24.15.2135, from the Chancellors’ introduction at the reformation council, reaffirming the mandate of the United Planets of Carpadan (UPC): One hundred years ago, on this day, the skies were opened above our world Carpadan. For the first time in centuries, our fathers saw the stars of old, saw the constellations of our myths and remembered them. They saw the cosmos of the ancient days, when we ruled worlds beyond our own, and our forefathers held the might of stars in the pal

A progenitor realm, the star frontier of Gondwana was settled early by humankind but would not be brought into the Celestial Light of the twin civilizations until mere thirteen thousand years ago. The sector harbors deep histories predating the Terran Empire and Mechanist Union, giving rise to unique worlds and cultures still shaping the interstellar stage. Gondwana is a frontier of myth and wonders, abundant with many discoveries yet beyond reach and knowledge long forgotten

Star Systems in Gondwana are ordered by their level of development, population, and interstellar importance. On imperial and unionist charts, these orders are designated descriptively. Equivalent administrative titles do exist in most factions, but do not necessarily apply to those outside the Twin Civilization. First Order of Systems To the First Order are counted systems shaping the fortunes of many hundred worlds beyond. Their unsurpassed significance is earned with age,

The basis of human technomancy are the feral nanite progeny of von-Neumann machines. Predating even the earliest human expansion, self-replicating probes from Terra spread throughout Known Space. Countless instances of mechanical evolution produced all manner of robotic wonders, but none so often as the feral swarms with near unlimited potential. Over time, machine cities and automaton worlds grew rare, but the microscopic mechanisms remain ever-present. Wether in shimmering

The nature of space in Gondwana is commonly described in terms of planetside geography: a starscape of mountains, plains and rivers shaped by the gravity of celestial objects and phenomena. Unlike landscapes planetside, stellar geography extends in three dimensions, its features always relative to the gravitically dominant body. Capturing the starscape in all its intricacy is the ceaseless work of stellar cartographers and astronomers, filling countless libraries. Cosmic dus

Seeded by progenitors more than a hundred millennia ago, life of terran origin permeates known space. Along ancient leylines of the first expansion, verdant planetary biopsheres abound, as exotic and varied as the worlds they were planted on. Experimental efforts of splintered human strands elevated some into space, growing asteroid gardens and sun-drinking swarms. Most voidborne life is far younger, however, dating back twenty thousand years to the Witchspace War. Millennia

Gravitic phenomena are ever in motion and not always stable. From sudden quakes to bleeding rifts, all manner of eruptions of energy and exotic particles occur on the astronomical scale. Such changes to the gravitic starscape are highly disruptive and only partially predictable. Certain hotspots and recurring patterns are known dangers and follow cycles of seasons, opening and closing trading lanes in spans from days to years. But other dangers arrive with no forewarning. Und

Situated high upon the Serpens Rift, the Star Frontier of Gondwana lies just beyond the Inner Spheres, approaching the upper galactic periphery. A deep abyss separates it from the thriving stellar nurseries and main outward thrust of humankind's Twin Civilizations. Through much of history, the abyss was scarcely braved at all, and to this day interstellar caravans from the Core are preciously few. Nevertheless, the star frontier has grown rich wonders built by progenitor civi

Open Plains Space is never truly barren, especially where humans have dwelt for nigh one thousand centuries. Rogue worlds and les ser stars, wisps of ice and matter have long been by the union seeded or turned into imperial islands of civilization. In comparison to denser regions, the civilized presence on the open plains is minuscule. Even so, there remain crucial if fragile bridges between the higher worlds. Waystations and lighthouses mark navigable paths, as the apparent

For a hundred thousand years the children of Terra have made the stars their own. Scattered across innumerable worlds, their cultures and peoples have grown plentiful, distant and even alien to one another. ​ In the 101st Millennium, the Known Galaxy is ruled by two hyper-civilizations, each comprised of untold millions of lesser nations and factions: The Terran Empire, and the Mechanist Union. ​ They persist, whilst every society outside of them appears to inevitably fractur

For a hundred thousand years mankind has held the stars, claimed and shaped their worlds, and imbued them with technomancy. Vast and ancient, the galactic sphere of von-Neumann machinery, arcane origin of the Noosphere Unity, the universal principle of civilization, making manifest the Light, key to an orderly universe. In the unity's light there stands the Mechanist Union, arbiters of technology, artificers of nanomachines, conjurers of electric spirits. Technomantic basti

The second hypercivilization, emergent form the arcane Noosphere Unity, made manifest by the Celestial Sibyl. The Union recognizes the Celestial as the Manifest Avatar of its machine god, whose will becomes apparent in every aspect of technology. Its mandate is to oversee High Technology by ways of Noosphere Technomancy. It is a galaxy-spanning, decentralized Hyper-Meritocracy organized in Emergent Strata of competing clades and orders of pre-determined scope and hierarchies.

The first hypercivilization, founded by the Celestial Queen and galactic patron of all humankind. The Terran Empire is ruled by the Celestial Queen, ultimate human ascendant and embodiment of Cosmos, the orderly universe. She oversees the three aspects of the Empire, into which its vast feudal tapestry is structured: The Imperial State, The Celestial Illumina, and the Palatinates. At its foundations, the Terran Empire is maintained by ways of Psionic Providence. The Celestial

The highest order of organized society in the Known Galaxy, comprised of millions of constituent cultures and polities. No known hyper-civilization can persist without a guiding force of Cosmos, a force of order preventing it from fracturing and devolving. Two human hypercivilizations rule over much of the Known Galaxy: The Terran Empire and the Mechanist Union. Hypercivilizations of other sapients do exist, though their status as such is highly disputed and contact often mi