User:Arcmind-1/Sandbox

Sandbox
This is a detailed timeline of the history of the Destiny universe. Note that nearly all events are not attached to specific dates; they may not be in exact chronological order, and adjacent events in the list may be separated by spans of only a few days or several centuries.

The Ancient Past

 * The Worms, an intelligent species able to wield the power of the Darkness directly, are trapped in the depths of a global ocean within one of the atmospheric layers of the gas giant Fundament. The Traveler's priest, a creature called Leviathan, also dwells in the deeper Fundament and attempts to dissuade anyone from seeking them out. The Worms in turn begin calling across the stars to other species, seeking to lure one that can free them. As a result, hundreds of species migrate to Fundament and become stranded there - eking out a living on the shards of their broken worlds which become floating continents. One such species was the proto-Hive, whose homeworld collided with Fundament and shattered. The proto-Hive survive and build a new civilization for themselves on the floating shards of their former homeworld, gradually forgetting their original history.


 * Meanwhile, a species of bony six-armed cephalopods named the Ammonite, benefit from the Traveler's patronage and build a sophisticated starfaring civilization spanning all of Fundament's fifty-two moons, before eventually coming into contact with the distant Ecumene.


 * At eight years of age, the proto-Hive Osmium King of the Osmium Court on Fundament sires his final brood of offspring, which include his three daughters Xi Ro, Sathona, and Aurash who are tutored by sterile mother Taox. At ten years of age, the Osmium King begins to succumb to senility and madness; becoming consumed with ancient texts and obsessing over the movements of Fundament's moons, and the possibility of a catastrophic alignment called the Syzygy.


 * Fearing for the Osmium Court's future and believing the royal daughters were unsuited to rule, Taox secretly contacts the rival continent's Helium Drinkers of the Helium Court, inviting them to invade, assassinate the royal family, and install her as a subservient regent of the Osmium Court in exchange for engines capable of moving their continent. The Helium Drinkers agree, resulting in the Osmium Court's fall and the death of the Osmium King, but the royal daughters escape and vow to take revenge.

Pre-Golden Age

 * The Traveler visits the Eliksni (later known the "Fallen") and provides them with limitless Ether. The Eliksni propser under the Traveler's patronage and revere it as "The Great Machine". During these years, the House of Judgment enforces law and peace.


 * Some time after, the Eliksni civilization is destroyed by an event known as the Whirlwind, and Chelchis, Kell of Stone is slain by Oryx himself, becoming a legend amongst his people.


 * The Traveler abandons the Eliksni around this time. In the aftermath, the House of Judgement attempts to maintain order among the survivors, but is unable to prevent the outbreak of a bloody civil war and is itself nearly eradicated. The remnants of the House of Judgment are forced into servitude by the remaining Kells.


 * At some point, the Cabal forge a vast interstellar Empire. Somehow the telekinetic Psions are incorporated into the Empire as a client race. Eventually, an unknown calamity strikes the Cabal home world and forces the Empire to flee.

21st Century

 * Earth becomes overcrowded.


 * The present day - Humanity detects and tracks the Traveler as it enters the Solar System and terraforms Mercury, Venus, and the moons of Jupiter. When it reaches Mars, the multinational Ares One mission is launched to make contact with it.


 * The Traveler promises humanity the universe and imparts its vast knowledge to the species, spurring the colonization of the Solar System.


 * The Golden Age, a centuries-long era of widespread prosperity and technological miracles, begins.

Early Golden Age

 * Fifty years after the Traveler's discovery, at the age of 90, Commander Jacob Hardy records his experiences from the Ares One mission in his diary and explains how the Traveler's dramatic impact on human well-being and civilization.


 * Jacob Hardy is involved in a project to study the Traveler's terraforming actions.


 * The Cloud Walkers lead the first Exodus.


 * The first off-Earth colony is established in the Ocean of Storms on the Moon.


 * An exobotany laboratory is established in Mare Cognitum on the Moon.


 * The city of Freehold is founded on Mars with the support of Clovis Bray. It becomes known as one of humanity's greatest achievements.


 * A copper box with a red lid is discovered, its lid dented, one hinge shattered. Inside is a small quantity of the finest, driest powder, more brown than gray, more blue than green. The powder is weighed by the grain, studied close. One hundred billion bits reside inside, all of them tiny and nearly spherical, and etched with the outlines of continents and islands and icecaps. Each sphere represents a planet. One is found of Earth, Mars, and Venus. The minds presume that the box is a message of how minuscule all of creation is. They wonder who delivered this message, and why.


 * During the initial exploration of Venus, ancient Vex ruins are discovered. Early Vex research outposts like Campus 9 attract Earth's brightest minds, leading to a colonization rush on the planet. The researchers found the Ishtar Collective and the Ishtar Academy.

Mid-Golden Age

 * Clovis Bray begins developing technologies geared toward the colonization of the Solar System in the form of SIVA and Transmission. After going through several prototypes, SIVA is approved for deployment.


 * Site 6 is constructed.


 * The Asteroid Belt becomes a treasure trove of industry.


 * Jupiter becomes a cornerstone of civilization.


 * A Warmind is sent to build humanity's cities and ships with SIVA on unknown worlds nine billion miles away.

Late Golden Age

 * The first Exo are built to aid and protect humans.


 * The Ishtar Collective captures a live Vex specimen and nearly go mad until a Warmind intervenes. They send a group of proxies into the Vex ruins to explore the Vex network.


 * The Future War Cult is founded by members of the Ishtar Collective at Lhasa after experimenting with Vex technology. However the group disbands after many members either go insane, commit suicide, or leave out of ethical concerns.


 * Members of the First Light colony investigate the tunnels beneath the Moon. They discover the Worms and the Hive nesting deep within, but do not survive to tell the tale.

The Collapse

 * The Warmind Rasputin detects the sudden arrival and rapid approach of an unidentified entity outside the Solar System. Recognizing the entity as a threat, Rasputin assumes control of humanity's defense network.


 * Rasputin attempts to defeat the Darkness using all available weapons, but to no avail. In a last ditch attempt to stop the impending doom, Rasputin enacts ABHORRENT IMPERATIVE, and fires on the Traveler with his most powerful weapons, thereby coercing it into a "pseudoaltrusitic" defensive action.


 * A pilot designated SABER GREEN piloting the ship Secure ISIS communicates with ICE MINARET. They are carrying a payload of one annihilation-pumped caedometric weapon – an antimatter payload – codenamed RIGOR, and two other unknown devices, codenamed SKYSHOCK and APEX. Civilian launches are not scrubbed, threatening fleeing civilians. ICE MINARET remarks that they both know where the order came from.


 * As all countermeasures fail to affect the entity and defeat becomes a certainty, Rasputin decides to enact YUGA SUNDOWN, and shuts down to protect itself, leaving billions of people to perish.


 * On Mercury, Venus and Mars, dormant Vex units, reacting to the Collapse reactivate and begin terraforming several worlds. While Mercury is turned into a machine in days the Vex terraforming is slowed on other worlds for reasons unknown.


 * A massive spacecraft bearing a sigil of Golden Age Earth on its prow crashes on an unidentifiable, battle-scarred world where over two dozen Exo soldiers fight a titanic battle with the Vex.


 * The Collapse - The Darkness, the ancient enemy of the Traveler, arrives in the Solar System, precipitating the Collapse and the abrupt end of the Golden Age. Earth's defenders are steadily beaten back until humanity is threatened with extinction. Humanity is saved only through the intervention of the Traveler, which sacrifices itself to stop the Darkness. With its last breath, the Traveler creates the Ghosts, to seek out those who can wield its Light as a weapon.


 * At some point during the Collapse, some humans seeking refuge from the Darkness flee into deep space.

Dark Age

 * In the aftermath of the Collapse comes the Dark Age. It is a time of vast suffering and terrible evil.


 * Those humans who fled into space during the Collapse become the Awoken. Many take up residence in the Reef.