The Precursors

"The precursors. A modern enigma. Enigmatic, ancient civilisations that lived hundreds of thousands, if not millions or billions of years ago. These are the empires that ruled the stars when Sol was occupied by nothing more than primordial soup.

What we know of them is gleaned from ancient databases, derelict starships and the ruins of once mighty civilisations. That is, when we lowly monkeys can even begin to scrape together an understanding.

Take, for example, the "best known" of the precursor epochs. The Stygians. Their ruins are the most prominent across the galaxy. Intact and operational. The Stygians seemed to be synthetic artificers beyond compare. Crafting AI and nanites that makes the near ascendant warmind AIs of the Coalition look like a calculator. They are the only ancient race to have a living progeny. Depending on your definition of living.

That progeny? The Stygian Automata Ascendancy. An intractable, enigmatic synthetic hegemony that exists beyond the dark space between spiral arms. These ancient machines may not have been born with sentience... Or maybe they were? Either way this ancient race has menanced the borders of every empire that dares reach towards the void between the arms. Especially those who try to play with their masters' toys."

— Excerpt from 'On the ancient stars' by Dr Hayley Bishop, senior fellow, Solar Academy of Sciences , Circa 2411

The precursor races are a mystery that has dominated interstellar politics from the moment they were first discovered. Where they were discovered, they helped catapult those who found them into the stars. It is rumored that the origins of the Solar Empire came from Stygian ruins on Venus. The first entries into the great repositories of the Fahikh came from an Ancient repository on Indi. Although the truth of this is still hotly debated to this day. Precursor relics, ruins and even the smallest bit of detritus of these once powerful races often get treated as the highest of imperial priorities, universally referred to as artifacts. The technological supremacy of both the Coalition and Directorate speaks to why they’re treated so.

Doctors Gerald Skipson and Hayley Bishop of the Solar Academy of Sciences are credited with establishing the baseline of precursor knowledge. Firstly discovering the distinct radiological signature that all precursor technology seems to share, and developing a classification system to catalog all discoveries. In the subsequent four hundred years of research and discovery, their work continues to form the foundation of all research into the Precursors, no matter the empire of origin.

The Erandi Codex

Whilst precursor sites have been researched since the empires reached the stars, it wasn’t until first contact in 2320 that a comprehensive profile of those who came before was established. Just over a hundred years after the Directorate and Solar Empire met, the Stygian war would exponentially increase the wider understanding of precursor technology, as a Stygian database was captured following a battle with a Stygian fleet. Named the Erandi Codex, after the system it was recovered in, it became the de facto, declassified database on just what the Stygians and other precursors were.

The Erandi Codex revealed that the Stygians were a galaxy spanning empire, with a proclivity for developing exceptionally powerful synthetic and artificial intelligence. It detailed how these AI empowered them to spread throughout the stars, uncovering the history of the “Ancients”. However, unlike the empires of the current era, the Stygians saw the relics of the past as an existential threat. They poured considerable resources into cataloging their discoveries into discrete databases, which we have called Antediluvian Index’s. Once recorded in an Index, the Stygians would secure them on “vault worlds” that spanned their empire.

It was for this purpose the Erandi Codex indicated the Stygian Automata Ascendancy (SAA) was created. A force dedicated to the hunt for artifacts, no matter the cost. Like all their AI, it was empowered with what appears to be almost total free will to complete their mission.

The Codex had a notable gap, a break in its recordings where the only translatable references mention a  “torrent” and nothing more. Its last, consistent recordings refer to an empire now extinct. On the run from their own servants, the SAA. The codex makes no explanation for why the SAA were hunting and eradicating their creators, but some scholars have argued the last line entered offers some clue.

“We built a garden. A safe… yet we didn’t account for the weeds…Weeds we didn’t even know existed…hidden deep…We built a garden.”

— Erandi Codex , Z-22110-D

Ofcourse, the translation could be entirely wrong. What is known of the Stygian language is cobbled together from the Codex and several Indexes and even after three hundred years of research, nothing is certain.

A mirror, darkly

Beyond the direct knowledge we have of the Stygians, through their records and limited discoveries out in explored space xenoarchaeologist have used quantum dating to identify two other distinct time periods of precursor races. Although any respected expert is quick to insist any understanding claimed is at best flawed, at worst entirely false.

The Ancients. This is the race or races the Stygians focused on the most. Whilst there is no distinct technological trait for this era, they all have a specific quantum date frame. It is suspected that due to the tenacity of the Stygians, and the SAA that very little of the Ancients exists outside of Vault worlds.

Other than the Stygians and Ancients, the other distinct, unified category who Dr Skipson named Primeval. There are very few, physical examples known to exist of this epoch, at least publicly. Their technology is beyond powerful, with even the best scientists admitting they can barely understand their operations. More akin to magic, then technology. The presence of a Primeval artifact is widely considered justification for deploying an entire battlegroup to secure it.

An Automated Ascendancy

First met during the “Stygian War” following the near singularity event suffered by the Solar Empire. The Stygian Automated Ascendancy has plagued the civilized words since that conflict. Existing past the deep void between the spiral arms of the galaxy, their ships will flit in and out of the border, edge worlds. Sometimes passing silently, sometimes demanding supplies and sometimes leaving nothing but ash in their wake.

Long term communications have never been established, and border conflicts with their “exploratory” fleets is common. It is estimated roughly thirty percent of the ISTO’s total military capacity is aligned to protecting the edge from the SAA. Whilst small in number, any conflict with the Ascendancy has resulted in significant casualties due to their enigmatic, advanced weaponry.

Whilst they have never engaged in long term, diplomatic relations, they have clearly influenced interstellar politics. The most recent, overt example being the provision of still classified technology that allowed the Federations “FTL supergun” to fire leading to the shattering.

Following the devastation of the FTL lanes, the Stygians launched a series of raids into Coalition and Directorate space, which whilst eventually repulsed, is arguably the reason the ISTO accepted the armistice, rather than the shattering itself.

Precursor Classification System - "Skipson Scale"

Artifact classification is handled using the Skipson Scale. Developed by Dr Skipson it features several data points.  An Epoch Prefix, a power level marker, a potential area of effect measurement and then any combination of "special" suffixes. First the distinct Epoch, then its power level, followed by its area of effect and completed with a specialist marker, if any.

Epochs

Split into four distinctly identifiable categories:

Stygians  - The most ‘recent’ precursor empire, the creators of the Stygian Automata Ascendancy and of "vault" worlds (like Onia) where they attempted to contain other precursor artifacts. Under the Skipson Scale, Stygian Artifacts are prefixed with an X.

Ancients - Available evidence points to this epoch being a collection of Empires, rather than a single monolithic entity like the Stygians.  There can be significant variation in the physical appearance of their structures and technology albeit the chances of finding it working and intact outside of Stygian vault world's is unlikely. Under the Skipson Scale, Ancient Artifacts are prefixed with a V.

Primeval - The earliest of the known living empires. Extremely rare and enigmatic technology, very, very limited understanding. Under the Skipson Scale, Primeval artifacts are prefixed with a C.

Aberration - Doesn't fit any of the established epochs. Esoteric, or unexplainable. Used for artifacts that aren’t easily identifiable as any of the three established epochs. - Under the Skipson Scale, Aberrations are prefixed with a N.

Power Levels

A scale of its power output based on its detectable zero-point energy signature also known as Skipson-Bishop Radiation or SBR. Using the old greek alphabet, the first twenty characters are used to describe a scaling amount of detectable SBR from Alpha (α) to Upsilon (υ). Phi (φ), Chi (χ), Psi (ψ) and Omega (Ω) are reserved for specific cases, where the detectable amount of radiation indicates a specific risk that will be identified by the notes.

Area of effect

A measure of its effect on the planet or star system it resides within. A ten point scale ranging from 0 to 10 that goes as follows: 0, the owner; 1, a single individual; 2, a group of individuals; 3, a city block; 4, a city; 5, multiple cites; 6, a single continent; 7, a hemisphere; 8, a planet; 9, a planetary system; 10, the star system;

Artifacts that have no easily measurable range are marked with an A; a range greater than one star system a E ; a range spanning greater than ten star systems a X.

Specialist Markers

The official list of 'specialist markers' is maintained by the Solar Academy of Science, however various other Interstellar institutes, such as the Federal Research Complex on Voltker maintain competing lists. Additionally some organizations such as the Interstellar Intelligence Agency have their own combination of markers.

These markers can range from a single letter, such as F for artifacts with temporal properties, to a combination like the IIA's marker for shattering related artifacts, STR.

Format

An example of a fully completed artifact classification would be X-α7-F. This would be a Stygian artifact, with a low amount of detectable SBR but a suspected effect of a single continent with temporal properties.