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Arks

The Mahayana—The first ark ship that entered development made with the intent of harboring the ruling elite of the Union of Earth, Free Colonies, Venus Space Stations, and Outer Sol Outposts. Both, government officials and corporate leaders, were reserved spots in the Mahayana. Later, leading scientists and their families were reserved spots. Hafizah is the AI integrated in the systems of the ark and is the only one of the ark AIs still in use by modern humans.

The Theravada—The second ark ship built and piloted by the AI calling itself Diane. The Theravada suffered several power fluctuations during its journey and has had Diane’s mainframe completely removed since arriving in The Viridis Cluster.

The Vajrayana—The last ark ship and the most ineffective one. With a faulty power regulator, power shortages occurred frequently. Prone to problems, of the three arks, The Vajrayana is the only one not in operation after arriving in The Viridis Cluster. It was piloted by Parrish.

Technology

The arks were the most advanced star ships developed by humanity and each of them shared similar designs. It was intended that the occupants would spend the first few years outside of the hibernation pods to get acclimated to life on board the arks. Mixed with the idea that the arks may either be repurposed into colonies or stay in a planet’s orbit, the arks were built with central hubs; massive park-like centers containing residences, offices, shops, restaurants and many recreational facilities. These central hubs were capable of detaching from the arks in massive modules and would serve as the building blocks for the first human colonies on alien worlds.

Because humanity was not an interstellar civilization, the engines and thrusters may be considered archaic by the modern human nations. Each ark is outfitted with experimental Le Guin-Drives, which were extremely inefficient in terms of fuel output and power consumption, leading to many system failures in many parts of each ark respectively.

With artificial intelligence technology having been used extensively in human society during the Sol Golden Age, it was decided that it would be used to pilot the arks once all occupants were placed within cryogenic stasis. Each ark held servers dedicated to housing the AI mainframe, each of which being almost direct copies of one another and programmed with the directive of protecting human life.

Despite being carbon copies, each AI developed their personalities differently. The Mahayana’s AI called itself Hafizah and was found to be curious about the humans it would be escorting to a new world, finding joy in interactions with the science divisions on board during the Mahayana’s construction. The Vajrayana’s AI, Parrish, was vigilant and mindful of its duties, taking pride in its role as humanity’s savior and allegedly having envisioned its destiny of watching the first human civilizations rise up on a new world. The Theravada’s AI simply called itself Diane and was arguably the most robotic of the three. It held little regard for its own ‘emotions’ and held its prime programming above all else.

Despite what many may think about the arks, they were not all built equally. The Mahayana was built with the most state-of-the-art hibernation modules that would not only cryogenically suspend its occupants, but also allow them access to a connected virtual world where they could spend the duration of their journey to their destination. Because it was built first and was the primary focus of the human race in Sol, The Mahayana was almost completely flawless and did not suffer as many power shortages as its sister arks and those it did suffer from were rectified with ease.

The Vajrayana was the most shoddily built of the three arks, suffering from numerous power shortages as a result from the hastily put together Hyperion Power Generators. Because the ship suffered greatly from fluctuating power, many of the ark’s modules were powered down in order to conserve energy and eventually one of the hibernation bays was powered down, resulting in the deaths of nearly 15,000 human colonists.

History

The Infestation

In the wake of The Infestation rapidly spreading at an alarming rate within the Kazakh Steppes, the Union of Earth determined that quarantining the area was simply not enough. The local wildlife had become infected by the fungus and soon had been carriers of the spores through the wild. The Infestation slowly consumed everything in the wilderness turning dead material into twisted puppets of what they once were. U.E. military tried extensively to eradicate the Infestation, via high ordinance explosives and chemical weapons, but yielded no results.

U.E. scientists determined that the growth of The Infestation would snowball rapidly if it were unable to be contained or destroyed. Signs had shown that each life form consumed by the fungus had not only acted and performed normally, but they showed signs of slightly higher intelligence. Human soldiers who attempted to eradicate the growths were attacked by infected wildlife and those consumed by the fungus not only produced spores, but were able to operate normally, showing enhanced motor functions.

By 2434, the nation of Kazakhstan had been completely consumed by The Infestation. It was determined that Earth was no longer safe and mass evacuations in neighboring countries saw a massive influx of refugees on the Martian Free Colonies and the Outer Sol Outposts. Scientists proposed the idea of creating the arks, in the event that the Infestation ever got in control of the whole planet and managed to learn how to use spacecrafts.

The Union of Earth approved of the project and construction of the first ark, dubbed The Mahayana, began immediately in 2436 in orbit of Neptune. Initially, the construction project was classified and hidden from the public eye.

The Sol Dark Age

There are almost no records of the time between 2436 and 2499, but a number of assumptions can be made between the time frame. This is commonly referred to by modern humans as The Sol Dark Age, a term coined by The Velutarian Star Duchies.

It can be assumed from several terminal entries by Alexander Stinekirk, the Director of Bioscience of the Omnigenics Corporation, on the Theravada that its construction was the result of mounting public unrest on Earth as the Infestation grew exponentially and the discovery of The Mahayana’s construction in Neptune’s orbit. Some time in the 2450s, The Infestation had slowed down its rapid expansion on Earth after orbital satellites unloaded nuclear payloads in an attempt to kill Infestation ‘Control Nodes’. It was thought that some of the organic constructs produced by The Infestation functioned as a kind of ‘brain’ or ‘operation centers’ that directed consumed life forms.

The Chrysa Corporation holds historical documents dating back to 2479 that hold names of corporations, that no longer exist in modern human societies, and their devotion of massive amounts of resources to build each of the arks. On top of allocating resources to finish construction of the arks, anyone employed to assist in the construction of the arks were allegedly granted spots, alongside their families.

By the 2480s, The Infestation regrew its destroyed organic tissue and once again began to expand. By this point, anyone who was left on the planet was likely doomed to be consumed by the biomass as the U.E. had all but collapsed and the governments on Mars, The Moon, in the space stations above Venus, and in the Outer Worlds refused to devote their ships to evacuate the rest of Earth’s populations in fear that it would allow the Infestation to spread off the planet.

Construction of the arks were completed in the late 2490s and early 2500s. There are numerous recorded terminal entries by the hundreds of thousands of occupants in the Theravada and Mahayana after they had all embarked and left the Sol System. Many described worries for friends and family who were not chosen to be occupants on the arks. Startlingly, there are terminal entries that suggest The Infestation managed to achieve space flight and gave chase to the arks as they began to leave the Sol System. However, there are also records of rouge squadrons hoping to board the arks, so the reports of The Infestation achieving space flight may have been nothing more than paranoid hysterics.

Interstellar Space and Arrival in The Viridis Cluster

When the arks entered interstellar space, the human occupants entered cryogenic hibernation and were not set to awaken until the ark’s respective AIs found a habitable world or in the event that the time spent in hibernation passed a thousand years, as the pods were not expected to run without malfunctions afterward.

It is not known when or why the Arks separated from each other in the middle of their journeys, but the resulting destinations are even more curious to modern historians. It is thought that the AIs of each ark sought out a habitable world and would attempt to contact one another if one had found a suitable planet for humanity.

Interestingly enough, AI archives aboard the Mahayana report electromagnetic disturbances and total loss of control of the ship in 2755 before regaining it in 2757. It’s not known what caused this interference and loss of control, but many assume that that was the reason for the Mahayana arriving in the Viridis Cluster.

Some time in 2892, several occupants within The Theravada were awakened for unknown reasons. Among the awakened occupants were Katherine Stinekirk, Sindri Hartvigson, and Anvik Kestrel—three of the most notable figures associated with the birth of the idea of The Terran Interstellar Union—among several other occupants. In 2894, Diane was deactivated and the awakened occupants of The Theravada were left to pilot the ship manually.

By 2914, The Theravada entered The Viridis Cluster and, by 2936, entered orbit of the world of Jardin. While in orbit, Katherine Stinekirk launched several scouting drones to survey the world for the next 5 months before deeming it habitable and awakening the humans on board. When the ark’s central modules landed on the planet, the main control module was left in orbit to transmit a signal out to the other arks, in hopes of coming into contact with the other human survivors.

Unknown to The Theravada, The Mahayana arrived in the outer rim of the Viridis Cluster in 2876, set off course from its original destination. Hafizah discovered several lush worlds and deemed them capable of harboring life. Following protocol, it launched several scouting drones from orbit of the world that would later be known as Velutaria. By June, 2877, humans landed on the world and established themselves.

The Vajrayana, however, fared worse than its sister arks. With systems failing in multiple regions of the ship, Parrish found itself desperate. With more than 15,000 deaths due to power losses in the hibernation bays, Parrish cut off power to the central engines and allowed itself to drift forward for the rest of its journey, hoping any nearby scans would find habitable worlds.

It is unknown how The Vajrayana ended up in The Viridis Cluster as well as when exactly it found itself there. Parrish has long since powered down, never fulfilling its goal of seeing the humans under its protection emerge from their hibernation and populating a brave new world. The Vajrayana managed to slow down significantly enough to survive a crash landing on the world of Azura Prime. It’s not known how the occupants managed to survive or when they emerged from their cryogenics pods, but when they did, they were met with a hostile alpine wilderness.

Legacy

The arks, naturally, are held in high esteem for saving the human race and allowing them new beginnings in The Viridis Cluster. The Theravada’s control module has since been retrofitted into a museum in orbit of the Terran Interstellar Union’s capital world of Novus Terra. Artifacts and technology are put on display, as well as access to copies of terminal entries made by the crew of human colonists who once lived on board The Theravada. Those in The T.I.U. value remembering the past and hold idealistic dreams of returning to the Sol System and exterminating The Infestation.

The Mahayana’s control module remains completely functional, retrofitted and upgraded with modern technology. The Velutarian Star Duchies often use The Mahayana as a holy relic of the past where many scholars and pious pilgrims visit. It is believed that The Mahayana is under direct control of the Velutarian ‘God’ Frea and when it enters systems within Star Duchy space it is seen as a blessing and marks good fortune for the system .

Even the Vajraya Compact, who knew of only the hollowed shell of The Vajrayana  had taken to naming themselves after the ship that saved them from extinction. The capital city of Soteria is made from the remains of The Vajrayana and later generations of the Vajraya erected statues in honor the one named Parrish, who is often credited with the salvation of the Vajraya people and gave them the building blocks of Vajrayan society.

Each ark contained records of human history, modern science and mathematics, and blueprints for machinery of all kinds in hopes that the survivors of humanity would be able to use them to continue progressing the human race. Despite this, The Terran Interstellar Union is the only faction able to make use of the archived information, making them one of the most advanced human interstellar nations. Their education programs attempts to make use of as much information from the archives as possible.

The Velutarian Star Duchies, however, were only able to make use of the technological archives as the records of human history had been wiped when the ship was disrupted by an electromagnetic disturbance. Because of this, several generations of Velutarian humans suffered from a lack of appropriate governance until they united under the banner of an empire who’s Emperor and Empress were able to hear the words of the Frea, the Velutarian people’s deity. Since then, the Velutarians have begun to progress culturally and have begun to make more innovations technologically.