Earth

The Essential

In 4280 AD, the survivors of humanity's near-extinction—the 0.1% who weathered the Great Cataclysms—looked at their devastated biosphere and made a decision that would reshape galactic civilization: they uplifted six species to full sentience. Canines, Felines, Primates, Swine, Cephalopods, and Cetaceans were engineered into co-equal citizens of a world that no longer belonged to humans alone. No other species in recorded history has voluntarily shared its homeworld this way.

Today, Earth functions as the administrative capital of the Lumen Coalition of United Systems—a political entity spanning 6,000 star systems, 39,000 planets, and all nine known galaxies. The irony is not lost on historians: the cradle of humanity's apocalypse became the throne room of interstellar governance.

The planet's geography tells the story. Where seven continents once drifted, a single supercontinent now dominates: UniTerra, formed when tectonic upheaval fused landmasses during the 28th century. The atmosphere itself carries the signature of catastrophe—oxygen levels stabilized at 27-29%, a permanent reminder of the biosphere's violent rebirth. Five distinct regions now host the eight sapient species, each governed through the Earth Council, where every species holds equal voice regardless of population.

The Lumens—transcendent post-humans who emerged from the Chrono-Biogenesis Project in 7800 AD—number only 100,000 on their homeworld. Yet they administer an empire of trillions. The Canines, at 4 billion, dominate the population charts. The original humans, now called Holdouts, persist at 500 million—a fraction of the 8 billion who once claimed sole dominion.

In the Stories