The year is 1803, and the Napoleonic Wars have just begun, but they have very little bearing upon the universe at large. No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being blatantly ignored by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were only ever occasionally studied, perhaps almost as disinterestedly as a man with a microscope might study the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. Humanity's existence, and petty warfare, was considered pointless and empty by those who cared to observe. The universe is, and always has been, a larger place than man could possibly fathom, and greater intelligences have already begun exploring this infinite void in vessels of greater speed than a modern scientist would consider to be possible. For humanity's role in this is merely to read (a/n: and to write), but it is not the role of humanity to be involved.
At least, not yet. Perhaps in a few thousand years, when they've had a chance to grow up.
Now, before we begin putting things into more specific terms, there are a series of influences that went into the creation of this. The number isn't as large as the number of influences that went into my fantasy worlds, since I don't usually do sci-fi. In fact, it might be accurate enough to say that this is more than a little bit uncharacteristic for me. The specific influences are mostly centred around a series of computer games, and one series of novels. Homeworld, Halo, Mass Effect and the Culture novels are my primary influences, with a major amount of influence coming from literature and classical music (you can't have sci-fi without classical music), and also the general big name sci-fi approaches. Sometimes this is merely 'how not to...' (Star Trek mostly falls into that category) but the influence is there.
The primary races I have decided upon so far are as follows;
- The Solus; humanoid race with a few major differences. They are my main, protagonist species, somewhat inspired by humans, but are to humans as sharks are to dolphins. Similar-shaped (a side-effect of convergent evolution; they evolved on an Earth-like planet in similar conditions), but are in fact quite different. They are about equal to something like the Galactic Empire, technologically, with a few other additional features such as teleport devices and. Currently, the majority of their polity is based around the Solus Ring, which encircles the distant star of New Solus.
- The Eridani; from one of the systems of the same name. They technically started out as saurian humanoids but were replaced by their own artificial creations who took over after a particularly nasty solar flare wiped away the atmosphere of their planet. The artificial creations aren't what you'd call robots, however, but more artificial life in a general sense; sort of synthesised life. They sometimes have android forms which are similar to their creators.
- The Zetans; are essentially the 'greys' but actually coming in various colours of yellow, green, grey and blue. They are from a low gravity world, and are thus taller and thinner than human stock, and tend to clone themselves a lot. They are usually indifferent to other species, and are what you might call extremely technologically advanced. May or may not have some presence in the Andromeda Galaxy.
- The Nemeses; very coldly aggressive humanoid species known for being so completely alien and technologically advanced that not much is known about them other than that they are slowly looking to expand their hold on the galaxy. Also known for abduction and experimentation upon various individuals. They vaguely resemble smaller versions of the Zetans when encountered outside of their powered armour. Are in fact offshoots.
- The Nordain; based off of the Nordic Alien hypotheses. They are known for frequently observing undeveloped planets, having something of a cultural fondness for them. They are about equal, technologically, to the Solus, and are in fact very similar to them in appearance. They may or may not actually be a cultural offshoot similar to the Nemeses from the Zetans. They are known for being Nomadic, having no fixed home but instead are often seen on independently travelling worldships.
- The Hive; small swarm/hive-like race with four arms and two legs. They are somewhere between bees and wasps appearance-wise, except that they are much larger, their wings may not be large enough for flight and their colouration is more a dark reddish brown. Their eyes are somewhat compound, and they are individually intelligent but have a swarm-like mentality which ultimately leads to them taking on a communist mentality to 'protect the hive'. They aren't expansionist or xenophobic, however, but react to serious threats without so much as a thought in the direction of mercy.
- Homo-Sapiens; uninvolved, primitive species from a backwater planet in a backwater star-system. Are only of note due to being sapient, and on the verge of reaching the point where they might make something of themselves. They also have a peculiar similarity to the Nordain and Solus. Balanced out by the fact that they are simultaneously always on the verge of wiping themselves from the face of existence. They're only included on this list because they're an egocentric species and would have complained otherwise.
- The Ancients or The Elders; they are a distant, mysterious species believed to possibly be extinct. Others believe that they survived as nearly imperceptibly godlike transdimensional beings.
- Arachnids; a dwindling, nomadic race of sentient spider-like beings, originating from a dead, barren planet in the same solar system as the Homo Sapiens' own planet.
- Polarans; they are a similar species to the Nordain and Solus, but are less advanced technologically and have less political influence on a galactic scale. The Polaris system is currently a protectorate of the Solus Commonwealth.
- Andromedans; they are not a distinct race per se, but there are numerous species encountered which have come from Andromeda. The Zetans, and their cultural offshoot the Nemeses, have the most contact with them.
- The Kathanul; a species of multi-limbed and tentacled individuals known for being particularly isolationist
- The Chlorophae; a species of sentient plants known for their heavy amount of merging of biotechnology and conventional technology.
- The Technocratic Conglomeration; a group of artificial life-forms similar to the Eridani. They are known for being far more violent and expansionist, however.
As with the E&D stuff, I must note that this is written around a story, and some aspects may be subject to non-inclusion from being posted here. I have yet to decide on a good name for the 'verse, as well, and that's something I'll spend a while on.