Dying Light

Once, we went to the stars.

A century after the first human set foot on the moon, we had begun to colonize the solar system in earnest. Five centuries later, we were a true spacefaring civilization, and survived the first attempt to extinguish our species, even if we didn't recognize it at the time. Over the next few centuries, we sent colony ships to other solar systems.

It's a good thing we did, because on one fateful day, without warning, the Adversary came. A trillion human beings died in a matter of hours, as kinetic kill vehicles from deep space struck every world, every moon, every space habitat in the solar system. The survivors were in small ships, en route to or from the colonies, or on the fringes of the solar system.

During a brief window of opportunity, the Il'um rescued who they could, but at the first sign of the Adversary's approach, they fled without a second's hesitation. Ever since, the Adversary has been consuming our home worlds to build a Shkadov Thruster, ultimately sending our home star and world into the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy, where it will be one hundred billionth of the fuel for this galaxy's eventual destruction.

That's what they do. This entire supercluster is doomed to collapse into a hypermassive black hole, where they'll build a Matrioshka Brain to simulate a subjective eternity for whoever they used to be. The Il'um, a million years more advanced than us, have resigned even themselves to that fate, determined to make the most of the few million years they have left, and to help us do the same.

But we reject that fate. We will not allow them to consume the stars, to extinguish all life, for their own selfish ends. Unstoppable or no, we will rise to meet them.

Seven thousand years have passed. From that initial diaspora, a trillion new humans now dwell in thousands of star systems. We have learned to defy the speed of light. We have acquired psionic powers. We have befriended alien civilizations--save the ones hell-bent on our destruction. We have built a galactic civilization, and we will fight to preserve it.

We rage, against the dying of the light.

Dying Light

This setting is a "firm" science fiction setting, set approximately 8,000 years in the future. Humankind has spread to the stars, and has made contact with many alien civilizations, some friendly, some hostile. The most pressing threat to humanity is the Adversary, an unknown force that is consuming entire galaxy clusters for some unfathomable purpose. But that threat is distant, and unfathomably long-term in nature. Most people focus on day-to-day survival, and even the mightiest elites care more for which systems they can plant their flag upon than the long-term fate of the galaxy.

For thousands of years, humanity was united under House Andromedes, a succession of benevolent Empresses with godlike psionic powers, who established a single, peaceful galactic empire that flourished under their reign. It all came to an end when the last Empress was assassinated by her own Royal Guard, leading to centuries of war, and eventually a fragile peace supported by an oligarchy of Great Houses. The galaxy is now a patchwork of city-states, corporate fiefdoms, and independent planets, all nominally united under the Galactic Community, but in practice more or less doing their own thing.

The feudalistic Great Houses are the most powerful entities in the galaxy, each controlling vast resources, fleets, and armies. They are locked in a constant struggle for power and influence, with shifting alliances and betrayals. Individual planets are usually left to their own devices, as long as they pay their taxes and don't cause too much trouble. The Galactic Community exists more as a forum for diplomacy and trade than a governing body, and is often ignored when it comes to enforcing laws or mediating disputes.

House Andromedes' claim to fame was their psionic ability, first manifesting in Andromeda, the first Empress, and their line is known as the Alpha Strain. The Great Houses collectively possess the Beta Strain, a lesser psionic ability that is still powerful enough to ensure their dominance. Not every noble has psionic abilities, but those who do are highly valued and often groomed for leadership. The common people had no psionic abilities, until relatively recently, when a small percentage of the population began to manifest the Gamma Strain, which has become regulated under the federal government, with all such individuals being required to join the Psi-Corps, a branch of the military that trains and deploys psionic soldiers for various purposes, from combat to espionage to diplomacy. The Psi-Corps is a powerful institution in its own right, with its own hierarchy and politics, and is often at odds with the Great Houses.

As powerful as the houses are, the galaxy is a big place, and there is much to do. Opportunities for adventure are legion, with endless demand for daring mercenaries, explorers, smugglers, and other adventurers to take on dangerous missions, from deep space exploration to corporate espionage to interplanetary warfare. The galaxy is full of mysteries to uncover, from ancient alien ruins to hidden caches of advanced technology to the secrets of the Adversary itself. The possibilities are endless, and the stakes are high, as the fate of humanity and the galaxy hangs in the balance.