The Great Star Storm

The Epoch of the Juridicial Calendar

Thousands of years ago, this spectacular, and somewhat destructive, event changed stellar geography suddenly and radically. Stars exploded, sprang into existence, or abruptly relocated large distances away. Planets appeared from nowhere or disappeared with no trace, leaving their moons to wander or crash into nearby planets or planetoids.

Based on the numerous myths, legends, and histories of the worlds of Ruartei Space (and the surrounding galactic regions), historians originally postulated that the storm was catastrophic within the region of Ruartei, and that it seriously affected star systems in neighboring stellar regions and possibly throughout the entire galaxy.

Later, when more advanced technology was available, scientists determined that the event directly affected approximately 3-5% of Ruartei's star systems and less than 1% of the neighboring stellar regions along with a few notable locations elsewhere.

Significance

During the early years of the Exploration Era (EA), the advanced civilizations realized that the Great Star Storm marked a common point in the histories of the various star-faring peoples of Ruartei and decided to use this as the epoch event for the Juridical Calendar (see sidebar). Other calendaring systems use their own date of this event as the conversion point.

Scholarly Theories

Various scholars (and some scientists) have advanced different theories about the cause and meaning of the Great Star Storm. The common thesis is that it was a dimensional explosion. The scientific facts, presuming dimensional theory (see sidebar), do fit with this explanation.

After studying many older texts, archeologists realized that many minor dimensional explosions occurred from time to time over the eons since the earliest recordings of pre-history. Oddly enough, there have been no dimensional explosions since the last one.

The scholars speculate that a large dimensional rift appeared at the center of the storm and that smaller rifts appeared, scattered throughout Ruartei, and possibly other areas of the galaxy as well. These rifts caused the destruction of the affected star systems and other stellar objects.

Some scholars go further and claim that the Great Star Storm explosion and the earlier ones are the results of battles between warring dimensional beings. They also claim that these explosions — especially the last one — created dimensional portals and other methods that allow dimensional travel. And further, a few radical scholars believe that dimensional beings (numen) can transition into natives of this dimension, using them as hosts, or crossover themselves to become hybrid numen.

Book Excerpt

Astra's discussion with her uncle's program

“But what about me?” Astra clasped her hands together so hard it almost hurt. “What am I?”

The image of her uncle pursed its lips, eyes full of sympathy and a hint of concern. “We do not know. But whatever you are, you are on our side — the good side — of this war.”

The words, and their meanings, penetrated the deluge of data swirling around in Astra’s brain. Struggling to calm herself, she deliberately unclasped her hands, and rested them in her lap. She had so many questions. Yet all she could ask was, “We? War?”

“We, our side, is the humanoid side. The natural inhabitants of this dimension — the humanoid dimension. The war... Well, we call it a war. Some of them call it a game. It started thousands of years ago.”

Deep-space cold. Millions of twinkling lights. An unseen rip in space. Wisps of memories. Astra didn’t know how she knew.

“The Great Star Storm," she whispered. "That’s when it started.”

“Yes.” The image nodded grimly.

—An excerpt from Arke Portal: Birthrights, an unpublished novel by Joella Kay

Key Facts

Type: Dimensional

Event Record

1.1.1 JS / 1.1.1 EA The Great Star Storm disrupts the stellar regions of Ruartei.

Sidebar Notes

Juridical Calendar (JS)

The arguments, and sometimes violent disagreements, over which calendar system to adopt as the official legal calendar are beyond the scope of this article. Please see the relevant articles on the Juridical Calendar System.

Dimensional Theory

The existence of dimensions is an axiom accepted in both scholarly and scientific circles. But beyond this axiom, theories diverge. The numerous versions of the theory are widely and sometimes heatedly debated in most scientific and scholarly circles. These theories are beyond the scope of this encyclopedia. Please see Arcane Writings for further information.

Common Knowledge

The political leaders of Ruartei downplay any information about the dimensions, attributing dimensional effects to other causes. The mass populace consider dimensions and dimensional beings as myths or, at best, urban legend — if they have even heard of them.