The Toba Catastrophe
While many of the Precursors focused on the war with the humans, there was another, more serious threat looming in the background. Neither the humans nor the Precursors fully understood the consequences of fighting one another instead of staying united to prevent a cataclysmic disaster known as the Toba Catastrophe. Only a small sect of Precursors was tasked with finding a way to stop a rapidly approaching solar flare from wiping out the entirety of life.
As far as we know, the team was composed of three Precursors named Jupiter, Minerva, and Juno but Aita, who was Juno’s husband, was also involved. Jupiter, Minerva, and Juno built temples underground that would outlast the solar flares, which all culminated in a Grand Temple that served as the center of operations. There were six different failed solutions employed to stop the oncoming solar flares. These attempts and failures set in place the backbone of the Assassin’s Creed story so far. Without detailing all of them, we’ll sum up the major effects.
During this process, it was realized that if enough humans all share the same thought, it will actually begin to influence reality. The hope at the time was to save the planet by using an Apple of Eden to control all the humans into thinking the thought, “Earth is Safe” as to bend reality to their will. The complications in aligning everyone to the same message and thought at the same time was the downfall of this plan. But this line of thinking does not die with the plan.
Also, Minerva learned that existence itself is subject to mathematical repetitions and patterns, meaning that with the right equation, it would be simple to see both forwards and backwards. Though traveling back in time to avert the catastrophe was unfruitful, Minerva also saw that there would be a second solar flare event thousands of years into the future, which would threaten to wipe out the current human civilization in the year 2012.
Having failed all attempts to save The First Civilization, Juno, Minerva, and Jupiter send messages forward into the future. Through their divination, they know that select descendants of Adam and Eve will come into contact with the Pieces of Eden as well as the underground temples. To save the future society, Minerva creates an item called “The Eye” that only a descendant of Adam and Eve can use to manipulate existence in such a way that will protect the Earth from the second coming of the solar flare catastrophe. Together, the Precursors record messages for the descendants of Adam and Eve to guide them to the Grand Temple to save humanity by using The Eye.
