“There have been three major eras in the last millenia that have propelled humanity beyond the confines of gravity and into space. The first era is classified under the twenty-first century and saw the exponential growth of never before seen technologies, the destruction of the environment, and the collapse of the three largest military powers in the world: China, Russia, and the United States. The second era led humanity into the stars. Though the respective governments of China, Russia, and the United States had dissolved, their technologies, peoples, and educated remained. The succeeding governments consisted of top minds, literati, professors, and scholars of all fields working towards a democratic meritocracy. The new Chinese government brought back the meritocracy of old Confucian governments, implementing state official exams and poring over the Confucian teachings of Sacred Kingship: that the heavens establish kingship for the people. The idea of a meritocracy agreed with the new governing bodies of both Russia and the United States, and a system of election by merits, ability, and diligence replaced the old system of election by popularity and party, particularly so in the United States. The slow degradation and eventual destruction of the environment alongside the dissolution of the governments of the three largest military powers in the world was a catalyst for change. Like a lit fuse entering a powder keg, the world saw the collapse and replacement of numerous governments that failed to serve and respect the needs of the people. The new governments banded together and formed a coalition of nations on a scale never before seen in the history of mankind, all in an effort to stall the destruction of the environment and stall for enough time to manufacture enough colony ships to evacuate a large portion of the human population. The technology was mostly present but would appear to be rudimentary and primitive by today's standards; however, given the lack of mana, or rather, the lack of knowledge of the existence of mana, their technology could be considered miraculous. The coalition would find success, with large swaths of the human population finding new homes in space. In a few years they would touch down on Mars, then Titan, then celestial bodies outside of the solar system. Centuries would go by, Earth would recover, the light of human civilization would spread farther throughout the Milky Way, and then finally, the next era would begin. Can anyone tell me what event is often emphasized as the start of this new era?

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Precisely, mana, the discovery of mana. An intangible existence that embodied an inexplicable, untameable, and extremely malleable form of energy that could only be described as life force. First contact with mana was documented by a research vessel near the planet now known as Karsus. The research vessel noted that the planet seemed to be undergoing a strange transformation and emanated a strong pressure that none of the vessel's exterior tools could pick up. Several days prior, a crew member had been injured during a routine EVA hull repair caused by a sudden tremor passing through the ship that resulted in a sheet of the outer hull ripping off and slamming into the crew member's arm. The sheet breached the crew member's suit and broke the crew member's arm. Now, although the ship's sensors were unable to pick up the waves that were crashing against its hull, some crew members noticed and recorded the phenomenon of the injured crew member's broken arm healing and rapidly recovering. This single event symbolized the beginning of the age of mana."

- A transcription of a lecture from Professor Klynebern's course MPHYS 100A: Introduction to Mana Physics from the University of Earth Europe, uploaded to Coursehero.com