Era is a Science Fiction/Fantasy Universe in which short stories, novels and adventures are written in a collaborative way. Era was established in 1997 as USI-RPG, a play-by-email role playing game environment. We welcome you to explore the universe!

1 Million years ago

Dawn of the Expletuns

Nearly a million years before terrans (Humans from Earth) first took the stars, the Expletuns had conquered space travel and began to explore the stars. An unusual species, telepathic yet always thinking as if one mind and purpose, the Expletuns experienced very little inner conflict among their kind.

About 1 Million years ago

Suppression of the Natural Species

As other species began to reach to the stars, the violent tendancies of these natural species impressed heavily upon the Expletuns, and concern grew if they were left unchecked. After years of observing their infighting and warring, the Expletuns decided to put an end to their wars. Through use of their technological advantage and psionic abilies, the Expletuns vowed to put an end to the conflicts.

About 1 Million years ago

Thought, Ruptered

As tensions across the galaxy increased, for the first time the Expletuns began to experience a division of thought, the Expletuns were no longer unified in their purpose and goals. Two distinct ideas emerged: continue until the galaxy was at peace, or let the natural races to their own devices and will.

About 1 Million years ago

The Chosen

The Expletuns, beginning to suffer staggering losses and unwilling to fully commit to a change that would fracture their unified society, decided to take a new approach in their attempt to suppress the natural races: The creation of engineered species they could use as a proxy to serve in their place, the chosen.

1 Million years ago

The Order

After Millenia of little change in the galaxy, the chosen began to see their Expletun creaters in same light that the natural species, as nihilistic self serving slave masters. In secret the Order was created, a small group of elite agents dedicated to overthrowing their creators. Outside of the Order, the Chosen public had begun to revolt en mass, sending the Expletuns into panic.

1 Million years ago

The Expletun Civil War

Finally, the unthinkable division seperated the Expletuns, sending them into a civil war. The expletuns were divided into The Preservers, and the Purists. Keeping themselves hidden still, the Order secretly began to play both sides against themselves in hopes that the expletuns would eventually weaken both sides to the point where they could simply take control over the Expletuns and end the needless bloodshed.

1 Million years ago

Genesis of the Hive

What the Order did not expect was for the Purists to create more engineered species. However, this was beyond anything they could have imagined. The Purists had created a symbiontic species designed to perfectly control its host, and submit to the will of the Purists. It was at this time that the Purists discarded their heritage as Expletuns, and became known as the Darkarians. Through a combination of their engineered symbionts and their existing intense telepathic power, they had the ability to exactly control anyone they enlightened with a symbiont. They were now a hive.

1 Million years ago

The Expletun Genocide

The creation of the Darkarian Hive was a tipping point in the War, as the syncronous will of the hive Mind proved effective beyond their wildest dreams. The Preservers were easily and systematically destroyed or enlightened. The symbionts allowed the hive to infiltrate and tear down the Preservers, and the remaining Expletuns until all but a small fraction of their original population remained.

1 Million years ago

Evolution of the Hive

Taxed by the strain of maintaining the hive mind control, the leader of the Darkarians, Torikor , put the hive into a hibernative sleep while key hive scientists created a solution. It wasn't long until the creation of the Catalyst was created. A Darkarian symbiont whose sole purpose was to mitigate the exhaustive effects it took to maintain the hive mind. The creation of the Catalyst expanded the hive minds control ability at a fraction of the cost.

1 Million years ago

The Era cycle

Despite the introduciton of the catalysts, the expansive rate of the hive was exponetial, necessitiating the hibernation of the hive for periods of time longer than they were awake. With the initial civil war of the Expletuns all but concluded, the Hive had time on its hands, and was left reletively unchecked. Each awakening period would signal a new era of growth and production.

8 thousand years ago (2300's AD)

Earth in Ruin

The Human species was fortunate to grow and develop during a hibernation period. But by the 2300's, nuclear war had ravaged earth and the remaining popluation split in numberous seed ships to attempt to find new life the galaxy. Up until this point, Humans had only explored a few nearby systems, none of which were easily sharable by the nations of the dying planet.

2700 AD

A Memory forgotten

With many of Earth's seed ships having survived (out of thousands) earth became a long forgotten memory. One particular seed ship found home early, discovering a similar humanoid species (Mesans) who was willing to share their resource rich solar system. Within a few hundred years, the Terran Authority and Galactic Alliance would begin to explore and exploit the galaxy.

3100 AD

A lost heritage

It wasn't long before the Galactic alliance would meet some of the more ancient civilizations of the Galaxy: The chosen. During the nearly million year war waged by the Hive, the chosen all had suffered greatly, and by this time most had lost the historical and technological legacy they once held at the prime of Expletun civilization. Unknowing of the slumbering darkarian hive, new conflicts were created as the Galactic Alliance created friction.

1 Million years ago

The Lore Project

Eventually tenative peace was found, and discoveries of the Expletun past began to be uncovered across the galaxy. With combining resources, the Galactic Alliance eventually found common ground with the Chosen in a desire to explore and discover the hidden secrets of the now forgotten Expletuns. The Lore Project ultimately ended in failure with the loss of the research team and a ship to terrorists. The loss was devestating to the relationship of the Chosen and the Terrans, resulting in both keeping their distance but refusing to engage for either peace nore war.

1 Million years ago

A relic appears

Over a thousand years pass since the Lore Project, and the hive has emerged from hibernation, ready to resume their conquering of the universe through the use of their Symbionts. Over the last several hundred thousands of years, the hive has grown adept at using their resources, and war is often a last resort for species and factions who resist the slow and gradual integration into the hive. To the Confusion of the Chosen and the GA, the Lore Project ship emerges, revealing it was not lost, but held in a statis by the STNN networks built by the Expletuns.

1 Million years ago

A New Era

Throughout the years, the Preservers have kept a low profile, attempting to appear gone to the Darkarian Hive. Despite this, its revealed that they have organized and funded an opposition to the Hive know as the Unified Space Intelligence. Supplying them assets, equipment, technology through all the Era Cycles, they have been opposing the Hive, preventing them from overwhelming the galaxy. Using only the natural races to run its organization the remains of the once noble Expletuns have attempted to right their wrongdoings for as long as the hive threatened the galaxy.

1 Million years ago

A Reluctant choice

USI's first leader in the New Era, Marccus Vagen, dies tragically to the hive amidst inner uprising by Star Command Militia supporters, sending the only open resistence to the hive into turmoil. With a young organization with largely inexperienced leadership, the Preservers reluctantly choose a Chosen to lead the USI, Kerok Seccour, a surviver from the Lore Project and best friend to Marccus Vagen.

1 Million years ago

Another Threat

With USI stablized with the Preservers new leadership, a new threat emerges of a naturalized race with psionic abilities which rival that of the Expletuns. Caught between increasing threats from both the hive and factions from natural species, Seccour struggles to maintain resources to stop the hives relentless attacks which have become increasingly violent with their subtle ways starting to become less effective.

1 Million years ago

The Darkarian Holcaust

The hive, no longer willing accept conflict losses to the perservering USI, muster their collective might and unleash the entirety of the hive against all who oppose them. The resulting holocaust is devestating for USI, the Galactic Alliance, the Star Command Militia, the Chosen, and the militaries of most space faring factions, able to decend the hive upon the galaxy unchecked.

1 Million years ago

Sacrifice and Victory

Six months after the defeat of USI by the Darkarian Holocaust, Seccour rallies the remains of his ships and the forces of any ally who could support him, at one last final strike against the hive in a desperate bid to cripple the hive by attacking the hive mind himself: Torikor. The strike is successful, but not without heavy losses, including the near death of Kerok Seccour Himself.

1 Million years ago

Transformation of the Hive Mind

The Death of Torikor and his closest lieutenants, (Expletun Darkarians known as Old Blood) has unintended consequences. The hive fractures into smaller broods, with old Blood Darkarians and high ranking Symbionts known as Master Lords picking up these fractures as smaller broods, and sometimes larger hives. The hives and broods are not unified among themselves. While the seperate broods and hives are dangerous, they are no longer the same threat that once plagued the galaxy.



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Recent News...

New Book Added

06-Aug-2019 by

A new short story, a [A Rift Between Hearts](/library/a-rift-between-hearts) has been added to the library. This was a piece o... Read Full Article

New Website Launched as Beta

31-Jul-2019 by Seccour#1000

I am happy to announce a new website being launched as beta today. I will starting to fill it up with content from the wiki an... Read Full Article