As our knowledge of life in the galaxy increases, it is increasingly evident that most worlds have not been developing intelligent life and cultures independently (as was proposed by Hodgkins, 2053), but rather there have been repeated bouts of interference and colonization which results in not only cultural but also genetic relatedness between civilizations which themselves had no spaceflight capability (or even historical records) during the timeframe in which the cultural or genetic transfers would have taken place. The most debated theory is the idea that many humanoid species have common origins; this idea was first generated by genetic evidence (T’Sala and Uthlos, 2194) but none of the hypothetical explanations was seriously evaluated until the proposal that at least a subset of this galaxy’s humanoid cultures were seeded by (or at least interfered with) by a 2-million-year-old civilization that is now extinct (Spock and McCoy, 2272). Research about the origins of individual sapient species then focused on individual examples (and mainly on molecular and archaeological dating techniques), until the discovery of the genomic map which apparently demonstrates prehistoric interference in the evolution of life by another extinct civilization even more ancient (Galen and Picard, 2378). Research into similar connections for various non-humanoid biotypes has lagged, despite known relationships such as the Lyran-Kzin-Caitian-Eeiauoan connection and Gorn scientists’ admission that the three races of the Gorn Alliance may be only a small sample of a larger number of Teratosuchian species derived from an unknown ancient civilization. However, remnants of nonhumanoid empires that are hundreds of millions or even billions of years old are uncovered on a regular basis (for examples, visit the Hamilton Institute of Exopaleontology). The only conclusion that can be supported by the mounting evidence is that independent, pristine worlds that have not been colonized or interfered with by interstellar civilizations are the exception, and possibly a rare one at that. However, most expanding, humanoid or similar organic civilizations only survive on the order of tens of thousands of years even if successful, before they either direct their own evolution beyond a point where empires and star travel are irrelevant, or (more often) are wiped out by their own hand or a combination of causes and conditions. The result is that collapsed empires often leave sets of orphaned colonies and degenerate descendants scattered across their regions of space. This pattern of expansion and collapse, in a relatively short period of time compared to the billions of years of known history within this universe, creates a genetic phylogenetic signal that is repeated in many recent genomic comparative studies. The example below, based on a long-term study by HIE scientists on missions into the unknown reaches of the beta quadrant, is used to illustrate and formally describe this phylogenetic pattern.
The following is an example of a non-humanoid civilization (the Yederren) that has left its genetic legacy on dozens of colony worlds, many of which have since evolved into separate species and one of which itself developed a starfaring empire with only mythological awareness of what their distant ancestors had done millions of years before. This multi-species phylogeny traces the history of both rounds of colonization and decline, obvious in the true polytomies (rake-like branching patterns). This phylogenetic pattern has been named a “Hamilton True Starflight-Termination Polytomy” after William Hamilton, son of the founder of the HIE and the first to describe the pattern in his research on the genetic history of the Yederren-derived species.
The figure above is taken from Hamilton and Eefras (2381). The example depicts the phylogeny of several species descended from the 4-million-year-old Yederren Civilization in the beta quadrant of our galaxy, including the race which later established the Ptharc Resa Republic 150,000 years ago. The “gene” involved is for the BSGA-gamma phototransic enzyme (note that “genes” from most of the kingdoms of life on the Yederren homeworld are defined by the antiparallel lining up of interspersed segments of their non-helical heredity information molecules). The analysis was done using PAUP-plus version 892, beta testing version. See Hamilton and Eefras (2381) for the complete analysis.
As is standard in UFP scientific literature, the left side of the phylogeny is ancestral, right side is recent. (A) represents the split between the Yederren species and its closest non-sapient relative, Ptayacis esora, about seven million years ago. This sister-species (similar to chimpanzees in relatedness to humans) is still extant (B) on the homeworld but never developed any technology beyond simple stoneworking and bone/wooden hand tools. It is thought that some individuals of this species may have been ‘uplifted’ by the Yederren (see theoretical works by Brin in the database) but no evidence exists that the current evolutionary status of the species P. esora was affected by their more advanced cousins.
(C) The Yederren themselves apparently went through a class-5 industrial revolution 4.6 million years ago and quickly developed interplanetary travel, then interstellar capability. Within a short time (a few centuries to two thousand years) they had established a major empire similar in size to the UFP. Many colonies were founded and other species contacted. The Yederren worlds surveyed so far have not shown signs of destruction consistent with conflict, so it appears their reign was not a violent one. However, not even a successful empire lasts forever; within about half a million years the Yederren had discontinued interstellar travel and much of their population vanished or declined. As is usual in these situations where an advanced civilization disappears, theories range from mass migration to another galaxy/dimension/universe to ‘evolution beyond the need for physical form/ships/planets’ (although such evolution is often self-directed and influenced by science or spirituality). In any case, by 4 million years ago the Yederren were gone—mostly (D).
However, history is never so clean as is commonly believed. The billions of individual Yederren on hundreds of planets did not all just ascend off to the same destination. Many remnant populations remained on dozens of planets, some of which have been recently surveyed by the USS Kearsarge or other expeditions. In fact, the example of the Ptharc Resa shows that it is likely that not all members of a species are going to agree on the direction of evolution or migration that a civilization should take. Evidence shows that many of the colonies that remained after the termination of interstellar travel attempted to maintain a technological base and remained in physical bodies. Others ‘returned to nature’ or just went extinct. On the homeworld, the remnant group that still exists (F) has maintained a peaceful but non-technological existence devoted to obscure spiritual meditation. [Note that these individuals, despite being on the same planet as P. esora, are not evolutionarily any closer to this non-sapient species than the populations on the colony worlds—nor are they representative of the “ancestral” Yederrens, since every world’s population has evolved independently for the four million years since]. On a second major colony a remnant group that tried to stay technological failed to do so, perhaps due to too small of a population base, and degenerated into a non-literate copper-working hunting culture G. On other colony worlds the descendant species degenerated even farther, have atrophied or vestigial dorsocranial lobes, and are more animalistic even than P. esora. P. etacedri is one such species, and the USS Kearsarge report on their discovery indicates that this population is endangered, being harvested for slave labor by the militaristic and genetically unrelated Eiodar who now claim the Eta Cedri solar system.
The polytomy created by the history of the Yederrens is plain to see. There are in fact only two exceptions to the genetic pattern. Two planets in the Mu Cedri solar system both maintained sizable colonies and interplanetary contact for nearly 90,000 years (E). The level of interbreeding was low but enough to delay speciation for longer than the rest of the colonies. Eventually, however, the two colonies terminated contact after a war and their societies degenerated after several cycles of technological collapse and revival.
The other exception is that of the Ptharc Resa. This species was derived from another lost colony on the fringes of Yederren space. Their mythology refers to being ‘outcasts from the heavenly land of the gods’ but the reasons are unknown. After a few million years of rudimentary iron-age society, the Ptharc Resa began to develop a technological base that owed nothing to the Yederrens and 150,000 years ago started their own expeditions into space to colonize worlds in their system and other systems (H). Within a few thousand years their empire was apparently a major power in the galaxy, launching missions into all quadrants. There is evidence that during Earth’s previous interglacial about 125,000 years ago a Ptharc Resa cruiser visited the planet and sampled its primitive life. The Ptharc Resa also contacted a young species called the Hirogen 100,000 years ago, shared the singularity-based warp drive with them, and helped them build a massive communications array. [The Hirogen civilization collapsed into a self-slaughtering mess of warlords and small empires by 80,000 years ago, and the Ptharc Resa had to fight and destroy several of these successor empires until the Hirogen population had dwindled to such low levels they were no longer anything more than a nomadic irritant. There is reportedly a population of Ptharc Resa ex-POWs within former Hirogen space who rebelled against the Hirogen successor-state that captured them and have been an independent world in the delta quadrant for 82,000 years]. The Ptharc Resa Republic eventually also included several other former Yederren colonies, although in only one case (I) was there any genetic introgression (gray arrow). Four million years appears to have been enough time for drift and selection to create enough changes that interbreeding is prevented between Yederren descendant populations; the speciation of the Ptharc Resa and the species Ptayacis udrans was almost complete at their second contact. Hybrids between them were 90% infertile, but some hybrid individuals of gender D were able to mate with P. udrans of genders A and E, introducing some Ptharc Resa alleles into the other species. Since the Ptharc Resa themselves have reduced space travel and rarely visit the world, and because P. udrans is a steam-age civilization with little desire for rapid advancement or expansion, it is unlikely that the speciation process has been slowed.
Although the Ptharc Resa Republic lasted for a long time relative to most interstellar civilizations, in the current era it too is as good as vanished. The USS Kearsarge reported signs of a recent termination of an empire, not by war or disaster but because different socio-ideological parties had advanced to the point where ships and empires are irrelevant—and from this clues to the fate of the Yederrens themselves were derived. The Ptharc Resa parties have separated the empire into what are essentially different subspecies (J,K), some of which are no longer biological and which therefore cannot even be shown on this molecular phylogeny. One party, obsessed with transcendence, has already explored travel to other universes and have abandoned the use of physical bodies in this one. Another faction has replaced their organic bodies with self-replicating mechanical forms, within which they exist as cyberbeings; another has built indestructible, monumental bodies and positioned themselves on the original Yederren homeworld to join their revered ancestors in meditation. Others have isolated themselves and ‘gone natural’. And of course, some groups have decided to try and maintain at least a fraction of their former Republic and ships equipped with quantum-slipstream drives, to continue meeting new species and exploring other galaxies in our own universe. The revelation is not that these goals are possible (many other advanced races have sought some of the same lifestyles) but that there is no consensus among the former Ptharc Resa on which is best. Fortunately, there is also no impetus for any party to force its ideas on the others, and in fact the different groups have assisted each other many times over the last few thousand years. It is safe to say, however, that most of the Ptharc Resa will disappear from history the way the Yederren people did. In a few million years, will yet another lost colony, currently isolated and weak, rise to develop its own civilization and wonder at the monuments of their ancestors?
References
Galen and Picard, JL. 2378. New evidence for ancient evolutionary interference. Federation Society for the Advancement of Science 88 (File 28977).
Hamilton, WT and Eefras, X. 2381. Phylogeny of the multi-system genus Ptayacis and the definition of a true polytomy due to the termination of interstellar contacts between colonies of ancient spacefaring civilizations. Hamilton Institute of Exopaleontology 32(Disk 8): 23-44/File 7-223.
Hodgkins, 2053. A general law for parallel planet development. Centauri Colony Journal of Astrosociology 54(Disk 1): 1655-1702.
Spock and McCoy, L. 2272. Evaluating a claim of evolutionary interference on multiple worlds by an extinct species. Starfleet Journal of Science 108(Disk 3): 476-489.
T’Sala and Uthlos, 2194. Genetic molecular comparison between known humanoid species. Vulcan Science Academy Recorded Research Year 236, File 112,753.
The USS Kearsarge, upon which much of this data was collected, was also involved in the Battle of Iptera III against the Eiodar during the same extended mission in the Beta Quadrant beyond the Klingon and Romulan borders. Contact was also made with the advanced arthropod specied called the Irapina, although many details are still classified.
Refer to the glossary of terms and definitions used in the historical atlas
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