Expansionists

The largest single nomadic contingent of People’s Galactic, the Expansionists number several million families across the One Hundred Suns.

Expansionists grew out of the first expeditions to find a third heliosphere after the two 1Gen spheres were connected. Driven by this discovery, the Expansionists set out to find as many heliospheres as possible, thinking this would be a vital step in retracing the route to Earth. It has become their goal to map the entirety of the known Humanverse. It was Expansionist philosopher Yasuhiro Cavalcanti that coined the term ‘Humanverse’ to describe the current human-occupied galactic zone. Fully embracing the ‘Accord’ philosophy of void-based living, Expansionist communities are entirely nomadic and space-borne. Physical and genetic adaptations are more prevalent in Expansionist communities than any other, as are some of the most extreme changes, with some families having bred exclusively within Expansionist circles for ten or more generations.

Expansionist astrocartography is considered the most accurate and up-to-date chronicle of the Humanverse. Expansionists have been at the forefront of discovering 60% of new slipways and 48 out of the 98 post-1Gen spheres. Their contributions to the mathematical models of the heliospheres and the predictive algorithms of slip drives have continued to make slipping more efficient and safer. Sharing this knowledge and expertise has allowed Expansionists to leverage considerable resources and spatial access across the Humanverse, and for the most part the Expansionist movement has been apolitical. Ties were created with People’s Galactic during the New Earth Hegemony, when Expansionist pilots and charts were used to great effect to outmaneuver the forces of the Hegemon during the middle stages of the war.

As discoveries of boundary-slips (those that allowed movement beyond the known Humanverse into new spheres) dwindled and then almost stopped, more and more Expansionists gathered in the outer, newly discovered heliospheres. Eventually, a large congregation gathered in Astrapelago, which led to the discovery of Periphery. As it became more and more evident that Periphery was the last heliosphere (and there are some that are not convinced this is the case, both within the Expansionists and elsewhere), the Expansionists have grown in number, placing Periphery in an almost talismanic role.