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| 11339 B.C. |
Robotic vessels begin transporting resources to Centauri from the inner planets.
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| 8248 B.C. |
The spread of a philosophy known as Naturalism causes some Centaurans to violate the understood restrictions against living in designated wilderness areas. The Naturalists believe that they, though not necessarily anyone else, should live with only such technology or medical care as can be accomplished with handmade items. Those of differing philosophy living nearby soon see to it that no others may join the Naturalists, but allow their continued presence the parks out of scientific curiosity.
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| 8107 B.C. |
Studies are published showing that a regional government is more efficient than relying on a council of provincial governors. The resulting centralization of government brings the philosophical underpinnings of local policies into sharp contrast. A group that came to be known as Harvesters promotes the tradition of maintaining an efficient society by means of euthanasia for one's excess infants and suicide for the elderly. The Collectors promote efficiency by government boards designating suicide semi-randomly for individuals, and the preservation of all others.
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| 7735 B.C. |
The fifteen regional governments of the world are entirely either Harvester and Collector, having re-educated or removed any pockets of disagreement within their territory. This marks the beginning of a cold war and the cessation of trade and communications. Weapons and methods of re-education for use on the other regions proliferate.
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| 7409 B.C. |
In a swift and coordinated move, Collectors manage to incapacitate the executives and relevant policy-making councils of the opposition. With new lawmakers and educators in place, the prohibition against infanticide and purely age-related suicide is adopted quickly. Acceptance of government-requested suicide is attained more slowly; the citizens, over the decades, come to identify more strongly with the leaders whose funerals the Rites of Cycling commemorate.
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| 7003 B.C. |
Organization of a planetary government is completed when a council of electors, chosen from universities by the regional governors, selects the new heads of government: Solon (Chief Executive) Shodkenhintekgu and Xeter (Assistant Chief Executive) Rintanvaryimeh.
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| 6522 B.C. |
The last few instances of Naturalist philosophy are eliminated, but at the cost of several lives that could have been productive members of society. The resulting debates and literature begin to firmly cement the value of pacifism in Centauran belief, even as the existence of any group to fight against passes into history.
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| 5493 B.C. |
The first crew to travel outside of Centauri orbit arrive at Proxima Centauri and begin to study its activity during a major eruption. The flares prove more dangerous for the scientists than predicted. Despite their safe return, public opinion remains set against the value of using crewed exploratory ships.
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| 4135 B.C. |
First solid evidence of an alien intelligence comes in the form of early radio transmissions from Akripa, a star system about fifty light-years away. The Council of Interstellar Relations is gathered and begins an intensive debate concerning the merits of various types of exploratory mission.
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| 4127 B.C. |
Preparation of the first contact team is completed and launched.
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| 4067 B.C. |
Centaurans arrive in the Akripa system and enter orbit around the planet. (The native intelligent species of Akripa is now known as the Castori. The Almedae, previous inhabitants of Castor, were long departed when the Akripans arrived.) Starting with observations of the inhabitants by telescope, they begin to prepare for a meeting. Though they have no basis for understanding a spoken or written language, the researchers are confident that an understanding can be reached by telepathic and other means. In 4059 B.C., an uncrewed vessel containing mathematical and astronomical information, along with pictures of the Centaurans, lands outside a major city.
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| 4057 B.C. |
The researchers and diplomats travel to the surface on the established day and greeted by a cautious but welcoming group of world diplomats. Centauri is only very slightly affected by contact with Akripa, but the change in its comfortable rate of technological and philosophical advancement leads to growing unease with the relationship. Akripa is more deeply affected, in that the arrival of the Centaurans disturbs years of progress toward a world government.
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| 4026 B.C. |
The introduction of Centauran technologies finally causes a political struggle to erupt in civil war for one of the Akripan nations. Though it is brief and relatively unbloody, Centaurans begin to flee the system, leaving only orbital recording instruments.
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| 3975 B.C. |
Interstellar Relations agrees to a rigid policy of severely restricted communication and trade, banning all other contact with the Akripans. Those already in the Centauri system are politely but quickly deported. In addition, plans are laid to insure that Centauri will never again interfere with extraterrestrial intelligences without utilizing the greatest caution. These include measures to disguise the artificial nature of communications within the Centauri system and with scientific probes.
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| 1899 A.D. |
Centauran astronomers prove that unusual radio signals discovered in the Sol system are of intelligent origin. The first such discovery since the Castori, it leads xenosociologists to focus their efforts on providing a safe reception for human visitors.
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| 2152 A.D. |
Centaurans become the first species that humans encounter in the course of their early days of space exploration. (A tragic encounter with Zangali refugees on Mars was humans' first alien contact of any kind.) Their alliance with mankind allows for the birth of the Stellar Consortium.
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| 2153 A.D. |
The Consortium's Vanguard military is established. The Centaurans present in the Sol system, pointing to Earth's disastrous lack of caution leading to the 2137 Human-Zangali War, decline to promise their government's military assistance.
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| 2590 A.D. |
The Il'Ri'Kamm Hive Mind, after gaining a seat in the Stellar Consortium Council, grant the OS Drive technology to the Consortium, with the caveat that a Hiver be assigned to each ship to operate the drives.
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| 2591 A.D. |
Centauran diplomats arrive in the Sol system, in response to news of the Vanguard military. Extensive debates establish Centauri as responsible for providing the Vanguard with only secondary support.
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| 2626 A.D. |
Centaurans begin using Hiver OtherSpace Drives on a limited basis, primarily for astronomy and for communication with the Consortium. Sub-light drives remain an adequate and preferred choice for most of their needs.
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| 2634 A.D. |
An OS Drive ship with a small crew led by Aslataratyxltarl takes an exploratory mission on a spiraling path, visiting a number of star systems. The inhabited ones are G'ahnlo, Castor, Demaria, Mars, and Sivad.
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| 2650 A.D. |
A small group, including two Centaurans, is captured by the Il'Ri'Kamm Hive Mind and informed that their peoples will willingly fight an unspecified enemy or be possessed by the Hivers and serve the same end. Dahanovoheanipeymeq is forced to agree that the former option is Centauri's only choice, until it meets Okaskatitch of the B'hiri. Given with the option of allying with the B'hiri, Dahan participates in the effort to rid the galaxy of the Hivers. This proves to be one of the only times in recorded Centauran history that these peaceful creatures deal with another race in a method that could be considered violent, and it ends with virtual Ri'Kammi genocide. Although such an act comes with many regrets for the Centaurans, the B'hiri assure them that it could have been no other way; the Hive Mind does not believe in negotiation. To help assuage the horror, the B'hiri provide the Centaurans with the means to produce their own OtherSpace drives, with the string attached that the Centaurans can provide that means to no other race.
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| 2650 A.D. |
Centauri develops the Facet class scout, optimized for speed and sensor strength. (Foreign designs based on Facet II models are still a respected choice for non-combat reconnaissance.)
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| 2651 A.D. |
The Consortium alliance crumbles in the wake of the Brighter Horizons scandal. When it becomes clear that the Consortium President Eduard Ocartus II and the General Volstov of the Vanguard military had engaged in the highly unethical pursuit of genetic engineering for crass and selfish purposes, the Centauran government withdraws its membership in the Stellar Consortium. They also withdrew access to OtherSpace technology, meaning that all worlds outside of Alpha Centauri have to rely on their current stock of OS Drives without any replacements from the Centaurans. Later returning its government to the Consortium, Representative Dahan is elected president of the Consortium. Despite the growing civil rights problems on Sivad after its leader Laurence Montevedo withdraws from the Consortium, the Centaurans remain strongly opposed to the Vanguard engaging in a violent attack (later termed "Operation Freedom's Flame").
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| 2651 A.D. |
A Kretonian spy steals an OtherSpace-capable shuttle from Lt. Colonel Durinde of the Vanguard, giving the Kretonians the means for FTL travel. The Kretonians establish Ungstir Prime as their new homeworld and embark on a brutal regime of conquest and enslavement. Circumventing the random lottery that Sanctuary's owner Cottington puts in place, the Centauri government carefully distributes the winning tickets of its citizens. Several thousand Centaurans move into a habitat in the Winter Dome of the colony vessel Sanctuary. The ones remaining on the homeworld, with their inhospitable planet and pacifist tendencies, are at first merely cut off from providing aid to the Consortium. Wary Kretonians begin massing forces in the Centauri system.
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| 2652 A.D. |
Kretonians, after meeting no indication of resistance and after killing a number of diplomats sent to them, begin intense orbital bombardment of Centauri in preparation for a landing. Centauri, in exchange for its lives, agrees to give up its government to the Kretonians and to not attempt psionic pressuring of the occupiers. They discover that senseless brutality disturbs Centaurans more than any sort of supposedly degrading behavior; however, the occupiers come to appreciate well-behaved slaves more than the eradication of local culture.
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| 2702 A.D. |
The Kretonians bring to Quaquan a force of carefully controlled Centaurans and direct them to begin hunting and killing Mystics. The campaign results in the death of many Mystics and Centaurans, but also of Kretonians. They quickly judge Quaquan to be not worth the trouble and abandon the effort.
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| 2806 A.D. |
Centauri begins a strong and concerted, but relatively nonviolent, attack against the Kretonians only as it becomes clear that the Nall-led rebellion will defeat the Kretonians. Rebels visiting the Centauri dissuade the residents with threats of violence from keeping the few remaining Kretonians for study.
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| 2815 A.D. |
The planetary government is re-established simultaneously with plans to exclude all potential threats from the star system. Massive arrays of defensive weaponry are constructed, particularly around Centauri, and outbound communication is cut off entirely.
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| 2820 A.D. |
Centaurans declare their territory off limits to all outsiders by explaining that any object foreign to the system will not leave it intact. A few probes later sent by foreign governments to skim the edge of the system were dramatically vaporized, thus proving the point.
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| 2845 A.D. |
A Centauran sent to Sagittarius (Il'Ri'Kamm) to investigate that planet becomes possessed by a Hiver, and then serves as a conduit for other Hivers to possess certain influential Centaurans upon its return. They control primarily scientists at the Institute and military leaders in the Crystal Path, manipulating them into creating a fleet of warships.
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| 3000 A.D. |
Sanctuary returns to the universe, but its Centauran residents are rejected by the homeworld. The battleship Mindshard and twelve destroyer-class escorts of Centauri's Crystal Path attack Sanctuary and are defeated by a multinational defensive fleet that includes the surprise addition of a Nall destroyer. The Solon Riralaxipirtalik, leader of the Centauran Freehold after the destruction of the Hiver-posessed, announces that it will provide Sanctuary with Centauran-made OtherSpace drives and that the planet will become open to all. Centauri is linked to the Castori teleportal system. Seer Arcaj opens diplomatic relations between Centauri and Mystics. Centauri becomes the first signer of the Sanctuary Declaration for mutual aid.
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| 3001 A.D. |
As the Sanctuary Declaration is written to respect the cultures of its members, Centauri provides no military support when the Lem'ing attack Demaria and Sanctuary. It does, however, provide intelligence during the attacks and repairs afterward. The Solon is assassinated by a Kamir while visiting Concordance Station. The Rite of Cycling at the Solon's funeral was the first to be seen by bipeds; the remains of those who killed themselves were used to weave a new astronomy wing for the Shalyaris Institute.
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| 3002 A.D. |
Solon Solilopaxillthrixian reaches an agreement with Admiral Mrr'lato on Ganymede. The Centauri system becomes a military protectorate of the Maltarian Empire; Centauri gains settlement rights to Callisto, the farthest planet from the white dwarf star Jupiter; and the Empire is allowed access to the Centauran Information Network.
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| 3002 A.D. |
The temporal researcher Axirpolitafix and its experimental equipment called the Moebius Device are taken from Centauri by the Thul. (The experiments are the basis for the M-Drive, a Centauran FTL propulsion system released the same year.) The device is placed on Earth and used to cause an alternate universe to intrude upon this one. Before the effect is stopped, with the aid of Axir and others, it replaces Earth, Luna, and Mars. Ungstir offers housing for residents who choose to leave Sanctuary as it goes to aid the fight against alternate-timeline Kretonians. Centaurans selected to go begin making the offered asteroid more homelike, but Ungstiri ask them to leave once the crisis is over.
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| 3003 A.D. |
Sanctary travels toward the Nexus of Kamir's multiverse gateways but is captured by the Parallax when it tresspasses on their space. When the Centaurans on board are rounded up for a speech, RNS surgeon Riamqat leads an attack on the Nall's commander, Grand Inquisitor Volari; the Nall guards kill a portion of the crowd in what the news reports as a massacre. With the aid of a friendly faction of government, Centauri tries to build a new habitat on Luna similar to the one lost when the Nall destroyed Sanctuary. This is cut short by an unexplained event in which the worlds shifted by the Moebius effect return to their original universes. (The Drakarian warship Darlath, seen to orbit Luna for the previous year, also disappears from view soon afterward.)
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| 3003 A.D. |
Centaurans aid their Maltarian allies in the construction of a weapon on Ganymede; the Maltarian Empire threatens to destabilize the Sol system with it if the Guardian Fleet does not back down from its attacks. When activated during a battle between a Sivadian-Maltarian alliance and the Consortium, weapon destroys only Ganymede, but inflicts numerous friendly casualties. The Sivadians protest the Maltarians' actions and the Centauran involvement.
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| 3003 A.D. |
A flu-like illness from the other side of the Nexus (dubbed the Nexus Curse) spreads rapidly from world to world. Its artifical nature is evidenced by the fact that the unique Centauran biology is no protection, with ten percent showing symptons. The Centauran Research Institute cooperates with the University of Castor to perform research on the Curse using the starship Menusa (research ultimately interrupted by a shuttle accident). Dara Linton and John Lind, among those crossing the Nexus aboard the Peacemaker, help develop a cure from information found on the world of Reeshaka. A power station encircling Illumination is completed.
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| 3004 A.D. |
Centauri, as part of OATO, participates in the Treaty of Sol Station, which lays to rest the warfare between Consortium and Sivad. Provisions include establishment of diplomatic offices on the station, the nonproliferation of world-destroying weapons, and declaring the entirety of the Sol system as Consortium territory. The Maltarians withdraw from the Orion Arm region without officially withdrawing from OATO. First Consul of the newly-formed Solar Republic, Darian Ellesmere, makes spurious claims that Centauri (among others) was involved in airborne attacks against the Vanguard on Mars. The teleportation network is used to rescue a small number of G'ahnli from an algae infestation, but neither this nor a Sivadian rescue mission prevents the population of Ahndar from being nearly wiped out. In the latter part of 3004, the aging FTL communications network collapses entirely. Communications are eventually restored on a local level through the cooperation of Castori, Centaurans, and Odarites. As Volari resurfaces in connection with a stolen Nall artifact containing the DNA of their prophet Nalia, the CRI announces a 3 million carat reward for delivering him to face charges for the killing of Centaurans aboard Sanctuary.
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| 3005 A.D. |
Parallax expansionism threatens to consume the worlds of the Orion Arm. Centauri issues strict rules to foreign vessels entering the system to remain within a patrolled flight corridor and refrain from active sensor sweeps. Centauri involvment in OATO military actions mainly follows traditional roles of transport and intelligence until the battle for Nalhom, in which Crystal Path warships form part of the OATO invasion fleet.
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