The Fall began with the Golden Age
The Golden Age... So long ago, yet I can remember it like yesterday. The capital, Earth, was glorious. Covered in plains and forests, oceans, snow... it was perfect. Following the Great War that damaged our home to beyond recognition, it was decided that all metropolitan areas be moved off world, to colonies, allowing for the regrowth of the now exhausted world. The world took no time in recovering from its desolation, to an extent no living person had seen. Endangered species came back, and forest nearly cleared quickly began resurging. Cities became gardens, everywhere one could see the majesty of nature. A capital city was placed in what was known as the Middle East as they were the only place to not to enter the fighting that caused most of the desolation. Till the end a gorgeous fortress citadel by the name of The Weathered Walls holds our councils. Its walls, covered with all manner of jewels, gemstones, and glass, sparkled in the morning, spreading rays of every color of light, glinting and shining. The central spire was designed to be reminiscent of a tree, the core made of a thick brown glass stretching what felt like miles up to a radiant forest green at the top. The council was help in the top most levels, with their living quarters placed around the council chamber. The core held rooms that allowed for people to visit the Earth for short stays of up to a month, generally staying here was extremely expensive and most people only came to visit for one day. Gardens filled with every species of flower imaginable sprawled all around the core, with farmland placed a ways from the walls. All luxuries had to be imported to protect the Earth's resources and beauty, it had been ruled illegal to harvest trees and other resources outside of the relatively small area designated for farming. If you couldn't afford to visit the Earth, often the new Dark Matter Reactors made space travel cheap enough that fly-bys were frequent and cheap, allowing many poor families to see Earth. A view from space was almost more breathtaking than that of the ground, the view of the Marble Earth and the stars together, with parts of the milky way adding color to the night sky, was absolutely stunning. People were speachless every time it came into view, entirely captivated, many would forget their mouths open or realise they had forgotten to breath. Often people would begin to cry. The sight of our home world has always been a sight to behold, but when you live thousands of lightyears away, spending your time on factory, or metropolis worlds, you begin to forget the glory of Nature.
That is the Human way though, we destroy, always have. We changed beautiful worlds into factories, mining cores out of moons, filtering out gas giants. It's what caused the fall. We took our gifts and abused them. Earth was lucky that it was our home world. No other world was beautiful long after we got our hands on it. Eventually we ran into the first other sentient life form in our galaxy, the Trifaliri... They wanted peace, we agreed, inviting them into our homes and sharing technology. They used a form of transportation based on miniature suns, ours was based on Dark Matter. However, peace did not last long once they saw our destructive habits. They valued nature above all else. We destroyed nature with few thoughts. They told us to stop, they gave us many warnings. We would not stop our rampage, even though many people chose to protest our destruction, and so war began... but they had more time to prepare, and we thought ourselves alone, they had spent years developing their technology to face off against another race we did not know of. Their ships were built for war, metals that were indestructable, and weapons that vaporized everything they touched. Their weapons could tear through our armor like it wasn't there. They flattened planets like we squashed bugs. They crushed us quickly, spreading through our empire so fast we couldn't plan defenses. Our radios, even with quantum technology, couldn't send information fast enough. But the closer to Earth they came the harder we fought.
They made it to our last 5 systems before something changed. Aliara, the fourth daughter of councilor Robert came forward with a plan shortly after we heard about her father's death. She commandeered the capital ship factory above Earth and in moments designed a ship that not even the brightest minds could design. It was crewed by 1 person, built to react to their mind,the way fighters were designed except it was not a fighter, it was a capital ship. The largest ever created, using techniques never even dreamt about, and a reactor no one understood. The reactor seemed to use what could only be a white hole, the exit point of a black hole, something that had only been theoretical. It could create near infinite power, but no one would be able to replicate it. She commanded immediate obedience from all who heard her voice, and she would not back down. When the ship was completed 10 days later, she climbed in... what we saw from the viewport stopped us in our tracks. A tablet shattered at the door; a radio clattered at the communications station. Inside Aliara's vessel, her eyes shone like a star. They showed power. The vessel was feeding off her to keep the white hole active. She possessed an energy so potent she could power a vessel armed with so many weapons it could destroy our entire fleet alone. She hit their main fleet, flying head first into a slaughter... except it wasn't hers... their projectiles reflected off her vessel, and with every shot they fired, her weapons grew brighter, stronger. The whole fleet was gone in minutes. The shortest battle in history. She wiped the fleet out, but the secondary fleets made it to our last worlds even while she fought, obliterating everything, except Earth. Seeing our home world so green, they spared it, realising that there were at least a few of us who loved nature. They smote the capital, The Weathered Walls, but left enough of us to survive, under the watch of their guardians. Later we learned they had managed to get a spy in, and it was the spy who killed Robert. In Aliara's anger it is said she was blessed by the gods and sent out to smite those who opposed the chosen.
When she learned they had slipped past she began a destructive spree against the Trifaliri. She obliterated planets and fleets even faster than they had done. Until, one day, she vanished. No trace was left, and the Trifaliri retook control. They were wary in their conquest now, they remembered her anger and power.
Even now they are fearful that she will return. I have heard that they have prophecies about the destruction of their race by the hand of one they call, Tric'trrel, or Sword of Gold in our tongue. We believe this was her, but the gods were upset with her absolute fury and unrestrained destruction, so they took her away to wait until the right time.
"Until that time comes, Earth will be occupied by the Trifaliri."
"Oh shut up Lera, we all know that story was made up by mother. There is no way you were around back then"
"You just wait and see Mecer, Aliara's ship is buried here on Eyrien, I've seen it!"
"Lera!... You know as well as I that that is just a large lump of gold."
"Kids, food is ready, and you know Aliara may have been real, but most of that story is exaggerated."
*Both* "Yes mother Ara!"