. They can sense the world is about to be thrown into chaos. The time to strike is soon. In a top secret storage facility, Cykor's body just twitched.
Finally, in Britain, reconstruction of the London Underground causes the giant male fire drake to toss and turn in its sleep; a prelude to the reawakening of his kind and the beginning of a new reign of fire.

[1] American military shorthand, “Large Scale Aggressor”.
[2] Ancient ocean dwelling reptiles, such a plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs, were not as limited space-wise as their landlubber cousins and generally had free reign of the certain parts of the deep
[3] tee hee!
[4] Being a paleontologist can be a very dangerous profession.
[5] Monsters having to be defeated by average joes is actually very common, probably due to the armed forces not having protocols in place that can predict every kind of creepy crawly coming out of the woodwork. In the fifties many people who took down monsters sold their stories to action adventure magazines, but nowadays they seek a therapist.
[6] One of the biggest rallying cries against climate change is "don't let the monsters in the ice wake up". It's very effective.
[7] Dorkin
[8] Due to his mother being killed by the Japanese military, a Gorgo scenario was impossible.
[9] Buraki has a number of theropods in his thrall, leading many to believe Asia has a hidden lost world somewhere.

Movies featured, in order of appearance:

The Lost World (1925)

One Million Years B.C.

The Valley of Gwangi

The Beast of Hollow Mountain

The Last Dinosaur

Clash of the Titans (1981)

Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger

The Golden Voyage of Sinbad

Deep Blue Sea

The Horror of Party Beach

Angry Red Planet

Critters

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms

The Deadly Mantis

The Giant Claw

Mimic

Alligator

C.H.U.D.

Q the Winged Serpent

Cloverfield

Prophecy

The Blob

Tarantula

The Giant Gila Monster

The Killer Shrews

The Amazing Colossal Man

War of the Colossal Beast

Tremors 1, 2, 3, & 4
Tremors: The Series

It Came from Beneath the Sea

The Crater Lake Monster

Them!

Phase IV

The Ruins

Anaconda

Arachnid

Piranha 2: The Spawning

The Relic

Creature from the Black Lagoon

The Giant Behemoth

Gorgo

Beneath Loch Ness

Reptilicus

The Troll Hunter

Dragonslayer

20 Million Miles to Earth

Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend

The Monster from Green Hell

Mighty Joe Young (1949/1998)

Gappa: the Triphibian Monsers

Daigoro vs. Golitah

The X from Outer Space

The Mighty Peking Man

King of Snake

Yongary, Monster from the Deep

Reptilian

The Host

Dragon War

Pulgasari

Gargantua

Leviathan

First Men in the Moon

The Angry Red Planet

The Day the Earth Stood Still
Reign of Fire