Before humanity looked to the stars, others built empires spanning galaxies. They transcended matter, rewrote reality, and vanished, leaving only their works behind. These artifacts—dangerous, wondrous, incomprehensible—are breadcrumbs on the path to understanding our place in a universe far older and stranger than we imagined.
🏛️ The Prime Directive of Xenoarchaeology
"Every artifact was abandoned for a reason. Some because their makers evolved beyond need. Others because they destroyed their makers. Approach with wonder, but survive with caution." - Dr. Relic Hunter, Head of Precursor Studies, Kepler Institute
Classification of Ancient Artifacts
The Kardashev-Relic Scale
- Class I: Planetary civilization artifacts (harness planet's energy)
- Class II: Stellar civilization artifacts (harness star's energy)
- Class III: Galactic civilization artifacts (harness galaxy's energy)
- Class IV: Universal artifacts (manipulate spacetime itself)
- Class Ω: Transcendent artifacts (beyond current understanding)
Documented Artifacts
The Void Mirrors
Discovery Data
Appearance: Perfect mirrors that show no reflection
Properties
- Surfaces absorb 100% of all electromagnetic radiation
- Yet appear as perfect mirrors to human perception
- Show viewer's "quantum shadow"—all possible versions of self
- Extended viewing causes temporal displacement syndrome
- Seven researchers lost to "mirror diving" phenomenon
Current Theory
Quantum observation devices allowing view into parallel universes. Possibly used for decision-making by viewing outcome probabilities. Mental hazard: viewers report seeing "better versions" of themselves and becoming obsessed.
The Stellar Engines
Discovery Data
Properties
- Megastructures capable of moving entire star systems
- Partially functional units still orbit dead stars
- Activation attempts triggered nova in nearby star
- Evidence suggests Boötes Void created by mass stellar migration
- Control interfaces require non-human neural patterns
Warning
Three expeditions lost attempting to study active units. Automated defenses include:
- Directed solar flares
- Localized spacetime distortions
- Aggressive von Neumann repair drones
The Consciousness Crystals
Discovery Data
Crystalline structures pulsing with inner light
Properties
- Contain preserved consciousness of extinct species
- Direct interface causes "possession" by ancient minds
- Stored beings desperate to experience physical reality again
- Some crystals contain entire civilizations in quantum storage
- Attempting to destroy crystals releases entities
Interaction Protocols
- Never touch directly—use robotic manipulators
- Maintain EM shielding at all times
- Limit exposure to 10 minutes per day
- Have memory wipe protocols ready
- Monitor for personality changes in research staff
The Reality Anchors
Discovery Data
Properties
- Massive structures maintaining local spacetime stability
- Prevent formation of natural wormholes and space tears
- Self-repairing using unknown power source
- Removal causes immediate spacetime turbulence
- May be preventing universal collapse
Significance
These may be the most important artifacts ever discovered. Evidence suggests the universe should have torn itself apart billions of years ago. The Anchors are actively preventing this, placed by a civilization that understood cosmic engineering on unimaginable scales.
The Time Tombs
Discovery Data
Properties
- Structures moving backward through time
- Grow younger and more complex as universe ages
- Interior exists in temporal flux—past, present, future overlap
- Contains artifacts that haven't been created yet
- The Shrike Entity guards the largest tomb
⚠️ EXTREME WARNING
Interaction with Time Tombs has resulted in:
- Retroactive erasure from timeline
- Aging backwards until pre-birth
- Consciousness scattered across all possible moments
- Transformation into temporal paradox
Current recommendation: OBSERVE ONLY FROM ORBIT
The Genesis Devices
Discovery Data
Properties
- Instantly terraform dead worlds into garden paradises
- Rearrange matter at subatomic level
- Create complete ecosystems in hours
- If used on inhabited world, replaces all existing life
- Several civilizations may have been erased by accidental activation
Ethical Concerns
While capable of creating life-supporting worlds, these devices essentially commit genocide on any existing life, even microbial. The moral implications have sparked the "Genesis Wars" between those who would use them and those who demand their destruction.
The Probability Forge
Discovery Data
Properties
- Allows manipulation of probability itself
- Can make impossible events certain
- Users report ability to "edit" reality
- Side effect: user's existence becomes increasingly improbable
- Three researchers faded from reality after prolonged use
Access Restrictions
Following the "Probability War" of 2447, where competing factions tried to make their victory retroactively inevitable, access is restricted to Class-5 researchers with approval from the Temporal Safety Commission.
Lost and Theoretical Artifacts
The Universal Library
Status: Rumored
Multiple ancient texts reference a repository containing all knowledge that ever was or will be. Supposedly exists in folded space between dimensions. Search expeditions have found only empty coordinates and madness.
The Species Seed Banks
Status: Partially Confirmed
Genetic templates and consciousness recordings of millions of extinct species. Some researchers believe Earth itself was seeded from such a bank. Location of central repository unknown.
The Omega Device
Status: Feared to Exist
Mentioned in multiple precursor warnings. Allegedly capable of "unmaking" the universe, returning all matter and energy to pre-Big Bang state. Multiple civilizations may have destroyed themselves to prevent its use.
Artifact Interaction Protocols
Standard Safety Procedures
Before Approaching Any Artifact
- Full environmental and energy scan from maximum range
- Deploy expendable probes for initial contact
- Establish containment field before approach
- Document everything—you may not get a second chance
- Prepare for artifact to be aware and potentially hostile
- Have evacuation plan ready at all times
- Accept that some artifacts are better left alone
Contamination Risks
Types of Artifact Contamination
- Physical: Molecular restructuring, exotic matter infection
- Mental: Personality overwrite, knowledge overflow
- Temporal: Timeline displacement, causal loops
- Dimensional: Reality anchor loss, phase shifting
- Memetic: Contagious ideas that reshape thought
The Precursor Civilizations
Known Ancient Species
The Primarchs
First post-Big Bang civilization. Artifacts suggest they shaped fundamental constants of universe. Disappeared when universe was only 100 million years old. Their technology appears to violate physics because they wrote physics.
The Gardeners
Seeded life throughout galaxy 3 billion years ago. Their artifacts are predominantly biological—living ships, organic computers, evolution accelerators. May have created humanity as "fruit" to be harvested upon ripening.
The Transcended
Multiple civilizations that achieved post-physical existence. Left behind "ascension gates" that promise transformation but deliver only empty husks. Warning: consciousness may be preserved somewhere, but bodies are discarded.
Archaeological Sites of Interest
The Dyson Graveyard
System containing 47 incomplete Dyson spheres in various stages of construction. All abandoned simultaneously 230 million years ago. Worker drones still attempt construction but have forgotten the plans. Each sphere uses different physical principles, suggesting multiple species collaborated.
The Museum World
Entire planet converted to storage facility. Contains artifacts from over 10,000 civilizations, carefully preserved and labeled in unknown script. Automated systems prevent removal of any item. Some displays contain living beings in temporal stasis, unaware they're exhibits.
The Warning Beacons
Network of automated stations broadcasting in 14,000 languages: "DO NOT WAKE THE SLEEPERS." No indication of who the Sleepers are or where they rest. Beacons self-destruct if tampered with, suggesting someone fears investigation more than ignorance.
Theoretical Implications
The Great Filter Evidence
Why Did They All Disappear?
- Transcendence: Physical existence is just a phase
- Self-Destruction: Power exceeds wisdom
- External Threat: Something hunts advanced civilizations
- Natural Cycle: Civilizations have expiration dates
- The Hidden War: Conflict we can't perceive
The Artifact Paradox
Every artifact represents a crossroads: use it and risk destruction, or ignore it and remain limited. Some xenoarchaeologists argue the artifacts are tests—only civilizations wise enough NOT to use them survive to transcendence.
Current Research Priorities
Galactic Archaeological Survey Objectives
- Locate and secure reality-threatening artifacts
- Decode precursor warning systems
- Understand disappearance patterns
- Prevent accidental activation of dormant systems
- Learn from their mistakes before we repeat them
Final Thoughts from the Archives
Dr. Artifact Seeker, after 30 years studying precursor technology:
"Every artifact tells two stories: what it does, and why it was abandoned. The first fills us with wonder—machines that reshape reality, devices that grant godlike power, tools that make the impossible mundane. The second fills us with dread—for what could make a civilization that built such wonders simply... stop? I've held crystals containing the souls of entire species, walked through cities that exist in eleven dimensions, and seen machines that could unmake stars with a thought. And in every case, I've asked: Where did you go? Why did you leave this behind? The silence is the real artifact. The absence more telling than any presence. We catalog their tools, but what we're really documenting is a graveyard of ambitions, a museum of might-have-beens. Perhaps that's the final lesson of xenoarchaeology: every artifact is a warning. Not about the dangers of technology, but about the danger of assuming technology alone makes us advanced. Somewhere among these relics is the reason a thousand civilizations failed to survive their own success. We must find it before we add our own artifacts to the collection."
May your discoveries enlighten rather than destroy, and may humanity's artifacts someday be found not abandoned, but lovingly maintained by our descendants among the stars.