Zroni

The Zroni were an ancient species of humanoid that are believed to have existed approximately 100 million years ago. They were a psionically gifted species that made contact with a proto-Shroud, which ultimately led to their destruction. A devastating civil war tore the species apart, and nearly destroyed the entire galaxy before it ended with the extinction of the species. Today, all that remains of the Zroni are a few ancient colonies and the substance known as zro.

History

Most research on the Zroni comes from the Yondar Royal Academy of Sciences and the investigation into the Zroni headed by the scientist Reebik. The Zroni appear to have been a pre-FTL society that unlocked their latent psionic abilities. At first, like modern-day psionically-gifted species, the Zroni were only able to interact with the Shroud in their dreams. The Shroud of one hundred million years ago was vastly different: calm, peaceful, and uninhabited, unlike the "nightmare dimension" as it is often described today. Eventually, they discovered how to consciously project their minds into this proto-Shroud, and discovered they could easily rewrite the laws of its reality.

However, thanks to the elder known only as the "Far-Seer", the Zroni discovered the ability to physically enter the Shroud with only minimal effort. Thanks to this breakthrough, the Zroni mass-migrated into the Shroud, where they transformed the dimension into a paradise with their godlike powers. They also discovered the ability to "psionically jump" through the Shroud, allowing them to effectively teleport in realspace. They used this power to establish offworld colonies, though most Zroni remained within the Shroud.

In order to exert their influence and create changes in the Shroud, the Zroni required vast amounts of energy. They acquired this energy by way of the supermassive black hole in the middle of the galaxy, expanding the singularity and consuming the dense mass of stars surrounding it to generate energy in the Shroud. However, this process caused a philosophical rift within Zroni society. Two factions were formed: "The Divine", who did not care for the fate of the galaxy and wished to use it to fuel their godhood in the Shroud; and "The Saviors", who argued that the Zroni should not destroy the galaxy to live as gods. While this started as debates, it soon became a civil war.

As the Zroni expanded throughout the Shroud and began their conflict, their collective fears and desires coalesced into distinct, sapient beings. These beings then in turn influenced the emotions of the Zroni, becoming stronger as the Zroni became more extreme. A discredited Zroni researcher, who also theorised of these beings, believed that it was this heightening of emotions that caused the civil war in the first place.

Although the majority of the Zroni sided with the Saviors, the Divine were willing to draw upon far greater amounts of psionic power from the supermassive black hole. Eventually, a rogue Savior researcher followed his theory to its conclusion and turned his psionic power inwards, destroying his body and turning it into a fine psionically-active dust. His peers followed his last instructions, and confirmed that the dust - Zro - was an extremely potent source of psionic power.

Thanks to the discovery of Zro, the Saviors were able to turn the tide in the war, pushing the Divine to the brink of defeat. In response, the Divine created their final, ultimate plan: something they called the End of the Cycle. They would focus their efforts on expanding the black hole as fast as possible, destroying the Saviors and the galaxy, while leaving the Divine free to rule the Shroud for a vast, yet finite time. It was also possible that the expansion would become self-sustaining, providing effectively infinite power at the cost of destroying the entire universe.

The ever-worsening atrocities of the Divine, and the discovery of their ultimate plan, drove the Saviors to desperation to protect the universe. Faced with near-impenetrable defences in the Shroud, and total annihilation in realspace, the Saviors chose to sacrifice their entire population to empower a single individual with Zro. This individual used the combined power of billions of individuals to destroy the entire Zroni species, including themselves and the Divine. In an instant, the Zroni were wiped out. Without the Divine, the supermassive black hole ceased expanding, and the galaxy was saved. All that remained of the Zroni was small amounts of leftover Zro from the Divine and any other previously-surviving Zroni.

EXTINCT

Type
Humanoid
Homeworld
Zron Prime
Preference
Unknown

Lifespan

Unknown

Geographic Distribution

• Zron Prime

Related Materials

• Zro