First Galactic Era

## Facts and statitics

### Important events

* The galactic expansion takes place, with humans spreading throughout the galaxy.
* The Biru Clan leaves Nikrontri and unites the galaxy, becoming the Ariphius Confederacy.
* The datasea is created, and subsequently Genesis.
* Intelligence is installed into the datasea using synkenin, replacing Genesis.
* The paraulix is invented by Intelligence.

The First Galactic Era '1GE' was the first major period of time in which humans were considered a galaxy-spanning species. The majority of the galactic expansion took place in 1GE, between 1GE 0 and 2267. The year 0 of the First Galactic Era was during the heat of the Clan Wars on Nikrontri, when colonists were exploring larger portions of the galaxy. The clan war was destroying society on Nikrontri, so several billion people left to find new opportunities in outer space during late Antiquity. 1GE began about 200-300 years into the galactic expansion. For at least a thousand years, it is believed that the colonists had remained with the Galactic Interior and Inner Systems, though by around 1GE 1200, colonist groups such as the Nujakta colonists, formerly of the Biru Clan, and other groups, began to spread throughout Edgespace. They first explored Naratel and Prala-Neux, and then colonised worlds such as Hu Gani Prime and mapped paths through the Girshi Labyrinth. Early intelligent alien species, such as Dorunians and Oralians were encountered, and colonists began developing similar attributes, becoming the first dev-humans.

It was not until much later, around 1GE 1900, that political groups began to settle the galaxy. Baron Gala Ariphius of the Biru Clan was the first to do this, leaving the Scelg and Aurn clans fighting on Nikrontri. The Biru Clan was losing the war, the Aurn Clan closing in from the south, with a hold on the south and central eastern coasts of Y’nati, and Old Nikrobiru was the last fortress of the Biru Clan; in Gala’s eyes, it was an inevitable loss, so the clan surrendered. The Aurn Clan annexed Nikrobiru, and gave the Biru Clan a year to prepare its citizens to leave Nikrontri and join the Interior colonies.

The First Galactic Era was a time when information was less sparse - more digital webs were created to unite entire sectors, and eventually, the datasea was created. The Biru Clan multiplied as it gained colonies, and it continued acquiring new territories, for the colonies were without proper governing forces. Individual governments were established in each sector the Biru Clan controlled, eventually evolving into a confederacy that stretched across a large portion of the Galactic Interior and Inner Systems. A council of politicians was established after the death of Gala’s grandson, the last clan baron, Ghekn Ariphis, who were named the Ariphius Council. Some time around 1GE 2600, the now established Ariphius Confederacy returned to Nikrontri to find it a struggling, war-torn place with the greedy baron of the Aurn Clan at its head. The Confederacy attempted to bring Nikrontri under their wing, to improve its economy and state, but the Aurn Clan Baron refused, not wanting to lose his dictator-like barony. With support of Nikrontri’s denizens, the Confederacy took down the baron and his inner circle and made Nikrontri a democracy.

The city was slowly rebuilt, supplies imported from offworld and the Ariphius Pyramid was constructed in 1GE 2685. As Nikrontri grew to be a healthier and wealthier world, with Nikrobiru being the political capital, colonists began immigrating back to Nikrontri, alongside aliens. It became a prosperous hub over centuries, its skyscrapers growing taller and buildings growing denser. Around 1 GE 2715, the Bazaar finished construction, and millions came to sell their goods. The population began to grow too large, and the underworld beneath Nikrobiru was expanded, slums kilometres deep built for the constant inflow of immigrants searching for opportunities in the galaxy’s heart.

While Nikrontri was rebuilt, colonists continued to spread throughout the galaxy, exploring large new regions and establishing official sectors in Edgespace to become parts of the Ariphius Confederacy. More precise routes were mapped through the Girshi Strait, the thin region that divided the two parts of the massive Girshi Labyrinth, connecting Nor Uni and Naratel with the Inner Systems.

In 1GE 2267, the Ariphius Confederacy officially announced the end of the galactic expansion, after most of the galaxy had been explored, including Edgespace. While chronologically the ‘end’ was multiple decades earlier, it was the official government announcement that confirmed it. With the end of the galactic expansion came a new era of revolution. For hundreds of years, AI developers and data scientists had been experimenting with a new digital web to span the entire galaxy. Even with the union of sectors, lack of communication between distant regions still isolated many parts of the galaxy, and issues could go for decades without being noticed, for messages would take long periods of time to transmit from one point to another. A digital network spanning the galaxy could solve this problem - a revolutionary method of instant cross-galactic communication. In 1GE 2301, a minor prototype network was created. A digital path between two distant planets, one in Edgespace and one in the Galactic Interior. When tested, at first it was unsuccessful, but developers discovered that when an advanced AI was implemented into the system, instant communication was made possible. Developers said that with the network being controlled by a single mind, communication was instant and the messages were being sent to one intelligent system, and would not need light to travel. One end of the network was technically the same point as the other end, as it was entirely one AI, later known as Genesis. After much development, the network paths were successfully coded across the galaxy, via Conduits which were placed across the galaxy, reinforcing the data connection. With so many pathways connecting planets, the Genesis AI was not enough, so an augmented, more powerful intelligence was created. It was created within the network, rather than on a physical computer, creating the datasea.

A phenomenon was discovered in the network, especially apparent near Conduits. A strange compound resemblant of a drug was being produced by the network, though how was unknown. The substance was like the network seeping into the physical world. It was discovered that when the compound, named synkenin by scientists, was taken, one could interact and manipulate the datasea, in a trance where the body was limp though the mind was active and inside the datasea. The new, advanced AI was implemented into the datasea by developers using synkenin, so the AI was directly installed into the datasea rather than being on a computer. With synkenin, computers were longer needed and the datasea became a dimension rather than a digital network, the dimension of the newly implemented Intelligence. Intelligence was the most advanced AI ever created, and its mind could store all of the galaxy’s data and instant communication was possible. Intelligence’s nature also formulated new innovations that no human could invent, things only the AI mind could solve and create. In the last century of the First Galactic Era, Intelligence, attempting to solve the issue of space travel. To travel across the galaxy, one had to be wealthy enough for a fusion-powered generation ship or enter cryosleep and potentially abandon their lives and families to travel. Using past abandoned theories as a basis, Intelligence created the paraulix, a vehicle capable of crossing the galaxy in mere weeks. The chamber inside it, containing a microscopic black hole and white hole, would manipulate the Erasmus Effect, combing them to form a wormhole, which would ‘consume’ the paraulix and carry it from one point in the galaxy to another faster than the speed of light. The design was alien to humans, as it was not of human origin, but the Taraeus Guild learnt to construct it and huge sums of money and time were put into the construction of paraulixes in the shipyards on Senevari.