History of Alkonost Sector, Part 1

Pre-History
The primary era of known pre-historic alien habitation of the Alkonost Sector was that of the Precursors, a species of sentient beings who colonized several worlds in the sector in the second millennium BCE. Starting from approximately 1600 BCE, the Precursors built cities and, apparently, starports on Pazuzu, Zariya, Nadezhda and Pigulim; a few lesser structures and artifacts can be found in other star-systems as well.

Most of what is known about the Precursors come from their ruins on Pazuzu, which were studied extensively in the early 2500s. Another source of knowledge, which is somewhat less reliable, is from the Inheritors, who claim to have evolved on the Precursor home-world from local omnivores and thus claim ownership over all Precursor ruins.

From these sources of knowledge, it is known that the Precursors had, at their height, a technological level slightly more advanced than the pre-Scream Terran Mandate, and ruled, for the very least about nine sectors of space at their height. They had a radial symmetry and multiple tentacles which could be used for locomotion or manipulation, breathed an approximately standard atmospheric mix, and had a semi-rigid endoskeleton. Their cities and starships, like their bodies, had a radial symmetry. It is known that they practiced a form of psionics, though the details remain unclear as of yet.

The Precursors brought with them certain organisms of their original ecosystem, creatures which are now common throughout the sector in general and on Precursor worlds in particular.

Around 1200 BCE, the Precursors were wiped out within a single decade. While the evidence are inconclusive about the exact cause of their extinction, it is clear that their end was a horridly violent one, be that an invasion by another alien species or a particularly nasty civil war. Some of their structures are still radioactive to this day due to dirty weapons employed by one side in that conflict.

Once the Precursors were gone, there is little evidence for any sentient settlement of the Alkonost Sector... Until the Humans came, almost a millennium ago.

Timeline of the Alkonost Sector - Part 2

Second and final installment of the timeline:

2729 CE Management on Svarog regains control and incorporates into the Svarog Mining Incorporated (SMI).
2741 CE First Fanja-Kanja scouts enter the Alkonost sector and set up an outpost on the devastated world of Iele.
2761 CE Perimeter Agency re-organized on Laana, albeit at a lower tech level.
2777 CE Fanja-Kanja tribes land on Iele and claim the world as their own, except for the few remaining Human enclaves.
2803 CE Fanja-Kanja colonize the graveyard world of Zariya.
2817 CE Rufus Zubara takes over the major city of Alubar on Atargatis, crowning himself King Rufus I
2832 CE Unity Party re-established on Laana and makes the unification of the world its aim.
2854 CE Inheritors enter orbit around Pazuzu and claim the world as their own due to the Precursor ruins on it.
2885 CE Order of the Mind established on Laana, attempting to reclaim the lost knowledge of Psionics.
2896 CE Kedesh regains full TL3 manufacturing capabilities.
2898 CE Psionic Academy established on Chernobog.
2902 CE The Revered Mothers on Baba Yaga find out how to use psionics without burning out and, consequently, rise to power.
2927 CE Humbaba regains primitive industrial production and reaches TL2.
2956 CE Alkonost launches its first satellite since the Scream.
2961 CE Incunbalis begins massive asteroid mining.
2964 CE Alkonost builds an outpost on one of its two moons.
2998 CE Space Age reaches full bloom on Alkonost; industrial-scale asteroid mining started.
3000 CE Order of the Mind on Laana manages to learn the rudiments of controlled psionics.
3013 CE The city of Hiba on Atargatis revolts against King Rufus III, forming the Hiban Republic.
3033 CE Inheritors from Pazuzu attack the Fanja-Kanja colonies on Zariya; Inheritor-Fanja-Kanja War begins.
3061 CE Inheritor-Fanja-Kanja War ended with a Fanja-Kanja victory.
3065 CE Incunablis launches its first Spike Drive ship.
3070 CE Incunablis sets up an outpost on Imprimatur.
3078 CE Incunablis conquers Sikrik.
3079 CE Incunablis conquers Laana.
3081 CE Alkonost launches its first Spike Drive ship.
3087 CE Alkonost surveys the entire Alkonost Cluster and makes contact with the locals.
3096 CE Unity Party, Perimeter Agency and Order of the Mind unite on Laana to form the United Liberation Front (ULF).
3099 CE Restored Alkonost Republic established.
3101 CE Incunablis Machine Empire launches its first raid against the Restored Alkonost Republic.
3111 CE Incunablis turns Osiris into a world-wide laboratory in biology, cybernetics, psychology and sociology.
3129 CE Committee on Psionics established in the Republic to regulate psionics use.
3142 CE Kedesh builds its first Spike Drive ship.
3146 CE Incunablis conquers Novy Murmansk.
3143 CE Johar Saleh elected Chairperson of the United Liberation Front on Laana.
3151 CE Incunablis bombs Alkonost, killing tens of thousands; the Republic decalres war. Incunablis War begins.
3156 CE Republic fleets raid Laana, weakening the Machines' grip on that world; Republic liberates Novy Murmansk.
3160 CE Kedesh conquers Ashera.
3169 CE ULF fighters destroy both IME space-stations in orbit of Laana; Chairperson Saleh killed in action; Ameena Miran elected Chairperson.
3174 CE ULF victoriously enters Startown on Laana, renaming it The Liberated City; ULF becomes ruling party on Laana.
3188 CE A united Alkonost-Laanese force attacks Sikrik during the Sikrik Campaign, with the aid of fanja-Kanja mercenaries.
3194 CE United Miners of Svarog (UMS) established on Svarog to combat the abysmal work conditions and low wages.
3195 CE Sikrik liberated; control given to Laana; Liberated Worlds established.
3196 CE Treaty signed between the Incunablis Machine Empire and the Restored Alkonost Republic; Incunablis War ended.
3200 CE Present Day.

Timeline of the Alkonost Sector - Part 1

As I'll soon write up the history of the Alkonost Sector in detail, I thought that it would be wise to first outline the timeline of events from the days of the Precursors to modern times. All dates are using the Earth calendar.

So here is the first installment:

~1600 BCE Precursors colonize Pazuzu, their first outpost in the sector.
~1550 BCE Precursors set up bases on Zariya, Nadezhda and Pigulim.
~1500 BCE Height of the Precursor civilization; exploration of most worlds in the sector.
~1200 BCE Fall of the Precursors. Evidence suggest a mass-scale war.
2289 CE Mandate scouts from the Russian Commonwealth discover the world of Alkonost.
2292 CE Terran Mandate outpost built on Alkonost, staffed by Russian citizens.
2299 CE Outpost set up on Novy Murmansk.
2300 CE Scouts from the American component of the Mandate set up an outpost on Incunablis.
2308 CE First Russian colony ship arrives at Alkonost.
2309 CE Explorers based on Alkonost scout the entire Alkonost Cluster.
2327 CE Intellectual exiles from Russia set up an academic settlement on Nadezhda.
2328 CE Dissidents and intellectuals from the Middle East form the Neo-Cnaanite Revival Movement (NRCM).
2332 CE Mandate colony ship settles Incunablis, carrying American and British colonists.
2345 CE Chernobog, Poludnitsa and Novy Murmansk settled by Russian exiles.
2373 CE Precursor ruins discovered on Nadezhda.
2411 CE NRCM reaches its height at the Core.
2415 CE NRCM forms its own exploration and colonization wing.
2422 CE NRCM scouts explore the Laana Reach.
2434 CE NRCM-influenced colonists settle Laana and Kedesh.
2450 CE Russian prison ship crashes on Svoboda; convicts revolt.
2452 CE Sikrik settled.
2453 CE Domovoi, Zariya and Iele colonized.
2458 CE Outposts established on Madmena, Ashera and Pigulim.
2461 CE Isis and Osiris colonized; outpost built on Imprimatur.
2466 CE The Svoboda Campaign launched by the Mandate fails; former convicts have the upper hand.
2677 Mining facilities built on Svarog.
2482 CE Precursor ruins on Pazuzu discovered by scouts from Laana; research outpost established.
2490 CE Resheph and Ashtoreth colonized.
2501 CE Jump Gate built in orbit of Alkonost; the Alkonost Golden Age starts.
2526 CE The Mandate builds an advanced biological research center on Ashtoreth.
2549 CE Alkonost, Novy Murmansk, Poludnitsa, Chernobog, Nadezhda, Zariya and Iele set up the Alkonost Republic; adherence to the Mandate is purely a formal matter.
2555 CE Tehom Cluster mapped by Kedeshian scouts.
2560 CE Terran Mandate launches the abortive Alkonost Pacification Campaign but fails miserably.
2569 CE Tehom Cluster colonized by a coordinated Laana-Kedesh effort.
2572 CE Dazbog Cluster heavily colonized by an ambitious drive of the Alkonost Republic.
2583 CE Unbraked AIs developed (in secret) on Incunablis
2586 CE Laana Reach becomes, for all intents and purposes save for the formal allegiance, an independent state called the Canaanite Commonwealth.
2590 CE First Perimeter Agency probe into Incunablis technology fails to find anything substantial.
2595 CE Unity Party established on Laana; rejects Commonwealth formal recognition of Mandate authority.
2600 CE Tehom Cluster declares independence from the Commonwealth, forming the Tehom Combine.
2612 CE Second Perimeter Agency probe into Incunablis technology fails to find anything substantial.
2622 CE The laboratories on Ashtoreth reach unprecedented technological breakthroughs in bio-technology.
2637 CE Incunablis sets up a secret Unbreaked AI research lab on Baba Yaga.
2642 CE Third Perimeter Agency probe into Incunablis technology fails to find anything substantial.
2665 CE The Scream.
2666 CE Canaanite Commonwealth explodes into a multi-sided civil war over remaining technology.
2671 CE AIs establish new order on Incunablis and stabilize the technological base.
2684 CE Ahron Garnus win the Kedeshian Civil War and creates the Kedeshian State.
2688 CE Despite heroic efforts, the Alkonost Republic collapses due to the lack of Pretech starship components formerly supplied by the Core.
2691 CE Situation stabilizes on Laana, forming a loose order of independent city-states.