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{{Era|AC2|TWCB}}
{{Era|AC2|ACR|TWCB}}
{{wikipedia}}
{{merge|First Catastrophe|First Catastrophe}}
{{WP-REAL|Toba catastrophe theory}}
{{WP-REAL|Toba catastrophe theory}}
{{WPtimeline}}
{{WPtimeline}}
{{quote|75ka was not a volcano.|Evidence in [[Subject 16|16]]'s [[Glyphs|glyph]].|Assassin's Creed II}}  
{{quote|The world burned until naught remained but ash…|[[Minerva]] to [[Ezio]] in the [[Vatican Vault]]|Assassin's Creed II}}
The '''Toba Catastrophe''' refers to a theory explaining a [[First Disaster|suspected sharp decline]] in human population levels sometime between 100,000 and 50,000 years ago.
[[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]].


A volcanic supereruption occurred between 69,000 and 77,000 years ago at [[wikipedia:Lake Toba|Lake Toba]] in Sumatra, Indonesia. It is recognized as one of Earth's largest known eruptions. This supervolcanic event plunged the Earth into a 6 to 10-year volcanic winter. Some researchers argue that the Toba eruption produced not only a catastrophic volcanic winter, but also an additional 1,000-year cooling episode.
[[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 an [[wikipedia:Coronal mass ejection|ejection of matter]] from the Sun, which made the planet geologically unstable.<ref name="ac2"/>


The catastrophe theory holds that the subsequent climate changes created an extreme bottleneck in the human population, resulting in the world's human population being reduced to 10,000 or even a mere 1,000 breeding pairs. As the population recovered, humanity began migrating away from Africa, eventually colonizing much of the world.
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>


[[Subject 16]] suggested that the extreme reduction in the human population had not been the result of the Toba supereruption.<ref>''[[Assassin's Creed II]]''</ref> [[Jupiter]] later confirmed that a massive solar flare had struck Earth in the distant past, causing worldwide lightening storms, earthquakes, and deep fissures in the planet's surface. Less than 10,000 humans, and far fewer of [[Those Who Came Before]], survived the disaster.<ref>''[[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"/> Subject 16 indicated that 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==
==References==
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{{Timeline}}
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Revision as of 22:10, 15 December 2011


Template:WPtimeline

"The world burned until naught remained but ash…"
Minerva to Ezio in the Vatican Vault[src]
Earth following the catastrophe.

The Toba catastrophe was an event during pre-history which nearly eradicated both Humanity and the First Civilization.

Minerva and Subject 16 both described it as a planet-wide scorching that originated from the Sun.[1][2] Lucy Stillman believed that the Earth's magnetic field was disrupted by an ejection of matter from the Sun, which made the planet geologically unstable.[1]

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.[3]

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.[3] Subject 16 indicated that this incident, rather than the eruption of a supervolcano, was the true nature of the Toba Catastrophe and subsequent mass extinction.[2] In order to recover from the event, the remaining members of the First Civilization worked with humanity to restore life to the planet,[3] as both Subject 16 and Juno implied that this effort also involved interbreeding between the two species.[4][5]

Fortunately, some members of the First Civilization were aware of the impending disaster and attempted to prevent it,[3] by constructing a series of temples. Built by "those who knew to turn away from war,"[1] 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.[3]

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.[3]

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."[3]

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

References