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Serendib
Galactography > Other Major Polities, Empires, and Meta-Empires > Hiders
Culture and Society > Myths and the Unexplained > Myths and Rumours
There are many stories about Hider worlds. Serendib is a tale with a difference. It is said to exist not in some scarcely visited area, but in the middle of the Inner Sphere. It is said to be extremely advanced, by far surpassing even standard Inner Sphere ultratech Sephirotic societies. Also, at least one high toposophic transapient dispatched a mission to discover it.Culture and Society > Myths and the Unexplained > Myths and Rumours
It is said that, time and again, ships travelling across various areas of the Inner Sphere would unexpectedly encounter nothing less than a rapidly expanding unknown wormhole. Behind it, a solar system with a single technologically advanced planet was visible. Some ships made a quick decision and entered the wormhole just in time before it collapsed again. Ship captains spoke of "wealth and miracles", and some of them came from the most advanced and rich worlds in the known Galaxy! Apparently Serendib citizens have clarketech and godtech in everyday use. No archailects or memetic manipulations exist. Most curiously, Serendibians appear to have the ability to distort the spacetime almost at will, including time travel. They claim that their solar system drifts in the wrap of dimensions outside our Universe. They detached near Wega in today's NoCoZo in the year 35,908 of the present time (that is, 25,000 years in future!). They connect occasionally to our world to check that they don't wander beyond the time limits of beginning or entropic death of our Universe. Serendibians, as the story goes, hide mostly to avoid time paradox which might cause their world to have never existed. Therefore locals would prohibit newcomers from ever leaving Serendib. Some ships nevertheless escaped when the wormhole opened again, after a heavy chase and with a load of most precious artifacts. Apparently, Serendibian spacefighting capabilities degenerated on their lone world. They usually found themselves in the completely different sector of the Galaxy and in completely different time. The only actually examined case was a shipwreck encountered near the Tau Ceti system in 8753, which claimed to have originated from 4000 years before. However, this could be the wreck of a recent primitive ship from some backwards colony, partially destroyed by a freak nanoswarm and with an insane crew. Many godtech artifacts are said to originate from Serendib.
Is Serendib a reality, or a meme spread by fantastic dreamers or spacetime research fanatics? Does it really exist without archailects or they don't show themselves? Will the Terragen civilization learn to control spacetime during the next 25,000 years? Certainly, several fairly high toposophic transapients at various times showed interest in the story and examined strange ships. They claimed the story to be laughable, but promptly destroyed the evidence, to the annoyance of other archailects. At least one - so popular accounts go - dispatched a space mission to locate, communicate with and possibly conquer Serendib.
Did e succeed? Did e subvert the Serendib? There are no answers. However, Serendib is surely an ultimate destination to visit for an adventure traveller.
from "Galaxy On a Holiday", Wega Press, 35634 LT.
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Development Notes
Text by Jorge Ditchkenberg
Initially published on 08 June 2004.
Initially published on 08 June 2004.
