History of the Early Universe
14 Billion Years Ago
The Big Bang heralds the birth of the Universe, a birth tainted by trauma. An attempt to study the moment of creation by the renegade Oan scientist Krona billions of years later would link the beginning with the end of time, unleashing a wave of entropy that devoured a billion years of potential energy from the newborn universe.
With the creation of the Universe came the creation of its opposite, a parallel universe of antimatter, and a pair of entities emerged to monitor the two universes. Also coming into being in this time were entities known as the Endless, starting with Destiny and Destruction then, as life began to emerge, Death and Dream followed by their younger siblings, the twins Desire and Despair, and the youngest, Delight, who would later become Delirium.
The rise of life on newly formed worlds in the infant universe soon led to the development of intelligence on many worlds. On Urgrund, later known as GodWorld, the first beings to achieve godhood would arise and these Old Gods would be referred to as the First World. Beings of great intelligence and power would also evolve on worlds like Maltus and Cilia during these earliest epochs of the universe.
10 Billion Years Ago
By this period the blue-skinned beings of Maltus had evolved into an immortal race of immense mental power. Such power required great control, but this took time to develop and in the interim Maltus had become a barren world. The Maltusians chose to abandon their world and migrate to other homes. Already segregated from the males due to an earlier attempt at developing control of their powers, one faction of female Maltusians would become known as Zamorans. Elsewhere a group of males chose to settle on the planet Oa.
On Oa, science and technology advanced and it was from here that the scientist Krona conducted his ill-fated attempt to unlock the secret of the creation of the universe. When his fellow Oans realized the extent of what one of their own had done they were driven by guilt to try and atone for Krona's crime against the universe. To make up for the loss of all those potential worlds and countless lives lost to the wave of entropy they chose to try and protect life and provide order to the universe. Over time the Oans would become the Guardians of the Universe, though a more militant faction would later split off and travel to another dimension where they would eventually be known as the Controllers.
5 Billion Years Ago
On the GodWorld of Urgrund, the next humanoid race on that world had also achieved godhood, joining the Old Gods and leading to the Second World. A great war broke out amongst the Old Gods between the evil gods and the good, leading to a cataclysmic Ragnorok in which the Old Gods were all destroyed and the GodWorld split asunder. The energy from this cataclysm would erupt out into the universe, echoing from the Source. This explosion would birth many cosmic forces like the Speed Force, the Quantum Field, and the Emotional Spectrum wielded by the various Lantern Corps, as well as produce the Godwave that would traverse the universe. As the Godwave passed over many worlds it would seed the potential for divinity, leading to the rise of the next generation of deities, the gods of the Third World. The two fragments of the GodWorld would later coalesce into the twin worlds of Apokolips and New Genesis and give rise to the New Gods of the Fourth World.
The Guardians of the Universe, seeking agents to help them maintain order in the universe, create the robotic Manhunters. When the Manhunters later betray their creators the Guardians turn to living beings. Harnessing the balancing green energy of willpower of the Emotional Spectrum, the Guardians create the Green Lantern Corps, whose rings draw the green energy from the Central Power Battery on Oa.
4.5 to 4 Billion Years Ago
In the Solar System, the Earth forms in the Sun's protoplanetary disc. Early in its development the Earth is struck by a Mars-sized object and the ejecta from this collision would go on to form Earth's Moon. Within the first billion years life emerges on the planet, possibly linked to the presence of the Entity, the embodiment of the White Light of Creation, hidden in the newborn planet by the Guardians of the Universe. The earliest plant life would evolve a mystical group consciousness that would become known as the Green.
3.5 Billion Years Ago
The Guardians of the Universe seek to remove magic from the universe, seeing it as a source of chaos. After warring with the mystical forces of various worlds the Guardians gather up all the stray magical energy they can find and lock it away into an orb they call the Starheart. A fragment of the Starheart would later become the lantern and ring used by Alan Scott, the Golden Age Green Lantern.
Next: Primeval Earth