Great Catastrophe
- "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 Miles.[src]
The Toba catastrophe was an event during pre-history, which nearly eradicated both humanity, and the First Civilization.
This disastrous incident was often misconceived to have been the eruption of a super volcano, but it was actually caused by a coronal mass ejection, or solar flare.
Destruction
Since the catastrophe was foreseen, certain members of the First Civilization worked to find a means of suppressing it, by researching and testing methods within underground Temples or Vaults. However, the event came before any successful method could be implemented.[1]
The catastrophe was a planet-wide scorching originating from the Sun,[2][3] which occurred after polarity of the Earth's magnetic field was flipped by a solar flare. This exposed both humans and the First Civilization to deadly radiation.[2]
Earthquakes continued for days afterwards, while worldwide blazes raged for several weeks.[1]
Aftermath
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. In order to recover from the event, the remaining members of the First Civilization worked with humanity to restore life to the planet.[1]
Because their numbers were too few, the First Civilization failed to live on long after the catastrophe. Humans on the other hand were built to survive, and thus were more capable of reconstructing a new civilization. Over time, the regrowth of the earth's landscape and geography would eliminate nearly all physical evidence of the First Civilization.[4]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Assassin's Creed: Revelations
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Assassin's Creed II
- ↑ Assassin's Creed II - Glyph #19
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Revelations Official Game Guide