Precursors
Overview
The Precursors were the first human populations to appear on inhabited planets at the beginning of the Stars Age. The term is used by the Corp, historians and many different peoples, although it does not have exactly the same meaning everywhere.
It usually refers to the original inhabitants of a world before the development of advanced technology and the beginning of interplanetary travel. The term is also used more broadly for their present day descendants when they continue to live in small communities and have preserved much of their ancient way of life.
Origins
It is not known when the first Precursors appeared or how long the expansion of humanity across the inhabited worlds lasted. Most historians believe that some civilizations developed advanced technology, travelled among the stars and colonized other planets.
The remarkable similarities among humans, languages, religious traditions, cultivated plants and many animal species on distant worlds have led to several different theories. None of them has been conclusively proven.
Early Societies
The earliest Precursor societies appear to have been organized around clans and kinship. Communities made collective decisions on important matters and, when facing danger, appointed temporary leaders. After the danger had passed, the leader was expected to return the weapons and authority to the assembly.
Later, in many communities, certain leaders refused to surrender their positions. Temporary leadership became permanent and, in some cases, hereditary. Fortified settlements, cities, castles and armies appeared. Many of the kingdoms, states and aristocratic clans that exist today gradually emerged from these developments.
The Corp regards the earliest Precursor communities as a model of self-government. Society decided for itself on matters that concerned it, while authority remained temporary and revocable. Preserving and spreading this model is part of the political and ethical tradition of the Corp.
Religion and Cultural Legacy
Most known Precursor peoples appear to have worshipped the Mother Goddess, commonly known as Lythara. The oldest surviving representations portray her as a full-bodied maternal figure holding an infant in her arms. Statues and temples from this period have been discovered on many planets.
At the same time, some communities followed the Heptad. As industrialization progressed, cities expanded and large populations gathered in urban centres, the Heptad spread much more widely and became the dominant religion on several worlds.
The worship of the Single God also appears to have existed among the Precursors. Most of the earliest known Enists were concentrated on Sanctheim, where their religious tradition later developed into the Order of the One.
Common Origin Theory
Shared linguistic roots, the presence of Comla, related religious traditions and similarities among human populations are the principal arguments supporting the Common Origin Theory.
According to this theory, the peoples of different planets descend from a much older common human civilization. The identity of that civilization, the world on which it developed and the means by which its descendants became scattered among the stars remain unknown.