Truth be told, even I know little of the time before the Scream. I mean, life as humanity knew it not just ended with the Scream, it got obliterated. Still, no better time than today and no better man than myself to enlighten you on the wondrous and tumultuous developments that slingshotted us out of our ancient antics and into today.
When I was a little boy, I found a bygone item on my home planet, Limeda: a coverless book that had somehow weathered the test of time. I have coveted this little paper treasure since, and it is the sole reason I am the man I am today. It detailed a phenomenon called the Great Reset. Pre-Golden Age civilization attempted to use a crippled economy and global healthcare- yes, you read that right, humanity was bound to a single planet not two-and-a-half millenia ago!- as a gravity sling, propelling humanity into a long and prosperous future. Considering the era that followed, I'd argue they were quite successful. However, they had not predicted an even greater reset just 100 years later. After all, how could they? Unlike the Crown sickness, the Scream was anything but gradual.
Slowly- surely, but slowly, humankind set foot on planets undiscovered, leaving behind the clutches of the Via Lactea, and settled in Astarus-3. Smack-dab in the middle (okay, it's a little space-northeast of the middle,) is the Cas system- a stellar system with a pivotal role in the era to come.
In my travels, I have discovered many relics and leftovers from a time before the scream. Most of them seem trivial, pertaining more to the culture and habitas of Terran humans, rather than anything meaningfully powerful. Yet recently, in the Cas system, on the planet Prochoo, rumors of the discovery of a true artifact- tech from before the scream, tech of unknown power and capabilities- have surfaced.
Further details about this curio, and the planet itself, will have to wait- I have yet to collect all my thoughts on the matter. It seems, though, that a rag-tag group of adventurers, be they mercenaries, auspicious auctioneers, or regular Illinois Joneses*, got a hold of it after the war- which will be the focus of my next exposé.
In truth may we find prospect,
Jediah Murdock
*Illinois was a famous adventurer of old, they even made movies about him!
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A Scream, Strife, Then Silence
Science FictionNearly 2000 years of rebuilding what has been lost to a cacophony of discordant psionic energy, unmelodious toxic authority, and the jangled white noise of uncertainty was followed by a shattering conflict unironically dubbed the "Unification Wars"...
