Chapter Six: The Known World

After wisdom was born, sentient beings began to look up at the sky. They saw the Stars, saw light, and saw distant worlds suspended in the depths of darkness. Then they began to ask: Is there life there too? Is someone there also looking up at the sky? Is someone there asking the same questions? This is one of the earliest shared records of many civilizations. Before they ever left their homes, they began to imagine the distance. So later scholars argued that travel does not begin on the day one takes the first step. It begins the first time one raises one's head to look at the Stars. All roads begin in curiosity, and all distances begin in imagination.

Civilizations began to record the sky: the movement of stars, abnormal fluctuations, and worlds similar to their homes. Some called them life-stars, some lands of kin, some future homes. The names differed, but the essence was the same. They were searching for life beyond themselves. This became one of the longest waits in cosmic history. Many civilizations had not yet gained the power to travel, yet had already begun to send voices into the distance. Some carved messages into light. Some hid messages inside rules. Some wrote messages into space. Some cast messages into the void. They did not know whether anyone could receive them, but they persisted, because they believed that if life was not an accident, then somewhere far away there must be others looking at the sky. For the first time, the universe had a call.

Later, replies appeared. Some came from the Stars, some from ancient Primordial Realms, and some crossed distances that civilizations could not understand. When the first reply arrived, many civilizations thought it was a miracle. Later they learned that it was only another group of equally lonely wise beings answering their question. Thus the known world began to take shape.