It is the year 25 thousand, humanity has spread through most of the milky way galaxy and now begins its first step toward intergalactic settlement. There are over a billion ecumenopolis worlds, completely covered by cities, housing hundreds of trillions in relative comfort, with surrounding dyson swarms housing on average a few quadrillion people per star system.
It has been 15 thousand years since humanity first became aware of the ancient Queldari civilization that was at its peak a billion years before humanity even existed, these ancient beings, though elusive and secretive, shared much of their advanced technology and scientific knowledge with humanity. The Queldari had spend a billion years assembling galaxies into a super galactic cluster, creating a supermassive black hole at the center, binding the galaxies together with its gravitation, keeping them from being lost to the inevitable expansion of space.
On Earth, or Terra as it came to be known, The Empress still reigned as an autocratic monarch. She had long ago retaken the Terran system and now turned its vast resources and peoples to forging a massive Naval force, and so she would continue to prepare for the long awaited reclamation of her place at the head of humanities interstellar civilization. Ultimately she would launch her war of reunification in the year 34 thousand, sending trillions of massive destroyers and battleships across the systems to install governors loyal to the Empress, the wars would be long and bloody, and the Empress would fall short of her all encompassing goal, settling for control of most of the milky way and few outposts throughout other galaxies.
Around the beginning of the reunification wars, there had been growing a movement across millions of systems that combined a born again puritan christian mentality with a belief in unifying humanity across the systems in order to spread the word of Jesus Christ. This culture grew until it culminated in a massive crusade called for across a million worlds, known as the first Divine Crusade, it consisted mostly of an unorganized rabble of zealous citizens who would descend on tens of thousands of "heretical" worlds, leaving them ravaged after the unorganized looting and pillaging. It was a far cry from what the religious figures had called for, and it would be another five thousand years before the various Imperial Christian Kingdoms would mobilize their forces for the second Divine Crusade.
The second Divine Crusade would be very different, it would see an organized conquest of systems, not for pillage and destruction, but with a thought toward longevity and governance. There were many battles and sieges, some of them equally destructive as the battles of the first crusade, but ultimately it would end with the formation of the Divine Ministry, an intergalactic authority that would rule over the new Christian empire. Herein were sown the first seeds of the organizations antithesis, for scientific scholars and other academics would create a vast underground that ultimately would come to be known as The Cult Obscurum.
During this time, there came to prominence another powerful civilization, centered on the Akarian system, their leadership believed high philosophy and science should be practiced by all people, and so they set out to create their perfect society where every person was a god like philosopher king and everything in their civilization was crafted to reflect that standard. Architecture was purposely grandiose and vast, city streets lined with towering marble statues depicting the divine inhabitants in regal repose.
In time the Akarians spread this way of life to other systems and formed a network of guilds and authorities that would regulate the nature of their civilization, eventually growing into a full blown interstellar empire with a naval force and centralized government. This would lead them into inevitable conflict with their neighbors, the newly declared Andromeden Empire.
One of the first galaxies settled after the milky way, people from Andromeda had long held a reputation for being independent, rugged and resilient. As interstellar powers began to pop up left and right, the Andromedans became increasingly wary of outsiders and began to culturally isolate themselves. Ultimately five hundred million worlds would unite and form the Andromedan Empire, and it would immediately turn its forces to check the encroachment of the Akarians into what was seen as its sphere of influence. This sparked a series of small wars throughout the next 20 thousand years that would leave the two bitter rivals.
As the Terran Empire pushed on deeper into the galactic super cluster, they came to be challenged by a group calling themselves the Lothari Collective. They had long ago spliced their genetics with plant and animal DNA, becoming what are know as Symorphics, any being that is hybrid between two or more species. The Lothari engineered vast ecosystems that spread across a planets surface and turn the world into a living fortress for the Lothari that have various ways of integrating themselves into or controlling those systems. The Lothari exist across millions of worlds and are known to coordinate military/political ventures.
Around the 40th century, the Divine Ministry would launch another crusade, the Third Divine Crusade and challenge several empires including the Terrans, the Andromedans and the Akarians, ultimately unsuccessful, the crusade would be the high water mark of the Ministry's power and shortly there after they would find themselves under attack from all sides as well as within.
In response to the third Divine Crusade, the organization known as the Cult Obscurum would emerge from the shadows with a vengeance. Having spent five thousand years preparing and spreading their ideology across a million worlds, they launched a retaliatory war against the Divine Ministry which came to be known as The First Secular Crusade, liberating ministry held worlds and spreading their ideology of free though and scientific practice. Ultimately the Cult Obscurum would establish itself as a permanent interstellar power, standing as a challenge to the religious zealotry for the Divine Ministry.
By the time of the First Secular Crusade, the Cult Obscurum had grown over thousands of years and morphed into a vast bureaucracy that administrated over its various tasks. The main groups where divided into three catagories, The Cult Beurocraticum handled affairs of diplomacy and state, The Cult Scholasticus handled scientific research and development and the Cult Militarum handled defense and warfare. These groups where further divided into smaller cults such as the Cult Scholasticus administrating over the Cult Hypocraticus, the Cult Mathmaticum and the Cult Archea. Many of these smaller groups are at odds with each other and only partially share the same goals, this leads to much chaos and infighting. Over the centuries some groups have lost recollection of their original purpose and now exist only to work against another group, the most extreme example being the Cult Perilous and the Cult Imperilous who both exist only to carry out the other destruction. Still these are small fringe groups and the vast majority of the Cult Obscurum is run in a straight forward efficiant manner.
It is also worth noting that around this time the Order of Custodians also came to prominence. They had long existed in the fringes, traveling with their Custodian Worlds across the galactic super cluster, spreading technology, information, wealth and culture. Though pacifistic in nature, the Custodians are capable of defending themselves if necessary, and only rarely find themselves targeted by an aggressive enemy.
Custodian Worlds are known for their specialization in certain areas, though they all carry an array of capabilities. Garden Worlds are known for their ecology and agriculture, Library Worlds are known for their vast databases of information, Architect Worlds are known for their technology and engineering, Medical Worlds are known for their advanced medical techniques, and Investigation Worlds are feared for their fanatical devotion to the Order, and are the closest thing the group has to a dark side.
In the 43rd century, the Empress's Reunification War is nearing its end, her forces are spent and exhausted, yet, the Terran Empire now holds nearly 1/3 of all human systems. Entering into a period of relative stability, the established civilizations of humanity continue their spread outward, yet, soon they would come face to face with an enemy know to them only through Queldari lore; The Silicates.
As ancient and powerful as the Queldari, mysterious and cunning, ruthless and seemingly destructive without relent. The Silicates have never shown interest in communication, cooperation or diplomacy of any kind. They seem to consider organic life to be inferior and so destroy it at every opportunity. They are the ancient enemy of the Queldari.
In the year 47 thousand, the Silicates would launch a vast invasion of the super galactic cluster, attacking the Queldari and all their allies including humanity. The brunt of this battle would fall upon the Empress to fight, though all the civilizations of humanity would ultimately aid in the war effort. The two decisive battles would be fought around the home system of the Saurian and the Humans, with the siege of Alpha Draconis lasting five hundred years and the siege of Terra lasting three hundred. After heavy losses, the Silicates are finally repelled and there is a long period of isolation and reconstruction.
Over the next billion years humanity would spread through the galactic super cluster until ultimately it would control 30% of the territory, holding roughly 30 billion galaxies. Vast empires would rise and fall, but the pace of history was already slowing, and the Terran Empire would endure those vast dark millennium and remain as one of the principal powers of humanity into the 3 millionth millennium, when she would launch her galactic crusade with the intention of conquering the universe, humanity, Queldari and Silicate alike. Her ambitions would nearly be won, yet, as victory seemed within her grasp, a secret unleashed from the black hole at the super galactic core would shatter her ambitions and forever change the fate of civilization. But that is a story for another time.
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