(HYOO-men)
Humans are the default species of Imperium and are the focus of the narrative. Even if events are going on around them are of other natures (gods, aliens, etc.).
Much of human history has been lost, but this entry will cover some of it regardless.
Humanity reached for the stars in the 21st through the 25th century CE. Scrambling about the Solar System, we pushed the boundaries of our technology and sciences. Even with many advances that are still used in the 4th Era of humankind, we could not breach the boundaries of our home star.
Plans were made for generational ships, seed ships and other slower-than-light vessels. But the results were either failures or never left the drawing board.
After struggling to colonize Mars and some of the Jovian moons, there was a civilization-wide sense of despondency. Realizing that this was all we could ever strive to be, all we would ever accomplish.
It didn’t matter that we had the resources to survive for millions of years in Sol’s embrace. It began to feel like a cage.
Near our lowest point, the Falinjorin arrived in our system. They had visited in the past, but as far as we knew, this was first contact. Cooler heads did not prevail and Earth sent its warships to meet the Falinjorin flotilla.
The war was one sided and over within a few months. The Falinjorin didn’t even slow down on their approach to Earth. They simply swatted away our defense forces en route.
We prepared for the worst. Invasion, domination, or extermination. And yet, we revived a greeting.
They explained to us what they were (humans made by the gods) and that they had come to uplift our species. They didn’t give us all their technology, but they did offer up the Kybahl Device. At the time, it was a singular artifact that allowed their entire civilization to wander the stars.
Our entire history came crashing down and was rebuilt with this new knowledge and technology. Gods were real, there were Inner Realms and we could finally leave our Solar System.
Over time, we gained access to more and more of their tech, but they remained tight lipped about how all of it functioned. Some devices were never fully understood.
As our two species intermingled, the Falinjorin ceased to exist as a people and a culture. They had been fully absorbed by humanity. This also led to the loss of whatever secrets they still held about the universe.
Humanity spread out across the galaxy, establishing hundreds, then thousands of colonies. Potentially many more. This era was when we began to encounter other species.
The Lacir were aloof and non-hostile, but would defend their territory if we persisted. They encouraged a non-aggression pact, which they still adhere to.
The second species we encountered were the primordial beings living in the galactic center. We would come to know them as the Yill Maingess. much like the Lacir, they were initially non-hostile and seemed to ignore us.
Humanity was convinced that our destiny lie coreward and sent expeditionary forces deep into the Near 3kpc Arm.
After pestering the Yims enough, they turned on us. All of our advance forces were wiped out in a few days. Humanity would turn itself into a civilization-wide machine of war.
This situation is exactly what Montgomery wanted. Endless war, meant endless control. This led us to the Ceaseless Fray or First Galactic War.
Once the war was over, the Yill Maingess left the galaxy and the Stellar Decay set in. The Bargain was struck after a few centuries, but the damage was already done.
After untangling ourselves from our millennium long war, we found ourselves entering the Second Golden Age, which ended with The Collapse or the Second Galactic War.
The Lacir led the remainder of humanity to the Core Worlds and left us to rebuild. It took some time, as we regressed further before we clawed our way back. Some of the settlements failed altogether, others stagnated in a pre-industrial state.
Ares was the first to reenter space and untangle the mysteries of the Aloracts from our own past. Beginning around 200 years after the collapse, humanity began to reclaim and recolonize its lost territory and beyond.
We reencountered the Lacir and honored our ancient pact, albeit with wariness.
A few colonies were found that had survived the Collapse. Some were barely functioning, after being cut off from trade. Others had weathered the war nearly unscathed, usually by disabling their Transit Rings. They remained disconnected from the rest of civilization, which provided some level of safety over the centuries.
Various attempts were made to consolidate power over the scattered worlds, but after two major empires collapsed (Gnaltic Empire and the Northern Alliance), such ambitions were forgotten. Control was split between the five superpowers, as well as many independent colonies.
After remnant Morocaschic forces were found across human space, the Consolidation Wars were fought to wipe out the aliens and tighten the Core World’s grip on human space.
This brings us to our present time period (2385 PC).