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Neb 34786 - The Tunh |
In 2965 the Lagrange Defenders, a research/exploration megacorp-institute discovered an artificial structure in the system Neb 34786. The structure turned out to be a still-functioning wormhole of alien origin. The Lagrange xenoarcheologists found that it was maintained by advanced automation, believed to be non-intelligent at the time. As they explored through the wormhole, they found the remnants of a wormhole network approximately 33 million years old extending through the region between the Orion and Sagittarius arms. The Tunnlers (as the aliens were called) appeared to once had a much more extensive network, but over time enough links had failed to disconnect the discovered links from the rest
The discovery electrified many expansionist groups, as it suggested that there were more wormhole fragments up for grabs. It also interested several exploration institutes and megacorps as a way of reaching the Sagittarius arm; this was the reason the Sagittarius Project was instituted, with Lagrange as one of the main sponsors
Neb 34786 became known as Tunh, and emerged as a focal point for expansionism, research and politics. For the first decades there was a very real risk of invasion as several nearby empires shook their weapons, but thanks to the skillful diplomacy of Lagrange Defenders and their Hod allies Tunh became an independent neutral polity, the Tunh Logika (of course still largely a puppet government to Lagrange). Tunh Logika began to terraform Gatto, a world with extensive Tunnler ruins on its moons
In 3094 it was discovered that the Tunnler wormholes in fact housed quite powerful picotech AI. This caused a major crisis, as Lagrange and Tunh Logika swiftly stopped all traffic in order not to risk anything, despite massive pressure and some threats from expansionist groups having high stakes in the colonisation of the Sagittarius region. Communications between the wormhole AIs and xenolinguistic human AIs revealed that the wormhole AIs had a complex belief system based on the concept of duty, perhaps as a kind of control system imposed by their creators or the result of millions of years of isolation. The AIs were not particularly interested in any cultural, technological or other exchange, but were content to let humans use the wormholes as long as the AIs were left alone to experience their perfect duty. Since then very little communication has occurred and additional Tunnler finds have been few. There is a widespread suspicion that the AIs regard their former creators has having abandoned their duties. Some people worry that the AIs might actually have helped their masters to go extinct, and warn against trusting the wormholes
In 3010 Tunh Logika formally joined the Institute of Exopaleontology as a department-nation. Over the last millennium the Tunh system had become not just a major trade nexus but also the local center for xenobiology and long-range research. The move to become a part of the Institute was largely political at the time, a way of ensuring that the neighbouring and at the time both militant and successful Kringsler Volume would be discouraged from attacking the system by outside pressure. The move was successful, and while the Kringsler empire soon imploded due to an economic schism Tunh Logika remained a very profitable part of the Institute, acting as the local headquarters
During the Version War several of the wormholes were destroyed, further reducing the old Tunnler network (they have since then been replaced by modern human-built wormholes). The Tunh system was attacked by Cygexpa forces, and while the Tunh wormhole was not destroyed the other wormhole routes were, as well as all major habitats and much of the surface of Gatto. Tunh Logika survived just barely, and some centuries later joined the Sagittarius Transcultural Cooperation when it contacted the system. It is today a somewhat backward system tending its historical ruins and mostly content to remember its glory days and claiming it will one day (possibly several million years in the future) rise again.
