Cruelty in the Stars: Xenocide and the Old Kind
For tens of thousands of years until the Twila opened their eyes for the first time, life thrived in what would become the Twilight Ascendancy. Well, some of it did at least.
Known only as the “Old Kind” by the times of 0 ABT, for millennia their existence and all that transpired under their reign has remained the closest guarded secret by the Lexicas Corthos (formal plural form of Lexia Corthos). The unfortunate discovery and revival of “Worm Tongue” by archeologists in Drellun has remained the greatest lapse in their informational embargo, but it has nonetheless become vital to the Twila’s ability to communicate with other species in the days of the Inflection Point and increased presences across the sector.
Well, that’s all interesting, but it does not answer the question I have posed, does it? Well, who were the Old Kind then?
Slavers.
Cruel, monstrous slavers who deserved exactly what they got.
The Old Kind were solitary creatures, worm-like in form and massive, but unequipped to achieve the advancement beyond the days of barbarism they so craved. But, while without appendages, their intellect was frighteningly sharp, and eventually a species suitable to their needs arose on their planet. They came to derive a certain pleasure from the ownership of sentient lifeforms, punishing the universe for their cursed existence by carving it up into parcels and property. By the time they came to have the advanced understanding of genetic modification required to grant them their freedom to exist on their own, they had grown so attached to their “pets” that they couldn’t bear to part with them. Instead, they kept their slithering forms and the crafting/uplifting of new servant species became something of an art form for them, showcasing the conquests and technological advances of each clan.
While the Old Kind aggressively expanded their stellar borders, they would grow to become bored of the warfare, as the lesser races they encountered were not intellectually stimulating enough for their attention. With the discovery of the Transmutation within their borders the Old Kind rejoiced, for there was the next frontier to challenge their might. For who else but they had the patience and wit to decipher the workings of extradimensional matter; who but they had the intellect to cross the border of reality into one entirely new and conquer it in their own name? Their expansion would cease at that time, and beyond its maintenance their full attention would go to their new curiosity.
While their attention lapsed, slaves began to go missing in the anti-coreward fringes.