Lyr'Davni Stellar Dominion

The Lyr'Davni Stellar Dominion was an astropolity that existed from ~1-283,792 LE (~300,000 to March 14, 16,208 BCE). At the peak of their civilization, the Lyr'Davni Stellar Dominion spanned across more than seventy-five systems within their vicinity, a star cluster presently known as the Aoraqet'yari Cluster in the constellation of Lyra within the Orion Spur of the Milky Way in the Alpha Quadrant ~1,200 light years (840,000,000,000 miles) from Sol (the Sun), in the Sol System. The Ascendant Stellar Hierarchy of Aoraqet'ya is considered to be the successor state of the Lyr'Davni Stellar Dominion.

History

Main article: History of Aoraqet'ya

The Lyr'Davni Era (~1–283,792 LE)

Origins (~1–275,300 LE)

Convergent Evolution

The evolutionary history of the Lyr’Davni parallels that of their human counterparts on Earth save for their height and extreme longevity; throughout the millennia the race, then calling itself the Lyr’Davni evolved into a highly cognitive species, mastering early forms of technology until the species spanned every landmass on the planet which came to be known as Lyr'Davni Major. Quickly adapting to their environment, their technological prowess advanced in leaps and bounds not comparatively to their Human counterparts as the advancements in technology were not fueled by war amongst themselves which eventually gave rise to space flight.

The Era of Space Travel (275,300–278,783 LE)

Once the Lyr’Davni mastered space travel, they began exploring the environs of their star system and discovered another planet in their system sustainable of life, Lyr’Davni Minor, as well as four other planets.

Naming the planet Lyr’Davni Minor, they quickly colonized and the population flourished, spanning every landmass in massive sprawling cities within decades. Upon further exploration, four new planets were discovered but were deemed unsustainable for life. The Lyr’Davni Human civilization took turn in the late part of the 21st millennium BCE. After fighting a series of violent wars on various planets in the name of establishing a grand star empire, violence among humans began to experience a decline that continued well through the chaos of the collapse of its governments. Overall, the curve still continued until The Lyr'Davni-Kolridathi Interstellar War came – Lyr’Davni’s humans were less violent than they have been in the past. In the middle part of the 21st millennium BCE, humans found a way to defeat death temporarily and stopped some forms of death all together, along with effective rejuvenation techniques. By the late part of the 21st millennium BCE, humanity had defeated biological death all together. Humanity is notable for having been the only species to have eradicated numerous viruses which plagued the planet - smallpox was their first victim, followed by rinderpest, then polio. Other diseases are extinct as well - syphilis, malaria, measles, pertussis (whooping cough), gonorrhea, meningitis, hepatitis, and eventually, HIV/AIDs were exterminated. Despite this, it's an ongoing war between newer diseases that emerge - especially scary when these diseases contain plasmids that aren't from Lyr’Davni - and the science that eventually drives them extinct.

By around 21,200, humanity had grasped a firm enough command over its genetic code to allow for manipulation that would eventually lead to the development of clades. This genetic manipulation was embraced by some and shunned by others; the last large cultural divide in the human sphere, beyond the acceptance of hyper-corporate transitional economies or new, post-scarcity economies, is whether or not to accept these new technologies. Most of humanity accepts them with some trepidation about newer technologies, while others either embrace them completely, indulging in morphological changes on a whim, and others shun it, and the medical technology that defeated death, completely.

The Lyr'Davni-Kol'Ridathi Interstellar War (278,783–278,792 LE)

During an unprecedented period of peace, hostilities began with the Kol'ridathi, a previously unknown race in a neighboring star system. The Kol'ridathi struck the Lyr’Davni home world with blinding speed, inflicting massive casualties within the span of just hours, catching the populace unprepared, millions of Lyr'Davni died within the first day of hostilities before the government, in desperation called for the creation of weapons that could be used to at least repulse the attackers and drive them from their world. Working in secret, a number of weapons were constructed and with vigorous testing on captured Kol'ridathi, these weapons were developed and entered into mass production, and the warrior caste of Lyr’Davni was born. Although numerically outmatched from the outset of the conflict, the Lyr’Davni began retrofitting several of their merchant ships into crude warships and began to push the Kol'ridathi out of their star system, becoming the turning point in the war.

While the Lyr’Davni-Kol'ridathi Interstellar War raged on outside the system, the Lyr’Davni managed to produce vast amounts of warships and began to push the Kol'ridathi back, finally forcing their retreat into their own system, believing that once enough Kol'ridathi forces were destroyed they could sue for peace from a position of military strength. Enjoying their military successes after having suffered the Kol'ridathi initial attack, the Lyr’Davni forced the retreat of the Kol'ridathi onto their core world. At this point Aoraqet'yari historians remember this as the day of not only of the Kol'ridathi defeat, but also the day that the Aoraqet'yari race was born. On 20 Paenyr-met during the 763rd year of the Last Era (equiv. to November 3, 21,208 BCE) the Kol'ridathi were defeated, on their home world of Kol'ridatha. During the final battle before their eventual defeat a retrovirus was unleashed, colloquially known among the Lyr’Davni as the Kol'ridathi Curse, infecting every Lyr’Davni warrior it came into contact with. While exhibiting no known symptoms, the Lyr’Davni warriors pushed on, finally forcing the surrender of the Kol'ridathi.

The End of the Lyr'Davni Civilization (278,792–283,792 LE)

Returning home after years of conflict, the virus spread further among the populace on the Lyr’Davni worlds virtually undetected. In the decades since the end of the Lyr’Davni-Kol'ridathi War, the nation retained its military though maintaining it merely for defensive purposes, establishing a series of bases and beacons through their star system to provide an advanced warning system in the event another incident. As the bulk of the populace rebuilt and resumed their peaceful existences, the virus had slowly at first begun to attack the reproductive system of the males, causing rapid atrophy of the Y chromosome.

Within years the effects of the virus could be seen as the birth rate throughout the worlds of the Lyr’Davni declined sharply, fewer new births were happening in comparison with the death rate. While the Lyr’Davni life span was quite prodigious as they could live for a millennia and a half to two millennia, the fact that the daily death rate wasn’t being offset by new births became a troubling matter.

During the First year of The Great Dying (equiv. to the year 21,209 BCE) the government of the Lyr’Davni called together the greatest minds of their many worlds to find a solution to counter the effects of the Kol'ridathi Curse. Beginning their work in haste the scientific community raced to find a solution, spending decades, centuries and vast resources in attempting to combat their declining numbers.

Thousands of years passed as the population among the Lyr’Davni core worlds declined to a mere fraction of its former glory. Before long, the females of the Lyr’Davni had become the majority among the population with the males being venerated as the last remaining vestige of the Lyr’Davni days of glory.

As the population continued to dwindle, a team of scientists inevitably came to the conclusion, that insofar there had been no medical cure that could be created to remedy The Kol'ridathi Curse, turning to genetics, these scientists had begun to experiment using their own genetic material. Using various cultures from species encountered throughout the galaxies they’d traversed these scientists turned to genetic hybridization and genetic engineering. Eventually, through trial and error these same scientists were able to achieve a perfect genetic composition by which it was determined had the capacity to breed.

Informing the government, the leadership, now predominantly female were abhorred at the prospect; however facing the grim reality of the alternatives after years of lengthy consideration, finally conceded knowing it would mean the end of Lyr’Davni civilization, and required every eligible female throughout the Lyr’Davni worlds to participate in the program. Initially through in vitro fertilization, the program was considered a resounding success as every last one had become successfully pregnant with child. It was at this time Lyr’Davni historians had begun writing the epilogue of their civilization.