Drifter
Drifter is the collective term for a theoretically infinite number of sophont species that have achieved the Hyperichon stage of their Cycle. Drifters exist outside the limits of the cosmos and can travel between universes at will. They have attained final and complete knowledge of physics, and have total mastery over the workings of reality through post-singularity thaumatech.
They are, in every sense, ultimate.
Individual Drifters no longer retain the biology of their ancestors, having transcended the limits of physical form, and can choose to manifest in whatever way they wish while inside a universe. Since Drifters have an entirely different relationship with time, it is possible (though rare) for a developing civilization to encounter their Hyperichal descendants, though they will likely never realize this unless they are explicitly told so.
In terms of society, there are a few paths a Hyperichon-stage civilization may take after ascendancy. Some believe there is still further to be known, and perform increasingly elaborate and esoteric experiments with the clockwork of reality. Most choose to adopt or create a small, stable cosmos as their home, called a Haven. They harvest mass from dead universes to build, unlimited, inside their Haven, and maintain its entropy in a similar manner to how we maintain marine tanks or the air cycle in a spacecraft. A rare few Hyperichal civilizations are marauders, but these are the ones who have skipped a few steps by accident and attained pseudo-Drifter status before they were ready and almost always destroy themselves in due time. True Drifters have no qualms with each other; they live in a post-scarcity eternity, where everything is infinite and forever.
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