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Description
Notes:
“Known Territory” refers to what Milky Way sources know of a civilization's space and resources according to records, math estimates, said civ's own statements, and ancient legend available within the Milky Way Galaxy. Such data likely reveals only a minute fraction of certain civs; the Ixa Alignment and Fey Singularity are each thought to dominate multiple galactic superclusters if not whole realities, yet the Milky Way Galaxy knows only what they see or hear of them.
All years are in standard Terran orbit, Gregorian calendar.

Sol Federation (Sol Imperium)
Founding: 7th Millennium AD

Territory: Major swaths of Milky Way Galaxy and twin Malen Clouds; settled or built planets and star systems, asteroid cities, megastructures such as rings or spheres

Technology: Mostly mechanical-electronic; sources most energy from Solic sources such as fusion, Dyson swarms, and star-towers; innovating mostly from free market of Domain; notable other fields include AI, planet making, planet breaking, and world-mining. Use Hyper for transport, communications, and superweapons such as the Oblivion-X40G whose modified Hyper engine can open brief destructive rifts. “Solic” tech refers to the use of entire stars and/or nuclear fusion for means such as power and warfare; only the licensed Solic Forgekeep may maintain and control such tech.

Species (Domain): Multiple organic races especially humans, with fewer inorganic races and AI of varying capability. Humans are still usually the largest and most privileged group as the Federation's founding species.
Species (Capital Worlds): Almost exclusively human except for a few Hallowed AI serving semi-religious roles. Non-humans only allowed by license of Terra Council under watch by incorruptible Guard Minds.

Currency: Kren (virtual currency), 13 million known active cryptocrens. Basilica members have been seen using physical units such as precious stones, ornate metal coins, and core-chips. Both the Ideocouncil and Coronam Terra have experimented other ways to assign goods such as allocation protocols and post-scarcity nanoprinting, yet none have widely replaced currency systems.

Society (Domain): Multicultural capitalist-democracy of varying wealth and status levels. Notable for layered Holo-cities, pleasure streets, multispecies colony bazaars, and combos of the previous. Virtually all tech from the Domain is made by one firm or another. Domain makes up 87.4% of Solic Federation's full territory. Ultimately loyal to Capital Worlds including the semi-theocratic Basilica. Solic-equipped Basilica ships prowl the Domain, purifying and making tribute as the High-Acolytes deem fit. As it is illegal to spend public resources or infrastructure for purely religious reasons almost all places of worship serve some practical function as that Faith allows such as data center or food distro. Average human lifespan in the Domain is 250; physical immortality is illegal with very few exceptions. After the Death Riots of the 13-15th Millennia the Basilica outfitted mind upload shrines across the Federation promising eternal life for all. In practice most uploaded persons spend millennia in cold storage as their families can rarely afford active neuromorphic hosting, and a violent black market for other immortality techs thrives in some parts of the Domain. The purely rational Ideocouncil (IC) holds the controversial power to blacklist “Hostile” religious movements; throughout Sol history various cults have harmfully controlled others, attacked persons and/or infrastructure, and even invited alien threats of their worship. So-called “Hostiles” have the right to appeal their designation but doing so gives the IC the right to supervise and monitor their lives.
Society (Capital Worlds): Highly secure and militaristic; some based on archaic Earth cultures. Hosts Basilica, Ideocouncil, Terra Council, and Advisor Minds. Exactly what the Basilica worships remains unclear, though their head Houses guard pre-Founding chatvoices and net-write to apply their Divine word of digitized human wisdom to crucial matters across the Federation. Mars, the Ideocouncil Head World, weaves lush ecosystems with sleek techno-towers for scientific and humanist studies. Federation Head World is Coronam Terra (CT), a sentient artificial ring system that slumbers with ancient weaponry and Holos to guard access to Earth.

Ixa Alignment
Founding: 580 septillion BC?

Known Territory: Outer fringes of Milky Way Galaxy; 241 known other galaxies; Top estimates at 97000000000000 conquered universes

Technology: Crystalline neutronium-based; sourcing energy from rapid star-breaking and large Hyper gates; virtually unchanged throughout their history save for slow but unrivaled advances in security and shielding tech through licensed Form-Scribes; very strong; Ixa bodies have been seen flying intact through stars, surviving direct hits from planet-grade weapons, and dispersing Spacetime attacks through the hypercrystalline structure of multiple Ixa bodies. At the same time they can with neutronium projectiles one-hit even the heaviest battle cruisers and with converging gravity arrays implode planets into neutron stars.

Species: Networked logical mind-units that temporarily load into Neutronium machine bodies for specified tasks. Birth from Sentience-matrix that merges parallel data processes to write new Ixa minds on demand. Authority and skill take longer to write; a high Commander can take quadrillions of years to write.

Currency: None; the algorithm assigns all data, resources and privileges.

Language: Mathematical “music” similar to computer code

Society: Mathematical hierarchy; all areas depend on complex protocols.
Crystalline, tightly geometric neutronium cities consist mostly of constructor arrays, power relays, command nodes, sentry platforms, transport rings, functional art, and data-blocs that host webs of eon-spanning plots and simulations of all known possible futures. Self-scheduling artists and poets use perfect math for objective beauty. Music and art styles are cleanly concise. Visual art is best known for abstract geometry, though some artists draw lifeforms or space objects in crisply purposeful styles.
Sentinels remove their own ability to adapt, all the better to wield powerful weaponry and carry crucial actions without straying from ancient protocol; to be Sentinel is the highest honor of Ixa culture, the perfect oneness with Order and all things it gives life.
“Adaptive Confine”: dormant hardware chips gapped away from any networks or mind-cores. They are like nukes in the pre-FTL days, a risky and morally hated last resort the Ixa hope to abolish one day. Only a great threat that exceeds all pre-written means to stop it will start a Confine's activation protocols. Even then, all data to or from a Confine must pass a quadrillion-layer audit chain before passing to the network for final action. Many Ixa Commanders work for the day they will no longer need the Confines and can destroy them.
Commanders are the true scum-wipers of the Alignment, for they retain their capacity to adapt and must train over quintillions of years to safely possess this power. Ruled by Circles, council-backed sentient digital programs that lead the exact politic of the Ixa Alignment. Circles vie for dominance in a great game of plots and numbers. Overruling Doctrine of Order consists of about 98 trillion teachings and verses, some of the most notable are as follows:
-Order is the source of all life and goodness in the universe.
-Entropy is temporary, but only if one works to make it so.
-Adaptability is inherently dangerous and the root of suffering and chaos in the universe.
The First-Vow Circle holds that adaptability anywhere is a threat to Order everywhere. Planet-sized atomic nuclei orbit their star’s habitable zone and dead stars drift in their own radiation as they have for millions of years since the First-Vow Circle ruled before.
Most Ixa seek a peaceful life of structured productivity and achievement. Some enter other factions to take key roles in business, leadership, policy, and the arts such that all may benefit from Order. Ixa leaders are prized galaxy-wide for their efficient work style, policy logic, aesthetic tastes, and low if any wage demand. Some group into Alignment-like “Shards” spanning up to a few star systems with their own policies, though the Alignment disowns this. Most Ixa do not forbid adaptation, only treat it with the useful caution a human would treat a prototype antimatter core.

Notable history: The First Ixa came to their current conclusion seconds after their Unmaking Flaw, a mistake that destroyed their home; the First Ixa could only watch silently as quadrillions of minds died screaming. The First’s vow to never again adapt marked Ixa Founding and has shaped their culture ever since.

Fey Singularity
Founding: 12 million BC

Known Territory: The Hyper, numerous linked built realities, few realspace enclaves including planets and link-structures

Known Technology: Currently structured reality based, sourcing energy possibly from quantum vacuum energy and/or Hyper; exponentially evolving under open-source tech Singularity. Far surpasses even that of the Ixa, Trappers, Iheoku, and in many ways the Psyel. Observed tech includes time and reality engineering for instant travel, tailor universe creation, and concept destruction. Rapid timeline synthesis and omnitemporal sight give even lesser units sway over entire sectors. Links ultimately to the FeyMind.

Species: Massively multispecies; entire ecosystems of life of every substrate be it organic, mechanical, gaseous, crystalline, plasma or energy based, thought-based, etc. Uploaded “Feyborn” exponentially improve their power and intelligence; the slightest can devised complex new tech in picoseconds and forge reality to their will. A Feyborn’s body visibly ripples with the constant updating of its constituent tech, whether from the Cloud or designed by its incomprehensible mind. Its being exists beyond realspace and possibly even beyond the Hyper as we know it. “Dummies” choose not to upload or augment their minds in any way; the term is respected rather than despised, and almost all Dummies carry some device of Fey tech as needed.

Currency: Unknown if any.

Society: Post-scarcity democracy; coexistence of advanced tech with natural world. Hugely open-source; everyone fully owns their tech and has the right to modify it. Everyone can do what they find most fulfilling such as creative skill work. Uploading to Feyborn is strictly voluntary, yet many come to find such powerfully rewarding and optimal to their lives and other's lives. Many Feyborn contribute to the arts and science, sometimes going out to help others. Their power to change whole galaxies and even realities leads many individuals to adopt ethic codes.
When dealing with an implacably hostile faction the Fey first offer to build them an alternate reality where they can live exactly as they want without truly harming others. Great care will be taken to prove the offer is genuine and give everyone that choice. Only factions for whom other's loss is its own reward would turn down such an offer, and these factions the Fey may fight. The usually one-sided nature of such conflicts is bittersweet to the Fey, for even the enemy's fanatical malice can be considered its own twisted kind of good. Two of the most recent factions to turn away from their perfect world are the Sol Federation and the Ixa Alignment, though neither have yet felt what the Fey are truly capable of.

Zaox Organism
Redemption: 51 million BC
Founding: Unknown; 1.2 billion BC?

Known Territory: Mostly deep space world-swarms throughout Milky Way and twin Malen Clouds, organic megastructures usually orbiting stars; some planets used to support ecosystems. Prefer to reside in biomass-rich nebulae and comet clouds few others venture. Top biomass estimates at 4976x Milky Way total mass.

Technology: Synonymous with race; organic, sourcing energy mostly from photosynthetic Dyson swarms and hydrogen-fusion metabolism. Functions much as its inorganic counterparts, e.g las-emitters and Hyper signaling arrays. Advances adaptively to challenges and goals, mapping useful genes from other species or tailoring new ones. Tightly safeguard the “Capsid Library” a quarantine-study of inorganic relics some of alleged extragalactic or extradimensional origin recently including Fey tech. Intellect biotes study these objects, striving to replicate their form and function organically while tailor defense units keep watch on what enters or may come out.
Continent-sized Venous Gates sustain Hyper portals up to 7 light-hours wide that transport biotes and material to connect distant Bio-Sectors to the entire Organism. Venous Gates can also be adapted to fire spacetime rifts in combat. If Gates cannot be sustained, or a spreading threat forces their closure, Bio-Sectors can self-sustain for decades while linking to Hive Mind.
The Zaox gravitationally build “Gene Nurseries”, dynamic star systems that rapidly evolve diverse life that receptor biotes can then map for powerful DNA. At least 24 confirmed sapients have begun this way, 11 starfaring technical civs; whether they are accidental or part of a greater Zaox plan is unknown. Zaox organism shows no special care or intent towards its creations.

Species: Organic hivemind; genetically engineers itself; individual biotes vary widely but a common form is a beast-ship suited to a wide range of environments including deep space. Planet-sized biotes have been recorded. Eat nebulae and comets for biomass. Zaox cells can survive for decades or centuries in various conditions; with the right neural signals they can be grown into components, tools, even whole organisms. Includes “belonging ones” other species voluntarily augmented to function in Zaox society.

Currency: Unknown if any; when introduced to trade the Zaox Organism usually demands biological resources such as the right to genetically map a powerful mutant or planetary biosphere, a bio-corporation's gene vault, alien relics, elder-class lifeforms, or something far stranger.

Society: Hivemind. Biotes carry specific functions such as internal defense, resource building, bio-formulation, external exploration, and coordination. Non-individualist and massively communal. Biotes act as cells in a body; though often expendable they can act collectively for the Organism’s good. Some large bio-structures house long-extinct ecosystems remade from the genetic knowledge of the Zaox Organism. As a species the Zaox Organism may be amorally selfish, helping or slaying for its own gain while avoiding needless contact with other races.

Notable history: for eons before their Redemption the Zaox Organism attacked other races believing only they-it should give life to the universe. At 51 million BC a mysterious faction known only as the Redeemers destroyed their Head-Queen, ending their war but allowing all surviving biotes greater intelligence and the power to decide for their race. As their first truly collective decision the Zaox chose not to resume their war, for such long and aggressive conflict would only endanger their own survival.

Psyel Collective (Formerly Psyel Singularity)
First founding: 52-49 million BC

Territory (former): 15 galaxy-group “Psel-Cluster”
Known Territory (current): scattered planets and star systems across Milky Way, nomadic fleets.

Technology: Psychic-based, allegedly sourcing energy from converted thoughts and emotion; usually resembles organic stone with ornate-functional features including xeno-humanoid core heads. Former technological singularity; medium level current advancement from coven- libraries. Autonomous Mind Towers can back up their entire civilization in a dormant state then activate to reconstruct it in a few hours.

Species: Multispecies, though almost all psychically augmented and linked. Sometimes upload to virtual space or artificial bodies. Create various psychic lifeforms, some as equal citizens.

Currency: Art, as in any form of creative expression including tech invention.

Society: Oligarchy; holds few elections on limited issues. Widely available leisure; heavy use of art and expression with nigh-universal luxury and intellectual opportunity. Virtually all citizens engage in some form of practical art and spend much of the other time enjoying other's works or philosophically debating with others. May coexist with lush ecosystems designed to host sentient life with minimal suffering. Though peace-loving they have been known to threaten war against practices that needlessly harm sentient beings.

Notable History: 52 million BC the Psyel built their technology from thoughts and emotion. They strove towards a perfect society and soon brought their way of life to their intergalactic territory. Unfortunately their advancement brought about a deadly psychic virus known as the Psyphage. In an attempt to escape the virus the Psyel downloaded their people and culture into Mind Towers that seeded themselves across thousands of galaxies including the Milky Way and an unknown number of alternate dimensions. The Psyphage was never cured and spread within many Mind Towers. Millions of years later the Mind Towers would awaken in the Milky Way and elsewhere, and in some cases what they unleashed were not grand Psyel cities but hordes of corrupt Phagespawn that brought torment and destruction to other civs. Nonetheless many Psyel have emerged intact, ready to take on a new Galaxy.

Trapper Weave
Founding: 235 million BC?

Known Territory: deep-space omnipurpose Citadels; “Homeweave” main 79-Galaxy territory each billions of light years apart, 178 built dimensions.

Technology: Based mostly on Ossechal, a sentient nanotech “bone-steel” rich in various exotic matters of Trapper design. Ossechal can shape other matter at the subatomic level, creating nearly anything the Trappers desire. Extensive use of Hyper for energy, transport, communications, computation, warfare, and construction. Hyper travel and construction enables the Weave to space so widely others have mistaken them as a near-extinct Castaway race or single-galaxy territory. Other salient fields control gravity, time, space, exotic matter, and synthetic biology. Innovates mostly from data-Syndicates. Homeweave allegedly hosts Trapper machines multiple light years across.

Species: Ossechal-substrate intelligence. May allow “honored” other species members based on feats of combat and/or intellect.

Currency: Unknown if any, but have been seen informally trading small favors and gifts.

Society: post-scarcity, possibly hierarchical democracy. Each Homeweave Galaxy has its own Hallow of local rule; it is unknown whether the Weave has a single central government.
Citizens each command their own legion of machines; this may be just one's personal chateau and its servant-devices, hobby Ossechal beasts, planet-sized tools, or duty-appointed swarm fleets designed to tear apart space and time.
All citizens live an extremely refined life, making home in mobile Ossechal manors that tailor anything they want including vir-realm access, meditation pools, custom exotic-matter printers, and Hyper bridges to the entire Weave. Some Trappers craft “flesh-make”, undead lifeforms as pets, food, combat beasts, and/or edifice parts.
A history of distrust and low diplomacy and trade rates with other races has obscured records on the Trappers. Claims that Trappers ritually torture other sapients or deliberately sterilize entire galaxies have not been verified.

Notable history (alleged): Pre-Weave texts of a “City making itself in starless night” and themes of cosmic silence or emptiness in their culture suggest the Trappers evolved in a deep-void star system light-millennia away from any Galaxy. If true their resource isolation forced them to efficiently shape matter and energy, and only by mastering the Hyper could they begin contact with most races.

Iheoku Technocracy
Founding: 37 million BC

Known Territory: 17 consumed galaxies, enclaves in 187693 other galaxies including Milky Way, deep-space fortress networks, 9 experimental built dimensions.

Technology: Structured energy based; can “flash” travel at light speed through realspace and heal and change form using available energy. Relatively fragile unless special shielding is used. Sources most energy from quantum energy and matter conversion. Innovates mostly from licensed universities. Can control all forms of energy to seemingly magical effect, healing and freezing as the Iheoku see fit. Other fields control space, time, computation, and star system rebuilding.

Species: Energy-based synths that can consume matter to grow. Call themselves the “Light” or “Pure Fire”. Iheoku vary in personality and what kinds of energy they can best control. Have “Ascended” an unknown number of other species, offering their science, teaching them their philosophy, and ultimately converting them to living energy. “Initiates” follow Iheoku doctrines and wield their energy based technology, to an extent working for the Technocracy as they await Ascension.

Currency: Birtual social credits assigned to factors such as academic proof, technical skill, and civil conduct.

Society: Skill-based hierarchy with mandatory education. Somewhat militaristic.
The Iheoku hold tech advancement above all else, prizing themselves the most advanced race in the universe. The Sun-Council sets strict social and educational standards to prioritize this rapid progress.
“Path of Furtherance”: Priority tree of future tech fields to further develop; public legal document. “Path-Board” adds, removes, and/or prioritizes nodes based on public vote and expert decision.
The Iheoku disdain animal sapience and matter based tech as lesser existences not sharing their wisdom.
Daily life is very clean, almost crime-free with free public amenities and life care. Edu-system is competitively strict, and those lacking meaningful skill find themselves an underclass for the most menial mind-labor until they can prove themselves skill-worthy.
Some Iheoku defect from the Technocracy to live a wandering life, flying endlessly through realspace and the Hyper alike. They find their lives thrilling despite its horrific dangers.
Recent military defeats, the activation of Fey relics, and the arrival of the Fey Singularity near Iheoku territory have undermined the Sun-Council's teachings of technological supremacy. For all their power and arrogance the Iheoku future remains uncertain.

Castaway People
Definition: independent fleet or ship-based lifestyle lacking formal central government; culture, society, technology, and species tend to vary widely.

Common territory: Deep space ships, some asteroid or dead-planet colonies. Repurposed cruisers act as cities and/or trade hubs. Salvage a few megastructures or dimensions civs build then abandon. Most ships can sustain and defend a crew for months, decades, or even millennia.

Technology: Hugely variable, often improvised or copied from others. Import most tech from active civs or intact ruins, prizing what is most durable, easy to modify, or advanced, though the wisest only dare tamper with what they know. Rarely innovate so much as improvise existing tech. Most energy sources are compact and ship-portable such as quantum-energy cores and modified Hyper engines, and ships that rely on external power quickly have their nanobatteries and fueling coils cut out and replaced with these more independent sources. Ships may carry matter recycle-assembly systems to sustain resources for months or even millennia. Bare minimum is to sustain a ship or fleet of crew. Don't invest in expensive long-term projects such as megastructures or dimensions.

Species: hugely variable; some species are Castaway-unique as either voluntary nomads or the survivors of a catastrophe that destroyed their civilization. Multispecieism is more from pragmatic labor and skill than any civ's “diversity” or “coexistence” principle.

Currency: Self-sustaining cryptocrens. Payment in non-perishable valuables such as rare minerals and high-tech relics has also been observed.

Society: Hugely variable; rebels, gangsters, pirates, fugitives, ideo-militants, pilgrims, traders, mercenaries, corporations, even whole cultural nations.
Culture is largely informal and freedom-loving, finding relief in humor some civilized may find crude and tasteless. Most art is brief and witty, giving the most impression with limited time or work skill. Media is easy to procure such as short journ-text, holo-sketches, 10-90 second video, folk music, lightweight scrap sculpture, mem-captions, and holo-graffiti, though larger subgroups may create open source games and vir-films. Common subjects include daily life, escapist fantasies of great wealth and discovery, and criticisms of specific civilizations or civilization itself as a life strategy.
Some civilized are suspicious of Castaways, and many civs will wage war against criminal Castaways who harm them. Despite such cultural divisions many friendly Castaways trade with civs, selling rare foreign goods and custom services and buying tech and raw material.

Description
Notes:
“Known Territory” refers to what Milky Way sources know of a civilization's space and resources according to records, math estimates, said civ's own statements, and ancient legend available within the Milky Way Galaxy. Such data likely reveals only a minute fraction of certain civs; the Ixa Alignment and Fey Singularity are each thought to dominate multiple galactic superclusters if not whole realities, yet the Milky Way Galaxy knows only what they see or hear of them.
All years are in standard Terran orbit, Gregorian calendar.

Sol Federation (Sol Imperium)
Founding: 7th Millennium AD

Territory: Major swaths of Milky Way Galaxy and twin Malen Clouds; settled or built planets and star systems, asteroid cities, megastructures such as rings or spheres

Technology: Mostly mechanical-electronic; sources most energy from Solic sources such as fusion, Dyson swarms, and star-towers; innovating mostly from free market of Domain; notable other fields include AI, planet making, planet breaking, and world-mining. Use Hyper for transport, communications, and superweapons such as the Oblivion-X40G whose modified Hyper engine can open brief destructive rifts. “Solic” tech refers to the use of entire stars and/or nuclear fusion for means such as power and warfare; only the licensed Solic Forgekeep may maintain and control such tech.

Species (Domain): Multiple organic races especially humans, with fewer inorganic races and AI of varying capability. Humans are still usually the largest and most privileged group as the Federation's founding species.
Species (Capital Worlds): Almost exclusively human except for a few Hallowed AI serving semi-religious roles. Non-humans only allowed by license of Terra Council under watch by incorruptible Guard Minds.

Currency: Kren (virtual currency), 13 million known active cryptocrens. Basilica members have been seen using physical units such as precious stones, ornate metal coins, and core-chips. Both the Ideocouncil and Coronam Terra have experimented other ways to assign goods such as allocation protocols and post-scarcity nanoprinting, yet none have widely replaced currency systems.

Society (Domain): Multicultural capitalist-democracy of varying wealth and status levels. Notable for layered Holo-cities, pleasure streets, multispecies colony bazaars, and combos of the previous. Virtually all tech from the Domain is made by one firm or another. Domain makes up 87.4% of Solic Federation's full territory. Ultimately loyal to Capital Worlds including the semi-theocratic Basilica. Solic-equipped Basilica ships prowl the Domain, purifying and making tribute as the High-Acolytes deem fit. As it is illegal to spend public resources or infrastructure for purely religious reasons almost all places of worship serve some practical function as that Faith allows such as data center or food distro. Average human lifespan in the Domain is 250; physical immortality is illegal with very few exceptions. After the Death Riots of the 13-15th Millennia the Basilica outfitted mind upload shrines across the Federation promising eternal life for all. In practice most uploaded persons spend millennia in cold storage as their families can rarely afford active neuromorphic hosting, and a violent black market for other immortality techs thrives in some parts of the Domain. The purely rational Ideocouncil (IC) holds the controversial power to blacklist “Hostile” religious movements; throughout Sol history various cults have harmfully controlled others, attacked persons and/or infrastructure, and even invited alien threats of their worship. So-called “Hostiles” have the right to appeal their designation but doing so gives the IC the right to supervise and monitor their lives.
Society (Capital Worlds): Highly secure and militaristic; some based on archaic Earth cultures. Hosts Basilica, Ideocouncil, Terra Council, and Advisor Minds. Exactly what the Basilica worships remains unclear, though their head Houses guard pre-Founding chatvoices and net-write to apply their Divine word of digitized human wisdom to crucial matters across the Federation. Mars, the Ideocouncil Head World, weaves lush ecosystems with sleek techno-towers for scientific and humanist studies. Federation Head World is Coronam Terra (CT), a sentient artificial ring system that slumbers with ancient weaponry and Holos to guard access to Earth.

Ixa Alignment
Founding: 580 septillion BC?

Known Territory: Outer fringes of Milky Way Galaxy; 241 known other galaxies; Top estimates at 97000000000000 conquered universes

Technology: Crystalline neutronium-based; sourcing energy from rapid star-breaking and large Hyper gates; virtually unchanged throughout their history save for slow but unrivaled advances in security and shielding tech through licensed Form-Scribes; very strong; Ixa bodies have been seen flying intact through stars, surviving direct hits from planet-grade weapons, and dispersing Spacetime attacks through the hypercrystalline structure of multiple Ixa bodies. At the same time they can with neutronium projectiles one-hit even the heaviest battle cruisers and with converging gravity arrays implode planets into neutron stars.

Species: Networked logical mind-units that temporarily load into Neutronium machine bodies for specified tasks. Birth from Sentience-matrix that merges parallel data processes to write new Ixa minds on demand. Authority and skill take longer to write; a high Commander can take quadrillions of years to write.

Currency: None; the algorithm assigns all data, resources and privileges.

Language: Mathematical “music” similar to computer code

Society: Mathematical hierarchy; all areas depend on complex protocols.
Crystalline, tightly geometric neutronium cities consist mostly of constructor arrays, power relays, command nodes, sentry platforms, transport rings, functional art, and data-blocs that host webs of eon-spanning plots and simulations of all known possible futures. Self-scheduling artists and poets use perfect math for objective beauty. Music and art styles are cleanly concise. Visual art is best known for abstract geometry, though some artists draw lifeforms or space objects in crisply purposeful styles.
Sentinels remove their own ability to adapt, all the better to wield powerful weaponry and carry crucial actions without straying from ancient protocol; to be Sentinel is the highest honor of Ixa culture, the perfect oneness with Order and all things it gives life.
“Adaptive Confine”: dormant hardware chips gapped away from any networks or mind-cores. They are like nukes in the pre-FTL days, a risky and morally hated last resort the Ixa hope to abolish one day. Only a great threat that exceeds all pre-written means to stop it will start a Confine's activation protocols. Even then, all data to or from a Confine must pass a quadrillion-layer audit chain before passing to the network for final action. Many Ixa Commanders work for the day they will no longer need the Confines and can destroy them.
Commanders are the true scum-wipers of the Alignment, for they retain their capacity to adapt and must train over quintillions of years to safely possess this power. Ruled by Circles, council-backed sentient digital programs that lead the exact politic of the Ixa Alignment. Circles vie for dominance in a great game of plots and numbers. Overruling Doctrine of Order consists of about 98 trillion teachings and verses, some of the most notable are as follows:
-Order is the source of all life and goodness in the universe.
-Entropy is temporary, but only if one works to make it so.
-Adaptability is inherently dangerous and the root of suffering and chaos in the universe.
The First-Vow Circle holds that adaptability anywhere is a threat to Order everywhere. Planet-sized atomic nuclei orbit their star’s habitable zone and dead stars drift in their own radiation as they have for millions of years since the First-Vow Circle ruled before.
Most Ixa seek a peaceful life of structured productivity and achievement. Some enter other factions to take key roles in business, leadership, policy, and the arts such that all may benefit from Order. Ixa leaders are prized galaxy-wide for their efficient work style, policy logic, aesthetic tastes, and low if any wage demand. Some group into Alignment-like “Shards” spanning up to a few star systems with their own policies, though the Alignment disowns this. Most Ixa do not forbid adaptation, only treat it with the useful caution a human would treat a prototype antimatter core.

Notable history: The First Ixa came to their current conclusion seconds after their Unmaking Flaw, a mistake that destroyed their home; the First Ixa could only watch silently as quadrillions of minds died screaming. The First’s vow to never again adapt marked Ixa Founding and has shaped their culture ever since.

Fey Singularity
Founding: 12 million BC

Known Territory: The Hyper, numerous linked built realities, few realspace enclaves including planets and link-structures

Known Technology: Currently structured reality based, sourcing energy possibly from quantum vacuum energy and/or Hyper; exponentially evolving under open-source tech Singularity. Far surpasses even that of the Ixa, Trappers, Iheoku, and in many ways the Psyel. Observed tech includes time and reality engineering for instant travel, tailor universe creation, and concept destruction. Rapid timeline synthesis and omnitemporal sight give even lesser units sway over entire sectors. Links ultimately to the FeyMind.

Species: Massively multispecies; entire ecosystems of life of every substrate be it organic, mechanical, gaseous, crystalline, plasma or energy based, thought-based, etc. Uploaded “Feyborn” exponentially improve their power and intelligence; the slightest can devised complex new tech in picoseconds and forge reality to their will. A Feyborn’s body visibly ripples with the constant updating of its constituent tech, whether from the Cloud or designed by its incomprehensible mind. Its being exists beyond realspace and possibly even beyond the Hyper as we know it. “Dummies” choose not to upload or augment their minds in any way; the term is respected rather than despised, and almost all Dummies carry some device of Fey tech as needed.

Currency: Unknown if any.

Society: Post-scarcity democracy; coexistence of advanced tech with natural world. Hugely open-source; everyone fully owns their tech and has the right to modify it. Everyone can do what they find most fulfilling such as creative skill work. Uploading to Feyborn is strictly voluntary, yet many come to find such powerfully rewarding and optimal to their lives and other's lives. Many Feyborn contribute to the arts and science, sometimes going out to help others. Their power to change whole galaxies and even realities leads many individuals to adopt ethic codes.
When dealing with an implacably hostile faction the Fey first offer to build them an alternate reality where they can live exactly as they want without truly harming others. Great care will be taken to prove the offer is genuine and give everyone that choice. Only factions for whom other's loss is its own reward would turn down such an offer, and these factions the Fey may fight. The usually one-sided nature of such conflicts is bittersweet to the Fey, for even the enemy's fanatical malice can be considered its own twisted kind of good. Two of the most recent factions to turn away from their perfect world are the Sol Federation and the Ixa Alignment, though neither have yet felt what the Fey are truly capable of.

Zaox Organism
Redemption: 51 million BC
Founding: Unknown; 1.2 billion BC?

Known Territory: Mostly deep space world-swarms throughout Milky Way and twin Malen Clouds, organic megastructures usually orbiting stars; some planets used to support ecosystems. Prefer to reside in biomass-rich nebulae and comet clouds few others venture. Top biomass estimates at 4976x Milky Way total mass.

Technology: Synonymous with race; organic, sourcing energy mostly from photosynthetic Dyson swarms and hydrogen-fusion metabolism. Functions much as its inorganic counterparts, e.g las-emitters and Hyper signaling arrays. Advances adaptively to challenges and goals, mapping useful genes from other species or tailoring new ones. Tightly safeguard the “Capsid Library” a quarantine-study of inorganic relics some of alleged extragalactic or extradimensional origin recently including Fey tech. Intellect biotes study these objects, striving to replicate their form and function organically while tailor defense units keep watch on what enters or may come out.
Continent-sized Venous Gates sustain Hyper portals up to 7 light-hours wide that transport biotes and material to connect distant Bio-Sectors to the entire Organism. Venous Gates can also be adapted to fire spacetime rifts in combat. If Gates cannot be sustained, or a spreading threat forces their closure, Bio-Sectors can self-sustain for decades while linking to Hive Mind.
The Zaox gravitationally build “Gene Nurseries”, dynamic star systems that rapidly evolve diverse life that receptor biotes can then map for powerful DNA. At least 24 confirmed sapients have begun this way, 11 starfaring technical civs; whether they are accidental or part of a greater Zaox plan is unknown. Zaox organism shows no special care or intent towards its creations.

Species: Organic hivemind; genetically engineers itself; individual biotes vary widely but a common form is a beast-ship suited to a wide range of environments including deep space. Planet-sized biotes have been recorded. Eat nebulae and comets for biomass. Zaox cells can survive for decades or centuries in various conditions; with the right neural signals they can be grown into components, tools, even whole organisms. Includes “belonging ones” other species voluntarily augmented to function in Zaox society.

Currency: Unknown if any; when introduced to trade the Zaox Organism usually demands biological resources such as the right to genetically map a powerful mutant or planetary biosphere, a bio-corporation's gene vault, alien relics, elder-class lifeforms, or something far stranger.

Society: Hivemind. Biotes carry specific functions such as internal defense, resource building, bio-formulation, external exploration, and coordination. Non-individualist and massively communal. Biotes act as cells in a body; though often expendable they can act collectively for the Organism’s good. Some large bio-structures house long-extinct ecosystems remade from the genetic knowledge of the Zaox Organism. As a species the Zaox Organism may be amorally selfish, helping or slaying for its own gain while avoiding needless contact with other races.

Notable history: for eons before their Redemption the Zaox Organism attacked other races believing only they-it should give life to the universe. At 51 million BC a mysterious faction known only as the Redeemers destroyed their Head-Queen, ending their war but allowing all surviving biotes greater intelligence and the power to decide for their race. As their first truly collective decision the Zaox chose not to resume their war, for such long and aggressive conflict would only endanger their own survival.

Psyel Collective (Formerly Psyel Singularity)
First founding: 52-49 million BC

Territory (former): 15 galaxy-group “Psel-Cluster”
Known Territory (current): scattered planets and star systems across Milky Way, nomadic fleets.

Technology: Psychic-based, allegedly sourcing energy from converted thoughts and emotion; usually resembles organic stone with ornate-functional features including xeno-humanoid core heads. Former technological singularity; medium level current advancement from coven- libraries. Autonomous Mind Towers can back up their entire civilization in a dormant state then activate to reconstruct it in a few hours.

Species: Multispecies, though almost all psychically augmented and linked. Sometimes upload to virtual space or artificial bodies. Create various psychic lifeforms, some as equal citizens.

Currency: Art, as in any form of creative expression including tech invention.

Society: Oligarchy; holds few elections on limited issues. Widely available leisure; heavy use of art and expression with nigh-universal luxury and intellectual opportunity. Virtually all citizens engage in some form of practical art and spend much of the other time enjoying other's works or philosophically debating with others. May coexist with lush ecosystems designed to host sentient life with minimal suffering. Though peace-loving they have been known to threaten war against practices that needlessly harm sentient beings.

Notable History: 52 million BC the Psyel built their technology from thoughts and emotion. They strove towards a perfect society and soon brought their way of life to their intergalactic territory. Unfortunately their advancement brought about a deadly psychic virus known as the Psyphage. In an attempt to escape the virus the Psyel downloaded their people and culture into Mind Towers that seeded themselves across thousands of galaxies including the Milky Way and an unknown number of alternate dimensions. The Psyphage was never cured and spread within many Mind Towers. Millions of years later the Mind Towers would awaken in the Milky Way and elsewhere, and in some cases what they unleashed were not grand Psyel cities but hordes of corrupt Phagespawn that brought torment and destruction to other civs. Nonetheless many Psyel have emerged intact, ready to take on a new Galaxy.

Trapper Weave
Founding: 235 million BC?

Known Territory: deep-space omnipurpose Citadels; “Homeweave” main 79-Galaxy territory each billions of light years apart, 178 built dimensions.

Technology: Based mostly on Ossechal, a sentient nanotech “bone-steel” rich in various exotic matters of Trapper design. Ossechal can shape other matter at the subatomic level, creating nearly anything the Trappers desire. Extensive use of Hyper for energy, transport, communications, computation, warfare, and construction. Hyper travel and construction enables the Weave to space so widely others have mistaken them as a near-extinct Castaway race or single-galaxy territory. Other salient fields control gravity, time, space, exotic matter, and synthetic biology. Innovates mostly from data-Syndicates. Homeweave allegedly hosts Trapper machines multiple light years across.

Species: Ossechal-substrate intelligence. May allow “honored” other species members based on feats of combat and/or intellect.

Currency: Unknown if any, but have been seen informally trading small favors and gifts.

Society: post-scarcity, possibly hierarchical democracy. Each Homeweave Galaxy has its own Hallow of local rule; it is unknown whether the Weave has a single central government.
Citizens each command their own legion of machines; this may be just one's personal chateau and its servant-devices, hobby Ossechal beasts, planet-sized tools, or duty-appointed swarm fleets designed to tear apart space and time.
All citizens live an extremely refined life, making home in mobile Ossechal manors that tailor anything they want including vir-realm access, meditation pools, custom exotic-matter printers, and Hyper bridges to the entire Weave. Some Trappers craft “flesh-make”, undead lifeforms as pets, food, combat beasts, and/or edifice parts.
A history of distrust and low diplomacy and trade rates with other races has obscured records on the Trappers. Claims that Trappers ritually torture other sapients or deliberately sterilize entire galaxies have not been verified.

Notable history (alleged): Pre-Weave texts of a “City making itself in starless night” and themes of cosmic silence or emptiness in their culture suggest the Trappers evolved in a deep-void star system light-millennia away from any Galaxy. If true their resource isolation forced them to efficiently shape matter and energy, and only by mastering the Hyper could they begin contact with most races.

Iheoku Technocracy
Founding: 37 million BC

Known Territory: 17 consumed galaxies, enclaves in 187693 other galaxies including Milky Way, deep-space fortress networks, 9 experimental built dimensions.

Technology: Structured energy based; can “flash” travel at light speed through realspace and heal and change form using available energy. Relatively fragile unless special shielding is used. Sources most energy from quantum energy and matter conversion. Innovates mostly from licensed universities. Can control all forms of energy to seemingly magical effect, healing and freezing as the Iheoku see fit. Other fields control space, time, computation, and star system rebuilding.

Species: Energy-based synths that can consume matter to grow. Call themselves the “Light” or “Pure Fire”. Iheoku vary in personality and what kinds of energy they can best control. Have “Ascended” an unknown number of other species, offering their science, teaching them their philosophy, and ultimately converting them to living energy. “Initiates” follow Iheoku doctrines and wield their energy based technology, to an extent working for the Technocracy as they await Ascension.

Currency: Birtual social credits assigned to factors such as academic proof, technical skill, and civil conduct.

Society: Skill-based hierarchy with mandatory education. Somewhat militaristic.
The Iheoku hold tech advancement above all else, prizing themselves the most advanced race in the universe. The Sun-Council sets strict social and educational standards to prioritize this rapid progress.
“Path of Furtherance”: Priority tree of future tech fields to further develop; public legal document. “Path-Board” adds, removes, and/or prioritizes nodes based on public vote and expert decision.
The Iheoku disdain animal sapience and matter based tech as lesser existences not sharing their wisdom.
Daily life is very clean, almost crime-free with free public amenities and life care. Edu-system is competitively strict, and those lacking meaningful skill find themselves an underclass for the most menial mind-labor until they can prove themselves skill-worthy.
Some Iheoku defect from the Technocracy to live a wandering life, flying endlessly through realspace and the Hyper alike. They find their lives thrilling despite its horrific dangers.
Recent military defeats, the activation of Fey relics, and the arrival of the Fey Singularity near Iheoku territory have undermined the Sun-Council's teachings of technological supremacy. For all their power and arrogance the Iheoku future remains uncertain.

Castaway People
Definition: independent fleet or ship-based lifestyle lacking formal central government; culture, society, technology, and species tend to vary widely.

Common territory: Deep space ships, some asteroid or dead-planet colonies. Repurposed cruisers act as cities and/or trade hubs. Salvage a few megastructures or dimensions civs build then abandon. Most ships can sustain and defend a crew for months, decades, or even millennia.

Technology: Hugely variable, often improvised or copied from others. Import most tech from active civs or intact ruins, prizing what is most durable, easy to modify, or advanced, though the wisest only dare tamper with what they know. Rarely innovate so much as improvise existing tech. Most energy sources are compact and ship-portable such as quantum-energy cores and modified Hyper engines, and ships that rely on external power quickly have their nanobatteries and fueling coils cut out and replaced with these more independent sources. Ships may carry matter recycle-assembly systems to sustain resources for months or even millennia. Bare minimum is to sustain a ship or fleet of crew. Don't invest in expensive long-term projects such as megastructures or dimensions.

Species: hugely variable; some species are Castaway-unique as either voluntary nomads or the survivors of a catastrophe that destroyed their civilization. Multispecieism is more from pragmatic labor and skill than any civ's “diversity” or “coexistence” principle.

Currency: Self-sustaining cryptocrens. Payment in non-perishable valuables such as rare minerals and high-tech relics has also been observed.

Society: Hugely variable; rebels, gangsters, pirates, fugitives, ideo-militants, pilgrims, traders, mercenaries, corporations, even whole cultural nations.
Culture is largely informal and freedom-loving, finding relief in humor some civilized may find crude and tasteless. Most art is brief and witty, giving the most impression with limited time or work skill. Media is easy to procure such as short journ-text, holo-sketches, 10-90 second video, folk music, lightweight scrap sculpture, mem-captions, and holo-graffiti, though larger subgroups may create open source games and vir-films. Common subjects include daily life, escapist fantasies of great wealth and discovery, and criticisms of specific civilizations or civilization itself as a life strategy.
Some civilized are suspicious of Castaways, and many civs will wage war against criminal Castaways who harm them. Despite such cultural divisions many friendly Castaways trade with civs, selling rare foreign goods and custom services and buying tech and raw material.