History Of The Nebula, Part 1/5
Deep Time, Antetenebrean Era, The Terminarchomachy, and The Stellar Dark Age.
13,500-X YA: Deep Time
~220 MYA
An unknown event contaminated thousands of planets with the Quadroid microorganism (common ancestor of the Orovoro, Telo, Progenitor, Fractiflexipod, and Earwig species), incepting, replacing, or integrating into biospheres.
~35 MYA
An unknown event contaminated thousands of planets with Progenitor (common ancestor of the Spickle, Tortog, Zimo, Progenitor-Underground, and Progenitor-Sixfingered species), and Daemon (the common ancestor of the Menacith, Trop, Crocutan, Pish, Wolpertingermite, Leshymite, Sootmite, and Harmognatt species).
An unknown event triggers the mass extinction of millions of epigean species and the rapid mass evolution of troglofauna in thousands of unconnected biospheres.
~<35 MYA
An unknown event contaminated hundreds of planets with massive chunks of soil containing Progenitor-Underground (A troglodyte descendent of Progenitor. The common ancestor of the Gull, Yigian, Jaguel, and Progenitor-Giant species), and Earwig (common ancestor of the Modern Earwig, Hool, Nock, and Fogos species).
~25 MYA
An unknown event contaminated thousands of planets with Progenitor-Giant (common ancestor of the Modern Giant, Small Head, Zatyrn, Skink, Leafweaver, Friendly Shore People, Kot, Neemon, and Cynog species), Fractiflexipod (common ancestor of the Rarak, Xyl, Tib, Tyto, and Sune species), and Zot (common ancestor of the Modern Zot, Melusine, and Oooo species).
~3 MYA
An unknown interstellar civilization made up of what would become Progenitor-Marooner (the common ancestor of the Thill, Chimes, and Jars) settled on at least three planets/moons, then collapsed. Each group inbred into nonsapience before their genome restabilized and they reevolved into their modern species.
~16,000 YA
An unknown event introduced the Kot species to the planet Tombo.
~13,500-13,000 YA: Antetenebrean Era
In the distant past, the Nebula was inhabited by the Hool, Ixionite, Baousar, Melusine, Pish, and Crocutan civilizations. There were things before this time, but they are largely unknown.
The Hool dominated their territories through bioengineering and slavery. They created monsters to serve them, and diseases to destroy their enemies.
The Ixionites dominated their territories through destructive mechanical power. They were supremacist and paranoid, and annihilated any civilization that advanced enough to draw their attention.
The Baousar, Melusine, Pish, and Crocutans are the oldest surviving species in the Nebula, and the main sources of information about the events of this era. None had direct dealings with the Hool or Ixionites, and spent much of the era in hiding from the two superpowers. Three of the four species are eucryptobiotes (species naturally capable of extremely long periods of dormancy), and most information was collected by Baousar and by Melusine barrow sentinels. Despite surviving the Terminarchomachy and Stellar Dark Age, all four civilizations were devastated by the Dark Virus, and suffered massive losses of technology and population.
~13,100-13,000 YA: Terminarchomachy
The Ixionites engaged in total war against the Hool and among themselves with the stated goal of leaving only one ultimate survivor to rule the entire Nebula.
~13,050-12,500 YA: Dark Virus
A technovirus of unknown origin appears and spreads through unknown methods throughout all high-technology. It infects technology and remains dormant and completely undetectable until a situation appears for it to cause intelligently maximized devastation through mass simultaneous malfunctions.
This virus resulted in the extinction of the Ixionites, the loss of all FTL, energy shielding, energy weapons, and power supplies, and the permanent loss of massive libraries of information. Defense systems throughout the Nebula turned against their operators before self destructing.
Despite it completely taking out the Ixionites, the Dark Virus left the surviving Hool (at least those not already killed directly by the Dark Virus infesting their technology) vulnerable to their slaves, and many more were killed in revolts. The Hool typically were able to release faildeath viruses as they were massacred, leaving almost all of their planets devoid of all but the simplest lifeforms.
~13,000-500 YA: Stellar Dark Age
The Dark Virus destroyed every space age and near-space age civilization in the Nebula. Every civilization with simpler technology that was still vulnerable to the Dark Virus was spooked by their encounters with it, and most of them became culturally technophobic and regressed. This resulted in a long gap during which there was no interstellar civilization.
Among the survivors of the Terminarchomachy, the Baousar were the quickest to recover. This is because the other survivors are eucryptobiotes and spent most of the Dark Age scattered in dormancy, trying to wait out the devastation. Baousar do not hibernate. They simply have immeasurably long lifespans. Where they came from is not known, nor how or if they reproduce. They seem to be distantly connected to the Fractiflexipods. During the time of the Dark Virus, the Baousar destroyed all of their computers and converted any functions in their Sarcophagus Forts that they could to uninfectable macrotechnology such as chains, cogs, cake fuels, and radio sails. They lost most of their technology and most of their vassals, but kept the basics of sublight spacing. The Ixionites had ruled the southeast side of the Nebula, mostly operating out of their ships and stations. Almost nothing of the Ixionites remained after the war and the virus, having been anihilated with antimatter or sunken into suns. The Baousar beelined towards Hool space in the west side of the Nebula at sublight to salvage the salvageable from the dead. The first ones there collected what they could use and destroyed what they could not. The Pards are a surviving monstrosity scavenged from the Hool. Hool survivors were encountered, but they would all be killed. Not all Baousar have made it to the West. A few who started their slow journey farther away have been found and captured by various spacefaring nations. Captured Baousar haven't had a major impact on any of them though. Their ships are more impressive for their size and construction than for any technology within. Captured Baousar don't provide information either. They always curl up into a nigh-indestructible pill and refuse to communicate. This is not biological dormancy. They are awake and aware, just curled up and silent.
The Melusine aestivated in large colonies, and many were killed in their sleep by the Dark Virus throwing them into stars. Two Melusine colonies were disabled by the virus, but avoided total destruction and were separately captured by scavenging Baousar. They were awakened and kept as clients by the Baousar. (Baousar capture species that are weakened or undeveloped so that they can shape them into servant-states. This typically involves parking their Sarcophagus Fort in orbit near the species' homeworld, or a similarly significant population center. This begins as a simple hostage situation, but over centuries they intentionally shape the species to be dependent on the Baousar and its personal cult.) These Melusine served their Baousar well with their skills and knowledge, and over the centuries have spread to serve in highly compensated administrative positions throughout the modern Baousar territories.
The Pish had an already small and scattered population before the Terminarchomachy, thinned out by centuries of tiffs between their personal kingdoms. Historically they operated similarly to the Baousar, but at a much smaller and shoddier scale. They would enter a civilization in a cooperative role and use their longevity to slowly accumulate power until they were comfortable. If they fell too far from grace to recover, they would bury themselves in the dirt and wait to be forgotten. The Terminarchomachy and Dark Virus left many of the remaining Pish floating through the void, encased in the baked ceramic mud of their destroyed planets. Sometimes they are found and cracked open, and sometimes they landed on the undeveloped planets that escaped the Terminarchomachy. Throughout the Dark Age they appear in many species' historical records as helpful elves or trickster goblins, rising to power until people get fed up with them and drive them away into the wilderness until they reapear after a few decades or centuries. They are sometimes found in the modern age by miners or on planets. The ones found in space usually allow themselves to be peacefully integrated into whatever society finds them. The ones encountered on planets are typically more evasive or hostile.
The Crocutans have survived better than the Pish, and freer than the Melusine. They hibernate through a process of reversible fossilization, and typically do so in small groups. If they defossilize as a group, they animate in the stocky form known as a "Croggy". Small communities of Croggies can be found throughout the Nebula. When contacted by spacefaring civilizations, they are quick to pursue any offered opportunities to return to space and travel. Many of them can be found serving aboard merchant ships in Baousar territory because there are less regulations to slow their return to spacing there. If a Crocutan defossilizes alone, it instead animates into a lanky, aggressive form called a "Long Croggy", capable of alarming bursts of speed. This creature is very hostile, and will kill and steal and hoard anything it thinks could be valuable. Croggies remember events from when they were Long Croggies, and vice versa. However, they don't naturally feel guilt or regret about what they did in the other form, and wholly consider it a different individual.