The Unioverse

At the center of the explored universe is a triad star system called Helios Nexus. At the Nexus, a long-extinct species known as The Creators built a technological marvel, The Masson Zero, that can be used to instantly transport a consciousness across the universe. This technology is not fully understood, and cannot be replicated. In a reality where faster than light speed travel doesn't exist, and civilizations are separated by hundreds of thousands of light-years, the Masson Zero is the most important invention in existence. 5f8jzAlIOayeBcHIhAFBU/vpnIlyK6X8XwKcK9lW6zls5YOT x1aNlZMIORL2GhYfM/OLm5l3s5GNnO4dqMwg4Zry6epImxZBa8VGzL0oAbg=

Because The Masson Zero is the only way for Hub world species to connect and interact, the Nexus has also known millennia of conflicts, as various groups fight for control through politics... and bloodshed.

More than a million years ago, a long-extinct race known as the Creators built a moon-sized, technological marvel called the Masson Zero (aka "Mass-O").



This semi-organic structure is surrounded by a supergravity time-dilation field that prevents any approach to its surface. tKTw9ZfOKKyT4EYYEwrB11EF5cmK2ca7QCuZGji3pl1RCyrs3H1tr758 MAeOPGsUHZucHcOBgMZFZqLLwGJpMLiB+z9QkkkwRyRdCJL1qXFYCi1ibxI1G206cgEW/U7wl0tBdg7vuI+gxyQupgm2opzyfQrPr4cF8wVGJ5ujBhrh+qgM/5J8mH6M1JQXAjEtjh62NAi1m79aKNrTcB35+RB+Sr6p7maOEH5KvqnuZo4=

While the inner workings of the Mass-O are an enduring mystery, scientists theorize that once a jumper enters a transpod they are pummeled by a storm of highly-charged quarks to create a quantum burst that expels that jumper’s consciousness in a single Masson particle which can then be instantaneously transported across the Mass-O network.

After every rotation of the Mass-O around the triad stars (2467 Earth Days), a fleet of Progenitor ships emerge from the core of the structure. These semi-organic, autonomous vessels are spawned into space in every direction, and evidence suggests this process has been taking place for over a million years.



While the production of Progenitors also remains a mystery, their purpose is obvious: they are tasked with seeking out any signs of life in the star systems they encounter. However, life in the Unioverse is rare and sparse; evidence indicates that the Creators were extinct for hundreds of thousands of years before the first Progenitor discovered a habitable planet.

When life is detected by a Progenitor, it sends a Discovery Lander to the planet where the craft "roots" into a stable place in the environment. Next, the Lander converts itself into a receiving station, activating transpods, before it sends a signal back to the Mass-O, making it another node in the cosmic transit network.

Orbiting the Mass-O is The Hub, a space station built by The Creators that is energetically tethered to the enigmatic structure. Over time, cities have been erected (and destroyed) around The Hub, which is now home to over 7 million permanent residents. Today, Nexus City (aka Nex City or Jump City), the most densely populated urban center on the Hub, is considered the center of the Unioverse.

At Nex City, a wide variety of Transpods (aka Jump Pods) can be used to instantly send a consciousness into a cloned body or other "skin" on a distant Discovery Lander.

Transpods are the only facet of Mass-O travel that can be built by non-Creators. They have evolved to accommodate all shapes and sizes of sentient life, not to mention the social strata on Nex City.

After traveling across the Unioverse for 300,000 years in every direction from Helios Nexus, Progenitor ships finally discovered the Origin 5 races. Over the span of a few thousand years, these five races used the Mass-O to converge on The Hub and built the first city.

Using Creator Tech, the Origin 5 combined their knowledge and explored the vast expanses of space, creating a convergence of species that thrived on The Hub. This is known historically as The First Cycle. Then, around 300,000 years ago, for unknown reasons, the Origin 5 and all life on The Hub vanished without a trace, and every Lander in the universe powered down. This event has come to be known as The Great Fracture, wherein all connection between sentient races was lost for millennia.

Almost five hundred years ago, humans found a buried Progenitor ship on Mars (fragmented in a crash). In the following years, they figured out how to use that Lander to jump back to the Hub, becoming the first race of what is known as The Second Cycle; this monumental event ushered in a new era on Earth and established a new timeline: this is now known as the year 0 Helios Discovery (HD). On the Hub, Humans found evidence of the Origin 5 races, as though they had just left moments ago. But all records of where their homeworlds were located were gone.

By the start of The Second Cycle, Progenitor ships had spread out even farther across the universe. Millions of Progenitors spread over a two million light-year diameter were sending "signs of life" transmissions back to the Mass-O. By the time humans arrived on The Hub, there were countless worlds to explore and, over time, the sentient species on these planets assumed control of the Hub and The Second Cycle, with the Mass-O serving as a cosmic “lighthouse” for those seeking Reconvergence in the wake of The Great Fracture.

It's the year 493 HD. Humans and dozens of other species are connected via jumps across space. Race has become a somewhat ethereal concept, and terms like "original skin" (skori) and "pure soul" are used to talk about where you came from and how many times you've jumped. Jumping bodies is a destructive process to one's consciousness -- it can be used to extend life, but not indefinitely, and it's usually very expensive.

Anything is possible when jumping to an unexplored system.