Precursor

The **Precursors** (Pimis sapiens) also known as the **First Born** were an incredibly advanced ancient species whose empire, the Precursor Empire, spanned two galaxies and lasted over 3 million years. The Precursors were responsible for the construction of the NOVA Arrays, and were famous for their ability to create life, planets and accelerate the evolution of a species. They also had discovered the ability to travel through time, albiet on a limited scale.

## History

Main article: Precursor history

The Precursors were said to have been one of the first species in the universe, although the validity of this is disputed. Much of the information about their history comes from damaged Precursor Matrices found on Precursor sites. It is known that the Precursors were created by another species known as the Galactians at some point, and are said to have inherited the Alpha Gene from them.

It is known that at some point in their history they developed FTL travel and began to chart the stars. They were said to have been the most advanced species at that time in the galaxy, with no species coming close to their level of technology, this is believed to be due to their possession of the Alpha Gene.

Eventually, the Precursors developed precise slipspace travel, a more advanced form of slipspace travel, that allowed them to build a galaxy-spanning empire that lasted for over 3 million years. They were a much beloved species, and aided all the species in their Empire, so much so that the concept of war or poverty was completely alien to the Precursors and the species they protected.

In the final era of Precursor history, four notable individuals were artificially created by the Precursors. The first artificial Precursors ever created. These individuals were genetically built to be the absolute peak of evolution. One of these individuals, Azaria, was on the team that developed dimensional manipulation, and also on his own, developed the Precursor Temporal Core. Azaria's creation of a temporal core, allowed the Precursors to travel in time. Although this ability was limited, as it required temporal shielding to keep them anchored to their original time, and the shielding prevented Precursors from interfering in the past or future.

It is said that the Precursors became embroiled in a war that tore the galaxy apart. The once beloved Precursors were now hated across the galaxy, as they became more paranoid and insane as this war dragged on. The Precursors developed the NOVA Arrays to effectively police their empire, which was now fragile and on the verge of collapse. The Arrays were repurposed into weapons during the war, but were said to have not made a difference. The Precursors and their apparent enemy had disappeared at some point, with the only evidence of their existence being the remnants of their technology scattered throughout the galaxy.

## Biology

Physically, Precursors are large, between 6 and 7 feet in height. Males are larger than females. They have 34 teeth, two of which being large protruding fangs. Their eyes are extremely sensitive, with them being able to see parts of the EM spectrum. Their skin pigmentation is pale to peach, with very little adaptation to climate.

Precursors have an extremely long lifespan for a humanoid race. The maximum lifespan of a Precursor male is between 3700-4000 years old, while a female will live between 3500-3700 years.

Throughout their existence, they evolved several powerful traits that allowed them to stand above all other races.

One such trait is their regenerative abilities. Precursors have powerful regenerative cells called T-Cells, which naturally produce a golden regenerative energy. When a Precursor is mortally wounded or naturally dying, the body releases these T-Cells that begin to repair the body by resetting the DNA of a Precursor, essentially giving them a new, healthy body. This occurs for any form of death, although disintegration is a notable exception. Every time a Precursor regenerates, a portion of their original DNA remains in order to preserve memories and core personality, however a part of it corrupts with each regeneration. Eventually when a Precursor reaches a certain age and a certain amount of regenerations, their core DNA becomes so degraded that regeneration becomes impossible, meaning the Precursor will then die a natural death.

Precursors are said to have what is referred to as the Alpha Gene, which is a part of their genetic makeup that is inherited from their creators, the Galactians. The gene is thought to be symbollic, but research indicates that the Alpha Gene is the reason why the Precursors have been able to advance so much so quickly, as it allows them to tap into so-called "genetic memories" allowing them to access memories from the previous species that owned the gene, in this case, the powerful Galactians.

The Precursors have a four quadrant brain, which allows for hyper accelerated learning and data intake. Meaning they can adapt, learn and understand at an extremely fast rate.

Precursors are incredibly strong and fast, with hyper adaptive reflexes and a natural strength that allows them to lift heavy objects with little physical excertion.

## Culture

### Art

A culturally sophisticated race, the Precursors are known to have a great appreciation for art. They see art as the ultimate form of expression. Although Precursor art is extremely unique however, as their art is not necessarily painting based. The most popular forms of Precursor art utilise their dimension manipulation technology, utilising a micro-dimension, they can make their art appear in 4D.

### Education

Precursors, due to their four-quadrant brain, are able to learn at a very advanced rate and retain a lot of information at once. As such, standard education for a Precursor child begins at the age of 7. Where they will be educated in everything from basic language, to advanced quantum theory. This means that every Precursor adult is particularly intelligent.

Young Precursors enter academies at age 7, where they will remain until they are at least 20.

### Food and sustenance

Precursors are omnivores. They have a physiology similar to other humanoids, allowing them to eat foods from similar cultures. Precursor diets have changed over their history. In more recent times, most Precursors are vegetarian.

### Dress

Most Precursors wear what is referred to as a combat skin. This is a layer of nano-polymer that is equipped with technology for use in their every-day life. Above this combat skin, normal citizens wear ornate clothing made of artificial fabrics designed to be indestructible. Members of the military caste wear armour over their combat skin to further augment its abilities.

## Politics

### Domain

The Precursors were the head of the Precursor Empire. This Empire was a galaxy-spanning Empire that was said to have existed over at least two galaxies. They ruled this Empire from their artificial homeworld of Concordia. They created Concordia, which has a surface area equivilent to that of the planet Jupiter or Zultan Prime, as their actual homeworld of Valaeria was destroyed early in their history. Their Empire disappeared at some point, with the remnants of their artifacts and technology being scattered all over the galaxy.

The Precursors were a much beloved people, and the species of the galaxies they ruled welcomed them openly, as they brought with them advanced technology that would end war, hunger and poverty. The Precursors in return would gain access to trillions of individuals to station their facilities and build their structures for them. However, during their later history, they apparently became detested, and lost much of their territory. They were no longer benevolent, but cruel, demanding and xenophobic. As such, many systems began to rebel. The Precursors had to deploy NOVA Arrays to police these systems across the Empire, to keep the rebellious species in line through fear. Their Empire collapsed and they disappeared at some point in time.

### Government

The Precursors had an "evolved" government. They had done away with democracy early in their history, in favour of a selective triumphirate, made up of three individuals with opposing views who would rule the Empire in a way that all people benefitted. One would be kind and just, the other would be nationalistic and dominating, and the third would keep the balance. There have been hundreds of triumphirates throughout Precursor history. The last known one was composed of three individuals; Vysagoth, Kharina and Morkath.

There was also a body of individuals that formed the legislature, known as the High Council. The High Council voted on and passed laws approved by the triumphirate.

### Justice

Precursor Law was extremely important during their time. The law was absolute, and it was said that no Precursor had broken their laws in thousands of years. It was said that Precursors had an extremely fair justice system, with every citizen guaranteed a fair and impartial trial. However, since no Precursor had broken any laws, there hadn't been a trial in thousands of years either.

## Science & Technology

### Transport

Precursors had a variety of methods to get around. They often used short-range teleportation to get around planets, and had no need for vehicles. However, for travel through space, they used highly advanced starships. Precursor starships were capable of transforming at will, allowing them to serve many purposes, and allow them to be light-weight for travel in slipspace. Precursors used advanced slipspace drives to travel throughout galaxies in short periods of time.

### Stellar manipulation

The Precursors were famous for their ability to manipulate and control stars. They often used stars as power sources, although they did not have the capability to construct dyson spheres around them.

### Weaponry & defenses

Precursor weapons were deadly. Although they had spent much of their history at peace, they required weapons to ensure that no threat could exist to their Empire. Precursors used powerful side-arms called Shift-Emitters, which were a type of weapon which could transform into any particular side-arm, from a pistol to a sniper rifle. Shift-Emitters used a powerful energy capable of stunning, and at an extreme, completely disrupting the energy between the molecules of an individual, disintegrating them.

Precursors were augmented with their combat skins for defense and offense. Combat skins were capable of manipulating molecules, allowing them to lift and control objects from a distance. Military combat skins were able to disrupt personal shields and neutralise weaponry. They also provided a Precursor with powerful shielding.

Precursor ships were similarly well defended. Their shielding was hyper regenerative, and very difficult to penetrate. Their offensive weapons were capable of piercing shields that were not properly attuned to them. One notable class of vessel, the Dreadnought, possessed a powerful weapon known as a Aetherium Disrupter, which was capable of shattering planets.

### Time travel

Azaria developed the Precursor's ability to time travel at some point in their history. They were capable of using time-ships equipped with temporal cores to travel to any point in the past or future. However, the futures they would travel to would be a possibility as no future was guaranteed. Precursor time-ships were equipped with temporal shielding, which kept all occupants anchored to their original time, otherwise, their molecules would fall apart due to being seperated from the year they naturally inhabit. Temporal shielding had the side-effect of preventing interference in other times, and especially prevented them from even leaving their time-ships.