ENCYCLOPEDIA GALACTICA Edition 428193 - Earth English Definition: Eden Crisis An Earth English1 expression characterizing a threat to a civilization's birth world. Eighty-nine percent (89%) of all such events are due to the drift of super massive stars (supergiants and hypergiants). Such stars have life spans of less than 30 million years and almost always end their lives in a supernova explosion. The resulting shock wave can devastate a planet's biosphere even from as far away as a 1000 light-years. There is a very short period of cosmic time where such hazards may pass a civilization in safety. Even for well established civilizations an Eden Crisis can mean extinction. With the birth world, a civilization's most established colonies are often within the blast zone. In spite of a warning as long as a millenia there is insufficient time to establish a new home world safe from the supernova to ensure survival. And even if re-colonization is successful, the culture shock of losing their planet can destroy a civilization from within. Surviving civilizations can develop "armageddon cultures"2 dedicated to ending the existence of their own species.3 An Eden Crisis is one of the few times older, more advanced civilizations of the Community4 will directly aid a threatened society. Action may involve using gravity waves to deflect the coarse of a star away from a civilization's sphere of influence5. Another measure utilizes a supergiant's own intense gravity well and energy output to create a dilated temporal region close to the star's surface to slow down its aging with respect to the outside universe. This process will cause the star's apparent spectral class to shift from O or B (blue) to K or M (red)6. Though supernova explosions are a natural part of cosmic renewal an existing birth world bearing complex life forms and intelligences is considered too valuable to lose. Interventions are not always successful and threatened civilizations will also seek to preserve their birth world's bio-diversity. Civilization Gardener has often assisted endangered civilizations through the fashioning of ecological preserve planetoids as life boats7. These planetoids can then be "transferred"8 to safer parts of the galaxy outside of the blast zone and still within reach of the threatened civilization. Fashioning of a preserve planetoid can take as long as 250 years. Thirty-seven (37) known civilizations have had to cope with at least one Eden Crisis. Older civilizations have have to contend with several. Amongst them, twelve (12) have lost their birth world in the process. Of these orphaned civilizations, five (5) are confirmed to have become extinct and one (1) other is presumed extinct.3 The last recorded instance of an Eden Crisis occurred 782 thousand years ago. A blue supergiant approached the ringed birth world of Civilization Perseus (EGO 0919-00000000210). The star passed by safely without intervention. But the society did create a Gardener planetoid (EGO 0919-00800400518) which was transferred to a middle-aged class K star (EGO 0919-00000021083) 4120 light-years from the Perseus birth world. The word 'Eden' comes from the mythical birthplace for Civilization Humanity amongst Christian peoples. The myth tells that humans were expelled from their original home, never to return.9 Notes: EGO - Encyclopedia Galactica Object See References: 1Civilization Humanity: Linguistic Types 2Definition: Armageddon Culture 3Event: Disappearance of Civilization Isis Elder 4Definition: The Community 5Definition: Sphere Of Influence 6Civilization Humanity: Scientific Standards 7Civilization Gardener: History, Social Order, Unique Technological Adaptations 8Definition: Non-Quantum Meso-scale Entangled Transference 9Civilization Humanity: Mythology and Religion