The 31st CenturyMankind never truly lost its love of starlight, and after a period of strife on Earth, finally set out into the wider galaxy with the goal of exploration and settlement. In a galaxy littered with the remains of ancient civilisations, and peopled with oddly-familiar aliens, mankind has grown and evolved.
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The Inner ColoniesThe core of inhabited space, and the seat of power for the UCG - the Unified Colonial Government. The worlds of the Inner Colonies are prosperous, but sustainable, and many such worlds are considered to be the model for what a planet should aspire to be.
Notable Inner Colony worlds include Axis, Allegiance, and the homeworlds of the human and felian races. |
The Outer ColoniesThe frontiers of the galaxy, spread across most of the Milky Way. Though technically under the control of the UCG, the Outer Colonies can be anarchic, and some areas are plagued with crime and piracy. Corporations, who wear a mask of goodness in the Inner Colonies, often try to exploit the far-flung worlds of the Outer Colonies.
Notable Outer Colony worlds include Sanctuary, Unity, and Endeavour. |
Humans |
Felians |
Homo SapiensArose ~200,000 years ago from the famous East African Rift. Humanity took to the stars after a period of great strife in the 20th and 21st centuries, and instigated contact with several alien races - the felians, canids, and leporans, in that order.
CanidsCanis SapiensThe time of the first appearance of Canis Sapiens is unknown, mostly due to a lack of access to archaeological sites on their homeworld of Kybolt. Encountering space-faring humans and felians caused massive social upheaval among most Canid societies, effectively splitting the species into Traditionalist and Contemporary factions - many see the intervention of humans and felians as threatening traditional canid ways of life, and they may not be wrong. Even by 3010, some five hundred years after first contact, the disagreement still divides Canid society.
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Felis Sapiens
Arose between 150-190,000 years ago, on their homeworld of Yedferan. Felian society was fairly advanced when they first encountered humans, approaching an industrial revolution, but their development was fuelled quickly - some would argue too quickly - by human intervention.
LeporansLepus SapiensThe most recent race to join the galactic community, and the first to do so under the terms of the 2502 Code of Accountability. Leporans were first encountered on their homeworld of Hespe in 2851, but first contact did not take place for another decade. As such, the species has had something of a slow introduction to the rest of the galaxy, but several Leporans were known to be among the first settlers of Sanctuary, circa 2900.
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On the origins of species
The discovery of Felis Sapiens sent shockwaves through the halls of science. The species - along with all other life on Yedferan - shared an enormous amount of DNA with life forms from Earth; far too much to be a coincidence. Yedferan and Earth shared the same building blocks of life, but a different species had risen to sentience on each. The later discovery of Canis Sapiens and Lepus Sapiens confirmed what science had suspected - all life in the galaxy shared a common origin point.
Speculation as to how and why identical building blocks of life had been spread across the galaxy is rife, but many scientists believe it is linked to the extinct alien species commonly called 'Antecedents'. The truth may never be discovered, but the debate will never stop.
Speculation as to how and why identical building blocks of life had been spread across the galaxy is rife, but many scientists believe it is linked to the extinct alien species commonly called 'Antecedents'. The truth may never be discovered, but the debate will never stop.
Extinct Xenospecies, Sentient, One ("Antecedents")
Next to nothing is known as concrete fact about the Antecedents, except that they are presumably extinct. Evidence of their existence - structures and artefacts - has been found on more than a third of explored worlds across the Milky Way, and some of their technology has been reverse-engineered, though with great difficulty. Nullspace travel - the ability to defy the laws of physics and travel faster than the speed of light via a sub-dimension - was one such reverse-engineered technology.