Galaxies


Volume I – Galactic Winter 

Epilogue I


If we could compare the Universe, which is a difficult task, with something we know, we would say that in this attempt there would be no shortage of adjectives that contemplate the vacuum, the darkness, the icy, the endromino, the abominable, and the marvelous that it extols... The Universe is something unimaginable, and yet there is no shortage of scattered and courageous attempts to explain it. Perhaps it has to do with "chance," the bold will say, or something that originated from an exceptional, previously conceived Matrix—a very “random” well-defined plan, others will say. What the Universe is, or appears to be, expanded from a small point, a tiny speck capable of representing all known space, an immense, indistinct "web of fire" that emerged 13.8 billion years ago. And it continues to expand greatly: colossal clouds, or nebulae, of dust and gas, scattered and dispersed to their fate. Regardless of whether this Universe can be grasped as an intelligible entity (or not), a sort of "thinking figure," it is still observed, formally speaking, as something immensely frightening. Permanent "fireworks" of epic proportions radiate throughout the entire appearance, which is thus filled with the luminescent and phosphorescent explosion of multiple stellar cores, sometimes concentrated, other times dispersed. With the help of interstellar dust and gas, incalculable "spots of matter" have formed and continue to form, ever intersecting—pure "celestial nectar" that populates this Universe from one end to the other. It is precisely within these eloquent incubators of stars, the so-called nebulae, that large islands of clustered stars give rise to the most precious thing that seems to exist in these parts—the life exuded by galaxies, the aggregating poles of all that gravitates around them. But if it is true that nebulae are the places of galactic events – the maternity wards – it is also true that “they” themselves are represented by authentic cemeteries and, in this way, each grain of interstellar dust seems to fight avidly for life, for the place it deserves on the cosmological map, generating tension at every single moment, and with everything that represents a threat to its existence.

At one of these extreme points of known and mapped outer space lie some of the most interesting constellations: Mayi, Gelia, Garin, among countless others of a lesser order. Together, they establish a precise point in the rich and diverse Universe, with sparkling, abundant signs indicative of the unimaginable number of stars and matter. Immeasurable galaxies invade this special "point," enabling the formation of planetary systems rich in opportunities for events, with conscious life sometimes taking the lead in this complex process.

Galaxies appear in the celestial firmament with stunningly beautiful, incomparable morphologies. Their beautiful shapes are drawn like authentic identity cards. Therefore, no two galaxies are alike—elliptical, spiral (disc), barred spiral, or simply irregular.

They also eagerly seek their place in the universe, behaving like any organism in the insatiable struggle for survival. 170 billion galaxies, at least those within the perceptible spectrum, capable of being detectable through radiation—anything that oscillates diametrically between 1,000 and 100,000 parsecs, plus or minus one atom per cubic meter—place us, without a doubt, in the vicinity of what we call authentic, reliable, and genuine intergalactic icy dust.

Among these unspeakable sidereal wonders, the Antrax galaxy emerges as a legitimate heir to the royal throne. It is found teeming with life. With a barred spiral shape, it contains two arms that completely encircle its ultraluminous center, and when observed from afar, it resembles the design of the Ying and Yang symbol, in which the white part resembles one of the arms, the black the other. Despite its unusual design, this galaxy possesses sufficient diversity; millions upon millions of stars establish a cunning and intricate gravitational shape, with trillions of planets and planetoids framed by all manner of planetary systems—solitary, binary, multiple, bizarre...

Being a medium-sized galaxy, equipped with several solar systems, Antrax has six planets endowed with conscious life, although each of them occupies, in the great evolutionary showcase of species, contextual and civilizational stages that are very uncoincidental from each other.

But within this enormous variety, we also find conscious life—a biogeological immensity, where the states of matter, and because the laws that govern them are the same throughout the Universe, are organized in unimaginable ways, creating a menu of wonders. Peoples and communities perfectly adapted to their Worlds, each constructed according to its own cosmogony.

Federations, confederations, republics, monarchies and totalitarian states make up a delightful amalgam of Worlds inhabited by strange creatures that, although physiologically similar, possess unusual and singular characteristics that confirm the belief that life in the Universe, besides being convergent, is reduced to the eternal struggle for survival.

But let's start at the beginning.
 
 

Epilogue II

The Garin planetary system

 
The Garin planetary system, a name also given to the constellation to which it belongs, is one of the oldest in the entire galaxy. It is located in the last arm, in its outermost part, approximately 25,000 light-years from the galaxy's edge and 40,000 light-years from its center. Knowing that a light-year is equal to approximately 9.5 million kilometers, Garin is, therefore, a small, solitary star system, composed of a small number of stellar objects that orbit each other according to their gravitational pull. The total area comprises 12 planets and 24 moons. Two inhabited planets—Lagash (with an area of 460,200,000 km²) and Uruk (510,100,000 km²)—although located in very similar orbits, have very different characteristics.

Uruk orbits very close to its parent star, Ori, at a distance of about 160 million kilometers. It has an atmosphere rich in oxygen. This hydroplanet is practically made of water, so abundant is it that only 5% of it is solid ground (9,984,970 km)—in essence, a single continent. The seasons are extreme and can be summarized in two, with amplitudes ranging from -5 to 40 degrees on average. Uruk's orbit around its parent star, Ori, takes about 5 years, culminating in two seasons lasting two and a half years, which, as we've seen, are very severe.

Uruk has only one people—the Urukians, who all live on the planet's only continent, Litag. Its capital is Lil. Litag is a vast kingdom with one owner—the Royal House of Kulkoi, ruled by the powerful monarch Kaia, who anxiously governs nearly 1 billion inhabitants.

Physiologically and morphologically, the Urukians are tall and slender humanoids. They have very large hands and feet. They have very dark hair and eyes and consider themselves the true descendants of the Gayences—those who colonized the Anthrax Galaxy long ago. They are "pure" warriors, competitive and tough, their nature being warlike, accompanied by a need to conquer everything and everyone.

The planet Lagash, on the other hand, is located in a closer orbit, at 108,200 million Ori, an orbit that lasts about 1 year and 2 days. Unlike Uruk, Lagash had very little water. On this planet, life is only possible in areas near the poles, with temperatures averaging around 37 degrees Celsius. Beyond these areas, oxygen is scarce and other gases prevail, along with severe temperatures that can reach 80 degrees Celsius. On Lagash, outside the polar zone, there are oceans of sulfuric acid and methane. Seismic and volcanic activity is still intense, thanks to the influence of its two powerful rocky moons—Mio and Scylla.

Despite being made up of various peoples and homelands spread across both poles, the inhabitants of the planet Lagash are united, aware of the brotherhood they represent as a planet and on constant alert against the common invader: Uruk. In the northern hemisphere, there are two large continents, Mona and Loana. Loana (1,234,510 km²) is the largest in population, and its capital is Saltia. Mona, although vast (2,278,320 km²), is located in the far north of the planet and very close to the pole. Only the area of the capital, Geria, is habitable, as atmospheric conditions are highly unstable, with abundant heavy snowfalls and rain sometimes made of fresh water, but other times of sulfuric acid, which occurs frequently and unexpectedly. Two billion beings live on the two continents above the equator. Below the equator, and part of the south pole, there are three continents: Numia, Treia, and Falti. Only Treia, Falti, and Numia have civilization, which together cover 2,121,330 km2. These are desert lands populated by expatriates, nomads, outcasts, and fugitives from the regime. In Falti and Numia, there is virtually no fresh water. Treia, on the other hand, has beautiful cities, the capital of which is Leipa. The continents above the equator are dominated by the Urukians, who are the colonizers. Below, there is resistance to the Urukians. Despite having little water, it is a very rich and highly coveted planet, in terms of minerals, silica, methane, antelope, precious stones, and so on.

The Lagashians are generally short and stocky, with brown hair and eyes. They are highly combative and resourceful. Their civilization, however, is average. Only now have they begun to master the Age of Motors, that is, the power of magnetic energy.

The two planets of the Garin System—Uruk and Lagash—are governed by two very different political systems. The powerful kingdom-planet Uruk has colonies on Lagash. Meanwhile, the southern hemisphere of Lagash, which is independent of Uruk, is formed by a complex political federation, involving political parties and a parliament representing all the peoples who inhabit it.
 


Epilogue III
 
Metha planetary system

 
Metha System. Located at one end of the galaxy, this planetary system is still considered young and unique in the entire region. It is located in the last arm, in its outermost part, about 10,000 light-years from the galaxy's edge and 25,000 light-years from its center. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that the Metha system, with about 8 planets and 20 moons, belongs to a system called binary. Thus, the planets share their orbits around one or both stars. In this case, the planets are divided between orbiting the larger star, Or, an orange dwarf, and Rip, a red dwarf with half the mass of its sister. While orange dwarf stars have a very long lifespan, even longer than Sun-like stars, red dwarfs, because of their low mass, also have a very low surface temperature. These stars emit a low frequency of light, which balances the entire system.

These stars "flood" the planets' dawns and dusks in a very special way, and some of these planets even share a gravitational center with both stars, thus enjoying a close approach to the star. This allows them to enjoy temperatures capable of supporting life, while at the same time remaining highly protected from cosmic winds and deadly stellar radiation, unlike what happens, for example, with planets that belong to single planetary systems. This is the case with the planet Larsa, also known as Zorzia. Although the Metha system has eight medium-sized planets and about 20 moons, only here is there conscious life. This is, in fact, the most unusual place in the entire Galaxy, as the people who inhabit Larsa are the only ones indigenous to the region and present, physiologically and morphologically, major differences compared to the planets colonized by descendants of the Milky Way Galaxy.

Larsa/Zorzia has four large continents: Fazia, Dezal, Piz, and Zal (each with an area of approximately 280,000 km ). Fazia is home to the planet's capital, Zar.

The four continents are united in a Federation, and four governments and a General Assembly govern the planet. This enormous celestial body, with a radius of approximately 24,000 km, is undoubtedly the largest inhabited planet in the galaxy, although only a small portion is solid ground, with the remainder heavily populated by strange "trees" embedded in a tormented swamp of quicksand. Thanks to the gigantic groves that swarm the planet, the climate is generally temperate, with very similar temperature ranges across all territories. Also called the "paradise planet," it has abundant water and diverse natural resources. Larsa/Zorpia is the only place in the galaxy that has not been colonized, being, as we said, the sentient life of local origin, very different from the beings on other planets. Its atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide, an important fact, as this factor helped, in the past, to contain colonial temptations. All other peoples inhabiting the galaxy require equipment that allows them to breathe. The planet's dense vegetation produces the planet's predominant color, a delicious greenish hue.

Morphologically, the Larsans resemble ancient terrestrial frogs, with slender arms and legs, enormous mouths, and three bulging eyes. Their hands are precious instruments and watching them move something is like watching a small ballet. Very little is known about their civilization and technology, which is apparently unknown. In the War Between Worlds, the first war between inhabited planets in the Galaxy, which occurred about 1,500 years ago and caused terrible devastation that nearly led to the extinction of these peoples, the Lagarhians adopted a position of simple self-defense, creating an impenetrable security perimeter around the planet.
 


Epilogue IV

Olaf's Lonely Planetary System
 
 
The planets Sargon and Enlil, for their part, belong to the solitary planetary system called Olag, a dying system whose parent star, Pali, once a rare blue giant star and now a supernova, is undergoing a radical internal transformation, dying. This gigantic structure is located in the last "dark" arm, in its innermost part, about 15,000 light-years from the edge and about 30,000 light-years from its center.

The star Pali is about to wither, transforming into a supernova, a slow process that will take several thousand years. Thus, this system is seriously threatened, a fact known and extensively studied by the various entities that inhabit the two inhabited planets (the Kingdom of Sargon and the Republic of Enlil), and who depend on Pali's heat. This situation naturally constitutes a moment of great stress and was the origin of the War Between the Worlds. In addition to the two inhabited planets, this system also has seven other globes surrounding Pali, very hot worlds whose internal structure oscillates between rapid liquefaction and solidification.

It's difficult to talk about Sargon without comparing it to Enlil, since the planets appear almost like twins. Besides being situated in very close orbits, Sargon (with a diameter of 10,000 km) is slightly hotter than Enlil (with a diameter of 8,000 km). There is a special moment, every 40 years, when the planets almost touch. When the two planets approached, a great celebration was held, as both could be seen very clearly with the naked eye.

If Sargon is a planet characterized by enormous deserts that stretch from one end to the other, with very high temperature ranges, Enlil, although very similar to Sargon, is a little less sandy, more temperate, and has a dense forested area.

Sargon has three large continents: Fuli, Garnephia, and Garzophia, the latter of which is the capital of the Kingdom of Gharsolia. These four continents make up only 30% of the planet's solid ground. Sargon has two moons, Sate and Fer. In total, 2 billion beings inhabit this body.

In turn, Enlil possesses five continents, each averaging approximately 200,000 km in size: Numit, Bool, Deni, and Aregon, which is also the name of the republic's capital. Enlil has no moons. Therefore, the territories bathed by water are uninhabited due to the unstable maritime conditions in which they are located. Just over 1 billion beings inhabit the planet.
 
Politically, Sargon and Enlil are very different. Sargon is a kingdom, ruthlessly ruled by King Raza, who, as is the case with all of Sargon's kings, derives his status from a right won in a pankratic battle.

Enlil, on the other hand, is a republic in formal terms, because in reality it is an oligarchy dominated by the planet's most populous faction—the Mir. Among them, the president of the powerful Enlilian Union—Geni Rezu—rules the planet's destiny with an iron fist. There is also a senate, which is in fact a rather imperial structure and the meeting place for all the planet's factions.

Both planets have very limited resources, a fact that has been reflected in the hostile environment that persists between them.
 

 
Epilogue V

Arrastal System
 

Lastly, the planet Ur is part of a complex multiple planetary system—ARRASTAL—or, in this case, a triple system. It is located in an intermediate arm of the galaxy, about 60,000 light-years from its center. Multiple star systems are systems composed of more than two stars. In this case, Ur has three parent stars—Ali, Meta, and Fot.

Because Ur must obey three gravitational orders, and although the star Ali, a medium-sized yellow giant, is the one whose force is most pressingly felt on the planet, the planet is nevertheless very unstable, sometimes due to the approach of one of its companions, during which the planet experiences extraordinary acceleration. Despite everything, Ur orbits around a gravitational center common to all three stars. Thus, from year to year, we can experience horrific storms, terrifying volcanoes, and even extreme temperature changes, but also paradisiacal periods lasting ten or fifteen years, or even decades of cold or extremely high temperatures.

Be that as it may, because it lies in a special orbit, the multi-diverse light that radiates from it provides the planet with abundant, rich, and diverse life, whether in its vast oceans, with strange creatures, or on the ground, with incredible life forms. Ur is essentially a huge hydroplanet (with a diameter of 100,000 km) and has no continents. Only enormous volcanoes that rise from the water, sometimes rising thousands of meters high. It is precisely within these volcanoes that the cities and people of Ur are found and live.

In the beginning, even before the exodus of the Milky Way's inhabitants to Anthrax, Ur was a penal colony of Larsa/Zorzia, the galaxy's indigenous people. Later, after the galaxy's colonization, this planet was taken over by the Urians, emancipated cousins of the Urukians from the distant Garin System. After the First War Between Worlds ended, Ur became an independent planet again. Currently, Ur is an extremely warlike and aggressive Confederation, advocating a union between the Garin System and the Arrastal System. Larsa has never looked favorably on this takeover of its territory and has claimed ownership of it, as well as the existence of certain protection zones for the planet, which exclude the presence of Larsians, considered terrorists by the ruling powers.

The current capital, Nova Litag, is located on the planet's largest volcano, Troll, with a crater diameter of approximately 70 km and a caldera of 800 cubic km. This is nothing more than an ancient, deactivated and remodeled Larsian city. In fact, most of the cities within the volcanoes were built by the people of Larsa/Zorpio.
 


Chapter I – Full Moon, Void Moon


Planet Ur. Stellar year: 10200. Captain Ror is on vacation leave. He is accompanied by his son, Rur, who turns six today. They peer through a long, wide, and powerful telescope. They observe a tiny point of light in the sky—the Milky Way, a spiral-shaped galaxy, still very beautiful and very bright. His son, Rur, asks:

"What's that bright area over there called, Dad?" He pointed with his little finger.

"It's where we all come from. Well, almost all of us. We came here thousands of years ago, and now we inhabit this galaxy that is our New Home."

"What about the Larsanians?"

"Well, dear, the Larsans were born here. They're indigenous," the Captain explains. He continues, "Once, the Milky Way was a galaxy teeming with life and with a planet that likely gave rise to most of the known life in the Universe. A tiny blue planet called Gaya. Today, this galaxy is dying, and its worlds are in deep agony. Once teeming with life, now a deep graveyard."

What Captain Ror didn't tell his son was the dramatic episode that unfolded when the dying planet Gaya was abandoned. The United Nations, at the time, was tasked with leading the entire process involving the complete evacuation of the planet, leaving behind those deemed dangerous or even hostile to humanity itself. This process, which involved millions of human beings, who would thus be deprived of the adventure of repatriating the human species, was carried out over many years. This monumental effort consisted of trying to minimize errors as much as possible, namely, not causing a high degree of injustice. Thus, putting many resources at the service of this enormous task, but at the same time making the process very complicated to manage, even giving rise to conflicts between nations. Ultimately, it was agreed to release them across the entire planet, but limiting access to the resources left behind. As a result of this decision, technological systems were destroyed, including energy dissemination, telecommunications, transportation, and so on. In the end, those who remained were faced with an anti-civilizational climax.

Far away, in the tiny point of light observed by Ror and his son, a relentless battle for survival still rages today. Gaya has become a world of acid rain and extreme temperatures, an atmosphere with very little oxygen.

Olag System. Today is a special day because, after several years of fratricidal wars between Sargon and Enlil, the inhabited planets of the system will, for the first time, attempt to cement a peace armistice, a complex undertaking intended to be long-lasting and beneficial for both entities that rule their respective worlds. Sargon's most important city, which is also the capital of the Kingdom—Gharsolia—is adorned with its enormous towers lined with glass walls. The rectilinear layout, which repeats itself repeatedly throughout the streets and avenues of the imposing city, is the town's trademark. In Gharsolia, everything seems artificial, and no green space has been seen for a long time. However, the metropolis is awash with color to welcome the president of the powerful Enlilian Union—Geni Rezu. The royal senate, a truly imperial structure, is the meeting place. The Kingdom of Sargon is led by Raza, as is always the case with all Sargonian kings, a right earned in a pancratic, man-to-man, relentless battle. A traditional fight, unarmed and to the death, which gave him access to the throne. For 20 years, the Sargonian monarchs, after gaining power, command the full respect of the people. After this period, they are challenged, and they decide whether to go into exile or fight for power again. Tonight, apparently, all is calm, as Geni Rezu, the president of the powerful Union of Enlil, must rightly be welcomed.

In Enlil, which is not politically organized as a kingdom, it is a parliamentary union, achieved through the maintenance of power by a single political party, which has perpetuated itself in power for many generations. Its leaders belong to a peculiar and select oligarchy that, through arm wrestling, commands the armies. Geni Rezu, not given to conversation, was educated in a military institution, reaching the highest rank at a young age. He became famous for the particularly atrocious acts he committed, even as a young man, in the two wars in which he participated.

The diplomatic delegations gather at a massive oak table. At each end of the table sit the leaders, and on either side are advisors ready to assist, or suppress, should the need arise. Although this meeting had been planned for a long time, and many meetings had taken place in preparation, the atmosphere in the royal compartment is dense. Sargon and Enlil are different in every way. At first glance, the peoples inhabiting the planets could not be more physiologically antagonistic.

The Enlilians, with their very fair skin and translucent eyes, probe the Sargonians at the other end of the table. Many battles with bloody results still lie ahead, and on both sides there is no shortage of councils and advisors trying in vain to derail this encounter.
 

 
TO BE CONTINUED...