Editing Timeline (Polesia) (section)

=Prehistory=



==The Creation of the Universe and Polesia==

'''The Time Before Time:''' The Great Convulsion causes a vast release of arcane and divine energy from which arises the Primal Chaos, personified by the first of the Outer Gods, Azathoth, the Progenitor of Entropy and Destruction. The whole of the Cosmos seethes under Its sway until there came the Song of the Spheres and Azathoth settles into a dreamlike state. As a result the Primal Chaos abates and from the settling energies there arises another Outer God, Yog-Sothoth, the Progenitor of Time and Dimension, and there was change to endless static existence. Planets and stars are formed and (due to the entropic energies continuously released by Azathoth even in his sleep) destroyed. As time begins to slowly pass, more of the leftover divine energy begins to coalesce and from this is born the third Outer God, Shub-Niggurath, the Progenitor of Life and Struggle, and from the flowing energy released from dying stars, great clouds of gas, and minerals of the planets come the first forms of life.


'''-4,000,000,000 CA:''' Polesia, then a harsh volcanic world on which modern life could not survive, is struck by another planetoid, Certa and the resulting collision knocks Polesia to its present orbit around the sun. The two worlds are partially shattered but reform after several eons as Polesia and Lunara (the world and the moon). Due to new elements introduced by Certa and a slightly further orbit from the sun, Polesia begins to cool, liquid water forms on its surface, and oxygen begins to permeate the atmosphere.


==The Origins of Life==


'''-1,000,000,000 CA:''' Polesia, at this stage, is a planet almost ready for life, but before Shub-Niggurath could seed it, something from the stars descends to explore this now blue planet. Creatures known remotely today only as the Elder Things start building colonies across Polesia, and begin experimenting on single celled organisms brought with them from their home world. From these they create the shoggoths and use these creatures as slaves. Despite employed control factors some of the single celled organisms escape and begin to adapt to the atmosphere and thrived on their own, becoming the forerunners of modern life. The shoggoths also evolve, and develop a primitive intelligence and in time rebel against their creators and decimate many of their colonies. The Elder Things partially quell the rebellion but many shoggoths remain rogue and the Elder Things withdraw to their cities, adopting a more observational role. 


'''-530,000,000 CA:''' As it journeys endlessly through the long dark of space, Shub-Niggurath passes close to Polesia and spores from Its body descend through the atmosphere into the oceans. These simple forms of life begin competing with each other and the single celled organisms brought by the Elder Things, triggering a competitive evolution that leads to multicellular life in the form of arthropods, fish, and eventually amphibians. Some shoggoths remain on Polesia as well as the remaining and virtually immortal Elder Things but neither of them greatly impact these new forms of life as they expanded uncontested through the oceans and onto land.


'''-250,000,000 CA''': Amphibians and arthropods begin claiming vast territories on land, which at this time is mostly swampy forests of enormous ferns. In time insects and reptiles also appear and move ever further from the water, creating life that does not depend on the sea. The continents drift together to form the Omniterra, through which spreads massive deserts unmatched from that time to this. 


'''-230,000,000 CA:''' A splinter group of reptiles begin developing the ability to manage their body temperature and start to grow hair, evolving to become the forerunners for future mammals and birds. Some also develop unique hipbones and could walk upright, becoming the first dinosaurs. The Elder Things were at this time more interested in watching the evolutionary progression of life on Polesia and shoggoths roamed only the remotest and most inhospitable parts of the world, leaving no intelligent life to guide the direction of these new marvels.


'''-150,000,000 CA:''' The Omniterra begin to drift apart creating new seas and ending the vast deserts. The first true mammals begin to evolve and dinosaurs begin dominated the earth alongside great reptiles that lived in the sky and the sea. 


'''-70,000,000 CA:''' For the first time plants achieve a simple intelligence and began to evolve into a sentient mobile race, forming primitive communities among the thriving jungles and challenged even the dinosaurs for supremacy. In time they evolve into a new and unique classification of creature that has not been seen on Polesia before or since. During the time the earth is visited yet again from the stars. Great Cthulhu and its children descend and build the Nightmare City of R’lyeh  and from there they rule the world (along with most of the known galaxy), spreading great monstrosities into the oceans and even upon the continents. Some of the Elder Things rise up in response to this incursion but they are too few and too weak to stem the invasion and after some devastating losses, they make treaties with the star spawn and return to their now established role as observers.

==Cthulhu Cometh==


'''-68,000,000 CA:''' The stars shift ever so slightly, as the cosmic cycle marched onward. Cthulhu and its star spawn, subject to this event, go into a hibernation-like state, preserved by powerful magic in the Nightmare City. They leave Polesia to the stewardship of their servants, the aboleths and illithids. The illithids are charged with the swampy coasts and lush jungles, and the aboleths with the oceans. Left to their own devices, both races begin a terrible war with each other and the remaining Elder Things that lasted for centuries before being ended by a delicate truce. They take to the stars and established colonies on other worlds, using slave armies of primitive off world races to spread and invade even more worlds, leaving a large colony on Polesia to safeguard the Nightmare City. In time they conquer most of the galaxy that had been dominated by the Great Old Ones. The only obstacles standing in their way are the Great Race of Yith and the creatures known today only as the Mi-Go. These races form a temporary alliance and halt illithid expansion and drove them back, yet even so a quarter of the galaxy stays under their dominion.


==Interlopers and an End to the First Empires==


'''-66,000,000 CA:''' The Great Race of Yith, facing annihilation as a comet collided with their world transfers their minds into the primitive plant creatures that evolved amidst Polesia’s jungles. The illithids and aboleths are disturbed by this event but move too slowly to counter it. Striking their enemies at the heart of their empire, the Yithians nearly cripple the illithid forces on Polesia and drive the aboleths from the land. At the same time the illithids are dealing with a threat from within their own forces as well. Their main slave stock, an offworld group of humanoids called the Gith, take the opportunity to rise against their masters, and spark a revolution across their empire. Beleaguered from three sides the illithids on Polesia fall back again and again, until the yithians are the dominant species. The fate of the off world illithid and aboleth colonies is unknown, though it is likely that huge pockets of illithid and aboleth life still exist out amongst the stars.


'''-65,000,000 CA:''' Another race descends upon Polesia from the stars. Known only as the flying polyps, these monstrous creatures fight the illithids, yithians, and even the elder things for control and nearly annihilated all three species until the yithians somehow sealed them beneath the planet's surface. It is merely a stalling tactic but it gives the three species enough time to escape the wrath of the polyps. By the time they emerge the Great Race has again migrated, this time far into Polesia’s future, the illithids displaced their last city so that it was slightly out of sync with reality, and the elder things have gone mostly into stasis to wait the crisis out. The polyps spread quickly and become the masters of Polesia, unopposed by any. However their reign is relatively short lived. Sometime later the asteroid containing the Obelisk crashes into what is now the southeastern coast of Antanides, causing destruction for hundreds of miles and the death of countless plants and animals and killed off many of the polyps. Those that survive do so by retreating underground and were lost to history. The chain reactions of this event also kill off a large portion of life on Polesia, dinosaurs for the most part die out, as do most of the larger reptiles, leaving behind the mammals to take over.

==Recovery==


'''-30,000,000 CA:''' As the world recovers from the devastation of the asteroid, new life rises to fill the void left by the mass extinction. Terror birds roam the vast grasslands and for a time they are the dominant predators while mammals continue to evolve and thrive. The first whales evolve from water dwelling mammals, birds evolve the ability to fly, and mammals on land starte competing with the terror birds for dominance, driving many varieties to extinction.


'''-10,000,000 CA:''' Aboleth mages excavate the Obelisk from where it has been entombed at the bottom of the ocean and start experimenting with its regenerative powers. It is with the aid of this powerful artifact that some of their creations (such as cloakers, intelligent deep ones, boggards, and darkmantels) come into existence. These creatures are naturally subservient to the Obelisk's will at first, however the aboleths are able to modify their creatures using their mental abilities, so that they are subservient to them instead. There are a few isolated incidents where aboleths themselves became enthralled by the Obelisk's power, but these rare cases are quickly dealt with and the corruption was kept in check. It is from long buried aboleth writings from which all current information on the Obelisk originates.


'''-9,000,500 CA:''' In a great tragedy (of which no records survive), Uthl-ngru, the city in which the Obelisk is contained, disappears. While the aboleths seem to know the details, they will not speak of it to outsiders. The Obelisk for all intents and purposes appeared to vanish for a time.


==Age of the Serpents==


'''-3,000,000 CA:''' A few of the surviving reptiles continued to evolve, and several varieties gained intelligence and became the forerunners of the serpent people and dragons. New mammals continued to arise, including one group of tree dwellers with opposable thumbs, the first primates. Dragons taped deeply into the core of the world and are transfigured into living engines of arcane power unmatched by any mortal creature before or since. The serpent folk in turn developed the first magical disciplines, much of which was learned through study of the natural forces, some of which was gleaned in ancient basalt carvings left by the yithians, and even a few tablets that survived the drowning of R’lyeh. The two races balanced each other, for while dragons were far more powerful individually, the serpent folk were more numerous and far more disciplined, and while there were terrible wars fought between the two they more or less left each other to their own devices.


'''-2,000,800 to -2,000,650 CA:''' Strange formless creatures known today only as arcanaplasms began incursions into serpent-folk territory. For centuries the two races fought a bloody war that costs countless lives. Then just as unexpectedly as their arrival the arcanaplasms simply vanished. The serpent-folk never discovered their origins or where they went, though some theorized that the creatures followed some unknown cycle or might have been driven up from the depths of the planet seeking more magic to feed on.


'''-2,000,000 CA:''' For the first time rudimentary sentience began to form in mammals, fascinating the serpent folk who dissect many to see if this budding species might have potential. Across the world mammals were beginning to cement their hold as the dominant animal class on Polesia, especially the hominid species which began to show rapid development to the astonishment of the serpent folk whose own evolution took nearly ten times as long.  It was later theorized that this rapid evolution was a result of the serpent people’s experiments and interference. Despite this fact the serpent folk did little more than continue their studies, not seeing these species as anything that could threaten them as their civilization had reached its peak. For the next million years, they were correct in this assumption.


'''-1,500,000 CA:''' A serpent folk expedition uncovered the Obelisk, buried in the an island somewhere between present day southeastern Antanides and Dhumarja. Like the aboleths they sought to use its power. For a time they learn from it much about the genetic structure of all living creatures and they create new varieties of creatures, some of which still survive to this day. However, unlike the aboleths, their resistance to the Obelisk's call was short lived and within a century it managed to spark dissent among them. Ksshethesh, the city in which it is contained, was almost completely destroyed and its inhabitants are turned into aberrants. The serpent folk nations raised Ksshethesh to the ground and their priests managed to counter the Obelisk's awesome power, quieting it for a time while they displaced it back into the ocean.


'''-1,000,000 CA:''' The upright walking apes, now dubbed homo primus by modern historians or Dawn People, began to develop complex communal bonds, very similar to that of the serpent folk. Even many wild specimens without training or prompting from their saurian betters evolved primitive societies. Some of them were influenced by escaped specimens that interbred and jacked up their development several notches, introducing rudimentary art, language, and eventually spiritual awareness that sparked a competing civilization seemingly overnight in comparison to their predecessors. The serpent folk began to grow concerned seeing that these inferior apes were growing out of their control and some groups began eradication programs to stem their spread across Polesia (accept in the far north where the climate was fatal, leaving homo primus there undisturbed, though the very climate and predators there would test them in other ways). However, this eventually backfired and started pressuring the hominids to evolve all the faster and different species began to flourish.


==Rise of the Apes==


'''-300,000 CA:''' As Polesia’s climate continued to cool, it drove the serpent folk to migrate south, butting them right up against the hominid claimed territories. This sparked the first true conflict between the two species, one that went disastrously for the serpent folk. Homo primus had adapted to the various environments they found themselves in and many now wielded knowledge stolen from their former masters, and they outnumbered the serpent folk many times over. While their losses were catastrophic the species easily shirked such a blow and continued to multiply to the astonishment of the serpent folk. 


'''-200,500 CA:''' The final stroke was dealt to the serpent folk as a species when the Dawn People began showing further signs of development and civilization, with families encountering each other and forging alliances that resulted in larger tribes. While the tribes still fight each other, many understand that the serpent folk are a more pressing threat, primitive as they are, and the serpent folk began to fall more and more frequently than not to coordinated raids and ambushes. The climate was also against the serpent folk making resources harder and harder to come by and in time their species as a whole is broken, leaving few survivors who fled far from these hairless apes, living out their lives in remote caves or going into a magical hibernation, hoping that worsening conditions would eventually undo their foes.


'''-155,100 CA:''' Without the oppression of the Serpentfolk to stifle them the Dawn People,spread across the world as they searched for food and resources to survive. Some of them went into the then forested region of central Antanides and interbred with more feral ape men, creating a new hybrid race known to scholars as homo sylvanus (these were the earliest forebears to [[Polesian Elves|elves]]), another group went to the mountains and after years of interbreeding became homo terra (the earliest form of modern [[Dwarves in Polesia | dwarves]]). Yet another group stayed in modern Zumwalla and became homo sapiens([[Humans in Polesia|humans]]). At the same time the Dawn People of the north continued to develop and in time became the [[Neanderthals in Polesia|Neanderthals]]. 


==The Spreading Out and Reunion of the Humanoids==


'''-75,000 CA:''' Homo sapiens spread out across modern day Zumwalla and many went as far east as modern day Asashiro as well as far into the north where they encountered other hominids. However, during this time it is homo sylvanus arguably held dominance in Antanides, creating the first recognizable nations while their contemporaries were still wandering in tribal bands. Their mastery over magic, once only simple mimicry of ancient serpent folk disciplines, was unparalleled and they bent the great forests to their will and learned to call on the gods themselves for power.


'''-40,000 CA:''' As Homo sapiens began spreading out to find food and resources they encountered homo sylvansus and began competing for territory. The elven forebears won these conflicts more often than not and either subjugated their competitors or forced them northward where they in turn contended with neanderthals against which they were more successful. As a result neanderthals were either interbred with homo sapiens or were displaced even further north. In this frozen hell the hominids were pressed to the edge of survival, forsaking much of their gained brainpower for physical strength and endurance. This leads to a division among the variety which becomes the first forerunners to [[Orcs in Polesia|orcs]], goblinoids, ogres and giants (later interaction with developing homo sylvanus will bring trolls into being).