The Speakers were said to have created life by bringing life from the other side of that door, the door that they had so firmly closed. They settled life here, and there. They gave the life that they set into motion tools to survive and hoped that the beings that they created and placed upon planets all across the universe would forget what war was and never engage in it again.
The Speakers were not immortal. They had a lifespan, and it would cease. Before it ceased, however, they had the opportunity to spend many centuries watching as the universe that they had seeded sprang into life and then sprang into the very thing that the Speakers had hoped would never be on that side of the door.
The Speakers were disheartened. They watched as war broke out. They watched as oppression began. They watched as class systems were put into place and some beings were held under the heavy foot of those who considered themselves better than the ones that they oppressed.
They watched this hatred over species, breeds and the color of skins and the form of bodies begin and spread like a virulent fever across the universe that they had hoped would be their redemption.
The Speakers did not intervene nor interfere. They believed that what they had created was a failure and that it was their own fault for having faith where none should’ve been.
They despised what they had created for it had proven itself to be unable to forget the one thing the Speakers had hoped would be lost.
Hatred.
Hatred which led to war and greed and all the other things that had destroyed the universe from which the Speakers had come.
The Speakers fled the universe, leaving it in chaos and disarray, choosing to die outside the door that they had created rather than face the awfulness of their creation. They would rather close their eyes and close the door. They re-centered themselves in the emptied world and universe that they had left behind in the hopes of creating something better.
They chose to do that rather than stay in the universe that they made as its civilizations and populations tore itself and themselves apart.
It is said that the Speakers knew then that the only way to redeem themselves after such a horrible mistake was to let the universe that they created die, to let those who would make war, make it. To let those who would suffer from that war, suffer from it, and to never allow that failed universe entry into the universe beyond the door
They also say that the Speakers intent in closing that door was not just to keep their vile creation from spreading into the empty universe beyond but to protect the universes beyond that universe, universes upon universes too vast to be numbered.
The Federation was formed in this time and among the beings that formed the original founding members of the Federation were several beings who believed quite sincerely that the Speakers had indeed existed. That they had foreseen a universe capable of greatness, of great peace, and of equality and justice.
That it had failed, the founding members of the Federation reasoned, was inevitable. All civilizations and births are bloodied and violent. All children must be taught and raised and educated in this way. It seemed that the Speakers had neglected their duties as parents of that universe.
The founding members of the Federation reasoned that if they could forge an alliance, one made of not just trade agreements and necessity, but of real and genuine trust, then they could take hold of their populations. That they could spread the necessity for peace. That all could thrive and prosper. That the power would lie within each and every being upon each and every planet within that universe and that the universe would be peaceful and plentiful.
So the Federation was created. More and more planets fell into line as they saw these powerful founding members, rife with wealth and the ability to broker trade and peace, begin to bring an end to the terrible wars that raged. An advanced technology rose to new heights, heights that only their working together could have created.
Those who were within the Federation found themselves suddenly blessed with not just technology but resources. The Federation had the ability to travel into corners of the universe previously unknown via the wormholes whose locations only the Federation knew. Those wormholes gave Federation allies and members the ability to keep their populations from starving or dying of thirst and the elements. There were materials and other resources in the corners of the universe too, things that would help beat back death and make civilization spread faster.
More and more planets joined. The Federation grew. It spread from a handful of planets to nearly every corner of the universe in less than a half-a-century. But all was not well even with this early alliance. Suddenly the founding members found themselves possessed of massive and mighty armies, many of which had blood grudges against other armies also part of the Federation. The founding members could not keep their own members from fighting each other.
As the power grew. As the wealth grew. As the renown grew, so did the war.
And then came the day when all of the founding members realized that their bodies were old and frail and that death was imminent. That nothing, not technology and not even their intentions, could halt death. It was coming for them, and it was coming soon.
The founding members of the Federation called a special council meeting and began delegating duties and asking for truce treaties and doctrines within its members. But power brings corruption, and many within the Federation’s lower ranks had already tasted what heady power could be had—and they wanted more.
An assassination plot began. Every founding member found themselves in danger, grave danger. The only kind of danger that truly exists.
Knowing that they were dying and that their deaths would come much faster if they did not do something to prevent it, the founding members resolved to remove themselves from the world. Not just the world either, but the universe.
They took themselves to a secret stronghold called Tralam and there they took their own lives. Their bodies remain there to this day, it is said. There are some who, many centuries ago, found the way into that stronghold. What they saw there was fearsome and terrible. None who ever entered came back whole. Most never came back at all.
Tralam is the place where the remains of the founders lie and shall always lie, protected by the thing that first sealed the door: the tech that the Speakers used and that the founding Federation members discovered and then used but only once. To seal their bodies away.
So the founding members, like the Speakers before them, turned their back on the universe that they had wished only peace and enlightenment for. Now they too are gone.”
Blade’s eyes flew open. He turned to Talon. “I know our main objectives and fighting the Federation were never aligned. Mine was to break them and take them all down. Yours was to stop them from opening a wormhole that would lead into another universe, a universe whose beings could kill the entire universe here.”
Talon said, “It’s still our objective. Although we have different objectives, they both need to be played out. But I see your point. That old tale speaks of the wormhole in the universe beyond the Speakers door. I had forgotten about that. Like I said, it’s a tale told only by the oldest, and they are all gone now. I haven’t heard it in centuries, and I had never connected the two things.”
Renall ran his long hands up and down his legs. His face held a reflective look. “Nor had I. I don’t think any of us did. I don’t think I have heard that tale since I was maybe twenty summers old, and that was nearly four centuries before. If there is any truth to that, if the Federation truly can open that door, we may be letting ourselves in for more than just war from the other side.”
Blade said, “That doesn’t answer the major question though.”
