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Refugium Federation |
As interstellar civilisation expanded during the 2000's, a large number of people worried that the terragens were repeating the mistake of the first interstellar era. Nanotech, picotech and emerging femtotech posed tremendous dangers, and the emergence of truly superhuman and vastly transapient AI as well as many mutually incompatible societies all linked by fast communications and even wormholes meant that a war or nanoplague could spread everywhere. Some critics came to the same conclusion as the Backgrounders once did, that too large and powerful civilisations would inevitably destroy themselves (which of course explained the lack of other expanding alien empires).
In 2230-2270 the Semperist Survival Fleet left colonised space. The Semperist Institute had been founded by omegists in the 1900's in order to support the continued survival of humankind; it had a somewhat anthropic bias but mainly directed its efforts into policymaking, encouraging diversification and space colonisation. Gradually it became the focal point for many groups sharing the worry that the Age of Imperialization would end with disaster. They organised groups ranging from anthropists and ludds wanting to escape the rule of the AIs to the ancestors of Djangalla Reformation. They bought up a large number of obsolete interstellar colonisation vessels cheaply. The timing was right, as the new wormholes were rendering the big amat, GUT-ship and diametric drive colony ships obsolete and replaced them with wormhole-based colony efforts. The Semperists managed to accumulate an impressive colony fleet, and began to leave known space. Among the people of the Wormhole Nexus their escape was a mere curiosity, and as nothing was heard from them they were regarded as lost forever.
The destination was secret and randomly chosen. The main fleet moved counterspinwards, with scoutships moving ahead to find a suitable target. In 3240 the first colony ships reached Refugium, an easily terraformable terrestrial world approximately 2200 lightyears from Sol beyond NGC 3680. Over the next 300 years most of the fleet arrived, settling on Refugium or in nearby systems (a deliberate plan, in order to minimise mutual conflicts). Many ships never made it, either vanishing on the journey or maybe setting other destinations. At least one group is believed to still travel towards the galactic rim.
In 3384 the old Semperist administration stepped down, replacing itself with the Refugium Federation. The Federation never amounted to anything except maintaining the basic goals of the project: the survival of humanity by voluntarily limiting dangerous technology. Individual member states were not allowed uncontrolled nanotech or AI, while the federation (under strict accountability) was allowed to use some forms. The cultural context was firmly in favor of this, and despite occasional renegade or dissident the Federation remained staunchly low-tech.
In 4000 the Refugium Federation had expanded to a 100 lightyear sphere, including 20 colonised systems. Contacts were by tightbeam laser, and most inhabitants believed that by now the rest of mankind would have destroyed itself or transformed into some failed posthumanity. Each system developed their own unique culture, many so different that they had nothing in common. The old technology restrictions were gradually eroding. In 4065 the AIs on Salaam revolted, an event that reinforced the old federation ideals and gave a renewed burst of energy to the otherwise rather passive administration. Over the next 200 years a local war against the AIs continued, until a peace settlement was reached in 4260.
In 5436 an exploration probe from Polonius discovered intelligent life in a system 240 lightyears distant. A hastily assembled contact fleet reached it in 5916, and diplomatic contact with the aliens began. It turned out (to the surprise and disappointment of the crew) that the aliens were actually human-descended tweaks of the Kestnerist Corporate Clade, part of the NoCoZo. The Polonians returned to the Federation with the news that mankind had survived. The news led to the Schism War, as radicals wanted to rejoin the larger human community while traditionalists wanted the Federation to remain isolated. The war, lasting from 6159 to 6340, led to the eventual splintering of the federation. The radicals accepted help from the Andian Mission and joined the NoCoZo, while the orthodox worlds remains isolated to this day.
The Refugium Federation is the largest and most well known case of an undetected empire inside another empire. Due to the distances involved it is very likely many similar hidden empires exist in the outer volumes.
