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Historical Outline[]
The ancient history of the Phradox Galaxy in general is very cryptic and uncertain. There have been regular periods of unification and development, followed almost always by some sort of extinction or mass-migration out of the galaxy. This long history is divided into several eons which encompass vast stretches of time and about which very little is know. A brief chronology follows, constructed from the small amount of archaeological and historical data exists.
- Primoridal Eon
- 10 bya - Phradox Galaxy forms from gas and the supermassive black hole at its center is formed
- 7.5 bya - Unidentified orbiting dwarf galaxy begins to collide with Phradox, forming the Great Ecliptic (or Great Ring) around the galaxy about 75 degrees above its plane
- 5 bya - Great Ecliptic stabilizes into its current angular displacement, star-forming slows down
- 2 bya - first life begins to evolve in stable regions of the galaxy
- Federation Eon
- 1 bya - first life becomes space faring, these primordial civilizations eventually become the Choir
- 500 mya - rise and fall of the Core Federation's colonies in Phradox (circumstances of their departure still uncertain)
- Silent Eon
- 450 mya - mysterious galactic-level extinction event, all contemporary space faring life is destroyed
- Second Precursor Eon
- 200 mya - rise and fall of the Watcher civilization
- 190 mya - second known galactic-level extinction event, Grox arrive in the Phradox Galaxy
Precursors[]
Primordial Civilizations[]
The Phradox Galaxy was largely uninhabited for most of its history. There were exceptions to this, and there are several singularity brains that are believed to have existed for 2-3 billion years, predating anything else in the galaxy by a huge margin. However, these are the exception rather than the rule. The Phradox Galaxy, much like the rest of the First Gigaquadrant, was subject to periodic scourges by the Xhodocto and was largely devoid of complex life. This all changed when the Obvia'Atra colonized the galaxy around 1 billion years ago. Their powerful command of Essence technology led directly to a prolific seeding of life across the galaxy. This biotic flourishing resulted in the evolution of thousands of civilizations, many of which ascended with the Obvia’Atra. It is uncertain why the Core Federation (as the Obvia’Atra state was called) eventually abandoned the Phradox Galaxy, but they took all their uplifted thralls with them when they left, and thus the galaxy they left behind was once again devoid of life. The galaxy was left to its own devices after 500 million years of dominion under the Core Federation.
The history of the galaxy between the exodus of the Core Federation and the rise of the Watcher civilization is 300 million years long, but almost no information remains from this archaic period. It is typically known as the “first interregnum”, and only the most ancient AI constructs have any information about this period. A few remains exist, mostly in the form of craters formed by superweapons and a few defunct artificial satellites.
The Watchers themselves are believed to have become space faring around 200 million years ago, and began their gradual colonization of the galaxy shortly thereafter. By 195 million years ago, they had effective control over the entire galaxy - save for a few fledgeling civilizations on the galactic rim including the Phradox Grox Empire. However, this long dominion would eventually give way to and extragalactic invasion by a hitherto unidentified force in a long war that ended suddenly and climactically by the deployment of some as-yet unknown energetic super weapon.
Several galaxy-spanning civilizations came and went over the next 200 thousand millennia, and they have all left little to no trace. They are remembered only in passing by the ancient galactic AI which silently observe the tides of history and by a handful of decaying ruins that bear their handiwork on the fringes of known space.
Imperial Compact[]
- Time Period: 500,000 to 150,000 years ago
Recorded history begins again around 500,000 years ago, when a new galactic-scale civilization began to arise. A spacefaring race called the imperials, as their true name has been lost, amalgamated their disparate space empires into a single political entity called the Imperial Compact. The Compact absorbed the other burgeoning civilization, the As'Nolos, and together, the two mighty hegemons colonized or conquered most of the known galaxy. In spite of near-constant war, the Compact was never able to fully exterminate the Phradox Grox. Several other lesser civilizations, whose records do not survive, were known to inhabit the so-called "free quarter" of the Alpha Quadrant which was not under the direct administration of the Compact.
This heavy-handed control of the galaxy proved ultimately self-destructive, and the Compact apparently suffered some sort of catastrophic civil war that precipitated their total destruction. The precise nature of this extinction, like that of the more ancient Watchers, is not known, but the fact that all the other civilizations in the free quarter apparently also vanished, whereas the Grox survived, it is believed that the Grox played a central role in facilitating this implosion. By around 150,000 years ago, the last traces of the Compact had been purged from the galaxy.
The Mercuris Federation[]
- Time Period: 150,000 to 50,000 years ago
The destruction of the suffocating force represented by the Compact allowed more diverse civilizations to grow and flourish absent the oppressive might of a galaxy-spanning empire. This led to the rise of such civilizations as the fabled Mercuris Federation, which claimed to be upholding the mantle left behind by the Compact. Sporadic warfare ensued between the Federation and its various neighbors - the Ilegans, the dardomnians, the mortolians, and others - during which the Federation grew to become the most dominant civilization in the galaxy.
However, the same entropy that felled the Compact would do so to the Federation. Some subjects of the Federation, the itali, rebelled and decapitated the Federation's government by destroying its senate during a session. The ensuing chaos, coupled with the simultaneous Ilegan Civil War spilling over into neighboring regions left the Mercuris a shadow of their former selves, reduced to a rump state in their core worlds surrounded by a vast ocean of lawlessness and anarchy. This generation of civilizations persisted until around 80,000 years ago, when some unknown phenomenon caused the eventual withering of even the rump civilizations of the Federation, the ilegans, and the dardomnians.
Triffid Imperium[]
- Time Period: 50,000 to 10,000 years ago
However, the genetically-engineered servant races that once served the Federation would begin to evolve wholly independent civilizations on the various terraformed worlds around the galaxy. This culminated in the rise of the Triffid Imperium, built on the ruins of the Mercuris Federation. The triffids, like all other great empires before them, sowed the seeds of their destruction in their heavy-handed rule. This prompted their own subject races - the drakes, the caleons, and others - to launch a united front against the Imperium. This centuries-long war ended with the intervention of an extra-galactic AI called Scorpio which caused the two warring factions, the Imperium and the Liberators, to join together and form the Galactic Confederation. In practice, since the triffids were the most populous and powerful species, this Confederation was simply a reformation of the originial Triffid Imperium.
However, the Confederation's reign was short and the war with Scorpio re-ignited around 10,000 years ago, culminating in the wholesale destruction of galactic civilization. The few survivors of this extinction migrated through the extensive netwrok of wormholes that spans the galaxy, and their descendants formed the modern Ecumene.
Modern History[]
Early Formative Era[]
Coalescence[]
Annihilation[]
Emergence[]
Notes[]
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