The race of 2178

Humans were shocked when hyperdrive did not create a galactic utopia but rather a galactic race for expansion. Each civilization severed communication with one another and shut down their stargates and began building colony ships as fast as they could to claim worlds made newly reachable via hyperdrive tech. Unfortunately for the humans, the aliens had long since mapped out the galaxy – they knew where the best planets were. Earth was hamstrung by the need to blindly search for habitable worlds at the same time it built its colony ships. In 2178, the first starship full of the pioneers, prefabricated dwellings, and terraforming equipment needed to spread humanity left the solar system.

The colonization race wasn't the only race taking place during this period. The technological balance in the galaxy had remained stable for hundreds of thousands of years. Contact with the humans changed everything. Humans provided the technology for immense amounts of energy along with the concept of massive, instantaneous communication linking its entire planetary population to one another. Other civilizations had long been united, and communication technology had not advanced as quickly as it had on Earth. These two factors kicked off a galactic technological race.

Earth was at a disadvantage on colonization, but maintained an advantage in technology. The Humans could be ruthless when necessary, and demonstrated their own brand of cunning by quickly catching up to the older races.