Milky Way

Iritrionites
Kelmians
Laygiamoids
Lotans
Lupians
Martians
Moyans
N'vanlenoids
Phylactrans
Rhomians
Rocarollites
Thironians
Valorians
Vitroneravans
Many others

The Milky Way, also known as Uros-IV, Harus Spiral, and Arganos, is a barred spiral galaxy located in the Local Group, housing the Sol System in the Orion-Cygnus Arm, birthplace of the Trans-Galactic Government. The Milky Way is known to have an oddly low number of sapient species compared to other galaxies, but was still somewhat lively prior to the Trans-Galactic War, mostly in the Scutum-Centaurus Arm.

## Description

The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy nearly 200,000 light years in diameter, with a bar-like structure of stars in its center and 59 satellite galaxies. The Milky Way arms consist of the Scutum-Centaurus Arm, Perseus Arm, Norma Arm, Outer Arm, and the Orion-Cygnus Arm. The galaxy contains about 400 billion stars and a planet count to match. It has a relatively flat galactic plane with a ring-like filament of stars rippling above and below it. The concentration of stars in the Milky Way decreases the further away one goes from the Galactic Center, a supermassive black hole that the rest of the galaxy rotates around.

### Orion-Cygnus Arm

The Orion-Cygnus Arm is the arm of the Milky Way that contains the Sol System, and a number of other systems where sapient life arose, such as the Anup-Lupis/Sirius System, Vitro/Betelgeuse System, Lich system, Tellos/Alpha Centauri system, Glamor/Teegarden's Star system, Flaro/TRAPPIST-1 system, Listrin/Kepler-452 system, and Kepler-186 system. Prior to the Trans-Galactic War, the most activity in the Orion-Cygnus Arm came from the Lupians of Khalupis, from the Anup-Lupis System.

### Scutum-Centaurus Arm

The Scutum-Centaurus Arm was the most populated and lively arm of the Milky Way prior to the Trans-Galactic War. Home of the planet Crysonis, the arm held the Star Union, which was the largest power in the Milky Way before the Trans-Galactic War. Also in the Scutum-Centaurus Arm were the planets Ofranoia, Auris, Moya, Uniflio, and many other worlds. Most worlds in this arm were unknown to Earth and other Orion-Cygnus Arm inhabitants, as most observations were blocked off by the Galactic Center.

## Inhabitants

The Milky Way was known to have a strangely low number of sapient species compared to other galaxies, but still had several species across its various arms. Often referred to as Galaxians from a human perspective, the species who lived in the Milky Way developed at varying times and paces, but prior to the Trans-Galactic War, but were not known to form overly expansive or connected states. In the Scutum-Centaurus Arm, the dominant Crysonians, a human-like species with a high number of psychics, built the largest state known in the Milky Way prior to the war, incorporating and allying with other species, such as Franoians, non-humanoid slimes who were given humanoid robotic bodies in order to properly function in the humanoid-dominated society. Also in the Scutus-Centaurus Arm were the Aurians, magic-sensitive humanoids with a sophisticated magic-channeling antennae that built their own state in the same arm, spreading disparate colonies to the other arms prior to the Promethean invasion. The grey-skinned Laygiamoids and Moyans, while allying with the Star Union and integrating with them, also built their own states, keeping their distinct cultures and expanding like the Aurians, with their colonies meeting the same fate. In the Orion-Cygnus Arm, one of the oldest species were the Phylactrans, native to a planet orbiting a star now known as Lich, which went supernova, destroying their planet and forcing survivors to take refuge across space in amber-like life pods. Another ancient race were the Astarans, a highly advanced species on a holy hotspot world orbiting a star that would one day be known as Polaris, later abandoning their homeworld for a 65 million year crusade across the galaxy. Gastrons, short gastropod organisms from Gastro, known to humans as Kepler-452b, remained quite primitive until human contact, developing slowly on their high gravity planet. Lotans, a humanoid species from Lota, known to humans as Kepler-186f, now extinct, had at least one craft that crashed on Earth. In the Anup-Lupis System, known to humans as the Sirius System, the Lupians, a magic-sensitive caninoid species, arose and developed, becoming the earliest advanced extra-solar species relative to Earth. The Lupians spread across many systems, seeking to uplift other sapient lifeforms to a well-developed and peaceful state, coming across the centaur-like Rhomians in what became known as the Alpha Centauri System, the human-like Rocarollites in what became known as the Teegarden's Star system, bioluminiscent insectoid Kelmians in what became known as the TRAPPIST-1 system, the hydrozoan-like Vitroneravans of what became known as the Betelgeuse System, and many others. In the Sol System, the first sapient species to arise were Martians, on the planet Mars, although Mars was eventually rendered uninhabitable by a demonic invasion, forcing surviving Martians to take refuge on Earth. On Earth, two native sapient species arose: Humans, a magic-sensitive simian species, and N'vanlenoids, a magic-sensitive felinoid species.

## History

The Milky Way formed an estimated 13.6 billion years prior to the Trans-Galactic War, shortly after the formation the universe. The Weave took hold across the galaxy, seeping in from a point in space known as the link. Planets formed at various times around the Milky Way's stars, some of which were capable of holding life. After several billion years, life began to arise in the Milky Way as planets formed. Earth formed 4.5 billion years before the Trans-Galactic War, in the Orion-Cygnus Arm.