Humanity

Humans were a bipedal sapient species native to the lost world of Aurelion, and the earliest known civilization to deliberately manipulate arcane, magical forces on a planet-wide scale. They are now considered extinct, with their only descendants being what is now known as the Aurelium Exculta. Despite this, humans are considered to be an extremely historically significant species. Their rise, technological achievements, and eventual collapse are directly tied to the event known as the Convergence, which permanently altered reality and gave rise to the modern age.

Biology

Humans were a soft-bodied mammalian species with highly generalized anatomy. Known traits include bilateral symmetry, upright bipedal locomotion, opposable thumbs, forward-facing binocular vision, and comparatively low natural physical specialization (unlike many of our modern sapient species).

Humans lacked natural armor, any exceptional environmental resistance, or inherent magical adaptations. Despite these limitations, humans compensated through remarkable cognitive flexibility and tool use. They were built for invention.

The Golden Age

During the period prior to the Convergence, humanity achieved what is often called their Golden Age. During this period, humans rapidly expanded their technology and architecture, reaching beyond the stars. Yet, despite their accomplishments, they remained unaware of the risks inherent in the force they had harnessed, the Heart Below.

Fall of Humanity

Human extinction was not immediate, but rather a gradual collapse triggered by escalating failures between the Old Aurelian years of 2002 and 2005. When the Convergence fully manifested, Aurelion was abandoned, and those able to flee did so aboard spacefaring crafts. However, most of humanity did not survive.

Legacy

Though baseline humans are considered extinct, this classification is debated. Their surviving descendants would become what is now the Aurelium Exculta. Over generations in orbital habitats (prior to the construction of The Eden Construct) and prolonged exposure to the transformative energy of the Nullstar, these survivors underwent gradual biological and cultural transformation. Today, the Aurelium Exculta no longer classify themselves as human beings.

Below is an interview conducted by Ruby Webber with professor Sel Veyn, a comparative historian who specializes in late Old Aurelion civilization.

WEBBER: For those unfamiliar with the subject, could you tell me– what were humans?
PROF. VEYN: That depends on what you mean by that question, haha. Historically, they were a pre-Convergence sapient species native to Aurelion, and would later become what we call the Aurelian Exculta. Emotionally, they’re everyone’s favorite ghosts.
W: That’s rather poetic.
V: Humanity left behind just enough information to feel knowable, but not enough to ever truly understand them. That unsettles a lot of people.
W: Why is that?
V: Because they were… ordinary. They ate meals, they argued, they made art. They worried about work, they loved their children. And then they touched something at the center of their world, and experienced an event that changed the universe forever. I think people would be a lot more comfortable if they were indeed just myths, boogeymen, but they were so much like us.
W: Do you believe they caused the Convergence?
V: I think it’d be silly to think they didn’t have some part in the whole thing. Whether their participation makes them a core cause of the event depends on what their curiosity led them to see and do. And if they did indeed cause the Convergence? Could we blame them for it, when we are so similar?

However, not everyone is so enamored with the legacy humanity leaves behind. Ruby Webber also interviewed Dr. Kael Tharos, an ethicist and Convergence historian.

WEBBER: You’ve argued that modern civilization romanticizes humanity.
DR. THAROS: Constantly. People like to call them pioneers, visionaries, martyrs. But all humanity did was find an incomprehensible cosmic entity and immediately ask if they could build infrastructure on it.
W: That’s one interpretation.
T: It’s the correct one. They discovered the Heart Below, recognized it exceeded their understanding, and industrialized it. It’s species-wide overconfidence.
W: Many would argue that much of our modern-day technologies are based upon their work.
T: It doesn’t absolve them. If someone burns down a village while inventing indoor heating, we can still appreciate the invention while charging them for the destruction.
W: Many of your colleagues call you cold and unfeeling for your outspoken criticism of humanity, do you have anything to add about that?
T: Of course I feel humanity deserves sympathy. They paid for their mistakes when they went extinct. Sympathy and blame are not mutually exclusive things, I feel. Their tragedy is that they were intelligent enough to learn how to use what they found to reshape their world and civilization, but not wise enough to ask whether they should.