Therian

The Therians are a race of genocidal cyborgs driven to covert other worlds into Dyson Sphere's in an obsession to preserve the universe.

Biology
Originally humans the Therians have turned themselves into a race of cyborgs with their consciousnesses attached to the Electromagnetic Grid Interface where its virtual environment caters to their every wish and desire whilist their robot servitors manages all physical aspects in the real world.

History
THE DAWN OF ETERNITY

Therian civilization developed over six hundred millennia originating on the third planet of the Sol System. Sol III sheltered the development of a particularly aggressive species: Humanity. After man left its cradle of birth and for the stars, the species changed its name.

They then made a great leaps into technology, discovering nanotechnology and the astromorphosis of planetary systems. The Therians remade themselves int a race of immortal spider-like cyborgs. Once at this level of technology the humans were able to alter their ecosystem to make their environment ideal. After humanity had recklessly wasted the resources available in their system, making it unsuitable for human life, they decided to keep only two habitats: Sol, their star, and Thars (Mars), their first colony in space.

The humans destroyed all the other planets converting them into material to create a massive Dyson Sphere that enclosed Sol. Sol became the habitat of Thera, in memory of the planet that had seen the rise of their species, Terra.

Humanity had evolved into the Therians. The Dyson Sphere was created so that no cosmic accident could annihilate their race. However, obsessed with achieving eternity, the Therians came to an understanding that within twenty billion years the universe would have evolved to such a point that life would become impossible. They then chose to launch a vast project to prevent the end of the universe. This was the beginning of the Therian project and the birth of the concept of hyperlife (see further): in order to live forever, the Therians would need to transform all the planetary systems in the universe into habitats.

THE KARMAN FAILURE

In order to convert world into habitats or therianise a planetary system, the Therians need a world already weakened by a species with great industrial capacities. The Therians wished to develop a species that would follow the same technological progress and cause the same ecological progress as them. The Karman Project was born, using DNA from the EMI records of an extinct gorilla species to create a sentient race of primates. Abandoning their creations on Karma, the Therians observed from a far watching to their dismay of their creations conversationalist and ecological based culture take place. The Therians sought to remedied this by introducing new technologies to the Karmans to which the Karmans accepted and adapted to eco-friendly technologies. Shortly after the Karmans entered a civil war amongst themselves did the Therians approach their creations for help. The Therians had encountered new species called the Cogs and the Krygs in a distant galaxy. While initially theranization of worlds were underway, and several Cog civilizations were wiped out, the Cogs had retaliated in an counterattack that were forcing the Therians on the ropes as the Therians had long since forgotten war tactics. The Karmans reverse the tide of the war against the Cogs and Krygs. In the end the Karmans forced a truce with the Cog Empire and summarily wiped out the Krygs.

CLONING THERIANS

When the Karman experience failed, a second plan was devised. The Therians used their own genes to seed those worlds capable of supporting life. They left pyramids covered in symbols on these planets. These pyramids were meant to accelerate the evolution of civilization. This new plan worked perfectly. Within fewer than a hundred thousand years the Milky Way had disappeared: all its stars had been enclosed inside Therian habitats. The Therians then moved on to other galaxies with serious intent. The only ones to be spared were the Karmans, in case their masters ever needed them.

In one of these galaxies, an insignificant planet among an infinite number of others was the cradle of an enterprising and aggressive civilization, which called its planet “Ava”.

THE TRAUMA

A group of Therians had been watching Avan civilization for a few thousand years. They detected very early signs that this world would soon be ready. It usually took one to two centuries for the consensus to react and launch a planet’s therianisation. However, some Therians were feeling cramped in their habitats and wished to accelerate the process. Therefore it took less than a decade to mount an expedition. The forthcoming development of a new habitat and the very optimistic projections of one of the most popular overseers of the consensus, Urash, had the Therians convinced in no time.

At first everything seemed to go as Urash had foreseen. The inhabitants of Ava didn’t do anything to prevent the Therians from landing or from entering the pyramid that sheltered the control station of the therianisation machines. Just as Urash had predicted, the Avans panicked when the overseers used the machines to adapt gravity and daytime to the Therian norm, which was standard procedure to help the overseers feel comfortable during the operation. It was then that reality started to brutally diverge from Urash’s projections. The desperate reaction of the Red Blok and its surprisingly well organized offensive caught the Therians off guard. Urash had discounted such an insignificant possibility that rarely appeared in his simulations. The Therians did what they could to resist and were forced to deploy the Karmans to hold off the Red Blok. Urash had also ignored the possibility of an alliance between the two political systems found on Ava. When the U.N.A. attacked in turn, coordinating their efforts with the survivors of the Red Blok offensive, the Therians were once again taken by surprise. Too busy fending off Red Blok diversions, the Karmans were unable to prevent the U.N. breakthrough and the Avans rapidly reached the threshold of the Therians’ living quarters. Several overseers were lost forever! In the meantime, the artificial intelligence controlling the therianisation machine stated that the process was to be stopped: the planet was not quite ready for its destruction. This was too much for the overseers to bear and they left in a hurry.

43 YEARS AFTER THE TRAUMA

The technological superiority of the Therians had persuaded many galactic species not to oppose them. This Therian defeat, never seen before, showed that it was possible to beat them, even with ridiculously limited means and primitive technology. For the Therians, this failure was a Trauma: from then on, they were no longer invincible. Their supremacy had been shaken, even in the minds of some of their allies. Peoples that previously just fled whenever the Therians approached suddenly started making defensive stands. The Karmans, who used to travel quietly in the wake of their creators, slowly established contacts of their own with the Avans, the Cogs and even the Krygs. The situation reached a critical point when Operation Damocles was launched by the U.N.A. The successful U.N. landing on the factory world, even though the Avans still have not gained control of it, is proof enough that the Therians are not invulnerable. This is a disaster for the Therian project. Nobody else but the Therians can realise such a project and preserve life in the universe in its most evolved form! However, there is hope. No other species has such a vast and rich empire under their control. Even if the entire universe was to unite against them, the Therians could still win!

Culture
Central to Therian culture is Project Hyperlife. The goal of the Therian project is to shape the entire universe into something completely controllable by the Therians. In order to achieve this, they intend to change all planetary systems into Therian habitats, just like the factory world of Damocles. This way they will be able to pilot the stars to stop the universe from expanding or contracting, thus suspending it forever.