26th August 2023

The Krell
While they may regard themselves as being one of the Ancient Races, they are at best only one of the Elder Races, too young to have ever met the Gate Builders, they still have left their mark upon the Tanhauser Galaxy.

Regarding themselves not as true explorers, but instead scientists who have devoted themselves to furthering knowledge, at whatever price this required. The drive and thirst for knowledge has resulted in their interfering in the development of a number of other races, even to the point they may have been responsible for more than one of the Newborn Races that are active in the Tanhauser Galaxy today. 

The Krell are a small, bipedal race, standing little more than a metre tall, they have grey skin, a large, hairless head with large, unblinking, black eyes. With no discernible nose or ears, the mouth was small, and lip-less. 
 

10th August 2023

Tanhauser opens

The Tanhauser Galaxy is a barred spiral galaxy with an isophotal diameter estimated 87,400 ± 3,590 light-years, but only about 1,000 light-years thick at the spiral arms. The Tanhauser Galaxy has several satellite galaxies, including the Toroidal Cluster, and is part of the Local Group of galaxies, which form part of the as yet unnamed Supercluster. It is estimated to contain 100–400 billion stars and at least that number of planets.

The Tanhauser Galaxy as a whole is moving at a velocity of approximately 600 km per second with respect to extragalactic frames of reference. The oldest stars in the Tanhauser Galaxy are nearly as old as the Universe itself and thus probably formed shortly after the Dark Ages of the Big Bang.

The Tanhauser Galaxy is now open for players to explore, though be reassured, the game area does not include all of the visible stars!
 

22nd July 2023

Stellar Drift

The basis of all (well, maybe not all) faster-than-light travel, Jump Theory, suggests that while jump routes are generally stable, there are situations where a jump route may change destination, that is instead of going to Star X, it changes to Star Y.

There are thought to be several reasons for this phenomenon. Jump Theory accepts that there is a degree of uncertainty while dealing with super heavy stars, or Black Holes, where the extreme gravity so distorts time/space that jump route stability is far from guaranteed. 

Away from such stellar objects, the only likely explanation is *stellar drift*, simply that over prlonged time the relative movements of stars at the opposite ends of a jump route puts the individual route under a stress, which releases itself by snapping to a less stressful destination. Statistical analysis suggests that there is less than 0.01% of such an event happening in the whole galaxy in anyone sgyear. The chance of it happening at an observed star is so low that is may be regarded as zero chance.

2nd July 2023

Synchronicity!

In what external observers may consider to be ‘a coincidence of such proportions as to put it beyond credible belief’ for those actually involved it is being looked upon as a most welcome serendipity. Across the whole of the Toroidal Cluster, discoveries of previously unknown reserves of second and third Exotics ores have been uncovered.

For whatever particular excuses have been given in your part of space, all nascent empires have been informed that their estimates as to the actual quantity of ores to their the second and third Exotic have to be revised upwards by 100 units. This change should be appearing on your latest turn report.

26th June 2023

The Ceutani (pronounced koo-tar-nee) is an aquatic race, resembling a large cuttlefish who communicate with a combination of semaphore using their tentacles, and colour using their chromatophores, the latter expressing emotional state. The chief passion for the Cuetani (aside from sand-crabs) is Waterbowl, a sport that both unifies and divides its people.

Played in a cubic stadium akin to a large fish tank, approximately 100m along each side, with a 1m wide opening on two of the opposite sides. These opening are the goals, the aim being for one team to put a small ball through the opponent’s goal to score a point. The ball may not be touched by any player, nor members of the opposing team. The ball, and under certain rules, the members of the opposing team, may be moved by the squirting of water from the players’ breathing syphon. A game lasts a number of minutes according to the league the match is played in. Premiership games, which are televised and have commercial breaks in which players may rest, last longer than do provincial games.