The Cradle

In the year 2140, humanity discovered what was previously believed to be only theoretical: a stable wormhole. Located in the Alpha Centauri system (and thusly named Centaurus' Gate), exploration lead to the discovery of an alien construct on the other side believed to be the source of the wormhole's stability. Beyond the gate lies a great expanse of stars, and orbiting around many such stars, habitable worlds, teeming with life of all kinds. These great many worlds were host not just to microscopic fledgling life, but sophisticated multicellular organism and—in a small but significant number of cases—intelligent life.   This abundance of life lead to the sector's name: the Cunabula Sector, a.k.a. The Cradle. The presence of the mysterious Centaurus' Gate linking this sector of space with humanity's own has also led to the suspicion that even humanity may be able to trace it's roots back to this sector of space.