Miliam took a moment to process what she’d just been told, but ultimately, it didn’t come as a huge surprise. Mostly, she wondered how it had happened and why. Her first thought was simple genetic modifications to acclimate to new environments- or simply because furries saw an opportunity to escalate to a whole new level- but that didn’t quite jive with the phrasing of those species’ planets as homeworlds. If they were just modified humans, wouldn’t they be colonies? Would they even be considered separate species?
Aoibhe spoke up before she could ask any questions, however.
“Let’s take this conversation to the lounge. It’s awkward talking across the bridge like this.”
“We have a lounge?”
The Astrum Vitae did in fact have a lounge.
“I kind of forgot there was a room across from the bathrooms,” Miliam admitted as she looked around. She had actually never entered this room before- it had been full of unidentifiable junk before.
“Aye, I purchased the furnishings when we were replacing the furniture across the rest of the ship,” Aoibhe said proudly, plopping down in a fay-scale chair. Miliam found her way to a comfy couch, and Abigail joined her, sitting just close enough to be familiar but far enough not to invade Miliam’s personal space.
Besides the various seats there were a few screens and tables of different heights, a liquor cabinet, and an entertainment center with gaming consoles Miliam couldn’t name. Instead of cold metal the room had a rug covering most of its floor, and there were colorful cloths draped across the walls.
They sat for a minute in silence.
“What were we talking about again?” Miliam inquired, having lost her train of thought while looking around.
“I believe my last statement was, verbatim, ‘All member species of the Gaian Collective are human,’” Abigail offered amusedly, resting her arm on her armrest and making herself comfortable.
“Oh, right. And I’m assuming that has something to do with these Observers?” she asked Abigail, spotting the thread immediately now that her thinking was back on track.
“Indeed,” Abigail affirmed, pleased. “We know little about them save that they are likely the ones responsible for the proliferation of sapient species across the region. In regards to humanity alone, the Observers abducted large groups over the past few hundred-thousand years, dating back to the first appearance of the homo genus. Sasquatch descend directly from homo erectus, for instance.”
“Why would they even do that, though?”
Uninterested in the conversation, Aoibhe got back up and sauntered over to the liquor cabinet, pouring herself a drink. She stopped to think for a moment before taking out one more glass, selecting a different bottle for it.
“We can only speculate based upon their methods.” Abigail shrugged as Aoibhe returned with two glasses and offered one to Abigail, who took a moment to thank her before continuing. “My thanks. The Observers contributed to the survival of nearly every member of the homo genus by relocating populations to other planets. Based on genetic evidence we believe this was primarily done when a species was nearly extinct, and may have in fact been the cause of their final disappearances.”
“Okay, I can understand that…but why do they all look like crosses between humans and animals?” Miliam asked, incredulous. If all they wanted to do was save endangered sapients, why give them a horse’s ass? “Wait, why does she get a drink and not me?”
“Did you want one?” Aoibhe asked knowingly.
“…not really,” Miliam admitted, to which Aoibhe made a gesture as if to indicate ‘exactly.’ Abigail coughed into a fist to take back their attention.
“Our best hypothesis is that they wished to ensure survival by any means necessary, and thus gave people the tools needed to survive in their new environment.” She took a sip of the light blue liquid in her cup. “Ah, my favorite. As I was saying, this ill fits other evidence, however, such as the minimal alterations made to the fay and dwarves, who descend from homo sapiens and homo neanderthalensis. One might argue these to be control groups, but then, why place them on planets with differences in gravity?”
Abigail shook her head and sighed.
“Ultimately we have no definite answers except that they interfered in the first place. Earth was far from the only world they visited, although humans either had a greater number of branch species or proved more adaptable once transplanted, as we have so far discovered dozens of offshoots of our species scattered across the stars.”
“What happened to them? Why can’t we just ask?” Miliam wondered aloud. She knew the whole disappearing precursors thing was a common concept, but there had to be a reason why they were gone, at the very least.
“At approximately the same time as the fay achieved interstellar travel, the Observers withdrew to a handful of systems in the Butterfly Cluster and have never emerged since. All communications are ignored, and intruders are attacked on sight. Admittedly, we have no way to know-“
“I know this is your favorite subject, Abigail, but what does it have to do with a job offer?” Aoibhe cut in, already having received this lecture in the past at least once. Abigail nodded in concession.
“A contact of mine-” Aoibhe staged whispered the words ‘ex-girlfriend’ here, which Abigail ignored, “-sent me coordinates for a particular asteroid in one of the belts around Delta Boötis.”
“Delta Boötis...I think I remember you saying something about that system a few years ago.” Aoibhe took a big gulp of the dark liquid in her glass.
“Indeed. That is the system wherein there are no planets, only several asteroid belts. All of the planets there were torn apart five hundred thousand years ago, and one was deemed to have been inhabited by an advanced civilization at the time.” Abigail leaned forward. “The only civilization we have found evidence for the existence of that far back is the Observers.”
“Do you think the Observers destroyed the system?” Miliam asked, a bit lost now.
“We believe it was destroyed by a creature called a cthulid. Little is known about them, but that is irrelevant. It has long been believed that only traces of the Delta Boötis civilization remained after the pulverization of their homeworld, but my contact has notified me that they discovered an intact structure on one of the many asteroids there.”
“…and you’re hoping there’s information on the Observers there.” Aoibhe gestured with her glass, guessing at Abigail’s intentions.
“Perhaps the Observers, or potentially cthulids. Either would be a monumental discovery.” The scholar smiled slightly, a hungry look in her eyes.
“That sounds like a job for an entire team of archaeologists. So why do you want to hire a single run down corvette?”
“Delta Boötis is, unfortunately, quite close to the Unnac Imperium borders. The Imperium loathes the Observers, referring to them as the Abductors. If they were to find the structure first they would destroy it, and Delta Boötis is both too far from Collective space for a state-sponsored expedition and too close to Imperium borders for a convoy to go unnoticed.”
“Sorry, off topic, but there’s a galactic empire? Seriously?” Miliam couldn’t help but interject at the seeming cliché.
“Aye, well, technically they’re a republic.” Aoibhe rolled her eyes, apparently familiar with the topic.
“What.”
“The mirazar create new terminology for new concepts but never replace existing ones if it means using one with a similar meaning instead. If the ruler of a city is a baron, they find it more efficient to continue using the word baron to refer to a mayor. So of course, once empires went out of vogue, the word empire merely became synonymous with the word nation in their dominant language. But, that is a digression,” Abigail explained, waving a hand at the end to indicate they should return to the matter at hand.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“Aye. So, what you’re saying is that no one was crazy enough to take you there?” the pilot asked, though her tone made it a statement and not a question. She didn’t even look at Abigail as she said it, instead staring into her drink.
“Indeed. Worry not- the Imperium will care little about a single vessel outside their borders, and there is no trade between the Imperium and Collective, so there is little risk of encountering pirates,” Abigail reassured them, though it had the opposite effect on Miliam, who only wondered if anyone in this era remembered what a jinx was.
“Aoibhe is here. We’re encountering pirates,” she declared in complete confidence, drawing a look of resignation from the fay in question.
“You’re never going to let that go, are you?”
“Nnnnnope.” Miliam took a moment to try to put herself in the mindset of a proper captain. She needed to…negotiate payment, right. And maybe ask why she wouldn’t just look for a cargo job. “So, uh, yeah, how much is this paying and why wouldn’t we do something safer?”
“If we find nothing, I will ensure you are paid from my own wallet at least what you would have made hauling freight. In the event we find what I expect, however, you may anticipate a far greater payment directly from the university in exchange for the artifacts and data we recover.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Aoibhe said suspiciously, downing the rest of her drink before elaborating. “Wouldn’t you be claiming anything we find, since we’re just your ride?”
“Technically, it is the opposite. As I could not acquire approval for an official expedition, I will be taking a leave of absence to serve as your guide.” Abigail looked a bit smug, but Aoibhe saw through her.
“In other words, you’re creating an excuse to maximize our profit so we’re less likely to say no,” she accused sourly, having a better idea of the true value of their potential finds than Miliam. “I suppose it’s in character for you to be more concerned with learning than profit, though.”
“Indeed. Your pristine grimoire, Miliam, was worth 2.5 million reserves. Might you be interested in a far greater prize?” Abigail asked, posing the question directly to Miliam, who felt as if a devil was whispering into her ear, appealing to her greed. Was it worth it? Abigail seemed to think the danger was minimal, but if that were true, she could have hired someone else.
Perhaps trust was a factor, though. Did Abigail believe the value of the prize was too tempting? If this wasn’t truly about the condition of the ship, or Miliam herself for that matter, then…maybe what Abigail really wanted was to hire Aoibhe, whom she trusted. Despite their history the two seemed amicable, and while Aoibhe enjoyed ribbing Abigail over her many relationships, she’d never actually spoken a word of criticism over them, so it was probably just an in-joke.
Aoibhe, for her part, seemed annoyed, but when Miliam looked to her for advice, she just shrugged, leaving the decision up to Miliam. It was true that they needed the money. The Astrum Vitae still required millions of reserves in repairs, and that wasn’t even factoring in the share of profits owed to the crew by law, general operating expenses, and that rush-job operation Miliam wanted to get.
Miliam sighed. This was more responsibility than she’d ever had before. But in the end, was it really any more dangerous than a cargo job? She’d already concluded that Aoibhe was a pirate magnet. It they were going to attract pirates anyway, they may as well take the job with better pay.
“Fine. Let’s do it.”
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Codex Entry: The Observers
Mysterious and enigmatic, the Observers are believed to be the oldest spacefaring race in the Orion Arm of the galaxy. Little is known about their society, as they are extremely isolationist and enforce this policy with superior technology. What is known is that, when they first entered space, they made a habit of abducting large numbers of people from any sapient species they encountered and transplanting them onto different worlds- almost always worlds with conditions vastly different from the ones the species originated on.
Their reasons for this are known only to the Observers. It may have been a series of experiments to see how species adapted to abrupt changes in environment, an effort at conservation, or simply a twisted form of entertainment, but after hundreds of thousands of years of abductions and experiments, they retreated back to their current borders, emerging only to seek updates on the species they had toyed with.
The Observers are reclusive to the point that no one alive today has ever seen one. Many legends of the species they interfered with are believed to have come from the Observers, however, suggesting they were not always so reluctant to show themselves. On Earth alone, it is suggested that myths of giant creatures may reference Observer ships, and that various non-human monsters were actually based off the silhouettes of Observer environment suits and powered armor.
One theory on their current reclusiveness suggests that the Observers have simply gone extinct, and that their territory is defended by artificial intelligences they left behind, protecting dozens of star systems in the name of masters that are no longer there.
While the ethics of their actions are debatable, it is a fact that some of the most prominent races in the current era were the result of the Observers' interference. Many of these races did not survive to the current day on their own homeworlds. Transplanted peoples from Earth have gone on to become the dwarves, elves, gnomes and many more, while the lizardfolk race has offshoots in the dragonewts and kobolds. Whether this constitutes a success or merely the next step in some grand experiment remains unknown.
Codex Updates:
Dwarves
Unlike the elves, who descend from a population of homo sapiens, dwarves are another species entirely- the last remnants of homo neanderthalis. It's now believed that the abduction of a large portion of the neanderthal population, already lower in number than humans at the time, contributed heavily to their subsequent extinction on Earth. On the other hand, this may have been the only this between survival and outright extinction.
Modern dwarves descend from neanderthals transplanted onto a heavy gravity world. Adapted for about fifty percent higher gravity than humans, dwarves are short, stocky, and dense, making them seem inordinately strong when compared to their cousins. The average dwarf is only four and half feet tall, but their weight outstrips any human of the same size. Like their ancestors, dwarves have heavy brows and longer skulls when compared to humans.
Dwarves suffer from roughly the opposite problems elves have in space. Most species are adapted to lower gravity, and this means any dwarf living in mixed spaces is prone to both muscular and bone degredation. Dwarves living off their homeworld must maintain strict excercise regimens to maintain a healthy muscle and bone mass. The air in these spaces is also thinner, and although most dwarves adapt to this in time, some choose to wear breathing devices or even pressure suits to simulate the oxygen levels of their home world.
Dwarven history closely resembles human history- significantly more so than it resembles that of the fay. They developed technology along closely parallel lines, but did not discover magic until after they left their solar system on slower-than-light generation ships. This was because their system is in a magic 'dead zone', in the wake of a black hole which absorbs most mana which otherwise would have flowed through it. Whether this was deliberate on the part of the Observers is debated to this day.
Dwarves are the last of the sapient human subspecies to reach space due to the delay in their discovery of magic. It was only after the establishment of research outposts outside their home system that they began experimenting with magic, and this delayed their discovery of FTL magic greatly. In the past, it was difficult to even use magic on their homeworld, but mana crystalization technology has largely defeated this problem today.
Dragonewts
Similar to the elves, dwarves, and gnomes, dragonewts descend from a distant relative of the lizardman race, although their common ancestor was further in the past. It is unclear if the dragonewts were transplanted as an experiment or simply to preserve the species, as the conditions on their second homeworld differ from the first only in that it is significantly more mountainous due to a severely fractured crust with dozens of minor tectonic plates.
Dragonewts are a rarity in the galaxy: they are one of the few sapient species capable of full flight. This comes at the cost of size, however. Male dragonewts are only three feet tall on average. Female dragonewts are as much as a full foot taller, and this increased height is accompanied by a significant advantage in overall mass. All dragonewts have hollow bones and relatively weak limbs, however. They boast a twelve foot wingspan in exchange, which allows them to fly as well as any bird. These wings resemble those of bats in structure rather than birds or flying reptiles. Healthy wings are of particular importance in dragonewt culture.
Dragonewts come in many colors, but the pattern and coloration applied to their wing membranes is what identifies a dragonewt's clan group, rather than the color of their skin, which is varied among all groups. This has lead to a mostly-dead custom in which exiles were stripped of their wing membranes or even their entire wings to show they were no longer welcome in any society.
Dragonewt society is matriarchal. This has many historical reasons, but the primary one is that female dragonewts have a significant size advantage over males and do not carry their young- instead, eggs are deposited one at a time into a brood pouch on a male's underbelly. There is no difference in birth rate between the dragonewt sexes.
A fractious people, dragonewt society is highly divided, with no polities governing more than one clan ever surviving long. Clans gradually grew in scope and size instead, each maintaining their unique cultural identity with little multiculturalism. Only once the largest clans had grown equivalent to entire nations did their technological level begin to advance, so their society spent a particularly long time in their equivalent to the medieval period before eventually industrializing.
Today, the dragonewt clans have dispersed so that each may have a world to themselves, which has greatly reduced infighting. They are one of the three founding species of the Draconine Freeholds, a loose confederation primarily united in mutual defense and nothing more.