Expanded History of Eridanus

The origins of all the peoples of Eridanus hearken back to Eden. The origins of Eden, it's location, and it's history prior to the formation of Great Roma is clouded in ambiguity, conflicting histories, and lost knowledge. Most historical accounts place the disappearance of Eden about 15,000 years ago. Modern attempts to find the location of where this virtually mythical planet existed have resulted in inconclusive results. Theories abound that Eden may have been more of a religious or figurative origin, but the question still remains about the true birth place of the human race.

After the deterioration of Great Roma, and before the formation of the Eridani Empire, there is no unified calendar. In addition, what history we have is riddled with holes and ambiguities. The standard used here, BCE, stands for Before Common Era, and is used to estimate how many years since the formation of the current Era (the Regency of House Constantine) began. For a list of the original inhabitants of Eridanus see Peoples of Eridanus.

Prior to BCE 24,000

History before the establishment of Great Roma is just as enigmatic as Eden - one of the more prominent theories in this regard was that Great Roma commenced a significant purging of current history when the empire was formed in order to force cohesiveness. The best records that exist from this period aren't historical records, but religious works. The strong oral history of the Jin tell of "great conflict" and "disorder" that existed before the formation of Great Roma. The more cynical Quark tales relate how the formation of the empire concentrated the arrogance and prejudice against them in one place.

Founding Of to the onset of the Fourth Millennium in the rule of Great Roma (BCE 24,000 to 20,000)

According to what few records remain, from the formation of the empire, it took Great Roma a little over a thousand years to fully conquer and unite the warring factions and kingdoms of Eden. While we doubt any kind of war could be sustained over a thousand years, the time period is till referred to as The War of Unification of Eden. More likely, this was simply Roma managing to maintain stability and grow technologically and economically, broken up by brief stints of expansion, while other factions warred and stagnated. Regardless, after the "war," Great Roma stood as the sole kingdom of Eden.

Little or no lore exists between the time of unification and the first mention of the formation of the cult of Blood Drinkers, another millennium later. The cult would remain underground and thoroughly repressed until it's indoctrination by Emperor Constantine Roma XII over a millennium later.

It was also during this Era that the Poro-Bulgarus was excommunicated from Great Roma. [[ under construction ]]

In the later half of the third millennium, the Equality of Souls upsurgency movement began. [[ under construction ]]

Emperor Constantine Roma XII's 36 years of rule were known for controversy, recession, and war. His rule is the best documented of any of the Great Roma emperors for the sheer amount of criticism and vitriol he managed to accumulate in his life.

[[ under construction. key points listed ]]

• Presumed withdrawl of the Taohua
  

• The Divine Blood Drinkers indoctrinated as the state faith.
  

• Widespread economic depression
  

• Quark Confederacy declares independence
  

• Partisan war with Poro-Bulgarus begins
  

• Assassinated in the 36th year of his rule by Sparticus, Poro-Bulgarusian by birth.

3 Millenia of War (BCE 20,000 to 17,000)

The death of Emperor Constantine Roma XIII was followed by a massive coup on the imperial palace, resulting in the death of all of Constantine's heirs, which laid the foundation for a massive succession war. Claims to the throne were made by all factions within Great Roma, including from factions that had split from Great Roma during the recession. Epic tales of war and glory and death would have us believe that the death of Constantine the Bloody led to a 3000 year-long succession war. We have severe reservations that such an extended period of conflict is even possible - this is another point of history where time and detailed history are lost to ambiguity. We are led to believe that significant stores of knowledge were lost as factions with less claim attempted to destroy historical evidence that supported the claims of other factions.

The end of the 3 Millenia of War marked an agreement by all factions involved on how to split the empire, rather than choose a sole heir. The kingdom was split three ways, into the Empires of the Murcano, the Poro-Bulgarusians, and the remnants of Roma. Several other splinter factions declared independence as well, including the Jin. Neither the Poro-Bulgarusians nor the remnants of Great Roma were satisfied with the decisions, and so began a cold war in weapons research between the two empires.

(BCE 17,000 to 15,930)

The Era of Darkness is characterized by large numbers of proxy wars between Poro-Bulgarus and Roma. The target of these proxy wars was usually to control certain territories of the Quark Confederacy, often solely through influence, but not uncommonly through military occupation. The Quark Confederacy had been the only territory of Eden to maintain growth and expansion during aftereffects of Constantine's Recession and the Era of Conflict. Because of this, the larger empires used the confederacy as a commodity to further their own research efforts. How fast Poro-Bulgarus or Roma advanced was based proportionately on the influence exerted on the Quark Confederacy. In this time period in particular, the attitude towards the Quarks reached an all-time low. Mortality rates for the peasantry in the Quark Confederacy skyrocketed, as Quark merchants were pressured to produce more and more for their noble overlords.

The unrelenting pressure of the era forced the Quarks to start considering alternatives, and so began the first ventures into colonization on other worlds. The Quarks had been sending deep space probes for some centuries now, and had discovered no less than three habitable Terran worlds within a few light-years. The first successful landings on Becrux were completed by BCE 16,600. Fully established colonies were operating by 16,400. Within 300 years, Alcyone 9 and Suhail were similarly colonized.

Poro-Bulgarus immediately recognized the benefits of expanding their operations to beyond Eden, and immediately set to work following the Quarks offworld. What refuge the Quarks had attained on their colonies was quickly taken as Poro-Bulgarus laid claim to the conquests of space the Quarks had slavered for centuries for.

The Millennium long cold war between Poro-Bulgarus and Roma ended with the destruction of the native homeworld of humanity. Details are, obviously, vague. What, where, how - these are all speculation. Even the when is still ambiguous. The process apparently took a long enough time that some number of Murcano and Roma refugees could escape the planet, and time enough for the Jin to start their pilgrimage towards Terpischore and Miaplacidus. In an ironic twist, the remnants of Roma and Poro-Bulgarus joined together to form the new Broman Empire. The Murcano had nurtured good relations with Poro-Bulgarus up to this point in time, and utilized the good relationship to take refuge on the latter's colony worlds.

The Quarks used this time of confusion and re-organization to start expanding farther into the north quadrant, to flee the aggressively expanding Broman empire. One of the Broman ships, lost, would pass into legend as a ghost ship, with sightings to this day.

(BCE 15,930 to 6000)

Aptly named, the Migration Era saw the many factions of Eridanus settle the planets which would make up Eridanus in the Common Era. As Eden dissappeared, all the people's of Eridanus began preparing to flee the for fading planet. Each of the factions however would go their seperate ways creating a divided galaxy. Becrux served as a launching point for all the voyages as it was the planet closest to Eden after it dissappeared. See Maps of Eridanus.

The Bromans had been one of the least prepared factions for the dissappearance of Eden as military power would not help them in this time of crisis. Because they still remained the most wealthy and powerful of the factions they were able to improvise and begin searching for worlds that could be colonized and so were hardly effected. Broman colonization ships began moving north-west to Alycone 9 and then to Diphda a path which they alone traveled. Soon the reached Mimosa which would in another five-hundred years would be named capital. As fate would have it, they had reached the tip of the Green Crescent a sector in Eridanus made up of temperate worlds. It is here that they expanded their influence and rebuild their empire. The voyage had taken ten millenia but it had been worth it.

During this era, the Jin had proven themselves more than mere barbarians. Years before Eden had begun to dissappear they had foresaw the event and begun construction of two mighty ships capable of transporting the entire Jin popoulation across the galaxy. This ships were dubbed 'Arcs' and are documented as being the largest ships in history being the size of a small planet. Despite the length of space the Jin had to travel it would only take them four millenia to reach the two northern most temperate planets, Miaplacidus and Terpsichore. The first Arc named Ban'quay reached Terpsichore in 12,109 BCE. The people were quick to claim the planet as their own and began expanding outwards towards the nearby planets Acubens, and Tarazed. At about this time the Arc, Kortaan, arrived and Miaplacidus which became the pinnacle of Bolo-ginian culture. It is also thought that they expanded their influence to Sheliak Media, Procyon and Alioth 7. What is so unique is that the Jin had become the first people to settle on frozen planets such as Tarazed and Procoyn. In total it had only taken them seven-thousand years to colonize much faster than that of the supposedly more powerful Bromans.

The Ginian lay of She'lar Bo and the Starwatchers dates from this time at the earliest.

Although the Murcano were hit the hardest by the dissappearance of Eden, they had the fastest colonization of the four primary factions, though they were reliant on their good relationship with the Bromans to successfully colonize. After arriving on Alycone 9, they seperated from the Broman fleets and expanded into the area now known as the Blue Cluster. During this time the Murcano would become known throughout the galaxy for their psionic abilities. When a terra-forming machine malfunctioned on Keid it resulted in the deaths of all but a few colonists. The survivors displayed strange psionic powers and it was then that the Murcanoans decided to monopolize on these abilities.

Thanks to their superior knowledge and technology the Quarks moved across the galaxy at an amazing rate. Their speed can also be atributed to the fact that they did not colonize every planet on their voyage but jumped from one to the other. After working their way across the entire galaxy the Quarks arrived at Syrma Prime in the North East. Here they perfected terra-forming and created ships that could travel faster than light. From Syrma Prime they expanded all across the North East area of the galaxy where they finally settled down and colonized.

(BCE 6000 to 4000)

For an estimated two-thousand years the Quarks became the premier super power of Eridanus. Having already perfected terra-forming technology and designing faster and faster ships they were so technologically advanced that they had successfully constructed colonies on approximately a third of the galaxy. The Bromans who viewed themselves as the rightful rulers of all of Eridanus, however would not accept being so technologically inferior to the Quarks. The Broman and Murcan empires worked as allies to catch up to the Quarks in technology by forming the Broman-Murcano Research Foundation. It soon became evident however that they would be unable to equal them and began the creation of a massive military though with noticeably less advanced equipment.
The Quarks were fully aware of the possibility of an invasion from the Broman and Murcano Empires but they were in no way willing to share their technology with the power hungry Bromans. Taking notice of the advanced psionic research of the Murcano, the Quarks were quick to write up a deal with them stating that the Murcanoans would assist the Quarks in researching psionics while they gifted the Murcano technology concessions. When the Murcanoans and Quarks allied it was evident that the Bromans would not be able to gain access to the advanced technology through hostilities, nor would they be able to match quarkian technology.

(BCE 4000 to 0)

As time went on the peoples of Eridanus continued to explore and colonize, even on eachothers planets. Quarks built on Broman, Broman on Murcano, and new planets were constantly being discovered. As this expansion continued the cultures began to meld and began to tolerate one another as allies. The Eridanus as we know it today was being formed as the factions began to exist in harmony. The Quarks provided most of the exploration with their exceptionally fster ships allthough faster-than-light ships had become a commodity now. As they explored the north-eastern reaches of the galaxy they discovered Jin settlements all over the region. It was not long before colonization of their planets by other factions began and they were ushered into Eridanus. Everyone was coming together but it was to their benefit. Quarkian technology was leading the empire into a golden age, Broman soldiers were capable of policing planets successfully, the Murcano were able to provide early inter-planetary communication, and the Jin became the masterminds behind designing space-faring ships. They were becoming one, they were becoming Eridanus!

In the last few years of the Era of Expansion, the factions came together and formed a new feudalistic government of houses and cartels which would compete for senate seats and the title of Emperor. At a convention, it was decided that because the Bromans were providing the largest military in the galaxy one of their houses should be named the Imperial House. They chose the Constantine family to lead Eridanus into a new era of peace and prosperity.

(CE 1 to Present)

[[ under construction ]]