The Founder

The **Founder** was a mysterious spherical paracausal entity associated with the Void. Massive in scale, it once hung motionless within the skies above the Martian Tetradome built upon the mountain of Olympus Mons. Once responsible for terraforming the worlds of the Phobos System, it was then rendered largely motionless during the Age of Collapse. And would finally be destroyed during the

## Overview

The Founder was an ancient and immensely powerful machine entity, the source of the Martian Titans and Prime Servitors along with being the paracausal source of the Martian and Venusian Psionic abilities used by both Empires during their Golden Age. It is a source linked to the Void, though not the only source in the universe. Its outer shell is made of lead, neutronium and "electroweak matter", the latter based on a fundamental force that hasn't existed since the dawn of time.

The interior workings of the Founder remain a mystery. The Titan Lavuv-Gamma-6 claimed that the Titans originated from within the Womb, a place inside the Founder described as a "cosmos inside a bottle" or an "infinite space enclosed within a celestial egg", where trillions of star-like souls orbit each other in a complex weave. Another Titan titled Rho 9-Thure was dismissive of this description, contending that neither she nor Titan Lavuv-Gamma-6 can remember their time within the Founder.

### Origins and Purpose

The origins and true nature of the Founder are unknown. Some information can be gleaned from the poem known as Dreams of the Lexik ; based on this work, it appears that the Founder chose Mars and Venus and their human inhabitants for a reason; it detected a "face" emerging from the Sun, later hearing a roar that contained something that is described as "a dreaming melody". The Founder felt joy, as it felt "the first hope in ages transformed," and upon its awakening would begin the Event now known to the Imperium as the *"Sol Scouring"* Wherein the celestial bodies of Mars and Venus would be spirited away from the Sol System and brought to the Phobos System.

The Founder seemed to have been motivated by pure altruism; it has never wished to be worshipped as a god, nor has it made its presence known any more than necessary to cultivate a civilization. In the past, whenever its work was finished, it would simply leave without fanfare. It would seem then that its defense of humanity was an extraordinary act under dire circumstances.

Saint-14 suggested that the Founder in some way had previously visited other species before finding the humanity upon Mars and Venus. The Fallen civilization in particular once hosted the Traveler, which they named the Great Machine. However, it left their system around the time of a catastrophic event only known as the Whirlwind. Other than the likely involvement of the Hive, little is known about this event, though it is thought to be similar to humanity's Collapse. After the destruction of their homeworld, the Fallen went in search of the Great Machine, leading them to the Sol System. All of their previous conflicts with humanity have been attempts to claim the Traveler for themselves, either in an effort to prevent the destruction of their race, or to destroy the Traveler in vengeance.

## History

The Traveler's origins are unknown. For when it was first discovered, the human inhabitants upon Mars and Venus had been sent reeling from the Sol Scouring. Once both subsets of Humanity were ready the Founder would emerge sparking a Golden Age for the Twin Empires that allowed humans to migrate from Mars and Venus to colonize other planets within the Phobos System and its surrounding Star Systems. Some speculate that the Founder is a large vessel; others believe that it is a sentient being or artificial intelligence and some may even consider it a deity. As of yet its true nature is unknown.

The Founder is credited with the United Empire of Mars' survival during the Collapse of the Twin Empires Golden Age. After the Founder sacrificed itself to save humanity, its shattered form has remained floating not far from Mars' surface above the Olympus Mons, and has long since become silent and dormant. The Tetradome was built in its shadow of its former glory and left under the Titans protection.