Timeline, Part Four

[stickmaker]

Fourth part of a timeline I created as part of the background for some science fiction stories I'm writing.

Timeline

Part Four

 

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2.0 BYBP Andromeda galaxy strips nearly 20 billion Solar masses of stars, dust and gas from smaller galaxy M32, leaving that body a pale shadow of its former self. 

1.9 BYBP Earth's atmospheric oxygen exceeds 15%.

A natural nuclear reactor forms in Oklo, Gabon. 

1.8 BYBP Columbia finishes forming and begins to slowly erode. Beginning of the Boring Billion period of life.

1.58 BYBP The Ipanit become a starfaring species. Their appearance is a bit of a surprise; their world of origin has already sent two species to the stars, the second of these being the Napit. Part of the reason for their rapid cultural evolution is the demands placed on them from being a young society on an old and tired world. 

Early on the Ipanit have much in common with the stereotypical mad scientist. They tend to become preoccupied with a project to the point of ignoring the consequences it might bring. Often, even when sternly informed by older cultures that Bad Things Will Happen if they continue, they shiver for a moment in contemplation of possible consequences, then charge ahead, considering the Bad Things worth experiencing to see the project to completion. They aren't evil or stupid; their priorities simply are such that the threat of Bad Things rarely deters them. Their promise and their potential to cause trouble both encourage older species to oversee them during their developmental period, helping the Ipanit to reach an acceptable level of maturity before they are unleashed upon the universe. Still, there are times when the Napit and others collectively mutter - not entirely rhetorically - "Remind me again why we let them live?" 

1.575 BYBP The Ipanit are welcomed into the Grand (later Old) Coalition. 

Due in part to the technical competence of the Ipanit, and in part to what is learned from recovered Demmit S'Tee artifacts, the Grand Coalition becomes the last society to match the overall technical sophistication of the Strangers. More than a billion and a half years later, remnant products from this period are still highly valued. For the first time, a single (if broadly defined) multi-species culture comes to dominate most of the Known Universe.

1.55 BYBP The first known expeditions in over three billion years are sent to other - generally now much more distant - Great Clusters. Nearly everything in them has changed in the interval, though some remnants of natural or deliberately-created features mentioned in the old records remain. Friendly contact is the rule, though there are exceptions. Scholars note that the pattern of societal development and decay have followed the same general pattern in these Great Clusters as in the Local Great Cluster, and begin to understand why. 

This understanding casts a chill over those who have it.

The Napit as a species commit ritual suicide. This is not a quick decision, but an action which results from long discussion and much contemplation. Once they decide, there is no persuading them to change their minds. They make certain all their affairs are in order, then all of them die, peacefully and painlessly, in a matter of months. They do not explain why.

Speculation over the reason for this bizarre action provides no firm answer. The consensus is that something they learned from the information gathered by the expeditions to other Great Clusters caused them to become depressed and/or fatalistic, but exactly what is not certain.

On Earth the Columbia supercontinent breaks apart. 

1.5 BYBP Crystallization of Luna's iron core becomes noticeable, primarily in the reduction of the Moon's previously strong magnetic field. 

 

1.49 BYBP The Earth begins forming an inner core of solid iron. The planet's magnetic field strengthens.

1.45 BYBP The Underway is created by the Grand Coalition. It never sees the level of use for which it is intended, and within three million years is completely forgotten except by a few hobbyists and historians.

1.4 BYBP A sample of ancient oxygen, later teased out of a 1.4 billion-year-old evaporative lake deposit in Ontario, shows that the Earth's atmospheric oxygen levels were a tiny fraction of what they are today.

1.31 BYBP The Grand Coalition loses the last of its founding species as the Yuan formally resign their membership. They retire to a few hundred worlds and gradually fade away over a period of eight million years. There are no new senior civilizations available to replace them, and none of the hundreds of young species with starfaring capability are considered fit to join by the remaining Coalition members, since none are over half a million years old. The Ipanit, with a trace of their old gusto, attempt to raise some of the young societies now extant to their own level. The oldest of them are insulted by the offer, and the youngest are incapable of handling what the Ipanit have to offer.

1.26 BYBP The Grand Coalition is formally disbanded by the last surviving member species, the Ipanit. A few of the older starfaring societies lament the passing of the institution, but most of the rest are surprised to learn it ever existed.

1.25 BYBP Oldest fossil evidence of photosynthesis on Earth. 

1.24 BYBP The New Grand Coalition (later just Grand Coalition) is formed. It soon breaks down into a squabbling mass of younger cultures demanding more from the older members. The Ipanit refuse to have anything to do with it. Somehow it staggers on for over half a billion years. 

1.2 BYBP On Earth the Rodinia supercontinent forms. 

1.12 BYBP The Ipanit create the Stimulators, with the cover story of making a mistake with an uplift project. The first of the Challenges occurs within a hundred thousand years. Gradually, their scope and effect increase, and their mission drifts away from its original purpose.

1.11 BYBP The Ipanit retire to 35 worlds, scattered through 15 galaxies. They manage to hang on for another four hundred million years before the last vanish. The fact that the Challenges now scour entire galaxies nearly free of technological life roughly every ten million years may encourage this decline. 

1 BYBP Luna's magnetic field is by now almost completely faded, reaching 0.1 microteslas. 

 

1 BYBP - 700 MYBP The cumulative effects of the Challenges - known by most sapients aware of them in this period as the Cleansings - transforms civilization in the Local Great Cluster from a broad and nearly homogenous form to scattered empires of - at most - a single large galaxy and its satellites. Technology and trade suffer, with many regions undergoing long periods of barbarism. During this span of time the Cleansings become increasingly smaller and less frequent, and finally cease for hundreds of millions of years; memory of them fades to a dim, cautionary tale. Remnants of the second Grand Coalition survive, guttering like a candle in a fitful wind.

930 MYBP Earliest known fungi on Earth. 

800 MYBP Chemical changes in the oceans more than 800 million years ago almost destroy the oxygen-rich atmosphere which paved the way for complex life on Earth.

An otherwise unknown starfaring culture explores Demmit S'Tee artifacts on Mars and at other sites in the Solar System. 

770 MYBP Kaigas glaciation begins on Earth.

750 MYBP Rodinia supercontinent breaks apart. 

720 MYBP Sturtian glaciation begins. 

702 MYBP The Ainavru become a starfaring civilization. 

Partly due to their tradition of valorous individual warriors and small, elite military groups they specialize in combat spacecraft of enormously concentrated capability and small crews. 

The Ainavru - through a combination of conquest and tributes - rapidly become influential through a large proportion of the Local Great Cluster. They give every indication they will be the next ruling culture, masters of the volume. Most other cultures of that time and place are dreading this.

700 MYBP An enormous volcanic event on Venus greatly increases the density of the atmosphere and poisons it with large amounts of carbon dioxide. 

695 MYBP The Adagentai become a starfaring species. Ambitious, intelligent, well-organized and very pragmatic, within their sphere of influence they bring about a period of peace and plenty. Eventually, their dominion will involve a volume of space unmatched since the heyday of the Old Coalition. Their reign will become known as the Adagentai Dominion of Prosperity, an appropriate name.

They soon attract the attention of the Ainavru. Even though the two civilizations are based in separate - though relatively close - galaxies, the Ainavru make a point of harassing the Adagentai. This includes direct military confrontation, sabotage and underhanded economic maneuvering. Eventually, overt war breaks out.

The breakpoint occurs when the Ainavru send a vast, conquering and colonizing fleet to the home galaxy of the Adagentai. They take over multiple habitable worlds and construction facilities from their rightful owners. These are used to create an even larger fleet, as well as building living facilities for millions of their kind. Entire systems are stripped of quickly accessible resources to build or alter cities and make factories for producing their war materials. The invaders make a huge amount of headway before the extent of their effort becomes apparent. Most extant cultures expect the Ainavru to win quickly and decisively. 

694 MYBP In a brief, violent conflict, the Adagentai decisively defeat the Ainavru. The "secret" of the Adagentai victory is application of a greater concentration of resources using superior tactics, striking where the Ainavru are least strong. In large part, major engagements with the outrageously powerful ships of the Ainavru are avoided. The Adagentai go around the Ainavru fleets to conquer and occupy or simply destroy their worlds, leaving the ships with no place to return to. When direct conflict is unavoidable, the Adagentai simply pour on so many ships that their opponents are overwhelmed. The Ainavru culture has grown so inflexible and conservative they cannot adapt to these tactics. Unable to understand how they were beaten when their ships - many of which remain both operational and formidable today - are so superior to those of these young upstarts, the Ainavru commit communal suicide from shame.

684.8 MYBP The Underway is rediscovered by Adagentai experimenters. All knowledge of it is immediately classified and its use restricted to special government couriers. Because of this it is again forgotten within a few centuries, except to a handful of covert Adagentai agencies.

During this same period the Adagentai begin experimenting with using multiple FTL drives in individual ships. The technique was of course tried many times before, going back billions of years, but the development rarely persisted operationally due to being perceived as wasteful and unnecessary. Over the next few centuries, the Adagentai fine-tune the technology, to build the fastest craft ever to ply the skies. Even direct intergalactic travel becomes routine, to the great financial benefit of the Adagentai and their allies and trading partners. 

684 MYBP The second Grand Coalition falls apart, unable to deal with the Adagentai and other vigorous, young cultures which are entering the scene. However, by this time some members have helped form the Preservationists of Civilization. This is done with help from the Adagentai and some other newly-dominant cultures. These are groups or individuals who see the value of remembering the past. 

The resources of the Preservationists are distributed through hundreds of thousands of installations, most of them on worlds where the natives agree to protect them and their contents in return for access to the knowledge the Preservationists gather. There are also hidden caches, their locations - and even their existence - known to only a few. More important than the artifacts, or even the knowledge, stored at any one installation is the communications network created to support the project. This, combined with sophisticated automatic data sharing algorithms, means that information entered into the system is never lost, whether through accident or deliberate attempt. 

The Preservationists should, at first thought, become the target of every ambitious species capable of interstellar flight, since they possess information and equipment which are of inestimable value. However, those societies sophisticated enough to know of the group understand all they have to do is ask politely. The Preservationists, happy with the attention, are more than willing to share. All they ask in return is to be supplied with information and modest resources for storing and sharing it.

Eventually, information becomes the universal medium of exchange in the Local Great Cluster.

The Adagentai combine two of their own previous projects, using multidrive ships to take elaborate instrument packages far into intergalactic space. These are used to monitor deep subspace conditions, reporting back periodically. However, as the effort proceeds ships begin to go missing. Patrols sent to search for them either find nothing, or themselves go missing. 

683 MYBP The Purifiers begin a new series of Cleansings which repeatedly tax the Adagentai, but end up leaving them stronger each time. During this period the Umpal'tec^ Revision - a major update to a long-existing inter-cultural agreement on technological standards - makes power regulation modules mandatory for all pandimensional systems. The Revision also bans the use of multiple drives in FTL craft, a measure sponsored by the Adagentai. This abandonment of such obviously superior travel technology puzzles later historians, as the reason is lost in time. 

Following the prohibition against multidrive ships, the Adagentai and many other species establish major research and development programs to improve single drive propulsion. Though significant progress is made, none of the craft using the new singleton drives are quite as fast as those using the banned multidrive concept. Worse, Purifiers capture ships with these new drives and soon incorporate the technology behind the best of them.

666 MYBP Inspired by the communications network of the Preservationists, the Adagentai construct a military early warning system for the Milky Way and its closest neighbors. Surviving portions of this are incorporated into the Grand Monitoring Network in 387 MYBP. The system has ties to the Preservationists' network, and also accesses the information provided by the deep intergalactic probes previously placed by multidrive ships. Similar systems planned for other galaxies in the Local Great Cluster are only partially constructed, due to a long period with no Cleansings.

650 MYBP Marinoan glaciation begins on Earth. 

640 MYBP Oldest molecular signs of animal life on Earth.

583 MYBP The Adagentai withdraw to a handful of worlds in the Milky Way - mostly their oldest colonies - and gradually fade away to extinction over the next 21 million years. A few may still exist in isolated, self-contained habitats - or in stasis - but there have been no verified finds in nearly a hundred million years. 

In preparation for their withdrawal from mundane affairs the Adagentai establish a self-supporting bureaucracy which continues little altered to this day. It will survive several major changes in rulers (that is, which society is currently predominant and setting policy) much as the bureaucracy of ancient Egypt did. This entity is known by many names, some of them quite profane. It is most commonly called The Management. 

The Management does not govern, and it does not set policy or goals. Instead it handles the paperwork, maintaining the rule of law through the making of regulations and handling the associated legal procedures. The neutrality and detachment of The Management are both blessed and damned by thousands of cultures down through the aeons.

580 MYBP The Gaskiers glaciation turns the Earth into a giant snowball.

575 MYBP On Earth the Avalon life diversity explosion begins. Ediacaran fauna emerges.

565 MYBP On Earth, the planet's magnetic field begins to weaken. 

Evidence of the first deliberate locomotion, developed by the Ediacarans. 

558 MYBP Oldest multi-cellular animal fossil.

542 MYBP On Earth, an extreme weakening of the planet's magnetic fields leads to mass extinctions of the Ediacarans. However, ongoing changes in the planet's core soon strengthened the magnetic field. This leads to the Cambrian Explosion.

541 MYBP Cambrian explosion begins on Earth. 

527 MYBP Youngest known iron banding oxidation event on Earth.

520 MYBP On Earth, plants begin colonizing land. 

510 MYBP On Earth, volcanic eruptions across a vast area of what is now Western Australian and the Northern Territory cause the first known rapid mass extinction of complex life forms on Earth. 

500 MYBP Earth experiences a major increase in atmospheric oxygen in the late Cambrian, leading to the radical new species of the Ordovician. This is later known as the Steptoean Positive Carbon Isotope Excursion (or SPICE) Event.

490 MYBP The Ordovician Period begins on Earth. 

466 MYBP An asteroid collision between Mars and Jupiter eventually blankets the Earth with dust. The resulting reduction in sunlight brings on an ice age. This makes like very difficult on Gondwana and in the oceans around it. However, as life recovers there is an explosion in the diversification of sea life. 

444 MYBP Late Ordovician Mass Extinction occurs, most likely due to a fall in atmospheric oxygen at the boundary between the Hirnantian and Rhuddanian geological stages. Sea life is especially hard hit with roughly 86% of all ocean species going extinct. The effects last over three million years. 

440 MYBP Ordovician/Silurian transition. 

401 MYBP Last recorded major attack by Purifiers. There is little organized opposition, but for some reason they do not expand from their early successes and instead soon withdraw. Smaller incidents continue at gradually increasing intervals for nearly 250 million years, with a few unconfirmed sightings as recently as 58 MYBP.