Parnassus

This article has a separate continuity. This article is in the Richard Hatch novelizations separate continuity, which is related to the Original Series. Be sure that your contributions to this article reflect the characters and events specific to this continuity only.

Parnassus is the original homeworld of humanity in the separate continuity of the Richard Hatch novelizations.

History

Parnassus is the font of all humanity, the planet where the human race began many millennia before the establishment and subsequent destruction of the Twelve Colonies.

Overpopulation and Exploration

Over the course of its history, overpopulation threatened to destroy Parnassus. Despite the planet's crowded conditions, human nature manifested in violent conflicts among the population. People fought amongst themselves based on regional origins, gender, and flesh tone. In response to this crisis, the people of Parnassus spent centuries developing interstellar travel and created numerous outposts and colonies far and wide.

During this period of exploration, the people of Parnassus discovered a planet called Cylon, whose sentient creatures were savage, antagonistic, and reptilian. The Cylons possessed no significant technology at this time and were given a wide berth, as they posed no threat to the explorers.

Several of the colonies established by Parnassus emigrants were founded on planets that already had sentient life, whose evolution could be influenced. Earth was one of these planets, though its precise location was never specifically detailed in the surviving records.

The Lords of Kobol

Among the people of Parnassus, the House of Kobol were a family of priests who lived in seclusion. Known as the Lords of Kobol, these priests took few acolytes but many followers, spending every moment improving themselves through concentration, meditation, and inner vision. Over long millennia, the Lords of Kobol developed mental abilities far superior to those of other humans, chief among these being clairvoyance and telepathy.

While the rest of Parnassus struggled with overpopulation and conflict, the Lords of the House of Kobol continued to evolve. Time seemed irrelevant to them, and their private writings discuss an "advancement to the light" that has never been explained in any greater detail. They watched their rival Houses settle colonies on planets orbiting suns hundreds of light years distant.

Destruction

The Lords of Kobol were the first to realize that Parnassus's star was going to nova. They had yahren to plan their exodus from the doomed world. When the Lords finally left, most of the planet's other people had already departed for previously established colonies.

The Nomen, who would later be found on Caprica, departed Parnassus during the initial exodus when it became clear the planet was going to destroy itself.

Following the destruction of Parnassus, the Lords of Kobol led their acolytes and many followers to a remote planet which would sustain them from the fruits of the land. This planet became known as Kobol.

Legacy

The destruction of Parnassus and the subsequent exodus to Kobol formed the foundation of Colonial mythology and religion. The Books of the Lords of Kobol became the philosophy by which humanity wished it had the fortitude to live, and the Lords continued to be worshipped for thousands of years after their departure from Parnassus.

According to Zac, who existed in the afterlife realm of the Lords of Kobol, humanity began on Parnassus in the distant past, many millennia ago. This knowledge was considered common among those of pure Kobollian blood, though the full truth was often obscured by mythology.

The emigration from Parnassus resulted in the establishment of numerous colonies across the galaxy. A holo-cube star map recovered from the Cylons showed the locations of twenty planets originally settled by the emigrants from Parnassus, including both Kobol and Earth. This information gave the surviving fleet hope that they might find other humans descended from Parnassus, potential allies who could aid them in their fight against the Cylons.

Commander Apollo believed that the quest to understand humanity's origins on Parnassus and to follow the path of the Thirteenth Tribe was essential not only to finding Earth but to understanding the true nature of the Lords of the House of Kobol.

References

 

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