Forerunners (The History of the Galaxy)
Encyclopedia
Forerunners is a name given by human scientists to an ancient semi-intelligent race of space-borne creatures in The History of the Galaxy
series of novels by Russia
n science fiction
writer Andrey Livadny
.
Originally, little was known about these strange beings, except that they were, most likely, the first lifeforms to exist in the universe after the Big Bang
. As such, they were composed of proto-matter. They only possessed a low-level intelligence level, enough for them to seek out food and consume it. Their food was any form of matter in the universe, although they were unable to consume stars. However, they used starlight to guide them and flew to the stars like moth
s to a flame.
However, during the events of the novel The Orion Nebula, it is revealed that the truth is much more shocking. The Forerunners are, in fact, pieces of what most would call "God
".
far from the Milky Way
. However, this life was not organic. This lifeform consisted of powerful magnetic field
s around a gas giant
. Once it attained sentience
, the being realized that, eventually, its homeworld would die, and so it decided to leave. To do that, the lifeform needed a vessel. To that end, it created much smaller artificial lifeforms, consisting of the same form of EM field
as their creator. In order to animate and program its "children", the magnetic lifeform created the first ever DNA
molecules in existence. These creatures, which the humans would later call Forerunners, were programmed to go out into the universe and seek out other gas giants with similar conditions to their homeworld. Once found, the gas giant (or rather its magnetic fields) would be reshaped to allow the original lifeform to "settle" there. Other Precursor functions included self-defense and self-replication
with the use of any form of matter. However, some Forerunners were destroyed due to various causes. Sometimes, their DNA would find favorable conditions on a planet's surface and form the beginning of organic life.
In essence, the original magnetic being can be called "God", as it was the cause of all organic life in the universe. However, it was merely a side effect of its survival instinct.
, where a suitable gas giant was located and settled. However, about 3 million years ago, the system's star went nova
and nearly killed the gas giant lifeform. Seriously wounded, the lifeform lost all control of its Forerunners, whose programming was also damaged by the stellar explosion. They departed the nebula and began to travel the galaxy. Lacking their original purpose, their primary function became to feed an all matter around them and replicate more of themselves.
This large swarm was detected approaching an inhabited region of space in our galaxy. The swarm consumed all planets, asteroids, and even space dust in their path. This region of space, later named by humans the Sleeve of Emptiness, lay directly in the path of the Forerunners. Realizing that the swarm would destroy their races, the inhabitants of the region began to prepare for it. The two-headed Logrians chose to take their massive space habitats and attempt to outrun the Forerunners, fleeing from them. The Insects decided to hide themselves and wait out the "storm" by building a massive Dyson Sphere
around their home star - thus making their star invisible to the swarm. Unfortunately, the sphere was not yet completed, when the Forerunners attacked and nearly destroyed it. Desperate, the Insects abandoned their worlds and left after the Logrians. Only the Delphons, who by that time visited many worlds in the galaxy, including Earth
, decided to stay and fight, if not for their own survival, then for the survival of the races to come. After years of trying and failing to halt the swarm's advance, the Delphons came up with a suicidal plan to stop the Forerunners once and for all: whenever the swarm would approach one of their systems, they would detonate the systems star, destroying at least a part of the swarm. In the end, the Delphon civilization completely annihilated itself; however, their sacrifice was not in vain - the rogue Forerunners were destroyed as well.
Millions of years later, an archaeological expedition by the Confederacy of Suns to one of these annihilated systems discovered several Forerunners in an inert state. By feeding them matter, the humans managed to reawaken the ancient creatures, not knowing the danger they represent. The Forerunners managed to break containment and attacked and nearly destroyed a Confederate fleet in the system, constantly multiplying. Only a counterattack by their natural enemies, the entriphages, allowed the humans to stop another catastrophe.
once they reach old age (i.e. none of the colonists have died of natural causes since the founding of the colony). They also appear to be able to exert some control over the Forerunners through the use of implants.
Unfortunately, the gas giant is slowly being depleted by ancient human-built biomechanical
terraforming
machines, who are mining a rare metal known as "metallic hydrogen
" to fulfill their original programming and increase their numbers. This makes these so-called "phages" similar to the Forerunners. While the Forerunners are constantly trying to defend their creator from the phages, the machines' unique energy-absorbing armor and powerful laser
s allow them to easily defeat the Forerunners and continue mining the gas giant.
The History of the Galaxy
Expansion: The History of the Galaxy is a science fiction book series by Russian writer Andrey Livadny. With the plot span between 23rd and 39th centuries, it embraces several novels, tales and stories, some of which are within the five collected stories....
series of novels by Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
writer Andrey Livadny
Andrey Livadny
Andrey Lvovich Livadny is a Russian military science fiction writer. His works were first published in 1998 and include several novels as well as a number of tales and short stories. Most of his works are merged into The History of the Galaxy series, which embraces human development over the next...
.
Originally, little was known about these strange beings, except that they were, most likely, the first lifeforms to exist in the universe after the Big Bang
Big Bang
The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological model that explains the early development of the Universe. According to the Big Bang theory, the Universe was once in an extremely hot and dense state which expanded rapidly. This rapid expansion caused the young Universe to cool and resulted in...
. As such, they were composed of proto-matter. They only possessed a low-level intelligence level, enough for them to seek out food and consume it. Their food was any form of matter in the universe, although they were unable to consume stars. However, they used starlight to guide them and flew to the stars like moth
Moth
A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...
s to a flame.
However, during the events of the novel The Orion Nebula, it is revealed that the truth is much more shocking. The Forerunners are, in fact, pieces of what most would call "God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
".
Origin
Millions of years ago, life appeared in a dwarf galaxyDwarf galaxy
A dwarf galaxy is a small galaxy composed of up to several billion stars, a small number compared to our own Milky Way's 200-400 billion stars...
far from the Milky Way
Milky Way
The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains the Solar System. This name derives from its appearance as a dim un-resolved "milky" glowing band arching across the night sky...
. However, this life was not organic. This lifeform consisted of powerful magnetic field
Magnetic field
A magnetic field is a mathematical description of the magnetic influence of electric currents and magnetic materials. The magnetic field at any given point is specified by both a direction and a magnitude ; as such it is a vector field.Technically, a magnetic field is a pseudo vector;...
s around a gas giant
Gas giant
A gas giant is a large planet that is not primarily composed of rock or other solid matter. There are four gas giants in the Solar System: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune...
. Once it attained sentience
Sentience
Sentience is the ability to feel, perceive or be conscious, or to have subjective experiences. Eighteenth century philosophers used the concept to distinguish the ability to think from the ability to feel . In modern western philosophy, sentience is the ability to have sensations or experiences...
, the being realized that, eventually, its homeworld would die, and so it decided to leave. To do that, the lifeform needed a vessel. To that end, it created much smaller artificial lifeforms, consisting of the same form of EM field
Electromagnetic field
An electromagnetic field is a physical field produced by moving electrically charged objects. It affects the behavior of charged objects in the vicinity of the field. The electromagnetic field extends indefinitely throughout space and describes the electromagnetic interaction...
as their creator. In order to animate and program its "children", the magnetic lifeform created the first ever DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
molecules in existence. These creatures, which the humans would later call Forerunners, were programmed to go out into the universe and seek out other gas giants with similar conditions to their homeworld. Once found, the gas giant (or rather its magnetic fields) would be reshaped to allow the original lifeform to "settle" there. Other Precursor functions included self-defense and self-replication
Replication
Replication may refer to:Science* Replication is one of the main principles of the scientific method, a.k.a. reproducibility** Replication , the repetition of a test or complete experiment...
with the use of any form of matter. However, some Forerunners were destroyed due to various causes. Sometimes, their DNA would find favorable conditions on a planet's surface and form the beginning of organic life.
In essence, the original magnetic being can be called "God", as it was the cause of all organic life in the universe. However, it was merely a side effect of its survival instinct.
Forerunner Crisis
Eventually, a swarm of Forerunners reached our galaxy and found a system in the Orion nebulaOrion Nebula
The Orion Nebula is a diffuse nebula situated south of Orion's Belt. It is one of the brightest nebulae, and is visible to the naked eye in the night sky. M42 is located at a distance of and is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. The M42 nebula is estimated to be 24 light...
, where a suitable gas giant was located and settled. However, about 3 million years ago, the system's star went nova
Nova
A nova is a cataclysmic nuclear explosion in a star caused by the accretion of hydrogen on to the surface of a white dwarf star, which ignites and starts nuclear fusion in a runaway manner...
and nearly killed the gas giant lifeform. Seriously wounded, the lifeform lost all control of its Forerunners, whose programming was also damaged by the stellar explosion. They departed the nebula and began to travel the galaxy. Lacking their original purpose, their primary function became to feed an all matter around them and replicate more of themselves.
This large swarm was detected approaching an inhabited region of space in our galaxy. The swarm consumed all planets, asteroids, and even space dust in their path. This region of space, later named by humans the Sleeve of Emptiness, lay directly in the path of the Forerunners. Realizing that the swarm would destroy their races, the inhabitants of the region began to prepare for it. The two-headed Logrians chose to take their massive space habitats and attempt to outrun the Forerunners, fleeing from them. The Insects decided to hide themselves and wait out the "storm" by building a massive Dyson Sphere
Dyson sphere
A Dyson sphere is a hypothetical megastructure originally described by Freeman Dyson. Such a "sphere" would be a system of orbiting solar power satellites meant to completely encompass a star and capture most or all of its energy output...
around their home star - thus making their star invisible to the swarm. Unfortunately, the sphere was not yet completed, when the Forerunners attacked and nearly destroyed it. Desperate, the Insects abandoned their worlds and left after the Logrians. Only the Delphons, who by that time visited many worlds in the galaxy, including Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
, decided to stay and fight, if not for their own survival, then for the survival of the races to come. After years of trying and failing to halt the swarm's advance, the Delphons came up with a suicidal plan to stop the Forerunners once and for all: whenever the swarm would approach one of their systems, they would detonate the systems star, destroying at least a part of the swarm. In the end, the Delphon civilization completely annihilated itself; however, their sacrifice was not in vain - the rogue Forerunners were destroyed as well.
Millions of years later, an archaeological expedition by the Confederacy of Suns to one of these annihilated systems discovered several Forerunners in an inert state. By feeding them matter, the humans managed to reawaken the ancient creatures, not knowing the danger they represent. The Forerunners managed to break containment and attacked and nearly destroyed a Confederate fleet in the system, constantly multiplying. Only a counterattack by their natural enemies, the entriphages, allowed the humans to stop another catastrophe.
The Orion Nebula
After the fall of the Confederacy, several different parties found the Orion nebula and found not only thousands of Forerunners in the local gas giant and their guiding intelligence, but also humans descended from the colonists of Earth's first interstellar colony ship, the Alpha, lost for over a thousand years. These humans appear to worship the gas giant being as God, which also allows them to be reincarnatedReincarnation
Reincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...
once they reach old age (i.e. none of the colonists have died of natural causes since the founding of the colony). They also appear to be able to exert some control over the Forerunners through the use of implants.
Unfortunately, the gas giant is slowly being depleted by ancient human-built biomechanical
Biomechanics
Biomechanics is the application of mechanical principles to biological systems, such as humans, animals, plants, organs, and cells. Perhaps one of the best definitions was provided by Herbert Hatze in 1974: "Biomechanics is the study of the structure and function of biological systems by means of...
terraforming
Terraforming
Terraforming of a planet, moon, or other body is the hypothetical process of deliberately modifying its atmosphere, temperature, surface topography or ecology to be similar to those of Earth, in order to make it habitable by terrestrial organisms.The term is sometimes used more generally as a...
machines, who are mining a rare metal known as "metallic hydrogen
Metallic hydrogen
Metallic hydrogen is a state of hydrogen which results when it is sufficiently compressed and undergoes a phase transition; it is an example of degenerate matter. Solid metallic hydrogen is predicted to consist of a crystal lattice of hydrogen nuclei , with a spacing which is significantly smaller...
" to fulfill their original programming and increase their numbers. This makes these so-called "phages" similar to the Forerunners. While the Forerunners are constantly trying to defend their creator from the phages, the machines' unique energy-absorbing armor and powerful laser
Laser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of photons. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation...
s allow them to easily defeat the Forerunners and continue mining the gas giant.