This week we’re going into the deep history of Lord of Rigel’s setting, starting as far back as the start of it all and ending near the events that start the recent history of the game!
13.72 bya (0):
Big bang. Although there are numerous universes, this one begins at “event zero” or the big bang.
Dark Ages (150-800 million years after bang):
The first generation of stars and galaxies form, and the universe begins to re-ionize and become more opaque.
13.5 bya (200 million after bang):
Rocky planets exist in portions of the early universe where matter is particularly dense. The background temperature of the universe permits liquid water on most planets. Some of the heavier elements needed for life are created and dispersed by black hole tidal forces. Life evolves on some of these worlds. Typically these worlds with life are rogue planets far from active stars or galactic cores.
The First People (200-300 million after bang):
The very first civilizations emerge and develop various forms of faster than light travel. Massive conflicts, now long erased by time, erupt throughout the cosmos. All but the names of these first civilizations such as the Iuson and Golbakar are lost to history. Since many of these civilizations are shrouded in the “Dark Ages” little is known save for the rare superstructures that survived from this time.
Ascension:
Some of these first civilizations realize the instability of the universe. An effort begins to construct a more stable, artificial, universe that can be used for the continuity of civilizations. Entire civilizations would be uploaded and imprinted into this new universe.
The energy requirements for these universes results in the construction of massive superstructures, with Dyson Spheres being some of the most enduring. Civilizations that resist this effort attempt to destroy the spheres, but in the end species in support of ascending grow in number over the millenia.
Ascension becomes a civilization-wide decision, though small portions of a population occasionally remained behind. Communication with ascended species is rare, and primarily occurs when a new species is ready to join the ascended community. Accounts of this alternate form of existence are contradictory and paradoxical, but it appears to be a more stable form of existence (no risk of annihilation) than being in “the Real.”
The Eternal Cycle (13.5 bya- 10,000 years ago):
Leaving behind Dyson Spheres, the first civilizations left material markers for other species to develop technologies along a path that will enable ascension. In some galaxies this cycle is broken when a galaxy is sterilized (system killing weapons, self-replicating assimilating swarms, hostile artificial life, and other existential threats). However, generally within 10,000 to a billion years new sapient life emerges to continue the cycle.
Most species expand into their galaxy shortly after discovering FTL, discover relics of the First People, and within a few hundred years begin a process of ascension.
A Broken Cycle (10,00 years ago):
It is rare that a species is incompatible with the ascension process, but the Rigelans were one of these cases. The Rigleans seized control of a First People Dyson Sphere (now called Rigel) and, realizing that their fate was tied to this universe, enacted a plan.
The Rigelan Plan (9,000 years ago):
The Rigelans, unable to leave this universe, enacted a plan to convert all stars into longer-lived red dwarves with Dyson Spheres. Their plan was to foster evolution on as many worlds as long as possible, while keeping stable stars that they could use as habitats for a period longer than the universe would naturally permit. The Arcturans, at this time a fledgling species spreading out into the galaxy, believed this was an affront to the natural order.
In future articles we’ll cover the events of the Arcturan-Rigelan war which sets the stage for Lord of Rigel!
