Human Expansion

At the end of the 20th century, the unification of scientific and esoteric 
knowledge, which had long been separate and antagonistic, occurred. This was 
initiated by certain human Spirits who achieved transcendental contact with 
powers resembling an Infinite Mind. The Infinite Mind had long been foretold and 
anticipated by some; denied to exist by others.

The time was right, and the information gained from the contact-the theoretical 
principles of which were completely unknown-could be used successfully in real 
life.

The technology that had the most dramatic impact on human evolution was the 
permanent tunneling of space: the creation of so-called Passages which enabled 
travel to alien worlds. Humanity's age-old dream of traveling to the stars 
became reality.

A cosmogonical model of the universe, with its planets, stars and galaxies, 
became unnecessary. The Passages opened ways into zones whose formation was 
completely unrelated to the scientific concept of metagalaxy. Building and 
activating a Passage required enormous amounts of energy and its destination 
point was impossible to predict. After activation, a Passage became virtually 
autonomous, connecting two worlds.

Humankind rushed headlong to the new worlds, exploring and colonizing, 
unthinking and heedless of any consequences. While the finest minds assimilated 
knowledge from the new worlds, others bent on conquest rushed forth with 
vehicles of mass destruction.

These explorers were uncaring of the philosophical aspects of contact with other 
civilizations. Secure in the knowledge of their superior intellect, humans 
expanded and conquered new worlds for a hundred years. The entire human culture 
was significantly distorted under the impact of the rapidly growing Chain of 
Worlds. Without even completing the reconnaissance and development of one world, 
the explorers would start building a new Passage to the next. Fortunately, only 
a minority of the new worlds became part of the Chain, since the environment on 
many of them was extremely hostile to humans.

Inevitably, the explorers' disregard and conceit reaped their just rewards.

First Contact

The Cryspo were entirely unfamiliar; nothing like the ugly little humanoids 
flying UFOs of 20th century imagery. The collective mind of a Cryspo colony was 
totally unintelligible to the humans with their individual psyches. The colony's 
flawless mechanism closely resembled earthly nests of insects. The appearance of 
the explorers from the Passage was initially overlooked by the colony, 
preoccupied as it was with its primary function of territorial control. 
Conversely, the advance guard of explorers immediately started slaying these 
strange beasts, as they had done in similar circumstances so many times before. 
The consequences of this slaughter were catastrophic.

By the time people realized their technological inferiority to the new enemy, 
the Cryspo had managed to enter the Passage and had discovered the new, 
unclaimed territories. Initially they ignored the human settlers, although they 
did exterminate anyone foolish enough to get in their way. Disunited and 
defenseless, the settlers managed to seal off major cities, leaving the rest of 
the world to the Cryspo. Events progressed rapidly, and the Passage to Earth was 
destroyed, leaving millions of the Softie (as they were later to be known, owing 
to their physical helplessness) isolated with the Cryspo. Soon, the Cryspo 
sprang a new surprise: the human body served extremely well as biomass for their 
larvae.

