History Literature / AllTomorrows

''All Tomorrows: A Billion Year Chronicle of the Myriad Species and Varying Fortunes of Man'' is a 2006 science-fiction book by [[Creator/CMKosemen C. M. Kosemen]] (a.k.a. Nemo Ramjet), with a heavy focus on [[SpeculativeBiology speculative evolution]]. The story begins in the near future, as burgeoning population pressures force humanity to terraform and colonize Mars. After a [[TheWarOfEarthlyAggression brief but violent civil war between the two planets]], the genetically engineered survivors begin a new wave of colonization, spreading across the galaxy. Everything is looking up for the human race... until the colonies encounter the [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Qu]], technologically advanced aliens on a religious mission to remake the universe. Although humans fight valiantly, the Qu easily overpowered humanity; as punishment, these aliens decide to genetically modify the survivors, turning most of them into mindless, animalistic creatures before departing.

** Without gravity holding back the growth of the brain, the Asteromorphs are said to have larger and more complex thoughts than anything their human ancestors could manage. A physically larger brain is only useful up to a certain point; after that, it takes longer to get a signal through the sheer volume of brain tissue and it actually makes someone ''dumber'', not smarter. Of course, the Asteromorphs may be aware of this and live in a totally different timeframe than the rest of post-humanity, given that they're patient enough to observe the galaxy for millions of years.

** Arguably, the Qu. They felt that is was their right to take living creatures of all stripes and reshape them into things the Qu saw as pleasing or as proper. When they encountered humanity, they exterminated the baseline Star Men, and punished the survivors for resistance and replacing the native ecosystems by leaving humanity's survivors as animalistic or otherwise primitive new species.

* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs:
** Humans find a fossil of derived earth dinosaur on an alien world, which was their first clue to the existence of intelligent aliens.
** For some reason, the Satyriacs resemble theropod dinosaurs, even having long horizontally held tails.

* LizardFolk: The Saurosapients, descended from lizards brought to space by pre-Qu humans.

* BizarreSexualDimorphism: The Temptors. Their males were beaked, brainless little imps, while their females were intelligent, immobile and two meters tall.

* AnimalIsTheNewMan: On one of the human worlds conquered by the Qu, the posthuman descendants were genetically stunted to never be able to achieve true sapience ever again. Instead, a species of lizard which were previously the posthuman's pets grows intelligent enough to develop civilizations, becoming the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Saurosapients]]. Despite originating from a completely different species, they are considered just as human as all the other "true" human-descended races and for all intents and purposes were honorary humans.

* TheReveal: Arguably: [[spoiler: [[HumanitysWake humanity is long gone]] either somehow all dead or transcended into something or some''where'' else by the time the book was written. The author Nemo Ramjet is an alien from an unrelated species, documenting what he has learned about our extinct species some billion ears in the future]].

** Lastly, the post-war empire of the Asteromorphs were a Solid Type III, probably even Borderline Type IV, with the narration mentioning how their civilization and union with Amphicephali spanned multiple galaxies, were able to defeat The Qu, negated the problems related to interestellar space travel through the use of wormholes and made their entire species immortal through the use of rejuvenating tech. [[spoiler: If the "mass migration to another plane of existence" that the author suggests is true, the empire also underwent a process where they AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence, with their final place in the scale left unknown.]]

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRdXwnxurs0&feature=youtu.be They are]] apparently a HiveMind who believes in "cosmic forces" and has strict religious beliefs against sentience itself. Their pyramids are actually beacons of some sort that punish emerging civilizations.

* BeneathTheEarth: The people of one world tried to hide from the Qu in continent-sized bunker complexes. The Qu found them anyway, and filled the bunkers with a complex troglodytic ecology, including the humans’ blind, almost batlike descendants.
* BenevolentPrecursors:

* CatFolk: The Killer Folk have muzzle-like jaws, saber teeth, pointed ears, yellow eyes, spotted body hair, and possibly paw-like feet that make them resemble these. Their ancestors looked like a goblin crossed with a serval.

* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: Averted for most of the story. The aversion is most apparent with the Bone Crushers, monstrous-looking posthumans, which the author points out that despite looking inhuman and horrifying, it might as well be your own grandchild and the last hope for humanity. The closest we get to this trope being played straight are with the Killer Folk, who were described as a warlike race in their hunter-gatherer era; the Sail People, for the same reasons as the Killer Folk; and the [[spoiler: Gravitals]], whom believed were the only worthy inheritors of the [[spoiler: Star People]] and wiped out the Second Human Empire. But in all these cases, the aforementioned posthumans had families and loved ones.

** The Qu are religious fanatics who see all other sapient life as heretics who need to be severily punished for their "evil" (i.e. just existing).

-->'''The Author''': Many throughout history were unaware of this most basic fact. [...] Even now, it is sickeningly easy for beings to get lost in false grand narratives, living out completely driven lives in pursuit of non-existent codes, ideals, climaxes and golden ages. In blindly thinking that their stories serve absolute ends, such creatures almost always end up harming themselves, if not those around them. To those like the misguided; look at the story of Man, and come to your senses! It is not the destination, but the trip that matters. What you do today influences tomorrow, not the other way around. Love Today, and seize All Tomorrows!

* {{Robosexual}}: {{Inverted}}. Several Gravitals are noted to have fallen in love with their organic subjects.

* UnreliableNarrator: The author himself. [[spoiler: Since he narrates the history of humanity a billion years after the fact, the information can only be so accurate, like any historical analysis. Many gaps in chronology and awkward timelines for human evolution are speculation. The fact he holds a modern human skull upside-down show how little he knows, and also how little he has to work off of.]]

* BalefulPolymorph: As punishment for terraforming different planets, killing off the native life and taking the Qu's self-perceived role as masters of organic life, the Qu decide to modify humans into various animal-like creatures.

* {{Terraform}}: All planets colonized by the Star People were terraformed, in some cases eradicating the native ecosystems, which is implied to [[EvenRvilHasStandards have offended the Qu as they intended to take useful genetic material from those life forms.]]

* {{Terraform}}: All planets colonized by the Star People were terraformed, in some cases eradicating the native ecosystems, which is implied to [[EvenRvilHasStandards|have offended the Qu as they intended to take useful genetic material from those life forms.]]

* {{Terraform}}: All planets colonized by the Star People were terraformed, in some cases eradicating the native ecosystems, which is implied to have offended the Qu as they intended to take useful genetic material from those life forms.

* FeatheredFiend: [[{{Lightworlder}} The Striders]] were hunted to extinction by vicious [[RaptorAttack raptor-like]] predators descended [[LethalJokeCharacter from]] [[CluckingFunny chickens]].

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Pterosapiens are short lived allegedly because flight and sapience cannot be balanced. But in real life highly intelligent birds like corvids and parrots have lifespans comparable to humans, and birds and bats generally live longer on average than similar sized flightless mammals, likely due to metabolic quirks precisely because they need extra juice to fly.

* {{Lightworlder}}: The Striders were genetically modified by the Qu for life on a moon with one-fifth Earth gravity, being given grotesquely elongated limbs and necks, becoming giraffe-like browsers of their world's skyscraper-high trees. They currently provide the ImageSource.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Pterosapiens are short lived alledgedly because flight and sapience cannot be balanced. But in real life highly intelligent birds like corvids and parrots have lifespans comaprable to humans, and birds and bats generally live longer on average than similar sized flightless mammals, likely due to metabolic quirks precisely because they need extra juice to fly.

* CastFromLifespan: A more realistic version of this trope: the Pterosapiens get to enjoy the benefits of flight ''and'' intelligence, but the stress of having to power their flight muscles and big brains means that the average Pterosapien lifespan is less than thirty years.

The Book can be read online [[http://www.sivatherium.narod.ru/library/Ramjet/01_en.htm here.]] The original PDF version can be found via [[https://web.archive.org/web/20061124141617/http://www.nemoramjet.com/alltomorrows.pdf the Wayback Machine.]] The author's Website/DeviantArt is [[http://nemo-ramjet.deviantart.com/ here]].

Compare ''Literature/LastAndFirstMen'', to which it is in many ways the SpiritualSuccessor.

* EldritchStarship: Gravital warships are enormous rectangular slabs with no visible weapons or means of propulsion, which presumably move using the same gravity-manipulation technology as their builders.

* EldritchStarship: Gravital ships are enormous rectangular slabs with no visible weapons or means of propulsion, which presumably move using the same gravity-manipulation technology as their builders.

''All Tomorrows: A Billion Year Chronicle of the Myriad Species and Varying Fortunes of Man'' is a 2006 science-fiction book by [[Creator/CMKosemen C. M. Kosemen]] (a.k.a. Nemo Ramjet), with a heavy focus on [[SpeculativeBiology speculative evolution]]. The story begins in the near future, as burgeoning population pressures force humanity to terraform and colonize Mars. After a brief but violent civil war between the two planets, the genetically engineered survivors begin a new wave of colonization, spreading across the galaxy. Everything is looking up for the human race... until the colonies encounter the [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Qu]], technologically advanced aliens on a religious mission to remake the universe. Although humans fight valiantly, the Qu easily overpowered humanity; as punishment, these aliens decide to genetically modify the survivors, turning most of them into mindless, animalistic creatures before departing.

* MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness: About a 2. While it does focus on evolution and speculative biology, it is clear this is more of a spiritual text than a scientific one. While The Author is trying to utilize science, the gaps in his knowledge are simply handwaved.

* TokenNonHuman: [[PlayingWithATrope Played with.]] Despite having human-like sentience, the Saurosapients are the only species in TheAlliance between the majority of post-humans to not have, well, human ancestors, since the Lizard Herders are stunted, never reachieving their sentience and the lizards that co-existed with them evolved into what they are. Still, they are still considered "human" enough to be counted alongside the other evolved Post-Qu humans.