Legacy and Jumpweb of the Progenitors

LEGACY AND JUMPWEB OF THE PROGENITORS-a sci-fi universe by Newmarduk

History The saga of humanitiy's history among interstellar and intergalactic space is a long one, extending over 2000 Earth years. It's not quiet, though. From the greedy world-grabbing of the early colonists to the Emperor Wars, humans have rarely remained quiet in the void. Aliens walk with them, having long histories and destinies of their own.

Prehistory Humans know little of interstellar/intergalactic history before reaching space and using the jumpgates. The histories of the Nubo, Raku, and My'oro alien races, along with theories promoted by Second Commonwealth archaeologists and scattered bits od data from the mysterious Uav is basically what is known. These tales and evidence cobbled from planetary terraforming digs show that two, not one, factions or races of Progenitors, now extinct, who reached incredibly advanced technology or powers. Scholars believe that one race/faction of Progenitors built the jumpgates and was older than the other. The older race/faction of Progenitors is called Jumpmasters, Gatekeepers, Inceptors, or Architects. The younger race/faction of progenitors is labeled Successors or Marauders. The Gatekeepers/Inceptors/Jumpmasters protected mortals (younger races) while the Successors/Marauders harassed or oppressed the younger races. The notion of a mythical prehistorical war between the two Progenitor factions has physical evidence to support it. Different digs revealed ruins of ancient age with motiffs similar to those found on jumpgates. Planetary cataclyms and upheavals cannot explain the damage caused by high-tech armaments, perhaps fusion guns and bombs. The Nubo, Raku, and My'oro are not the only people to have been touched by the Precursors, whose mark is found virtually in all solar systems with a jumpgate allowing FTL space travel. While some Progenitor remains are little more than survey markers, others include small cities and whispers of their behavior in religions and mythologies of certain traditions. Even humans believe they were visited and influenced by the Progenitors, as indicated by ancient pagan and polytheistic religions. The Progenitors only real legacy is their technology: jumpgates, gargoyles, and philosopher stones. The jumpgates allowed humans, Nubo, Raku, My'oro, Uav,and other races to travel to other solar systems and galaxies faster than the speed of light.

FIRST COMMONWEALTH By 2050 A.D., humans on the planet Earth had united under a one-world government. Decades of strife and war by militant and extremist factions left the popular masses desiring global peace. The First Commonwealth era, also tagged the Human Combine Age by Second Commonwealth historians, was created by national governments in tandem with mercantile and corporate leaders called Big Bosses. Helping to turn the old apparatus of the United Nations into a true planetary government. Legislative representatives, nominally appointees of national governments, gradually over time became mouthpieces and pawns of the corporate Big Bosses. Over time, more and more legislative representatives, executive officials, and judges were appointed directly by the Big Bosses, and First Commonwealth military and police forces were leased to private businesses owned by the Big Bosses. By the end of the 22nd Century A.D., the old nations and national legislative representation were abolished, and civil rights were increasingly restricted. However, the First Commonwealth led humanity to the stars. Visionaries within the Commonwealth government saw outer space as a new frontier to channel the desires of the populace and garner new resorces. The Big Bosses turned their eyes to Earth's local solar system. By 2115 A.D., colonies on Luna (Earth's moon), the planet Mars, and the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter had been established. By 2300 A.D., colonies had been established on the moons of the gas giant planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) and on the ice-and-rock planets and asteroids of the Kuiper Belt at the edge of the local solar system.

THE JUMPWEB Past the orbit of the planet Pluto, a Progenitor Jumpgate was discovered. It was the first-ever sign of alien life and tech encountered by Homo sapiens. LOng powered down, the jumpgate showed no sign of activity. Finally, a group of scientists working jointly for the Commonwealth government and a private corporation triggered the power and activated the gate. The space inside the gate spiraled inward and showed sanother star with it's own planets. The realization that humans were not the only race to reach space was a humbling experience. But while many people felt awe, the Big Bosses saw opportunity and profit. In the year 2307, the invention of a jump engine allowing a spaceship to use the jumpgate was itself a monumental achievement. The first jump engine was attached to an unmanned robot probe, which passed through the jumpgate. Four months later, the probe returned to Earth's solar system, transmitting it's data about the new solar system, including an Earth-like planet. It wasn't long before the First Commonwealth had many volunteers lining up to be the first to see the new world. A crew was selected and trained. After the manned ship passed through the Progenitor jumpgate, and the crew witnessed the ecstatic experience known as the Jump Dream, and the beginning of a new cult. The new world was named Simpson's Boon. The exodus and conflicts began. Covert wars ignited among the Big Bosses as they fought for control of resources. The Commonwealth government found the cult of the Jump Dream to be troubling, as pilots and crew who "found God" by riding spaceships through jumpgates to be more difficult to control. Dampers were placed on spaceships creating a force field preventing the Jump Dream during jumps, and the Jump Dream cult was outlawed. Some cultists build their own ships without dampers, and for a while continued to receive the ecstacy from passing through jumpgates in damperless ships. Sometimes, though, the Commonwealth government and private corporations hunted down rogue ships involved in the Jump Dream cult. Progress and expasion pushed on. Further travel via the Progenitor jumpweb produced more routes and worlds. With people spreading far and fast, and the Big Bosses defending their own, the dissidents slipped into the night to claim interstellar and intergalactic space for themselves.

DIASPORA By 2600 A.D., the fall of the First Commonwealth was already underway. The first colonists were mainly workers for Big Boss-owned businesses, but dissidents wanted independence from the Earth-based First Commonwealth and Big Bosses. The Commonwealth had long evolved into an elitist, sometimes oppressive institution, deaf to the pleas of many common citizens. But once the jumpgates permitted access to the universe, the First Commonwealth graduaklly lost control of the citizenry. Balkanization and independence spread, as special interests and tight-knit gropus took off in jump-capable ships and the new worlds they settled on saw experiments in government and society. Sometimes, the new colonies degenerated into survivalist barbarism. The First Commonwealth ignored pleas for help, as it was fighting rogue coporations run by Big Bosses that tired of the First Commonwealth and wanted to wrrest control of Earth's solar system and even Earth itself from the Commonwealth regime. Often, the new colonies grew up around individual leaders and led to government by hereditary aristocrats, nobles, and royalty. These noble rulers led to the decline of the interplanetary economic power of the Big Bosses, starting small wars and seizing assets owned by Big-Boss-owned corporations.

THE PROPHET AND HIS CHURCH The discovery of the strong evidence that alien races (the Progenitors) once lived changed everything humans had about their origins and destiny. The leaders of the tradition Earth-based religions were too backward to handle the new era of space travel. During the Diaspora, humans revived ancient polytheistic and pagan faiths, mostly based upon the Egyptian, Greco-Roman, and Babylonian pantheons. But worshipping the likes of Ra, Horus, Set, Marduk, Zeus, Apollo, and others rang hollow among the stars. Something new was required, that would address both hope and grief, as did all the great faiths. Into this void came the Prophet. His name was John Zabasius, a priest of the United God Movement, a semi-official organized religion combining Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, and New Age beliefs sponsored by many Big Bosses and First Commonwealth officials. The United God Movement was trying to reconcile the reality of the Progenitors and their jumpgates with it's own faith in God and doctrine. Zabasius, on a frontier planet in the year 2789 saw the Holy Flame of the one true God, the Celestial Sun or the Pancreator. John Zabasius, as the Prophet of the Pancreator, performed various miracles, gathered various disciples, and whose teachings eventually became official doctrine of the United God Movement by 2835. Zabasius taught that the "good" Progenitors were angels serving the light of the divine Celestial Sun, while the "evil" Progenitors were demons (the "dark between the stars") who opposed the true God. The United God Movement, following the new Prophet's teachings, taught that the stars grow cold as demons cause humans and other sentients to sin. and block the Holy Light of the Pancreator. With the aid of Zabasius the Prophet and it's new faith in the Pancreator, the United God Movement gained multitudes of new followers. During the early 29th Century, the Jump Dream cult had revived, but this was denounced by the Prophet as sinful, akin to drug addiction. Devout followers of the United God Movement ensured that dampers were placed upon jump engines, and the Jump Dream cult radically declined. Zabasius died in a jumpgate accident (in 2899) while trying to plea for peace with the Uav, who were zealously guarding their section of space. His religion blamed the Uav for years, but it was later realized that the Prophet's final mission was for peace. The jumpgate cross, patterned after a Progenitor jumpgate, became the official symbol of the United God Movement. The longevity of the Celestial Sun's Prophet (he was 54 years old when he discovered the Pancreator in 2789) is a source of awe for the faithful of the United God Movement, who credit it as a miracle granted by the one true God. It is said the United God Movement aided by the Prophet first gained the ability to perform theurgy (religious magic), though the practice declined during the Second Commonwealth. Theurgy revived after the fall of the new Commonwealth, renewing faith in Pancreator, Prophet, and the United God Movement. The Official Gospels of the United God Movement were amended to accomodate the new faith promoted by Zabasius. Theologians argue there are two main parts of the Prophet's teachings: the original teachings warning about demons (evil Progenitors) and the later Compassionate Teachings about the mercy of the Pancreator and angels (good Progenitors). The United God Movement created the office of Successor of the Prophet shortly after the death of John Zabasius, elected by a council of religious leaders. The first Prophet's Successor was Ptolemy Alecto of the noble family of House Alecto. It was under Ptolemy Alecto that the United God Movement maintained a firm stand against the hostilities of the Uav and the Raku.

FIRST NON-PROGENITOR CONTACT: ROTNAHS Amid the territorial struggles of the Diaspora and the revival of the United God Movement, during the early 29th Century, humans discovered their first non-Progenitor alien sentiwent race; the horse-like Rotnahs. The Rotnahs developed a degree of civilization despite their limited ability to utilize tools. THey also valued family ties, romantic relationships, fierce tribalism, and a warrior ethic. Living on the planet Sharpton, they worshipped Sharpton's sun as a living god. Sharpton was rich in minerals and metals, and interplanetary supremacy was as much economic as militaristic or diplomatic. Rotnahs could not communicate without computer voiceboxes, and as a result human colonists viewed the horse-like aliens as little more than intelligent animals, and even tried to "civilize" the Rotnahs by priovidind jobs, usually in the mines. Many horse-like aliens revolted, assaulting corporate, colonial, and otherwise human populations and property. The Rotnahs are dangerous and cunning when riled, and enough loss of life and property caused human armies to descend upon Sharpton to put the rebels down. Geurilla warfare was used by the alien rebels, but a human victory was never in question. Rotnahs were rounded up and often shipped/exiled offworld. This shame has haunted humanity for centuries. While the Prophet Zabasius and the United God Movement spoke out against the mistreatment of the Rotnahs, eventually gaining conversions among the horse-like aliens almost as much as among humans. Eventually, restitution was granted to surviving Rotnahs. And so the fate of many sentient alien races at the hands of humanity followed that of the horse-like race, despite the denouncement by the United God Movement, and regardless of their tenacity and degree of technology. Some aliens, like the humanoid Nubo, the humanoid, six-limbed Xov, and the monkey-like Konnag, peacefully coexist with humans, and many converted to the faith of the Pancreator and the United God Movement, especially the Nubo. In fact the gods of the old pagan Nubo faith were identified with the good Progenitors taught by the United God Movement to be angels serving the Pancreator.

THE UAV HEGEMONY In the year 2890, during the height of the Diaspora and the rapid expansion of the United God Movement, humanity was delivered by the jumpweb to a small, lush, Earth-like planet they named Nova Monaco (real name Apsi). It was the home of a quiet insectoid race called the Hsen'g, who often spend a lot of their time creating plant and tree sculttures. They ignored the human colonists at first, but when some Hsen'g were forced from their lands, the aliens warned the humans of their own alien overlords. A massive Uav starship sped via the Progenitor jumpgate and used a great ball of plasma energy to destroy the fleet of human ships orbiting Nova Monaco/Apsi. Then smaller ships disattached from the larger Uav vessel and landed on the planet below. Out came Uav soldiers. The Uav troops systemically wiped out most of the humans, despite efforts of the noble lords and corporate officials to surrender, due to the weapons and ernergy shields being superior to the weapons and tech of the humans. The human survivors were taken prisoner, transported via Uav spaceship back in human space, and warned not to enter Hegemony space ever again. Of course, during this time, John Zabasius, the Pancreator's Prophet, died on his way to the Uav Hegemony on a peace mission. Moreover, humans did go further in Uav space via the jumpgates, finding more Hegemony worlds and superior Uav tech. Few returned to tell the tale, although a handful were permitted to survive and return. In the year 2901, a coalition of human powers-the United God Movement, corporations, and governments (often noble-run), under the leadership of Successor of the Prophet Ptolemy Alecto declared war on the Uav Hegemony. The humans used weapons and technology and spaceships enhanced by theurgy (religious magic) performed by priests of the United God Movement and often motivated by faith in the Celestial Sun, the true God, the humans and Uav fought the Uav Hegemony to a stalemate. In 2908, a noble diplomat, Benjamin Vestus of House Vespian, helped negotiate a rteaty between the humans and the Hegemony. Vestus discovered that the Hsen'g were a conquered race, as the Uav dealt with alien races often differently from that of humans. He also noted that the Uav Hegemony was currently non-expansionist rather than imperialist. The Hsen'g had put up a valiant fight against the Hegemony when the Uav was still in their imperialist phase. During the surrender of his race, the Hsen'g general learned Uav culture well, demanding that the Uav mandarins give him "face" as he had sued for peace. For the Uav, honor and dignity are as important as life itself. The insectoids finally lived under a socialized retirement granted by the Hegemony, because the Hsen'g general understoof Uav culture. This insight was to allow humans well in dealing with the Uav in centuries to come. For now, though, the Hegemony was little interested in the "pollutant" known as humanity. Relations were distant and formal for a long time. Human merchants and corporations wanted trade with Hegemony space while the United God Movement wanted to convert Uav and other Hegemony citizens/races to faith in the Pancreator and teachings of the Prophet as taught in the Official Gospels, but the Uav did not want foreign ideas infecting their society and wanted to keep much of Hegemony tech away from the humans.

THE RAKU WAR The Raku had struggled through centuries of internal conflict in the subterranean passages and territories on their home planet of Kordo before finally reaching the stars. They colonized three solar systems close to their homeworld, and were ready to expand further when they encountered humans on the planet Cleveland. It was hate at first sight. The Raku saw a race to conquer and enslave. Attacking with little warning, they took the capital of Cleveland. Human response was swift, as noble rulers on Sharpton and New Istanbul formed a space fleet and army of ground troops to retake Cleveland. The Raku War began in the year 2920. The war spread to dozens of other solar systems as Raku ships attacked human vessels in space and Raku troops invaded planets. The Nubo, discovered in the year 2849, shortly after the discovery of the Rotnahs, realized that the Raku were the hostile splinter race that had broke off from their own species during the ancient war between Progenitor factions. The Nubo, partially because they were rapidly converting to the United God Movement, joined with the humans against the Raku. Raku geurillas used psychic powers of the mind to cause a large number of Rotnahs to revolt on Sharpton to assault human towns and cities, but human retribution was decisive. Nearly 25 percent of the horse-like rebels were killed before they surrendered through a truce brokered by priests of the United God Movement. When Raku powers of the mind were discovered to be responsible for the Rotnahs revolt, The Prophet's Successor Ptolemy Alecto raised a coalition of the United God Movement, human noble houses and other human governments, and the Nubo against the Raku hordes. Psychic powers in humans very slowly grew in humans shortly after the discovery of the of the Progenitor jumpweb, during the time of the First Commonwealth, though the often suppression of the Jump Dream cult often slowed the development of human powers of the mind. Many Raku and Nubo were advanced psychics from birth. The Nubo developed a strong code of ethics regarding the use of such powers, but the Raku had fewer compunctions. The words of the Prophet Zabasius as found in the Official Gospels seemed eerily designed, with talk of demons (evil Progenitors, who seemed to be identified with the gods of the Raku religion) during the Raku War. The fact that Zabasius had a personal Nubo disciple also seemed appropriate, as the Nubo were human allies in this war. Using information gathered from Raku prisoners of war, Prophet's Successor Ptolemy sent a human fleet to the Raku homeworld Kordo in 2946. Spiraling out of the jumpgate, the human spaceships split up and started to assault any Raku ship found in the Kordo system. The Raku defenders panicked and formed a defensive phalanx around their home planet. On Kordo, old rivalries between Raku clans emerged as Raku dissidents rose up and overthrew the government of the ruling Raku Overlord. The new Raku regime surrendered to the human forces, hoping that humanity would forgive and forget the Raku War, but humans placed restrictions on Raku population both on Kordo and offworld. Raku offworld colony territories were sold to human noble and corporate interests, and Kordo itself was largely purchased by a human mercantile consortium.

HOLY TERRA The old human homeworld of Earth had been reunited by 2900 A.D. by a government ruled by the Party of Destiny, which governed through military forces descended from First Commonwealth military forces and private corporations descended from the Big Bosses of First Commonwealth times, as well as by the Authentic Church of God, a splinter sect from the United God Movement that rejected the teachings of the Prophet John Zabasius. The Party of Destiny was also staunchly pro-human and anti-alien, and started to wage a war of interstellar and and intergalactic conquest in the latter half of the 30th Century.