The Ancients were the first to pass through the Great Filter, just barely surviving their wars long enough to leave their homeworld for the stars. They spread like the invasive species they were, their self-replicator swarms devouring entire worlds to build habitat clouds around stars. Each and every species that now inhabits the galaxy was uplifted by them, absorbed into their own culture. After the Ancients conquered the galaxy, there was no more filter. They had torn it apart.

It was the first and only Type 3 civilization, harnessing the power of a hundred billion suns for its own use. Nations with populations in the trillions were not even worth a footnote in the history books, massive civil wars could take the lives of just as many without ever being noticed by those elsewhere in the galaxy. Great colony fleets were sent out into the intergalactic void, countless thousands every day, seeding the universe. The trillion stars of the local group were made theirs.

The very laws of the universe were twisted to the will of the Ancient magics, and the gaps between gravity pockets were bridged by another wave of colony fleets. All things became their domain, and all was made into one nation in the Great Unification. The Omnire, a nation spanning the entire known universe, was formed. For a time, all was peaceful. There were no more wars, not even tiny skirmishes. A number of individuals inconceivable to the mind, united under one banner.

No such accomplishment could last.

The War began. It was given no name beyond that, for any name would be inadequate. It was the only war that ever mattered. The entire Omnire erupted in war, every star of every galaxy of every group of every supercluster became a battleground. It went on for millions of years, every second countless battles raged and in each of those battles a trillion died. Entire planetary campaigns were nothing, and billions were won and lost every day. The previous wars between collections of habitats and star systems paled in comparison.

New weapons were created at an alarming pace, with their designs being distributed instantaneously through the networks and hive minds of both sides. Warships the side of solar systems clashed in the millions in the dark space between galaxies, and those galaxies themselves were hurled at faster than light speeds toward the enemy. Whole superclusters were swallowed up by magical weapons that tore apart the very fabric of space and time. It was a war that those alive today could not possibly imagine the scale of.

When all was said and done, the Omnire was completely eliminated. The bindings between galactic clusters, set in place by the Ancients, crumbled and the universe was lost to redshift. The once-glorious superstructures the Omnire had constructed now lie in ruin, their former populations slaughtered.

It has been billions of years since The War, and the local group they once colonized has merged into a single supergalaxy-. Its inhabitants are unaware of each other and The War, their only knowledge of what transpired reserved to the feeling of loss and unease when they look upon the ruins of a Dyson sphere. With the fall of the Omnire came the fall of civilization, the apocalypse wrought by The War ending all life. Now, upon the ruins of their habitats and Dyson spheres, there emerge new civilizations.

But there is no longer a filter. The knowledge of space travel and magic was known to these new civilizations since their earliest days, and so they survived their wars. These civilizations spread out throughout their home systems as the Ancients once did, scavenging from the ruins of the Omnire and building their cities upon their dead bodies. Now, they have begun to reach out further into the Galactic Pangaea. Unlike the civilizations of the ancient times, they will meet on equal terms.

Only time will tell, however, if they will not fall to the same fate as the Omnire.

---

This RP, as you might have gleaned from that block of test, won't take the usual form of a sci-fi NRP. There are ruins quite literally everywhere, not just a few remnants as in other "The big empire fell once" stories. There are also no survivors at all, all sapient life from before The War was killed by it. Some of the species that will appear will likely be related to the Ancients, be it through old genetic engineering projects or just happening to have evolved from the bacteria in their digestive system.

These civilizations have also had the ability to travel through space since before they invented nuclear weapons, whether that means they figured it out around their version of WWI or their version of the Punic Wars is your decision. Plenty of them will have probably evolved on ruined habitats, still-habitable parts of Dyson spheres, or other ancient megastructures. Please don't use this as an excuse to give your Space Orcs ten trillion warriors. Remember, it's been billions of years and a war destroyed just about everything. Any remaining megastructures will be banged up to the point that they won't be fully usable. A Dyson sphere would have only a fraction of its surface be habitable, for example.

Magic, in the form of Ancient arts, does exist. It is more akin, however, to the Force from Star Wars than most fantasy magic (though it does just about everything bog-standard fantasy magic does anyhow). Using it involves not chants or spells, but the application of extremely advanced mathematics to calculate how to best manipulate the unseen force the Ancients created. It doesn't abide by the laws of physics, so you can just create matter and energy with it however you like. Remember, the Omnire controlled quite literally all that exists and changed the laws of physics to keep the universe from expanding. Manifesting a fireball is nothing.

Those calculations can be handled by either Ancient devices, most likely computational crystals that don't need any energy input because, again, Type 4 civilization. What I'm saying is you can totally have a wizard with a crystal staff if you want. Alternatively, your own civilization could have constructed computers to do the calculations and emulate the crystals. Even for a species that has figured out quantum computing pretty well would need to have a huge complex to do this, however.

The magical power itself is accessed through any living being, since the purpose of the power's creation by the Ancients was to make every individual capable of feats that would otherwise take a small country to accomplish. Note that this means some species could have evolved to be capable of the necessary calculations without the help of a crystal or other computer, and those species could be anything from magical beasts to your own civilization. Just keep that to a minimum, because there's really no reason that should be the case at all beyond cool factor.

It's worth noting that this means that civilizations from habitat or megastructure ruins would actually be less "technologically" advanced and more "magically" advanced (even though magic is just hyper-advanced technology here). This means that you could have a civilization comparable to medieval Europe that can still avoid being steamrolled by one comparable to modern humanity, since their use of magic would let them fight toe-to-toe. Magitech civilizations are also entirely possible, depending on how you decide yours developed.

As for just what sorts of megastructures you'll run into/come from, there's no actual limit. The Omnire didn't care for efficiency, so relatively silly ones like an Alderson Disk would be entirely reasonable. The only constant is a clear indication that something created it and that said something is now gone. Go crazy. I want to see Ancient Ecumenopolises, starlifting facilities, whatever you can come up with the Ancients could have built.

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There's no real NS template, but a few of the things that are essential for it are:
-History (Of both species and nation. Tell me how you evolved, not just how you united or failed to unite).
-Species biology/appearance
-Government/lack thereof
-Technology
-Military organization/technology
-Extent/territory (How widespread are you, what's your rough population? Be balanced here. The backstory might involve a Type 4 civilization where everyone is a demigod, but that's not what the new civilizations are).

This is an interesting idea, I’m disappointed it hasn’t gotten more attention.

Interesting setting, I for one would like to play a nation of merchants and explorers originating from a former paradise dyson-ring that ended up fragmented and partially drifting in their system's asteroid belt, with multiple cultures involved.

I'm a little concerned this setting may be set in a bit too big of a sandbox though. What kind of nation limits are you looking for? Maybe we could all share one system given the sheer size of even a partial dyson sphere?

Very interested. I'll have an NS up shortly.

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The Vainghar are a silicon based life form and a powerful race of magic users who worship the Omnire as gods. Often termed as the Precursors, the Vainghar have built their empire in pursuit of their goal of following in Precursor's footsteps so that in time they too may become as gods. Mainly a theocratic government with power placed in the hands of the priesthood, the Vainghar suffer several offshoot governments and sects that are often locked in a state of war. For the most part, however, their empire is stable and serene, with their collective efforts prioritizing exploration and unlocking the ancient mysteries of the Omnire.

---

The Vainghari evolved and diverged from other Vaingi in the continent of Creo on the Vainghari homeworld of Creatae. Modern Vainghari migrated from Creo and began colonizing the wider world approximatel 125,000 years ago. The closest living relative of the Vainhghari are the Ghari primates that populate Creo and have a DNA sequence range similar to the Vainghari between 95-99%.


Creo landscape, the cradle of the Vainghar

The dawn of Vainghari civilization was wrought with mystery as early Vainghari struggled to find meaning to their existence, and answer the question of how they diverged from their primitive cousins. Ancient civilizations permeated with myths of a divine power that catapulted the evolution of the Vainghar and gave the gift of consciousness. It wasn't until the atomic age that the Vainghar discovered the source of this power that they dubbed the Catalyst. Research and experiments confirmed what legends and Vainghari priesthood had been saying all along, that the Catalyst was a Omnire artifact whose power spearheaded the evolution of the Vainghar.


The Catalyst, on the Creatae moon of Ezo

The Catalyst was discovered on Ezo, the desert moon of Creatae. An emulating blue light on the moon had long been the subject of myths and legends to the ancient Vainghar and at the dawn of the atomic age technology had advanced enough for lunar expeditions, resulting in a pinnacle discovery that would shape the Vainghari in the centuries to come.


Up until approximately 13,000 years ago, the Vainghar lived in hunter-gatherer societies. Over time, they gradually gained dominion over their environments and learned to cultivate land for farming and domesticate animals. These discoveries changed their societies from a nomadic existence to that of settlers.


A Vainghari City on Creatae

Population boomed over time as technological advances steadily increased quality of life and life expectancy and led to a transition from rural to urban population centers. Following the atomic age, Vainghar civilization had reorganized itself into a theocracy after the discovery of the Catalyst, leading to universal doctrines and law, and globalization and governance. The Information Age saw the end of the last radical bastions of rogue governments on Creatae and the beginning of colonization of Ezo, leading to the Colonial Age and the colonization of their home star system, Kryos and beyond.

---

Early Vainghari settlements were dependent on their proximity to ammonia and other substantive resources. Arable land beyond the habitable equatorial zones of Creatae were highly prized by Vainghari civilizations and consistently fought over throughout their history. As technological advancement allowed travel across the ammonia oceans of Creatae and canals were constructed, settlements were built deeper into inhospitable zones of the world, until urban sprawl covered most of the planet's land masses into the Interstellar Age.


Creatae, the Vainghar homeworld

Today most Vainghar live in urban centers on Creatae, where 71% of the landmass of the planet is urbanized, boasting a population of 24.4 billion. The worlds of the Kryos Star System have been colonized and terraformed to suite the biological needs of the Vainghari, with the process being carried out in the interstellar colonies in the Vainghar Star Cluster.

---

Anatomy of a vainghar

Most aspects of vainghar physiology are closely homologous to corresponding aspects of animal physiology. However there are considerable deviations thought to stem from evolutionary deviation brought about by the Catalyst. Like the natural fauna of Creatae, Vainghar are silicon based, and rely on ammonia for hydration. Unlike animals, vainghar communicate telepathically and absorb nutrients through their skin rather then through oral ingestion.

The central nervous system is divided into two divisions; bodily and astral. Bodily neural splits into brain and spinal chord whereas astral nerves divides into the length of protruding nerve chords. While immediate environmental factors are processed through the bodily nervous system, the astral nervous system is used to send and receive telepathic signals within range of other vainghar.

Vainghar cells undergo a process of photoplast, allowing for energy absorption and consist of highly charged metabolites that age at a slow rate, resulting in a life span of 500 years. Vainghar have three hearts, located in the chest and abdomen, to quickly pump the light blue blood throughout the body.


Vainghar reproduce asexually. At the end of a vainghari life cycle, usually around 500 years, the vainghar body goes into a catatonic state, and its epidermis expands and hardens to form a cocoon, or crystalis. The vainghar body within the crystalis undergoes the process of fission reproduction, in which the host dies and its genetic material is passed down and gives birth to two offspring, who are birthed from the crystalis after a period of around twelve months.

The vainghar offspring are typically hatched in a nursery and enter into the societal caste of their parent host. A vainghar, usually an elder with interpersonal ties to their parent, undergoes a process of imprinting with the offspring, and raises them to adulthood, which begins at the vainghars' 75th year.

When a Vainghar reaches its 500th year, its body begins to undergo the fission process, its astral nerves begin to dim, and its skin hardens and expands. At this time the vainghar journeys back to Creatae and prepares for its final stage of life, forming its crytalis and splitting into two new offspring.

Occasional the fission process fails, and the offspring die in the crystalis, or the fission process fails, and the vainghar goes on to live for another 5-10 years without reproducing, often living as an outcast in vainghar society.

---

The vainghar brain

The vainghar brain, located in the skull and protected by the bone crest, is the focal point of both the astral and bodily nervous systems. The brain controls both the autocratic processes, such as respiration and digestion, and the higher order functioning, such as thought, reason, and abstraction.

Generally regarded as more capable of these higher order activities, the vainghar brain is believed to be more "intelligent" in general than that of any other known species. While some species are capable of creating structures and using simple tools—mostly through instinct and mimicry - vainghar technology is vastly more complex, and is constantly evolving and improving through time.


Vainghar are cathemeral . The waking biological process of vainghari require a process of sleep ranging from twelve to fifteen hours every three days. While in a sleep state, brain activity instigates a dream state within vainghar, where the waking events are processes and often interpreted in a series of dreams. It is common practice for vainghar to analyze these dreams and try and gleam lessons from them.


Vainghar are imbued with self awareness unlike any other living creature. Their environment is processed by their brain through their senses and their personality is shaped by their experiences. As a result, based on environmental factors, no two vainghar are the same, and a wide spectrum of beliefs and personalities exist.

The nature of thought within Vainghar is often debated and studied within the priesthood and academics of the vainghar, and despite the long history of study, new elements of thought and the mind are constantly discovered as the mind evolves with the vainghar experience.

The caste system of vainghar society, which has been nearly a constant in vainghar civilization, has given rise to unique experiences dependent upon one's role in society. Soldiers, for example, tend to develop aggressive tendencies, while nursery matrons, tend to be nurturing.


There are several key factors that motivate individual vainghar in their lives, the chief of which being perpetuation and success of the species as a whole. Individuals strive to reach achievements that better vainghar as a whole. The culmination of this is reaching the pinnacle of existence, and obtain godhood just as the Omnire achieved. This has given rise to conflict, however, as not all in vainghar society agree on the means to achieve this.

Secondary to the good of the species, individuals strive to reach the fission process at the 500th year, and often act instinctively in order to survive to this stage. However, individual often overcome their instincts for the good of the species and make sacrifices that contradict this goal.

There are often cases where environmental factors have shaped some vainghar to conduct themselves outside the norms of vainghar culture and act in a selfish manner, working to horde resources, obtain power, and inflict harm on their fellow vainghar.

Emotions often factor into the motivations of vainghar, causing individuals to act in a manner that contradicts the godhood consensus. The process of imprinting, for example, often conjures powerful emotions between the mentor and protege such as love, envy, hatred, etc. These emotions often cloud the mind of vainghar, making it harder to reach their goal. As a result, vainghar tend to maintain discipline against these emotions, and those that appear to be ruled by them are often shunned.


Depiction of the Kin War, caused by the envy
between two sibling archons.

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Vainghar are highly social beings comprised of complex social groups or castes. Individual vainghar are prescribed a caste at birth based on the role of their parent and rarely change their caste. A caste is largely defined by their role in vainghar society, such as soldier, priest, laborer, etc. and is a general indicator to the overall behaviour of those in that caste.


Vainghar communicate through their astral nerve system, sending signals that are received and processed within the cerebrum of the vainghar brain. This mode of communication not only detects specific words thought, rather then spoken, at a receiver but also detects mood and emotion in the listener, similar to how other sentient beings might detect emotion from verbal or facial ques.

This mode of communication does, however, create the potential for a barrier between the vainghar and any potential sentient life form in a hypothetical first contact event.


Vainghar society is divided into a caste system that determines general behaviour and goals of individuals and defines their role in society as well as a hierarchy. On a biological level every vainghar is generally the same, their role and experiences are largely dependent on their caste, and shape everything from behaviour to intelligence.


The caste hierarchy of Vainghar society

Labourer
The lowest tier in terms of hierarchy, labourers perform the menial tasks in vainghar society, operating the vast machinery that powers industry. By far the largest of the castes, as well as the most susceptible to heresy, revolt, and exile from the theocracy.

Soldier
A caste of varied organizations but for the most part the sword and shield of the theocracy, born and raised in the art of war. Relatively small compared to the labourer caste, soldiers numbers are engineered to provide the protection needed to the theocracy rather then potentially becoming bloated, idle, and a threat.

Matron
Matrons are responsible for assuring perpetuation of the species, primarily in the form of caring for the crsyali and vainghar undergoing the fission process.

Priesthood
The priesthood represent the academics and leadership in society. Their foremost role is studying and interpreting the Omnire as well as legislating law.

Archons
Archons are the supreme rulers of vainghar society. Unlike the other castes, an archon is not born into its role, but rather elected from the priesthood based on their deeds. Generally there is one archon ruling over a vainghar faction, but in the past two or more have been elected to rule.


There is not stronger bond between vainghar then that of individuals who have imprinted. Upon birth, a newborn vainghar, usually with its sibling, are taken under the care of their mentor who typically was close the parent vainghar. The two siblings and mentor form a familial unit known as a trifect, and imprint upon each other, forming a strong bond between the three vainghar.

Over time, the constant passing of astral signals between the trifect forms an acute sensitivity to the respective vainghar, allowing a trifect to communicate over greater distances. Some have even been able to communicate across star systems, though this is rare.


Vainghar are organized into a theocratic dictatorship, where the archon rules over vainghar society. The archon is elected from among the priesthood, and the priest, in turn, aid the archon in legislation and governance. However, not all vainghar follow this theocracy, and several rogue governments have been established away from the overbearing influence of the vainghar priesthood.

The Archial Empire
The Archial Empire is the leading faction in Vainghar society. Based on Creatae and ruled by the vainghar priesthood and the archons, the Archial Empire represents the largest number of the vainghar population, an estimated 70%. The empire has explored and colonized many worlds and star systems and boast the greatest martial and technological strength. The empire's chief pursuit, is the path of the Omnire, and to lead the vainghar to become gods.


The sigil of the Archial Empire

The Nexus Independent League
After breaking away from the Archial Empire in a bloody 50 year conflict known as the Nexus War, vainghar of the Nexus star system rejected the caste system and formed their own society free from the burgeoning priesthood of Creatae. NIL society boost freedom from the caste system, building a society under the predication that all vainghar are free to make pursuits based on their free will, rather then the role of their parent.

NIL control the Nexus star system and are based on the terraformed world of Vahil. The league is ruled by the Adjunct Council, and are fairly prosperous despite being dwarfed in size by the empire. Nevertheless, the league has resisted the empire's influence, and persevered despite multiple wars to bring them back into the fold of the empire.


Sigil of the Nexus Independence League

The H'ra Dominion
A shadowy faction of vainghar that operate outside the boundaries of imperial space. The Dominion homeworld is unknown and their society is shrouded in mystery. It is believed that the Dominion was established by a disgraced archon who was exiled from the empire after being rejected from the fission process. The Dominion is now the home of exiles and fission rejects and are known to prey upon imperial traders and travelers.


Sigil of the H'ra Dominion


The vainghar largely adhere to omnic monopoly economic system, where prized omnire technology is controlled and distributed by the priesthood. Omnire discoveries are handed over to the priesthood for analysis and interpretation. Artifacts and technology traded outside theocratic purview is illegal and punished severely.

The vainghar theocracy argues that lower castes are ill suited to properly decipher Omnire tech while their detractors argue that this is a means of control.

The closest thing the vainghar have to a currency are Omnire crystals that are often traded between individuals and groups in exchange for resources a la a barter system. Crystals are controlled and distributed by the priesthood as payment in exchange for labour and other services before being traded more freely among the populace.

The Nexus Independence League adheres to a distributism economic system, where property rights are held in high regard and the economy is decentralized. This decentralization has given rise to various groups known as orders within the League. League orders tend to collaborate and work together to maximize efficiency and prosperity and tend to be specialized around specific trades or objectives. For example, the League Defence Order is comprised of soldiers that work together to defend League colonies, or the League Exploration Order, that work to discover new worlds to colonize in the name of the League.


Vainghar history is marred with conflicts of both large and small scale. Following the atomic age and the discovery of the Catalyst, the geopolitical landscape of Creatae shifted and the priesthood rose to power, establishing their theocracy and the Archia Theocratic Empire. The Archia Empire consolidated its power in a 500 year war known as the War of Tribunal. The Tribunal was a powerful faction on Creatae comprised of three archons and their respective nations. After untold destruction and death, the last remaining archon surrendered, and the empire secured its power over the entire world.

An era of peace followed as the priesthood consolidated its power and imposed its society on the vainghar, hurling its considerable resources at exploration and colonization, stretching out across the stars.

Three generations since the War of Tribunal, the outlying colonies of the Nexus Star rose up against the empire, rejecting the caste system and the priesthood's control of all things Omnic. Known as the Nexus War, it soon surpassed the War of Tribunal in its capacity for death and destruction, laying waste to the Nexus star system and Imperial colonies. Deadlocked for more then two centuries, a peace was reached at last and Nexus seceded from the empire.


Glassing of Artanis during the Nexus War



((WIP))

Putting in my interest, waiting to see if this garners any more.

oooh very much interested

I am curious, i admit.

I like the idea of a megastructure oriented sci-fi RP, I am amazed it is so rare when it does solve a lot of issues with sci-fi NRPs from the get-go, like having a tangible scale and being able to have genetically similar life (since instead of interstellar empires all over, you have many clades of people with a common origin in the deep past - so having many of the 'races' be humanoid is a lot more justified).

However the fantasy elements are where you lose me- why not have an RP with a far future sol with these elements? You don't even need billions of years, just a couple thousand for this sorta world.

So while it's nice to see such RP, I am very unlikely to join because I don't like the fantasy motif you went with.

Hope the best regardless.

However the fantasy elements are where you lose me- why not have an RP with a far future sol with these elements? You don't even need billions of years, just a couple thousand for this sorta world.

I just sort of like the odd juxtaposition of sci-fi and fantasy, and I haven't seen anything that uses both at once in a while now. It's purely personal taste.