Qöqu

We first became aware of the Qöqu in 2300. They reside on the chilly planet Qruviu Virgqu in the Qugi system. They are kind, clannish, and playful.

The Qöqu have developed a simple system of writing, which they use primarily for record-keeping.

The Qöqu have learned how to catch water-dwelling creatures such as the gurgqi, which is now an important part of the Qöqu diet.

The Qöqu 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 Qöqu have begun to cultivate crops. One especially popular crop is virmqi, a kind of sweet seedpod.

The Qöqu have developed a sophisticated understanding of basic mathematics, such as arithmetic, algebra, and geometry.

The Qöqu make use of stone tools for many things, including as weapons when hunting the wild qruviu.

The Qöqu have begun to construct permanent dwellings and other structures. They seem to favor wood as a building material.

The Qöqu 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 Qöqu have mastered the control of fire. They use it to cook their food, and to light their villages at night.

In 2457, an emerging religion known as Ququ was declared the official religion of the largest Qöqu state. Adherents of Ququ wear simple scarlet caps to mark themselves as believers.

The Qöqu have discovered how to forge molten metal into jewelry, tools, weapons, and armor.

In 2473, many of the disparate Qöqu kingdoms were united under a single banner by an individual known as Gruqui Qurgqi the Magnificent. The resulting empire has its capital at Gurgqö and rules over approximately 17% of the entire Qöqu population. Like many other Qöqu states, it is governed by an elected tyrant.

The Qöqu have built elaborate pipe and sewer systems to supply their larger settlements, such as Gurgqö, with fresh water and a hygenic means of waste disposal.

Some of the Qöqu have begun to experiment with alchemy, systematically searching for new ways of combining and manipulating ingredients to yield useful chemicals, compounds, and medicines.

The Qöqu have begun to use lenses and mirrors made from polished crystal, glass, and water to redirect and focus light.

In 2532, the Qöqu population reached 25 million individuals. Many of these live within permanent cities, the largest of which is known as Gurgqö and has a population of 76,000.

The Qöqu have domesticated a species of small scaly creatures. The pets assist their Qöqu owners with navigation in exchange for food and shelter.

The Qöqu have developed a simple printing press, and mass-produced versions of important texts have begun to circulate widely throughout the world. Serial fiction is especially popular.

Due to its role as the birthplace of several major Qöqu religions, including the especially prominent Ququ faith, the city of Gurgqö is regarded by many of the Qöqu as a holy site. Leaders from all around the world visit the city in hopes of currying favor with the leaders of their people's religion of choice.

Through systematic observation and categorization of the various living things on Qruviu Virgqu, the Qöqu 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 qruviu and the gurgqi, may in fact be descended from a single common ancestor.

The Qöqu have discovered a way to manufacture gunpowder, which they primarily use for explosive mining.

In their efforts to understand the motion of planets in the sky, free-falling bodies, and projectiles, the Qöqu have developed a new branch of mathematics which is immediately recognizable as calculus.

The idea that diseases can be caused by microorganisms has begun to catch on among the Qöqu, leading to the widespread adoption of public health policies which have greatly reduced the spread of disease.

The Qöqu have begun to develop rockets.

The Qöqu 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 Qöqu have learned how to build ships and sail them across the oceans of Qruviu Virgqu to explore and trade over increasingly greater distances.

The Qöqu 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 Qöqu have developed a practical and cost-effective steam engine, which can be fueled with wood or coal.

The Qöqu 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 Qöqu population.

With the development of the transistor, the Qöqu have begun to construct more sophisticated electronic circuits.

The Qöqu have begun to build general-purpose programmable computers.

The Qöqu 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 Qruviu Virgqu to exchange several messages over the course of a single day.

The Qöqu have developed flying machines which can carry them into the skies above Qruviu Virgqu.

The Qöqu have developed an accurate model of the internal structure of the atom, which has also enabled them to understand the phenomenon of radioactivity.

In 2803, the Qöqu successfully detonated their first prototype nuclear weapon. It remains unclear whether the Qöqu scientists who worked on the bomb understand the sheer destructive potential of the weapon they have created.

The Qöqu have begun to understand quantum physics.

The Qöqu have taken their first tentative steps into space, launching craft capable of supporting several individuals into orbit around Qruviu Virgqu before retrieving them safely.

The Qöqu have discovered that electromagnetic waves may be used to transmit information, enabling the development and widespread deployment of media for audiovisual broadcasting.

The Qöqu have begun to connect their computers into a single vast network, enabling communication and collaboration on a truly global scale.

The Qöqu have constructed their first cost-effective quantum computers, dramatically improving their collective ability to perform certain types of calculation.

The Qöqu have developed a form of artificial general intelligence which rivals many of their own intellectual capabilities.

In 2896, a single nuclear weapon was deployed in an attack on a major Qöqu city. The incident did not escalate into a full-scale nuclear war, but the city was almost completely obliterated, resulting in the deaths of some 227,000 Qöqu.

The Qöqu have begun to experiment with the use of "intelligent materials", in the form of swarms of programmable nanobots.

In 2921, an early warning system employed by one of the major Qöqu superpowers detected an incoming nuclear attack. Whether the alert was a false alarm remains unclear, but the resulting nuclear counterattack and ensuing full-scale nuclear war has plunged Qruviu Virgqu into a state of nuclear winter from which it is unlikely that Qöqu civilization will ever recover.