Epsilon Reticuli
23-01-2005, 00:20
Earth. A miracle of science. Just the right distance from just the right star, Earth has given rise to untold numbers of different life forms, and some spectacular scenery. These ideal conditions for life are rare, given the number of stars in the universe, but not unheard of.
Nearly sixty light years away, in what humans would recognise as the Constellation Reticulum, another star once offered another planet very similar conditions. Epsilon Reticuli. A planet (Reticuli 4) sat just far enough away from this Sol-like star to allow life to develop. Intelligent life, very similar to humans; the Reticulites.
The Reticulites were a peaceful people, possessing technology unmatched by any civilisation before or since. They frequented other galaxies as casually as a human may go to the local store. They terraformed other planets as easily as a builder places another brick on the wall he is building. They cured diseases as simply as you or I would place a sticking plaster on a small cut. They even mined some resources from Sol at one time, although Earth was little more than a ball of molten rock at the time.
They had even united 17 whole galaxies into a peaceful alliance known as the Universal Commonwealth. By bringing technology and peaceful ideals to other species, the Reticulites managed to improve the quality of life for people across the universe. This massive collective contained thousands of species, and hundreds of trillions of people. Each galaxy had a designated 'council world', consisting of elected representatives from all the member worlds of that galaxy, to make regional decisions. The Milky Way had two such worlds; one for regional decisions, and another was the primary council world, where all the members from all the 17 galaxies met to make wide-sweeping Commonwealth decisions. The Reticulites were not a dominant race in any respect, despite having a higher population and more sophisticated technology, so neither of these councils were on Reticuli 4 itself.
One thing was totally beyond them, however. The ability to destroy. Lacking weapons of any sort, they were unable to resist when terrifying extra-galactic aliens discovered their existence. The terrified Reticulites removed all traces of their technology from the universe and retreated home, losing countless trillions of souls amid the onslaught of the aliens. Using their phenomenal technology they developed a planetary shield, powerful enough to repel the weapons of the aliens until they simply gave up and returned to their own galaxy. The Reticulites were terrified, though. They never left their own planet again.
So they dropped from universal memory after a few million years. And so it was, two billion years ago, that when their star grew nearly seven times in size into a red giant, obliterating their civilisation and killing their once beautiful planet, that nobody even knew they had existed in the first place.
These days, Epsilon Reticuli is a dead system. Two planets reside in orbit around the dying star, with the rest now engulfed by it. A huge, red gas giant sits at the edge of the solar system. One planet, a dead rock, looks as though it could once have supported life, eons ago, but there is nothing left now. The thin oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere is still there (barely), but the surface temperature would kill any living being. Any buildings have long-since been buried or collapsed, and the oceans have dried up completely.
Or at least, it seems to be dead. The Reticulites were highly intelligent people, with no desire to be wiped out. By the same token, they feared space due to the aliens that forced them to remain confined to their home world. Instead, they dug out vast underground habitats capable of supporting billions of their people. Mazes of tunnels and vast caverns filled with plants were constructed beneath surface. The caverns are too far underground for the dying star to warm, however the core of the planet itself is close enough to heat them sufficiently. Underground springs, and now even rivers and lakes, provide a water eco-system, whilst the distant roof of the caverns are fitted with bright lights on a day/light cycle, illuminating the caverns with a light which allows plants to grow.
The impressive planetary shield which once defended them from the alien terrors is now underground, protecting the people from sensors, weapons, cave-ins, radiation; everything. Air is provided for by oxygen-nitrogen generators, capable of sustaining healthy life indefinitely. All of this is powered by vast geo-thermal power systems, which are now lost to the people who live there. Reticulan technology is artificially intelligent, and uses nanites for self-maintenance, meaning that their technology can survive forever, providing it has power. Only a single room features any sort of controls in the entire habitat, and this room is mostly for monitoring the dying star. Indeed, a massive screen constantly displays a current image of the gigantic star.
Unfortunately for their civilisation, they were forced to leave their technology behind when the sun suddenly began heating up at an unprecedented rate. Only a few thousand even made it to the underground habitats before the sun became lethal. Without their technology and missing most of their supplies, these Reticulites found survival difficult and primitive, trying to get plants to grow in this underground environment. Worse still, they discovered untold numbers of predators had taken up residence in isolated areas of the habitat, and now used Reticulites for food.
Reticulites of today are a far cry from the hyper-intelligent, technologically advanced Reticulites of a billion years ago. With only a few million of them living in small communities in a habitat designed for billions, the Reticulites are a backward, religious people, fending off the huge predators with mere swords and spears.
They believe the star they have seen on the view screen to be their god, Reticuli, and worship him not as a forgiving, benign creature, but as a vengeful, spiteful and terrifying god, wielding his phenomenal, fiery power as a weapon for his enjoyment rather than a tool for their benefit. As if it doesn’t end there, a generational memory of a terrifying species residing in the heavens has given rise to their belief in the anti-Reticuli, horrific demon creatures who will one day drill through their rock-sky and destroy them all and their god. This does fit in with their difficult, dismal lifestyle somewhat. It serves to make them a largely miserable and cynical people, who would probably react very badly to any alien incursion into their underground habitat.
Biology
Reticulites are identical to humans in most ways, even appearance. It is possible that their species are related to humans in some way – perhaps a single colony ship was not destroyed by the unknown aliens, and ultimately placed life on Earth. Whatever the reason, they are what they are.
Unlike humans, Reticulites once learned to unlock the secrets of their brains. Once upon a time, they were all capable of telekinesis, telepathy and outstanding intellect. If an ancient Reticulite were to take a modern IQ test, they would have been off the chart.
The ancient Reticulites combined their technology with their medical methods to have an average life expectancy of 500 years, give or take several decades. And very few Reticulites began to show any signs of old age whatsoever before the age of 400/450. This is the point where their bodies simply cannot be helped by technology or medicine any more, and begin to die. Before this age, though, Reticulite technology really could keep their bodies in perfect condition. They stopped maturing at the age of 21-25, on average. Without technology, this is when their bodies would start to degrade. Technology and medicine helped them retain this peak of physical and psychological fitness, however. As a result, it could be hard to tell how old any Reticulites but the oldest and youngest were; but they were prepared to live with that.
Ancient Reticulites also used to eat healthily. One might expect such a technologically advanced race to eat wholly artificial foods, but the Reticulites never ate anything artificial at all. They were vegetarians, and only ate naturally grown vegetables, usually shipped in from agricultural planets. Combined with a variety of fruit drinks and water, they received all the nutrients their bodies needed, with few negative side effects. In addition to this, they exercised regularly. Obesity and general unfitness was none-existent.
Modern Reticulites are probably slightly less intelligent than modern humans, however. Some of them still possess telepathic or telekinetic abilities, though. They are regarded as warriors of Reticuli, and are well-respected and even feared. Whereas ancient Reticulites used their telekinetic abilities in their peaceful work, modern Reticulites used their own abilities as weapons, primarily when fighting off the formidable predators that prey on their people. Some use their abilities to gain a position of power, usually through inspiring fear, or inflicting mental or physical pain upon their adversaries.
For the most part, they are physically fit, unless diseased in which case they have a short time to live indeed. The predators they have to fight are mostly massive creatures, like those out of fantasy stories on Earth. Some of them are semi-intelligent, lumbering humanoids armed with clubs or axes, and have lived underground before the Reticulites even lost their intergalactic commonwealth.
Culture
Pre-Dark Age Reticulites had an extensive and beautiful culture. Arts were respected just as highly as the sciences. Reticulite cities were surprisingly old-fashioned, given their technological capabilities and population. Mostly attractive stone buildings with marble highlights, the buildings were often designed with aesthetics in mind just as much as practicality. Gardens were highly valued, and cities incorporated these as often as possible. As a result, Reticulite cities were beautiful places. Unusually for a city, they were not cramped or 'concrete' thanks to their gardens, and the buildings were all works of art in themselves.
Although technology was integral to their lives, Reticulites did not use it very much in their recreational activities. They were surprisingly promiscuous for a civilised race, although not in the same way as the sordid one-night-stands humans tend to have. Love making was an art in itself, and often involved more than two Reticulites. As mentioned, rather than being a sordid affair, it was deeply moving to them all. Rather than being about selfish pleasure, they revelled in making others feel good, and genuinely cared deeply for all their partners. Technology allowed them to do so without fear of unwanted reproduction, and medicine had all but eradicated most known diseases. Often the act of making love incorporated a great deal of telepathic interaction as well as physical, which made the experience substantially more pleasurable and intimate. Sometimes, it could even be a public display. Equally unusual was the fact that there were no public nudity laws.
When not enjoying each other's 'company', the Reticulites were extremely engrossed in the arts -- music, painting and the like. The musical works of the Reticulites would all be firmly under the 'classical' genre if compared to that of Earth's arts, though the unique varieties of instruments, and sometimes even vocals, used gave it a highly distinctive effect. Paintings, drawings and holo-constructs typically included landscape paintings, abstract, 'emotional' paintings, telepathically influenced works, or images of other individuals that the artist held dear. Architects were also sometimes regarded as artists.
Names are asexual. Names given to a male may also be used by a female without confusion, and vice-versa. Reticulites were not naturally inclined to be homosexual, but if they were there would be no restrictions placed upon them. There was no inequality between the sexes, either.
Reticulites had developed highly sophisticated artificially intelligent units too. These units were considered sentient, and were given equal rights in Reticuli society as soon as this sentience was recognised. AIs were given a name upon their construction, and generally took on a gender, depending on how they 'felt'.
Sometimes, AI Reticulites were even wholly entrusted with jobs that few other sentient species may be comfortable with -- for example, Afanso was a sentient AI who was the only person responsible for looking after the Reticuli underground habitat. Sentients on ships were 'asked' to perform tasks, rather than 'ordered'. Rather than giving the ship a name, the ship's name would be the same as the AI's name, as it was considered his/her body. Although generally loyal and agreeable, AIs could refuse to carry out a request if he/she thought it was inappropriate, unsafe, or could be executed in a better way. AIs were even given the right to vote, although the inherent nature of AIs meant that they were physically incapable of becoming political representatives -- although, if there were androids in Reticuli society, they would be permitted to stand.
The generations of Reticulites that followed after Epsilon Reticuli became a red giant, however, are polar opposites of this enlightened civilisation.
Their religion is the dominating force of their culture. The God Reticuli, the sun, is an all-powerful being who inflicts pain upon anyone he chooses, for his own amusement. He is the source of the power for all the lighting – his fiery glow being associated with light, of course.
It is said that the Reticuli keeps them alive only for his own enjoyment. If he were to become bored with their toiling, destroying them would be a simple matter of him shutting down the lighting permanently. Sometimes, sections of the habitat will shut down, and remain dark until nanites can repair the relevant damage and makes everyone fear an apocalypse.
The ‘educated elite’ of the Reticulites sometimes question whether the vast, burning ball of fire displayed in the ancient ‘Room of Magics’ is indeed their god. Some wonder why a god would need to have cables running to all of the lights. Camps nearer the centre of the habitat can sometimes here the throbbing hum of the power generators, and sometimes people from these camps seek to discover the source of this noise. Most of these people are usually sent into the ‘Dead Lands’. These are areas of the habitat which were calved out by Ancient Reticulites, but were never fitted with lighting. Such areas comprise of roughly 30% of the entire habitat. The air is thin and the predators numerous, and the pitch-black makes it difficult for anyone to defend against them. Being sent to the Dead Lands is essentially a death sentence, although sometimes bands of adventurers will sometimes venture some way into them.
Other than this, the culture of the Reticulites is comparative to the culture of Dark Age Europe, with a Mongol twist. Although there are some large towns or cities, some of the smaller settlements move frequently to try to find more prosperous lands. Static settlements are usually located near anciently designated ‘crop zones’, which probably suggests why they never decided to move away. Each town, city or nomadic settlement is an independent entity, and alliances and wars are known to occur, although not frequently. Trade also exists, though no monetary system.
Recently, however, a group of eight ancient Reticulites have been reawakened from hiding in a nearby gas giant, and have made it their personal duties to try and resurrect the civilisation they loved. They have met varying degrees of success -- roughly 40-60% of the Reticulite population are well on their way to becoming much like the Reticulites of old, and the new generations that follow will up this number to 100%.
Technology
Reticulites no longer have any technological capabilities. They either construct small, rocky huts to live in, or occupy any ancient rock buildings which have not collapsed already.
Fighting predators – and each other – with primitive swords, and wearing small amounts of clothing made from the hides of their livestock (cow-like animals that also found their way down/were taken down before the sun became lethal), they are a primitive people with no signs of improving. Although the habitat itself is home to some technologies so advanced that they may impress current space-faring races of today, despite being billions of years old. However, most of them are buried under the rock. The only technology they can actually see are the lights of the cavern roof (which are far too high up for anyone to reach at any rate), and the control centre, both of which they have explained with religion rather than science.
They have some equally primitive agricultural equipment, but for the most part they eat meat.
The phenomenal technology of the ancient Reticulites is largely lost. One item that could be accessible to the outside world is a small transmitter, left behind on the surface of their home world before they either disappeared underground or died. It was hoped that one day a peace-loving alien civilisation such as themselves would come to their aid, so the transmitter was set up to forever broadcast a general distress signal in every language known to them at the time. Although partially buried under the crumbling rubble of their cities, the nanites faithfully keep the system operational. Once they realised the above-ground generators went offline, they intelligently patched the system into the grid of the underground habitat before their emergency batteries ran out.
- Galactic Explorers
The driving force behind the Reticulites has always been exploring space, even before they were capable of doing so. When their technology evolved to the point where they had everything they needed to explore the universe, the Reticulites built vast fleets of vessels, all of the same 'Galactic Explorer' class. These vessels were huge, functioning as independent cities to allow for extended operations in the farthest reaches of the universe.
Length: 60km
Power: 1,000 quantum batteries
Propulsion: Transdimensional FTL system; phased ion anti-exhaust sublight 'drag' system
Recommended Crew: 60,000
Maximum Personnel: 560,000
Minimum Crew (Required for absolute minimum functionality): 20 (+1 AI)
Weapons System: N/A
Shield System: Multi-phasic quantum barrier system, unknown power levels
Repair System: Nanite transfer tubes integrated into all ship systems and hull
Sensor System: Transdimensional multi-phasic detection array, 10,000 lightyear detection radius
Computer System: Positronic Computer Network, sentient artificial intelligence
In their prime, the Reticulites build tens of thousands of Galactic Explorers and deployed them all across the galaxy. Their transdimensional drives allowed for reasonable travel time between and within galaxies without massive risk to the crews, and their transdimensional communications systems permitted contact with the other galaxies. Their impressive sensor systems, meanwhile, allowed a rough scan of a large chunk of a galaxy to be taken in a small amount of time -- although, the sensor arrays of Galactic Explorers only have an effective range of 100 lightyears. Beyond that, the sensors detect only astronomical phenomenon such as stars, planets and blackholes.
Although they lacked weapons of any kind, Galactic Explorers were far from easy pickings. Their shield rating would be off the scale of many races, designed to deal with any weapon they could think of. Mostly, though, these shields were used to counter natural effects. When observing supernovae, dangerous nebulae, black holes, stars turning giant or other phenomenon, their shields were useful. The shields also protected the crew from the highly radioactive nature of interdimensional jumping.
Galactic Explorers, 2 billion years ago, were the most recognisable ships in the known universe. All who saw them, knew who they were and that they were friendly. Their massive, sweeping hull was as common a sight as any other. As well as exploration missions, Galactic Explorers served many other purposes, from medical missions to important deliveries. Galactic Explorers would carry massive amounts of medicine to any world in need of help, whether members of the Universal Commonwealth or not. They would help peace-loving primitives develop their technology to a point where their quality of life was high. They would perform any tasks of worth to the people they affected.
Whereas most modern civilisations would select captains for their ships based on tactical capabilities and strategic knowledge, the Reticulites were more interested in a sheer thirst for adventure, compassion, and scientific knowledge. Though there was a chain of command for emergencies, mostly, all crewmembers considered themselves equal and decided on their daily duties by vote, once a month.
When the unknown aliens came, though, they effectively destroyed the entire fleet of Galactic Explorers and the universe entered a new Dark Age. Only one Galactic Explorer is known presently to exist; it was hidden in the gas giant Reticuli 5, and suffered extensive damage and power drain. It emerged 2 billion years after it hid there from the gigantic alien ships which dwarfed it. Unfortunately, only one of its quantum batteries still retained a charge, and that was quickly dwindling.
The current Galactic Explorer is numbered '87,821' and the AI which inhabits it is named 'Caaldrin'.
Nearly sixty light years away, in what humans would recognise as the Constellation Reticulum, another star once offered another planet very similar conditions. Epsilon Reticuli. A planet (Reticuli 4) sat just far enough away from this Sol-like star to allow life to develop. Intelligent life, very similar to humans; the Reticulites.
The Reticulites were a peaceful people, possessing technology unmatched by any civilisation before or since. They frequented other galaxies as casually as a human may go to the local store. They terraformed other planets as easily as a builder places another brick on the wall he is building. They cured diseases as simply as you or I would place a sticking plaster on a small cut. They even mined some resources from Sol at one time, although Earth was little more than a ball of molten rock at the time.
They had even united 17 whole galaxies into a peaceful alliance known as the Universal Commonwealth. By bringing technology and peaceful ideals to other species, the Reticulites managed to improve the quality of life for people across the universe. This massive collective contained thousands of species, and hundreds of trillions of people. Each galaxy had a designated 'council world', consisting of elected representatives from all the member worlds of that galaxy, to make regional decisions. The Milky Way had two such worlds; one for regional decisions, and another was the primary council world, where all the members from all the 17 galaxies met to make wide-sweeping Commonwealth decisions. The Reticulites were not a dominant race in any respect, despite having a higher population and more sophisticated technology, so neither of these councils were on Reticuli 4 itself.
One thing was totally beyond them, however. The ability to destroy. Lacking weapons of any sort, they were unable to resist when terrifying extra-galactic aliens discovered their existence. The terrified Reticulites removed all traces of their technology from the universe and retreated home, losing countless trillions of souls amid the onslaught of the aliens. Using their phenomenal technology they developed a planetary shield, powerful enough to repel the weapons of the aliens until they simply gave up and returned to their own galaxy. The Reticulites were terrified, though. They never left their own planet again.
So they dropped from universal memory after a few million years. And so it was, two billion years ago, that when their star grew nearly seven times in size into a red giant, obliterating their civilisation and killing their once beautiful planet, that nobody even knew they had existed in the first place.
These days, Epsilon Reticuli is a dead system. Two planets reside in orbit around the dying star, with the rest now engulfed by it. A huge, red gas giant sits at the edge of the solar system. One planet, a dead rock, looks as though it could once have supported life, eons ago, but there is nothing left now. The thin oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere is still there (barely), but the surface temperature would kill any living being. Any buildings have long-since been buried or collapsed, and the oceans have dried up completely.
Or at least, it seems to be dead. The Reticulites were highly intelligent people, with no desire to be wiped out. By the same token, they feared space due to the aliens that forced them to remain confined to their home world. Instead, they dug out vast underground habitats capable of supporting billions of their people. Mazes of tunnels and vast caverns filled with plants were constructed beneath surface. The caverns are too far underground for the dying star to warm, however the core of the planet itself is close enough to heat them sufficiently. Underground springs, and now even rivers and lakes, provide a water eco-system, whilst the distant roof of the caverns are fitted with bright lights on a day/light cycle, illuminating the caverns with a light which allows plants to grow.
The impressive planetary shield which once defended them from the alien terrors is now underground, protecting the people from sensors, weapons, cave-ins, radiation; everything. Air is provided for by oxygen-nitrogen generators, capable of sustaining healthy life indefinitely. All of this is powered by vast geo-thermal power systems, which are now lost to the people who live there. Reticulan technology is artificially intelligent, and uses nanites for self-maintenance, meaning that their technology can survive forever, providing it has power. Only a single room features any sort of controls in the entire habitat, and this room is mostly for monitoring the dying star. Indeed, a massive screen constantly displays a current image of the gigantic star.
Unfortunately for their civilisation, they were forced to leave their technology behind when the sun suddenly began heating up at an unprecedented rate. Only a few thousand even made it to the underground habitats before the sun became lethal. Without their technology and missing most of their supplies, these Reticulites found survival difficult and primitive, trying to get plants to grow in this underground environment. Worse still, they discovered untold numbers of predators had taken up residence in isolated areas of the habitat, and now used Reticulites for food.
Reticulites of today are a far cry from the hyper-intelligent, technologically advanced Reticulites of a billion years ago. With only a few million of them living in small communities in a habitat designed for billions, the Reticulites are a backward, religious people, fending off the huge predators with mere swords and spears.
They believe the star they have seen on the view screen to be their god, Reticuli, and worship him not as a forgiving, benign creature, but as a vengeful, spiteful and terrifying god, wielding his phenomenal, fiery power as a weapon for his enjoyment rather than a tool for their benefit. As if it doesn’t end there, a generational memory of a terrifying species residing in the heavens has given rise to their belief in the anti-Reticuli, horrific demon creatures who will one day drill through their rock-sky and destroy them all and their god. This does fit in with their difficult, dismal lifestyle somewhat. It serves to make them a largely miserable and cynical people, who would probably react very badly to any alien incursion into their underground habitat.
Biology
Reticulites are identical to humans in most ways, even appearance. It is possible that their species are related to humans in some way – perhaps a single colony ship was not destroyed by the unknown aliens, and ultimately placed life on Earth. Whatever the reason, they are what they are.
Unlike humans, Reticulites once learned to unlock the secrets of their brains. Once upon a time, they were all capable of telekinesis, telepathy and outstanding intellect. If an ancient Reticulite were to take a modern IQ test, they would have been off the chart.
The ancient Reticulites combined their technology with their medical methods to have an average life expectancy of 500 years, give or take several decades. And very few Reticulites began to show any signs of old age whatsoever before the age of 400/450. This is the point where their bodies simply cannot be helped by technology or medicine any more, and begin to die. Before this age, though, Reticulite technology really could keep their bodies in perfect condition. They stopped maturing at the age of 21-25, on average. Without technology, this is when their bodies would start to degrade. Technology and medicine helped them retain this peak of physical and psychological fitness, however. As a result, it could be hard to tell how old any Reticulites but the oldest and youngest were; but they were prepared to live with that.
Ancient Reticulites also used to eat healthily. One might expect such a technologically advanced race to eat wholly artificial foods, but the Reticulites never ate anything artificial at all. They were vegetarians, and only ate naturally grown vegetables, usually shipped in from agricultural planets. Combined with a variety of fruit drinks and water, they received all the nutrients their bodies needed, with few negative side effects. In addition to this, they exercised regularly. Obesity and general unfitness was none-existent.
Modern Reticulites are probably slightly less intelligent than modern humans, however. Some of them still possess telepathic or telekinetic abilities, though. They are regarded as warriors of Reticuli, and are well-respected and even feared. Whereas ancient Reticulites used their telekinetic abilities in their peaceful work, modern Reticulites used their own abilities as weapons, primarily when fighting off the formidable predators that prey on their people. Some use their abilities to gain a position of power, usually through inspiring fear, or inflicting mental or physical pain upon their adversaries.
For the most part, they are physically fit, unless diseased in which case they have a short time to live indeed. The predators they have to fight are mostly massive creatures, like those out of fantasy stories on Earth. Some of them are semi-intelligent, lumbering humanoids armed with clubs or axes, and have lived underground before the Reticulites even lost their intergalactic commonwealth.
Culture
Pre-Dark Age Reticulites had an extensive and beautiful culture. Arts were respected just as highly as the sciences. Reticulite cities were surprisingly old-fashioned, given their technological capabilities and population. Mostly attractive stone buildings with marble highlights, the buildings were often designed with aesthetics in mind just as much as practicality. Gardens were highly valued, and cities incorporated these as often as possible. As a result, Reticulite cities were beautiful places. Unusually for a city, they were not cramped or 'concrete' thanks to their gardens, and the buildings were all works of art in themselves.
Although technology was integral to their lives, Reticulites did not use it very much in their recreational activities. They were surprisingly promiscuous for a civilised race, although not in the same way as the sordid one-night-stands humans tend to have. Love making was an art in itself, and often involved more than two Reticulites. As mentioned, rather than being a sordid affair, it was deeply moving to them all. Rather than being about selfish pleasure, they revelled in making others feel good, and genuinely cared deeply for all their partners. Technology allowed them to do so without fear of unwanted reproduction, and medicine had all but eradicated most known diseases. Often the act of making love incorporated a great deal of telepathic interaction as well as physical, which made the experience substantially more pleasurable and intimate. Sometimes, it could even be a public display. Equally unusual was the fact that there were no public nudity laws.
When not enjoying each other's 'company', the Reticulites were extremely engrossed in the arts -- music, painting and the like. The musical works of the Reticulites would all be firmly under the 'classical' genre if compared to that of Earth's arts, though the unique varieties of instruments, and sometimes even vocals, used gave it a highly distinctive effect. Paintings, drawings and holo-constructs typically included landscape paintings, abstract, 'emotional' paintings, telepathically influenced works, or images of other individuals that the artist held dear. Architects were also sometimes regarded as artists.
Names are asexual. Names given to a male may also be used by a female without confusion, and vice-versa. Reticulites were not naturally inclined to be homosexual, but if they were there would be no restrictions placed upon them. There was no inequality between the sexes, either.
Reticulites had developed highly sophisticated artificially intelligent units too. These units were considered sentient, and were given equal rights in Reticuli society as soon as this sentience was recognised. AIs were given a name upon their construction, and generally took on a gender, depending on how they 'felt'.
Sometimes, AI Reticulites were even wholly entrusted with jobs that few other sentient species may be comfortable with -- for example, Afanso was a sentient AI who was the only person responsible for looking after the Reticuli underground habitat. Sentients on ships were 'asked' to perform tasks, rather than 'ordered'. Rather than giving the ship a name, the ship's name would be the same as the AI's name, as it was considered his/her body. Although generally loyal and agreeable, AIs could refuse to carry out a request if he/she thought it was inappropriate, unsafe, or could be executed in a better way. AIs were even given the right to vote, although the inherent nature of AIs meant that they were physically incapable of becoming political representatives -- although, if there were androids in Reticuli society, they would be permitted to stand.
The generations of Reticulites that followed after Epsilon Reticuli became a red giant, however, are polar opposites of this enlightened civilisation.
Their religion is the dominating force of their culture. The God Reticuli, the sun, is an all-powerful being who inflicts pain upon anyone he chooses, for his own amusement. He is the source of the power for all the lighting – his fiery glow being associated with light, of course.
It is said that the Reticuli keeps them alive only for his own enjoyment. If he were to become bored with their toiling, destroying them would be a simple matter of him shutting down the lighting permanently. Sometimes, sections of the habitat will shut down, and remain dark until nanites can repair the relevant damage and makes everyone fear an apocalypse.
The ‘educated elite’ of the Reticulites sometimes question whether the vast, burning ball of fire displayed in the ancient ‘Room of Magics’ is indeed their god. Some wonder why a god would need to have cables running to all of the lights. Camps nearer the centre of the habitat can sometimes here the throbbing hum of the power generators, and sometimes people from these camps seek to discover the source of this noise. Most of these people are usually sent into the ‘Dead Lands’. These are areas of the habitat which were calved out by Ancient Reticulites, but were never fitted with lighting. Such areas comprise of roughly 30% of the entire habitat. The air is thin and the predators numerous, and the pitch-black makes it difficult for anyone to defend against them. Being sent to the Dead Lands is essentially a death sentence, although sometimes bands of adventurers will sometimes venture some way into them.
Other than this, the culture of the Reticulites is comparative to the culture of Dark Age Europe, with a Mongol twist. Although there are some large towns or cities, some of the smaller settlements move frequently to try to find more prosperous lands. Static settlements are usually located near anciently designated ‘crop zones’, which probably suggests why they never decided to move away. Each town, city or nomadic settlement is an independent entity, and alliances and wars are known to occur, although not frequently. Trade also exists, though no monetary system.
Recently, however, a group of eight ancient Reticulites have been reawakened from hiding in a nearby gas giant, and have made it their personal duties to try and resurrect the civilisation they loved. They have met varying degrees of success -- roughly 40-60% of the Reticulite population are well on their way to becoming much like the Reticulites of old, and the new generations that follow will up this number to 100%.
Technology
Reticulites no longer have any technological capabilities. They either construct small, rocky huts to live in, or occupy any ancient rock buildings which have not collapsed already.
Fighting predators – and each other – with primitive swords, and wearing small amounts of clothing made from the hides of their livestock (cow-like animals that also found their way down/were taken down before the sun became lethal), they are a primitive people with no signs of improving. Although the habitat itself is home to some technologies so advanced that they may impress current space-faring races of today, despite being billions of years old. However, most of them are buried under the rock. The only technology they can actually see are the lights of the cavern roof (which are far too high up for anyone to reach at any rate), and the control centre, both of which they have explained with religion rather than science.
They have some equally primitive agricultural equipment, but for the most part they eat meat.
The phenomenal technology of the ancient Reticulites is largely lost. One item that could be accessible to the outside world is a small transmitter, left behind on the surface of their home world before they either disappeared underground or died. It was hoped that one day a peace-loving alien civilisation such as themselves would come to their aid, so the transmitter was set up to forever broadcast a general distress signal in every language known to them at the time. Although partially buried under the crumbling rubble of their cities, the nanites faithfully keep the system operational. Once they realised the above-ground generators went offline, they intelligently patched the system into the grid of the underground habitat before their emergency batteries ran out.
- Galactic Explorers
The driving force behind the Reticulites has always been exploring space, even before they were capable of doing so. When their technology evolved to the point where they had everything they needed to explore the universe, the Reticulites built vast fleets of vessels, all of the same 'Galactic Explorer' class. These vessels were huge, functioning as independent cities to allow for extended operations in the farthest reaches of the universe.
Length: 60km
Power: 1,000 quantum batteries
Propulsion: Transdimensional FTL system; phased ion anti-exhaust sublight 'drag' system
Recommended Crew: 60,000
Maximum Personnel: 560,000
Minimum Crew (Required for absolute minimum functionality): 20 (+1 AI)
Weapons System: N/A
Shield System: Multi-phasic quantum barrier system, unknown power levels
Repair System: Nanite transfer tubes integrated into all ship systems and hull
Sensor System: Transdimensional multi-phasic detection array, 10,000 lightyear detection radius
Computer System: Positronic Computer Network, sentient artificial intelligence
In their prime, the Reticulites build tens of thousands of Galactic Explorers and deployed them all across the galaxy. Their transdimensional drives allowed for reasonable travel time between and within galaxies without massive risk to the crews, and their transdimensional communications systems permitted contact with the other galaxies. Their impressive sensor systems, meanwhile, allowed a rough scan of a large chunk of a galaxy to be taken in a small amount of time -- although, the sensor arrays of Galactic Explorers only have an effective range of 100 lightyears. Beyond that, the sensors detect only astronomical phenomenon such as stars, planets and blackholes.
Although they lacked weapons of any kind, Galactic Explorers were far from easy pickings. Their shield rating would be off the scale of many races, designed to deal with any weapon they could think of. Mostly, though, these shields were used to counter natural effects. When observing supernovae, dangerous nebulae, black holes, stars turning giant or other phenomenon, their shields were useful. The shields also protected the crew from the highly radioactive nature of interdimensional jumping.
Galactic Explorers, 2 billion years ago, were the most recognisable ships in the known universe. All who saw them, knew who they were and that they were friendly. Their massive, sweeping hull was as common a sight as any other. As well as exploration missions, Galactic Explorers served many other purposes, from medical missions to important deliveries. Galactic Explorers would carry massive amounts of medicine to any world in need of help, whether members of the Universal Commonwealth or not. They would help peace-loving primitives develop their technology to a point where their quality of life was high. They would perform any tasks of worth to the people they affected.
Whereas most modern civilisations would select captains for their ships based on tactical capabilities and strategic knowledge, the Reticulites were more interested in a sheer thirst for adventure, compassion, and scientific knowledge. Though there was a chain of command for emergencies, mostly, all crewmembers considered themselves equal and decided on their daily duties by vote, once a month.
When the unknown aliens came, though, they effectively destroyed the entire fleet of Galactic Explorers and the universe entered a new Dark Age. Only one Galactic Explorer is known presently to exist; it was hidden in the gas giant Reticuli 5, and suffered extensive damage and power drain. It emerged 2 billion years after it hid there from the gigantic alien ships which dwarfed it. Unfortunately, only one of its quantum batteries still retained a charge, and that was quickly dwindling.
The current Galactic Explorer is numbered '87,821' and the AI which inhabits it is named 'Caaldrin'.