The official dating system of the Auroran civilisation is the Atomic Era calendar, in which year zero coincides with the first nuclear tests on Rumah (a distinctive date in terms of radiocarbon dating, due to the sudden increase in carbon-14 concentration caused by the tests). Dates are measured in Bulan years. This is just a very brief overview of Auroran history, as such it contains many generalisations and brushes over some of the finer details.
Preclassical Epoch (-12000AE to -3870AE)[]
Starting Population: 40,000
The first evidence of Auroran civilisation dates back to -12000AE. All information about the preclassical epoch is archaeological, so this epoch is officially considered prehistoric.
Classical Epoch (-3870AE to -1220AE)[]
Starting Population: 4 million
The classical epoch is an obscure epoch of Auroran history in which Auroran civilisation had spread across most of the world. Since Rumah is heavily forested in most parts, the estabishment and expansion of large land empires was exceedingly difficult without the consent of the local populances, an insurmountable diplomatic task due to the fact that Auroran civilisation at the time consisted of thousands of autonomous city states.
This didn't stop ambitious mukhtars (generic name for the leader of a city state) from trying, however. Throughout the classical epoch, many reasonably sized nomarchies (alliances) were established through trade networks, diplomacy (invariably through intermarriage or strategic alliances), naval empires or simply shared culture. However, these nomarchies rarely exceeded a few dozen city states at once, and nearly all of them had 'holes' in their territory due to nonconforming city states (often due to the intervention of competing nomarchies); as such, nomarchies were rarely contiguous and never permanent.
It is the mercurial politics of the classical epoch which makes it perhaps the richest historical period of Auroran history; a scholar can commit their whole life to the history of a single region during the classical epoch. All classical epoch civilisations were agrarian.
Nomarchies Epoch (-1220AE to -230AE)[]
Starting Population: 180 million
The nomarchies epoch represented a change in the politics of classical epoch civilisation. Nomarchies made up of alliances between city states began to become more structured and permanent; many theories have been given for why this started to happen, but the main reason is generally attributed to the continuing population increase of Auroran civilisation, leading to more farming, and therefore more deforestation. This began to eliminate the previous barriers to the formation of large, more permanent nomarchies on Rumah (as opposed to loose coalitions of city states).
The political changes that characterise the nomarchies epoch include reduced autonomy in city states due to a shift of power from mukhtars to higher-ranking sheikhs (officials), though this tended to be a nightwatchman state, as most sheikhs of nomarchies preferred to leave difficult administrative duties to the more experienced mukhtars. In some cases, there was no choice, and some sheiks even faced rebellion if they were to remove or replace the local mukhtar; in other cases, the power of the mukhtars was transferred completely to the sheikhs with little resistance. Only about half of the city states of the nomarchies epoch resided within nomarchies, the rest remained independent or loosely associated with the nomarchies.
The institutionalisation that took place during the nomarchies epoch provided a great boost to innovation, and the first nomarchies began to industrialise during the nomarchies epoch. On the other hand, the nomarchies epoch is also known as a time of increasing environmental degradation due to rapidly increasing deforestation (which, ironically, made the nomarchies epoch possible in the first place), which, due to the still-growing population at the time, was beginning to seriously damage the ecology of the most populated regions.
Divan Epoch (-230AE to -130AE)[]
Starting Population: 770 million
The divan epoch was the great break from the chaotic classical and nomarchies Epochs. The hundreds of nomarchies that covered Rumah were becoming increasingly bureaucratic and ineffective as the sheikhs tried to consolidate their power and the governments of polities began to become more hubristic. The biggest issue was continuing environmental degradation (the connection to deforestation was still not fully realised at the time), which many scientific and religious groups attributed to the reckless actions of the nomarchies (though for very different reasons). The increasingly powerful commercial (merchant) class that first appeared in the nomarchies epoch was also beginning to disrupt the balance of power.
A divan is a gathering of mukhtars (usually several hundred) to discuss various issues and agree on joint action that could not usually be achieved at the local level that mukhtars usually operate at; during the divan epoch, divans became increasingly common as mukhtars took issues into their own hands. These gatherings were supported by the commercial class, as the more local mukhtars tended to be more popular than the bureaucratic sheikhs. As such, the divans became increasingly effective and influential, and there was little that the sheikhs could do to stop this, short of removing the mukhtars (paramount to removing the political structure of a nomarchy directly from under the feet of the sheikhs).
The great breakthrough of the divan epoch came in -181AE, with the first gathering of a general Divan of Mukhtars. The first Divan of Mukhtars was more of a formality, and only consisted of a few hundred representatives, but gradually more and more city states joined the Divan of Mukhtars until, by the end of the divan epoch, the overwhelming majority of city states met together at the triannual Divan of Mukhtars in a rotating schedule (which was necessary, as over 900 city states had to be represented). The nomarchies, meanwhile, rapidly became insignificant, as they were not well-established in the first place, and, due to their nature as political institutions, there was little nationalist sentiment for them anyway.
The end of the divan epoch saw the proliferation of both democratic and free market capitalist systems of government and economics, spurred on by an increasingly wealthy and educated population who had the time to be more interested in government and politics.
Hydrocarbon Epoch (-130AE to 130AE)[]
Starting Population: 900 million
The hydrocarbon epoch is perhaps the most significant era of Auroran history, and is characterised by the widespread use of hydrocarbon fuels, making energy cheaper and more abundant than it ever had been in the past. This had a knock-on effect on the Auroran economy the world over. For the first time in the history of Auroran civilisation, the global economic growth rate increased tenfold from the steady natural rate of 0.145% per annum to a comparatively huge 1.45% per annum; economists predict that, in the 260 year-long hydrocarbon epoch, progress was made equivalent to 2600 years at the natural rate of growth. Indeed, the hydrocarbon epoch saw developed Auroran polities (city states) transition from meager industrial economies to fully-fledged intellectual economies, with the less developed polities close behind.
Equally importantly, the hydrocarbon epoch contains the start of the Atomic Era, with the advent of the use of nuclear technology. The first prototype tube alloys (nuclear explosives) were actually detonated at -6AE, as it took about 6 years for the cumulative effects of successive nuclear testing to make their way into the radiocarbon records. The technology for tube alloys were actually available 40 years earlier, but the Divan of Mukhtars was reluctant to proliferate such technology too readily; development of tube alloys was gradual, mediated by treaties, restrictions and agreements between polities. Nevertheless, the realisation of tube alloys had the side effect of significantly advancing research into materials, rocketry, nuclear power and theories concerning the sun and singularities.
Space travel was the next great technological leap that took place during the hydrocarbon epoch. Nuclear thermal rockets were developed in 17AE, first tested by launching probes into orbit, then to other planets, the prototypes were launched in remote locations in case of crashes (which happened often early on). The Divan of Mukhtars thought investment in space exploration to be an excellent investment to encourage innovation, and the first Auroran was landed on another moon of Bulan in 37AE. The first permanent colony on the planet Berharap was set up on 74AE, which grew to a population of several thousand by the end of the hydrocarbon epoch.
Computer science was developed solely in the hydrocarbon epoch, with the computing power of integrated circuits following an exponential curve which eventually petered off in the final decade of the epoch. This is amazing progress, as it means that computers went from their infancy at the start of the epoch to their maximum physical potential, at which point the average computer exceeded the computing power of the Auroran brain; artificial intelligence, however, remained elusive due to software problems.
The developed polities rapidly urbanised at the start of the hydrocarbon epoch, as they had already been industrialised for almost 100 years, though industrialisation was taken to new levels by the exploitation of the new hydrocarbon fuels such as oil and natural gas. The developing polities industrialised later, while the developed polities were transitioning to service economies. By the end of the epoch, most polities possessed service economies, with the most developed polities had intellectual economies.
Despite the great advances made in the hydrocarbon epoch, by 130AE economic inequality was as high as it had been since the nomarchies epoch (some would argue even higher). The problem was that the great economic expansion that had taken place in this time had been harnessed primarily by the developed polities, leaving the developing polities in relative poverty. The successive ecological strains of the nomarchies epoch (deforestation) and the hydrocarbon epoch (pollution) had also significantly damaged the biodiversity of Rumah.
Colonisation Epoch (130AE to 452AE)[]
Starting Population: 36 billion
This was originally called the disappointment epoch. The hydrocarbon epoch ended abruptly as Rumah reached its carrying capacity of 36 billion people, and the hydrocarbon fuels that drove the breakneck economic expansion ran dry. By this time, synthetic fuels were readily available, and large amounts of relatively cheap energy were available from the new compact thorium reactor designs that were becoming widespread; however, synthesis simply wasn't as competitive as pumping fuels out of the ground. All of this wasn't helped by the new ecological tariffs and population controls put in place by the Divan of Mukhtars in an attempt to stem the ecological damage to Rumah. In the space of just a few dozen days after the largest oil field ran dry, growth dropped abruptly down from a long-term average of 1.45% to the old natural rate of 0.145%. Everything slowed down, and many of the great promises of science went unfulfilled.
The first space elevator (Jambatan Bintang) was built in 157AE, and everything changed. The ambitious space projects of the Divan of Mukhtars had turned out to be useless and unfounded over the last century; though the establishment of colonies on Berharap was a great step forward, there was little that the colony could offer Rumah itself (apart from pride). Asteroid mining was also only really economical if the resources were being used in space (outside of gravity wells), and few lived in habitats in space to consume these resources - it simply wasn't economical. Jambatan Bintang was the last straw in space investment, and it worked, allowing resources to be cheaply shifted between Rumah and space. Asteroid mining became lucrative and the cost of ores which were becoming herd to come by on the planet dropped dramatically; many jobs were created in space and manned exploration of the solar system (using fission powered rockets brought up by the space elevator) boomed.
In 198AE, the geoengineering of Berharap commenced, this time thanks to private investment rather than government subsidy (after all, a living planet is much more lucrative than a dead one). There was great debate over who would control Berharap and its resources, as well as concerns over the effect on the native microbes found on Berharap, but everyone was too excited and reminiscent of the lucrative hydrocarbon epoch to care. By 272AE, Berharap was fully geoengineered, and had a population of 200 million; the closing financial review showed that income from the project was 6.9 times expenditure; for investors, this equated to an interest rate of 2.6% per annum on their investments; the profitability of geoengineering was quickly recognised and more ambitious plans were drawn up to geoengineer the Tanah Api, a planet closer in to the sun which would not be completely habitable until 519AE (providing a return factor of just 3.3).
Space colonies could not use the same free market capitalist system that existed on Rumah, it simply wasn't possible in such a harsh environment. Most space colonies were permanent bases in which everyone had obligations and were expected to to their job (anyone who doesn't do their job shouldn't have been sent out in the first place); it was a survivalist economy, sloth meant death. As such, the inhabitants of the colonies were used to a allocation-based economy that was significantly different from the capitalist economy of Rumah; this did not matter very much, as the colonial economies were minor constructs embedded within the greater capitalist system of Rumah. If investors hadn't rushed on to Tanah Api, and had instead spent the time and money to consolidate the colony on Berharap, then history could have taken a very different course; the colonists of Berharap lived under a provisional government (which also acted as the geoengineering authority on the planet), which was never replaced. On 304AE, Berharap officially became independent.
Berharap's independence (signified by their claiming of the right to transport nitrogen from one of the outer gas giants to add to their own atmosphere) resulted in the first superpower which used the allocation-based economic system, rather than the capitalist system, and represented a rallying point for the other colonies. The rallying of the other colonies was actually completely legal, as they were registered as corporate assets rather than sovereign territory; the independence of Berharap was more serious, yet there was nothing that Rumah could do about it. Habitable planets aren't as vulnerable as space colonies, and nobody knew (or even considered) a war in space.
The organisation formed by Berharap and its colonies was named the Communion of Worlds. The name was decided by a committee on Berharap; 'communion' gave the impression that the colonies were autonomous and equal, while 'worlds' proudly acknowledged the space colonies and habitats as worlds in themselves, just as real as Rumah or Berharap.
The second half of the colonisation epoch was overshadowed by the Pergeseran War, a cold war between the capitalist and allocation economic systems. Both sides made attempts at developing space-based weapons systems with which to terrify the other, while the Divan of Mukhtars and the Central Committee worked hard to stimulate their respective economies. Unlike in small colonies, an economy as large as that of Berharap requires advanced computer networks to control allocation, which were targeted by cyberattacks from Rumah; Berharap responded by investing in the largest espionage and intelligence infrastructure ever devised.
The decisive blow in the war was the development of advanced quantum computers (ironically by scientists on Rumah), which easily out competed older conventional computers. the Divan of Mukhtars intended to use quantum computers to direct new cyberattacks at the allocation networks of the Communion of Worlds, but by then access to those networks had been completely withdrawn. This gave enough time for the Communion of Worlds to integrate quantum computers into its own allocation systems - combined with the latest dynamic allocation software, the unthinkable happened. The allocation systems out-competed capitalism. The last refuges of purely old capitalism - a few city states on Rumah - admitted defeat in 452AE.
Communion Epoch (452AE to 499AE)[]
Starting Population: 52 billion
The domination of Auroran civilisation by the Communion of Worlds allowed for new co-operation in science and industry reminiscent of the divan epoch. A particular goal (after the rewilding of Rumah) was the advancement of particle physics, which had lagged behind nuclear physics for many years and was still a relatively new topic as, during the hydrocarbon epoch, investment in particle accelerators was shunned in favour of investment in the space industry after the completion of the Standard Model. However, during the Pergeseran War, the first tentative steps had already been taken into the field, with interesting results.
One of the ways that Rumah had made its capitalist economy more efficient was the development of a superluminal communication system which operated using tiny warp bubbles a tenth of a nanometre across (produced in particle accelerators), the system had limited success and the best consequence was probably refinement of particle accelerator technology. Scientists from the Communion of Worlds had already theorised that such microscopic warp bubbles could have been produced during the Big bang, so it made sense that they could also be produced in accelerators designed to replicate the Big Bang. The combination of Berharap theory with Rumah experimentation resulted in the shocking realisation that the warp bubbles could be made arbitrarily larger.
The first superluminal drive was tested in 493AE to much fanfare; a simple probe travelling from Berharap to the planet's fifth libration point, though the real excitement for the scientific community was in 494AE, in which the mission was repeated at superluminal speeds (the 493AE mission being slower than the speed of light). The Communion of Worlds was quick to realise that the stars were open for the taking. However, it would be another five years before the first manned mission was sent to another solar system, as the success of the superluminal drive was almost completely out of the blue for the mission planners, and much preparation and fine tuning was required; it was fitting that the first manned interstellar mission took place at the eve of a new century.
Expansion Epoch (499AE to 840AE)[]
Starting Population: 56 billion
The expansion epoch saw the gradual expansion of the Communion of Worlds into the galaxy. The history of the expansion epoch is too diverse to sum up briefly, quite like the history of the classical epoch, but it represents a golden age for the Aurorans, as poverty is eliminated, Rumah returns to its status as capital, as well as its former natural beauty (with a few adjustments from geoengineers), and first contact is made with the civilisations of the wider galactic community.
Present (840AE)[]
Starting Population: 91 billion