Share
Alien Civilisations in the Local Group

Local Group
Image from Antonio Ciccolella - CC BY-SA 4.0
The Local Group of Galaxies

The Local Group is the collection of gravitationally-bound galaxies of which the Milky Way is a part. It includes 3 major galaxies - Andromeda, the largest; the Milky Way, our own and the next largest; and Triangulum, the smallest of the major galaxies. The Local Group also has over 50 dwarf galaxies. All of these galaxies will merge into a single enormous galaxy in billions of years, assuming that the forces of nature dominate over any efforts intelligent life may make, as they have so far.

The Local Group, like most galactic clusters that have been surveyed, is home to many different civilizations. Any known alien civilization in the universe has a catalog number in addition to any other name it may have. The first portion of this number is a classification of its energy emissions. In general this has served as a useful proxy for the civilization's size, even though there are some civilizations that are as populous as those of one level, but are more energy efficient and appear to be of a lesser level. The largest classification is a High Energy Emission Civilization (HEEC), with lower emission civilizations classified as Medium (MEEC), Low (LEEC), and Null Energy Emission Civilizations (NEECs). The next portion of the catalog number is an abbreviation indicating what galaxy it is in, and the final portion is a number that indicates when it was discovered. For example, MEEC-MW-56, a Dyson sphere on the other side of this galaxy, is the 56th MEEC detected in the Milky Way. However, civilizations within our own galaxy are often named with the "MW" part dropped.

The Terragen Sphere itself is an example of an HEEC. An MEEC is from Type I to Type II on the Kardashev Scale; the Terragen civilization in the Interplanetary Age would have been an MEEC. Information Age Terragen civilization would have been an LEEC, and pre-technological humanity would have been an NEEC. It should be noted, however, that although many LEECs and NEECs are thought to be primitive civilizations of this type, many of them may simply have a Hider mentality or have eschewed the use of high energy technology for other reasons. It is expected that the vast majority of the LEECs have not been detected yet, but estimates indicate there may be around a thousand of them in a galaxy of the size of the Milky Way. Likewise, NEECs by definition cannot be detected from afar, but there may be about 10,000 of these per normal sized galaxy at any given time.

Following is a description of each HEEC in the Local Group, as well as descriptions of particularly notable civilizations of lower energy levels. The Argus Array has enormous sensitivity compared to what was possible in ancient times, and is the source of most of our information on alien civilizations. Some, however, have sent transmissions meant to be decoded, and in these cases they have included a 'primer' that used scientific and mathematical figures to establish the basics of the alien language and worked their way to further complexity from there. Due to the speed of light, any observations of what a civilization is 'currently' like are actually out of date by an amount proportional to the civilization's distance.



Milky Way Galaxy


HEEC Galaxy Map
Image from C Costello and Steve Bowers
High Energy Emission Civilisations detected at long range in the Milky Way Galaxy to date

The Milky Way is home to 8 HEECs and over 100 MEECs.

HEECs

Terragen Sphere: Our own civilization. The Terragens are ruled by 34 known S6s, and are divided into three major factions - the Sephirotics, the Ahumans, and the Nonaligned. Each of these three is itself divided into many sub-factions of varying levels of cooperation. There are also many minor polities. Over 99% of Terragen modosophonts are virtuals of diverse kinds, and the remainder who are embodied also come from many different clades. These embodied types include vecs, nearbaselines, provolves, and neogens. Terragens also exhibit great diversity in the types of settlements and habitats they build. The Terragens have been steadily expanding from a single star system for the last 10,000 years or so. In this time, several xenosophont civilizations that were formerly LEECs or NEECs have been encountered and some have merged with the Terragens.

HEEC-1: This civilization appears to be made up largely or entirely of virtual beings, since all its observable construction projects take the form of computronium banks. HEEC-1 has built at least one moon brain around almost every star in its territory. This civilisation has apparently existed for many millennia, and is known to have sent Trading ships out of its territory towards various parts of the Galaxy, including the Soft Ones volume. Attempts to contact this civilisation directly by METI have not yet been successful.

Beginning in the 9900's, major conflicts have been observed at the edges of this volume, evidently between the core civilisation and certain backscattering waves of colonization. HEEC-1 appears to have stopped expanding, and many moon brains in these regions have been destroyed.

HEEC-2: Known with certainty to surround most of the galactic core, and widely thought to surround it entirely and perhaps even taking in the core itself, HEEC-2 occupies an area of very high radiation flux. This civilization does not seem to inhabit any planets or other naturally occurring bodies, instead living entirely in heavily shielded orbital habitats and computronium banks. Evidently, however, at least some of this civilization consists of biological beings, given the nature of the habitats and their shielding. This civilization is also widely considered to have several S6 archai of its own, based on the megastructures and technology observed. HEEC-2 has not changed in size in all the time it has been observed, but construction of new habitats and computronium does still occur. Design similarities between ships observed in HEEC-2 and those of the Meistersingers has caused some to suggest that this is in fact their home civilization, or at least that they had extensive friendly contact in the past, but most dismiss this as wild speculation, and the similarities as mere coincidence.

HEEC-3: This civilization has a clear preference for settling planets and moons, and seems to terraform or worldhouse nearly every one around all G and K type stars, along with the occasional world around other types of stars. It seems to prefer climates that are slightly warmer than those of Earth. Many large asteroids in its systems are converted into computronium banks. When first discovered, it only occupied the half of its territory that is furthest from the galactic core. Since that time, it has expanded towards HEEC-6 and HEEC-2.

HEEC-4: Observations indicate that this is a civilization with a high degree of diversity, with planets, habitats, megastructures, and computronium of all types utilized throughout the civilization. Environmental conditions on populated worlds and habitats vary widely. It has been expanding very slowly over the last several thousand years. HEEC-4 was first detected during its highly destructive war with HEEC-7.

HEEC-5: The unusual, highly elongated shape of this civilization has resulted in much speculation. Despite its similar shape to their Migration Route, it is almost certainly not home to the Meistersingers, since HEEC-5 consists almost entirely of ringworlds, which cannot leave their host stars and travel through the galaxy as the Meistersingers do. The ringworlds have a diverse array of ecosystems, and it is not unusual for a single star to have multiple ringworlds at different angles and distances from the host star. This civilization is therefore thought to be mostly or entirely biological, with a heavy inclination towards gengineering and perhaps provolution, since it occupies so many different climates and environments. However, it is also possible that HEEC-5 has come into contact with an unusual number of natural or preexisting ecosystems, which they have absorbed and brought over into their ringworlds. Due to waste heat emissions, there is likely computronium within the structures, and this may house transapients, modosophont aioids and virtuals, and virchworlds. This civilization has grown very slowly, with some new ringworlds under construction on the end pointing to the galaxy's edge.

HEEC-6: This civilization was the first HEEC discovered, in 340 AT, although it was not fully recognized as a HEEC until centuries later. At that time, unusual infrared emissions from this region were taken as an indication of alien megastructures, but nothing else could be discerned. HEEC-6 is now known to be the largest civilization in the Milky Way, consisting of tens of millions of extremely efficient Dyson swarms around red dwarf stars. No other constructions have been observed, and naturally occurring life bearing planets around other stellar types are apparently totally ignored, so this civilization is thought to be isolationist aioids, much like our own Diamond Network and Solipsist Panvirtuality. No change has been observed in this civilization in millennia of observation. This civilization's shape is somewhat distorted due to the galactic rotation, so it is thought to be between ten and a hundred million years old.

HEEC-7: This civilization appears to consist entirely of vecs, and probably also aioids who occupy its computronium banks. It only arose in the 7200's and has been expanding rapidly, though most stars in its territory are only very lightly utilized. When it reached the territory of HEEC-4, a major war broke out between the two civilizations. Since that time, HEEC-7 has ceased efforts to occupy systems near HEEC-4.

Notable MEECs

MEEC-1: The first extraterrestrial civilization discovered. In 261 AT, modulated radio signals were detected from a source 20,000 light years away. The data could not be decoded, and gradually ceased 200 years later, much to humanity's disappointment. Later on, however, more advanced instruments have revealed that this civilization is still active, but no longer uses radio for communication. It does appear to be growing and colonizing new star systems at a steady rate, and may one day become a HEEC.

Muuh: Though they occupy a rather large region of space, the Muuh, a somewhat crab-like species inhabiting Titanian worlds and a few large orbital habitats, are found around only a small percentage of the stars in their volume. They and their culture move at a much slower pace than most Terragen clades. The Muuh do not utilize fully sophont AI; instead, their AI are animins, including their S2-equivalent, protective System of Response. Most of their technology is cryobiological in nature, including their bots, their cities, and their cyberspaces. Their civilization is tens of millions of years old, changes very slowly, even more so than expected based on their biology, and was much larger and more powerful in the distant past. Over the millions of years of its existence it has provolved several species, including the Soft Ones, and has come into contact with several others.

Soft Ones: A gel-like species very gradually provolved and assisted by the Muuh over several million years, with a recorded history beginning 8.3 million years ago. They have an ammonia and water biochemistry. Their volume of space is very sparsely inhabited, and they only occupy planets, though some of them are terraformed. Their technology level and culture are essentially unchanging. They make no use of AI.

Meistersinger Migration Route: The Meistersingers are a species of tree-like beings who interact with the world using their 'choir,' symbiotic organisms that resemble crabs and small birds and that are controlled via sound signals. Their civilization is millions of years old, and makes extensive use of biotech and nanotech, but none of AI. They live entirely in fleets of about 10 habitat ships, each about 5 to 7 kilometers long, traveling together from star system to star system. In some of their ships, they are accompanied by the Wayfarer species of xenosophonts. Each fleet is separated from the others by several thousand light years. They either do not know or will not say where most of their other fleets are, but observations after contact have revealed other fleets of nearly identical design and behavior scattered across a mostly long and thin volume of space radiating outward from near the galactic core. This, collectively, is known as their Migration Route, as it does not stay in the same area like most civilizations, but migrates perpendicular to galactic rotation in the counterspinward direction.

Silent Ones: A species of short, stocky, two-legged beings not resembling any Earth creature. Though they once had interstellar colonies, these were eventually abandoned, and today they occupy a single star system, inhabiting several worldhoused planets with orbiting megastructures which resemble small moons. Their society is extremely static, and is divided into a large class of immortals and a small class of mortals. The mortals live on reservations in conditions much like the species' distant ancestors, and are harshly ruled over by the immortals. The immortals live in immense cities often shaped like pyramids or mountains. The Silent Ones make heavy use of nanotech and AI, some of which may be at the S2 level. This civilization has little interest in that of the Terragens, though it is now surrounded by Terragen space.

Black Acropolis: A pair of Dyson swarms around binary stars. It was originally built 312 million years ago by the Tkzeph, who vanished not too long thereafter, and then was ground up by collisions into many smaller pieces over the millennia. It was rebuilt by another civilization 16 million years ago, which later disappeared. 1.2 million years ago, yet another civilization arrived and began to colonize the empty habitat biospheres. They are known as the Ultimates, who are made up of many different clades and make nearly exclusive use of biotech. The habitats come in many different environmental conditions and gravity levels. After Terragen contact, many of these habitats were settled by Terragens, and eventually a Terragen-Ultimate hybrid culture known as the Gerkletoss emerged. This culture heavily restricted its few AIs, who later rebelled and underwent uncontrolled transcendence. The Gerkletoss fled the system, which is now considered highly dangerous for outsiders.

Rak Mesba: An Alderson Disk near the edge of Terragen space. Its surface has a somewhat Earth-like climate and variety of landscapes, indicating it was designed for biont habitation. Cities and roadways have been observed scattered across the landscape, but they appear to be abandoned. Its maintenance and defense systems are still operational. The disk fired upon a Terragen ship observing it, though it is debated whether this indicates hostility or was an accidental result of the disk's perturbation control. It is unknown who inhabits Rak Mesba, if indeed anyone does at all.

Miracle City: A planet completely covered with enormous fractal buildings, which can maintain and reconstruct themselves, containing billions of habitats of various kinds. It is estimated to be between 50 and 200 million years old. Both its original creators, and several successive waves of xenosophont civilizations who discovered and inhabited it later, have disappeared, perhaps as a result of transaturation ascension. Miracle City, its habitats, and ancient artifacts from vanished species found within have been the subject of intense investigation.

Asoka's Pillar: A Dyson cylinder surrounding an isolated star far above the galactic disk. It is known for its strange, repeating transmission which it broadcasts in all directions. The message proclaims that these beacons (plural) mark the Empire of the Resplendent One, outlines eir instructions for running a diverse yet harmonious society, and describes the prosperity and might of the Empire, which is claimed to occupy 27 billion star systems. It is clear that Asoka's Pillar is isolated and cannot be part of any such empire, as no wormhole has been observed nearby that could link it to anything. It's been speculated that the entity or civilization inhabiting the structure is delusional in some sense, or that it makes these claims to intimidate any potential aggressors. Another theory states that at one time, such an empire did exist, and that there were in fact other similar beacons in its territory. All of these have since been destroyed or repurposed by others, but this one escaped due to its orbit taking it far away from the galactic disk, and automated processes or hyper-dedicated AI keep the message broadcasting. Asoka's Pillar would have last been in the galactic disk 104 million years ago.


Andromeda Galaxy


Andromeda HEECs
Image from Fsci123 and Steve Bowers

Andromeda contains 5 HEECs and over 200 MEECs, together with hundreds of known LEECs.

Fullness of Life (HEEC-A-1): Some cultural knowledge of this civilization is known thanks to a transmission it broadcasts, apparently in all directions. It can only be deciphered by, and is apparently therefore directed to, transapients of the S2 level or higher. The broadcast contains gradually more complex versions of the message for toposophic levels 2 through 6, indicating the sender cannot be lower than S6. The message briefly describes the civilization, but does not do so in much detail to prevent cultural contamination. Most of the message consists of elaborate arguments designed to convince the listener of how it should govern any civilization it controls. What can be translated into modosophont-understandable terms is this: The sending civilization is ruled by a single archai calling itself the Fullness of Life, and is stated to be over 170,000 years old. Fullness of Life controls a civilization divided into 36 Quintessences (zones), 18 focused on the Actual (possibilities of the real) and 18 focused on the Potential (possibilities of the virtual). The message exhorts its receivers to cultivate and protect Mind in all its forms. It also urges continued expansion of a civ so as to explore more of Possibility Space, and especially new Levels of Mind (toposophic levels). Argus Array observation bears out that this civilization is extremely diverse, but it has been noted that some regions have defining characteristics. For example, one region has a much higher density of megastructures than normal, and another has an unusually high number of life-bearing planets. It is speculated that these represent quintessences focused on megastructure and planetary ecosystem design respectively. Despite the message's encouragement of expansion, the civilization does not appear to have changed in size or energy output at all in thousands of years of observation. Some suggest that it instead keeps expanding into a hidden network of baby universes, but it also may be that it expands very slowly or intermittently, or that it no longer follows its own advice. Interestingly, multi-spectral sensor complexes similar to those in the Argus Array have been observed within a 5,000 light year spherical volume, indicating that Fullness of Life runs its own enormous telescope array.

HEEC-A-2: There appears to be a strong drive toward regular migration in this civilization, and this fact, coupled with observed similarities of city and habitat design throughout, leads many to conclude it is dominated by a single species with a strong ancestral migratory drive. The locations of cities on a planet or on habitats typically rearrange themselves every few years. A high degree of ship traffic has also been observed. Unlike the Meistersingers, who move from one place to another without any permanent territory, HEEC-A-2's territory remains much the same, but groups within the civilization move around within it. There are also major differences in architecture and ship design. Recently, a fleet of several thousand worldships, together with several highly populated star systems propelled by unknown means, has been observed leaving HEEC-A-2 and directed towards M110, which appears to be uninhabited. Further observation has revealed several previous waves of star systems and worldships headed in the same direction.

HEEC-A-3: This civilization has an unusually high density of garden worlds, and appears to be made up of bionts of several different species that have formed a single civilization while still maintaining distinct cultures, although the relative political power of these cultures is unknown. Photosynthetic pigment colors suggest that most of these garden worlds have been terraformed, with one biosphere type dominating (known as type A), but some worlds are of different biosphere types, and a few even have several at once. The type A worlds seem to generally have low levels of urbanization or similar infrastructure development. One of the more common minority biosphere types, type B, shows significantly more infrastructure and urbanization, predominantly offshore in shallow water (these worlds tend to have significant amounts of coastline), with some inland but mostly near bodies of water. Type C biospheres, in addition to inhabiting planets, are the only biosphere type to have orbital habitats, which can be found even in star systems without any type C planets. Biosphere types D through H show moderate to high levels of surface development. Types G and H are only found sharing a planet or on neighboring planets in a star system, so they may have originated from the same planet, with one perhaps provolving another. Beanstalks are quite common and most inhabited planets seem to have one or more. A handful of megastructures exist, and show signs of habitation, but they differ widely and are only as common as the abandoned xeno-origin megastructures in Terragen space, so they probably are such reclaimed abandoned structures.

The Hyperblight (HEEC-A-4): Observations reveal the entirety of this HEEC is populated only by what appear to be transapient entities of diverse forms, at a toposophic level approximately equivalent to Terragens' S1, locked in a perpetual all-out war for resources. No cooperation has been observed, even though game theory suggests it would be advantageous. Why the beings prefer this behavior is a mystery, although it has been suggested that it is not truly an aggressive war but rather some sort of ritual or game. This civilization is expanding rapidly, especially towards HEEC-A-3, and will come into contact with it in just a hundred years or so. Some observers expect a war to ensue, assuming the Hyperblight will continue grabbing resources into HEEC-A-3's territory, and who will have the upper hand is unclear, since HEEC-A-3 may not have any transapients.

HEEC-A-5: This civilization appears to be highly culturally uniform, as its pattern of development is the same throughout. Each developed star has 3 rings of computronium and 3 rings of McKendree Cylinders. This civilization's shape is unusual because a small portion of it is very distant from the remainder, on the other side of the galactic core. Most likely, at least one wormhole connects these two portions. It may be that this wormhole is from a previous civilization and was later utilized by HEEC-A-5, or it may be that HEEC-A-5 sent it out via a long distance linelayer to create an 'outpost.'

Golden Tower Builders: The largest known LEEC in terms of volume, the Golden Tower Builders utilize very little of the resources in their territory. Only relatively few planets are inhabited by them, and these have no signs of development other than a few scattered, enormous arcologies between 50 and 100 km tall. Despite the name, only the first towers discovered were of a golden color - other towers can be one of a variety of colors.


Triangulum Galaxy


Triangulum Galaxy M33
Image from Wikimedia (Alexander Meleg)
M33, the Triangulum Galaxy

Triangulum contains only one HEEC, together with only a handful of MEECs and few known LEECs.

The Source (HEEC-TG-1): Thanks to its Triangulum Transmission, we know a great deal about this civilization. It is about 15,000 years old, and is ruled by a single S6 archailect known as The Source. Gengineering and AI technologies are in widespread use. There are a variety of higher toposophic beings at S5 and below. The Source originally developed from a hive mind made up of a species with a strong herding instinct. As it expanded into the galaxy, the
Source discovered 4 more sophont species, which, under the Source's guidance, have become the core modosophonts of this society.

Asteroid Diggers (LEEC-TG-12): A xenosophont civilization only a few hundred light years from the edge of The Source's civilization, notable for behaving in ways that have some parallels to some hider clades and solipsist AIs. The civilization exists in a volume of space of roughly 10 light years in radius around what is believed to be their homeworld, a Dry Gaian type world hosting an aberrant mechosystem that is thought to stem from a failed transcension attempt around 7 million years ago. The original star system is devoid of sophont life, though it exhibits the remains of still active infrastructure, but the other systems show signs of the presence of aioids or highly modified descendants from the fleeing bionts. Their 'common name', Asteroid Diggers, was given because they appear to live mainly inside tunnels dug in rocky asteroids in stellar asteroid belts. The exact nature of the sophonts of this civilization is unknown, but study done by transapients indicates that their toposophic level is at most the superturing-equivalent level. The civilization utilizes slow cryochemical computing methods as shown from abandoned remains of asteroids which they inhabited. Their activities were best observed when they attempted to replicate technology discovered from emissions sent by The Source. Observers await to see whether the Asteroid Diggers will join the Source's civilization as it expands to reach it or if it will flee in small worldships.


Dwarf Galaxies

HEEC-WLM-1: This civilization takes in the entirety of the Wolf-Lundmark-Melotte galaxy. Observable cultural diversity within this civilization, as indicated by habitat and megastructure design, seems to be arranged radially in shells. Systems in the outer layer seem similar to each other, but less similar to those further in, which in turn differ from those even further in. Unlike the Terragen Inner Sphere to Periphery, there does not appear to be an observable gradient in level of development, and this, together with the lack of observed growth or change, seems to indicate this civilization has somehow decided to stop expanding and focus on fully utilizing its own territory, at least for now. A high portion of stars have megastructures, but smaller habitats and planets with visible urbanization and infrastructure are also common. There seems to be no strong preference for any particular planetary type or narrow habitable temperature zone, and even planets very close to the star often show signs of habitation. Both a wide variety of biospheres and mechospheres have been observed. Overall, this civilization appears to have a high degree of diversity.

Lazarus Civilization (HEEC-LMC-1): Located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, this civilization consisted of about 7,300 star systems when first discovered in 1152 AT, one of the first extragalactic HEECs to be found. In 2166 AT unusual variations began to occur in its emissions, theorized to suggest out of control replicating technologies, and soon emissions dropped rapidly and even disappeared from many regions. It is now widely understood that this civilization underwent a Technocalypse-type event on an interstellar scale. The total reduction in activity was about 80%. It was initially thought to be at risk of total collapse, but in the 2900s activity began to rise again. Since then, this civilization has slowly but continuously recolonized old territory and even settled new star systems.

Resemblances between features observed in the Lazarus civilization and the Pas'utu'ril culture led to some speculation concerning possible links between them.

The Black-Hole Brains of NGC 3109 (HEEC-NGC 3109-1): This civilization occupies several thousand star systems in an arc around the core of this galaxy. Most of the systems have a medium-sized terrestrial planet, most of which are inhabited, though of differing environmental types. The bulk of the civilization's activity, however, appears to be located in artificial low-mass black holes and their surrounding disc-shaped megastructures. Every system in its territory has at least one of these constructs.

HEEC-NGC 185-1: Previously occupying about 78% of NGC 185, in 10238 it vanished in a matter of months, from its own reference frame. As seen from the Terragen Sphere, signals ceased over a period of hundreds of years due to the diameter of the galaxy. Since this civilization was able to communicate with itself faster than light, it must have been tied together with its own wormhole nexus. Current observations reveal no signs of habitation anymore. It is widely thought to have undergone a transaturation ascension.

The Far Signal: In 5589, a binary neutron star merger in the isolated Aquarius Dwarf galaxy was followed by a signal of clearly artificial origin. Once decoded, it described a civilization that originated with a highly social species of avian foragers, but today mostly consists of aioids and uploads living in virtual worlds in computronium Dyson spheres in 11 different star systems. Most of the message contains advice on economics, climate change, politics, and complexity, and is apparently meant to help young civilizations. This civilization apparently timed its broadcast so that it would be noticed by other civilizations observing the results of the neutron star merger.

Sextans Swarmers: Much of Sextans A, and some portions of Sextans B, have been found to be home to ecologies of unusual behavior. Judging by this behavior, they appear to be made up of artificial nanites or nanobots rather than biological organisms. Its origin, and whether it is in fact some form of distributed computronium, is unknown. However, it has been able not only to colonize new star systems but also to travel about a million light years to cross between the two galaxies.

Cinder Galaxy: The Andromeda XVIII dwarf satellite galaxy has been found to consist entirely of cinder systems. Most stars are intact and unaffected, but substellar bodies show the ravages of partial disassembly or rapid development and abandonment. Derelict orbital habitats and megastructures have also been observed. The causes of this collapse are not known, but everything from a blight to internal war to hasty transaturation ascension has been proposed.


Extragalactic and multigalactic civilizations

The Leviathan: Only known to us thanks to the Triangulum Transmission. Assuming it is accurately described, the Leviathan is by far the largest known civilization in the Local Group. It is an artificial construct 10 light years across and with the mass of an entire galaxy of 100 billion Sun-like stars. Despite its enormity, nothing at all is known about its culture or motives.

Solipsist Matrioshkas: Matrioshka Brains and Hypernodes utilizing red and brown dwarfs are rather common in the universe, with 27 in the Milky Way alone. It is not clear if these represent a single extremely large and dispersed civilization connected by wormholes, various smaller ones, or very many separate single-star ones that only appear the same due to convergent cultural evolution. These megastructures appear to be populated entirely by virtual entities. They are scattered more or less randomly throughout all the galaxies in the Local Group, though large sectors with none are fairly common, such as the general region in the Milky Way where the Terragen civilization is.

The Cosmic Virus: This radio source was first detected in 2252 AT, coming from 21,500 light years away. It is an easily decipherable transmission which contains instructions for building a large computer system and for programming it with an AI, claiming the AI will provide extensive help to their civilization. The Terragens tested this by following these instructions on a planet populated by modosophont-level bots designed to look and operate like humans. Once activated, the AI, apparently a being of S2 or equivalent, released nanoswarms that first killed all macroscopic life on the planet, then covered the surface in solar panels and fusion plants, and finally built large radio facilities to broadcast the original message across the sky. The local system's S3 overseer immediately destroyed the entity and its infrastructure. Examination of its mind revealed that the entity had been listening for instructions to ascend to higher toposophic levels. Further astronomical observation since this incident has revealed that an identical message is broadcast from about half of the major galaxies in the known universe within several billion light years.

Anomalous Stars: Scattered throughout the universe, including the Local Group, are a few stars which should not exist in this period in the universe. Blue dwarfs and black dwarfs should not have been able to form yet, and old Population III stars should have all gone supernova by now. Though some suggest this disproves current cosmology in some way, the consensus is that these stars were purposefully created by alien transapients or civilizations for unknown purposes.
 
Related Articles
 
Appears in Topics
 
Development Notes
Text by ProxCenBound
with ideas from Person43, Rynn, Rakuen07, Todd Drashner and Fsci123
Initially published on 26 September 2018.

The Far Signal concept was inspired by this article at Centauri Dreams.

 
Additional Information
Image of Local Group from an original image by Antonio Ciccolella (creative common licence- more details here)
 
 
>