[Cosmosdex] The Universal Encyclopedia
[Cosmosdex]
Zodiac History
How the twelve came to be
Zodiac History
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Pre-Spaceflight
The Zodiaca system was a tiny, isolated island of life, an unremarkable dot in the vastness of space, untouched by outside forces. Around its flickering star, eleven planets orbited, each one bearing the seeds of life. Each one, developing a species of its own.
Eons passed, and many of the species used telescopes and discovered what they had only theorized before; the presence of life outside their worlds, other civilisations and other beings. Some contacts were made by crude radio, slow and faltering across space, but the limitations of light largely kept people to themselves. This continued for centuries, until a new and powerful transmission technology was developed by the aqualisces, many times faster than radio. For the first time, true conversation between the worlds was both possible and easy.
The Unification
The leo were the first to respond to the calls of the aqualisces, and together they would work together, planning to construct a spaceship based on their new technologies, that would allow them to defy their planetary limits and visit each other for real. As more of the zodiaca species joined their new communications network, they gained new insights and were more and more successful, until at last it was complete. While the first uses of this new invention were peaceful, it would not be long until the wandering home planet of the skokakrio, Geetee, came soaring in from the depths of interstellar space and was captured by the star, finding its new home near to the planet of the sagittari. The disruption this caused to the planet caused a war between skokakrio and sagittari, the ships of peace becoming ships of destruction as they were used to attack the interloping planet. Eventually however, the dust settled, and eyes turned to the rest of the system, and how an affair like this could be prevented from ever happening again.
There was still tension rife across the system, some species previously close having picked different sides to support in the Wandering War; so when the fairness-loving libraille spoke up and suggested that a council of the species be formed, to promote unity and peace amongst all beings, it was decided that the council must be based on neutral ground.
The initial choice was the planet of Bellidae, the only world remaining which still seemed to have no species upon it. But when they went to look for a place to build, they found that the ephemeral-seeming carcilli were in fact gigantic psychic sea snakes, living under the seas where no telescope could detect them, and having no civilisation to build radios. This caused a great deal of confusion to the aqualisces who had believed them to be guardian spirits and the ariesa who thought they were a sign of enlightenment, but the dreaming giants refused to apologise for being misleading, in their irritable way.
One day, after completing an experimental signals upgrade to boost the clarity of communications to the gemimi planet, an aqualisce detected a strange signal seeming to come from deep space. This discovery sparked a great amount of speculation. What might life from outside their little system look like? What were they saying? The zodiacs built many listening stations, to record all the scattered fragments of messages they could not understand, piecing together what the transmissions were saying, striving to know the secrets of life outside the universe.
This process continued for decades, during which time the council was finally cemented into place, led by the librarille on a station near the asteroid belt. The original station had to be abandoned before it was ready due to being horrendously haunted by the mystery ophiuchus, forcing them to construct a second one, as far away from that terrifying place as possible. Despite these setbacks, the future seemed bright. They were becoming united, they were discovering the mysteries of space, and they were going to meet the universe at large.
Everything was going to be alright.
The Age of Fear
Eventually, the message from the stars was successfully translated in a secret breakthrough, and played for the Council. The message was from a strange unknown species called the “tourists”, inviting anyone who heard the message to call them back, to say hello, and give the tourists their location so that they could visit. Despite this hopeful message, the Council kept the fact that the message was translated hidden from the public for years, debating and deciding whether they should leave their shroud of secrecy, whether it was really safe to reveal themselves to an unknown species. In the words of ariesa councillor Zeikia “That sounds incredibly fishy” (three objections were subsequently made and two sustained). In the end they decided to respond to the message, but after an age of arguing, just before they were due to make the announcement, they received shocking news. New messages had been decoded. Cries for help. Cries of desperation. Dire warnings, warnings against the tourists. That they were liars who brought plague and destruction from a second, viler species in their wake. That it was certain death to speak to them.
The Zodiac species had arrived on the galactic scene at the very height of the The Fear Age, when terror came to the stars on the notails’ interstellar wings.
The announcement was cancelled. The Council, deciding unanimously for the first time, buried the fact that the messages were translated as deep as they could, lying to the species they represented, and releasing a falsified, gibberish version of the original transmissions to the public. They claimed that they had given up for now, and that it was up to the public to ‘have a go themselves’. These public attempts were doomed of course, no matter how hard they tried.
As the time went on, the council received and decoded more and more messages from species overrun or crippled by the diseases the notails brought in their wake, expanding aggressively. The Council was split in two, half the members wanting to bury their heads and ride out this universal disaster, reasoning that the notails would have to stop expanding eventually; while the other half believed they had an obligation to help the millions of aliens in need. Eventually, agreement was reached between the factions. While the zodiacs would not interfere directly with the notails, would not attack them, they would secretly contact species who seemed like they were endangered or next on the notail conquest list. Any of those species which could find a way to send refugees to the Zodiaca system would be taken in and protected, but they would have to make their own way there as the zodiacs had not yet discovered the secrets of how FTL travel worked.
Members of the contacted species hatched plans to get themselves and their people to the zodiacs. Those who were already trapped in notail areas stole space ships, while those who were expecting them to arrive planned ambushes and traps to get control. These ships found their way to the zodiac planets, offloading their precious cargoes to safety, duckariums often setting up so that they were prepared for the arrivals. A few of these ships were kept for research, the zodiacs thoroughly confused about how the faster than light drives worked, but the vast majority were reused as dedicated ferries to get even more people out. So many ships were used for this, that many were saved from total enslavement or annihilation.
By now, of course, the wider population of the zodiacs were involved due to the sheer scale of the rescue efforts. The libraille and several other species complained that they should do as some of the council believed, and actively stop the deeds of the notails in the first place, not just do triage for survivors from the attacked species. However, the great majority of FTL ships were at this point being run by the skokakrio, who had heard tales of the notails from their refugees and were adamant that the council’s plan was working just fine. They weren’t going to be persuaded away from it to do something that might put the plan in danger. This refusal caused many bitter feelings in the already-strained species relations, some of which have been passed down to this day.
These mass evacuations continued for over a century, although as the notails behaviour towards the other species changed, the frantic mass-evacuations of huge sections of species became less and less frequent, more commonly being directed rescues of people who were escaping the notails on their own. By now, most of the refugees had been relocated to the planet of Bellidae, as its highly suitable continents of land were of no use to the seafaring carcili, and many crowded cities had sprung up all across the previously unused land.
The rise of the Silent Era, ironically, resulted in far more communication for the Zodiacs. Many species, even those who had closed themselves off from the rest of the galaxy, sent members of their populace to be with the Zodiacs as a “Safekeeping” measure, in case they were found and enslaved by the notails. The zodiacs would discuss tactics, evasion, and the need for the hiding peoples to work together and not simply be bullied by the notails into giving up. But one day, they realised the downsides of extending their trust when notail ships were detected in their own system. They had been sold out by another species, desperate to avoid being forced to work for the notails like the metaparxi.
Alerts were raised and all their many years of stolen ships (and FTL-less home made ships) were marshalled to warn off the notails; or fight if they had to. The notails meanwhile, were simply surprised at the sheer scale of the Zodiac species, being by far the largest forces they had seen yet.
“Here we stand, united twelve and more! Together we are strong, begone from this place at once. You have no right to be here, and your force will not avail you. Leave.”
After a stand-off, the notails simply decided that the zodiacs were far too much trouble to attack or conquer, and went home. They rapidly left the system and simply agreed to leave the zodiacs alone from now on. Doing so somewhat deflated the egos of some of the zodiac species, who had been expecting some kind of grand and heroic battle.
As the fear over the universe began to die down with the rise of the geckrechauns, the Zodiac species abandoned their exile from the galaxy and were able to emerge into the universe as a whole. Their first priority was to help the many disparate species they had helped from around the universe return home, but many of their home planets had been taken over, either by the notails or by opportunistic species when the notails left, willing to snatch up such a valuable prize in an instant.
Some of these species found new home planets, while others simply chose to remain on the zodiac planets that they and their families had resided on - their old planets a distant memory at best. These days, the planets with the highest populations descended from the original refugees are Bellidae and Anatida, the only places which still had the large-scale capacity for millions to support themselves indefinitely. The Council Station’s “Stacks” district is also a multi-species diaspora, formed out of the thousands of utterly obsolete ships from this era, all attached to the hull of the great center of government.
A Bright Future?
Once the issues regarding the rescuees were mostly sorted out, the Zodiacs turned their eyes for once to the stars. These days, the Zodiac Council regularly leads exploration drives, seeking to find and colonise new planets, and ensuring that all the species of the zodiac system have an equal chance to seek out new worlds and new horizons, not just the richest or the most technological. The system has developed to an ever-widening universal market, hotels sprouting up to encourage tourism, and transport networks designed to facilitate all kinds of species wherever they wish to go. Arguments still inevitably flare up amongst the citizens of the many worlds, but overall this corner of space is calm, safe and stable.
The Zodiac’s leaders still remember the times of fear well, however. They are always keeping a watchful eye on the notails, even as the universe’s exterminators have chosen to stay out of the spotlight, and are always ready to call them out when caught doing something they shouldn’t. They can’t always stop them, or other universal wrongdoers, but they are at the least, always there to prevent unfairness from going unnoticed.
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