|
WARNING THIS ARTICLE MAY BE OUTDATED This page is part of Amaranth Legacy Try Lyncisian Sphere on amaranth-legacy.wiki for an up-to-date version. |
|
(WIP)
Many, if not most spacefaring species represent a single, united force. They worked together with their peers to achieve spaceflight, after all, so why would you suddenly turn on them? Well, possible reasons could be found if one looked at perhaps the most volatile region in all of Aylathiya - the Lyncisian Sphere. A friend of mine once described it as a [CENSORED BY AUTHOR], and now that I have visited it myself, I cannot say I blame him for his assessment.
This region, often shortened to the Sphere, is a large region in central Aylathiya encompassing around 1.5 billion star systems. As the name suggests, its primary inhabitants are the Lyncisians, who originally hail from the moon Ralteyo. This is almost the only thing they have in common, as one would be hard-pressed to find a more divided region and people in the entire galaxy. The Lyncisians have split into thousands of states and countless cultures. Far from working together to achieve a common goal, these Lyncisian States, as they are known to outsiders, spend their time fighting one another for dominance over scraps of space, in an ever-perpetuating cycle of destruction and violence. Its political landscape is always in flux, and no one would blame a casual observer for losing track of the changes taking place.
As mentioned above, the Lyncisians have only one thing in common: Their physical appearance. For almost all of their spacefaring history, they have been divided into countless of states, both large and small, and as a result have splintered into several culture groups that vary greatly in customs, practices, religion and even language. This status quo is widely accepted: during my voyage to write this account, I have not met a single Lyncisian who was even remotely interested in the idea of mending their species‘ divisions. Even the term „Lyncisian“, commonly used by outsiders to describe their species, is rejected by most or even considered an insult. Their split has transformed this region of space into a culturally diverse and ever-shifting landscape. No two cultural spheres are alike, and things that are accepted in one are considered taboo or even sacrilegious in another.
Multiple political systems exist within the Sphere, ranging from military dictatorships, over republics and aristocracies, to theocracies. The vast majority of Lyncisian states are ruled by autocrats, however, many of which are known to severely mistreat non-Lyncisians. Indeed, minority rights are only found in a few, select areas of the Sphere, and I can confirm through personal experience that it is a largely hostile place for outsiders. The so-called „minority species“ are frequently turned against one another by the states in attempts to gain advantages over their respective rivals. In contrast, and irrespective of political maneuvers, almost all Lyncisians have copied and adopted other species’ cultural aspects, giving them a reputation as a cosmopolitan and open, if not at times condescending, people.
History[]
Origins[]
Most compemporary writings detailing the Lyncisian’s early space age have been lost, and only few things are known about this time period for certain. What is certain is that the Lyncisians originally hail from the moon Ralteyo in the Lyncisian system. I have found evidence in Cemyak accounts that suggest a close relationship between them and the Lyncisians, who are known to the Cemyak as Laniterians, but the lack of contemporary Lyncisian sources makes this hard to verify. According to the Cemyak, they visited Ralteyo long before the Lyncisians achieved space travel and held a vested interest in the progress the Lyncisians made. Though it is unclear to what extend the Cemyak assisted the Lyncisians, they appear to have been vital to many early technological advancements the Lyncisians made - including their first FTL technologies. At one point, some 15.000 years ago, they achieved spaceflight and quickly started to spread across several colonies within one hundred light years of their home system. Most, if not all of the Lyncisian colonies at the time, appear to have been largely independent from one another: the Cemyak sources offer some evidence towards the existence of a unified Lyncisian state, but archeological findings suggest a great deal of autonomy for the colonies.
What few Lyncisian sources of the time survive already foreshadowed the future divisions: they talk about considerable cultural differences between the colonies. Basileo for example, one of the closest colonies to Ralteyo that is still inhabited today, was heavily urbanized and later sources claim that they by and large turned their back on the Lyncisian religion very early on. In contrast, one of the outermost colonies, Ceopya, was largely decentralized and its inhabitants mostly lived nomadic lives, traveling through the vast, scorching deserts this world is known for even today. Considerably more culturally conservative, the Ceopyans remained a highly religious people and seemed to have maintained a strong warrior culture that would come in handy in the future.
A fragile balance of power appears to have been maintained for roughly 200 years, during which the Lyncisians prospered and enjoyed widespread technological and cultural achievements - including, but not limited to, the lengthening of their lifespan to today’s average of 500 years. First contacts with other spacefaring civilizations was established, which included the establishment of official relations with the now defunct Democratic Combine of Cemyak and the first interactions with the Sarmite Commune, who would greatly influence Lyncisian politics later on. The writings of the Sarmite in particular proved to be valuable in assessing what happened next.
For reasons yet unknown, a large number of Lyncisians left the established systems for new worlds. Today known as the First Wave of Lyncisian Migration, the Lyncisians spread much farther than they originally had, colonizing millions of systems all across the local galaxy. The cataclysm for this was most likely a civil war, specifically a free-for-all between the colonies themselves and Ralteyo - all archeological evidence of this time period points towards a large-scale conflict as the cause. If true, the migrants were a refugee wave fleeing from the conflict, one that permanently divided the Lyncisians into several different cultures, countless of states and laid the foundation for one of the most volatile regions of Via Aylathia.