Chapter I: First Steps (2200-2205)
Part I: Leaving Home
Overview
Vernus Aeterna is the third planet orbiting the binary stars of Soari[1], and is itself orbited by a mid-sized moon named Grianan Ailigh that regulates its tides and axis. It is a large, lush world known for its spacious skies, aquatic tree-like organisms, and vast forests. The plant-like Dryaden live in such forests, largely free of the choking urban sprawls other species inevitably develop. Instead, most lead pastoral lives with the nature around them, each taking great care to ensure that the flora and fauna around them remain unharmed from their activities. This has led to an aversion to violence and desire to remain peaceful at all times.
As the Dryaden advanced through the ages and studied their elysian homeworld, numerous inconsistencies began to arise. Landmarks were arranged in ley lines that could not be coincidental, and the lifeforms around them seemed cobbled together from other sources. It became obvious that some agency had meticulously created the idyll of Vernus Aeterna just for the Dryaden. Those responsible became known as the Patrons, and a church[2] worshiping them and their creation quickly spread among the Dryaden.
Even Soari itself has been altered by the Patrons to ensure Vernus Aeterna can flourish. Deep within the star lies an energy projection device; believed to be carefully filtering much of the ultraviolet light emitted by the star and extending its lifespan to allow for multicellular life to evolve on the planet before Soari swells into a red giant. Its most apparent function, however, is altering the visible light output and causing it to have a distinctive “twinkle”.
At the dawn of 2200, the Dryadens completed the last of the great starships to explore the wider galaxy. Leading these exploration efforts was the DVS (Dryaden Void Ship)
Ashray, a prototype science vessel commanded by Dr. Rozalia, known especially for her good health and strenuous exercise. She knew for a fact this would add a good twenty years to an already long life expectancy of a century. Before she even left Soari on her first voyage, a second of the new
Ashray-class science ships was already beginning construction in orbit of Vernus Aeterna, slated to be finished in two months.
While not as prestigious as the
Ashray, the DVS
Grundel was another voidship that would be instrumental in the interstellar expansion of the Communes. Larger and significantly uglier than that ship, much of the
Grundel’s bulk consisted of a colossal cargo bay filled with the raw materials and teleoperated drones necessary to build permanent installations in deep space. Its first assignment was to build a mining outpost around Slieve Gallion, a metal-rich frozen world at the outskirts of the Soari system.
Although by nature a peaceful species, the Dryadens were aware that there could be intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic lurking in the darkness of space. To this end, the Dryaden Defense Group (DDG) was formed in 2190 to police the Soari system and defend against any alien incursions. Despite low funding from the High Queen and mockery from the rest of the Dryaden people, they nevertheless had managed to scrounge together the resources to launch three
Sprite-class corvettes[3]: the DVS
Harpy,
Sylph, and
Bluecap. Until a threat could present itself, the small fleet known as The Wild Hunt would remain moored at Soari Station, all the while facing derision from the rest of the fanatically peaceful population.
Even with technology as remarkable as the hyperdrives, there was much more to research as the Dryadens made their way into the void. In late 2199, Hazel founded the Consolidated Dryaden Royal Science Institute to efficiently reseach new technologies. It was divided into three primary divisions, each set to work on different projects:
- The Material/Immaterial Physics division, led by none other than Elvin herself, focused on energy field manipulation to improve the yield of Vernus Aeterna’s power grid. Their efforts were aided by a zero-g research station in orbit of the icy moon Mullachsee.
- The Biology and Society division was led by Erline, an accomplished sociologists who had previously published papers on how to effectively colonize and even partially terraform any suitable worlds that might be found. However, Hazel had her work on completing a legacy long ago started by her predecessors: uniting the entirety of Vernus Aeterna and the Dryadens who inhabited it.
- The Applied Engineering Division was led by Brucie, an expert on starship design theory. Her team was tasked with creating powered exoskeletons that could be mounted to an individual Dryaden, giving them highly increased strength. This would have numerous theoretical applications, including: improved mining yields, the ability for first responders to lift survivors from rubble during disasters, and (perhaps most controversially) a frame for heavy weapons for soldiers.
Two weeks after the
Ashray left for the edges of the Soari system, Hazel’s seed-daughter Maeve blossomed into a young woman and was officially crowned as the Exalted Princess. During her education, she had taken an interest in off-world mineral extraction and had made several trips with her mother and tutors to the refinery in orbit of the small moon Cnoc Aine. She also was an outspoken member of the Group of Plenty, an ancient fertility cult dating back to pre-medieval times that had a special interest in purifying the soil. She regularly preached the cult’s methods to the masses and hoped to apply them to hydroponic growing techniques during her reign.
Her mother Hazel, on the other hand, had been an amateur architect and knew how to apply what she knew in that field to infrastructure development. She was also known for her liberal reforms and her championing of the commoners, keeping the populace united in harmony. She also had an interest in architecture, and often used her knowledge to more efficiently design new infrastructure without it looking too spartan.
Hazel was also determined to ensure an era of peace and prosperity by keeping the Communes economically stable. In addition to promoting job growth and industry on Vernus Aeterna, she also instituted practices to increase energy refinement efficiency and decided to prioritize mining energy-rich planets.
The First Jump: February 26, 2200
On the overgrown bridge of the Ashray, Rozalia was overcome by a sudden sense of anxiety. For the past three months, she’d been fairly calm as her ship made its way to the edge of the Soari system. But traveling at sublight was fairly routine, whereas the hyperdrive had been untested on a full voidship before. The only travelers of the hyperlanes had been unmanned probes sent out to test the technology and chart the local routes. But tests with probes could only go so far.
Now the
Ashray would be the first to carry living Dryadens to another system, and Rozalia wasn’t sure what would happen.
“Lane entry in one minute.” Her helmswoman Carling said from her post. A minute was a long time to ponder the bad things that could happen: perhaps the hyperdrive would overload and destroy the entire ship, taking its entire crew of three hundred with it.
“Thirty seconds.” Carling added.
Perhaps the ship would emerge in a system of hostile spaceborne entities who would blast it to bits in a split second.
“Fifteen seconds.”
Rozalia suddenly remembered the first hyperjump was being streamed to the entirety of Vernus Aeterna, and its populace would watch either in awe as the Ashray left the shackles of their home system or gasped as its fission core overloaded.
“Ten seconds...”
This was it, the moment that would decide Dryaden history once and for all.
“...nine…”
Would this be heralded as the start of a new golden age, or a financial and logistical disaster of epic proportions?
“...eight…”
Rozalia remembered seeing old sci-fi shows where experimental space propulsion systems met horrific ends.
“...seven…”
The fabric of space-time itself began to distort as the entry point was generated, sending the gravitational readings skyrocketing.
“...six…”
The gravitational readings continued to increase, and Rozalia began to be seriously concerned about the structural integrity of her ship.
“...five…”
Rozalia allowed herself a glance at the rest of her bridge officers, who were similarly anxious as Carling’s countdown continued.
“...four…”’
The grav-readings were going off the charts, to levels that could pose a legitimate threat to the ship.
“...three…”
She wondered how her forest-wives were doing back home on Vernus Aeterna, watching her either make history or die trying.
“...two…”
A gaping maw was forming in the aether itself, ready to swallow the ship whole and propel it to its destination.
“...one…”
Rozalia finally closed her eyes, bracing for the worst as--
“...engaging hyperjump!”
A thunderous noise shook the cabin as the ship darted through the entry point into the hyperlane, causing Rozalia to open her eyes. The first thing she noticed was that she was still alive, followed by the ethereal wisps of hyperspace outside the duraglass windows. Her crew began cheering in celebration of the first jump, but she knew they were only halfway done. Just because a ship could enter a hyperlane okay didn’t mean it could exit it…
***
Two days later, Rozalia was firmly rooted and asleep in her flowerbed when the comms panel on her wall started beeping. She awoke from her slumber and trudged over to the panel to answer the transmission and stop the obnoxious noise. It was in fact an urgent transmission from her first officer Daphne.
“Sorry to disturb you, ma’am.” Daphne said. “We’ll be exiting hyperspace within the hour, and it would be a shame if our illustrious captain slept through such a grand moment in our history.”
“I’ll be on the bridge shortly.” Rozalia replied. She switched the panel off and reluctantly exited her quarters, making her way to the lift.
By the time Rozalia’s lift got to the bridge deck, she was far more awake and alert than she had been mere moments before. She sat in her chair just in time for a flash to engulf the bridge, followed by a view of normal space. They had exited hyperspace in the Urrom system, a single A-class star like Soari orbited by two rocky planets. Celebratory cheers spread across the bridge; for the first time in history, the Dryadens had left their home system and traveled to another within a lifetime.
Pushing Back the Frontier
Once the celebrations ended, it was quickly time to get back to the business of scientific discovery and survey the Urrom system. While the scientists aboard and astronomers back on Vernus Aeterna were ecstatic at the prospect of exploring a new system, most were somewhat disappointed to find out after five months that the Urrom system contained little of interest. Both worlds were much too barren and hot to support any form of known life, and also did not contain any significant resource deposits worthy of orbital exploitation. At the very least, the Urrom star was active enough to allow energy credits to be refined from its corona.
In March 2200, the Ashray’s sister ship, the Bean Nighe, was deemed spaceworthy and left Vernus Aeterna’s orbit. However, Hazel needed time to locate suitable candidates to take command and amass enough credits to sweeten the deal of recruiting them. The process took seven months, during which a skeleton crew performed tests and diagnostics.
At the start of October, Hazel presented three candidates for command to the rest of her court: The first was Carling, a 34-year-old helmswoman on the Ashray. Though she had a fairly low-rank, Rozalia had taken note of her ability to learn extremely quickly. The second was Odelina, a 49-year-old prone to sudden bursts of inspiration and a commendable work ethic. Finally was Raedself, a 37-year-old who had previously worked as an industrial scientist in Fuming Dell, one of the few urbanized and industrial cities on the planet.
Though the final choice was ultimately up to Hazel herself, her courtiers were quick to notice that Odelina was exceptionally intelligent (even among her fellow scientists) and that her quick inspiration allowed her to research quickly. Although Hazel had personally been considering Carling for the role, ultimately her friend Elvin was instrumental in swaying her to the others’ side. She was growing restless with the prospect of spending four years working on field modulation techniques, and was hoping for someone to finish it faster for her. She also announced her intention to personally command the Bean Nighe, thus it was about selecting a new physics researcher rather than ship commander. In the end, Hazel saw no reason not to employ Odelina’s genius intellect to finish the project ahead of schedule and allow Elvin to use her own invention to explore the stars. Elvin jumped at the opportunity and caught the first orbital shuttle to the
Bean Nighe, while Odelina was brought up to speed on her predecessor’s work.
Once aboard the Bean Nighe, Elvin knew exactly where she wanted to go. She had long been fascinated by the prospects of black holes for research, and there was one suspected to be lurking close to the Soari system (though thankfully not too close to present any major hazard). In December 2200, her ship arrived near the accretion disk of the P94-L Singularity, a mid-sized black hole quadruple the size of the great gas giant Cnoc Aine[4]. Around it was a small barren world, orbiting fairly far from the black hole’s event horizon.
For three months, Elvin and her team excitedly studied the black hole as it consumed the various gases, dust particles, and even chunks of its satellite world. Finally, they concluded that they could barely scratch the surface of its mysteries and decided to break their dangerous orbit to survey its satellite world. Just after breaking orbit, however, Elvin heard a distinctive pattern among the black hole’s clicks. She ordered her team to return and investigate the source, and confirm her suspicions that it was artificial.
After four months, Elvin and her crew were confident enough in their collected data to present their findings. The interference was in fact a subspace broadcast of song based off of a complex mathematical equation. It was also a fairly catchy one at that, to the extent that Elvin would never truly get it out of her head and could often be caught humming it in her idle time.
The agency behind this transmission and their motivation remained unknown, though Elvin and her crew believed it was coming from a nearby galaxy. The “song signal”, as the media dubbed it, only raised further questions, though ultimately the technology used and its interactions with the black hole provided a healthy advancement to the sciences.
News of the “song signal” quickly reached Vernus Aeterna, sending the Communes into an excited uproar. This was irrefutable confirmation that intelligent, spacefaring lifeforms existed elsewhere in the universe. Most Multiplists believed that the signal was in fact a last message from the Patrons who had created their idyllic homeworld, while Singularists believed that there was no religious significance to the message, citing that the Patron wouldn’t use something as humble as subspace radio to send a message to His followers. Whatever the case, both sides agreed that it was a remarkable moment in their history. Even if the Dryadens were the only race harmonious enough to make it to the stars and avoid nuclear self-destruction, clearly others had in the past.
Footnotes
[1] Soari B is a brown dwarf, a celestial body larger than a gas giant yet unable to initiate the fusion process and become a true star. This has led many astronomers to dispute Soari’s status as a binary star.
[2] The Church of Patronage, as the Dryaden religion is known, has two main opposing schools of thought: Singularity, believing in only one godlike Patron; and Multiplicity, which asserts that the Patrons are a group or race of individuals endowed with great powers. Multiplicity in its various forms is the most widely practiced, with 69.3% of the population identifying themselves as Multiplists. In earlier times, brief but bloody wars were fought over the issue; today, the only conflict comes in the form of heated theological conversations.
[3] The Sprite herself was the first pure military ship launched by the Dryadens, and among the most controversial pieces of technology in their long history (perhaps second only to the weapons she was fitted with). It was destroyed in 2192 following a fission core meltdown while engaged in tactical simulations in orbit of the small moon Cnoc Firinn.
[4] For comparison, Cnoc Aine is slightly smaller than Jupiter in the Sol system.
