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Synopsis: Beyond War

Beyond War comprises the experience of the individual in a Universe and on a scale of Interstellar science fiction. The characters are both alien and individuals in their society, and that society fractured by conflict larger than any civilization has yet fully been able to comprehend following an Interstellar war. The prose that follows describes in general the largest groups of those survivors and their nature in the ruins of stars and empty fleets that remain between them after the events that silenced the fighting.

The Minat, the little people of Irish legend, look just like ordinary folk - but walk into their world amid the circle and the hearth, and you will be in the Kingdom of Oberon once more.

As are the Tyec lifelike and indistinguishable from human beings, despite every fiber of their being a construct of living nanotechnology and alloy, networked to a billion points, a living index of all knowledge they have gained across the galaxy, observing quietly and appreciating the world in its beauty and with awe in every detail - for life is alien to them.

As are the Dawv innately aware of the technology and makings of things, both in and outside of space and time, the creators of permanence and age old words that hold their meaning throughout time, both smiths and poets, makers, builders, and breakers of dawn.

High above and beyond the stars embrace, the Elan leave the world behind, venturing back to sunlight only to remind themselves of the world they cannot now know - for the enemy hunt them and would burn those jewels from the sky if they were to tarry too long in the Summerlands.

The Leupos and their kin, descendants of the guards of the gates of Hell, remembered in their form the product of the Gods at war, lay close to the edge of the world and covet their young generation after generations - hoping only for a simple life and a world in which their weapons lay in the ground, peace for their pups, and patience in their ways when the world would cast aside its need for warriors and poets.

As do the dracos lay - silent in their underground tombs, a world away, walking softly with the patience of eons to taste the wealth of the world and sup its table - all knowing that should they indulge the world itself would fail to fill their plate before they burst upon the clouds and blot out the very stars - finding peace in the ways of Zen and counting the eons by.

Aware as they are, that each leaf and blade is covered still by the genosect, benign though they seem, guarding all the world and watching over the garden that was Eden, an army in hiding in plain sight that outnumber all the armies of the Earth; their people too - among the men and women of the world, seeking out their foes with words and venom.

Hiding like the sky itself, beyond the dragons and the mists, the Kay'gi stir softly only days over the Centuries, seeking balance should the war become anew upon each world - agents of peace, destroyers of wisdom, ready to reset the world should it stray into knowledge again.

Their victims, the ethran, passing only in the tales of children's stories, watch as well - waiting for the belief that will rip the world open and let them in - the faith of even one believer.

For the lost who fell in fire remain among the stars and seek new worlds that they believe will restore to them the birthright that was lost and damned by blood in the Ogrey - stumbling from their grave to place a claim on all that is not broken still.

Unaware, for all their might, the blood of the one who is king remains alive, and in even one an army arise that shall outnumber the stars themselves should love be struck or children cry upon the world that stand the Sanguine.

There are 13 species - 11 of whom can be classified.

The species were descended from a common ancestor, escalated through the course of forced evolution and weapon design during 'The War', and in some iteneration became capable of eliminating all life on over 80% of the Universe known to those able to view such scale. The remaining survivors were inconsistent and had no clear immunity or uniformity, appearing to be only pockets of life which were missed in whatever event caused the destruction of life throughout the Universe. The event affected multiple galaxies, and does not appear to have an epicenter or pattern.

Eumon, the most human of all species, distinguished only by their color and variety, appear least impacted - surviving on many primitive worlds.

Other species physical differences from the Eumon gave rise to belief in spirits and monsters which quickly became folklore and legends to their surviving descendants - tales of terror and war long since passed into the stuff of campfire stories and science fiction. Little people living in the hills and caves, forests, and tunnels underground - messengers with wings and swords of light and fire - wolves that turn into men and giant monsters that pull ships and sailors under the waves - serpents that fly through the clouds and bring blessings of wisdom and luck or fire and ash - armies of demons with snake-like eyes - and the men in their towers and armored metal men who protect them, legends... all.

Where fleets guard the shores of nations at sea, lone craft wait for centuries watching and patrolling, looking for any sign of the one - He Who Walks Through Walls - the living shadow who burns the stars, in hope of giving warning and paying grievance back for billions lost eons before the stars were new.

Against such weapons, whose fire may burn the flesh and bone from entire worlds, while the spirit remain enslaved to fight on as thralls of a single master - what hope does any person have who know the nature of War on such a scale?

But to love, to know, and to hold the hand of a child as a father does his son or daughter - does the sword of the King of Kings move only for, and in that moment - on every world - hold still its hand in comfort of a child's smile.

For the sake of one smile, a part of the Universe lived.

It is for the players of the Beyond War Universe to discover the nature of this event, and the War that instigated it, as they assume the roles of empires and pilots in a scale of conflict that most applications do not discuss - total war - and the moral reasoning behind such acts that a planet-bound population cannot readily or comfortably imagine.