Age of Creation

The title of this article is conjectural. The subject has no canonical name.

The Age of Creation is a hypothetical term for the period of time when the xel'naga were active within the Milky Way galaxy, as distinct from the Age Before Creation. It is known for the following:

• According to ancient protoss texts, the xel'naga, an extra-galactic race obsessed with the seeding of life, arrive in the Milky Way galaxy tens of millions of years prior to the Great War, establishing their domain and seeding life on various worlds. Aiur is one such example, giving rise to the protoss.

• The Tal'darim separate themselves from their protoss kindred, and become followers of Amon.

• Around 200,000 BCE, modern humans arise on Earth. Millennia later, despite faulty and limited data on their history, the terrans of the Koprulu Sector possess information on this early period of human development.

• Obsessed with ending the Infinite Cycle, Amon and his followers break their long standing rule to not directly interfere with the development of life and manifest into the material universe, seeking to artificially create beings of purity of form and purity of essence to help them break the cycle.

• Frustrated with their failure to create a species with distinct purity of form, Amon's xel'naga turn their attention to Aiur. Pleased with the progress of its dominant species, Amon's xel'naga name them the protoss ("Firstborn") and commence observation which lasts hundreds of protoss generations.

• Amon's xel'naga subtlely guide their development for a millennium, leading them to the state of total sentience and awareness. Exhilarated, the xel'naga make themselves known to their creations.

• Protoss civilization spreads across Aiur within a few thousand years. However, as more emphasis is placed on individual achievement than communal advancement, the protoss begin to revert to tribalism. Distrust of the xel'naga begins to brew, and the protoss cut off their psychic link.

• Amon's xel'naga depart from Aiur, seeing the protoss as a failed creation. Disheartened at their departure, the protoss tribes turn on each other, each blaming their counterparts for their mentors’ departure. Thus begins the Aeon of Strife.

• The protoss having failed them, Amon's xel'naga head for the planet Zerus. Seeking to create a species with a distinct purity of essence, they begin developing the race of miniature insectoids known as the zerg. Attempting to waylay the potential hazards of competing egos, they create the Overmind -- a collected zerg sentience.

Misc. Events

These events occur before the xel'naga encounter the protoss, but their timing in regards to each other is unclear.

• A disaster strikes Xil, wiping out its native ecology overnight. The xel'naga abandon the planet. Millions of years later, it has yet to recover.

• A sapient alien species develops a civilization on Helios. However, it drives itself to extinction, courtesy of a war fought over a khaydarin crystal.

• The xel'naga discover/create the Argus Stone, holding it in high regard for its immense power. Their scholars meanwhile indirectly predict the events of the Great War.

• The xel'naga imprison a Void-based entity using an Argus crystal on a barren planet orbiting KL-2.

The next article in this series is 500 B.C.E.