First Ones

## Members

### Local First Ones

* are Elders races that have consistently interacted with other Elder races, and so recognized as First Ones
* are known to have had consistent presence or influence over the Local Cluster

## Firstborn

### Title

The First Born, the Precursors

Not much is known of the Firstborn. Allegedly, they were the first race to evolve in the galaxy and Lórien, the only remaining Firstborn, the first among the Firstborn themselves. They were humanoids born naturally immortal, never aging though still susceptible to death by injury or illness. They developed a peaceful advanced civilization and eventually left their homeworld to explore the galaxy. In their travels, they visited countless worlds and found many infant races. They acted as teachers and guardians before eventually stepping aside and allowing them to make their own paths, creating great empires, exploring and founding even younger races to whom they became teachers and guardians. Eventually, all Firstborns died out, only Lórien remains, the figure of highest standing among the First Ones, powerful, respected by the older races as no other. Lorien eventually withdrew and dwelt deep beneath the planet that would become known as Z'ha'dum. He would remain there for a million years, but never forgotten by those he had taught. The Shadows, in their endless series of conflicts, would always eventually return to that planet after being driven off, in respect for Lorien. Lórien is able to appear in his original humanoid form and in an evolved non-corporeal form which can travel through space and hyperspace. He possesses tremendous psychic abilities.

Lorien in its physical avatar.

## Triad

### Homeworld

Unknown region of space (original)
Triangulum Rift (adopted)

### Title

The Tree, The Riftborn

The Triad is the second oldest among the elder races. They are a race of spaceborne beings united in a hive mind society where all individuals stand to one of three "super-minds": Order, Chaos, and Neutrality. Each super-mind act as one individual, even if they are formed by several minds, leading some to the erroneous conclusion that the Triad is a race of only three entities. The Triad are simple barely sentient entities as individuals, having evolved by joining their minds to enlarge their intelligence, in an organic analog to the way the Geth display sentience. Although they still have a connection to the physical world, they are mostly non-corporeal like the Vorlons and can hide from the younger races. Humans are the only younger race that can detect them when they don't want to be detected, through their subspace technology. The Triad originates from a very unique layer of hyperspace, a pocket dimension connected to our realm through the so-called Triangulum Rift, a dimensional rift outside the Sol Cluster.

An agglomeration of Triad particles that form part of the "Order" hive mind.

## Shadows

### Homeworld

Unknown (original)
Z'ha'Dum (adopted)

### Title

The Lords of Chaos, The Darkness

The Shadows are a semi-transcendent race of insectoid beings. Evolving from apex predators, the Shadows have the ability to cloak from the view of the younger races and even telepaths. Like many other elder races, their actual name is either unknown or impossible to pronounce, the name 'Shadows' being given by the Sol races. Obsessed with chaos and its ability to trigger evolution, the Shadows have in the orderly Vorlons their main rivals. The Shadows seem to evoke a visceral fear in the Circle's races, probable evidence of Vorlon tampering.

Though we call the Shadows government, the Shadow Enclave, they probably have no actual governing structure, living up to their ideals by sticking together in an anarchic-like mechanic, where the strongest among them rule until they are overthrown.

A Shadow.

## Viatori

### Title

The Travelers, The Walkers of Sigma-957

Also known as the Travelers, or the Walkers of Sigma-957, the Viatori (the name the Humans gave them) are amongst the oldest races in our galaxy. With an unending thirst for knowledge and a desire to learn every aspect of the Universe, they ended up possessing more knowledge individually than entire species. They started out as large thick-skinned creatures with poor senses and high psychokinetic capacities. They never developed rudimentary tools as they could construct things physically with their minds. They resorted to technology for complex constructs such as computers or automated construction machines. They soon started exploring space and at the same time the other dimensions and soon became nomadic explorers. They first discovered Thirdspace, which they mapped out in secret, due to the violent and chaotic nature of its natives, then, hyperspace, which led the way to yet other dimensions. They evolved beyond the physical state over a million years ago. In our galaxy, they've been known to deposit their information in two massive uninhabited databases. One at Viatoria (Sigma-957) and another one that was destroyed by an asteroid impact. They usually travel inside huge science labs made for research and trans-dimensional and trans-universal travel. They are barely aware of the younger races. The Humans, with their high technology and experience with trans-dimensional travel, are the only younger race with which they have some contact. The Viatori despise the Vorlons and the Shadows because of their ideals and manipulation of the younger races, preferring to let them alone.

The Viatori government is The Guild, a group of old and psionically powerful Viatori that distribute attributions and scientific missions to lesser individuals. Almost all of their civilization is a means to a defined end, exploration. Ironically, their focus on Jumpspace for billions of years just blinded them to the possibility of discovering Subspace.

## Vorlons

### Homeworld

Unknown (original)
Vorlon Prime (adopted)

### Title

The Lords of Order, The Light, The Living Gods

The Vorlons are a race of pre-ascended and highly psychic creatures. The Vorlons seem to have a terrifying obsession with order, being probably the main agents in the development of the Circle's races, as well as the development of telepaths among them. Not much is known about them, but all the Circle's races see them as angelic beings of light for an unknown reason. On the other hand, those "touched by the Shadows" see them as nothing, while Humans and the Mass Effect races see them as their, supposedly, true form, semi-ascended bioluminescent cephalopods. Though they may appear insubstantial, they are physical life-forms. The interpersonal sociology of the Vorlons seems to be dependent on their telepathy. All Vorlons appear to be connected telepathically, though to what extent their thoughts are shared or hidden remains a mystery. Vorlons who have their own ships also have a telepathic connection with those vessels. Among the First Ones, the Vorlons are the ones more wary of Humanity, remaining in a state of cold war with them after the Second Battle of Jericho (where a Human ship destroyed a Vorlon cruiser that was helping the Minbari) and the Shadow War.

The Vorlon government is the Vorlon Empire. Not much is known about the mechanics of their government. They appear to be governed by a High Command, connected telepathically through distances of several light-years by using their living ships as signal boosters.

A Vorlon in his true form, as it is seen by untouched races such as Humans.Ambassador Kosh in his encounter suit.

## Torvalus Colonies

### Lifespan

Millions of Years (per cycle)
Immortal (overall)

### Title

The Speculators

The Torvalus speculators are a species of gamblers and tricksters resembling a meter tall transparent protozoan covered in cilia. Until they left for beyond the galactic rim, they devoted their long existences to endless and sometimes highly abstract bets, wagers and probability tests, most of the time implicating other species. As a result, they have brought stealth technology to unequaled levels to give them free reign while observing others. Torvalu, the homeworld of this ancient race is entirely covered in water. The Torvalus themselves appear as nothing more than large cilia-covered flatworms and are able to absorb energy directly from their surroundings, and can exist for an extended period of time, even in the vacuum of space. The cilia, through which the energy is absorbed, also serve as sensory receptors and fine manipulators. Being less introspective than most of the other First One races, they never tried to evolve beyond their physical forms. This was never a problem for the Torvalus since they were essentially immortal anyway, and their physical form provided them with highly acute senses (much to the chagrin of the Viatori). The Torvalus are also highly psychic, emphasizing telekinetic and pyrokinetic, abilities over the more common ESP skills, although they still possess more capability than the most powerful young race telepath. As said before, the Torvalus are, in a way, naturally immortal. Though they suffer from senescence (biological aging) after millions of years living, they can reset their development by producing buds in the body wall, which grow to be miniature adults and simply break away when they are mature. The previous body is left behind as the Torvalus' consciousness is transferred to the new body before it breaks away. For some time, Human scientists thought that this was the Torvalus way of reproducing (asexually) like Earth's protozoans. It was discovered, however, that the Torvalus reproduce sexually by releasing their DNA into the surrounding medium, which is then taken by another Torvalus and mixed to its own DNA to generate a descendant through fragmentation. The Torvalus are sexless and genderless, though, as any Torvalus can reproduce with any other.

The Torvalus government is the Torvalus Colonies. They are a rather chaotic race, and thus don't have a very orderly government. The Colonies are nothing more clusters of Torvalus growing on the surface of Torvalu and other Torvalus worlds, much like microbial colonies. The Colonies allows the Torvalus to transfer proteins and enzymes, as well as information among themselves.

Torvalus under the oceans of Torval.

## Éonns

### Title

The Lords of Peace

The Éonns, are a race of pre-ascended medusoids similar to Earth's Cnidarians such as jellyfish. Highly telepathic and telekinetic, they move by floating through the air or by swimming in liquid environments. The Éonns use bioluminescence and telepathy to communicate and have diplomacy and peace as their main ideals. The Éonns' affinity to the Atlanti made of them great allies until the Atlanti extinction. This affinity translated into the Éonns' treatment of Humans, not condescending as the other First Ones, the Éonns only advise, do not enforce. They understand that a race's age does not necessarily translate into technological development and moral superiority. Thus, they are more comfortable among the younger races them any other of the First Ones. As the most pacifistic among the elder races, the Éonns do not engage in war nor maintain an actual fleet. Instead, they rely on diplomacy, as well as their isolation inside the Atlanti Crescent. Their planet of Éonn Prime is technically protected by Starfleet, in respect to the close relationship Humanity has with the Éonns. However, the Éonns have their own defenses. They are masters in energy dampening technology, and their system is protected by large Energy Dissipators which worked by draining the energy of targeted ships, even other First One and Human ships, disabling their engines, weapons, and defenses, leaving them dead in space.

The Éonn government is the Éonn Council. The Council is formed by the oldest among the Éonns, who hold high regard among their people.

## Mindriders

### Title

The Lords of Thought, The Formless Ones, The Ghosts of Theta Serpentis

The Mindriders shed their corporeal bodies over 500 million years ago. They refer to the moment of transcendence to "*beings of pure thought*" as "the Great Birth" and consider themselves to be an entirely different species from that which they were before. Actually, the Mindriders transcended to the psionic realm, the highest step on Psionic Transcendence. After the Great Birth, they quickly reached Hyperspace and the stars beyond their native system, joining the galaxy's other highly advanced species such as the Viatori, the Torvalus (with who they sometimes clashed), the Vorlons, the Shadows, but mostly the Triad in a form of a galactic community. Deeply philosophical, they were anxious to learn all that they could from their more experienced brothers, then, after a while, they separated into small groups, and investigated throughout the galaxy, joining together again every so often to exchange information, and then moved beyond. Differently, from other races that followed the path of psionic transcendence, the Mindriders were not able to foresee the adverse effect that reaching its highest level would have, almost total isolation from the physical realm. Thus, the Mindriders rely on their technology to travel through space and interact with the physical realm. Mindriders are known to invade the minds of significant individuals of lesser species to observe and sometimes influence history. From a physical view, their homeworld, Animos, is a lush green uninhabited world haunted by "ghosts" that expel anyone who tries to colonize it. Actually, Animos is inhabited by billions of Mindriders in the psionic dimensional plane.

The Mindrider government is the Infinite Consciousness. It is basically a mental network through which the Mindriders exchange information and govern themselves through consensus. However, it is not a collective/hive-mind such as the Triad, as the Mindriders maintain their individuality intact.

## Kirishiac

### Title

The Kirishiac Lords, The Lords of War

The Kirishiac are an advanced aggressive race of giants that developed into a space-faring civilization over 350 million years ago. They are the youngest among the First Ones, not counting the extragalactic Atlanti. They started as an expansionist power but after defeat at the hands of their elders turned toward a more humble approach. The Kirishiac are huge bipedal creatures with multiple redundant cardiopulmonary systems and biomineral cells arranged in complex lattice structures. They stand over seven meters tall and are almost translucent. They have eight hearts spread throughout their bodies in order to pump blood through limbs on their high gravity homeworld. This redundancy and the necessary strength of their physiological systems made them highly resistant to most kinetic attacks. Once under a united feudalistic government, they started to wander into space and conquered all nearby systems, using heavily armed spaceships and protecting their physical being in atmosphere suits able to reproduce the gravity and pressure of the homeworld. For several thousand years, they expanded their empire, sometimes wiping out a young race, but most times forcing them into slavery. When they discovered hyperspace, they wandered in the territories of older species such as the Viatori and the Shadows. This brought them in a direct if short war with much older civilizations and they were beaten back to their homeworlds. They later opened communication channels with those older races to be granted access back into space.

The Kirishiac government is the Kirishiac Feuds. Though known as a race as The Kirishiac Lords, actually, only a few among the Kirishiac can be called "Lords". Their government is structured as a feudal empire in an eternal "war game". Each feud is governed by a Lord and can be divided into smaller feuds of vassal lords. War is the biggest ideal of the Kirishiac civilization and, thus, being prohibited from waging conflict on the younger races by the older First Ones, the Kirishiac feed their hunger for conflict by maintaining a constant state of civil war within their domains.

A Kirishiac Lord.

## Atlanti

### Homeworld

Atlan (original)
Terra/Earth (adopted)
Ascended Planes (present)

### Interstellar Travel

Unknown (probably between 300 million and 1 billion years ago)

### Title

The Youngest Among the Elders, The Original Humanoids, The Adopted Child of Lorien

Though known as "The Youngest Among the Elders", the Atlanti were one of the most advanced and respected races in space. Differently, from the other First Ones, the Atlanti did not evolve in the Milky Way Galaxy. Actually, no one, not even the other First Ones, knew their true origins or how old they really were. They arrived in this galaxy about 300 million years ago and established themselves on a planet that millions of years after would be known as Earth, the Human homeworld. Soon, they became a respected race. They were pre-transcendent, like the Vorlons, but still appeared with their physical bodies, giving them the appearance of being a younger race, as they were identical in appearance to Humans. However, for millions of years before arriving in this galaxy, the Atlanti focused their evolution on mental and physical abilities before seeking to become energy beings. Because of that, they were like mythological gods in powers despite their Human appearance, strong enough to break through hard metal, capable of flying at high speeds, highly telepathic and telekinetic, with a lifespan of tens of thousands of years. The Atlanti were the only known race to achieve the unique type of transcendence known as Ascension, one of the reasons why they attracted the envy of races with delusions of godhood such as the Vorlons, the Shadows and the Kirishiac. The Atlanti were mostly extinct by 9,500 BCE when a plague that they encountered thousands of years before wiped out the majority of their population and a coalition formed by Vorlons, Shadows, and Kirishiac Lords bombarded their homeland on Earth, the island of Atlantis. To save their legacy, the Atlanti created the Humans "*from their own genes*", and isolated them from the interference of other Elder Races by creating the Atlanti Crescent. It is known that some Atlanti managed to go beyond The Rim, while others have fully ascended into true godly beings (though the number of ascended Atlanti still living is difficult to estimate, as the Atlanti have been ascending since before they left their home-galaxy). Nothing is known about any of those groups, nor by the Humans nor by the other First Ones. The Atlanti are known to have been the builders of many marvelous megastructures throughout the galaxy, such as the Halo, the Velox Dyson Sphere, and many artificial worlds.

A male and female non-ascended Atlanti.
### Other First Ones

* are Elders races that have consistently interacted with other Elder races, and so recognized as First Ones
* are not known to have had consistent presence or influence over the Local Cluster

#### The Leviathans (*Astrocetus leviathanus*)

A Leviathan in its underwater habitat.Leviathan anatomy.

### *De facto* First Ones

* are races that are sufficiently old and technologically advanced to be comparable to other First Ones
* are races that have had little or no contact with other Elder races, or consistent contact with a single Elder race, being largely unknown to the wider galactic order of First Ones

#### The Sëhandrin (*Archivorator antivitalis*)

An adult Sëhandrin.A Sëhandrin youngling.
#### The Ardori (*Archeohomine progenitor ardentis*)

An ascended Ardori in its true form as it can be understoon by Human eyes.An Ardori Avatar. An avatar is a piece of an ascended Ardori's power and consciousness that is willed into existence in the physical world.