THE LEGEND...

The Universe had begun as normal, galaxies had formed, stars had ignited and life was beginning to evolve. Maltus was not the first planet on which life evolved but it was the first where life did not destroy itself with wars and pollution. The Maltusians were naturally born immortal and able to command vast mental energies. To many other races they were gods. Among there number was a scientist called Krona who sought to peer pass the veil that surrounded the creation of the Universe and witness the Big Bang with his own eyes.

The Maltusians warned and tried to dissuade Krona from his experiments but he refused to listen. The result of his experiment was to let evil loose into the Universe. Krona was punished and the Maltusians decided to contain the evil and bring order to the Universe. They shifted their base of operations to the planet called Oa and became the Guardians of the Universe. They told their agents, the Green Lantern Corps, of their history and for three billion years they defended the Universe against evil. At least that was what the Green Lantern Corps was led to believe.

The truth was a conspiracy of silence as old as the Universe itself and a secret crime that doomed the possibility of existence for all subsequent Universes...

THE GUARDIANS OF THE UNIVERSE: THE TRUTH...

The Universe was born in the instant that we call the Big Bang, an eruption of existence from a singularity where all mass and energy were compressed into a single point. The physical Universe was born from that singularity as an expanding plasma of exotic particles and energetic radiation. As minutes turned into weeks the plasma cooled allowing elementary particles to condense out. Those particles joined together to form atoms and molecules - physical matter slowly began to form. As the Universe continued to expand the radiation field grew weaker and weaker until it no longer dominated the matter. That heat served as a yellow veil which shielded the beginning of the Universe from observation by time scanners and probes.

Those early atoms accumulated together under gravity to form the first generation of stars in the first generation of proto-galaxies starting a self-perpetuating cycle of stellar birth and death. Stars form as giant interstellar gas clouds slowly collapsing down into dense spheres. When the pressure in the centre of the sphere reaches a critical point nuclear fusion starts and the star slowly consumes its own body as fuel. Once that fuel is spent the star puffs up as a red giant and then explodes as a supernova. That explosion sends material back into the interstellar medium so that new stars can form. Over billions of years generations of stars were born. Many of them had companion solar systems of planets and on a hand full of those planets intelligent life evolved. Some civilizations never left their planetary cradles, others formed vast interstellar empires, but eventually they all faded.

Time marched on and the Universe aged. The cycle of stellar death and rebirth slowed as the fuel for the stars themselves was used up. The Universe grew cold, the stars dimmed and the force of gravity finally managed to halt the expansion of the Universe. No longer held up by expansion the Universe starts to collapse back down into the singularity from which it had formed. Its cycle had ended: that Universe had lived, grown old and finally died. Its ashes formed a new singularity which would explode once again to create a new Universe and the cycle would start all over again.

The entire possibility of rebirth was balanced on there being enough physical mass in the Universe for gravity to finally over come the Universe's expansion and drag everything back into a singularity. And so it had been for untold cycles of universal creation, dead and rebirth. That was until our time, our Universe's birth in the seemingly endless cycle, until the coming of Krona.

Maltus was indeed one of the first planets to bear intelligent life. It many ways Maltus was like the planet Earth, its days were 24 hours long and the dominant lifeform was a human like biped that worshipped a triple deity called the Triarch. The early history of Maltus is garbled and confused. Legends speak of the Maltusians co-existing with microscopic symbionts and of various tribes of Maltusians with different skin colors, but little of this has been verified. It is known that the Maltusians managed to survive all the normal wars and plagues that inflict intelligent civilizations. They continued to evolve over millions of years, pushing their science to the limits and honing their intellects to perfection. They became effectively immortal and evolved vast psionic powers. Krona did attempt his experiment but the consequences were far different.

Somehow his apparatus connected the entropy at the end of the Universe with the Big Bang and wiped a billion years of possible life off of the age of the Universe. The consequences went far beyond that. A significant fraction of the mass of the Universe had been destroyed. Without that mass gravity would never have enough strength to collapse the Universe at the end of time and restart the cycle of rebirth. The side effects of Krona's experiment were many and far ranging. At a previous point in the evolution of the central timeline, in the past of the Hyper-now, Krona's experiment caused the timeline to shatter into the Multiverse. The remnant of the past-History is that only one other Universe exists, a dark version of our own Universe called the Anti-Matter Universe.

The Maltusian inner council meditated on the problem and decided to act. Careful imposition of order on the Universe could allow the Universe to complete its cosmic cycle. The Maltusian elite, the inner council, their scientists and families left Maltus in a wave of migrations that spread the blue skinned race across the Universe. On more that a million world divergent civilizations were founded. Many colonies prospered, many still were lost or knocked back to the Stone Age. One colony even landed on Earth and the survivors became known as creatures of mythology to the later humans. The elite scouted and settled on the planet Oa, a yellow world located in a void near the mythical centre of the Universe.

The task ahead of the new Oans was vast and would take billions of years. They knew that along the way they would create enemies and that some of those enemies would use time travel against them. Therefore the artist Dawlakispokpok fabricated an origin story that told how the Oans were always all powerful and how Krona had unleashed "evil" into the Universe. Only the inner council of the Oans would know the truth while the other Oans and the rest of the Universe would believe the cover story. At this point in their history the Oan's still resembled blue skinned humans.

The Oan's secured Oa and began constructing a city of machines and computers that would allow them to watch and record the Universe. The most powerful of the Oans directed their blue mental energies into a crystal that was colored green by a yellow impurity (it was necessary to control the form of the crystal). For millennia those few Oan's were locked in mental symbiosis with the crystal.  As it grew they changed, their minds expanded and their bodies withered. When they had finished the Oan inner council (a small uniformly male group) had evolved into the diminutive Guardians of the Universe. They formed the emerald crystal into the Central Power Battery.

To create an ordered Universe the Guardians felt it necessary to contain as much random magic as possible. The magic disrupted the natural laws of physics and would hinder any attempt to enforce a scientific order upon the Universe. Therefore the Guardians gathered a significant portion of magic in the vicinity of Oa and bound it into an orb called the Starheart. They then hid the Starheart inside a remote star. At the same time other Oans were constructing an army of androids, the Manhunters, who would act as the Guardians agents in spreading order across the Universe. The Manhunters were armed with stun guns that drew power from a portable battery which in turn drew power from the Central Power Battery.

The Manhunters were successful but after centuries a flaw began to creep into the Manhunters programming. They saw themselves as superior to the Guardians and refused to follow their master's orders. The Manhunters rebelling against the Guardians and fought them for millennia until they finally managing to breach the defenses of Oa. The leader of the Manhunters tried to charge his weapon from the Central Battery but the near infinite energy stored there caused a chain reaction that destroyed all Manhunter weapons across the Universe. The Guardians left the Manhunters alive but powerless. The Guardians debated what to replace the Manhunters with but one group of Oans felt that a more proactive and radical strategy was needed. They were overruled by the Guardians and left Oa to become the Controllers. The Controllers would later found the Darkstars.

THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS

Following the failure of the Manhunters the Guardians decided to use living agents instead of robots. They divided the Universe up into three thousand six hundred pyramid shaped sectors radiating out from Oa (Earth is in Sector 2814). From each Sector they choose one sentient lifeform who was completely without fear and gave him a power ring carved from the crystal of the Central Power Battery. Each of the rings would allow the wearer to project emerald energy to achieve almost any tasked imaginable. The yellow impurity in the Central Battery meant that the rings could not effect anything yellow. It also served to limit the power of the wearer. The Corps of ring wielders became known as Green Lanterns after the lantern shaped batteries that they charged their rings from. Those Batteries then acted as a link to the Central Battery on Oa.

The Corps was a success and the Guardians were kept busy overseeing their agents. Meanwhile the women on Oa were left to their own devices. They were not part of the elite who had evolved into the Guardians nor did all of them go when the Controllers left. The male Guardians repressed emotion and sexuality while the women of Oa were unwilling to give up simple personal pleasures and emotions. For that reason the immortal women left Oa in search of a place where they could live as normal people and would not be burdened with the vast responsibility of the Guardians. The women would become known as the Zamorans. For a time they took the males of the planet Korugar as their lovers. In a show of good faith the Guardians programmed the Central Battery to self-destruct if its power was ever used to harm a Kourgarian.

For three billion years the Green Lantern Corps protected the Universe. They stopped planets exploding, saved dying civilizations and stopped vast wars. In many ways they were waiting for the greatest of their number to arise. That happened when a monster called Legion mortally wounded Abin Sur, Green Lantern of Sector 2814. Sur crashed landed on the planet Earth and ordered his ring to find a suitable replacement. The ring found test pilot Hal Jordan. Jordan proved to be an excellent Green Lantern and single handily saved Oa from Legion. In time Jordan grew to became the most able of the Green Lanterns and the Corps went through something of a renaissance. Only the defection of Sinestro truly challenged the supremacy of the Corps.

The schemes of the Guardians seemed to be working, the "Epoch of Maximum Order" had been reached, the Green Lanterns were unchallenged and the Universe was secure. However they were blind to the approach of the universal Crisis. The Anti-Monitor played his hand well and was able to nullify the Guardians. They were split into two opposing philosophical groups with one favoring active intervention. While they dithered entire space Sectors were wiped clean of life, scores of Green Lanterns were killed and twelve of their own kind were killed. Only Superman and Earth's heroes were able to defeat the Anti-Monitor and save the Universe.

The Guardians had been humbled; they had been reduced from thirty-six to twenty two. They meditated on the situation and decided that their "Epoch of Maximum Order" had reached an end and that a new form of guidance was necessary, a so called "Epoch of Dynamic Guidance." However to achieve that they would have to strengthen their numbers and ensure the perpetuation of their race. The Guardians then left this dimensional plane accompanied by the Zamorans with the intention of starting a new race of immortals. They made the Green Lanterns independent and removed the Sector restrictions. They also arranged the ascension of a group of "New Guardians" on Earth in case they didn't return.

The Corps managed well and a small group of Green Lanterns relocated to the planet Earth. However there were many things that the Green Lanterns never knew about the Guardian's operations. The rogue Sinestro was a Korugarian and the Guardians had always imprisoned him within their science-cells. When the Corps dealt with him on their own they were at a loss of how to punish him. A vote was taken and the majority voted to execute Sinestro. However they were unaware of the booby trap the Guardian's had placed on the Central Battery and a chain reaction destroyed all but four of the Green Lantern rings. Only Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner, John Stewart and Ch'p were left with functional power rings.

The Green Lanterns were returned to their home worlds and the Guardian's representative Appa Ali Apsa was left on Oa. Alone Apsa slowly went insane and began usurping the energy from the Central Battery. He kidnapped the Green Lantern John Stewart for company. He then scooped up communities from dozens of worlds and deposited them on Oa. He was only defeated when Hal Jordan managed to use the Central Battery to send a message to the Guardians. The twenty-two remaining Guardians returned (leaving the Zamorans and any off spring in parts unknown) and began rebuilding Oa. They appointed John Stewart protector of the kidnapped communities and refused to return them to their own worlds. It was later revealed that the Guardians wanted to use them as an experiment to see how alien races would cohabit in cramped conditions.

The three human Green Lanterns would form the core of a new Corps. While John was on Oa Guy was assigned to watch over Earth and Hal Jordan was sent out to recruit new members. However it soon became clear to the Green Lanterns that the Guardians had changed. During their exile the Guardians had a chance to step back and meditate on their work and the Universe. Their task of bringing order to the Universe would need a slightly different approach. The Guardians revealed some of their secrets to the Corps but this only showed the Green Lanterns that their masters had even more secrets than they thought. In many ways the relationship between the Corps and the Guardians was more strained than it had ever been. The blind loyalty of the Corps was gone and the Guardians were shown to be just as fallible as many mortals.

EMERALD TWILIGHT

Hal Jordan had been the Guardian's post faithful and experienced Green Lantern. However the destruction of his home (Coast City) sent him insane with grief. Hal tried to use his power ring to recreate the city as an emerald ghost. The Guardians watched his display of grief and concluded that he was acting out of self-interest. The Guardians summoned Hal to Oa to explain his actions. That proved to be the last wedge between master and servant. If they would not give him the power to restore Coast City then he would take it from them. Hal easily defeated the Green Lanterns that the Guardians put in his way. When he reached Oa Hal merged with the Central Battery and drained it dry. In the process he also absorbed the mental energies of the Guardians. What emerged was the entity called Parallax.

Of the twenty-two Guardians of the Universe only Ganthet survived Hal Jordan's attack. The death of the other Guardian's and the destruction of the Central Battery effectively destroyed the Green Lantern Corps. However Ganthet was able to form one last ring and pass it onto Kyle Rayner, an artist from Earth. He would become the last Green Lantern. The future of the Green Lantern Corps is uncertain. Kyle managed to get hold of another self replicating ring from the past and temporally formed his own Corps but it proved a failure. Ganthet is still alive but is rarely seen. It is also unknown what happened to the Zamorans and the Guardians offspring.

TIMELINE

10 billion years ago	Intelligent life emerges on Maltus
5 billion years ago	The Maltusians evolve into a race of immortals with vast psionic abilities.
4 billion years ago	The Maltusian Krona commits his infamous crime.
3.5 billion years ago	A section of the Maltusian population migrates to the planet Oa and establishes the Manhunters.
3 billion years ago	One group of Oans creates the Green Lantern while another group leaves Oa to become the Controllers.
2.5 billion years ago	The female Oans leave to become the Zamorans.

SOURCES

• GANTHET'S TALE Larry Niven and John Byrne
• GREEN LANTERN (third series) #35 Gerard Jones
• SECRET ORIGINS (second series) #23 Todd Klein

LINKS

• The Unofficial Green Lantern Corps Hompage