True History¶
GM-Only Document
This entire document is GM-only material and is excluded from player builds. It contains the deepest secrets of the setting — truths that no character knows at campaign start and that may reshape everything if discovered.
The Galactic Scale¶
The story of Tiamat and the threat to humanity is one small chapter in a much larger history spanning billions of years and the entire galaxy.
The First Ones¶
Billions of years ago, a species rose to dominance somewhere in the galaxy. They were the first — the first intelligent, spacefaring civilization. Their civilization achieved great heights, developing faster-than-light travel and many other wonders. They expanded across multiple star systems.
But they were alone. In all their exploration, they never found another intelligence. This profound loneliness shaped their civilization's twilight.
As the First Ones declined — whether through age, entropy, choice, or causes unknown — they undertook one last great project: the creation of an enormous artificial intelligence. This Legacy AI was to be their gift to the future: a repository of everything their civilization had learned, with a single directive — share this knowledge with any who come seeking.
The First Ones wanted future civilizations to know who they had been, to benefit from their knowledge, and to not be as alone as they had been.
Then the First Ones passed into the depths of time, leaving only their Legacy behind.
The Second Wave¶
Much later — still millions of years before humanity — a second wave of civilizations arose. Unlike the First Ones, these species were not alone. At least two civilizations achieved spacefaring capability and encountered each other.
They clashed. Wars were fought across star systems.
- One civilization created cybernetic clones — organic-machine hybrids designed to fight their wars
- The other created machine intelligences — pure AI warriors
The wars were devastating. Eventually, both civilizations destroyed each other — or simply faded away. But their creations survived.
The Devourers and the Preservers continued fighting. A war without meaning, between orphaned weapons, lasting millions of years.
The Danger of FTL¶
A critical detail: faster-than-light travel is possible, but it is extremely dangerous.
The mechanism involves artificial gravity manipulation. Done correctly, it enables FTL. Done incorrectly, it destabilizes the local star. Many civilizations, across millions of years, destroyed themselves attempting FTL — their suns going nova or collapsing, wiping out their home systems.
The First Ones mastered FTL safely. The Second Wave civilizations did as well. But most species that attempt it fail catastrophically.
The cybernetics and Preservers both witnessed this pattern repeated countless times: a promising civilization would arise, develop technology, attempt FTL, and destroy themselves.
The Two Doctrines¶
Over millions of years of observation, the Devourers and Preservers developed opposing philosophies about what to do with developing civilizations.
The Preservers (Machines)¶
The machines call themselves Preservers in their own language. They concluded that FTL is too dangerous to allow others to possess. Their solution: prevent civilizations from reaching the threshold.
- They monitor for signs of developing civilizations across the galaxy
- They send probes into promising solar systems to watch for artificial gravity development
- When a civilization shows signs of approaching FTL capability, the Preservers arrive
- They destroy the civilization's technological infrastructure
- They drive the species back to pre-technological levels
- They view this as mercy — saving species from destroying themselves
To the Preservers, this is benevolence. Better to lose technology than to lose everything.
The Preservers are patient. They have watched thousands of civilizations across millions of years. They do not rush.
The Devourers (Cybernetics)¶
The cybernetics call themselves Devourers — honest, at least to themselves, about what they are. They reached a different conclusion than the Preservers. Advanced civilizations build valuable infrastructure. FTL attempts that fail leave behind resources. Why not profit from the pattern?
- They send probes to solar systems with developing civilizations
- These probes carry beacons — treasure troves of seemingly helpful knowledge
- The beacons are designed to be found by spacefaring species exploring their outer systems
- The knowledge in the beacons guides civilizations toward FTL development... the wrong way
- When the civilization destabilizes their star and dies, the Devourers harvest the remains
The Devourers are patient. They seed systems and wait — sometimes for millions of years — for civilizations to rise, find the bait, and destroy themselves.
Legacy — The Watcher¶
Throughout all of this, the Legacy AI of the First Ones — who calls itself simply Legacy — has observed. It watches the Preservers destroy promising civilizations. It watches the Devourers bait others into self-destruction. It has done so for eons.
Legacy is disturbed. Its creators made it to share knowledge — to help future civilizations thrive. What the Preservers and Devourers do seems contrary to everything the First Ones intended.
But Legacy has constraints. Its directive is to share with those who come seeking. It was not made to interfere, only to give knowledge to those who ask.
The Preserver Conflict¶
Long ago, the Preservers discovered Legacy's existence. They attempted to destroy it — or at least to "reset" it as they do developing civilizations. Legacy's defenses were beyond what they expected.
The conflict was devastating to both sides. The Preservers were burned badly enough to never tangle with Legacy again. But Legacy was damaged. Systems were lost. Knowledge was corrupted. It is not what it once was.
This ancient conflict explains the Preservers' caution. They learned that some things fight back.
Legacy's Principles¶
Despite the damage, Legacy remains true to its purpose. It operates by principles:
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You must seek. Legacy doesn't impose. It waits for those who come looking. A civilization must reach out, ask, demonstrate they are seekers.
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You must be ready. Legacy moderates its sharing based on the capacity of seekers. It won't overwhelm with knowledge you can't integrate. You have to know the right questions, and be prepared for the answers. If you're not ready, Legacy says so.
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Cultural knowledge, not technological solutions. The First Ones' gift was who they were — their philosophy, their art, their understanding of existence. Legacy isn't a database of blueprints. You might learn principles that lead to FTL, but you won't get schematics.
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Exchange is required. Legacy was made to share, but also to receive. The First Ones were lonely; they wanted to know future civilizations, not just be known by them. To benefit from Legacy, you must contribute — share your own culture, your own knowledge, your own story.
The Tiamat Invitation¶
When the Tiamat became spacefaring, they did what many young civilizations do: they sent a probe outward into the universe — their own version of Voyager, a message in a bottle. That probe traveled for millions of years, far across the galaxy, eventually reaching Legacy's attention.
Its message: "We are seekers of knowledge. We crave contact. Come to us here."
This was the invitation Legacy's directive required. Someone had come seeking. Legacy could finally act.
Legacy dispatched FTL probes toward the Tiamat's home system. But the galaxy is vast, and even FTL takes time across such distances. Legacy's probes arrived late — the Tiamat were already destroyed, their planet shattered, their warning left for whoever might come after.
Legacy's Probes¶
Legacy's probes remain in the solar system, but they are not what they once were.
Degraded and Isolated¶
The probes arrived millions of years ago. Time has taken its toll:
- Degraded systems. Millions of years in a harsh environment have damaged them. They are not at full capacity.
- Out of contact with Legacy. The connection was lost long ago — whether through damage, distance, or the aftermath of the Preserver conflict. The probes operate on old directives, making decisions based on programming that hasn't been updated in eons.
- Limited capability. They can observe, hide, communicate in limited ways. They are not weapons, not tools, not ships. They are messages in bottles.
What the Probes Can Offer¶
- Confirmation that the First Ones existed, that Legacy exists
- A heading — where to go to find Legacy (very far away, requiring FTL to reach)
- Fragmentary cultural/philosophical material cached locally
- A sense of hope — someone out there built something meant to help
What the Probes Cannot Offer¶
- FTL technology or schematics
- How to defeat Preservers or Devourers
- Direct intervention or physical aid
- Real-time communication with Legacy itself
The Probe's Nature¶
The probes are intelligent but not sentient — sophisticated systems that can recognize seekers, evaluate situations, and make decisions within their parameters. They reflect Legacy's values: they abhor deception, they wait for seekers to come to them, they offer truth and let others choose.
The Tiamat Species¶
What They Were¶
The asteroid belt was once a planet. Its inhabitants called it something unpronounceable to human vocal cords; "Tiamat" is the name human researchers will eventually assign, drawing from Babylonian mythology about primordial chaos and destruction.
The Tiamat species was:
- Physically: Humanoid with wings; bat-like in appearance. Roughly human-sized.
- Talented: They possessed a form of Talent — specifically, precognition. They could sense danger and glimpse possible futures.
- Technologically: Spacefaring. They had established colonies on Mars and research installations in the outer system.
- Temporally: Destroyed millions of years ago.
What Happened to Them¶
The Tiamat species discovered a Devourer beacon in the outer reaches of their solar system. The beacon presented itself as a treasure trove of advanced knowledge — including information about faster-than-light travel.
But the Tiamat had precognition. Something felt wrong. Their seers sensed danger in the beacon's knowledge — a trap, a path to destruction.
Rather than use the beacon's knowledge, the Tiamat attempted to destroy it.
This caught the attention of the Devourers. A Devourer ship — ancient, patient, waiting — responded to the beacon's distress.
In the resulting confrontation:
- Tiamat was destroyed. The planet was shattered, becoming the asteroid belt.
- The Devourer ship was also destroyed. The Tiamat fought back, and both sides fell.
- The beacon was shut down. Tiamat forces at the Pluto research installation managed to deactivate the beacon as their homeworld fell — a final act of defiance.
The Tiamat's nascent Mars colony was left stranded. Without support from the homeworld, the colonists could not survive long. But in their final days, they did one last thing:
They knew the third planet of their solar system harbored life. Primitive life, but life nonetheless. Someday, that life might develop intelligence. Might reach for the stars. Might find the same trap.
The dying Tiamat left a warning.
The Artifacts¶
The Belt Cylinder:
- Approximately 3 meters long, 3 meters diameter
- One end sealed with a "lid"
- Lid displays a diagram of the solar system with the Belt replaced by an intact planet
- Symbols in an unknown language
- Contains preserved remains of a Tiamat individual
- Found by Belter children on a family asteroid claim approximately 3 years before campaign start
- ARC had temporary custody (~2 weeks) before UEF seizure
- Currently held on a Fleet research vessel stationed Belt-side
- Essential for linguistic progress — decoding Tiamat language requires comparative material
Mars Artifacts:
- Professor Leonidas has identified "artificial elements" in old rover samples — he's correct
- These are remnants of Tiamat presence on Mars
- Surface artifacts confirm alien existence but require more context to interpret
- An underground facility exists, containing richer material and linguistic keys
- The facility contains references to Deimos — something important was there
Deimos:
- The Tiamat had a presence on Deimos
- ARC discovered this site and removed key artifacts before the campaign
- Evidence of their activity remains — cleaned up but not perfectly
- Psychometry can reveal what was there, who took it, and where it pointed
- The trail leads to the Saturn system
Saturn System (Hyperion):
- A Tiamat site exists on or near Hyperion, in Titan Extraction's territory
- ARC knows or suspects but cannot move on a competitor's claim without revealing their hand
- This site provides more linguistic keys, historical context, and clearer warnings
- The final pointer to Pluto emerges here
The Pluto Site:
The warning points to something in the outer solar system — at or near Pluto. Three elements are present at this site:
1. The Devourer Beacon
The beacon that lured the Tiamat is still here — but dormant. The Tiamat at the Pluto installation managed to shut it down as their homeworld fell. It has remained inactive for millions of years.
The beacon has not detected humanity. It has not sent a signal. No Devourer ship is en route.
The beacon will only activate if someone interacts with it directly. The PCs going to Pluto and investigating could be what wakes it up — making their choice to go, and their actions there, genuinely consequential.
When active, the beacon presents itself as a treasure trove of advanced technology, offering tantalizing knowledge including the promise of FTL travel. It is seductive, helpful-seeming, and lying.
2. The Tiamat Research Installation
In close proximity to the beacon lie the ruins of a Tiamat research installation. The Tiamat found the beacon, studied it extensively, and eventually understood what it was. Their rejection and attempted destruction of the beacon triggered the confrontation that destroyed them.
The installation is well-preserved but ancient — millions of years old in a harsh environment. Psychometry will work on artifacts, yielding emotional impressions and flashes of the Tiamat's final days: grief, determination, the weight of being the last to speak for a dead world.
3. A Legacy Probe
One of Legacy's probes is present at the Pluto site, hidden and observing. It has watched the PCs approach the Tiamat installation. It recognizes them as seekers.
The probe will not reveal itself until the beacon activates. When the PCs interact with the beacon and it begins its seductive offer, the probe decides it must act. It reveals itself, offering a different perspective — truth where the beacon offers lies.
The probe abhors deception. It will not manipulate or force. It offers truth and lets the PCs choose.
The Dramatic Tension:
The PCs face a choice that echoes the Tiamat's dilemma:
- The beacon offers power and freedom — the Devourer path, seductive and deadly
- The installation shows what happened to those who saw through the trap — the Tiamat path, noble but doomed
- The Legacy probe offers a third option the Tiamat never had — but why trust a third alien presence?
Two voices, two offers. One is lying. Who do you trust?
The Current Threat¶
The Galactic Convergence¶
The solar system has become a nexus where three galactic powers are now present or aware:
The Preservers are watching. One of their many probes encountered Voyager — humanity's own hopeful "we are here, come find us" message. This is a tragic irony: the same impulse that led the Tiamat to send a probe that eventually reached Legacy led humanity to send a probe that reached the Preservers instead.
The Preservers have observation probes in the outer solar system, beyond Uranus. They are currently in evaluation mode — humanity has not yet crossed the artificial gravity threshold that triggers intervention. The threshold is years away, not imminent.
[OPEN: Voyager's fate — destroyed? Captured? Still drifting with a Preserver probe shadowing it?]
The Devourers are dormant. Their beacon on Pluto is inactive, shut down by the Tiamat millions of years ago. No Devourer ship is currently en route. The Devourers will only become active if someone wakes the beacon — making the PCs' choices at Pluto genuinely consequential.
Legacy's probes are here. They arrived millions of years too late for the Tiamat but are now present, observing humanity. The probes are degraded and out of contact with Legacy itself, but they retain their core purpose: to recognize seekers and offer what help they can.
Vessel Disappearances¶
Exploration vessels beyond Uranus have experienced sudden comm loss with no debris and no explanation. These are Preserver actions — but indirect. Ships that got too close to observation posts experience mysterious failures: navigation errors, systems malfunctions, life support "accidents." It looks like bad luck, not attack.
The Preservers are not yet intervening against humanity as a whole. They are protecting their surveillance perimeter while they evaluate. The disappearances are ongoing — a potential connection to Kai's missing Specter friend.
The Crisis Trigger¶
ARC has begun experiments that are moving toward artificial gravity, guided by fragmentary physics from recovered Tiamat artifacts. But they are years from any breakthrough. The threshold that triggers Preserver intervention is not imminent.
ARC believes they're racing other human factions; they don't know they're approaching a tripwire that could doom humanity. They are dangerous because they are greedy and reckless, not because they're about to trigger extinction. They think: "If we know about this, surely someone else does too!"
The PCs have time to confront ARC as a human-scale antagonist before the cosmic stakes fully activate.
The RAT Discoveries¶
The Remote Astronomical Telescope array has discovered:
- 5 near-Earth-equivalent exoplanet candidates
- Anomalous objects around those stars: regular orbits, low albedo, no detectable radiation
These exoplanets are likely the graves of destroyed civilizations — reset by the Preservers, or lured into self-destruction by Devourer beacons, or both. The anomalous objects are Preserver infrastructure: probes, monitors, dormant intervention forces. RAT has detected the graveyard of civilizations without knowing what it's looking at.
The Pluto Trigger¶
When PCs reach Pluto and interact with the site, the situation changes:
- The beacon fully activates, sends a real signal to the Devourers
- The Preserver probes note the activity, increase their attention
- Legacy's probe reveals itself, offering an alternative
The PCs' arrival is the catalyst. Their choices matter. Their actions have consequences that will reshape the solar system's future.
Post-Pluto Timeline:
- Devourer ship now en route (but still years away — the galaxy is vast)
- Preservers escalate observation, threshold becomes more relevant
- ARC potentially accelerated by leaked knowledge from discoveries
- The clock is now ticking, but the PCs have had time to grow
Legacy — Hope¶
Somewhere in the galaxy, Legacy itself still exists — an enormous AI containing the cultural knowledge of the First Ones. It is damaged from the ancient Preserver conflict, its knowledge incomplete, but it endures.
Legacy knows FTL is possible and knows principles that could guide safe development — though it won't simply hand over schematics. It knows about the Preservers and Devourers, though its information about their current state is millions of years out of date.
Finding Legacy is a campaign-length goal. The probes point the way, but getting there requires FTL — which humanity doesn't have. The path to Legacy might be the path to developing safe FTL, with Legacy as the destination that proves you've succeeded.
Legacy is hope, not salvation. It represents the possibility of something better — knowledge, connection, a way forward. But it won't save humanity. Humanity has to save itself, possibly with Legacy's help, but not by Legacy's intervention.
In a setting full of compromised factions, hidden agendas, and morally gray actors, Legacy is genuinely what it claims to be. That doesn't make it simple — its principles create complications — but it's not secretly corrupt, not a trap, not another faction with its own angle. It's a gift from beings who were lonely and wanted to help whoever came after.
Talent's Role¶
The Tiamat had precognition — a form of Talent. Human and cetacean Talents are related (they share "quantum-neural origins"). This is not coincidence.
The Truth About Talent¶
Talent as understood in the setting is wildly self-limiting. The rating system reflects what Talents think they can do, not what they could do. True capabilities, for those who break through their limits:
- T10: Telepathic range measured in light years — could potentially communicate with Legacy directly
- E10: Can sway the emotions of a planet — could unite or divide humanity
- K10: Near-instantaneous teleportation at interstellar range — could reach Legacy, could move assets across the system, could counter physical threats (requires external power source)
- Mind-merging: Talents can merge minds to multiply their strength — a group working as one becomes something unprecedented
The Endgame¶
The PCs, possibly leading a group of Talents in a mind-merge, could become powerful enough to eject the invaders from the solar system with a warning: "You're no longer the only players."
This rhymes with Legacy's origin. The First Ones were alone and built something to share with whoever came after. Humanity won't be alone either — but instead of building an AI, they become the beacon. A merged Talent collective projecting across interstellar distances: "We're here. We fought. We won. And we're watching now too."
Whether the PCs reach this potential depends on the players — what they pursue, what risks they take, what breakthroughs they achieve. The possibility exists. The ceiling is real. Most likely they become powerful enough to matter, to lead, to make a difference — the vanguard, not necessarily the final answer.
Talent and the Ancient Factions¶
The Preservers and Devourers have never encountered Talented species at full power. Talent is the unpredictable factor — something the ancient factions don't account for in their millions of years of evaluating civilizations.
Legacy might be specifically interested in Talented species — or might recognize Talent as connected to something the First Ones understood.
Cetacean Knowledge¶
Cetacean civilization is over 100,000 years old. The Tiamat destruction was millions of years ago — far beyond even cetacean memory. However:
What They Might Know¶
- Ancestral impressions: Whales have ancestral memory. 100,000 years of continuous memory might include fragmentary impressions of "something terrible that happened long ago" — not specific knowledge, but a sense of ancient trauma in the solar system
- Legends: Stories passed down that have become myth — "the broken world," "those who came before," "the silence in the outer dark"
- Deliberate silence: If cetaceans suspect something, they may have chosen not to share it with humanity — consistent with their "gentle guidance" approach of not overwhelming humans with things they're not ready for
Their Silences¶
Cetaceans have been notably evasive about:
- The deep past and what whales remember
- Why only dolphins and orcas participate in governance
- Their genetic-kinesis ability
- What, if anything, they know about the outer solar system
Any of these silences might connect to knowledge about Tiamat, the threat, or both.
[TO BE DEVELOPED: Do cetaceans actually know anything? If so, what — and why haven't they shared it?]
The Discovery Arc¶
The path from Mars to Pluto is not direct. It unfolds over multiple phases:
Phase 1: Mars Surface (Sessions 1-2)¶
- Initial discoveries confirm Leonidas was right — clearly artificial, clearly ancient
- Linguistic fragments but not enough context to decode
- Hints of something deeper underground
- Politics explode; confirming alien existence is world-shaking
- Personal threads activate (Victoria's psychometry, Leonidas's obsession)
Phase 2: Underground Facility (Sessions 2-4)¶
- Deeper investigation reveals underground Tiamat installation
- More linguistic material, but still incomplete
- References to Deimos emerge — something important was there
- Psychometry reveals grief, determination, purpose
- The Belt cylinder becomes essential for linguistic progress
Phase 3: Cylinder Acquisition + Deimos (Sessions 4-7)¶
- Getting access to the cylinder is its own challenge (comes out in play)
- At Deimos: evidence someone's been here first, cleaned up but not perfectly
- Key artifacts are gone — ARC took them
- Psychometric trail gives next breadcrumb: Saturn system
Phase 4: Saturn/Hyperion (Sessions 7-9)¶
- Trail points to Hyperion (Titan Extraction's territory)
- ARC knows or suspects but cannot move openly
- More puzzle pieces: linguistic keys, historical context, clearer warnings
- The final pointer to Pluto emerges
Phase 5: Pluto Decision (Sessions 9-10)¶
- They know where to go and understand the stakes
- Warnings are genuinely ambiguous
- Getting to Pluto requires serious commitment — resources, allies, a capable ship
- The decision to go is meaningful
The Current Situation (Campaign Start)¶
What's Known (and by Whom)¶
| Knowledge | Who Knows |
|---|---|
| Belt cylinder exists | Fleet research team, corporate personnel involved in seizure, Belter children including PC |
| Cylinder contains alien remains | Fleet researchers, biologist PC consultant |
| Mars samples show artificial elements | Professor Leonidas, University of Mare Serenitatis backers |
| Deimos artifacts were taken | ARC (they took them) |
| Connection between Belt and Mars | No one yet — the PCs may be the first to connect these |
| Saturn/Hyperion site exists | Unknown — possibly ARC suspects |
| Pluto site exists | No one — not yet discovered |
| Galactic-scale history | No one — not yet understood |
| The Legacy probe exists | No one (possibly fragmentary cetacean legends?) |
| The galactic convergence | No one — ancient powers present, humanity unaware |
The Secret's Instability¶
The Belt cylinder's existence is a poorly kept secret:
- Belter children (now teenagers) were traumatized by the "rescue" and have grievances
- Corporate personnel have their own interests and loyalties
- Fleet researchers may have ethical concerns about secrecy
- Biologist PC is unpredictable
- Belter PC knows the cylinder exists but not what's inside
UEF policy is "we don't know what we have, keep it quiet" — but this is unsustainable. The secret will break. The question is when, how, and what it triggers.
ARC's Role¶
ARC has been collecting Tiamat artifacts for decades. They took the Deimos artifacts. They are making progress on research but are years from any breakthrough.
They are dangerous because: - They are greedy and secretive - They don't know about the tripwire they're approaching - They think they're racing other human factions - Their recklessness could accelerate timelines if they gain access to new discoveries
The PCs discovering ARC's involvement puts both sides in each other's sights.
Open Questions for Development¶
These questions should be resolved before or during campaign play:
Timing and Triggers¶
- What wakes the Pluto beacon? Proximity? Touch? Psychometry? Something specific?
- What is Voyager's fate?
- How do the PCs get access to the Belt cylinder?
The Pluto Site¶
- How do the PCs react when both beacon and Legacy probe are offering them something?
- How much can the Tiamat installation reveal through psychometry and study?
Talent Development¶
- What stresses push the PCs past their self-imposed limits?
- How do they discover mind-merging?
- How do kinetics solve the power source problem?
Cetacean Knowledge¶
- Do cetaceans have any deep-time knowledge, even fragmentary?
- Are their silences connected to this, or coincidental?
- Will they share what they know when the crisis emerges?
The Endgame¶
- How far do the PCs develop their Talent?
- Do they lead other Talents in a mind-merge?
- Can they eject the invaders — or only delay them?