History of Haven (Chronicles of Haven)

For the geologic history of Haven, see this.

This is a basic breakdown of the history of the planet of Haven. All dates are given in Earth Standard Time.

Prehistory of Haven (before 3500 BC)
The precursors to the Orinthians evolved over 3 million years ago. Modern Orinthians (Orinthos sapiens) only came into being roughly 130,000 years ago, most likely somewhere within the Qaratas Desert.

It was around this time that Ornithians evolved basic social abilities, including cooperation. While visual and auditory communication between Ornithians was very limited, Ornithians used "chemical sensors" on their body to easily communicate between each other and feel empathy.

Due to the scarcity of food in the desert environment where they first evolved, the Orinthians would begin to evolve to be able to convert solar energy into useable energy in a process similar to photosynthesis. However, this process would remain half-formed, as Orinthians quickly spread across Haven, leaving those who settled in the deserts to further hone their ability to photosynthesize, while those who settled in wetter climates began to lose this ability and instead rely on food intake through eating. These disparities would form two seperate subspecies of Orinthian: the desert Orinthian (Orinthos sapiens aridus) and the wetland Orinthian (Orinthos sapiens humidus).

Ornithian Neolithic (~3500 BC-1000 BC)
The Wetland Orinthians, having lost their ability to photosynthesize, led a hunter-gatherer lifestyle that later transitioned to agriculture, much like humans did. Desert Orinthians, on the other hand, relied solely on photosynthesis for food intake. However, they still needed to drink water, and so their civilizations developed around large bodies of water, such as lakes, rivers, and oceans (which on Haven are actually drinkable due to the native phytoplankton feeding on salt).

Agriculture was first discovered around 3500 BC, with several Havenite crops showing signs of cultivation around this time, including Havenite pura and oron, the latter of which would become the staple food of the Orinthians of most of Primera, and continues to be the most important grain in modern Orinthian cuisine.

The first known Orinthian city, Tsichenish, located on the eastern Primeran coast near the modern city of Guaidónia, Esperanza, was constructed around 3000 BC and was probably inhabited by up to 6,000 people.

Haven’s main developed civilizations arose on eastern Primera and western Borealia respectively, leading to these areas commonly being dubbed as “Haven’s Fertile Crescents”.

Desert Orinthian Civilizations
Desert Orinthian civilization would mainly be concentrated near freshwater sources, and be mostly characterized with smaller settlements clustered around water bodies. The Desert Orinthians, having their dietary needs met with photosynthesis, were not a hunting society, and thus they did not have a concept of private property. Everything was owned communally by the clan, and all members of each clan would be free to take the things they needed (this system of government would later lead to innumerable Internet flame wars spearheaded by communists who had never stepped a foot on Haven but liked to judge things without actually knowing the full story. Shame.).

Ornithian Bronze Age (~1000 BC-1700 AD)
During this time, some metals were used by tribes on the east coast of Primera to create sturdier tools. Metallurgy and chemistry were developed around this time, and water found its use as a very useful chemical solvent.

Writing would originate in the Roivas civilization, centered around the New Danube Delta, on the southwestern coast of Borealia. This primordial form of writing, as well as most other pre-human Orinthian written language, would be mostly pictographic and/or ideographic, and would mainly be written on clay or stone tablets, using their beaks, or in certain rare cases, a primitive form of chisel.

First Contact and Early Years (2174-2200)
In 2174, the First Human-Ornithian Contact was established by remote-controlled drones. Rudimental communications were engaged by displaying geometric shapes and natural phenomena, followed by English words associated with them via hologram. Later on, the same drones were used to test the native Ornithian population's ability to remember the English language by encouraging them to correctly assign English words to the aforementioned images displayed. After the few promising candidates were identified, the USRV Columbus landed on Haven near an Ornithian population with the most candidates to initiate contact.

By 2180, a base of operations was created by the crew of the Columbus near the Ornithian population center of Cerno. Human tools and devices were shown to the local populace, and writing quickly became the clearest way to communicate between the two species, as the local Ornithians lacked sophisticated vocal chords.

A Human-Ornithian embassy was built in Cerno in 2183, led by the digital intelligence PECE.

The Great Migration (2200-2350)
By 2200, the first colonial settlements had been built, mostly in the continents of Primera and Borealia.