Golden Millennium

The Golden Millennium. A vast time period indeed. I am only able to provide here the briefest of histories, a bare overview of the most essential events to understanding. I hope my scant writings will be enough, or that another will follow in my footsteps to do what must be done.

The Golden Millennium stretched from the founding of modern civilization, to just about today relatively, when we finally are forced to face our own mortality. When the Golden Millennium began, we wept for discovery, for new understanding, and for miracles. And now, after facing its final hours, we weep for what was lost, and what we still may have to face. For while civilization has been brought low, it has not been forgotten, and it never will be so long as historians still write to remember the past.

## Beginning

The start of the Golden Millennium was marked by the unification of human civilization. Following the fifth great war of Afro-Eurasia, in which the population of the world had been decimated many times over, soldiers and generals threw down their arms and refused to continue to fight. This event would mark the founding of the two great religious powers which ushered civilization into space: the Calanthites and the Nymphaeaceans. The unification of humanity into these blocs facilitated development in ways never seen before, allowing humans not only to understand their own planet completely, leading to the discovery of the Cystarians, but also to expand into space, and across the galaxy.

## Height

The height of the Golden Millenium was marked by incredible expansion and discovery. Cystarians and Humans, working together, were finally able to reach beyond Earth. New bastions of civilization were formed, on habitable and hostile planets alike, and with this expansion, came innovation. Leaps in technology were made with explosions in biotechnology leading to FTL travel, new weaponry, biological modifications, and more. Discoveries of new elements and alloys abounded, with optarian metal being one of the most prominent. New organisms such as "Gweedo" established the potential for life outside of Earth, and the opening of the vaults of Xyssl, introduced humanity to the esoteric.

And yet, with all the discovery, came new fears. Pirates and raiders saw a resurgence in numbers never imagined, and slavery reigned in production once again. New planets brought with them new challenges, such as the doom, and the discovery of the esoteric brought new terrors. Drip caused immeasurable death and destruction, and the bioesoteric modules of the Darwinists have killed princes and crippled the sciences.

Throughout the Golden Millennium, civilization evolved far beyond what it ever had been before. First creating new outposts across the solar system, settling moons and planets, and then expanding beyond to other systems. As civilization expanded far beyond the reaches it ever could on a single planet, the relevance of the religious powers of Earth waned. While still incredibly influential through scientific and technological development, the unity which was a hallmark of the 2 groups faded, and states once again took control of land, claiming planets and moons. One of the Most significant of these was the founding of the Second Outer Solar Empire. Despite being a constituent of the Nymphaeaceaens, it operated largely independently. Even in the height of the era, when civilization flourished and discoveries were plenty, the beginning of the end loomed.

## Decline Period

The establishment of states was ultimately causes by a geographic boundary that was not artificial. Unlike borders between nations, which can be arbitrary, a planet has a defined size. It was only natural for divisions to occur again, with disjointed rule across planets and systems bringing kingdoms and empires back from the past. Finally, the death knell of the era was sounded with the fragmentation. The Calanthites shattered, focus on religion long lost after centuries of importance. The unity of civilization was no more, with groups splitting into scientific or ideological clusters, such as the Altitudinarians, or states, such as the Second Outer Solar Empire. With this, war began again, and in greater force than it ever existed on Earth. Now, planets of billions wage wars. The start of the Remembrance, the First Galactic war marked the end of the Golden Millennium. Planets fall, and civilization is once again split, unfocused. We can only pray for new unity in the future.