No Supernatural Intervention

Introduction
In our time line, there is a rich history of interaction of supernatural forces with mankind and his envioronment. Though there are divergent opinions as to the reality of these otherworldly entities -- including the prevailing view among intellectuals that such entities do not exist -- for the purpose of this alternate history the recorded history as found in the Bible is to be assumed. However, all instances of supernatural intervention are totally absent.

There is to be no divine revelation and no "miracles" performed on the behalf of priests or prophets. No supernatural interference from "unfriendly" sources is permitted either. The point of divergence is on the sixth day of creation as Adam and Eve, having been created seperately, find their way into a tropical paradise.

The First Humans
Waking up from his sleep, the man finds himself on a beach near a jungle full of a diversity of plants and animals. He is young, with no memory of any life before this moment. After a matter of hours, he becomes hungry and instinctively picks fruit from trees near him. Mangos, oranges, and grapes abound. Other fruit and seeds seem abundant as well. Soon, though, he finds that he is competing with various animals for the food. But the food is plentiful, so he is happy.

Within months, he begins noticing the actions of other animals that have paired with each other. He realizes that there are none like himself to pair with. And so, he begins to feel alone. He leaves his camp - with its abundance of food - in search for others like himself. Within days, he comes upon the camp of another human. He carefully approaches the camp as to not startle the creature.

It is not like him in all ways. In fact, its basic structure seems defective. As he watches he wonders how it can walk upright with its large swollen torso. He wonders if it is older than himself since the hair on its head is longer than his own. Finally, having determined that he is stronger than the creature, he decides to approach it. It turns out that though the creature was startled, it too had been hoping to find one of its own kind.

Both the man and the other creature spend time pointing and touching each other, and finally make sounds to each other. Much to their surprize, they have the same language. In fact, neither one had spoken before they had met. After a while, the other creature points out that it had been noting the differences in some of the pairs of haired animals she had met. It then pointed out that some of those differences were apparent on their own bodies as well.

In the course of time, the first humans naturally understood the purpose of their differences, and children were born. But before that, the woman had discovered a tree with fruit incredibly beautiful from a distance. When she mentioned it, she found that the man was not interested in making the difficult journey across a revine to get to the new orchard. So the woman struck out on her own to see if she could get some of the fruit for her own consumption. After many days, she found her way there and back, having eaten some and wanting to share it with her man. He agreed with her that it was delicious. Unfortunately, it was a poison to their systems, beginning a process of decay that would eventually kill them. But that was a long way off.

What they realized immediately though, was that the world around them had begun to change. They became aware of emotions and attitudes that had been absent before. For some unknown reason, the picking of this fruit had changed the nature of the universe. Before long, their idyllic surroundings became unbearable and they struck out on a journey into the world outside the jungle. They would settle on the banks of the river out of sight of the jungle, though they could see the peak of the mountain in its midst. The animals of the plain, though, seemed more hostile than those in the jungle. First contact with some of them proved dangerous. but they survived by demonstrating their superiority to all other forms of land animals. They would find carcasses of dead animals, though, that proved that death was a way of the earth.

In time, their clan would grow, being divided into two tribes when their firstborn son killed his brother some time early in the second century. By that time they had begun to take long life for granted. The woman, who the man had named "Eve" after a word meaning "life" when she gave birth to their first child, was so devestated by the murder that the man, or "Adam" in their language, had to comfort her to the extent of producing yet another child as a "replacement" for the dead one. Eve, who had long lost interest in producing any more children, surprized everyone when she became pregnant once again.

A New Mankind
Sometime after the death of Adam, one of his descendants became curious as to the changes that had come to mankind over the years. Records showed an increase in violence as tribe fought tribe in attempts to rule the earth. No one seemed satisfied with their portion of the vast continent on which they lived. Of course, the population had grown large in the thousand years or so since the first humans had left the jungle. Some even said that the earth could not support many more people as it was. And so, wars continued. And a son was born who was named "Noah," meaning "rest," expressing a hope that many wished for.

Five hundred years later, after a life that distinguished itself as that of a warrior and builder of great cities, the man named "Rest" decided to settle down. But his days traveling the world in conquest had lead him to the realization that mankind might not survive much longer at the rate it was going. From what he could figure, massive mining of deep earth minerals to power the war machines would one day cause a world ending catastrophe. Taking to himself a wife in his old age, he found that he was able to produce children again. Three sons were born in a short period, and then he began a plan to build a fortress that would survive the coming destruction of mankind.

His research indicated that the deep mining would most likely cause ruptures in the oceans floors that would shake the earth to such an extent that it would quite literally "sink into the sea." His fortress, then, would be in the form of a large box with no foundation - one that would float on the sea long enough to come ashore on any land that might prove to survive the "end of the world." In a stroke of genius, he devised a plan to create a display of the earth's land animals inside the structure. Over the years he would fund his construction through fees for viewing and studying the varied wildlife that he collected. At the same time he collected all manner of food - for the animals and for his family - which he stored for later use as seed and feed.

Though some over the years were suspicious, by the time the earth began to crumble under their feet, no one outside of Noah's immediately family - his wife, their three sons and their wives - suspected that he huge structure had been designed as a refuge. And so, as the rains began, Noah pulled the doors closed from the inside and waited. Within a week everyone outside was dead. A year later the huge barge would "come ashore" on a mountaintop. Eight people and thousands of animals would exit to build a new world.

King of the Mountain
The sons of Noah had many children, and as the families grew the expanding tribe of Noah sought a land that was less harsh than the foothills of the mountain of the Landing. They ended up in a fruitful plain near to rivers which they named after rivers of the world from which Noah had come. The greater of these rivers was called the Euphrates. It was there that a man named Nimrod rose to power over the collected tribes of the plain. Tales of the Mountain lingered among the people, as many tried to explain the destruction of the previous world in terms of forces otherworldly - even of a being or beings greater than any could imagine.

Nimrod knew better, however, being aware of the great accomplishments of mankind in the ancient times. And that knowledge was not lost. Though men lived on average only half as long as the ancients, they still were capable of much of the same if they set their minds to it. He gathered around himself such people.

Using labor of willing workers, or better yet weak-minded slaves, Nimrod built a mountain that reached into the clouds. He harnested the power of the lightning within those clouds to do wonders unseen since well before the great flood. He seemed unstoppable. However, after time many of his subjects rebelled, and after years of war, mankind was divided once again. Tribes and individual families spread three directions, taking much of the technology of Nimrod's land to the west and east. Others, without much technology, struck out toward the Mountain of the Landing in hopes of salvaging the original records rumored to be still in Noah's vessel. It would not be found, and for two millennia these peoples would be wonderers.

Mesopotamia
The land between the rivers, though near Nimrod's original structure, had many tribes. One such tribe was known as the "Chaldea" and a city there was named "Ur." The man known as "Abram" in our time line never had an encounter with the Creator God in this time line.

more to come ...

Assyria
This area includes the area in our time line called "Palestine," which was settled by Hamitic people known as the Canaanites. Due to the "supernatural" nature of Noah's curse on Canaan, we are assuming no such curse (or prophecy) was declared.

more to come

Arabia
Home in our time line to many of Abram's descendants. A rich history -- but no "Allah."

more to come

Egypt
more to come ...

India
more to come ...

The Ice Age
As a consequence of the great flood, much of the north became covered with ice and snow. Those people that sought a new life in the north found survival the first priority. Only the strongest survived, and some have argued that it was this mindset that somehow was genetically passed on, supposing that these people were "more inventive." Most likely, though, they were just "more crafty," and they were more able to outwit the less crafty.

more to come ...

Asia
more to come ...

Europe
more to come ...