The Rabian Delta

In opening years of the 22nd century human history was altered forever with the invention of the Spike Drive. A trans-dimensional drive that allowed humans two "drill" into a meta-dimension, a space between the spaces of our galaxy. Traversing the turbulent, sometimes deadly "waters" of this meta-dimension, humans could suddenly reach stars and worlds never before thought possible.   For the next five and a half centuries humanity spread throughout the stars without remorse. New cities were built, New Galactic Governments founded, new innovations were made, new worlds were formed by our sheer will and creativity. We encountered numerous alien races and the remnants of many, many more. As generations passed with constant travel through the meta-dimension, humanity changed. Human's began expressing psychic abilities. At first, these abilities were dangerous and even lethal, but eventually the energies of the meta-dimension were tamed.   With the aid of psychics providing benefits to nearly every aspect of human existence, humanity entered a Golden Age of technological achievement known now as the Pretech Era. By the start of the 27th century, humanity had spread across Stars Without Number. But it was not meant to last.   In a tragic event known as the Scream, a wave of devastating meta-dimensional energy spread across the entirety of human space in mere minutes. More than ninety percent of the galaxy's psychic were killed, the few that weren't were driven irrevocably insane. With the vast majority of human technology streamlined by, and over reliant on, psychics; humanity's empire collapsed over night. What we built over 700 years we lost in 17 minutes.   Old Terra fell dark as the AI Maestros turned their planetary defenses on everyone off-world. The Core Worlds suffered the worst of it. Their proximity to Earth and long established colonies meant they had access to the best technology. Entire world died of starvation or worse as their entire infrastructure had been built to use psychics. Those that didn't immediately perish fell to infighting as millions of factions rose up to fight tooth and claw over any remaining pretech artifacts.   On the Frontier, too far removed to benefit entirely from Pretech Infrastructure, people fared better. While ships capable of traveling between stars were extremely rare, and worlds not capable of self-sustenance perished, those living on the Frontier struggled, but survived. For six-hundred years humanity struggled to rebuild what it once had in a period known as the Silence. But now ships are beginning to travel the stars once more, and about two-hundred years ago, the Silence came to an end...