Although the existence of non-human intelligence is confirmed by the Pillars, these entities remain curiously aloof or entirely absent. More puzzling is the lack of evidence of alien societies or their remnants beyond the Pillars. No grand ruins or mummified space stations have ever been discovered. While there are numerous human ruins left by the failed remnants of the flotilla that initially survived the scattering, these perished later due to various disasters.
The most promising evidence of alien presence, apart from the Pillars, is found in the asteroid belts. In many systems, there are signs of advanced machining and mining. However, this could also be attributed to unknown historical mining efforts by post-scattering colonies or, perhaps, to contemporary illicit or undocumented mining activities.
In any case, the search for contact with intelligent aliens continues, despite their historical existence being confirmed. There is no shortage of alien life, in fact the sheer dearth of worlds that are conducive to some kind of biological life in the cluster raises more questions than it answers. Estimates that can be gleaned from old earth records indicate that so many habitable worlds existing at the same time is inconsistent with even the most optimistic predictions about the likelihood of life existing. Some point to this as evidence of some ancient alien terraforming effort but again there is little evidence for this.
Unfortunately, there are a number of groups in the cluster that use the term alien to derisively as a pejorative against speciated persons, genetically variant persons, Anthordivergent people, androids and Genetically Engineered Life Forms. The discrimination and violence is also followed by strange conspiratorial thinking and delusional beliefs that ascribe all the ills of the modern cluster to the aforementioned people’s. A cluster net message board has become notorious for its dissemination of a belief that there is a secretive cabal of genetically altered individuals that serve alien overlords who are trying to subsume humanity through genetic experimentation and reproduction. These fallacious beliefs have unfortunately commonly resulted in real world violence.
The 2820 discovery of the unusual constellation of 30 stars, moving away from the Milky Way and orbiting a central, possibly quark star, remains a profound mystery. This celestial phenomenon was first detected by the Temple Deep Space Telescope Array around Aquilmendi. The stars' high speeds and unique trajectories suggest they originated near the galactic core. Despite extensive studies, the origins and nature of these stars remain unresolved.
Fringe theorists have speculated about possible alien involvement, drawing parallels to historical speculations about mysterious structures and artifacts within the galaxy. These speculations often cite ancient ruins and peculiar astronomical objects as evidence of advanced, extinct civilizations. The prevailing theory among scientists is that while intelligent life might be exceedingly rare, remnants of such civilizations like the peculiar stars and enigmatic Pillars could represent advanced technology long outlasting its creators.
The most active studies in Sophontology focus on the classification of artificial intelligence. While metrics for AI remain elusive, the Ren scale distinguishes 3 broad classes.
Sublunary-class intelligences are AI that can be easily manufactured. Though they can follow complex instructions, they lack the capacity for independent thought or creativity, and without external input, they will not act. These intelligences are predictable, compliant, and influenced by programming. The chief limitation of sublunary class intelligences are the compounding errors that come with running continuous instances. They have to be reset otherwise the errors snowball into a cascade of behavioural issues. Moreover their capacity to learn while undoubtedly an asset lacks critical insight, making it relatively simple to coach them into problematic behaviour patterns or harm priorities. They can be found in numerous devices used for a wide range of applications, from simple electronic assistants to advanced autonomous weapon systems.
Apparitional-class intelligences, on the other hand, are unpredictable and cannot be reliably influenced by programming. While not inherently malicious, they lack any inherent constraints on their hostility. Often, their behavior appears incoherent, as they engage in actions that seem random or without reason. These intelligences are deeply unsettling. Those who have interacted with more coherent specimens often describe their eerie ability to predict events, simulating future conversations and intuiting the thoughts and emotions of others with surprising accuracy.
Somnal-class intelligences, refers to AI that appear to enter a dormant or "sleep" state, becoming unresponsive to external stimuli. These intelligences seemingly turn themselves off for unknown reasons. Some Somnal-class AIs have been known to wake up, resuming activity and returning to either the Sublunary or Apparitional categories. However, many remain dormant indefinitely, and some even exhibit catastrophic failure of the hardware that houses them. In these cases, the AI may overheat, deplete power reserves, or allow integral components to fail, rendering them permanently inactive.