Tom Kalbfus explained:
"It could be surmized that the Vilani humans were planted on Vland in roughly 10,200 BC or before, at a time when their tech level was 0. This is the time of Earth's most recent Ice Age. Since the current date is 2004, that means the Vilani have had 12,200 years to evolve separately from Earth Humans, 6717 of those years was as a civilization of TL 9 or greater."
Mr. Kalbfus,
Okay, I understand now. You're talking about your very interesting Vilani-2004 setting and not the OTU. By the way, that's what makes your setting interesting - It's not the OTU!
Here are some ideas and dates from the OTU you might fold into your setting. Please note, I said might. If they don't match your setting, ignore them and have fun!
- About 395K BC: The Ancients remove humans from Earth and transplant them on many worlds throughout Chartered Space. This would give your setting's Vilani even more time to 'evolve'; either naturally or through engineering, in different ways. (BTW, for a species with our procreational lifespan, 6700 years is an eye blink in terms of natural evolution. Any evolution would have to be directed via engineering.)
- The Vilani met plenty of other technological human civilizations before reaching Earth. The only difference is that the Vilani had both jump drive and numbers. The Seurrat had the numbers, but their sector-sized STL empire held together by generation ships and the Vilani could move faster. The Geonee had jump drive; reverse engineered from Ancient wrecks, but they had only explored outward for a subsector or so, thus the Vilani had more numbers.
"For 6717 years the Vilani had the ability to alter their DNA and engineer themselves to suit."
A very good point. The OTU seems 'lite' on widespread bio-engineering. You may want to purchase GURPS:Transhuman Space for some ideas on just how your Vilani changed themselves.
Anyway, it sounds like an extremely interesting setting and I hope you keep us informed as to how it plays out.
Sincerely,
Larsen