Long ago, the galaxy was awake.
Ships crossed the dark between stars. Stations burned like cities above a thousand worlds. Fleets died in wars no one remembers. Machines harvested moons, moved oceans, counted lives, and opened roads through the void.
Then, in a single moment, everything stopped. Reactors went silent. Nav systems froze. Gates closed. Those in space died in the dark; those on worlds survived without answers.
Centuries passed. Then the machines woke again — not all at once, not cleanly. The children of broken worlds returned to space not as heirs, but as scavengers: repairing what they can, worshipping what they cannot, fighting over maps, wrecks, ports, and lies.
The old galaxy is dead.
Its bones are still useful.




