The scale of a Story of Our Universe
Hey its been awhile. I haven't worked on any major art pieces for july. The major projects I do have planned are nowhere near finished. Soooooooo just so I can post something this month I made this loose sketch of a mural all the way back in march. Done for a server I'm in with close friends.
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Reminder that the universe is HUGE, like incomprehensibly huge. And one of my "side" projects A Story of Our Universe is supposed to span the entirety of it as it's setting. For any of my sophonts (Aside form us and the Thau'Lix) to be considered a major player in this world. They wouldn't just be a star-system spanning civilization, they wouldn't even be a civilization spanning entire galaxies, both of those are still small compared to the rest of the universe.
For a sophont to be a "Major player" in this setting they would have to span entire Galactic Filaments. They're by and large single biggest natural formations in the known universe. Intergalactic highways that are hundreds of millions of light years long. Our milky way galaxy is 80'000 light years wide, A mere 0.0307% of the total size of one of the big filaments. The distance between our sun and Proxima Centauri is 4-5 light years apart. Galactic Filaments are to our galaxy what a galaxy is to all the stars inside of it.
The sheer sizes of these empires mean that save for a few exceptions, every one of these empires are vast multi-species societies. For the sake of brevity and my own sanity. Each of these pan-galactic territories are represented all by their founder species in their baseline morphs. And the sheer time it'd require to stretch across said galactic filaments would require these "major players" to live for geologic epochs. If their rate of expansion is anything similar to the hypothesized time it'd take for Von Nueman probes to propagate through a whole galaxy.
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The various civilizations depicted here all existed during the new dawn era of the setting, the present day. Stretching from some 1-2 billion years ago to some few million years into the future. And are all listed off clockwise in rapid-fire summaries.
In green we have the Nak-Tik'ala: Molluskoid tripods from a balmy swamp planet nestled right in the middle of an asteroid field. And the Sy'Ryaty: Flying Reptilian Nectarivores from an equally tropical planet. They are both some of the oldest new-dawn civilizations, having already stretched across several galactic filaments by the present day. They are both proficient Megastructural architects. The Nak-Tik'ala honed their skill through enveloping their cradle in a planetary Anti-Asteroid shield. They taught the Sy'Ryaty everything they knew like an intergalactic apprentice, and the Student had become the master. The Sy'Ryaty sailed across galactic filaments in pillar world-ships. Building an intergalactic empire to drink Nectar champagne with alien friends and sing over subspace radio chatter across galaxies.
In red are the Topeki: Mountain dwelling Herbivores clad in exoskeleton from the alpine heights of a tidally locked planet. They are one of the few intergalactic Sophonts that manipulate their environment exclusively with their jaws. But somehow are some of the most dexterous species of the new-dawn. They are staunch xenophobes. Whose governments isolate themselves from the indigenous civilizations they encounter across their galactic filament, preferring to leave them alone. Even if they miss out on so many life experiences. Even if their own people flee to said native civilizations and nearest filamentous powers to start a new more eventful life.
In an icy grey are the Lortexi: Radially symmetrical browsing herbivores from a planet locked in permenant ice age. They are almost as old as the Nak-Tik'ala and Si'Ryaty and stand as political rivals. Their species live under the rule of technocrats. Scientists, politicians, and the progeny of tech giants who see ethics and transparency as mere suggestion. Every colony across their civilization are treated as isolated control groups. Their own people have no clue to the kinds of experiments their own government has done on them.
Directly south in Orange and Green are humanity and the Thau'lix. Not much to say about these 2 that I've already said in another post I linked here.
In a sandy beige are the Ronzuth: Desert dwelling flyers from an old planet running on borrowed time. The Ronzuth arguably have the longest winding evolutionary history of any sophont. Across the 4 billion years of complex multicellular evolution, they trace their oldest ancestry not in ancient cells. But the last descendants of one of the Factorem's first client species from over 7 billion years ago. They fled to this planet to bunker down and were never seen again. Despite how much time has passed they are ideologically galvanized from their past. They will stand and fight whatever proves their greatest fears. Even if it means risking themselves for the survival of the other Filamentous powers.
In a rustic orange are the Juuu-Kko: Bludgeoning Pursuit Predators from a Savannah swept moon. They pursue their prey less like any traditional predators on earth and more akin to a biological battering ram. Killing their target from the sheer collision. The Juuu-Kkos were carefully handheld their entire history by an orbital supercomputer, built 4 billion years ago by one of the first client species of the Bellators. It was built to conceal the entire moon as if it were never there, and wait for the coast to clear. The Juuu-Kkos now explore the cosmic web struggling to forge their own lives away from their watchful artificial godparent.
In a pearlescent gray are the Amvuelta: Long serpentine aquatic Liquivores from a shallow ocean world, locked in a binary orbit with a terraformed twin. They are masters of gene engineering and independently developed their own form of biotech from the wild biomachinery left behind by the factorem. In terms of tone they are the closest thing this setting has to that one image of dolphins jumping under rainbows.
In a bright almost toxic green are the Okt'kt'zar: small furry Caste-based Eusocial burrowers from a now polluted world. They communicate entirely through some of the most complicated pheromone structures found in any new-dawn sophont. They are expansionist warmongers born out of a deep mistrust. The civilizations the Okt’kt’zar made first contact with couldn’t get past the pheromone language barrier and feared their intentions were for the worst. Scarred by their first foray into the stars, the Okt’kt’zar hive states too assumed the worst about the nature of non-pheremonal sophonts. They will fight to survive, Even if it means never getting to know their monsters.
In a golden yellow are the Arrtas: Terrestrial Apex Predators that exclusively hunt fossorial prey. they speak with trilling Rs and booming howls from resonating face crests. The current big empire in Arrta history has a diaspora of cultures visually reminiscent of the united states during the roaring 20s. Thousands of galaxies boom in romantic calls to one another like a ballroom dance. Ships built to trek the express lane of a pocket universe glitter in geometric patterns akin to Art Decor.
In a deep magenta are the "Vo-Rai": A sophont I'm not sure anymore will look or be named the way they are. I might make them way weirder, like make them look more like Diatoms than tiny worms. But they will hail from a cold dark and dry world where life may or may not be based on carbon. Life, history, war, and the expansion across galactic filaments was as slowly paced as their own low-energy metabolism. Proceeded methodically like 1 big game of chess.
In a rusting blue are the Q'pri'Zii: 5 Limbed Exoskeletal Scavengers from a truly ancient world. They are far more sexually dimorphic but done the other way. Females are on average twice as large, strong, and territorial than males who are on average far smaller and daintier, but more colorful. Their homeworld was once a Garden world Ecumenopolis, carefully cultivated by the Bellators themselves. The 4+ billion year old ruins shimmer with faint embers of energy, echoing laments of lost paradise and forgone progeny. The Q'pri'Zii have fought a long history of dismantling their galactic Matriarchy much like the problems we ourselves face with global patriarchy.
And in an ocean blue is a civilization referred to the rest as the "Swords of the Factorem": They are not one civilization but a whole unitary federation composed of dozens of "major player" Gestalt Sophonts. And by “gestalt” it's less so a typical hive mind one would expect. But more like if Mycelial network and Pando Forests themselves were sapient beings. Their current leading species, the living “countries” that are the Swords themselves, evolved from the descendants of ancient Factorem Biotechnology gone feral. Much like our disregard for the life around us which cannot walk or talk or emote. It’s common thinking amongst the Swords that every sophont mentioned prior aren’t actually sophont. Their cities don’t speak like them. And everyone knows “remote drones” don’t have the nervous tissue to be sapient like them. It’s just a bunch of intergalactic background scenery in a bunch of unclaimed territory.
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I tried writing quick summaries of each sophont here and ended up making the biggest loredrop of this setting to date lol. This is also technically my first time actively trying to write with Subtext in mind! Which was meant to be a little bit of practice. Next up I'll have to work on a few new entries for Jennywolf's trail of cryptids. A few OC reference sheets to collab with some mutuals on their projects and whatnot and hang on wait a minute A FAN COMIC???
