a brief history of ooranye
12: the cobalt era

[continued from 11: Revolutions]

the cobalt era

One of the most lamentable gaps in our knowledge of Uranian history concerns the mysterious Cobalt Era – 6,292,385 Uranian days; 256 Uranian years; equal to 21,534.5 Earth years.

The Cobalt contrasts with the preceding great era, the Vanadium, in that population recovered; there was renewed interest in Fyaym; hereditary monarchies ceased and Noads were elected once more; the sunnoadex recovered its prestige. These trends, nudging Syoom back towards its norms, come as no surprise. But there is more to Era 27 than this.

To us it is like a dream of which strong impressions remain, but few details. Or like a wash of colour, intense and exciting, but without shape.

It was an era which inspired many great artists, at the time and since. The sky-scapes of the Cobalt Era are famous, and this chimes with the fact that some of its most characteristic developments were to do with journeys in the sky.

One of the few facts we know about the middle of the era is that an international organization called the Sky Patrol flourished during that period; it was a kind of Syoomean Navy, under the nominal or actual command of the Sunnoad, and its role was to foster the thickening of the Syoomean “carpet”. Nothing like this Sky Patrol had existed for a long time.

A peculiarity of Era 27 was the great popularity of balloon flights. Cheaper than airships although much more vulnerable, balloons were actually used for exploration, to a degree that is remarkable considering the perilous conditions on Ooranye.

However the greatest mystery, the one which ended the era, was tackled on the ground.

We are told that the “first teleological investigations” occurred in Era 27, linked to the understanding which the Uranians later achieved, of the direction in which the Great Cycle is taking them. This work required the study of the rise and fall of previous civilizations. So a stimulus was given to archaeology: the ruins of many Vanadium Era and older sites swarmed at this time with scholars, scavengers and looters, wallowing in the ever-richer culture-layer of Syoom.

The Cobalt Era ended with a particular archaeological discovery…

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