An Introduction

Vestigium is a setting set several thousand years in the future from the modern day, although by how much varies not only depending on the histories you subscribe to but also where in the story it is set. Vestigium has stories set near the end of the 5th Millenium, at the birth of the Vodranti Hierarchy in the early centuries after the Epoch, and at the Tyra Masra itself, the end of all things.
Vestigium's narrative is convoluted, and certain elements are not made immediately obvious. Not only do you, the reader, not know the history of the Sol System, but neither do the characters. Often historians will shed light on subjects previously unknown to both you and the main characters, but in other scenarios, your knowledge and perspective will be greater than that of the story's own point of view.
But certain aspects of Vestigium's story should be revealed first, in order for you to (hopefully) enjoy the articles elsewhere.

HISTORY, ABRIDGED

Vestigium deviates from our own timeline sometime during the 3rd millennium, when a massive global war occurred among several nations that destroyed most of Western Europe, possibly resulted in the obliteration of North America, and left Asia mostly underwater. These "Hypervelocity Wars" had caused the remnants of the surviving nations to coalesce into a variety of groups across the world, with their own agenda and ideologies. Unity exists only among "cliques" of nations and organizations, whose hate for each other only grew stronger over time. Luckily for mankind, commercial interplanetary travel was made possible by the advanced magnetoplasma engine developed and manufactured by the MEU.
This era, known as the "Gilded Age", marks the time period of the many organizations and factions of humanity expanding across the Sol System for resource acquisition and territorial interests. While there was peace, it was only surface-level, as the many secret agencies, assassin clades, hunter cadres and political conspiracies made for a slow and steady rise to an interplanetary war, a war that could likely result in the extinction of the human race. This hypothetical "Damocles War" was prevented only by the WDAP (Weapon of Mass Destruction Detection and Prevention) System built on Mars, but eventually the threat of war was nullified by the Epoch.
The Epoch is the most defining moment in Vestigium's history. There are the times before the Epoch, and the times after. Civilization itself was uprooted and destroyed, as humanity was almost utterly obliterated, as in the wake of the Epoch, approximately 98% of all human life was exterminated.
The Epoch was a massive solar flare of unprecedented size, with the flare alone wiping Mercury of humanity's presence, but it also brought something entirely unexpected to the Sol System.
Magic.
Up to now, magic was practically undetectable. Corpusculli, which is the substance of magic, was not spread out as much as other systems due to the size of the Sun and the absence of any incoming corpusculli from beyond our star due to the termination shock along the Sun's heliopause. But this Epoch unleashed a storm of magic across all worlds, bringing magic up to the surface, and causing even greater disaster as this newfound field of thaumaturgy was initially chaotic and unstable. Earth's own thaumasphere resulted in the death of all life on its surface, as that life was mutated and distorted into new and alien forms.
The Gilded Age had ended. But Vestigium's story is not about the apocalypse or the years before it- it is the times after the Epoch that is the focus of the narrative.

FACTIONS

Several groups have formed since the Epoch, each believing they are the ones to lead humanity to a new era. While countless organizations have risen and fallen over the millennia, the few listed below are of more immediate interest. It is important to remember that while their appearances and beliefs may be alien to us, there are no species or factions whose origin cannot be traced to Earth. There are no aliens but the ones we make of each other.

The Cytherean Confederation

The Cytherean Confederation is another empire in a long line of governments attempting to control Venus. Their grip is tenuous, and internal strife among the confederated Realms and Councillors threatens to tear it apart. Nonetheless, its population of clones and incredible industrial might allow it to remain strong in the tides of time. They are despotic, nationalistic, and systematically oligarchic, but they offer civilization in a system of chaos.
The Cythereans.

The Vodranti Hierarchy

A group that spans the worlds and the centuries of the Sol System. They have existed since the first millennium, in the tumultuous times after the Epoch, and remain in some form or another until Apatha arrives. They are biologically alien, with red skin, sharpened ears, and purple blood due to genetic engineering and mutation, but they are human at their core. Their head of government is the Vodranti Empress, who reigns from the Yauu of Ceres. Her authority is only just able to control the Legions that comprise the Vodranti's organization, as dissent is everpresent. They are deeply religious, and to protect the Libratian faith their military might has become a central aspect of their influence across worlds.
The Vodranti.

The Amphatrian Collective

The Amphatrians are a people whose name is synonymous with cruelty, war, conquest, and relentless expansion. The Amphatrian Collective is the closest thing Vestigium has to true aliens, as their armies come from the depths of Neptune and deny the existence of humanity. Men are animals, to be corralled and controlled by those fit to serve the government. Individually, man is weak, foolish, and a mere beast. But with the Collective, Man's true potential is realized. They have technology untouched by the Epoch, and soldiers whose eyes are extracted to better serve the State. Cybernetic modification and psychological manipulation are two tenets of the Amphatrian's Way of the Now, their denial of times before or after the infinite Present.
The Amphatrians.