THE SETTING

Humanity has been a part of the galactic stage for over a thousand years. In that time, most intelligent species have learned to coexist — if not always harmoniously, then at least without constant bloodshed. Tensions simmer beneath the surface, as they always do, but open conflict is rare. Most races tend to cluster among their own kind, preferring cultural familiarity over integration. Yet, scattered across the stars are vast space stations and cosmopolitan planets where people of all species choose to live together. In these enclaves, diversity has bred a kind of peace, fragile though it may be.

Roughly a century ago, everything changed.

Rifts began to tear through the fabric of space — sudden, violent openings that carved tunnels through reality itself. These rifts connected our universe to others: alternate timelines, divergent possibilities, parallel realities. Some were nearly identical to our own. Others were utterly alien, ruled by physics and logic incomprehensible to even our brightest minds.

For a time, the Rifts were seen as opportunities. Trade with certain alternate worlds brought prosperity. Rare resources, exotic technologies, and strange philosophies flowed between universes — if the timing was right and the rift was stable.

But not all Rifts led to promise.

Some revealed horrors — universes consumed by war, madness, or entities that defied understanding. Entire research teams vanished, cities were lost to unseen forces, and more than once, something came through that was never meant to exist in this world. Yet, as dangerous as they were, the rifts always closed. None stayed open longer than twenty-three days.

All but one.