PART II DAWN OF HUMANKIND
40,000 B.C.
Homo sapiens evolved on Earth. Human kind eventually became strong and intelligent enough to fight back and resist the Serpent Men's attacks. [Scientific theory.]
38,000 B.C.
The Plodex colony spaceship crash landed in northern Asia. Damaged, the starship hypnotically summoned mobile life to come to the ship but fired off it's supply of Plodex eggs before they could be genetically altered to survive on the planet's surface. Only two of the eggs managed to survive. One of the eggs landed in the ocean and in order to survive adapted itself to the aquatic environment, and the undeveloped Plodex inside the egg became amphibious. The egg would drift across the ocean floor for centuries before hatching.
Attracted by the hypnotic summons, a human made his way to the Plodex ship. Captured by the automated ship, the human's body was dissected and destroyed. However his brain was kept alive and conscious and he experienced tremendous pain which drove him insane. Over the next few thousands of years the human brain eventually established control over the alien ship.
23,000 B.C
The Nuwali, the alien race contracted by the Beyonders to construct and stock animal preserves throughout the galaxy, made one of their last trips to Earth during it's Pleistocene epoch to restock the Antarctica preserve.
The Beyonders eventually lost interest in the habitats, and the Nuwali stopped maintaining and introducing new breeds into the preserves they had established. All but the Savage Land, as the Earth preserve would come to be known, collapsed.
Civil war broke out between two factions of the Earth Eternals. Uranos wanted to wage war against the humans, while his brother Chronos proposed the way of peaceful coexistence. The two sides clashed over their ideologies in a violent confrontation which killed almost nine tenths of their population and destroyed the Eternals' capital city of Titanos. Finally Chronos' forces prevailed. He ruled that Uranos and his surviving band of followers be banished from Earth into outer space. Chronos used his powers to transform Uranos and his followers into living energy, which he then flung into space. With the rebels gone, Chronos abandoned his war-like ways and decided to devote himself to science and knowledge.
Birth of Zuras to Chronos and Daina.
Birth of Alars to Chronos and Daina.
Uranos and the banished Eternals flew through space, approaching the edge of the solar system. Concentrating their mental abilities, they managed to slightly change their course and were caught by the gravity of the planet Uranus. Eventually discovering the Kree weapons depot on the planet, they managed to change their course to pass through the dome which surrounded the enclosure. The dome's forcefield absorbed inertia from the energy mass' electrons, reactivating the Eternals' physical forms. The Eternals battled and destroyed Kree Sentry 213 that had been placed there as guard, but not before the Sentry activated a trans-galactic alarm. The Eternals then began cannibalizing the Kree technology to work on a spaceship that could transport them back to Earth. Completing the ship the Eternals set back for their home planet. However four Eternals remained behind, and eventually set up a thriving colony within the depot enclosure. [What If? Vol. 1 #26]
A Kree armada, believing the Skrulls were responsible for Sentry 213's destruction, investigated and discovered the Eternals in their crude spaceship on it's journey back to Earth. Destroying the ship, the Kree captured and examined one of the Eternals. Unfamiliar with their subject, the Kree brought the Eternal back to their capital planet of Kree-Lar where they vivisected and examined him.
About half of the Eternals aboard the spaceship survived the Kree attack. Linking together they conserved their oxygen long enough to make their way to Titan, a Saturn moon. There, using their energy manipulation powers, they began to convert the interior of the moon into a highly technological society. Within a few hundred years they were a fully functioning civilization.
The Kree discovered that the Eternal they had examined was the result of Celestials' experiments on Earthlings. The Kree then petitioned their rulers to perform their own experiments on human subjects. The Supreme Intelligence granted them permission, hoping that the experiment would result in a race of super-warriors for the Kree. Journeying to Earth, the Kree began genetically engineered a small tribe of humans into genetically advanced human beings. For the next twenty-five years the Kree experimented, eventually creating artificially advanced humans. For unknown reasons the Kree abandoned their experiments, and the tribe was set free. The Kree left Sentry 459 behind on Earth on a small south Pacific island to monitor for Skrull activity and to observe the progress of the human test subjects, whose tribe would one day be known as the Inhumans.
The Eternal colony on the planet Uranus, freed from the destructive tendencies of their former leader, began devoting themselves to peace and scientific and philosophic pursuits. They decided to devote themselves to the mysteries of the universe, and set about trying to discover a grand unified theory of everything. [Quasar #2]
The Eternal colony on Titan, founded by the warlike Uranos, eventually degenerated and fell into a civil war so terrible that it wiped out it's entire population except for one woman named Sui-San.
Chronos, in his laboratory in Titanos, continued his research into the Eternals' abilities to manipulate cosmic energy. Finally he was successful in isolating cosmic power, but the container in which it was held exploded, disintegrating Chronos, destroying Titanos and bombarding the Eternals in the city with cosmic particles. Although Chronos' atoms were scattered throughout the city, the energy he had released augmented his mental and astral form to a considerable degree to the point where his powers were on a cosmic scale. Chronos' astral form appeared before his sons, Zuras and Alars, informing them of what had happened. The cosmic particles which had bombarded the Eternals within Titanos released their genetic potential, making them virtually immortal and invulnerable, and allowed them to pass these genes down to their Eternal descendants. After the accident which laid waste to the city, Alars and Zuras initiated the first Uni-Mind, collectively melding the Eternals into one mind and body. While in this form the Eternals decided to make Zuras their new leader. When the Eternals disengaged from the Uni-Mind, Alars, having been raised in the aftermath of the Eternals' civil war, decided to not contend the decision and voluntarily exiled himself into space. He decided to search the area of space in which his uncle Uranos had been banished to.
Shock waves from the explosion in Titanos slowly spread throughout the solar system. The Eternals on Titan and Uranus were bombarded by the cosmic energy, and although they were not granted immortality like their Earth brethren, the cosmic energy greatly extended their life spans and their durability. [Quasar #7]
Zuras decided not to rebuild the city of Titanos, and led his people to what is today known as Mount Olympus, Greece, and there established a new city, Olympia. Eventually two other Eternal cities were founded, Polaria in Siberia and Oceana in the Pacific. Olympia, from which Zuras ruled the Eternals, remained their capital city.
Alars, making his way through space, discovered Sui-San among the ruins of the moon of Titan. They fell in love, and began working together to rebuild and re-populate the moon. Because Sui-San was not present at the explosion which granted Alars his immortality their descendants had much longer lives than Eternals before the explosion but not as great as Alars himself.
The tribe of genetically altered humans which would become known as the Inhumans wandered the Eurasian continent for centuries.
22,000 B.C.
The Inhumans, continually subjugated to human attacks and prejudices, created a refuge on the island of Attilan in the north Atlantic Ocean. There they made great advancements in civilization and scientific discovery, especially in genetics. The Inhumans eventually founded a government based on genocracy, or rule by the most genetically fit.
19,000 B.C.
Barbarian human nomads began wandering the island continent of Atlantis, eventually founding a thriving civilization.
18,500 B.C.
The Deviants conquered and ruled the island continent of Lemuria in the Pacific Ocean, and there established the seat of their empire.
Civilization and technological innovations greatly improved the lives of most of the Atlanteans. They experienced innovations in technology and science which have yet to be paralleled by modern humans. Over the next 500 years, Atlantis became more civilized and developed into an empire.
Kull, an Atlantean barbarian, became king of Valusia, an island off the coast of Atlantis. One of his greatest foes were the Serpent Men. The Serpent Men, using their abilities to shape-change their appearances to resemble human beings, infiltrated human civilizations, intending to conquer them. King Kull managed to uncover many of the Serpent Men's plots and had many of them killed.
Atlantean sorcerers discovered the Darkhold, the ancient mystical scroll penned by the Elder God Chthon. Founding the Cult of the Darkholders, they began experimenting with the spells contained on the parchment looking for a method to cause their enemies to return from the dead. Varnae, a Darkholder dying of natural causes, volunteered to be the first test subject. After his death Varnae was successfully returned to a semblance of life, becoming the first vampire on Earth. The Darkholders, hoping to use their own enemies as weapons of destruction, intended to use the vampires against their greatest enemy, King Kull of Valusia. However the vampires were more powerful than the sorcerers and the undead turned against their creators, killing them. The vampires then fled to continental Europe. Varnae assumed the role of Lord of the Vampires, and retained this title for millennia.
The remaining members of the Cult of the Darkhold also eventually settled in Europe, taking the Darkhold with them. Over the next few millennia, the parchment passed through a number of hands.
18,000 B.C.
The Eternals' leader Zuras married Cybele. [Date is speculative.]
Birth of an Eternal who would one day be known as Ikaris to Virarko and his wife, two second generation Polar Eternals. [Date is speculative.]
From it's seat in Lemuria, the Deviant Empire ruled all human civilizations on Earth except for Atlantis. The Deviants would conquer a land and enslave the human population, using them as slaves, warriors and fodder against other human nations. The Deviants continually tried to invade Atlantis, and although they inflicted heavy damage were almost always quickly expelled and driven back.
17,750 B.C.
Several small tribes of nomadic Atlanteans sailed to Antarctica. Discovering the Nuwali technology used to sustain the Savage Land they made considerable improvements to the machinery and extended the area of which it controlled. Using other Nuwali technology they discovered the Atlanteans created wonderful devices used for entertainment. The Atlanteans named the new territory Pangea. Word of the new lands spread back to Atlantis and Valusia, and Pangea quickly became a recreational area for both cultures. The new settlers also imported many of the different breeds of animals in Atlantis and the Savage Land to Pangea.
A number of human Lemurians, fleeing Deviant persecution, settled in Pangea.
Pangean scientists performed genetic experiments on the ape-men of the Savage Land in order to create laborers to run the amusement parks in Pangea. The scientists were successful in creating a number of different offshoots of humanity, such as the Aerians, Tree-People, Tubanti, and other animal-like races, all with human intelligence.
The Animal Peoples of Pangea became increasingly fed up with being treated like slaves. To solve this, the Pangeans relocated the Animal Peoples to a distant corner of Pangea and built fully automated automatons to run the Pangean parks. The Animal Peoples rose in rebellion and eventually defeated their Atlantean masters. They demanded equal rights from the Atlanteans, so the scientists once again extended the climate controls surrounding Pangea and the Savage Land. The Animal People relocated peacefully.
Birth of Azura, a third or fourth generation Eternal, to the leader Zuras and his wife Cybele. [Date is speculative.]
circa 17,500 B.C.
Azura met Kro, a Deviant with Eternal-like capabilities. Kro had extremely long life, was almost invulnerable, and had the ability to alter his physical appearance. Azura and Kro fell in love despite the hostility that existed between their two races, but their relationship eventually ended badly. Azura still loved Kro, but not knowing of his virtual immortality assumed that the Deviant eventually died of old age.
Kro, fearing that if other Deviants knew of his abilities and powers they would seize and experiment upon him, shape changed his appearance and took up a new identity. Over the millennia Kro took on a number of different shapes and guises.
circa 16,000 B.C.
The Eternals Valkin and Phastos constructed the Pyramid of the Winds in the Arctic Circle. The Pyramid and it's storehouses were designed to hold the Eternals' most dangerous weapons. The symbol of the Pyramid was imprinted on the brow of Valkin's nephew, the Eternal who would one day be known as Ikaris. The keys to the Pyramid were designed into Ikaris' clothing. [Date is speculative.]
The Atlantean sorceress Zhered-Na prophesied the sinking of Atlantis. Furious, the Atlantean emperor Kamuu ordered Zhered-Na to cease making this prophecy. When she refused to do so she was banished from Atlantis. Zhered-Na washed up on the Thurian shore and there started a cult of disciples. One of her followers was Dakimh, who Zhered-Na made virtually immortal through magical means.
Atlantis was suffering from civil war and a number of invasions from the nation of Lemuria. Foreseeing that the Deviants would eventually reach and attack the capital city of Atlantis and the city of Netheria, the cities' leaders had huge glass-like domes erected over their cities and fortified the cities' foundations. To stop the onslaught of Lemurian warriors, King Kamuu opened the magma-pits which were the city's main means of heating. The Lemurian invaders were destroyed, but the magma release triggered a seismological cataclysm which caused a series of earthquakes throughout the continent.
Human Lemurian alchemists, with the aid of the Serpent Men, created the Serpent Crown, a mighty object of mystical power. From his dimension Set linked his consciousness to the Crown, and it became a receptacle for his power. The first person to wear the Crown was the greatest of the Lemurian alchemists, Atra. He began making plans to conquer the world.
The Second Host of Celestials arrived on Earth to inspect the progress of their experiments, the Deviants and Eternals.
The main religion of the Deviants was worship of the Celestials, who they considered "space gods." However they also hated the Celestials for making them genetically unstable and physically repulsive. Phraug, Emperor of the Deviants, gave the order to launch an attack upon the Second Host of Celestials.
The human alchemist Atra appeared before Emperor Phraug and the two began fighting for possession of the Serpent Crown.
The Celestials, finding the direction of Deviant technology counter-productive, retaliated to the Deviants' attack by causing a massive nuclear explosion which destroyed the continent of Lemuria and helped aid in the collapse of the Atlantean continent. The effects of this explosion caused tremendous changes around the world and would become known as the Great Cataclysm. Atra and Emperor Phraug were directly under the main explosion and the forces unleashed killed them instantly but caused their skeletal remains to become preserved. Almost the entire populations of Lemuria and Atlantis were killed. This Great Cataclysm caused the continents of Atlantis and Lemuria to sink into the ocean.
A small handful of Atlanteans loaded a number of animals aboard a large ark and escaped the destruction of Atlantis. The Polarian Eternal who would one day be known as Ikaris led the Atlanteans and animals to safety. Because he didn't come into direct contact with the humans aboard the ark, they mistook him for a bird.
The Atlantean city of Netheria, which had been domed in a plastic like substance, sank to the bottom of the sea intact. The Atlantean scientists quickly found a way to recycle their air supply and the people in the undersea city survived. Over time the city shifted on it's base until it came to rest in a huge undersea cavern. The people in the city renamed it the Netherworld.
Although the Lemurian civilization was virtually wiped out, a number of Deviants managed to escape the Cataclysm by fleeing to a number of underground settlements that had previously been established. Eventually the Deviants founded their new principal center, the City of Toads, located under the Pacific Ocean floor.
As a result of the Great Cataclysm, landmasses around the world were affected. Pangea and the Savage Land sunk below sea-level, but were saved from flooding by the high mountains which surrounded them. However aftershocks and earthquakes caused by the Cataclysm wiped out three-fourths of the population of Pangea. The rest of the population quickly degenerated to barbarianism, and constant warfare further depleted the population. Eventually peace returned to Pangea and the Savage Land, and tribes developed along racial lines.
The Inhumans in the island city of Attilan managed to protect themselves from the drastic changes brought about by the Great Cataclysm by using their technology.
Wrongly believing Zhered-Na responsible for the Cataclysm, the Thurians attacked her and her cultists. Zhered-Na was killed, but her pupil Dakimh the Enchanter and a number of other disciples escaped, taking scrolls containing Zhered-Na's mystical knowledge with them.
The Second Host of Celestials accused one of their own of crimes "against life itself." The renegade resisted capture and punishment and the Celestials were forced to fight him. Overcoming the renegade Celestial they removed his life essence and imprisoned his body beneath the Diablo Mountains in California. The Celestials stored the renegade's life essence and the weapon used to defeat him in the Pyramid of the Winds in the Arctic Circle. This Celestial's name was wiped from mortal existence. In times to come he would be known as the Great Renegade and as the Dreaming Celestial.
The Second Host of the Celestials concluded their experiments and observations and left Earth.
Finding underground living more difficult than above, Deviant scientists began experimenting with genetics to create a race more suitable for working underground. Over the next few centuries the Deviants made tremendous advances in genetic engineering. [Avengers Annual #20]
After the Great Cataclysm, the focus of Deviant worship and religion changed. The Deviants developed an intense hatred towards the Celestials and became obsessed with seeking a means of their destruction. The priesthood came to dominate much of Deviant life, although they were technically still ruled by a monarchy. The priesthood decided which Deviants were so genetically unstable that they should undergo "purification," or extermination. In actuality those unstable Deviants were not destroyed but placed in suspended animation to one day be used in battle against the Celestials. The priesthood also eventually controlled and decided who would ascend to become the leader of the Deviants, although they normally allowed the heir of the previous monarch to assume power.
circa 13,000 B.C.
Randac, an Inhuman scientist, isolated a chemical catalyst for human mutation which he named Terrigen. Randac exposed himself to the Terrigen Mists and emerged with powerful mental-manipulative abilities. Elected to leader because of his genetic superiority, Randac began a program by which all Inhumans, if they desired, would be subjugated to the Mists.
Learning that the Inhumans were using Terrigen, Sentry 459 activated itself and contacted the Inhumans. Sending a report to it's Kree masters, the Sentry returned to it's island.
12,000 B.C.
The dawn of the Hyborian Age of man. [Date is speculative.]
10,000 B.C.
End of the last Ice Age. [Scientific theory.]
Set had established a seat of human worship in the land of Stygia. The greatest wizard of Stygia was the evil Set worshipper Thoth-Amon, who discovered the Cobra Crown, a replica of the Serpent Crown. However when his foe Villagro seized the Crown and placed it upon his own head, he managed to use it's power to battle Thoth-Amon. The more experienced Thoth-Amon gained the upper hand in the battle, killing Villagro, but Villagro's undisciplined use of the Crown caused it to burn out all it's energy. [Punisher Annual #2]
Thoth Amon's apprentice, Kulan Gath, was discovered performing sorcery which the Set worshippers found offensive. Kulan Gath was forced to flee Stygia to prevent his own execution. Gath wandered the world, amassing mystical power and knowledge. [Uncanny X-Men #191]
Sometime during Kulan Gath's life, he encountered the Homo Superior Selene, a sorceress with mutant abilities, who used her powers to drain the life energies of her victims in order to sustain her own. The two became bitter enemies. [Selene is the first and oldest living mutant recorded. Mutancy is the result of the First Host of the Celestials experiments on mainstream humanity.]
Red Sonja, a warrioress from the Hyrkanian Steppes, encountered the evil Kulan Gath, who had become High Priest of the N'Garai, a race of ancient demonic beings whom the wizard worshipped. The two fought and Sonja killed the sorcerer. However Gath transferred his soul into a nearby amulet he had ensorcelled, waiting for the time when it was brought to a spot where mystical forces were brought close together around it. Kulan Gath's soul remained trapped in the amulet for millennia. [Marvel Team-Up #80]
Conan, a barbarian mercenary from the land of Cimmeria, became king of the land of Aquilonia.
Allied with the Serpent Men, Thoth-Amon made his stand against his greatest enemy King Conan. With the aid of his son Conn, Conan slew Thoth-Amon and the last of the original race of Serpent Men.
With the death of Thoth-Amon, the cult of Set in Stygia began declining in power and influence.
8235 B.C.
A young nomad from northern Vanaheim, the area that would one day be known as Scandinavia, met Ulluxy'l Kwan Tae Syn, an extra-dimensional being who stood guard over the Hellfire Helix, a non-organic life form from outer space. In order to survive on Earth the Hellfire Helix, which had tremendous mystical power, had encased itself within a protective crystal called the Bloodgem. The Helix intended to conquer Earth but needed a native life form as it's agent. Ulluxy'l lured the young nomad back to it's lair and offered him a portion of the Bloodgem's power. The youth agreed, and was granted superhuman strength. When he led the rest of the tribe back to the lair, the Helix killed them. Enraged, the youth launched himself at the gem, causing a tremendous explosion which shattered it and scattered it's hundreds of pieces around the world. One of the pieces became lodged into the nomad's chest. The power of the gem granted the nomad immortality and eternal youth. The young nomad spent the rest of his existence seeking revenge on the beings who had slaughtered his tribe. Eventually he took the name Ulysses Bloodstone.
One of the pieces of the Bloodgem was found by a savage. Upon possessing the gem the savage's latent mutant psychic powers were activated. The gem also granted the savage immortality and eternal youth. Through the millennia the savage would go through a number of aliases, among them Warlock, Merlin, and Maha Yogi.
The Hyborian Age ended, and the civilization of Egypt began developing in what was formerly Stygia.
