View source for The Forgotten

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|player=Bubble Wrap
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|positive4=Capital Ship Focus
|negative1=Production Reduction
|negative2=Slow & Steady
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Eden is a verdant jungle world. Nine tenths of its landmass is covered with rainforests, jungles or dense forests. It supports a great and diverse mixture of plant and animal life, on land, in the air and beneath the clear oceans. It is a world where life thrives.

How mankind came to Eden is a story lost in the myth-time, a time so long ago that it pre-dates even the written history of the Ancestors. The most widely held theory, based on what scraps can be gathered from the Ancestor’s ruins, is that one of the Elder Gods came down from the heavens and placed mankind upon the surface of Eden, granting them the stewardship of the world. The Ancestors built a great civilisation, spreading across the entire surface of the world. Great cities were built in the jungles, and it seemed the technological wonders of the Ancestors would know no bounds. In the end, however, they doomed themselves. They took Eden for granted, stripping its resources for their own gain, driving back nature to be replaced with stone and steel. Eden wept and the Elder Gods heard her cries. The wrath of the Elder Gods was terrible indeed, and the whole world shook. Fire rained from the skies and whole swathes of land were lost beneath the oceans as great tidal waves assailed the coasts. The civilisation of the Ancestors was torn down; those cities that survived the cataclysmic events were now ruined shells of their former selves, home only to ghosts and memories. To those who survived, this time became known as the Fall.

Nobody knows why some were spared, however all feared that the Elder Gods would return to finish what they had started. The survivors crept into the shadows and eked out a living in the ruins of the Ancestors. Even as the jungles overran the remnants of the old civilisation, a new one arose. The survivors gathered into tribes, hiding in the ruins of the largest cities, where there were ample hiding places. As time passed, it seemed that the wrath of the Elder Gods had truly passed them by, and so the survivors took to calling themselves the Forgotten.

One of the most important tenets of Forgotten law is that no trace may be left that could reveal their existence. As a result there is no written record of the Forgotten’s history; instead they have a strong oral tradition. Their history is recorded in the Saga of Those Left Behind, and every member of society is responsible for remembering and passing on this Saga. It is too large for any one person to recall all of it in precise detail, and so everyone learns common parts, and then others relevant to their interests and careers. If someone needs to know of the military history, it is the soldiers who they must speak to. Engineers can tell of the great inventions the Forgotten have rediscovered from the Ancestors, while the scientists can explain how these discoveries were made.

Living in the ruins of the ancient civilisation that precedes them has allowed the Forgotten to advance technologically at an astounding rate. While they lack any large scale research and development of their own, their archeoscientists have been able to reverse engineer relics of the Ancestors, as well as deciphering the ancient texts which lie abandoned in the ruins. In many cases, they are able to replicate Ancestral technology and operate it, even if they are not entirely sure how or why it works. Though they follow in the Ancestors’ footsteps, the Forgotten do not intend to repeat their mistakes. They live in harmony with nature, and use technology to aid them, rather than becoming totally reliant on it. Uptake of technology is generally slow, as the tribes resist the influence of the Ancestors, and so there is a growing divide between the general population and those whose jobs rely heavily on technology.

Although the Forgotten are aware of the Elder Gods, the Saga makes no mention of them directly, only vague references in passing. To invoke the names of the gods is to invite their attention, and so while they dutifully maintain the remaining temples and shrines built by the Ancestors, they do not worship the Elder Gods themselves. Instead, the Forgotten have turned to the worship of Eden herself, the mother goddess of their world who provides for their every need and who asks only that they treat her world with respect. Due to the requirement that they leave no permanent trace of their presence, the Forgotten have raised no temples or statues to Eden, instead they dedicate sacred areas within their territories to her: springs of unusually pure water, groves where helpful plants grow in abundance, ancient trees that have stood while the world changes around them; all are protected and honoured by the Forgotten as signs of Eden’s blessing.

The Elder Gods are not forgotten, however. Indeed, they are forever at the forefront of the Forgotten’s thinking. They wish to escape their life in the shadows and live without fear of impending doom. Since the first of the Forgotten stood amidst the ruins of their civilisation and saw the folly of their ways, they have strived to prove that they have changed, that they have learned from their mistakes. Over generations, the Forgotten have striven towards a single goal: to travel to the very heavens themselves and appeal to the mercy of the Elder Gods. They hope that by showing proof that they can build a civilisation as strong as that of the Ancestors, but still in harmony with nature, they will earn the forgiveness of the Elder Gods and be able to step once more into the light.

Now, their dream has become a reality. A chance discovery by a downed airship revealed an ancient Ancestral airdock, its hangars built into the mountainside. In these hangars they found three Angels, skyships capable of lifting beyond the sky and into the heavens themselves. Rumours of the Angels had been amongst the Forgotten for decades, due to many references in the Ancestors’ historical texts, however now they were a reality and the Forgotten were able to figure out their controls.

Using just these three craft, and pulling together the most advanced archeoscience they could lay their hands on, the Forgotten built their first Heavenship, the Redemption. Falling under the auspices of the Airfleet, but commanded by the Wardens who had long guarded the borders of the Forgotten, the Redemption explored the First Heaven – that which directly surrounded Eden. They travelled towards the great sun god, Helios, discovering the innermost planet of the system. The Redemption suffered much damage attempting to approach it before being forced to return to Eden for repairs and so this world became known as Folly. Travelling outwards, they came upon a great world made entirely of gas. As this world and its many moons contained vast quantities of rare materials that were hard to obtain on Eden without destroying the jungles, it became known as Bounty. It was Sentinel, however, that would prove to be the greatest discovery of them all.

Sentinel was a mineral rich moon, similar in composition to several others around Bounty. When the Redemption approached, however, they discovered another Heavenship already in orbit around it. It was inert and lifeless, however as the wardens boarded it, it came back to life. The Heavenship was vast, on a scale never before imagined by the Forgotten, and its cavernous halls were filled with the manufacturing technology of the Ancestors. It was mobile construction yard, and it had remained forgotten here in the void since it had lost contact with Eden during the Fall. This, the Forgotten were sure, was a sign that their expedition had Eden’s blessing.

Since the discovery of the vessel, named The Architect by its discoverers, the Heavenship project has advanced in leaps and bounds. The plans for the Angels were the first to be unlocked from the Architect’s database, allowing squadrons of these vessels to be produced. With the resources available on Bounty and its moons, the Forgotten were able to construct new, larger ships.

The discovery of the jump nodes led to a tense discussion amongst the tribes, and it was finally decided that in order to protect Eden, the explorer fleets would operate from off-world bases in nearby systems. The first of these bases was built in a nearby system which the Forgotten named Aurora. The Architects advanced production facilities were used to build a second mobile yard, which formed the heart of the new station: the Aurora Basilica. A number of defence and research modules were constructed around the new station, and it became the first of the Heavendocks.

All eyes are now turned outwards as the Forgotten begin their search for redemption...