Dear Alberto: The new colony will be an A+/B- world in orbit around Alpha Centuri A. It will be called Easter. Its residents will be called 'Pascuans'.
Before do a write-up I needed some dates, so I re-collated the timeline. Let me know what you think. 1) I got my old timeline and fixed it. (I was surprised at how badly I had edited it.) 2) I got Lenagh's timeline and merged it. 3) I merged SeJ's GURPS 2nd ed timeline. 4) I added some dates for pre-contact interstellar colonization. NB! I would like to make contact and all the future fictional dates 100 years in the future. The date for human NLS interstellar engines (2061 CE) is absurd. 2161CE seems safely remote. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Time-Line: History of the Five Galaxies[1] BYA = Billion Years Ago, MYA = Million Years Ago, KYA=Thousand Years Ago; BCE=Before Common (Terragen) Era (=BC), CE = Common (Terragen) Era (=AD); BxY = before Contact, 0xY = year of Contact (= 2211 CE), AxY = after Contact; All years are standard Terragen measure. SadPaktar = Paktar that Progenitors Passed On from Main Sequence existence = Paktar 0 = 2.26 BYA; SS=Steve Sloan addition. --------------------------------------------------- 15 BYA: Big Bang (SS) 3.1 - 2.8 BYA: Massive terraforming campaigns. Evidence of age-long world-shattering conflicts. Sources mention 17 Galaxies. (Beginnings of life on Earth.) 2.8 - 2.2 BYA: Progenitors rule the galaxies in what is traditionally thought to be a Golden Age. Mention of 13 Galaxies. Records extremely sketchy. 2.8-2.75 BYA: Scholars attribute Paean of Loneliness to this age. The Paean of Loneliness is an ode to Uplift. 2.75 BYA: Appearance of first textual and archaeological evidence for Hydrogen Breathing and Methane Breathing sapients. 2.71 BYA: Transfer point to Third Galaxy discovered; wrecked Galactic-level civilization discovered there. The Progenitors and allied species revise their ecological ethics and practices in response. 2.7 BYA: First Machine Wars. Self-replicating AIs and nanotechnology are restricted and regulated in the common interest. Galactic Foresight Organization founded. 2.3 BYA: Progenitors separate themselves from affairs of lesser races, passing on laws and edicts. 2.305 BYA: First Wars with Hydrogen-Breathers begin. 2.263 BYA: Second Machine Wars begin. According to legend, self-replicating, intelligent, non-organic constructs-designed by both H-2 and O-2 combatants in the H-2/O-2 Wars-mutually decide their masters are insanely irrational, and so unfit to represent Sapiency. 2.2615 BYA: H-2/O-2 Wars escalate 2.26 BYA (a): Progenitors physically leave the Galaxies (according to Inheritor legend). 2.26 BYA (b): Artificial life enjoys considerable military advantage in the three-way wars between Artificial, H-2, and O-2 life. 2.258 BYA: Open hostilities in the First H-2/O-2 Wars end with the Cease Fire for Negotiations Toward a Mutually Beneficial Peace. 2.256 BYA: Macro-Nanitic sapient species are exterminated by the Organic species per the agreement of 2.258 BYA. 2.253 BYA: As Second Machine Wars end, Second H-2/O-2 Wars begin. 11 galaxies. 2.25 BYA: The alliance of Organic life defeats the Artificial species. Treaties restrict Artificial life to designated Reserve Areas. These treaties are still in force. 2.24 BYA: Zang establish separate peace with O/2 Civilization paving the way for a general peace. 2.23 BYA: First Comprehensive H-2/O-2 Trucial Agreements concluded. These agreements result in the official alliance of all Organic life against all Artificial life. Use of cybernetic technology is discouraged. The Foresight Organization is strengthened. 2.22 BYA: Progenitors "Pass On", according to Transcendor belief. 2.202 BYA (a): Hydrogen Breathers exterminate sapient Methane and Ammonia life-forms. 2.202 BYA (b): Second Comprehensive H-2/O-2 Trucial Agreements concluded, forming the basis for H-2/O-2 interaction to this day. The first systematic Hydrogen Breather and Oxygen Breather cooperation in migration and ecological management begins. The Galactic Institute for Migration begins to take on its modern form. 2.15 BYA: An O-2 power vacuum leads predecessors of some of today's alliances to battle for control of the galaxies. Nadir of post-Progenitor dark ages. 2.1 - 1.9 BYA: Power struggles largely resolved. This is a crucial formative age for much of O-2 Galactic civilization as we now know it. The Library records from this time forward are notably more complete than for earlier epochs. 1.9 BYA: Institute for Civilized Warfare formed. 1.6 BYA: Contact lost with three galaxies. Eight galaxies remain. The disaster results in cultural upheavals and sparks the first wave of memnetic plagues. 1.4 BYA: The Library is reorganized into its modern form. The Uplift Institute is founded. 1.1 BYA: Seven galaxies. Memnetic plagues lead to lawless warfare and spread of Ash. 830 MYA: Temporary loss of contact with Galaxy 5. Earth's seas begin to explode with multicellular life. 620 MYA: The ecologically insensitive "Lions" dominate the Galaxies. Ash spreads through 30% of Galaxy One and 20% of Galaxy Two. Complex sea life on Earth. 618 MYA: The Tarseuh forge a coalition with six other elder or retired Hero Races and overthrow the "Lions". Temporary Loss of contact with two galaxies [adjusted due to Contacting Aliens internal incompatibility with 150 MYA entry]. 598 MYA: Apogee of the ultraconservative Institute for the Recovery of Honor. 590 MYA: Institute for Recovery of Honor wracked by ideological disputes, regarded as memnetic plagues. The Obeyer/Abdicator ideological war results. The Institute for the Recovery of Honor collapses. The Moderate Consensus results, fills the resulting power vacuum, and provides hegemonic O-2 values to this day. 400 MYA: Karrank% released from clienthood and granted the planet Kithrup as a "retirement home". 320 MYA: Temporary loss of contact with Galaxy 3. While Galaxy 3 is out of contact its Hydrogen and Oxygen Civilizations engage in unusually high levels of cooperation. Era of Amphibians on Earth. 280 MYA: "Revolt" of the Data." Subtle memnetic diseases effect nearly all computers. The outbreak is blamed on the Machine Order resulting in anti-Machine pogroms and genocides. The Library is purged of seditious or irrelevant information. 230 MYA: First "Gronin Collapse" of Galactic Society. Library purges reach a point where major blocks of information are deeply sequestered and possibly lost. The present plague-resistant system of neutral/passive data storage is instituted [sentence intentionally relocated from 280 MYA entry]. 205 MYA: A time of intense rebuilding comes to an end. It also marks the end of the highest point in the Institute of Progress' history during which thy GIPPN research was needed to verify Library records and replace sequestered information. Age of dinosaurs on Earth. 150 MYA: Social discord over redevelopment initiates Second Gronin Collapse. Permanent loss of contact with two Galaxies. Four Galaxies remain in contact. 145 MYA: (Approximately): The quality of available Library data increases again on a scale even more dramatic that of the 1.9 BYA improvement. This relative improvement (possibly an artifact of censorship) is tacitly recognized by most individual sapient scholars and intellectuals, but seldom acknowledged-let alone discussed-in official or academic circles. No Alliance for Progress agency has a satisfactory explanation for this event. 141 MYA: [Contacting Aliens entry ignored.] 133 MYA: Resumption of contact with Galaxy 3 ending civilizational drift in Galaxy 3 that had resulted in a high level of H2-O2 cooperation. Five Galaxies in contact. 89 MYA: Contact established with members of the Quantum Order 60 MYA: A medium-scale time of troubles. A zone of Ash forms in the region that includes Earth during the Fututhoon Wars. The Twelve-Spin machine clan is scapegoated and suppressed. On Earth, Dinosaurs die off and the age of Mammals begins. 33 MYA: Thennanin uplifted; join Abdicators. 12 MYA: The last recorded "wolfling" race, the Paranaj, is discovered. Within 1000 years it is extinct. 2.1 MYA: Soro uplifted by Hul. (Human ancestors: Homo habilis, possibly Homo erectus. Stone tools of Olduwan tradition.) 100 KYA: At about this time O-2 civilization begins to experience a wave of uplift atrocities and associated ecological disasters. (Anatomically modern humans have now existed for as long as 50 KY. They still share the Old World with less modern H. Sapiens and perhaps with H. erectus. Stone tools are still of Lavalois tradition. Tools of Acheulian tradition are no longer found, or are seldom found. There are only minimal signs of artistic behavior.) 70 KYA: Galactic opinion becomes very concerned about uplift abuses and ecological maintenance. Various galactic institutions begin a crack-down. 65 - 40 KYA: The Galactic Institute for Civilized Warfare authorizes numerous campaigns of enforcement at the behest of the Institute for Migration and the Uplift Institute. This begins to increase political instability in O-2 space. 55 KYA: Increasingly invasive GIM and GUI activities produce a counter-reaction among more independently minded species. 52 KYA: The last recorded "wolfling" race, the Paranaj, is discovered. Within a thousand years, it is extinct. 50 KYA: The Bururalli Holocaust wipes out most higher animals on Garth. The Bururalli are destroyed in retaliation-down to, and including, their rootstock. The Nahalli ulsu-Bururalli are returned to fourth level clienthood as punishment/rehabilitation. (Early signs of Homo sapiens in Australia. Lavalois stone knapping tradition extinct, or nearly so.) 30 KYA: The rate of sapient induced ecological disasters has returned to roughly historical background levels in O-2 space. The desire of the GUI and GIM for stronger regulations and enforcement powers is stymied by a shift in Galactic opinion that favors less invasive supervision. (Humans paint hunting scenes in what would become French and Spanish caves. Anatomically modern humans-H. sapiens sapiens-the only living representative of the genus Homo.) 30 - 15 KYA: Humans arrive in the Americas. 7.5 KYA: Pyramids in Egypt. c. 4000 BxY (that is, 1470 BCE): Tymbrimi patrons, the Caltmour, wiped out in galactic war. (Humans have had cities and empires in the Old World for a few thousand years.) c 3000 BxY: Earth's Axial Age begins. 2211 BxY: 1 C.E. 251 BxY: First manned human space travel. 243 BxY: Humans reach Earth's moon. 197 BxY: Earth-based observers discover planets in the habitable zone. These include NuDawn around Tau Ceti and Easter around Alpha Centuri A. 166 BxY: Near light speed probes sent to six planets orbiting stars. All selected planets are in the habitable zone and show evidence of water and O-2. [As if. I recommend adding 100 years to each date from this point forward.] 151 BxY: First manned human STL interstellar travel. ? - ? BxY (Approximately): Earth history dominated by the Great Collapse. 110 - 20 BxY: Earth dominated by The Bureaucracy. 109 BxY: Chimp uplift effort begins. 101 BxY: Humans discover Jump Line travel. 86 BxY: Dolphin uplift project begins. 70 BxY: Humans establish their first colony, NuDawn. 68 BxY: Humans establish their colony on Easter. 35 BxY: First Human colonists arrive on Atlast. Colonists include dissident political prisoners as transportees. 25 BxY: First modern probationary policies implemented. 23 - 20 BxY: The Politburo of the Bureaucracy foolishly makes probationary criteria applicable to members of the General Assembly. This results in the wholesale replacement of Assembly members, and subsequent replacement of the Politburo. 20 BxY: First colonists, including transportees, arrive on Horst. 21 BxY: Confederation of Nations founded. It will succeed The Bureaucracy in a bloodless revolution. 10 BxY: Jacob Demwa born. 1 BxY: Earth has established several colonies beyond the Solar system and is actively exploring space using near-light-speed vessels. Colonies more than three months travel from Earth are self-governing. 0xY /2211 CE: First Galactic Contact. Human explorers contact Tymbrimi colonists. This was 87 paktaars ago by Galactic measure. 1 AxY to 25 AxY: Terragen Confederation in constant conflict with the Galactic Institute for Migration over pre-contact Terragen colonies. 1 AxY: Sequestration of NuDawn as sooner infestation by GIM. Earth learns of the incident two years later. 2 AxY: The Confederation of Nations is reorganized and renamed The Terragen Confederation. New election rules allow far-flung communities to participate in a representative democracy. 3 AxY: Neo-Chimpanzees recognized as Stage Two Clients and Humans recognized as independent patrons. 15 AxY: In a startling diplomatic coup Humans are recognized as the patrons with Neo-Chimpanzees and Neo-Dolphins as level-1 clients. 29 AxY: Neo-Chimps recognized as stage-2 clients. 31 AxY: A small branch Library is installed at La Paz, Earth. The Human starship Tabernacle disappears. 40 AxY /2290 CE: Sundiver incident. Library at La Paz is upgraded through a GLI grant. 41 AxY: Humans awarded a sealed Library Patent related to stellar research. 119 AxY: Neo-dolphins recognized as Stage 2 clients. 182 AxY: Garth colonized by Terragens under a lease agreement from the Galactic Institute for Migration. 210 - 275 AxY: Human-Galactic relations stable. Clan Terragen now holds ten G.I.M. leases-including one for the garden world, Calafia as well as the homeworld "lease" on Earth. The G.I.M. is very pleased with Terragen custodianship on all lease-hold worlds. Terragens have now been on good terms with the G.I.M. for more than 225 years. 277 AxY: Streaker encounters derelict fleet, sends psi-cast message, and Central Galaxy goes into turmoil. Flight and battle will continue for many objective years. 277.25 AxY: Garth invaded by Gubru. Invaders expelled after many months. [Must be at least 12 months. See "278". SS.] Later in this year The "Siege" of Earth begins. This so-called siege is really more of an armed blockade. Mars colony hurt far worse than Earth itself. 277.5 AxY: Intercepted Soro time-drop message reports Streaker fled Kthsemenee system. 277.75 AxY: Rumors place Streaker at a Retired Order habitat in Galaxy Four's halo. Images of bizarre and wondrous incident on Garth transmitted to galaxy through hyperspace shunt. Gorillas chose Thennanin as stage one Uplift Patrons with Humans and Neo-Chimpanzees as co-Consorts. 278 AxY: Earthclan-Thennanin alliance formalized. 279 AxY: Soro occupy Canaan Colonies. 279.5 AxY: Calafia conquered by Brothers of the Night. 279.75 AxY: Rumors of frantic activity in the remote havens of the Retired Order. Frantic clans redouble efforts in Siege of Earth. 280 AxY: [Streaker arrives on Jijo? SS] Transfer point network disrupted; many layers of hyperspace impassible or lethal. All contact lost with Galaxy Four. Strangely altered Streaker appears in Earth orbit bearing a legitimate Seal of the Retired. Besieging forces fire on what they identify as a common Terragen ship, then flee. The Siege of Earth is lifted. 330 - 1280 AxY: Horpie region to be opened to settlement sometime in this period. ----------- 1. Originally contributed to S. Blandón's site and modified by Steve Sloan from the original in Stefan Jones' GURPS Uplift. Subsequently modified by T.C.S. for this site and for use in his Uplift role-playing campaign. Updated using Stefan Jones GURPS Uplift 2nd ed. and Kevin Lenagh's Contacting Aliens _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
