Vorlnuv
We first became aware of the Vorlnuv in 2995. They reside on the barren planet Nau in the Norlvul system. They are enduring, elegant, and diligent.
The Vorlnuv use stone tools for many things. This has dramatically improved their efficiency in hunting the wild nursvauv.
The Vorlnuv have begun to cultivate crops. One especially popular crop is borlboul, a kind of colorful leaf.
The Vorlnuv have developed a simple system of writing, which they use primarily for worship.
The Vorlnuv have learned how to catch water-dwelling creatures such as the unorava, which is now an important part of the Vorlnuv diet.
The Vorlnuv have mastered the control of fire. They use it to cook their food, and to light their villages at night.
The Vorlnuv 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.
The Vorlnuv have developed a sophisticated understanding of basic mathematics, such as arithmetic, algebra, and geometry.
The Vorlnuv have domesticated a species of small scaly animals. The pets assist their Vorlnuv owners with pest control in exchange for food and shelter.
The Vorlnuv have begun to construct permanent dwellings and other structures. They make especially extensive use of sandstone as a building material.
The Vorlnuv 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 Vorlnuv have discovered how to forge molten metal into jewelry, tools, weapons, and armor.
The Vorlnuv have learned how to build ships and sail them across the oceans of Nau to explore and trade over increasingly greater distances.
In 3207, many of the disparate Vorlnuv villages were united under a single banner by an individual known as Narlnul Narvnaul. The resulting empire has its capital at Norvuas Nuo and rules over approximately 41% of the entire Vorlnuv population. Like many other Vorlnuv states, it is governed by a hereditary monarch.
The Vorlnuv have developed a simple printing press, and mass-produced versions of important texts have begun to circulate widely throughout the world. Works of natural philosophy are especially popular.
The Vorlnuv have built elaborate pipe and sewer systems to supply their larger settlements, such as Norvuas Nuo, with fresh water and a hygenic means of waste disposal.
The Vorlnuv 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 Vorlnuv have begun to use lenses and mirrors made from polished crystal, glass, and water to redirect and focus light.
In 3262, a rapidly growing religion known as Bou became the official religion of the largest Vorlnuv state. Adherents of Bou wear striking purple clothes to mark themselves as believers.
Some of the Vorlnuv have begun to experiment with alchemy, systematically searching for new ways of combining and manipulating ingredients to yield useful chemicals, compounds, and medicines.
The Vorlnuv have discovered a way to manufacture gunpowder, which they primarily use for explosive mining.
The Vorlnuv 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 Vorlnuv population.
In 3332, the Vorlnuv population reached 25 million individuals. Many of these reside within permanent cities, the largest of which is known as Norvuas Nuo and has a population of 26,000.
The Vorlnuv have developed a practical and cost-effective steam engine, which can be fueled with wood or coal.
Through systematic observation and categorization of the various living things on Nau, the Vorlnuv 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 nursvauv and the unorava, may in fact be descended from a single common ancestor.
The city of Norvuas Nuo has become renowned among the Vorlnuv as a center of commerce and trade. In particular, the durable pottery produced there is highly sought after by traders around the world.
The Vorlnuv 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 Nau to exchange several messages over the course of a single day.
In their efforts to understand the motion of planets in the sky, free-falling bodies, and projectiles, the Vorlnuv have developed a new branch of mathematics which is immediately recognizable as calculus.
The initially controversial hypothesis that diseases can be caused by microorganisms has begun to catch on among the Vorlnuv, leading to the widespread adoption of public health policies which have greatly reduced the spread of disease.
The Vorlnuv have discovered that electromagnetic waves may be used to transmit information, enabling the development and widespread deployment of media for audiovisual broadcasting.
The Vorlnuv have developed flying machines which can carry them into the skies above Nau.
The Vorlnuv have begun to develop rockets.
With the development of the transistor, the Vorlnuv have begun to construct more sophisticated electronic circuits.
The Vorlnuv 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 Vorlnuv have begun to build general-purpose programmable computers.
The Vorlnuv have developed an accurate model of the internal structure of the atom, which has also enabled them to understand the phenomenon of radioactivity.
The Vorlnuv have begun to connect their computers into a single vast network, enabling communication and collaboration on a truly global scale.
The Vorlnuv have taken their first tentative steps into space, launching craft capable of supporting several individuals into orbit around Nau before retrieving them safely.
The Vorlnuv have developed a form of artificial general intelligence which rivals many of their own intellectual capabilities.
In 3552, following decades of negotiation, the various sovereign Vorlnuv nations came to an agreement concerning the establishment of a unified planet-wide government for all of the Vorlnuv.
The Vorlnuv have begun to understand quantum physics.
The Vorlnuv have begun to experiment with the use of "intelligent materials", in the form of swarms of programmable nanobots.
The Vorlnuv have constructed their first cost-effective quantum computers, dramatically improving their collective ability to perform certain types of calculation.
Through their investigations of quantum phenomena, the Vorlnuv have discovered a means of sending and receiving messages which travel at speeds exceeding that of light itself.
The Vorlnuv have begun to establish permanent colonies on worlds other than Nau. Although still largely unable to travel outside of the Norlvul system, the distribution of Vorlnuv civilization across multiple worlds greatly reduces the risk that they will collapse due to any crisis of merely planetary scale.
The Vorlnuv have successfully tested their first faster-than-light starship. No longer are they trapped within the gravity well of the Norlvul system: they are now free to take their place alongside us as fellow wanderers among the stars.
In 3581, the Vorlnuv joined us.