3.01 Gigayear Event

The 3.01 Gigayear Event occurred 3010 million years after the formation of Psidefor. It resulted in the destruction of Purciel, greatly altered the nature and orbits of Jabalannar and Vasthok, gave rise to Vasthok’s major moons, Elkalon’s moon Uhal, and triggered a mass extinction on Elkalon. Before the event, Jabalannar was somewhat larger than it is today, and had a larger silicate content. Vasthok was far closer to Psidefor, roughly half the distance between Jabalannar and Elkalon. Elkalon was an archipelago world with oceans almost entirely made of water. Purciel, was a nearly Elkalon sized rocky planet with a highly elliptical orbit, with a perihelion just beyond the orbit of Tartum and an aphelion over 15 times as high.

The passage of an M-class red dwarf perturbed the orbit of Purciel, sending it toward the inner Psidefor system. It passed very near Vasthok, giving the gas dwarf a large amount of orbital velocity and making its orbit much more elliptical and eccentric--with an aphelion surpassing that of Elkalon. The young ocean world was spared from a collision as Vasthok’s high inclination meant that the orbits did not actually overlap. However, a few close passes resulted in slight alterations to the length of Elkalon’s day and year. Vodorojin, still somewhat nearer to Psidefor than it is today, pulled Vasthok further away, circularizing its orbit far higher than it had been previously. Over the next several billion years, Vasthok’s eccentricity due to the influence of Vodorojin, but even today it is still notably more eccentric than the other planets.

Purciel plummeted beneath Psidefor Roche limit, disintegrating into an asteroid belt. Several of these asteroids were flung by the gravity of Jabalannar and Vasthok, with four hitting Elkalon and causing a mass extinction event. A fifth asteroid, Uhal, fell into orbit around the planet, becoming its second moon. A large chunk of Purciel smashed into Jabalannar, shattering much of the later's mantle, and sending much of Jabalannar’s mass into Psidefor. Jabalannar was left much as it is today, dominated by a small iron core. The disintegration of the resultant asteroid belt into Psidefor and Jabalannar contributed to the star's unusually high metallicity.