The History of the Colonial Tribes

[Orion]

Hi everybody and please contribute to the history of the Colonial Tribes. There is very little evidence as to what happened in the history of the Colonies in the series, apart from a few glimpses at general developments. However, we do get some ideas on the basis of which we might deduce some of the general history.

There are a few hints at parallels between Colonial history and Earth history. E.g., the Colonials at some point in their history employed sailing ships (Adama's model). There was a philosopher like Immanuel Kant who introduced the "imperative" (as elaborated by Cain in her speech in "Razor"). What we do NOT know is when or where these things occurred.

In the light of the fact that the Colonials are in many respects far more advanced as we are (FTL drives), we may assume that several hundred years of development occurred between their relative past that might have been comparable to our civilisatory status of the present, and their exodus time.

I argue that many of the hints at their history need clarification, as we do not know where and when what occurred. I think sailing ships must be part of their past on Kobol, otherwise there would have been a cultural amnesia concerning modern technology. Also, living on 12 planets, after the exodus from Kobol the tribes must have known interplanetary traffic.

We will have to resort to imagination, though. On the Colonies, there is hardly any archeological evidence that dates back more than 2000 years, except for some artefacts brought from Kobol (Arrow of Apollo and others). Also, we do not know where the human race originated in the first place.

Finally, it will be interesting of how the writers blend the Colonial history with Earth history. E.g., we do know that humans evolved on Earth. they did NOT come from "out there". So, unless there is a parallel universe we are talking here, Kobol was not the place of origin of the human race. Will the return to Earth be the final step of closing the cycle of time?

What are your ideas? In the next posting, I put down what I think fairly feasible for a preliminary history.

[Orion]

So far, we don't have much:

-indefinite Humans evolve on a planet other than the 12 Colonies, most likely Earth

-indefinite Humans leave Earth for Kobol

-5000 (?) Humans should have developed advanced sailing at least a milennium before the advent of the FTL drive. The age of Enlightenment should have begun, creating a philosophy of Ethics ("imperative")

-4000 The human race knows FTL travel and are situated on Kobol

-4000 A "13th tribe" leaves Kobol

-3600 Pythian Prophecies are authored on handwritten scrolls

-2000 The 12 tribes leave for the Colonies. A cataclysm befalls them and a dark age begins (which I find very unlikely, RDM!!!)

-53 (approx.) Start of CW 1

-41 Armistice signed

-0 CW2, destruction of the Colonies and exodus of the remaining humans.

[frakk`up]

quite nice... but i think there was a kind of dark age after settling on the 12 colonies, keept jump tech, cause its really needes, just as swordsmithing was keept during our dark time.

and i dont know where i got this from, but the colonies were fighting each other, with the help of the old cylon models. The unification of the 12 colonies is not really old, when i remember correctly

[Joe Beaudoin Jr.]

Well, they only signed the Articles of Colonization some 52 years ago, at the dawn of the Cylon war. So the unification of all twelve Colonies was recent.

[frakk`up]

lol... needed an outside enemy to unite...

[OrionFour]

As ridiculous as this sounds, I would like to add that we have no idea by what means the early humans used to travel from Kobol to the Twelve Colonies, or from Kobol to Earth and back. All we know is that it was a "caravan of the stars", but it could have been a generational ship, perhaps a near-light ship.

And even if they did have FTL in the past, we don't know if they retained the technology throughout time. The Twelve Colonies are all vastly different from each other in terms of culture. This indicates that they may have had many hundreds of years to grow apart following the first exodus from Kobol, with virtually no contact between them. Only with the invention of radio would the Colonists realize that they weren't alone, and that the myths of other Colonies were true, as one Colony resurfaced after another.

The modern-day Colonies seem to be a semi-cohesive unit, and while it doesn't feel new, it doesn't feel 2000 years old either. They still seem like they have a long way to go before all the Colonies are one. I say this because I find it to be unlikely that after 4000 years, FTL technology is still the best thing they've accomplished (save artificial intelligence). I'm not saying it's impossible, I'm just saying that it just feels like they've only been space-faring for a century, maybe two; and that they've been in radio contact for a bit longer.

[Orion]

As ridiculous as this sounds, I would like to add that we have no idea by what means the early humans used to travel from Kobol to the Twelve Colonies, or from Kobol to Earth and back. All we know is that it was a "caravan of the stars", but it could have been a generational ship, perhaps a near-light ship.

And even if they did have FTL in the past, we don't know if they retained the technology throughout time. The Twelve Colonies are all vastly different from each other in terms of culture. This indicates that they may have had many hundreds of years to grow apart following the first exodus from Kobol, with virtually no contact between them. Only with the invention of radio would the Colonists realize that they weren't alone, and that the myths of other Colonies were true, as one Colony resurfaced after another.

The modern-day Colonies seem to be a semi-cohesive unit, and while it doesn't feel new, it doesn't feel 2000 years old either. They still seem like they have a long way to go before all the Colonies are one. I say this because I find it to be unlikely that after 4000 years, FTL technology is still the best thing they've accomplished (save artificial intelligence). I'm not saying it's impossible, I'm just saying that it just feels like they've only been space-faring for a century, maybe two; and that they've been in radio contact for a bit longer.


First, sorry for not posting for some time. Life is tough out here and I had some toasters on my tail ;-)

Hmm... I just wonder, if that is true: 2000 years from the beginning of colonisation... imagine that was the fact with us on Earth. No historical evidence going further back than the Roman empire. What was before that would remain a mystery. And that would have been the fact with all of the 12 tribes. And then, they invented everything (again) within 2000 years? Yes OrionFour, you're right, there are logical mismatches. E.g., FTL but no cure for cancer. AI that becomes sentient but no AI to counter that... Difficult...

[loot87]

So far, we don't have much:

-indefinite Humans evolve on a planet other than the 12 Colonies, most likely Earth

-indefinite Humans leave Earth for Kobol

-5000 (?) Humans should have developed advanced sailing at least a milennium before the advent of the FTL drive. The age of Enlightenment should have begun, creating a philosophy of Ethics ("imperative")

-4000 The human race knows FTL travel and are situated on Kobol

-4000 A "13th tribe" leaves Kobol

-3600 Pythian Prophecies are authored on handwritten scrolls

-2000 The 12 tribes leave for the Colonies. A cataclysm befalls them and a dark age begins (which I find very unlikely, RDM!!!)

-53 (approx.) Start of CW 1

-41 Armistice signed

-0 CW2, destruction of the Colonies and exodus of the remaining humans.


I think there should also be a return trip of some of the members of the 13th tribe. They would have to construct the Temple of Athena and place the arrow in Delphi. Otherwise the Pythian Prophecies would have been created before the departure of the 13th tribe, as knowledge of the original trip from Earth to Kobol would have to exist.

[crood]

Whether or not they had a united government prior to 52 years ago, the colonies seem to have developed a highly inter-dependent economy prior to that time. The fact that different colonies seem somewhat specialized in their function is a testament to that.

[Neakal]

Whether or not they had a united government prior to 52 years ago, the colonies seem to have developed a highly inter-dependent economy prior to that time. The fact that different colonies seem somewhat specialized in their function is a testament to that.

An interdependant economy doesn't always mean a peaceful coexsitence. I'm inclined to think that even when they traded, there was a heavy (almost hostile) competititon and those that benefitted from the economy greater (and more frequently) than others. It would be pretty much like our own world economy actually. And remember, the pre-unification Colonies also (and frequently from what is implied) fought eachother. That was one of the functions of the Cylons.

As for specialisation, I assume you mean the description on Aerolon as the "bread basket". Again, that does not necessarily imply a great scale of central planning to create an "agri-world". It merely shows that Aerolon was (judging from its status as the underdog) unable to advance technologically and economically compared to (and probably because of) bigger economic powers like Caprica and Tauron. Much like how most less developed countires in our world tend to specialise in textiles and things like cofee production. There isn't a conscious choice to make them so. They just become that way in the face of competition. I can agree that a specialisation could have occured after the First Cylon War, during reconstruction, but not before.