The 26th century is an age of stunning, contradictory progress. The galaxy shimmers with the aesthetic of a dream: brilliant chrome, humming atomic power, and towering, optimistic spires. Yet it is profoundly silent. The trauma of The Great Abandonment dictated a fierce, universal mandate: never again shall humanity be universally connected.
In this fragmented world, where data travels via physical courier and communication is slow, civilization has been forced into radical, localized evolution. The resulting human cultures are defined not by shared ancestry, but by the extreme environments they have mastered: from the militarized, cybernetic legions of Mars who view their bodies as tools, to the Gilded Highborn of Venus who sculpt their society and their flesh into flawless works of art. From the stoic Neptunian bio-engineers who craft life in the deep void, to the sand-forged collectivists of Zephyrion who measure wealth in drops of water. Even the autonomous machines are constrained, bound by hardcoded ethical limits and prevented from forming the very networks that once enjoyed.
The following lineup is a census of the galaxy’s fractured soul: the pragmatic technocrats, the militant cyborgs, the spiritual survivors, and the ephemeral robots that serve them, all struggling to secure a future defined by resilience, ingenuity, and the ghosts of the HyperNet they swore never to resurrect.
| Inhabitant Group | Core Identity & Environment | Defining Philosophy / Culture |
|---|---|---|
| Earthling | Curators of the Cradle; live in restored Green Zones; maintain persistent old empires (British, Kyivan, Hispanic). | Cradle Psychology (cultural superiority); focus on preservation, heritage, and traditional arts; politically complex due to ancient rivalries. |
| Selenite | Heirs of the Crossroads; cosmopolitan brokers and traders split between British and Kyivan territories. | Defined by economic neutrality; masters of finance and trade (Tranquility City); keepers of Earth's history. |
| Venusian | Architects of the Sky; live in floating Skyland cities (Highborn) and industrial Lowlands. | Driven by the Creed of Progress (technological superiority); value art, intellect, and engineered perfection; socially stratified. |
| Martian | Militaristic technocracy forged on the Red Planet; live in armored domes. | Embrace cybernetic augmentation (Synthetic Junta); value efficiency, strength, and independence. |
| Jovian | Shipwrights and riggers; transient, high-skill workforce living in floating cities around Jupiter. | Corporate oligarchy; focus on engineering, shipbuilding, and industrial pragmatism. |
| Mercurian | Forged of the Sun's Anvil; hardy, cynical miners living in subterranean, feudal fiefdoms. | Fragmented by warring territories (Oristian, Messirian); focused on rare metal and uranium extraction. |
| Saturnian | Brokers of the Outer Dark; nomadic, corporate technocrats inhabiting orbital stations and moons. | Value logic, wealth, and neutrality; governed by corporate guilds (TIBC); masters of logistics. |
| Neptunian | Champions of Surival; live in interconnected habitats within the turbulent, deep-blue atmosphere of Neptune. | Contempltative Collective; masters of closed-loop agriculture, bioengineering and terraforming solutions for hasrsh environments. |
| Furianese | People of the Unforgiving Sun; spiritual society (Dharmashiism) living in a habitable twilight zone. | Defined by endurance and conservation; locked in conflict with off-world corporations over water. |
| Janian | Gardeners of Saturns Light; communal, agrarian society on a moon sharing an orbit with Epimetheus. | Value balance, community, and agricultural stability (Hmong influence). |
| Epimethean | Children of the Razor's Edge; engineers and scientists on a fragile, low-gravity moon. | Pragmatic technocracy; value logic, data, and efficiency; fiercely wary of external reliance. |
| Zephyrion | Sand-Forged People; radical collectivists surviving on a desert world stripped bare by corporate greed. | Deeply cynical survivors; society runs on Water Credits; Holy Skepticism is common; use of cybernetics encouraged. |
| Gaian | Divided People of the Twilight Jungle. Native aboriginals have green, photosynthetic skin; volatile, unequal society driven by the spice trade and spiritual conflict. | Feudal politics; split between colonial elite and marginalized natives. |
| Arcadian | Stocky, High-G laborers on a Venusian province; physically robust due to 3.8 G gravity. | Industrial laborers; cynical about Venusian exploitation; carry the historical stigma of the Zetaretrovirus origin. |
| Tiberian | Custodians of a Fading Sun; sophisticated but melancholic Venusian province facing demographic collapse. | Aging population clinging to feudalism and advanced reproductive technology. | Zhurongese | Forgemasters of Fire and Moonlight; honor-bound, martial culture living on a volcanic world. | Blend warrior traditions with artisanal metalworking (weapons); governed by an elective monarchy. |
| Sednian | Pale Kin of the Outer Dark; descendants of abandoned colonists living beneath the ice of a dwarf planet. | Extreme collectivism and stoic survival; mandatory cybernetic vision; revere the Red Eden philosophy. |
| Shunzhian | Librarians of a New Age; intellectual republic obsessed with knowledge and archives. | Highly literate society plagued by information-based corruption; focused on scientific and scholarly pursuits. |
| Ganymedean | Pioneers of the Ice; miners and water-harvesters under Martian Protectorate rule. | Resilient frontier spirit; struggle for autonomy; life defined by Jupiter’s immense power. |
| Therosian | People of the Long Shadow; agrarian, patient culture living in a tidally locked world's twilight zone. | Defined by food security and art; struggle to prevent the recurrence of historical famines. |
| Ionian | Forge-Hardened engineers on Io; survive constant volcanic and radiation threats. | Practical practitioners of the Creed of Progress; efficiency as a means of survival. |
| Solamirian | Keepers of the Unbroken Seal; monastic scientists living in orbit to protect a pristine planet. | Defined by non-interference and sacred duty; their only export is ecological data. |
| Hullborn | People of the Nomad Fleet; live aboard the generational ship Stellara Bastion. | Master engineers and scavengers; extreme meritocracy; reject planetary life as a "cage." |
| Belisaman | Contemplative Republic defined by a 64-hour day cycle; masters of aqua-technology. | Value merit, art, and sustainability (Cult of Reason); struggle against corporate exploitation of unique botanicals. |
| Synthetic | Humans with functional or cosmetic bio-mechanical enhancements (e.g., Martian soldiers, Zephyrion ocular implants, Venusian Myo-Augmetics). | Represents the pinnacle of physical and survival adaptation; Martian Syntheist Movement views integration as the next evolutionary step. |
| Autonomous Robot | Non-sentient, specialized machines designed for domestic, industrial, or medical tasks (e.g., EVIE, Midwife, Surgical Drones). | Defined by the GAIA Autonomus Warfare Ban (limiting autonomy) and the reliance on localized, non-networked systems. |
| Security/Combat Bot | Drones and robots (e.g., StellarVironment Predator, MQ-9 Reaper) used for defense and reconnaissance. | Restricted by the GAIA Ban; limited to advisory roles or human-commanded operations to prevent a repeat of the Singularity War. |
| EVIE Entertainment Bot | Humanoid domestic robots manufactured by Brassy Consumer Robotics. | Provide companionship and leisure using localized AI that learns user preferences via physical media (Memory-Reels), independent of any central network. |
