My name is Jasper Frank, and I am very lost. Somehow I have found myself approximately 2500 light years from home, which is Earth. I am still in our galaxy, the Milky Way, but the night sky is very different here. I have fallen in with some interesting people. Yes, people, like humans, in fact, they are humans. They tell me that Earth humans are a not so distant variant of themselves, but they kept their explanation cryptic and incomplete. Apparently, however, we are all members of the Homojklan, or human clan, a species that was genetically uplifted from various predatory primates about half a million years ago.
There is a whole back-story about why that came to be, but the short explanation is someone needed us to fight a war for them. We were genetically engineered fodder against various Dragonklans. That’s right, Dragons, just like from the myths of every culture on Earth. There were bad dragons and good dragons, and apparently we won. Yea, our team!
So, what happened then? Homojklan races started fighting each other and everybody else close enough to whack. The folks I happen to be with call themselves the Kunvizi. Apparently, that means “with vision,” like someone with extra sensory perception. There is one variant of humans called Paragondi, who have all kinds of interesting mental talents, like ESP. I guess all humans have some potential powers, and there are ways to bring them out, but I have not investigated my potential, yet.
I have no idea what the date is in relation to that on my native planet. The Kunvizi recognize planetary years as a single orbit around its star, but the universal calendar counts to 1000 days that equals a Term. This is about the same length as 3 years Earth years and represents the term of the Kunvizi Asoci's run between scheduled elections. If there is a vote of confidence, then the next Term begins early. The foundation of the Kunvizi Asoci was 16,242 terms ago.
The Winnowing is like a very long Dark Ages, constant conflict, but never very decisive. Most planets fell off the grid, like Earth. What is known as the Winnowing had already lasted more than 20,000 years across our galaxy. Some of the oldest Earth mythologies maintain a connection to the actual history of the God Wars, which finally petered out after a dozen millennium, or so. All those Earth religions are based on actual events, like thunderbolts from the sky, were very likely real and not just added for drama.
The Kunvizi time system and calendar are not based on a planetary orbit. It was developed for an interstellar community, so it needed something that was constant in space. That common factor is the speed of light traveling a particular distance called a sali, which is constant regardless what kind of planet one is from. Their approximate time equivalents to Earth are: 1 secund = a little longer than an Earth second, 1 minut (minute) = 50 secund, 1 hor (hour) = 50 minut, 1 tag (day) = 25 hor, which comes out to about 25 Earth hours. The 25 hour day is very interesting to me, because I once read that Earth humans, have a 25 hour biological clock. That had to be one of our genetic modifications, as Earth never had a day longer than 24 hours. In fact, when we were protohumans, the Earth rotated in 22 or 23 hours. A 25 hour bioclock just didn’t seem natural. Mystery solved..
For the purpose of chronicling my experiences, I will begin the story of my space odyssey on January 1, 2001, per my Earth calendar. The reason I have just now started my chronicle is because we have made our first functional contact with other space faring inhabitants of this Sector. The Kunvizi universal translator technology has now been upgraded to include the languages of our new neighbors.
January 1, 2001:
I am on a new Kunvizi planet called Gvidihalo, orbiting around a star called Bond. This planet is very special because it has the remains of three major metropolises from pre-Winnowing days. The Winnowing days were after the dragons were defeated and everybody started fighting each other.
The Kunvizi managed to claim this place by jumping through an equally old stargate, which is an artificial wormhole; please consult a physicist/astronomer for more details. Stargates come in several versions. Some are huge portals in space that allow space craft to transit vast distances measured in hundreds and even thousands of light years. This stargate is not space based. It is like the one I apparently stumbled through back on Earth, a small, planet based portal that is activated by either a physical or mental trigger. The one I went through apparently had a mental trigger as I was just walking through a cave, minding my own business. Well, I was examining a Mayan cave with a great deal of religious significance. I was duly warned that anthropology could be hazardous work. In any case, it still had the ability to put me a long way from home. The other end of the two way stargate to Gvidihalo is on the Kunvizi Client World, Byte. The distance between Byte to Gvidihalo is about 1500 lightyears.
The Kunvizi community who found me said there are reconnaissance ships that periodically keep an eye on Earth, and that if I agreed to have a memory swipe, they could return me. I couldn’t help feel the pull of destiny to follow this new reality, so I volunteered to come to Gvidihalo.
While there is a way to get people to and from Kunvizi Client Worlds, from the other pre-Winnowing ruins on Byte, heavy industry, and pretty much everything else, must be produced locally. This end of the portal is located in a subterranean vault just north of the Mui ruins.
Gvidihalo, or Hall of Leadership, has four continents. The western hemisphere has two small continents, Uti to the west and Bresi to the east. Both these continents lay above Marun, an equatorial sea, with one of the two large continents, Kali, filling most of the western hemisphere’s southern half. These three continents are separated from the huge eastern hemisphere continent, Sitri, by a deep pole to pole ocean, Mardu.
The Kunvizi have so far built a capital city, Halejo, a starport, and an entertainment network center. The Kunvizi capital and starport have been built next to two planetary regions filled with pre-Winnowing artifacts in the center of Sitri. The more intact ruins of Mui are being developed for both scientists and tourists. It is located on the east coast of Bresi.
Within the Bond solar system, there are three other planets, creatively named, Bond II, Bond III, and Bond IV. Bond II is the only one that could be inhabited. It could be described as Mars like, but greenish-gray instead of red.
The Kunvizi survey ship, KS Gvati, has identified three space anomalies nearby. These could be more ancient wreckage or a natural wormhole, or space dragons! I’m glad I am staying on world. It sounds scary out there. The KS Gvati is off to investigate.
Before I was invited here, the Kunvizi Asoci, or Kunvizi Senate, elected Gvidi Admiral Valeri Cassi to lead the development of this new Sector of space and claim it for the Homojklan and their allies. Valari Cassi is the oldest daughter of the great, war hero, Toma Cassi, and she has proven to be as adept politically as her mother was martially. Although Gvidi Admiral Cassi has never commanded forces into battle, she is very well trained for that eventuality, and she has an outstanding command staff. Fighting is a last resort, however, as the only contacts in this Sector, so far, seem friendly.
The Altarian Republic, under their leader, Netro Mancer, is yet another Homojklan species. They express support for the Kunvizi presence, but are happy with their independence. The Kunvizi call these kinds of humans, Grundari, people of their land.
The other local space faring government is the Torian Confederation. Under their leader, Tlas Kzientha, these aliens, a kind of bulb-head slug, are friendly, as we have a mutual enmity with yet another human group, the Tirani. According to their transmissions, the Torians were once enslaved by the Tirani, an agressive and war loving breed of Homojklan humanoids. In this Sector, the Tirani call themselves the Drengin Empire. Tirani groups tend to fight among themselves, and are only a threat if there looks to be some easy prey to sink their teeth into, or so the Kunvizi leadership will have one believe. Their presence, however, may explain why Gvidihalo was left in ruins, and I must admit, our local vulnerability with such a well known gang of bogeymen in the area, makes me hope the Paragondi among us has their ESP on full alert.
The other ship we have operational is a colony ship, Colony One. Named, I suppose, by the same folks who named Bond’s other planets. This ship filled with stalwart settlers is heading toward the transmissions of the Torian Confederation. They hope to establish a line of outposts for trade and cultural interaction.
