The Shapers

Among the many beings who've called the Proxima Galaxy home, both past and present, few are surrounded by as much mystique as the Shapers (sometimes also known as the First Ones, or the Ancients). While very little is actually known about the Shapers themselves outside of the old legends, their advancements in psionics, interstellar travel, and matter manipulation are widely known and celebrated. It's thanks to the many advancements that the Shapers have made that the galaxy is the way that it is today, ensuring that their influence is still felt millenia after their fall.

Basic Information

Anatomy

What little is known about the physical appearance of the Shapers comes from what can be gathered from ancient artistic depictions of them, including murals and sculptures. The Shapers appeared to possess a humanoid body plan, with a tall and slender build, four arms that end in hands with three fingers and a thumb, and a head with four eyes and three finlike crests (one vertical, two horizontal).

Genetics and Reproduction

The Shapers are believed to have given birth to live young.

Ecology and Habitats

While the exact environment of their homeworld remains unknown, the Shapers appeared to be capable of living in a wide variety of environments, given the extent of their empire and the many worlds they've occupied. It's noted, however, that the Shapers seemed to have a preference for "paradise worlds", though whether their homeworld naturally had such an environment remains unknown.

Behaviour

Due to the prevalence of Psionics within Shaper society, it's believed that they had extremely strong empathic connections with one another.

Additional Information

Facial characteristics

The Shapers had sharp facial features, and four glowing, solid green eyes. Additionally, they had three crescent shaped crests on their heads, two horizontal extending from the sides of the head and one vertical extending from the top, with the vertical crest being longer and appearing to be made of a glowing green material. There's some debate on whether these crest were actually part of the biology of the Shapers, or some form of headwear that was commonly worn by them.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

While the Shapers could be found on a variety of worlds across the galaxy, they were especially prevalent on their unnamed homeworld within the Novai system.

Average Intelligence

The Shapers were immensely intelligent, further bolstered by their Psionic abilities.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

The Shapers are believed to have had keen sight and hearing, though they are best known for their immense Psionic abilities. Not only could the Shapers use Psionic abilities with immense ease, they've also mastered the useage of Psionics for percieving the world around them in ways beyond what any physical senses was capable of, as well as the ability to telepathically communicate with other beings.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

What few names could be found in historical records seem to indicate that Shaper names were very melodic.

Gender Ideals

What little information exists on Shaper society seems to indicate that they were very egalitarian.

Average Technological Level

To say that the technology of the Shapers was advanced would be a severe understatement. Shaper technology was lightyears ahead of anything else that was in use at the time, and remains beyond anything that's in use in the modern day, so much so that many claim they may as well have been sorcery. These technologies are especially noteworthy for laying the groundwork for many of the advancements that have made interstellar life possible, including FTL travel via the Starways, cybernetic and genetic augmentation, terraforming, and the ability to harness the power of Psionics, among many others.

Even among the technologies pioneered by the Shapers, two advancements in particular stand out as being exceptionally miraculous: Psionic Interfacing and Matter Reconfiguration. Since the Shapers are well known for their mastery over Psionics, it's no surprise that their technology would be designed with such a power as a part of its functions, from telepathic communications, to memory encoding, to monuments animated by Psionic energy. Additionally, the Shapers are said to have developed the means to reshape the matter around them on the molecular level, explaining why many Shaper structures appear to have been sculpted out of the surrounding environment, rather than constructed by more traditional means. To this day, these technologies have never been successfully reproduced, leaving them in the realm of myths and legends.

Major Language Groups and Dialects

Next to nothing is known about what language the Shapers may have spoken, as the vast majority of their communication appears to have been done telepaphically.

Common Dress Code

Shaper clothing primarily consisted of white robes with black and green highlights.

History

The history of the Shapers remains shrouded in mystery as does the actual name of their race and even the name of their homeworld, with scholars on the subject only having scattered fragments of information (artifacts, ruins, etc.) to go on. From what can be pieced together, however, it's known that the race that would become known as the Shapers originated a world orbiting around the largest star in the Novai trinary system. Thanks to their innate Psionic abilities, the Shapers were able to quickly rise as the dominant race of their homeworld, with their home system being fully settled shortly afterwards. Once the Starways were discovered, and the means to use them for interstellar travel were developed, the Shapers were quick to use their advanced technologies and formidable Psionic abilities to spread their influence throughout the rest of the galaxy, eventually forming an empire that encompassed nearly all of Proxima. This would mark the period of galactic history known as the Novan Age, a golden age that would see the groundwork for many of the advancements that have made interstellar life possible being laid.

Unfortunately, this golden age would come to a devastating end during a cataclysmic event known as "the Voidfall". While the exact cause of the Voidfall remains unknown, what information has managed to survive to the modern day indicates that this event involved a massive breach in the dimensional barrier between the material universe and the Void, resulting in dimensional corruption and swarms of Void Beasts running rampant throughout the galaxy. While not much information on this period of galactic history has survived into the modern day, it is known that this 500 year long period of chaos was only brought to an end at great sacrifice by the Shapers, who vanished from the galaxy in the aftermath, and who's galaxy-wide empire was reduced to ruins. Despite having completely disappeared from the galaxy, the influence of the Shapers continues to be felt in the modern age, from the reverse engineered technologies that allowed many of the galaxies current inhabitants to reach the stars, to the knowledge and treasures they left behind that continue to draw adventurous souls into the unexplored places of the galaxy.

Common Myths and Legends

Void Serpents: One of the most mysterious beings in the galaxy, these serpentine beings were considered bizarre and incomprehensible even to the Shapers themselves. According what fragmented recordings of Shaper mythology could be recovered, the Void Serpents were immensely ancient and powerful creatures capable of travelling the vast distances between stars by "burrowing" through space and time, with the tunnels they've left in their wake in doing so becoming the Starways that would be used by the Shapers, and later the modern galactic races, as the basis for FTL travel. Because of this, these strange creatures seemed to have been highly revered by the Shapers, who saw them as sacred beings. Adding to the mystery of their existence, the Void Serpents seemed to have vanished from the galaxy entirely at some unknown point, either migrating to another galaxy or dimension, or being wiped out by some unknown threat. Considering the impact these creatures had on the development of the Shapers, and by extension the rest of the galaxy, it's unsurprising that there are those who wish to uncover the true nature of these beings, and the extent of their relationship with the Shapers.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

The Shapers are highly revered by the inhabitants of the Proxima Galaxy for their role in laying the foundations of galactic life as it is, and it appears that this reverance was present during their reign over the galaxy as well.

EXTINCT

Lifespan

700

Average Height

6'8"

Average Physique

The Shapers had tall, slender figures, though the old legends claim that they were stronger than they appeared, perhaps using their Psionic abilities to strengthen themselves.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

The Shapers are believed to have had balck/grey skin with green markings.