Background
Life teems everywhere in this great place we call the universe. The history of the universe is a story of the exploits of many different intelligent species and their interactions, which can translate into not only exploration and expansion, but aggression and conflict. Following is a brief breakdown of the events that led us to where we are today:
- The Grandfather Era: the Droyne, a pastoral intelligent race thrives some 200 parsecs from Earth. Then 300,000 years ago, a newborn Droyne was born bearing much higher than normal intelligence. This one becomes the ruler of the Ancients, who eventually invent ships capable of interstellar travel utilizing the jump drive
- The False Dawn: a new intelligent race, the Kursae, begin a rise to power and dominance, settling over 5,000 worlds spread over four sectors. However, the Kursae became too comfortable and began a downward spiral into satisfaction with low technology.
- The Vilani Era: Around 9200 B.C., some say the Vilani, a race of humans stumbled upon technology, likely from the Ancients, that led them to develop a jump drive of their own, allowing them to participate in faster-than-light travel.
- First Contact: In the 21st century of Earth, its inhabitants, known as Terrans, discovered the ability to travel faster-than-light, reaching out beyond the solar system, only to find much of the universe already inhabited.
- The Interstellar Wars: The Terrans and Vilani fight no less than a dozen inconclusive wars. Then in 2299, a decisive conflict between the Terrans and Vilani results in the Vilani surrendering.
- The Rule of Man: The Terrans, faced with having to rule the recently conquered worlds of the Vilani Empire, usher in an era known as The Rule of Man. Due largely to cultural lethargy of the conquered Vilani, the next 400 years exhibited a drift of many of those worlds into a dark age, bereft of technological innovation and further expansion.
- The Long Night: 2750 AD to 4550 AD – Here, interstellar trade shut down and starships ceased running between worlds. Outpost worlds died away. Others, who managed to survive, did so completely dependent on their own resources with no help from the outside.
- The Third Imperium: One world, Sylea, hung on and advanced during the Long Night, not succumbing to the decay and backsliding of other worlds during that era. From a base of a dozen worlds, the Sylea reached out to make contact with the once 10,000 worlds that had decayed during the Long Night. Some worlds welcomed the contact while others resisted. But the Imperium grew over the following 1000 years to include most of those worlds once a part of it. Today, the Third Imperium has reached is pinnacle, what we call the Golden Era, a time of relative peace and great prosperity.