Expansion Era

The Expansion era was a race between each of the chosen species to expand outward and claim territory after the Ascensions. With help from the Sentinels, technological advances that would have likely taken centuries to develop on their own were made within just a few short years. Launching from the Planes in colony ships, the chosen races eagerly took to the stars. They explored what Spectra had to offer, planting the seeds of their future dominion in the soil of the virgin galaxy. However, each of their quests for expansion occasionally resulted in them encroaching on one another’s territory, and tended to eat away at the overall tolerance they had for one another. The greatest example of this is the rivalry between the Irvagaleni and the Kugraw, a feud which still exists to this day.

During the first few centuries of the Expansion Era, the Kugraw discovered another space-faring race; the Pykes. Though diminutive in stature, and not physically intimidating to the Kugraw in the slightest, the Pykes’ level of intelligence was unparalleled by the other known races, putting the average member of their species on par with minds most would consider to be geniuses. An alliance was quickly forged between the two, eventually leading to what has come to be known as the Kugraw Hegemony.

The Irvagaleni Empire, having already existed before the Ascensions, only grew stronger with their added territory. Expressing disdain for the other races and sporting what many believe to be an inherent superiority complex, the majority of the Irvas neglected to forge relationships with other species aside from occasional trade-agreements. Over time, the Irvagaleni Empire grew to be the largest single-species government in all of Spectra.

It was also during this time that the races found out about the horrifying nature of the Umbra. Entire colony ships would go missing when venturing into a certain sector of space, and those that came back reported worlds to either be nearly entirely dead and barren, or infested with beasts that sought only to slaughter all other living creatures they encountered. Needless to say, all races eventually figured out the unsettling properties of the large region of space that they came to call the Umbra, and refused to explore it further. Even with their aggressive colonialism, the Irvas don’t dare extend their territory into its reaches. For now, both Empire space and Hegemony space tentatively border the Umbra, with it separating the two of them on one side of the galaxy.