A Timeline of Snaiad

Snaiad is an old world, almost twice as old as our own. Entire histories of life lie buried inside its timeless strata, completely unlike any progression our world has ever known. For its human inhabitants, however, Snaiad is also a very young world. Scarcely three hundred years separate their initial landing and their newfound peace in those precious few cities. Theirs is a fresh existence, as scary as it can be exciting when facing an unwritten future. It seems that for most Snaiadi citizens, their planet's vast natural history acts as a replacement for their instantaneous and chaotic past. Follow the years as they flow by...


8 billion years ago:
The planet consolidates, first traces of life found.

5 billion years ago:
First multi-cellular life forms appear in the fossil record.

5-4 billion years ago:
Poorly understood radiation of complex life forms, followed by an apparent mass extinction.

4-2 billion years ago:
Vast groups of poorly understood, complex “plants” and “animals diversify and die out, leaving frustratingly incomplete fossil remains. The “Second Occupants” of Snaiad.

3.2 billion years ago ?
Tentative date of the infamous “Dosadi Screws”; metallic artifacts of an apparently artificial nature.

1.75 billion years ago:
A tremendous cataclysm effectively “resets” life back to pond-scum level. The causes of this event are still not properly understood. The origin of modern plants and certain animal groups such as the Arthrognathans.

1.75-1 billion years ago:
Rampant diversification of animal groups, the ancestors of almost every modern animal phylum develop. Terrestrial Arthrognathans and Red Plant-Animals dominate on land and the seas. Ancestors of modern “Vertebrates” resemble sea cucumbers.

975 million years ago:
Mass extinctions wipe out terrestrial Arthrognathans. Rampant Red Plant-Animals (Erythrophytozoans) and Mollusk-like Mullojiforms are the chief groups of land animals. Modern Trikes (Trilateralans) evolve. The line leading to modern “Vertebrates” invades land with the assistance of plant symbiotes.

975-760 million years ago:
Mass extinction of complex Erythrophytozoans and some Mullojiforms. The ancestors of “Vetrebrates” break out in a radiation of plant-animal symbiotes and colonial forms. A radiation of underwater Arthrognathans results in the first ancestors of Sea Snakes and relatives. First flying Trilateralans.

760-600 million years ago:
Gradual extinction of plant-symbiotes on the line leading to today’s “Vertebrates.” Increasingly terrestrial “Vertebrate” ancestors now resemble soft worms with two heads and multitudes of hydraulic legs. Terrestrial megafaunal niches dominated by a second wave of active, intelligent post-Mullojiforms. Elastozoans and terrestrial Trilateralans diversify.

600-450 million years ago:
Post-Mullojiforms gradually lose dominance and are finished off by a mass extinction 490 million years ago. Terrestrial “Vertebrates” undergo a spurt of evolution; hydraulic/filamentous muscle systems developed, first hints of bone-like structures and fully terrestrial reproductive systems. “Vertebrate” animals evolve numerous six-and-eight legged forms, some of which return to the water.

452 million years ago:
Eotetrapus, the first known Polydactyl-like “Vertebrate” with four legs and two heads.

450-250 million years ago:
Gradual extinction of eight-legged “Vertebrate” cousins. Six-legged Hexapod “vertebrates” achieve dominance on land and briefly evolve flight. In due time, they too begin to die out from competition by their modern, four-legged cousins. Advanced flying Trilateralans evolve, some reach huge sizes.

250-183 million years ago:
Modern “Vertebrates” with four legs, two heads and hydraulic muscles diversify and dominate most terrestrial ecosystems. Most of them, however, belong to archaic lineages such as Archaeognaths, Tridactyls, Tetradactyls and Polydactyls. Continents approach present positions. Rampant Hexapods still hold out in Oroland, then an island continent.

183 million years ago:
Mass extinctions claim many Archaeognath, Tridactyl and Polydactyl species. Tetradactyls are wiped out, Hexapods almost so. Evolution of Spinostomes and Lophophids. The continent of Thalassia forms after an orgy of mid-ocean volcanism. Declining forests of giant trees give rise to first pinnacle ranges.

183-80 million years ago:
Spinostomes and a second radiation of Polydactyls dominate most ecosystems. First Jetocete-like animals develop. Most “Vertebrate” herbivores still lack well-developed food processing systems. Arthrognathans diversify underwater, one group launches a second invasion of land almost 800 million years after terrestrial Arthrognathans die out. Poorly-understood “vertebrate” groups colonize Thalassia, the origin of Monoanticherans, Titans and Tromobrachids. Sproglands expand over mainland continents. Indigenous tetrapod “Vertebrates” replace Hexapods on Oroland, still an island.

80-40 million years ago:
Many modern “vertebrate” lineages, including advanced herbivores, evolve. The final flowering of advanced Spinostomes on mainland continents is followed closely by their rapid decimation in the face of new competition.

40-30 million years ago:
Mysterious “stone axer” artifacts are found in many fossil deposits, but no clues are currently known about their origin. Common ancestor of Kahydroniformes and Fututors evolve. First advanced herbivores with massive, chewing and grinding second heads.

30 million years ago-recent times:
Massive expansion of advanced predatory and herbivorous lineages results in the extinction of many archaic “Vertebrate” forms. Oroland collides with mainland continents, Midland and Aar separated by shallow seas, faunal exchanges take place.

Today:
You are reading Snaiad.

Until 200 years later:
Widespread civil unrest and resource conflicts shake up Earth. First bomb-driven interstellar spaceships. Tremendous advances in biotechnology, nanotechnology and metallurgy as by-products of warfare. First traces of life detected in extrasolar planets.

200-250 years later:
Period of fresh economic and social development follows the years of conflict. Bases established on the Moon and Mars. America launches first colony mission to an extrasolar planet. Other countries follow suit, some missions end in disaster. Snaiad discovered by human telescopes.

250-433 years later:
First extrasolar colonies take hold, resulting in a renewed wave of colonization efforts. First feasible suspended animation and nanomanufacturing techniques replace generation ships. Inheritors of today’s Turkey, Greece, Cyprus and Israel unite to launch the Snaiad colony mission. First probes to the planet are followed by the initial cargo of Sleepers. Awakened Sleepers break out the ova and sperm to “build” the Firstborn using nanotechnology.

433-533 years later:
Hectic efforts at settlement and colonization are complicated by widespread madness and depression among the machine-made Firstborn generation. Surviving Sleepers intervene; invent the first Snaiadi religions as a means of social control. Birth of Dicephalism, Nerdism, Jethjanism, Neo-Sabbatean sects and Snaiadi animal worship. The first naturally conceived generation is born on Snaiadi soil. “Arbophobe Wars” take place against local fauna. Advanced nanotechnology is used for “miracle” construction of cities and nanorail. The famous episode of Moiz Mavrokordatos; Influential Sleeper nanotechnologist secedes from the government of cities around the Neomediterranean, changes name to Sabbatai Sevi and claims to be the “Snaiadi Messiah.” Several thousand people, mostly Firstborn, follow him.

533-550 years later:
Political crisis between the cult of Moiz Mavrokordatos and the rest of Snaiadi colonists regarding the use of advanced nanotech. Mavrokordatos and followers grow a new city, “Memograd” in remote Notor, begin construction of starship fleet and weapons with the expressed aim of “reaching the stars” and “invading Earth.” A short “war” between the Mavrokordites and the Neomediterranean cities destroys the starship fleet and ends the rebellion, “only” 84 people die. “Sabbatai Sevi” disappears.

550 years later:
The Burning of the Ships; knowledge and remains of advanced nanotech and starship systems are ritually destroyed, in order to prevent Sabbatai Sevi-style outbreaks of mania in the future. Remaining lo-fi nanotech is used primarily for making food, zero-footprint mining and medicine. Life standards on Snaiad greatly improve, social unrest dies down. Population of planet stable at 15 million souls, average lifespan reaches 250 years. A “Sublime Elite” of Sleepers, still alive thanks to now-forbidden nanotech immortality, silently dictates population control and environmental management policies in order to avoid repeating “the mistakes of Earth.”

 

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All artwork, concepts and names associated with this project belong to C. M. Kosemen, unless otherwise stated.