Section I: The quarantine of Earth 3010-3015
By the year 3010, humanity had long ceased to call Earth its own. The planet, once vibrant with life, had been reduced to a wasteland of poisoned air and ruined cities. Of the billions who had once walked its surface, only ninety million survived the purges of fire, disease, and neglect. These survivors, desperate and determined, reached outward—to alien civilizations, to distant worlds, to galaxies beyond counting. It was in this exodus that humanity forged its tenuous survival, weaving its existence into the fabric of a greater cosmos. The joining of these separate beings has been recorded as the Heliara System.
Section II: Methods of Travel
The vast web of intergalactic railways, monitored by the Heliara System, became the arteries of this survival. Within these rails flowed goods, passengers, and the occasional diplomat, all under strict oversight. Yet beyond the sanctioned paths drifted the rogue vessels: the drifters. Illegal, independent, and far more dangerous than the railways themselves, they were the veins of the unknown, where risk and opportunity intertwined.
Section III: The Salients
It was during these times that the Salients emerged. The Salients are humans and alien hybrids who bear within them a separate entity—an Echo. These beings are not merely companions of thought; they are cohabitants of the mind, capable of speech, persuasion, and sometimes domination. The Echo grants abilities unmatched by ordinary humans: accelerated healing, enhanced perception, precognition, or manipulation of energy. Yet the bond is not without flaw. Some Echoes demand constant attention, others impose compulsions. Each Salient is tracked, monitored, and accompanied by a companion: human or alien, artificial or organic, whose purpose is to anchor the host, report anomalies, and ensure survival.
Section IIII: The Swarm
The Swarm, the most relentless adversary of this age, is the antithesis of the Salient. Once victims themselves, these hive-minded beings have succumbed to collective insanity. Their forms are mutable and horrifying: Hollows, formless and stalking; Echoed, twisted reflections of the sentient; Weavers, capable of controlling minds; and the Harbingers, who strike with precise lethality. The Swarm's influence spreads in waves, infiltrating the unprotected and leaving minds shattered, bodies claimed. Unlike Salients, they require no companions—their minds act in unity, their collective madness guiding each individual toward conquest and assimilation.
Section V: The Galaxies
Travel across the galaxies is no trivial matter. The Heliara System has catalogued numerous systems and planets:
Under the rule of the Heliara System are the three main planets Aurelios Prime, Virex Halo and Cynara Veil. Each of these planets have their very own moons, some living areas, others home to mining and manufacturing. An example is Solara, the shining hub of commerce and moon to Aurelios Prime.
The Myrr Cascade is a galaxy home to Thessalyth, Orin-Kai and Velune IX. Though the galaxy is not under the Heliara System's control, they are on friendly terms and are connected through an intergalactic railway.
The Sol Remnant is home to SOL-3, also known as Earth in the past, is now a quarantined zone under the control of the Heliara System. Access is rarely given due to the planet's toxic atmosphere.
Little is known about the home of the Swarm, the Kharon Expanse. Through ventures and intensive research scientists of the Heliara System have located rough estimates for it's location, as well as the two planets that are under its control; Draxis Null and Nox Umbra.
Thus begins the age of Echoes. The Salients walk the path between law and chaos, hunger and restraint, sanity and madness. The story of their deeds—recorded here—is not only history but a warning: even in the vastness of space, the mind may be the most dangerous frontier.
About the Author: Ferrand Thayer has spent decades chronicling the history of humanity's survival beyond Earth. His work combines careful observation with firsthand accounts of the Salients, the Swarm, and the many worlds bound by the intergalactic railways. A scholar of xenopolitics and human-alien cooperation, Thayer has dedicated his life to preserving the records of our species' triumphs, failures, and the fragile alliances that keep the galaxies connected.