#creasers

A general term for devices that interact directly with sentient minds or reproduce psychic effects. Examples have been developed independently in many different civilizations over time, and our modern understanding stems significantly from research into older examples.

Ancient psycho-tech is found in nearly ever chr'tai ruin, though many other examples are found in old human colony ships or other places of long-dead civilization. Due to the near-universal nature of psychic communication, once these devices are reactivated, they can usually be used by any sentient person; as such, they are some of our best understood records of these ancient civilizations, alongside being useful pieces of technology in and of themselves. Examples include the ubiquitous chr'tai memory injectors, true ai cores, and the original foldspace drives.

A common variant of those aforementioned 'true' ai cores are what we now call psy-bots. While we don't understand the inner workings of their cores or the reason for their similarity across cultures, we know that they can be installed in psycho-tech exoskeletons, allowing them to effectively "inhabit" mobile bodies. They can even, rarely, exhibit psychic capabilities once activated. However, every core yet uncovered has had no remaining memory of their original design or purpose - effectively, they have become new beings after their long slumber. There is some contention as to their place in the galaxy, most placing them somewhere between simple technology and fully sentient people, some considering them a potential danger due to their unknown origin. While it is not our place to comment on ethics, we prefer visiting the places where they are considered people.

The most widely-spread species in the known galaxy. The founding members of the Galactic Council, the original arbiters of language and culture, and the standard around which the galaxy has been shaped. Respect them, hate them, fear them, love them - humans are everywhere, and we'd best get used to it.

That is not to say that humanity is a monolith - far from it. The whole reason that the GC is a council at all is because of all the different homes humanity re-emerged from, after the mysterious calamity of their lost homeworld Earth. A fleet of massive sub-light colony ships spread humans across the stars, carrying the seeds of civilization and the people to back it up. Some found habitable worlds, some were lost to the void of space, and some collided with the species we now celebrate as the varying peoples of the galaxy. It was generations before these humans found each other again, and these generations of cultural differences defined the galaxy we live in today.

A stout, four-legged species of rocklike people. Hailing originally from the now-dead planet Lacron, they have since settled on a number of asteroids and small moons, from which they bring their impressive technological advancements to the rest of the galaxy. Their natural magnetic fields led to a relatively early development of electronics, even compared to the humans who had colony ships to work from. Much like the slurm and their decentralized nervous system, this magnetism also gives them a rather unique relationship with modern galactic tech - not to mention their taste for the precious metals said tech is made from. We all have to eat, I suppose.

A territorial and violent species of alien that has recently emerged around certain Foldspace highways. Their long, jagged ears, lengthy segmented limbs, and light but frail bodies adapt them well to zero-gravity environments, and their strangely-shaped vessels seem almost non-euclidian at a glance. They seem keen to destroy or capture any passing Foldspace ships, and attempts to communicate have been met with violence and a strange, almost jerky language. Direct contact with the creatures is rarely survived, but those that have report that the crease beasts themselves are shaped as strangely as their ships. In the words of one particular survivor, it was "like someone had taken their vertices and dragged them around, willy-nilly, and hit save without checking if it would render."

Known as the chr'tai in their native tongue, this arboreal species was the first to leave their home system and begin settling on other planets. However, by the time of humanity's exodus across the galaxy, the chr'tai empire had collapsed to ruins. The secrets of their technology were lost, and the people were once more stranded on their homeworld. Though, this seclusion was short-lived, in the grand scheme of things - when there is something to find, someone will find it. In the case of the chr'tai, a group of drifters from Straight On 'Till Morning reverse-engineered enough chr'tai tech to find their home planet, and bring chitterlings back to the stars.

The chitterling homeworld is a dense low-gravity jungle, full of dangerous predators and fantastical flora. The lanky and fragile Chitterlings, unlike to many other sentient species, evolved from herbivorous prey animals. They sport large, dangling ears, widely-spaced eyes, and dense fur in varying patterns and colorations. The name 'chitterling' comes from their speech; their jittery native language, 'chi'ter,' is spoken faster than most other species can understand without training. Their twitchy reflexes and frequent fidgeting add to an air of anxiety about them, but that is only in relation to other species, and even then, more appearance than fact.

This colony ship was cleanest start for a new civilization out of any of Earth's attempts. Most included seeds for new societies in their designs; for example, the Hero's Journey kept many stories of old Earth alive, though the deterioration of their physical records means that most are now kept as oral histories or long-distorted fables. Some took the risk of cryogenically freezing their passengers and crew, though that rarely, if ever, worked. After all, everyone dies eventually.

To Regret It All, however, kept a strict divide between their passengers and crew, and replicated Earth's environments as closely as space allowed with rotational gravity and a massive tube-shaped biosphere. The second generation born on their long voyage did not even know they were on a spaceship, let alone why. The crew, once they ensured the ship would reach their destination - a planet as Earth-like as they could find - were frozen for any emergencies the ship's advanced autopilot could not handle. When To Regret It All reached its final destination, the crew was euthanized, and their whole section of the ship - including the autopilot AI - was ejected and destroyed. In this way, the civilization born of the Regret was something as wholly new as possible.

Of course, no one can escape the influence of their parents, despite the efforts of the Regret. Some believe that the passengers of the Regret are actually the closest people to those of old Earth, as they did not start over from a template or goal. They just kept living, albeit in a much more confined - and, well, cylindrical - space than a true planetoid. Others believe that the first generation of colonists instilled a certain value in originality and fresh ideas, rather than a true blank slate. Others still suspect that a certain ease of living permeated their early years, due to the lack of real danger built into To Regret It All, and the people's inability to truly explore their surroundings. Who is to say? We can only hope that the passengers and crew of the Regret rest easy, knowing that they did the best they could.

The odd alien occupants of the human colony ship Seedling Ark. As none of the humans aboard survived their journey from their doomed homeworld, the origin of the felinids remains a mystery; whether they were a formerly nomadic species and discovered a derelict, found and killed the humans themselves, or stowed away and simply waited, we cannot be sure. Some felinid mystics and scholars claim history stretching back to the Earth itself, and their ancient stories speak of 'lost builders' and 'dark years.' The truth of these tales is likely lost to time due to the deterioration of Seedling Ark, so we must take them at their word and extrapolate the rest.

A rare and egotistical race of massive psychic beings that float amongst the stars. It is believed that there are fewer than a dozen of their number in the known galaxy. They value self-sufficiency as a primary virtue, perhaps owing to their immense size and corresponding resource needs, but also perhaps due to their perceived insignificance of "lesser races". They appear most often in a dormant state, but can draw upon their energy reserves and potent psychic potential when threatened or spurred to act.