Great Catastrophe

2011-12-25T12:45:01Z

69.110.79.156: I briefly went into detail of the event that destroyed the first civilization, currently there was a link to Wiki's 'Coronal Mass Ejection' that was listed as the name of it. Those ejections happen from our Sun all the time, most common form being So

{{Era|AC2|ACR|TWCB}}
{{WP-REAL|Toba catastrophe theory}}
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{{quote|The earth shook for days, the fires burned for weeks, and when the ash had settled, less than ten thousand of your kind still lived, and far fewer of ours. But we carried on, together.…|[[Jupiter]] to [[Desmond]] in the [[Synch Nexus]]|Assassin's Creed Revelations}}
[[File:Earth post catastrophe.jpg|thumb|250px|Earth following the catastrophe.]]
The '''Toba catastrophe''' was an event during pre-history which nearly eradicated both [[Humans|Humanity]] and the [[First Civilization]].

[[Minerva]] and [[Subject 16]] both described it as a planet-wide scorching that originated from the Sun.<ref name="ac2">''[[Assassin's Creed II]]''</ref><ref name="glyph19">''[[Assassin's Creed II]]'' [[Glyphs|Glyph]] #19</ref> [[Lucy Stillman]] believed that the Earth's magnetic field was disrupted by a [http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/swift/bursts/monster_flare.html Stellar Flare] which tore through the Earth's Magnetosphere, scorching the Surface bringing it to near extinction. There were roughly 10,000 survivors.<ref name="ac2"/>

A warning delivered by [[Jupiter]] to [[Desmond Miles]] seemed to corroborate this hypothesis. A massive solar flare struck the Earth, followed by planet-wide lightning strikes, firestorms and earthquakes, with large fissures opening on the Earth's surface. The earthquakes continued for days, while worldwide blazes raged for several weeks.<ref name="acr">''[[Assassin's Creed: Revelations]]''</ref>

Less than ten thousand humans and "far fewer" members of the First Civilization survived the catastrophe, while the surface of the earth was rendered barren.<ref name="acr"/> This incident, rather than the eruption of a supervolcano, was the true nature of the Toba catastrophe and subsequent mass extinction.<ref name="glyph19"/> In order to recover from the event, the remaining members of the First Civilization worked with humanity to restore life to the planet,<ref name="acr"/> as both Subject 16 and [[Juno]] implied that this effort also involved interbreeding between the two species.<ref name="glyph14">''[[Assassin's Creed II]]'' [[Glyphs|Glyph]] #14</ref><ref name="acb">''[[Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood]]''</ref>

Fortunately, some members of the First Civilization were aware of the impending disaster and attempted to prevent it,<ref name="acr"/> by constructing a series of [[temples]]. Built by "those who knew to turn away from war,"<ref name="ac2"/> the temples were said to have been placed underground, both to protect them from the ongoing [[Human-First Civilization War]] and as a "precaution" in case of failure.<ref name="acr"/>

For those within the temples, each attempted to find a solution to prevent the catastrophe, with each temple "dedicated to a different method of salvation." The information collected at each temple was transmitted to a single location from which Jupiter, Juno and Minerva would "sort and sample all that was collected." The three then tested six possible solutions in succession, "each more encouraging than the last," but all six solutions ultimately failed.<ref name="acr"/>

It was to be this point that Jupiter would refer Desmond Miles to in 2012, where they had "laboured and lost", in order for him to "take his words" and "pass them from [his] head into [his] hands."<ref name="acr"/>

These were most likely instructions for Desmond to carry on the work of Those Who Came Before, and to prevent the second catastrophe.

==References==
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{{Timeline}}
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Great Catastrophe