Quental History

(The creatures I'm writing about belong in he same world as the planets Cryolith, Behemoth, Cauldron, etc., hopefully for a future mod.  To make things a bit more interesting, I'll try and describe the three species involved from each other's point of view, although the "Human" perspective will be the most basic.  Histories are described only from the point of view of the species in question.)

First Records

We have few records of the origins of our species, or what life was like for much of that time.  The other two species guess that we lived as small groups of omnivores, much like some predators, and similar to how to two other aliens originally lived.

Our earliest stories describe groups of tribes banding together in larger and larger groups, organized around rich areas of our world, and by attraction to particularly dominant groups.  The stories describe these groups getting bigger, and skilled laborers and warriors appearing, but describe few details.

The earliest writings describe patronage groups and organized tribes, but details are thin.  They describe Quechari as merely food and clothing, and talk about soldiers and laborers, but we do not know the details of our early history as the humans and zithir do.

Ancient

The first detailed description of an organized group is a set of records of the "Thurastin", a group of several cities near a particularly rich forest region.   For most of their existence, the Thurastin were organized as patronage groups, with laborers, warriors, and thinkers described as separate types.  Laborers and warriors switched as dominant groups for much of this group's history.  This group gradually expanded over several hundred years, dominating nearby tribal areas, but itself was eventually dominated by a group from nearby mountains called the Pechthal.

Groups following the Thurastin left similar records, and followed similar histories.  Most started as large tribal groups near unusually rich resource areas, expanded into nearby tribal areas, and were eventually conquered themselves by other groups.  A few of these civilizations were organized as tribal groups, but most were patronage groups.  Few different specializations are recorded, with laborers, thinkers, and warriors being the main distinctions.

Hives Period

The period of early civilizations ended when a group called the Pyrkitzes organized a postal service to deliver pheromone packets long distances.  This long distance travel allowed them to organize the first hives, and surrounding tribes and groups were not prepared for the organization and purpose the Pyrkizites brought to warfare and building projects.  The Pyrkitzes conquered all of the tropical area they originally came from, plus surrounding forests and hilly areas, and were only stopped by deserts and flat plains that they never adapted to.

On seeing the success of Pyrkizite organization, the surrounding plains and desert tribes and societies organized into their own hives, and conquered surrounding regions until stopped by vastly different terrain.  The hive method of organizing society spread rapidly throughout the world, with only a few tribal regions remaining outside hive control, and for a few thousand years, hives dominated our homeworld.

Quental today remember many names of large hives from this period.  The Pyrkitzes, Stlengthu, Quetionis, Quager, Spleuthurys, and Theuthemicals were far larger than anything seen before, and together dominated much of the world during their existence, and greatly influenced everything that came after.  In particular, constant wars between these hives greatly changed soldiering and production, as large scale wars demanded constant adaptation, encouraging a host of new specialized mutations for fighters and laborers.  Tools also improved greatly during this time, and the Quechari slime mold first saw widespread use as a mutation tester.

Tribes and Hives

Despite their success, the ancient hive civilizations were greatly reduced at around the same time by organized tribal groups taking advantage of disruptions.  Taking advantage of otherwise normal disruptions within the hives, these tribal groups established large civilizations of their own.  These civilizations were much more unstable and short lasting then the reduced hive empires, but in their times were still powerful and threatening.

During this period, soldier and laborer mutations, and technology, continued developing, but other specializations became common as well.  The first "synthesizrs", individuals who developed their bodies to produce materials, are recorded in these times, and thinkers found ways to specialize further.  The first reports of mutations changing the shape and size, and not just things like strength or stamina, also come from this time.  Individuals during this period were the first to adapt to oceans, dig large tunnels underground, and live full time in icy regions of the poles or mountains.

The Flowering

The flowering is a name for a constant increase in mutations and technology that has been continuing for the past thousand years or so.  This period started during the tribes and hives period, during the constant competition between the remains of the ancient hive empires and the constantly forming tribal organizations forced ever more changes in mutation and technology.  New mutations and experimentation have been a constant feature of life during this period, and new tool development became common enough to notice changes within a lifetime.

During the middle of this period, patronage systems became common again.  Communication between different parts of the world also became far more common, as swimming mutations became far more common and refined.  Synthesizer skills expanded greatly, with a much greater variety of materials available.  Quechari slime mold expended to fill almost all material and synthesis roles.

In the past couple hundred years, mutations took on a staggering variety, with some Quental forming their bodies into deep ocean swimmers, floating balloons, underground diggers, and other forms adapted in ways undreamed of by the old Quental civilizations.  Technology has also improved, with some Quental able to rely purely on tools, with few mutations, if needed.

Space Travel

Among the discoveries during the flowering, some Quental adapted for strong sight discovered that some of the stars seen at night were actually worlds of their own.  We could do little but watch from a distance, however, until a few years ago.  During these times, Quental sighters steadily improved their eyes, and built telescopes to see details of these worlds, and taste their atmospheres and surfaces from a difference, and determine what needed to be done to explore and settle these worlds.

About 50 years ago, our technology and mutations improved to the point where we could enter space.  Flyers allowed us to raise rockets to the atmosphere, synthesizers could generate fuel and materials to build them, and scouts could adapt to require few resources, and deal with gravity changes and radiation.  However, early attempts to enter space were highly dangerous, with most scouts attempting the journey being killed or severely injured in the process.  Competing for dominance, the designers, scouts, and workers involved in the program continued working on space travel until they were finally able tolaunch scouts somewhat safely.  The first targets were orbital travel, than our nearby moon, and than a cold planet called Mondthlin.

Launches to orbit went well, with scouts adapting easily, and returning in good condition, able to tel us much more about space travel, and encourage further adaptation.  From orbit, journeys to our moon also went smoothly, and we learned much.  As we attempted to travel to Mondthlin, the experiments once again became dangerous.  Scouts traveling to Mondthlin found it a much more hostile planet than we had realized, with a few dying, and many others becoming stranded and in constant poor health.  Mondthlin proved a difficult world to adapt to, and drastic mutations were needed to thrive there, mutations far different than any we could develop gradually on our homeworld.  Only by effective use of Quechari adaptability could our first scouts survive on Mondthlin, and the long travel times made it difficult to transport enough materials for good health.

However, as with the original space launches, our scouts and workers persevered, seeking the dominance rewards that would come from successful space travel, and after many missions, found the mutations, materials, and technology needed to journey to Mondlith and survive.  The first four successful missions to travel to Mondlith, have the scouts survive on Mondlith materials, and than return, were celebrated throughout our homeworld.

After a few more missions, and the sharing of necessary mutations, our societies decided to send a large group of colonists to this new world.  These colonists were organized in orbit, given a large store of starting materials, and included representatives from all walks of life, to prepare them for long term settlement of this new planet. 

Unfortunately, as these colonists journeyed to Mondlith, they encountered a strange looking piece of scrap.  While flying by this object, the colonists found themselves
suddenly teleported to another location in space.  Looking around, the sighters determine that this was a completely different system from the one we had been found in, with different worlds surrounding a different star.  without the resources to survive a long journey, or to wait inside our Quechari space vehicle, we decided to settle one of the worlds in the system, and than determine where we were, and how to get back to our homeworld.