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Around 13.8 billion years ago, all matter, energy, space, and even time itself were concentrated in an extremely hot, dense point. This point suddenly expanded, not like an explosion into empty space, but as space itself rapidly stretched and grew. As the universe expanded, it cooled, allowing particles to form atoms, stars, and galaxies.
Billions of years ago, the Progenitors were created as the single sentient species in the cosmos by an unknown race. They eventually found the technology that their creators had used and theorized that their creators had either made the technology, or that it went even further back as a part of a cycle of creators and creations.
Believing that the life span of a single species was finite, the Progenitors seeded the primordial environments of many planets with a DNA code that would direct the evolution of life on that planet towards a form similar to their own. Some of the fragments of DNA also contained parts of a computer program designed to display a holographic message from a Progenitor explaining her race and their actions. It was hoped that their descendant species would come together in the spirit of cooperation in order to assemble the program.
A mass extinction occurs at the end of the Cretaceous period on Earth when a comet impacts the planet, wiping out the dominant reptile superorder, the dinosaurs, among others.
Unknown till 2374, some of Earth's dinosaurs belonging to the hadrosaur genus survived the mass extinction. These surviving dinosaurs continue to develop, likely on a secluded, later destroyed landmass. Sometime thereafter, they possibly become one of the first interstellar species in the galaxy when they leave Earth and travel to the Delta Quadrant, laying the foundation for the Voth civilization.
The Arretans explored the galaxy and colonized several planets, possibly including Vulcan, about six hundred thousand years before the 23rd century. Around a hundred thousand years later, they achieved such great mental power that they began to regard themselves as gods. War broke out, which tore the atmosphere from their planet, ultimately extinguishing all life save for a relative handful of representatives.
Those chosen transferred their consciousness into receptacles: globes approximately fifty centimeters in diameter. Sargon's receptacle occupied a special pedestal in the main chamber of a cave constructed 112.37 miles beneath the surface of the planet. From there, he carried out the task of probing the heavens for starships representing a race advanced enough to save his people from oblivion. The remaining dozen or so of his peoples' receptacles occupied niches in a smaller side chamber.
A race of aliens from the Delta Quadrant visited Earth, imparting a genetic bonding to ancient Humans and giving rise to many Native American tribes.
They encountered a small group of nomadic hunters. Although the hunters possessed no spoken language or culture beyond the use of fire and stone weapons, they did have a respect for the land and other living creatures which deeply impressed the Spirits. The Spirits decided to bestow upon the hunters an inheritance, a genetic bonding so the hunters might thrive and protect their world. On subsequent visits, the Spirits found that their genetic gift brought about a spirit of curiosity and adventure, which impelled the Humans who received the gift, whom the Spirits referred to as "the Inheritors," to migrate away from their cold climate to the North and South American continents over the course of nearly a thousand generations.
Eventually, they numbered in the hundreds of thousands and their civilization had a profound influence on other Humans, but thousands of years later they were decimated by invaders from other lands through new weapons and disease. Those who survived scattered, many seeking refuge in other societies. When the Sky Spirits eventually returned, some twelve generations before the 2370s, they found no signs of the Inheritors' existence and believed they had been annihilated.
Vulcan was once dominated by intense emotions, clan rivalries, and devastating wars. The Vulcan people, naturally strong, aggressive, and telepathically sensitive, nearly destroyed themselves through cycles of vengeance and advanced weaponry.
Amid this turmoil, the philosopher Surak taught that only logic, non-violence, and emotional control could save their species. His ideas split Vulcan society, sparking the Wars of the Awakening between followers of logic and traditionalists. Weapons of mass destruction ravaged the planet, and Surak himself died from radiation exposure, though his katra was preserved.
Defeated traditionalists fled Vulcan in early starships, eventually founding the Romulan Star Empire. Those who remained embraced Surak’s philosophy, developing practices like mind melds, meditation, and the Kolinahr discipline to master their emotions. Over generations, Vulcan transformed into the rational, peaceful, and technologically advanced society known later in history.