Timeline

Terragen spacefaring history extends for more than ten thousand years, most of that being under the dominion of the archailects. But prior to the terragens, many earlier races and civilizations had already arisen and disappeared.

	The Preterragen Era: For three billion years, xenosophont civilizations had evolved, flowered briefly and gloriously, and then disappeared. No-one knows why, but myths and theories abound, and many wonder whether a similar fate doesn't await Terragen Civilization.

	Pre-Space Flight Old Earth: Hominids appeared on Old Earth some five million years ago, but remained insignificant until the development of agricultural and urban civilization some five thousand years before the rise of ai. A rapid technological increase during the industrial and atomic ages leads to space flight and the information and biotech revolutions.

	c. 1 - 900 a.t. - The Interplanetary Era: Western based scientific/industrial/capitalistic/Info-rich civilization conquers the world and after some delay leads to the colonisation and development of the Solar System. Sentient and transapient ai, advanced gengineering, the ai wars, and mature nanotech all emerge. Then comes the disaster of the nanoswarms and the fall of civilization. Meanwhile, ahuman ai fleeing the solar system lay claim to the stars. But often even their "diamond belt" solidstate civilizations are shortlived.

	900 - 3200 - Early Interstellar Era: With the restoration of SolSys under ai and hu superbright rule, the terragen galactic era begins. This period sees the rise and fall of the so-called Federation of Worlds (later to be known as the First Federation), the development of Superbright-led empires and hyperturing-run megacorps; and the migration of terragen civilization from the interplanetary to Interstellar theatre, where various transapient factions contend for interstellar dominance, and clusters of advanced and ultra-tech enabled Minds breach toposophic levels and attain god-like status as the sovereign archailects.

	3200 - 5200 - The Inner Sphere Era: One by one the old superbright empires are subverted or conquered. The sephirotic empires established by the archailects span what would later come to be called the Inner Sphere - a region of space extended 100 light years and more from Sol on all sides, and extend out beyond to the ever-expanding frontier of the outer volumes, many hundreds of light years and more. A network of wormholes and beamrider stations link stars with fast and slow connections, while the known net enables an almost unlimited amount of information to be accessed. Known Space is divided up among the sephirotic, panvirt, diamond network, and other metaempires. On the periphery are hopefully colonists, the technologically inferior "barbies", and isolationist ai civilizations.

	5200 - 7700 - The The Post-ComEmp Era: Civilization continues to expand and diversify. Megascale construction of stargates and wormholes continues, but without sufficient archailect help the transapients are not able to restore the grandeur and scope of the previous Nexus. It seems that the sephirotic archailects have other plans in store, as they continue to develop their own infrastructure, extend their consciousness, and become even more omnipresent throughout the Inner Sphere, the Hinteregions, and the settled Outer Provinces.

	7700 - 10500 - The Outer Volumes Era: Civilization continues to expand and diversify. Vast new swathes of space are continually being colonised, megastructures built, the Known Net and Wormhole Nexus extended, and new xenosophont races contacted. New Ascensions and Transcensions in the Outer Volumes mean the Inner Sphere Archailects lose their monopoly and powerful new and unpredictable empires and civilizations emerge on the periphery. And rugged idealists and individualists flee what they see as the stifling utopias of the ruling hyperturings for fate unknown in the Outer Volumes and beyond.

	10000 - 10500 - Current Era For nearly ten thousand years, transapient and archailect minds have ruled terragen space, beginning with SolSys and expanding out until now their reach extends for thousands of light years on each end. This is the universe of Orion's Arm, where all are free to seek their destiny, where advanced nanotechnology enables utopias and freedom from harm unimagined by even the messianic religious dreamers of Old Earth, where knowledge and material abundance exist almost without limit. But do you choose the life of the pampered lotus eater, or leave the angelnetted paradises for uncertain adventure, glory, or death?

	Technology Timeline: Some technological events and discoveries of importance.

	Overall Timeline: Here is the overall timeline page for the setting, both past alien and present terragen (Earth-derived) history. The vast sweep of galactic history is covered here, with terragens as simply the latest kids on the block. Other races have come and gone, built mighty interstellar empires and disappeared without a trace. Now it is our turn, but will terragens fare any better?