When the Pillar of Heaven was shattered and the Sphaeran colonies were largely cut off from the galactic network by the Angelic blockade, the isolation proved too much for the burgeoning young settlements and their civilization collapsed; an event mirrored on harpiian colony worlds across the quadrant. After this, as the old research superprogram's experiments fell out of supervision, new creatures adapted to fill the niches opening up in the newly wild biosphere. This event is actually recorded in the planet's geology, denoted by the Sirpalean Line: a thin stratum of scattered microdebris from the Shattering, most visible in equatorial sediments.
Geological Timeline
Harpiian
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The Harpiian period is the first geological era in the Zoetic eon, marked at its beginning 25 million years Pre-Collapse by Sphaera's discovery by the harpies and their abrupt reinvigoration of Sphaera's core dynamo, effectively "rebooting" the planet's tectonic activity and magnetosphere (which is evident in the planet's geological record). It is divided into three epochs: the Aecoric, Zoophytoric, and Artanic. Its end is marked by the Sirpalean Line: a thin geologic stratum of scattered microdebris from the Shattering, heralding the dawn of the Silvestrian period.
Epochs
Aecoric
The Aecoric epoch is the first geological epoch in the Harpiian era, opened by the reignition of the planet's tectonic activity and magnetosphere. The Aecorian period is, in effect, the five-million-year process of restoring Sphaera's oceans with a combination of magic, extrasolar importation, and cometary impacts, marked at its end by the Zoetic Line: the first microfossils of the Zoophytoric era.Zoophytoric
The Zoophytoric epoch was the geological era wherein Sphaera was terraformed by introduced microbes specifically engineered to equalize the atmospheric composition and filter harmful chemicals out of the atmosphere. Its lower boundary is, naturally, the Zoetic Line; though the end of the Zoophytoric is marked by the Garkhirnean Point: the stratum where evidence for sophont activity first appears.Artanic
The Artanic epoch is the two-million-year timespan in which the harpies colonized Sphaera and performed long-running evolutionary experiments on Sphaera's introduced organisms. The lower boundary of the Harpiian epoch is the Garkhirnean Point: the stratum where evidence for sophont activity first appears. The epoch's end is marked by the Sirpalean Line, heralding the dawn of the Silvestrian period.-
Year Zero
The Collapse
Disaster / Destruction
Silvestrian
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The Silvestrian period was the geological period immediately following the Collapse, where the introduced Sphaeran biosphere was allowed to evolve outside controlled conditions, resulting in the wild evolution of the base sophont species produced by harpiian experimentation. Over millions of years, civilization redeveloped on Sphaera, rediscovered spaceflight, and eventually transcended beyond the confines of physics to live as gods or Drifters. Geologically, the Silvestrian's lower boundary is the Sirpalean Line: a thin stratum of scattered microdebris from the Shattering. This period's upper boundary is the Vanishing Point: the stratum where all evidence for sophont activity ceases to be present.
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Year Zero
The Collapse
Disaster / DestructionWhen the Pillar of Heaven was shattered and the Sphaeran colonies were largely cut off from the galactic network by the Angelic blockade, the isolation proved too much for the burgeoning young settlements and their civilization collapsed; an event mirrored on harpiian colony worlds across the quadrant. After this, as the old research superprogram's experiments fell out of supervision, new creatures adapted to fill the niches opening up in the newly wild biosphere. This event is actually recorded in the planet's geology, denoted by the Sirpalean Line: a thin stratum of scattered microdebris from the Shattering, most visible in equatorial sediments.
Location
Pillar of Heaven