“History of the Aniverse, Part 1”

By Dennis Rowarr


This history has been approved by the United Animals Coalition and the 
worlds of Aldebaran and Atlantis


INTRODUCTION

This history has been set out to simply give detail on the history of 
the Aniverse from the dawn of all animal kind to more recent events, 
which have been left out as they hold no relevancy to this particular 
history.


Each chapter covers one point in the history of the Aniverse that is 
focussed upon in detail, and each volume of history will cover four 
parts of the full history of the Aniverse until the full history is 
finally complete.


CHAPTER ONE: THE DAWN OF TIME

It is still not entirely sure how the Aniverse began. All races from 
the different galaxies have their own opinion; whether it was the Great 
Mother who created matter from thin air, to a cosmic explosion that 
formed the complete Aniverse in it's aftermath.


Whatever the cause, it is quite clear that the formation of the planets 
in the various galaxies had varied times in secular cooling, and so the 
emergence of life took longer on some worlds than on others. For 
example, the earliest neolithic finds on Aldebaran were dated to 1,000 
BGM (Before the Great Mother), by which time Canis II had entered it's 
Dark Age.


The earliest known life in the Aniverse, at least according to the 
prehistorian Rowan Sheridan, was the Elephant on Elephas Beta. 
According to Sheridan in his work "Where did it all Begin?", the 
fossils of underdeveloped Mammoths found at Manus Loca in the country 
of Denns are dated to roughly 300,000 BGM, nearly 150,000 years before 
life even spurted on any of the other planets.


Most of the inner planets, especially worlds like Warren and Rigel III, 
were still barren and rugged. There have been signs found by 
archaeologists that the mountainous region of Conicuss on Warren had 
once been an area of severe volcanic activity not unlike the famed 
planet Mirana, the so-called "Planet of Fire". Whatever planet these 
strange cavemammals once dwelled on, it is quite clear how they lived.


At Antrum on Canis II, a large cave was unearthed during a tunnel 
construction for a new sewage system. The cave, which would have been 
in open country many years ago, was filled with skeletons and early 
equipment from the late Bronze Age. Sites like this have been found all 
over the Aniverse, and from finds such as this, it has been shown that 
cave-dwelling was the most common form of accomodation for these 
primitive inhabitants.


However, whilst such primitive conditions and dwellings my appear 
slightly humourous, our ancestors were not entirely lacking in 
intellect. Aldebaran, for example, had begun studying astronomy with 
early star charts and instruments even whilst their race had begun to 
understand fire. And on Atlantis, gunpowder appears to have been 
discovered in 2,000 BGM, and the discovery of fire alongside it allowed 
the Atlanteans to develop some of the earliest firearms known to 
creation.


Drew Horton, Professor of Prehistory at the Graham Institute, has 
kindly given us a detailed account of how quickly the races of the 
Aniverse advanced in his book "The Cavemammals: Primitives or 
Pioneers?". In this book, he notes how Rigel V had discovered the 
advantage of armour by about 5,000 BGM, following the discovery of a 
suit-of-armour made from thick tree-bark that had been buried in a 
large grave on the planet. Horton then goes on to mention what he calls 
"the Medical Revolution" on Kanopis III, when the link between dirty 
water and disease eventually led to greater research in medicine and 
health.


It also appears to be at the turning-point between the late Bronze Age 
and early Classical period that the first forms of spacecraft first 
appeared. These first spacecraft were primitive "space shuttles", which 
could carry a maximum of six people at a time, but their copper hulls 
meant that they could burn up easily, and so surviving examples like 
the ones at Navis Peak on Nharnia had cloth insulators that could carry 
these early craft to the planet's moon before installing new insulators 
to avoid fire. Where these ships first originated is unknown, but 
despite the unusual designs of these craft, they soon helped to inspire 
interplanetary travel early on into the Aniverse's history.


All across the Aniverse, these advances appeared rapidly, and as time 
passed, more inventions were created that benefitted these worlds. 
However, it would not be long before a sole power tried to put all of 
these discoveries to their advantage.


CHAPTER TWO: THE CLASSICAL PERIOD

It is here where literary sources first appeared following the rapid 
development of writing, and so history from here onwards is no longer a 
guessing game.


Perhaps the biggest intrigue to historians is the mystery behind the 
power of the planet Aegyptus, a world now almost entirely devoid of 
life except for a few squatters. It is on this world that we owe most 
of our knowledge today. Whilst other worlds were still experimenting 
with copper spaceships, the Aegyptians, who have shared their knowledge 
through hieroglyphics at temples like Nolybab and Astlab Let, had 
perfected a means of using fossil fuels for space travel whilst relying 
on renewable wind-energy for travel across their world.


The Aegyptians worshipped more than 42 deities, all of whom appear to 
be based on various heroes of myth and legend from other worlds. 
Perhaps outsiders who aided the Aegyptians were deified after death, or 
their offerings of help were seen as a sign from the Gods. Whatever the 
reason, the now-ruined temples lie across the planet's surface, 
speaking of horrible curses that await any who dare to desocrate their 
walls. Following the mysterious death of Aegyptologist Prof. Ludwig 
Roper after discovering the temple at Nalybob in 1929 AGM (After the 
Great Mother), it appears that these curses should be treated with a 
little more seriousness.


The power of Aegyptus is still very much a mystery. The planet reached 
it's zenith in c.3,200 BGM, and finally collapsed in 323 BGM following 
a space-plague that appears to have affected much of the planet. 
Whatever the reason, the planet still remains a mystery today, and 
archaeologists still probe the surface to try and piece together the 
puzzle the Aegyptians left us.


But as Aegyptus studied and experimented in all kinds of science, 
trouble appeared to be brewing on the other side of the Aniverse. The 
contemporary writer Squirrecles, a military reporter from Narnox, 
collected his military findings and reports together for posterity in 
his "The Conquest", first compiled c.450 BGM. These writings tell us of 
a large force known as the Phrasians, a race of warrior lizards who 
commanded a large slave empire stretching from it's home in Phrasus IX 
and onwards into the neighbouring planets, aided by the primitive and 
crude "space shuttles" of the day (one Phrasian example of which 
survives partially intact at Hutton Soo on Narnox).


The Phrasians were led by a form of tyrant whose position was solely 
hereditary. Under the first-recorded tyrant, Raddus I, the Phrasians 
had overwhelmed Narnox and were now attempting an attack on Proxemis 
IV, home of the Tigers. The Phrasians, with only a small force, landed 
in the country of Marathon in 490 BGM, but stood no chance against the 
Tigers, who fought the Phrasians back as far as Narnox. Squirrecles 
gives the death toll as 920 Phrasians, 305 Tigers, and considering how 
precise these numbers are, as well as Squirrecles' position, there's 
very little means of counter-arguing this.


The Tigers were victorious at Marathon, and rallied nearby planets to 
build up their forces against the Phrasians, who now squeezed their 
colonial citizens dry building up an enormous fleet to conquer that 
part of the Aniverse. Raddus I had since died following his agonising 
defeat, and now Serstes, his son, took command. Serstes, according to 
Squirrecles, "was far more headstrung than his father, and far more 
tyrannical. It is said he once stabbed a man in the eye for giving him 
an icy look, and that he cut out another man's tongue for disagreeing 
with him..."


Whilst the Tigers rallied the other planets to join them, the Phrasians 
found themselves at difficulty when the Gulf of Pylas in what is now 
Sector 35 was blocked by a force of 300 ships from Rigel II. Even when 
these 300 ships had bravely fought to the last stand, the Phrasians 
suffered appalling defeats at the hands of the Tigers, and soon 
withdrew.


Unfortunately, Squirrecles died in 449 BGM, and so our source is now 
Toothydides, the oligarchic writer of "The Pylasian War". From 449 
onwards, as Phrasian power slowly crumbled to pieces as the colonies 
rose in revolt, Proxemis IV took advantage of this and began to take 
control of the revolting provinces, establishing their own power and 
brutally putting down those who resisted. Any who did would have the 
entire male population massacred, the women and children sold into 
slavery, and a heavy tribute installed. This is confirmed by the 
contemporary playwright Annastophenes, in his comic play "The Hornets":


PROKROAN: Why, Kroan himself would not dare to tax the Tigers who were 
so victorious at Marathon, lest he defiles their heroic status!


ANTIKROAN: No, instead he taxes the subject cities who slave for them.


Such actions appeared to outrage the allies from the Phrasian Wars, and 
by 431 BGM, Rigel II declared war on Proxemis IV, triggering the 
Pylasian War that would last until 404 BGM, when Proxemis IV faced 
total defeat. The war was fought largely as small skirmishes by either 
side, from the Siege of Proxemis I (427 BGM) to the Battle of Cape 
Megaton (406 BGM), both of which were small battles whose significance 
is sadly only minor in the scope of all things. The only interruption 
was a brief armistice during the Plague of Proxemis in 430 BGM, a 
surprise outbreak of Bubonic Plague on the planet that forced the 
Tigers to call a brief truce whilst they recovered. It was during the 
Plague that Purrikles, the prominent politician responsible for 
building up the power of Proxemis II, perished from the Plague itself.


As they had done with their provincials, the entire male population of 
Proxemis IV was massacred, and the women and children sold into 
slavery. The planet was left for dead, but the slaves eventually were 
either freed or left behind a new generation who returned to their 
homeworld and resurrected it from the ruins of the past.


In 300 BGM, when the writer Tailitus began his "The Annals of Imperial 
Canis", a new power had emerged. Canis I had taken control as the 
leading superpower, and The Galactic Empire, established under Emperor 
Alsatian in 14 AGM, began to spread across the Aniverse.


Unlike the Phrasians, the Canisians were not as bloodthirsty as they 
were xenophobic. By 112 AGM, under Houndrian (who reigned from 110 to 
147 AGM), the Empire stretched as far north of the Aniversial charts as 
Warren, and as far south as Proxemis VII. The Canisians lived in 
luxury, employing provincials to provide hard labour, which they would 
be rewarded with by granting citizenship after 20 years service. In 
some rare cases, provincials would be rewarded with freedom, such as 
the case with the slave Howlgist Podd, a slave on the Imperial estate 
who supposedly saved the life of the Emperor Houndrian from an assassin 
during the night.


The empire was manned by several legions, who were transported across 
the empire in specially constructed spacecraft that could carry 50,000 
soldiers at a time. Provincials who did not work as slaves could also 
be recruited into the auxiliary units of the Imperial forces. Finds at 
the Warren Museum and the Genus Museum of Natural History have remains 
of their surviving uniforms on display, preserved thankfully due to the 
right atmospheric conditions on certain worlds that have helped to 
preserve their metallic structure.


Under the various emperors, the empire continued to expand, and as more 
lands were taken, the greater the profit for Canis I. Provincial 
citizens were provided with jobs and housing, as well as public health 
and good food, but these commodities were expensive, and as such, the 
provinces were rarely free from taxation. The economist Grabo, whose 
works on Imperial Finance are of great use to us, complains how most of 
the provincial planets do not generate enough income to be kept under 
Imperial rule, and that trade would be of greater benefit to the 
economy then enslavement.


Financial problems with the provinces also gave rise to revolts. In 60 
AGM, the Emperor Shiro (The "S" is silent) recalled a loan of 400,000 
Canisian dollars (the equivalent of 1,680,000 simoleons) from the 
Zuccini tribe on Warren, but the troops who had been sent to collect 
the loan mistreated the Zuccini, raping the daughters of Queen Doubikka 
and enslaving some of the tribal nobles. In Tailitus' "Annals", the 
full story is given. Along with several other tribes, The Zuccini 
attacked three countries under Imperial rule, destroying them and 
wiping out the Canisians settled there. It was only at a long battle at 
an unknown location that the situation died down.


Hearing of Doubikka's revolt, other planets also revolted. Noctur II 
revolted under their leader Kaizarre in 90 AGM, leading to the most 
humiliating defeat for the Canisians, with two entire legions 
completely slaughtered. The province of Noctur III, one of the first to 
be conquered by the Canisians, revolted under several chieftains 
between 100 and 200 AGM, all of whom were brutally executed. Even when 
the Canisians relaxed their iron fist and began to treat the natives 
more gently, the Doubikkan revolt had triggered a shockwave of attacks 
against the Canisians that would eat away at the Galactic Empire until 
it finally collapsed in 476 AGM.


CHAPTER THREE: THE DARK AGE

Following the Glorious War of 376 - 382 AGM, in which the armies of the 
Alpha Quadrant led several victories over the Canisians, the legions 
began to withdraw from planet after planet until eventually, Canis I 
itself was finally plundered, and the Galactic Empire finally 
collapsed. The Empire had no successors, and without the Empire, the 
entire Aniverse was almost thrown into disarray as a result.


The sudden departure of the Canisians had left much of the former 
Empire in turmoil. None of the colonies had a self-governing system, 
and their economy had relied on the Imperial economy for generations. 
And now that they were exposed to rebel attack without any defence, 
each individual planet entered a period of isolationism, cutting one 
another off as they slowly rebuilt their societies and restore their 
homeworlds to a point that they could be self-governing. Because of the 
melancholic times of this period, the term "Dark Age" appears to be the 
most appropriate.


A factor that did not benefit any of these once prosperous worlds was 
the arrival of the Dark Sabbath movement in 942 AGM (not to be confused 
with the modern Black Sabbath movement, which holds similar ideals). 
This neo-pagan satanist cult, which gripped to the worlds like a 
disease, looted every city and town in the Aniverse, robbing it of all 
the knowledge and wisdom handed down over the centuries, and slyly 
extorting the poor and blackmailing the rich to do their dirty work. 
The works of Squirrecles, Tailitus and Toothydides were kept under lock 
and key at the various monasteries of the Aniverse, where they would be 
kept safe from anyone who might try to use such technology against the 
Order. For a long time, it seemed as if the Dark Sabbath movement would 
hold the entire Aniverse in it's grasp; in essence, it was the Anti-
Galactic Empire, but according to the first literary source since 400 
AGM, it seems as if some forces were at work after all.


In 1026 AGM, Augustus de Bedoyer of Noctur III composed "Of the Miracle 
of St. Neeblebrox". The book is a pseudo-historical story relating to 
an event in 1020 AGM, in which a monastery dedicated to the old deity 
of St. Neeblebrox (a demigod in Hare religion, outlawed by the Dark 
Sabbath in 1018 AGM) was under seige by the Dark Sabbath. In Bedoyer's 
own words: "From upon the heavens, a great shaft of light fell upon the 
Dark Sabbath, and each one fell to the ground, screaming as if on fire. 
The monks of St. Neeblebrox were spared, but the Dark Sabbath were 
brutally slain..."


It is difficult to ascertain what this actually means, but whatever the 
reason, it is reported that over 1,000 Dark Sabbath followers perished 
on that day, and the brutal action that was to take place a few years 
later would show the true side of the Dark Sabbath. An unknown scholar 
had written a hasty afterword in Bedoyer's work, stating that the Dark 
Sabbath, who had seen the event as an attack on the Order by heathens, 
had begun to purge the planets of any they suspected of heresy, and 
appointed a council of "Black Cardinals" to oversee this task. The 
Black Cardinals were all Bats originating from Ateo in the Minotaur 
sector. Numbering six in all, they are immortalised in the painting 
"Meeting of the Black Cardinals" by Percival Bruth the Elder, where 
they are depicted wearing pitch-black birettas and robes. None of the 
Cardinals have ever been named.


During this time, King Albert V of Warren had allied with King Ariste I 
of Noctur III to create an army to fight against the Dark Sabbath. 
These two planets, who had been rivals for centuries, now put their 
differences aside to tackle the real tyrant of the story, and as such, 
their two worlds became safe havens for peasants and commoners wishing 
to escape the grasp of the Dark Sabbath. Although these worlds were 
alone against the rest of the Aniverse, the support they received was 
far greater, and so it was not long until a Crusade would soon begin.


These Crusades began in 1030 AGM, with the two Kings leading the attack 
against Tonto el Despreciare, the Inquisitor General appointed by the 
Black Cardinals of the Dark Sabbath to: "...purge all of space of these 
degenerate heathens who stalk our lands like a plague..." (from 
"Discussions of the Black Cardinals" by Edwin de Grayore) From the 
homeworld of the Dark Sabbath on Ateo, Tonto directed the battle 
against what he considered to be heretics defying his word. 


Details of the Crusades are sketchy, but thanks to Sir Aodh the Wise, 
one of the knights serving under Albert V, we have at least a rough 
idea of what went on during this time. Aodh's work, "The Crusades of 
Good King Albert" , highlight that much of the fighting was limited to 
minor skirmishes along the frontier, and how the knights of the Dark 
Sabbath "...were like the 300 Rigellans at Pylas; more than willing to 
die for their beliefs and even more willing to spill the blood of the 
innocent..." Another source, the overtly egotistic Sir Gus the Gassy, 
also gave details on the fights of King Albert in his work "The Tales 
of Sir Gus the Gassy", but seems more interested in glorifying himself 
rather than give us any historic fact. Therefore, aside from making an 
interesting swashbuckler story, Sir Gus' work is largely useless to us.


The final turning point of the Crusades came in 1039 AGM, when Albert 
V, who felt that the Crusades had strained his relationship with Ariste 
of Noctur III, decided that the two armies should make one final push 
at the largest Dark Sabbath stronghold at Cruzada, the space station 
orbitting Ateo where Tonto conducted his side of the war. According to 
Sir Aodh, there were 10,000 Hares and 80,000 Raccoons against 90,000 
Dark Sabbath loyalists, making the numbers even. The battle began at 
dawn Ateo standard time, and after a difficult siege, Cruzada had been 
breached, and Tonto had been executed. This battle, christened by many 
as The Battle of Cruzada, hailed the end of the Crusades as the Dark 
Sabbath movement slowly sank away into oblivion.


CHAPTER FOUR: MEDIUS AETAS (MIDDLE AGES)

It seems appropriate that this part of Aniversial history be referred 
to as the "Middle Ages", as it appears roughly in the centre of our 
timeline.


The end of the Crusades had exhausted the military forces of Warren and 
Noctur III, but their valour inspired other worlds to strengthen 
themselves sooner, fearing that the Dark Sabbath may soon return. Among 
the first was Aldebaran, whose inhabitants harnessed the mystical 
powers of the Aniverse to use for their own purposes, though these 
secrets remain exclusive to their own race, should any other lifeforms 
try to use the Aldebaran powers against them.


By 1250 AGM, there were growing fears about the individual rulers of 
different planets, brought about by the fear of a tyranny not unlike 
the Phrasians. The largest fear of all was King Stuart of Warren, whose 
short temper and insatiable greed made him both a fearful figure and 
the epitome of villainy. He ruthlessly tried to carry off a noblewoman 
from Canis II in order to marry her, and taxed his own subjects in the 
hope of making himself the richest man in the Aniverse.


Like every piece, however, for every villain there is a hero, and it is 
here where the writers of the day began to speak of an outlaw known as 
Bobbin Good. The earliest known reference to him comes from a court 
speech made in 1300 AGM by Walter Lazonby:


"...Is it no surprise, your Honour, that this man has been brought to 
justice by the law, just as King Stuart was brought to justice by 
Bobbin Good?"


Dr. Trevor Farnsworth, historian on Genus, has compiled a history of 
Bobbin Good in his work: "The Complete Story of Bobbin Good", using 
both complete and fragmentary sources to paint a complete picture. 
Bobbin Good was once the 1st Earl of Rabbitshire, whose lands were 
confiscated by King Stuart as a reparation for the heavy taxes. 
Outraged, Good established a resistance movement with other wronged 
nobles, including Richard Bigg (alias Big Dick), the clergyman Friar 
Pann, and the champion archer Hans Purple.


Between 1250 and 1270, Bobbin and his "Bright Band" made guerilla 
attacks on the King's property, freeing any innocent prisoners from the 
Royal jail and stealing back the money collected under the taxes. King 
Stuart's attempts to capture Bobbin failed at every turn, and upon 
Stuart's deathbed in 1272, Bobbin Good was proclaimed a traitor to his 
king and country.


However, Stuart's brother, King Albert VII, pardoned Bobbin and his 
Band and returned all taxes and property confiscated by King Stuart. 
Bobbin is said to have died in 1286 of wounds from a battle, but we 
hear nothing more afterward of him or the members of his Band, perhaps 
confirming the apocryphal date for his death.


Towards the end of the Middle Ages, a serious infection of the space 
plague spread across almost 2/3 of the Aniverse, affecting Warren, the 
entire Noctur, Rigel and Canis systems, as well as Aldebaran and 
Narnox. This disease, known colliqually as "The Evil Plague" killed up 
to a total of 10 million in total, and lasted between 1400 and 1450. 
It's causes remain unknown, although it is believed by many that poor 
sanitation and lack of clean water were the main causes. Harold 
Rosebush, a contemporary barber-surgeon, wrote an account of the 
disease's spread and described the symptoms of each individual sufferer 
in his "On the Evil Plague", published in 1460:


"It [the Evil Death] appears to have originated from the secluded 
Occultas Galaxy, where trade and travel are forbidden to outsiders, and 
those who enter never leave afterward. Nevertheless, somehow, the Evil 
Plague carried it's pestilence across the mysterious void of space, 
first infecting the world of Atlantis, who were at the time at war with 
Aldebaran. In turn, the Aldebarans caught the disease, and so it spread 
to the other civilised worlds of the Aniverse until perhaps the entire 
Aniverse itself had succumbed to the pestilence..."


When the Evil Plague did finally die away, there was a great depression 
left behind. The massive deaths had affected the workforce of the major 
planets, and a solution was required to avoid a second plague. 
Aldebaran was the first to respond, and the worlds who followed her 
example would soon bring the Aniverse as a whole from out of the 
melancholic era of pain and suffering and into a new age of peace and 
harmony.


END OF PART ONE


COMING IN "HISTORY OF THE ANIVERSE PART TWO":


The Renovatio (Revival) - The re-emergence of power


The Imperial Era - The rise and fall of the Rigellian Empire


The First Toad War - The first clash between Toad and Mammal societies


The Toad Wars - When KOMPLEX usurped the Homeworld and declared War