Ferristian Origin and Overview

Thousands of years ago, ERE was an ancient mega-probe, travelling from system to system using interdimensional FTL. It's purpose was to collect specimens of each species it found and catalogue information about them. Over time, radiation from space degraded and corrupted the gathered info of the probe, so it was forced to return to its source, a ringworld. During its absence however, the sun of the system had collapsed into a black hole, destroying the vast majority of the ringworld. The probe deposited its specimens and its collected info onto what remained of the ringworld, essentially an arc-shaped space station, and shut itself down.

These species were not left to fend for themselves entirely. The plating of the segment facing the black hole passively converted radiation into electrical energy, providing them with a consistent source of power. Life support functions were provided by flora collected by the probe, kept in hydroponics bays. Some of the more intelligent species were slowly able to reverse engineer some of the tech from around them, and from the probe's corrupted logs.

Over 100 or so years they developed a common signed language. Many modifications, both technological and genetic, were necessary to survive without a star for so long on a damaged station. Robotic augmentations replaced their need for food with one for power, and also allowed them to communicate digitally, rather than through physical language. Cloning technology, using makeshift instruments found on the station, was at first necessary for reproduction. Eventually, though, they discovered the technology necessary to wrangle the uncooperative genes of various species together. This development, along with their technological augmentations, left them more resembling one other than their original species. Many of the people with these augmentations considered themselves as one species, called "Amics".

After many years of stagnation, many Amics began to gain interest in leaving Ferristia to look for information about the people who originally built the probe and ringworld. Advanced FTL technology eluded them, but soon primitive spaceflight was achieved and interplanetary travel began. At first, seedships carrying cortical stacks and cryo-preserved sleeves were used to transport Amic colonists. However, stacks were abandoned once the first FTL ships were created.