Year 4980 - The Age of Divergence
By 4980, humankind has colonized dozens of star systems, reshaping entire species through centuries of controlled evolution. Wars over resources, technology, and territory have given way to uneasy treaties enforced by factions.
No one is purely human anymore.
Gene-editing became the new arms race. Some were designed for strength and radiation resistance; the Forgeborn, miners and engineers born to crack planets open.
Others, like the Helix, were sculpted for intellect and adapted to lab-life and neural processing. Entire sub-species now serve the roles they were made for, united under faction banners.
Each faction believes it is humanity’s true future. That belief is often enough to kill for.
On paper, this was the closest thing the universe had to a miracle: a cutting-edge research station built by the combined effort of every major faction.
It hangs in a slow, watchful orbit around Umbra Lumous, a dying star unlike any that had been discovered before. Official statements called it a new frontier of understanding.
Then one day it went dark. No broadcasts. No traffic. No status pings. Just silence hanging beside a dying sun.
Worst of all, something is wrong with the star.