Ancient History

In the beginning, there were the creatures of light and darkness,

and they were without form in the void. Yet they took such forms as
pleased them, when they came into our cosmos.

In those days, eons before our time, there were others in our
Galaxy and beyond --- the Old Galactics and the species they had
nurtured. They were all material beings, and they lived for material
ends.

The creatures of light and darkness were not so, but were of pure
essence from beyond our space and beyond our time, and limited by
neither. Matter and energy as we know them were novelties to them,
who had known nothing new from time out of mind, and some among
them were intrigued -- enough to take on the outward form of species
native to our universe – to go among them and study them at close
hand, they reasoned. A few went further.

“Why not be composed of atoms and molecules?” they asked, and

they made it so.

But they had failed to reckon that they would become imprisoned
by matter and energy and subject to their laws. Although they were yet
nearly immortal compared to the beings of this cosmos, although they
could still change their shapes in ways unknown to those beings, they
raged against what they saw as a cruel twist of fate.

Those who had not joined them in this enterprise were terrified,
and retreated to their own continuum, abandoning their brethren to
their fate. Those left behind in our continuum were further enraged at
their abandonment. Driven by the fury of their own momentum, they
set themselves up as gods -- cruel gods who treated the native
sentient species, even the Old Galactics, as their playthings. The Old
Galactics were able to flee, closing the wormholes of their escape
behind them. The others suffered.

The new gods manipulated them, turning some into monsters, and
played them against each other in malicious games, as if their
suffering could somehow expiate that of their tormentors. But it was
not enough; some of the gods became insane and destroyed
themselves and each other in wars the like of which had never been
seen before, taking with them countless lives and destroying entire
civilizations. Others survived by suppressing memories of who they
were and whence they had come, and what they had lost. Thus ended
the Second Ancient Years, which came before the First Ancient Years
but were lost to all knowledge of those who came after.

Yet in those who survived into the First Ancient Years, some dim
sense of their immense past led them to seek transcendence in
different ways, and to lend some portion of that transcendence to
hundreds of new and promising life forms that arose across a dozen
galaxies -- helping them to evolve into truly sentient beings. These
ancient ones of the First Ancient Years, these survivors of the Second
Ancient Years, came to be known as the Galen and the Elders.

They had forgotten much, remembered much, and learned --

perhaps too little and too late. And so it began again, the First Ancient
War, a new war on a new stage, but still a conflict of the creatures of
light and darkness….

While we know little about the other races the Galen and Elders
enabled, we do know that the Galen came to Earth more than a million
years ago and breathed sentience into the great apes, creating a new
race called Homo Sapiens Sapiens. But they ignored Earth for nearly an
eon after that, distracted by the war with the Elders.

It was the Elders who first sought to influence the evolution of

humanity, working selectively with ancient peoples in Asia and
elsewhere to improve the powers of the mind through scientific
methods. Their science became so advanced that its practitioners,
called the Diaboli, often explained it to others as mere 'magic'. The so-
called witches and sorcerers of the ancient occult were enhanced by
Elder blood. They were able to read the thoughts of others, and even
change them, and they have at times been a very powerful force on
Earth.

They were given more subtle differences as well. The Diaboli do

not have a uniform look but a great many of them have green eyes.
They were meant to be able to blend in almost anywhere. They have
generally higher intelligence than normal humanity and a predilection
towards the abstract and theoretical. They generally distrust authority
and have trouble working together in large groups. Most were
transported to other worlds, especially New Atlantis.

The Galen, too, returned to Earth in classical times, engaging in

genetic manipulation of human stock to create prototype
superhumans. These became known as the Proto-Supremis (or Protos).
They were the gods of human mythology, with the Egyptian, Greek,
Roman, and Norse cultures being the most familiar to most of those in
the West. Indeed, Protos were involved in a hundred Terran
civilizations. Such seemingly legendary figures as Gilgamesh, Hercules,
Thor, Vainamoinen, Hiawatha, Zeus, Athena, Aphrodite, Odin and many
others were in fact Protos.
 But this attempt to introduce ‘gods’ who could guide humanity’s
social development was a total failure, not only because of
Elder/Diaboli interference but because of the contrary nature of the
human race – a race that could deny the existence of the very gods it
were supposed to obey and worship. The result was the rise of human-
created religions, all of them believing in a Supreme Being who did not,
except for brief moments, walk among them. These new religions
swept away the older religions established by the Galen, and many
civilizations collapsed.

The Galen, realizing that they could not influence their new human
race in such simplistic ways, withdrew most of their agents. The
exceptions are the Disir (Valkyries) of the Norse, who still persist in
very small numbers. They were left behind to protect the planet,
although their actions today are veiled and often confused with the
later appearance of Velorians. But while the Galen abandoned their
genetic engineering program for a time, they and their agents, known
as Seeders, continued to raid Earth, abducting thousands of humans at
a time and settling them on scores of other worlds – most of them
limited to particular racial or ethnic groups, although there were some
mixed worlds. It was in part cultural experimentation, in part stealing a
march on the Elders and the Diaboli: facts on the ground of one
habitable planet after another.

After leaving the remaining Disir and Diaboli to oppose each other
on Earth, the Elder and Galen turned on themselves in the final battle
of the First Ancient War that ended in mutual catastrophe. The Elders
were largely destroyed; their population too small and scattered to
sustain itself. The Galen females in turn were rendered infertile by a
biological agent released by the Elders. Both of the ancient races were
on a path to extinction.
 By now experts at manipulating the human genome, the desperate
Galen embarked on a grand experiment to save their race – the
creation of a race of Procreators who could replace their own infertile
women and bear the next generation of Galens. It is the outcome of
this grand experiment that forms the basis for the stories of the Aurora
Universe.

The Galen began the experiment by removing elements of the

most genetically homogenous racial group on Earth (to avoid
complicated side-effects during genetic manipulation). They abducted
several small villages of Scanian Nordics from what is now northern
Sweden, and transported them to a golden world that they named
Velor.

It was no small undertaking to create a race of beings who could

mate with the Galen and bear their young. The Galen are an
immensely powerful race of beings. While their appearance can mimic
that of any race, for reasons that are not understood today, they
became particularly fond of the human form. And so they created their
Procreators to be beautiful and desirable to the highest levels of
human potential. And they made them strong enough to endure, even
to greatly desire, the loving attentions of men who were like gods
compared to the frail.

Given the nature of their mission, most of the Galen’s attention

was focused on females. The result is that Velorian female muscle
quality is superior to the males. Height distributions between males
and females were identical, although women were twenty-percent
lighter on average. The tendons and ligaments were similarly
strengthened, and the nature of their bones was changed by replacing
the calcium matrix with an allotropic form of diamond.
 Another major change was to ensure that these future mothers
were capable of withstanding the act of procreation, as Galen
reproduction involved near nuclear heat being released by the male. In
addition, the Galen wanted their Procreators to be able to protect their
young during any kind of adversity or disaster.

The result of this enhancement is that Velorians have skin that

feels even softer than human, but its unique cellular matrix stiffens in
direct proportion to the force being applied against it. The upper limit
of that cellular strength is nearly unlimited as it uses nonlinear atomic
binding forces, making a Velorian’s body nearly indestructible when
under stress. This also has the side effect of giving a golden shade to a
Velorian’s skin that neither lightens nor darkens with sunlight, but does
vary slightly from person to person. Many humans believe this skin
tone is particularly attractive.

Yet another major change was to ensure that the Velorian mothers
could easily remove themselves and their Galen offspring from harm.
Each Velorian has a tiny voltrus organ which shares their upper chest
cavity with their heart and lungs. It feeds off Orgone energy, the
internal energy source of a Velorian, and is capable of conducting that
energy through superconducting nerves to the actual volatai, which is
attached to the pelvis and located at their body’s center of gravity. The
volatai’s force can accelerate their bodies at nearly 100G’s for brief
periods, and 10G’s sustained. It is also used to stabilize their body
during exertions. Control of this pair of organs requires significant
training before a Velorian can appear to ‘fly’ using them.

Nano vision, often mistakenly called Tachyon vision, is a Velorian

capacity to recognize a series of extremely dense sub-atomic particles
which have not yet been detected by human scientists. Since those
nano-particles are present in high concentration in most areas of the
galaxy, Velorians can not only see in total darkness, but they can look
through most materials. The protons of metals, like uranium, lead and
gold, while equally penetrable by the nanos, tend to confuse the spin
and resonance, making it harder to resolve what is behind such a
barrier.

Velorians possess slightly greater mental acuity than humans, their

average IQ being 140, although their mental abilities are tuned toward
quick learning and adaptiveness -- the most important characteristics
of a warrior. As a rule, they have photographic memories. The average
Velorian could quickly scan a book, and until their short-term memory
was overwritten, they could recite word for word from any line on any
page.

A control mechanism was built into the Velorian race by the Galen.
When they are close to a large body of gold (planetary core of Velor,
for instance), or a band of gold surrounds their body, particularly their
neck, the orgone energy flows of their body are reduced. This results in
a significant weakening of muscular strength, along with some
reduction in invulnerability. The gold effect partially paralyzes the
transport mechanism for orgone through the nervous system.

For Velorians living outside a gold field (and therefore empowered),

gold applied directly to the skin, such as a choker around their neck or
belly chain, has the further side effect of inducing a gentle intoxication,
often accompanied by a relaxation of social restraints and lapses of
judgment. Its effect has been described as similar to the human
response to small quantities of the drugs Ecstasy, alcohol, marijuana
and cocaine combined. While this also has the undesirable side-effect
of making a Velorian more susceptible to attack, the reduction in
strength and mood changes also open many opportunities for sexual
intercourse between Velorians and ordinary humans.

Soon after creating the Velorians, the Galen abandoned them,

creating another superhuman species called the Geheimites. These are
rarely seen, and the Galen even more rarely. Left to their own devices,
the Velorians set up a society based on genetic classes (Prima, Matra,
Brava), with reproduction carried on by the Maternity Engine left
behind by the Galen.

A dissident faction called the Naturalists opted for natural

reproduction, and the issue became so heated that it led Velor to the
brink of civil war. Only by accepting exile to a new world, Aria, did the
Naturalists forestall open conflict. Feelings remained bitter, however,
and a Genetic Bomb, generally believed to have been planted by the
Velorians, later infected the Arions, as they now called themselves.
Nearly all those born after the bomb were only about five times as
strong as ordinary humans; they were known as Betas. The few Primes,
who more than equaled unenhanced Velorians in strength and
invulnerability, lost the power of flight.

The Arions began forging an empire, conquering seeded human

worlds and sometimes committing genocide against non-human
worlds. Velorians did not venture beyond their own planet until
Scalantran traders persuaded planetary authorities to export their
women as Companions – concubines and guardians to the rich and
powerful on seeded worlds. Some Companions became so attached to
their worlds that they defended them against Arion attacks – setting in
motion yet another cycle of war that became official when the Galen
authorized Aphro’dite to enhance Primas as Protectors of systems
threatened by the Arions. Soon afterwards, an alliance of seeded
worlds called the Enlightenment was created under the auspices of
Velor. But Protectors were also assigned to some “undisclosed” worlds,
including Earth.

Besides the Galen, Elders, Velorians, Arions, Geheimites and

Diaboli, key players in the Galaxy include the Scalantrans – marsupial
aliens whose trading ships operate nearly everywhere. They have a
near monopoly over commercial travel between star systems, using
wormholes created eons ago by the Old Galactics. The Vendorians,
aliens who supply Vendorian steel for ships of the Scalantrans and the
Enlightenment, were nearly exterminated when the Arions assailed
their homeworld. Yet some escaped, forming a gypsy fleet called the
Vauld under the protection of the Velorians.

But there are also those who have sought to escape the long war
between the Enlightenment and the Empire. Some Arions have fled to
Rostran, where they hide their true origins. There is another world with
a peculiar connection to Rostran. It is called Sanctuary…

The links to other stories in this series are as follows:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/10741692/Bird-of-Paradise

http://www.scribd.com/doc/10631286/Finding-Sanctuary

A third story will soon be added.