Excerpts from the Codex Of The Masses, originally by Professor Gerald I. Kintobor and Professor Byron Cain. Updated edition printed in Cycle 750 AU:
The Codex Of The Masses
A Brief History Of The Masses
One of the few facts of our world's history that we are certain of is that the Masses have existed for millennia in a relatively unchanged state. There have been minor geographic changes over the course of several million years but nothing to a very large extent. Another fact that we are certain of is that the Seven Races are not the first advanced civilization to inhabit this place. Ruins of the previous inhabitants rest on every major landmass and much of the technology we take for granted today only exists thanks to what we have learned from these ruins and the artifacts enclosed within. It is entirely likely that they went through the same process; surviving and building off of the ruins of the past. Perhaps this is the only way civilization can form under the Skydome; borrowing from those who failed and doing better. In fact it is entirely possible that some of the Seven Races owe their existence to the Lost Empire.
Our races met 750 years ago, at the end of the Age of Separation, encountering each other on Union Island by sheer chance. Explorers from the human, kron, zoah, nrr'gll, voxai, mobian, and blodex lands approached the island in vessels of all shapes and sides. The zoah arrived first, followed a day after by the humans. As the two groups made contact and discussed their respective origins they were joined by the kron ship. The next day the mobians arrived. Two days later the voxai and blodex reached the island together. The nrr'gll showed last. There the sailors and soldiers of the races talked to each other and interacted, sending news back to their homelands of the fantastic discoveries made. All except the mobians, for they feared the response of their despotic rulers, the Four Houses who controlled the land of Northamer. The governments of the other races soon met and discussed this turn of events. Taking pity on the mobians and realizing that the Four Houses could pose a threat to the other races if allowed to continue ruling, the races united their strength and worked together to assemble the First United Fleet. The fleet converged on Northamer and soon the First Mass War began. The Four Houses fought tenaciously, but within a month the other races overwhelmed and dismantled them. Freed, the mobians set to work creating a new ruling government. Thus the Kingdom of Acorn was formed and the Age of Unity began.
Over the many years that followed, the Seven Races grew close and all hit a massive industrial boom. The world's greatest minds could at last work together to bring about a brighter tomorrow. Quite possibly the greatest achievements came in Cycle 565 AU when the first advanced robots were created. Though mindless and limited in their ability, these machines were the vital first step in the field of robotics. Over the next two hundred years more and more advancements would be made, culminating in robotics as we know them today; brilliant machines central to our society. As robots became commonplace throughout the Masses, the number of workplace injuries dwindled. The dangers inherent in many fields of work became nothing more than annoyances. A second industrial revolution took place. But the Age of Unity was soon to end.
In Cycle 735 AU one of the then-current princes of Acorn, Emerson Acorn, met a young human boy by the name of Paladin. The two became fast friends, but a tragic accident occurred. While fooling around with a gun that Paladin had found, Emerson was inadvertently shot and fatally wounded. The king of Acorn, devastated by his son's death and under the belief that it had been an intentional assassination, cut ties with the United Federation. A long string of events followed that increased tensions amongst the races. Some objected to the increasing role of robots, nrr'gll and zoah colonies bickered over property, paranoics in the Overland spread rumors that the voxai were planning an invasion, the Church of the Overlanders began preaching human superiority. Issues and bigotry that had been ignored or covered up suddenly bubbled to the surface. By the end of the cycle the races stood divided; humans, kron, and nrr'gll on one side with mobians, zoah, voxai, and blodex on the other. The final straw came when the reactionary General Kodos executed a human prisoner accused of espionage. Tensions exploded and within a week war was declared. Thus began three long years of bloody conflict and destruction as the Second United Fleet tore into itself across the Masses. The end came when the kron developed a powerful new weapon; the Devil Cores which, once placed within a machine or substance could manipulate it's surroundings to create a powerful and devastating form. The ever pragmatic zoah general, seeing the power of the Devil Cores, switched sides and had his forces devastate the militaries of their allies from within. The fearful voxai and blodex quickly surrendered, leaving the mobians alone to face the sudden betrayal and vicious new resolve of their foes. In weeks the last defenses fell and the mobians surrendered, having lost a good amount of their territory outside of Northamer. There was peace once more, but the previously powerful unions between the races had been shattered. Our current time, the Age of Reconstruction, began.