Pre-History
There was a time before the Humans
crawled on flippers from the seas of a forgotten world, before the
Bjaki learned to speak or the
Ptatl learned to fight. Most of what
happened during these times is lost to the modern eye but there
seems to be evidence that there were other times, other races, and
other beings that walked the lands of now-dead worlds. Here and
there among the stars are occasionally found inexplicable relics
or ruins of unthinkable antiquity, generally in such poor shape
that analysis leads to only the merest clues, slight indications
that there were others in days past.
The Dark Age
While little physical documentation exists, there is little doubt that
there was a Dark Age. Physical evidence suggests that, at some point, the
older races like the Humans,
Bjaki, and
Iliene underwent the colonization of
space. By modern standards, the technologies were relatively crude, matching
Ancient or early
Archaic era technologies, but it was enough that they appear to spread
between sectors and established both colonies and small, burgeoning empires.
But something happened to isolate these
scattered settlers and completely cut off galactic travel for an unspecified
amount of time. It is unknown if it was result of a single, catastrophic event
of galactic proportion or a series of smaller, unrelated disasters but the
starfaring races all just cut each other off and fell into primitive disarray.
Intelligent life on many worlds died off completely but many others were able
to survive and rebuild into the races and empires of today.
There are many speculations as to the possible
causes of a galactic Dark Age. Some speculate that the initial colonization of
space was based on a tenuous technology or unreliable planning, that a key
resource ran out or a single colony failed that had a chain-failure effect on
the rest of the galactic travelers. Some cite
Ataxia or the violent and erratic
phenomena encountered in the Badlands,
speculating that a single, massive instance of mysterious phenomena may have swept the galaxy, disabling
critical equipment necessary for continued space exploration. Less reputable
types even cite the legend of the Dark Walkers, speculating that beings of
incredible power swept through the galaxy and drove our intelligent ancestors
back to their planets.
Dark Walkers
Many individuals believe that beings of extraordinary
power and knowledge flew the spaces between the
stars, colonizing and fighting and governing much like the modern
powers. There are stories of wondrous technologies beyond the
comprehension of modern scientists and countless adventure yarns
are published describing fantastic worlds of the past and
future.
Others believe that those who dwelt before time
were more than mortal. There are tales of corrupt, evil forces
that bastardized the very laws of physics around them and fought
for territory or power or simply because that's all they knew how
to do. Various races and movements have different names for the
beings that populate the stories with which children are
frightened: the Old Gods or the Old Ones, Elders, Dark Walkers or the Dark
Forces. Some personify these mysteries of the universe in such
gents as the Bjaki's nefarious Chitl. In fact, there is a growing branch of
science devoted to Ataxia,
or the study of places where the laws of physics
seem to have broken down on varying scales. Attracting everything
from physicists to archaeologists to amateur explorers, the study
is called various names to various people including Localized
Chaos Theory, Phenomenal Ataxia, and Ghost Hunting. |
