Great Jump

The Great Jump (also known as the Tribulations) was the extragalactic journey, made possible by the only known Yoni Ark , which carried over a million refugee-settlers away into the uncharted Tau Elpis system. The arrival of the Ark formally defines the start of the 1st Cycle in the Elpis calendar.
The Great Jump is remembered as a desperate exodus from the Oberon Incursion , which was sweeping across the Pyxis Globula and responsible for the destruction of many inhabited worlds. Some believed the Great Jump to be the last hope for their people, and members of at least five sentient species made it onto the Yoni Ark before departure. Because of the Ark's ancient life support systems, most refugees made the journey in cryopods, but nearly 100.000 people remained awake during the ten year-cycles that the journey took. Upon arrival, several colonies were founded and all colonists were awoken, but refugees mostly segregated themselves by species as they settled worlds best fitting their physiology.
The Great Jump was successful, as it seeded the civilizations that now inhabit Tau Elpis. However, some historians point out that the ideal of a unified multi-species civilization was not achieved, as a few colonial governments became dominant and started to compete with each other and minor factions across the system. In addition, the fate of the people left behind in the Pyxis Globula remains unknown as of the 151st Cycle.

Background

Following a prolonged era of peace across the Pyxis Globula, the galaxy came under assault as the faelike Oberon invaded from an extradimensional portal. With their advanced and unconventional weaponry, the Oberon fell world after world in a matter of months, before entering a long period of attrition warfare. Conventional military response proved ineffective, and once the major navies of every main Globula government were thoroughly destroyed, along with their industrial centres, tactics shifted towards delaying the incursion as long as possible. Nevertheless, within fifty year-cycles, nearly every inhabitable world was in ruins, and the silent Oberon showed no signs of halting their advance.
During the early stages of the Incursion, the Boshaari Order of Sylence discovered a colossal, dormant vessel of unknown origin and design. This ship, later identified as a Yoni Ark worldship, had in reality been in Boshaari Imperial custody for several centuries, but kept secret and largely inactive. The worldship was presumed to be a relic of a long-lost precursor civilization. Initially, the worldship was investigated as a potential weapon, but this idea was quickly dismissed.
Upon reactivation, the Ark's data processing banks revealed a set of nav coordinates pointing to a system, identified as T Elpis, the Shephard's Star in Boshaari cosmology, located in a star cloud beyond the galactic rim . The Order achieved a breakthrough when they could prove that T Elpis contained an abnormally high concentration of habitable worlds (a rarity in known space). Despite heavy reservations, the strategic potential of this system and the urgency of the impending collapse made the Yoni Ark a prime candidate for evacuation and resettlement of at least a small fraction of the galactic population - if only they could understand its hyperspace engine, its potency yet unseen by anyone in the galaxy.
Feelers were sent to the main galactic governments left standing. The warrior Hhrot sent contigents of warriors to guard the ship; the Mewei mostly sent scientists and engineers to assist in bringing the ship to working order. The Ark was moved by a fleet of tugs several times as the Oberon came too close to discovering it on various occasions. Eventually, the worldship drifted in the Bytha system, where Boshaari tech-priests joined the project, and where it would remain until activation.
The Hiderid and Zaalan had been hardest hit by the Oberon, but a few wealthy Hiderid patrons still managed to buy their way unto the Ark. Zaalans, who were believed to have opened the extradimensional portal at the start of the Incursion, were initially not welcome; however, the Mewei delegation pleaded for a migrant fleet of Zaalan refugees to be allowed onto the worldship. These Zaalans would soon fill positions of lower order, having no particular skill to bring to the project.

The Jump

The Jump was initiated earlier than planned, when an Oberon fleet was detected on a direct approach to Bytha. With the Ark's engine barely understood, the voyage was soon accepted as a one-way journey. There was no time to select a civilian population; only the people of Bytha, in the direct vicinity of the Ark's support fleet, were invited on board. The support fleet - thousands of vessels - would be docked inside the Ark, to be used after the Jump was complete. Most of the colonists were placed in cryostasis, and the Order of Sylence restructured itself as the multiracial Arkblazer Order to oversee the mission.
During the ten-cycle journey, communities aboard the Ark began to take shape. Soon, they fractured along species lines, and a few major sectors of the worldship came to be dominated by a different group. The Order worked hard to keep these communities working together for the greater good, but colonial charters were drafted and the seeds of what would become future governments and colonies were plante
Halfway through the Jump, the Order identified the vessel's inert "grey matter" making up most of its weight as Programmable Matter (and not ballast, as previously thought). This raised hope aboard the vessel, as this would greatly speed up settlement efforts across the system. Predicting that each group would seek to settle their own independant colonies, the Planning Office was set up to help develop shared infrastructure earlier on, and allocate this Programmable Matter fairly. Some of the Programmable Matter was used aboard the Ark to expand hydroponics and staryard facilities, but its inability to be converted into Thaumium , critical for FTL drives , was noted as a potential bottleneck for colonial development.

Aftermath

The Jump ended successfully, with nearly all worlds confirmed within the parameters they were believed to be. Within five cycles, large portions of the population left the Ark to found new colonies, using the finite but plentiful Programmable Matter to kickstart operations. A few bigger governments came into existence, but many settlers chose to stay independant and create smaller colonies on the edges of their worlds, viewing T Elpis as a fresh start. Zaalans, who failed to secure a new world on account of their lower standing, either set out across the Hestian Trojans or remained on the Ark.
Now largely vacated, its vast hulls dismantled as Matter dwindled, the Ark became known as the Embassy Ark - a centre of commerce and diplomacy for all factions of Tau Elpis, and the home of the Arkblazer Order. The Great Jump would fade into myth, as would the Pyxis Globula.