Red-Fire Flame, sometimes an erupting Volcano Blue-Water/Ice Ice, sometimes the Sea Green-Living things/plants A Leaf, sometimes a Tree Yellow-Terra/Rock A Stone, sometimes a Mountain Orange-Air/Wind A Sunset Purple-Storms/Thunder A Lightningbolt, sometimes a Cloud with a Bolt of Lightning White-Light/Good A Ray of Light, sometimes a glowing Cross, sometimes the Sun Black-Darkness/Evil A Shadow, sometimes a black expanse, sometimes the Moon Far Ancient Past: -The Gurdians of Time (impressive name, though not their true purpose) were charged with keeping peace and defending order. They protected the timeline and held open the doors of fate as it was for all life to choose their destiny. They were heroes who defended the lands from the encroching darkness and holding it at bay. Finally, betrayed by their leader, he consumed by the darkness, their council fell by his hand and they were scattered. However, before he could scatter them all, the few remaining, under the leadership of their former second-in-command, Michael, sealed the darkness as their last act together, and with it, their fallen leader. Ancient Past: -Humanity came into being. The exact details are unknown, save that a man and a woman emerged from a hidden land, a land that was sealed behind them and vanished from existance. -Over time, Humans began to propagate and travel the world, being ingenous explorers and clever at using what was in their surroundings. -There still remained some lingering shadows of the past at this time, the Watchers and the Dinosaurs. Far Distant Past: -Most all of the old species have now either died off, gone into hiding, or transformed into weakened forms. -Humanity grows in power, and although not yet powerful or far spread, it is the dominant race on the face of the planet. -About this time, "Prophets" begin appearing. Distant Past: -A great Human kingdom rises. It starts out small, but within a thousand years, it will have conqured much of the known world and some of the unknown world. The great kingdom eventually falls by what the Prophets call devine judgement. -Freed from the grip of that kingdom, Humanity is again free to explore the world and live free lives...unfortunately, most knowledge and technology was lost in the fall. This marked the begining of the First Dark Age of Humanity. Far Long Past: -Humanity emerges from its first dark age with the discovery of Bronze. Entering the Bronze Age of Humanity, the people experience great advances in music, art, the sciences, and war, however they are still far below what once was. -Humanity enters the Iron Age of Humanity. Those who arrive first have great successes against those still in the Bronze Age. As in any war, technoledgy speeds to even the sides, and soon most of the kingdoms of the world have either reached the Iron Age, or have improved upon Bronze Age technologies and forms of combat in order to compete. -One kingdom spreads across much of the world led by a young, charismatic, and apparently brilliant leader. However, he dies young and his kingdom fractures into four parts. Soon thereafter, a fledgling empire conquires the four weakened kingdoms and the surrounding world easily with little resistance from the recovering peoples. This empire rules for around 700 years before falling under mysterous circomstances. Upon its fall it causes a whirlpool of chaos which begins the Second Dark Age of Humanity. Long Past: -Humanity slowly recovers from its second dark age. Unlike the last time, the Human race recovers some artifacts of the past and not only climbs out of the dark age, but surpasses the empire preceeding the dark age. However, although technology is advanced, no one kingdom can surpass the others enough to rule over the others. Alliances begin to form between the nations of the world. -A young general takes over one of the kingdoms in a coup during a civil war. He quickly stabilizes the kingdom and begins a military campaign somewhat similar to the ancient warrior in the last era. He marches across a good part of the world, but is stopped by a turn of fate in the dead of winter. The leader is exiled. Some time later, he manages to return and come back into power. He begins another campaign which is also successful, but is stopped by the combined power of those he conqured. He is once again exiled and later found dead. The world tries to recover and restore alliances. -Several hundred years later, one of the alliances, begins a campaign of expansion. It spreads, but is put down by another alliance. Several similar wars occured before and after this one, but this was arguabbly the catalyst for the future. A second war began from the same alliance, under a new leader and with far reaching allies. This war engulfs much of the centralized war. It is again stopped, and the people of the battered world, tired of war, begin coming together to form peace: an alliance that is not an alliance against others, but a single alliance of all nations where conflicts can be arbitrated instead of blowing up into full blown war ever again. Past (Present): -Although there are still conflicts, peace mostly reigns. Most of the conflicts are against brutal leaders (or those believed to be such) who commited attrocities against life. Technology and freedom reign in most areas and the Human race beholds many scientific and technological discoveries. It is around this time that the race begins looking out from their own planet and exploring the nearby space of its solar system. -Over time, the world alliance becomes stronger, and eventually solidifies most of the world into one empire. This empire develops small spacecraft and stations in the imediate vicinity of the planet. While peace is still predominant and crime is stifled, many begin wondering if the cost in their feedom is worth the price, some even suggest that not all is what it seems. -Around this time, Enech a Drekan Veimos (Seal of Quiet Darkness) is discovered on the fourth planet in the solar system. It is brought back for study. -Prophets once again begin making an appearance on the Earth. -The world alliance begins to become corrupted. While allowing people a measure of freedom, it begins picking out possible dissenters who soon after "disappear". It begins taking the "best and the brightest" of the Human race close to it, while those not picked are left to fend for themselves. -The world alliance, now an empire spanning the planet and surrounding solar system, begins brutally putting down rebellions. Finally, fearing their total anihilation, the rebel groups begin leaving their home forever. They are called by the Prophets "Ya Kimi", the Called, and begin heeding the call, their ships launching into space. An eunormous battle ensues, first on the planet and then into space after the fleeing ships. The world alliance, fearing that the rebels are merely trying to escape to reconsolidate and come back as a stronger group, persue them, intent on destroying them totally, and the alliance's ships outnumber the rebels great enough to make the battle hopeless. The long battle known as Avisente (Armageddon), ends mysterously, somehow quite a few of the rebel ships escape, what happened to the others is unknown. The Prophets declare devine judgement on the world alliance. Any Prophets found are killed, although it is interesting to note that for each one that died, either directly by their own action, or at the very instant of their death by an unknown force, the very planet trembled and all but a few of those sent to kill them died in the attempt, in some cases ALL those that were sent as well as those who gave the order died. Finally, the Last Prophet declares the devine judgement upon the planet and the alliance, saying those called have left and all that remain are evil save the Last. Upon his closing words, which all in the alliance and under its jurisdiction hear, the Cataclysm occurs. -The rebel ships, scatterd in clusters by the battle of Avisente, spread into deep space. Over time, the crews manage to enact the planned cryogenic stasis on their young and seeing the ships along their way with only a handful of them still awake, their generations being the guardians for those that slept. -The original location of Earth is lost. -Sometime during this period, the Enech a Yenva Epoch (Seal of Windswept Ages) is found, the circomstances surrounding its discovery are unknown. Era?: -The once rebels land on several inhabitable planets in a dense star cluster relatively near each other. The "Gurdians" release their sleeping passengers from their slumber and place them on the planets. The Gurdains themselves choose not to interact, instead letting their passengers, most of them young children, awaken on the planet, which they believe to be their homeworld "clensed". The Gurdains remain watching, but do not interact. Those on the planets, arriving not unlike the first Humans on Earth, begin to build a new world. In time, they will discover it is not their homeworld, but the circomstances of how they arrived remains unknown to them. -In time, some of the Gurdians filter into the society in secret on one of the worlds, unbeknownst to either the people on that world nor the other Gurdians. -The Enech a Terra Firma (Seal of Firm Earth) is found on one of the planets by its inhabitents. Though they don't know what it is, they begin to study it. -A few Prophets appear on the planet where the Enech was found. Era?: -As time passes, some technology is once again discovered, and Humanity again progresses through the ages. -The Guardians remain in hiding, though they are slowly forced to a greater distance to avoid detection. Era?: -Some of the more advanced Humans, technology-wise, discover and make contact with some of those on neighboring planets. Of course, the contact is first limited to slow speed radio transmissions, though eventually probes are sent. Eventually, spacecraft will be sent. -First contacts begin to occur in person as the most advanced planets send out spacecraft. They manage to contact their Human brothers on several (though not all) of the colonized planets. Some of the more primative planets are unsure what to think of the explorers, but many welcome them, especially scholars and children, excited by the idea of new technologies, spaceships, and other worlds. -The discovery of a crashed rebel ship excites the scholars of the era. People from all the charted and explored planets are brought in to investigate and repair it. Although the repairs take several decades, much technology is learned by studying the ship, and many speculations begin to arrise of the possible origins of Humanity in the star cluster. -The nations of the charted planets form an alliance, a federation of all their kingdoms who wish to join. Even those that elect not to join are allowed to attend sessions and their scholars involved in any major projects, including the repair and study of the rebel ship. -The rebel ship's repairs are completed and it is relaunched, the flagship of the fleet. Thereafter, two ships with slightly improved design and technology, that of the ancient rebels integrated with current Human technology, are put into production, although they will take two decades to be completed. -Exploration begins of the star cluster, and much of it is charted, though this takes close to a century, even with the two additional ships. -Prophets remain, and although few in number, their is at least one on each Human planet. Guardians also remain in hiding, although by this time they have been forced farther from the star cluster to avoid detection. Their technology has also been advancing all this time and they watch over their "younger" brothers from their distance. -The Enech a Mara Varis (Seal of Deep Waters) is found. By this time, the Federation of Humanity has fifteen Rebel Class Explorers, including the one discovered crashed. However, the star cluster has still not been fully explored, but instead it is estimated only 54% has been explored. -The Federation of Humanity discovers the "Void", an area of black space that is surrounded by an inpenterable barrier. Although some exploration continues in this area, the Federation issues an edict that only specially comissioned ships are allowed in the vicinity. Most exploration is directed toward the other ends of the cluster. -On planet Terra, it is found that when brought together, the Enech a Mara Varis, Enech a Yenva Epoch, and the Enech a Terra Ferma produce sounds in an incomplete pattern, some conjecture is made that there may be a melody that connects them. -A discovery is made (and kept highly secret by those that discovered it) that there are some passages that connect the planets. A secret group forms dedicated to guarding the knowledge of the locations, each remote on their respective planets, from the outside world.**Plot point: The mechanics of this will later be discovered. The hypothesis formed is that the places are along the energy/spirit lines that course throughout space. These are the same lines that some people can draw upon to unleash powerful energies. Someone entering one of the gateways is then propelled along the energy line until the person reaches where that line intersects the next planet in the pathway where another gateway has formed. To most people, this will seem instentaneous, only seeing a fleeting immage of stars streaking by. But a special few will be able to actually remain aware while traveling. Those that do so will see that there are actually junctions along the way. If one splits off on one of the junctions, they may then travel to a different place than most everyone else. To everyone else (with few exceptions), the passages are two way, similar to wormholes, with no alternative destinations. To those who can see the grid, they could potentially navigate to just about anywhere in existance in the universe...and maybe some places beyond. Enech a Mara Varis (Seal of Deep Waters) (Found) Enech a Terra Firma (Seal of Firm Earth) (Found) Enech a Yenva Epoch (Seal of Windswept Ages) (Found) Enech a Drekan Veimos (Seal of Quiet Darkness) (Found, then lost. Presumably still at Earth.) Enech a Qenton Luminare (Seal of Holy Light) (Not yet discovered.)