Today I met with professor Valate, in Munory. She took the time to answer my questions and educate me about the Takmahl. She showed me her publications, containing a wealth of information on Takmahl history. I will carefully study it.
She dates the Takmahl departure somewhere between 21290 and 21450. I would argue for the end of that range.
We discovered the Ealur in 21423, and before that time the Reclamation was a distant memory. Athra was fully conquered in 20544, so the planetary Reclamation was complete almost a millennium before we met the Ealur. Everything indicates that during this millennium, as we were the masters of the world with nothing left to reclaim, we became much more tolerant. Moderate Sani Sabik could do their thing relatively free of persecution.
But the discovery of intelligent life outside of Athra changed all this: it revived the idea of a Reclamation, now on an interstellar level. We became much more zealous in our faith, and started to drive out sects. This must have been the moment when the sect members chose to leave in their cryoships. The religious zeal also led to internal turmoil in our own Empire, culminating in the Moral Reforms four centuries later.
The cryoships would travel at about 5 to 10% of light speed, and the gate network was not competely active (its status is not clear). Given the distance of 4.5 lightyears between Amarr and Aphi, as the photon flies, it means a trip of about half a century to a century. This is likely to be an indication of the extent of the diaspora of the Sabik. The Takmahl settled in Aphi and the surrounding systems, probaby around 21500. Their reach never extended out of the Araz constellation, so they most probably did not make it to Gamdis.
The Takmahl empire collapsed 800 to 1000 years after its foundation. We discovered the warp drive in 22821, and this kicked the expansion of the Empire into higher gear. My estimate is that the Empire would have reached the Takmahl heartlands three to five centuries after the collapse of their empire. Probably the Takmahl planets were still inhabited that long after the collapse, but the culture had reverted to a primitive form, like we did after the collapse of Eve gate.
I was also given the opportunity to inspect a statue of a Takmahl deity, a beautifully preserved relic. It is quite angular, and depicts a figure standing on an octagonal base. It has two carets or horns on its chest, and its head is pentagonal.
I am grateful and indebted to professor Valate. Although many in SFRIM frown upon her because she is Sabik, she is not the blooder caricature that some told me, but an academic mind trying to understand our history. Oh, and she confirmed the Aratake Research Consortium as the successor of the Arek'Jalaan, as a learned society with an archeology section.
