Avqa
We first became aware of the Avqa in 3527. They reside on the steamy planet Avqa in the Adpa system. They are obsessive, nomadic, and noble.
The Avqa make use of stone tools for many things, including when hunting the wild sladqad.
The Avqa have begun to cultivate crops, including slâdâv, a kind of sour moss that grows well in the soil of Avqa.
The Avqa have begun to construct permanent dwellings and other structures. They make especially extensive use of marble as a building material.
The Avqa have learned how to catch water-dwelling creatures such as the avqa, which is now an important part of the Avqa diet.
The Avqa have mastered the control of fire. They use it to cook their food, and to light their villages at night.
The Avqa have developed a simple system of writing, which they use primarily for record-keeping.
The Avqa have discovered how to forge molten metal into jewelry, tools, weapons, and armor.
The Avqa have begun to watch the skies and recognize patterns in the movements of stars, which they use to navigate over great distances and keep track of time.
In 3709, an emerging religion known as Akxa was declared the official religion of the largest Avqa state. Adherents of Akxa wear striking brown caps to mark themselves as believers.
The Avqa have domesticated a species of small flying creatures. The pets assist their Avqa owners with navigation in exchange for food and shelter.
In 3734, many of the fractious Avqa kingdoms were united under a single banner by an individual known as Âvqa Âkqaâ. The resulting empire has its capital at Slavqav and rules over approximately 17% of the entire Avqa population. Like many other Avqa states, it is governed by a council of elders.
The Avqa have developed a sophisticated understanding of basic mathematics, such as arithmetic, algebra, and geometry.
The Avqa have begun to use lenses and mirrors made from polished crystal, glass, and water to redirect and focus light.
The Avqa have begun to make use of more sophisticated construction techniques, relying on sturdy structural elements such as arches and buttresses to support larger and larger buildings.
The Avqa have developed a simple printing press, and mass-produced versions of important texts have begun to circulate widely throughout the world. Light novels are especially popular.
In their efforts to understand the motion of planets in the sky, free-falling bodies, and projectiles, the Avqa have developed a new branch of mathematics which is immediately recognizable as calculus.
Some of the Avqa have begun to experiment with alchemy, systematically searching for new ways of combining and manipulating ingredients to yield useful chemicals, compounds, and medicines.
The Avqa have built elaborate pipe and sewer systems to supply their larger settlements, such as Slavqav, with fresh water and a hygenic means of waste disposal.
The Avqa have discovered a way to manufacture gunpowder, which they primarily use for explosive mining.
The Avqa have begun to develop rockets.
The Avqa have learned how to build ships and sail them across the oceans of Avqa to explore and trade over increasingly greater distances.
Through systematic observation and categorization of the various living things on Avqa, the Avqa have begun to develop a more sophisticated understanding of biology. Some theorists have even put forth the idea that dramatically different-looking organisms, such as the sladqad and the avqa, may in fact be descended from a single common ancestor.
The initially controversial hypothesis that diseases can be caused by microorganisms has begun to catch on among the Avqa, leading to the widespread adoption of public health policies which have greatly reduced the spread of disease.
The Avqa have arrived at a sophisticated understanding of genetics, which has enabled them to craft new forms of life by deliberately modifying the genes of existing organisms.
The Avqa have begun to construct wind and water mills, which redirect the forces of the natural world to perform repetitive mechanical tasks such as grinding grain and pumping water.
The Avqa have successfully tamed electricity, and are now beginning to deploy it throughout society. Electric lights are widespread, electric motors are used to drive factories, and the growing need for electric power has led to the construction of power plants near every major center of Avqa population.
The Avqa have developed a practical and cost-effective steam engine, which can be fueled with wood or coal.
The Avqa have begun harnessing the power of electricity to send messages across very great distances with unprecedented speed. Due to the overhead of encoding and decoding messages, long-distance communication remains far from instantaneous, but it is now possible for individuals on opposite sides of Avqa to exchange several messages over the course of a single day.
The Avqa have developed flying machines which can carry them into the skies above Avqa.
The Avqa have developed an accurate model of the internal structure of the atom, which has also enabled them to understand the phenomenon of radioactivity.
The Avqa have begun to understand quantum physics.
The Avqa have discovered that electromagnetic waves may be used to transmit information, enabling the development and widespread deployment of media for audiovisual broadcasting.
With the development of the transistor, the Avqa have begun to construct more sophisticated electronic circuits.
The Avqa have begun to build general-purpose programmable computers.
The Avqa have begun to connect their computers into a single vast network, enabling communication and collaboration on a truly global scale.
In 4175, the Avqa successfully detonated their first prototype nuclear weapon. It remains unclear whether the Avqa scientists who worked on the bomb understand the sheer destructive potential of the weapon they have created.
The Avqa have taken their first tentative steps into space, launching craft capable of supporting several individuals into orbit around Avqa before retrieving them safely.
The Avqa have begun to experiment with the use of "intelligent materials", in the form of swarms of programmable nanobots.
The Avqa have begun to establish permanent colonies on worlds other than Avqa. Although still largely unable to travel outside of the Adpa system, the distribution of Avqa civilization across multiple worlds greatly reduces the risk that they will collapse due to any crisis of merely planetary scale.
The Avqa have constructed their first cost-effective quantum computers, dramatically improving their collective ability to perform certain types of calculation.
In 4244, following decades of negotiation, the various sovereign Avqa nations came to an agreement concerning the establishment of a unified planet-wide government for all of the Avqa.
The Avqa have developed a form of artificial general intelligence which rivals many of their own intellectual capabilities.
Through their investigations of quantum phenomena, the Avqa have discovered a means of sending and receiving messages which travel at speeds exceeding that of light itself.
The Avqa have successfully tested their first faster-than-light starship. No longer are they trapped within the gravity well of the Adpa system: they are now free to take their place alongside us as fellow wanderers among the stars.
In 4276, the Avqa joined us.