This is just something I wrote for a competition, it is not tied into the current arc, but I thought I'd drop it by here since its in the same universe.

Time is a... curious subject to speak of. Most focus upon it through the mundane, partitioning an arbitrary portion of its existence so that they may dedicated some portion of their day to accomplish their goals. I suppose that is acceptable, for an understanding of time beyond its passage is relatively superfluous to the regular workings of the galaxy. One could give a dissertation on the difference between galactic and planetary time zones, differences in telling time between the different species and even the different galactic powers, but the chance of the average denizen to pay attention to such matters is relatively low. But still, research into time, and perhaps even the possibility to manipulate such an omnipresent force, had been the desire of all species, even ours. What is often ignored, however, is how exactly time relates to species behavior.

For my species, time can be considered a relative non-issue. The lifespan of a Faar'Shar spans millennia, something that is only matched in this galaxy by the beings known as Thulu. Much like my kind, the Thulu treat most issues as a matter of patience. The tides of time do not cause much turmoil for such immovable stones such as ourselves, and it is due to this that the Thulu has acquired for themselves a relatively secure seat in the galaxy. It is not quite as expansive as the territory my people had once possessed, but the Thulu appear to differ from us in that their legacy lies within the shadows. They do not possess as large a physical testament to their efforts, but the level of machination and manipulation my kind have observed of them over the years is... impressive to say the least. By not means are they a non-ambitious species, but beyond their lifespan and how such a time period factors into their plans, they do not possess the zeal of expansion that my species is... was known for.

If there was any species that possessed such a drive, it would be the Rezenaga. Their rate of expansion is certainly faster than ours was, and that can be explained by a factor of time once again. The average lifespan of a Rezenaga female is around 250 years, with the males possessing a slightly longer lifespan of 300 years. Given that a male Rezenaga is somewhat of a rarity among their species, the longer lifespan ensures that their youth and... vigour lasts longer for the sake of reproduction among their species. Regardless of sex, however, the drive for expansion is strong within their blood, which is the reason that they have acquired such a vast territory. It has faltered somewhat in recent years, but that desire for a dominant position within the galaxy still remains strong. They are not as nearly as patient as we were in our own conquests, which leads them to make a number of mistakes that we would have avoided, but I would say, from our own observations, that there was not much they could have done with the recent war to prepare them for the force they awakened. They are still one of the more patient powers in the galaxy, but compared to our own methodical measure their can be best described as... forceful.

The Coalition is perhaps the only galactic power, from our previous home to our current one, that does not seem to be affected by time the way most species are. That is, perhaps, due solely from the fact that they have shed their individual species identities in favor of a more collective identity as a society. It is... interesting to observe, partially it is because such a society never manifested in our previous galaxy. Time, in the eyes of the Coalition, is another thing to equalize among themselves. To that extent research into time focuses instead on ensuring that every species part of the Coalition will, in the end, possess having the same lifespan. Such a project is far from reaching any sort of meaningful conclusion at this point of time, but the attempt has been noted by myself and many of my peers, and we are interested to see what the results of such research are... if their society lasts long enough to reach such conclusions that is.

Their research seems to look to the Nereids as a possible solution to this equalizing of age, as the Nereid reproductive capabilities bring forward a possible melding of species genetics in a way that would, essentially, truly unite species under a biological basis. While an interesting solution, many of the Nereid's themselves do not seem keen on performing this task, if not in part of the near zealotry that the Coalition expresses in pursuit of this goal. As well as they should, for the rate of genetic defects among Nereid births is much higher than any other species, which is perhaps the sole reason that the Nereid race has not propagated nearly as much as other species. To rely on such a failure prone method of reproduction for a society such as the Coalition would be an unnecessary gamble. There is not enough data to suggest such a method would even work in the first place, as the Nereid that possess other species genetics have not been alive long enough to see if their lifespans will be the same as the average pure-blooded Nereid, which is around 500 years old. Given the biological instability, as well as the unknown effects of mixing species genetics, to determine an age that would result from such reproductive methods is a matter of time, not ideology, which is something that the Coalition seems to ignore. It is perhaps this fixation that has led to them to believing that the Faar'Shar are something that we are not, and though we do not make any strides to inhibit their access to our derelict colonies and vessels, their increasing delusions of our society has become something that may require addressing in the future. Hopefully, they themselves will realize that we are something that is far different than their visions, but from our time in this universe we have found that such an outcome is unlikely. So long as they cling to their ideology, they will ignore the truth so long as the lie favors their vision. It is sad, but given our oaths, there is not much we can do of such things. We can only hope that their efforts do result in a net positive effect upon the galaxy.

Which leads us to perhaps the most perplexing species in this galaxy, Humans.

Our initial observations of their species led us to believe that humanity was a species that would at best reach the edge of their solar system. Indeed, we believed it was unlikely they would depart from their planet at all. They possess the shortest lifespans of any sentient species we have encountered, averaging at about 100 years. This, combined with what we thought to be uncontrolled aggression and restlessness, led us to believe that human society would eventually stagnate into a cycle of collapse and reconstruction, and for a time held true. But there was something that we missed in our initial assessment.

Human civilizations, for millennia, rose and fell in cyclical patterns that essentially reset their progress as a species back to zero, there was a slight subtlety to these collapses that started to eventually grow into a trend. With each collapse, each fall of an empire, a civilization, a sliver of its legacy would survive, be it through oral history, artifacts, or even cultural values so subtle that their origins would not be found for centuries. Yet... they survived somehow, resurfaced and further bolstering future civilizations with revelations and remembrance of concepts that brought about stable centers of power throughout their home planet. This was in total contrast to the development of my kind, which never experienced a collapse except towards the end of our time in Andromeda. Human's however, rose and fell like the tides, yet in the wake of such destruction small bits and pieces would remain, reforged and repurposed into more enlightened ideals that served as the foundation of their civilization to this day. It is a society built upon its chaotic failures and ruins, rather than the careful meticulation of my kind, yet... the results speak for themselves. In the span of one of our lifetimes, humanity has managed to bring itself from simple tools of stone and steel to taking its first steps into the stars, an acceleration of development that is unprecedented in many of the galactic civilizations we have observed throughout our existence.

The reason for this lies within the human lifespan. Rather than a hinderance to their development that we originally thought, the short life of a human instead serves as a boon to their civilization. The reason for this is due to the fact that human generations transition from one to another at remarkedly fast rates, which means that their progressive tendencies, kept stable upon the ruins of their previous failures, experienced a similar rate of acceleration as their generations cycled over one another. We predicted that due to their short lifespans there would be a continuous clash of ideals between generations, which would serve as the stagnation of their society. What we did not anticipate, however, was that this clash of ideologies would instead eventually settle down and refine itself into methods of conversation and debate. For the Faar'Shar these disagreements have been the cause of centuries long wars, in part due to our own longevity. Age tends to set people in their ways, and this trend is universal among all species, which meant that my people tend to be... stubborn about their own conclusion. We assumed that this principle would serve as the reason for humanity's own self immolation, but what it instead meant that the short -from our perspectives- generational revelations and clashes would not last long enough to hold complete dominion over the majority of the population. Some variation, some new belief, would arise with the cycle of human life and death, resulting in not only the clash between two ideologies, but the clash of multitudes of beliefs. Normally one would assume that this influx of ideologies would eventually result in a chaos that would be hard to contain, but it is all within the human lifespan that we find the reason for their eventual resolution to such a problem.

Humans are a species of adept learners. I do not say this to be purely complementary, as they are, from our own observations, perhaps the fastest learning species in this galaxy. Groundbreaking revelations would become common knowledge within a decade at most in human society, far faster than the near centuries it would take for my kind early in their development to learn new ideologies. Upon further study, we have determined that this spread of information and knowledge is the result of humanity learning to simplify and condensing crucial data into easy to understand and easy to pick up knowledge. This, along with their tendency to specialize in certain areas of knowledge as opposed to learning everything like my own kind, results in the in a species that, as a whole, possesses a pool of knowledge that continues to remain diverse and ever changing as new revelations are discussed and deliberated. This again is the result of their short lifespans, which has instilled a sense of discovery and curiosity among humankind that drives their desire for knowledge forward. My kind has never had an issue with learning all there is to know among the universe, but humans do not possess such a privilege, which has driven their social evolution to take a different turn than my kind.

Within the Faar'Shar, patience is perhaps the most important virtue that has been instilled upon my kind. Other species, even the humans, ironically, may claim this as a virtue themselves, but I do not boast when I say that our patience is unmatched. It is the root cause to our own longevity, and our progress. Many would assume that our longevity has allowed my kind to develop ideas and philosophy to leagues beyond their own. While this would be true to an extent, as many of my kind have been the progenitors of groundbreaking concepts in Andromeda, there are just as many ideas and concepts that we have... adapted from other civilizations throughout our existence. Our lifespan is largely to explain for this phenomenon, for while we were the first space faring species in Andromeda, that in itself was not a result of our own devices. We were not the only sentient species on our planet, and while the other species eventually wiped themselves out of existence on their own, in their wake they left behind the concepts and blueprints that we modified to reach into the stars. Indeed, much of our civilization has been built up in such a way, by assimilating and incorporating ideals from other species into a more cohesive structure suited to our needs.

Doing so meant that our civilization experienced some rate of development, but not purely from our own devices. There would be other societies that would eventually rise up, but it is here where our patience would come into play. Rival empires and governments would make some misstep, some mistake that would result in their collapse, and in the aftermath of their collapse there we would be, ready to assist but also ready to learn from the weakened rivals. Doing so allowed us to adapt the concepts of societies that worked and push aside the ideas that were detrimental to our development. On top of that, our assistance to the failing states of power meant that they would eventually wish to become part of our already amassing power, which expanded our influence throughout Andromeda until eventually there was no one to challenge us. Do not misunderstand, many of my kind developed technologies and philosophy on their own, but for as many conclusions we came on our own, just as many were incorporated from other societies and species. Of course, this is common among all major powers, but such powers never held such time on their hands like my kind, who possessed a lifespan that could outlast all other species should the need arise. We would wait, then learn, and that cycle continued until our own collapse, though that is a tale for another time.

Humanity, however has made it as far as they have purely from their own devices. What is different about their development is that their social evolution precluded their technological development. Enlightened ideals manifested from human society far before their adaptation of advanced technologies, which is opposite to our own development as a species, as we adapted and created technology before coming to any such conclusions that the humans did. We just managed to adapt to a more democratic system of government a century before our collapse, but at that point our influence across Andromeda had spanned the entirety of its expanse. Humanity came to such conclusions far before they even stepped beyond the boundaries of Earth, which is purely a result from the fact that the transition of generation to generation occurred at such a rate that ideas would manifest and develop at places that far outmatched our own. To illustrate this, imagine the transitions of ideology as a pendulum.

The pendulum sways back and forth between generations as ideas tend to counter one another, but the rate at which is swings is dependent on the generational transition in species. For my kind, the swing to one side or the other is excruciatingly long due to our own lifespan and longevity, which means that the transition between ideologies is slow. For humanity, the swing in rapid in comparison, tipping between each side as the generations transition from one to the other. This not only promotes a development of concepts on both sides, but also means that humanity reached the center of the pendulum more so than other races. This center, the median between the two clashing ideologies, is more often than not considered the crucible by which civilizations truly reach new heights of enlightenment and development. It is an equilibrium in which all ideologies clash and synthesize new concepts to pursue or discuss. My kind has achieved such a period four times in our existence, and in each instance our development as a species and society reached newfound heights. For humanity, such a point is reached in a matter of two generations, bringing them closer to conclusions that took us millennia to reach ourselves. Not only that, but there is evidence that human civilization has managed to slow this ideological pendulum, bring them closer to stopping the swing altogether, which, should our conclusions hold true, lock them into a perpetual state of development. This much can be seen by their near elimination of violent ideological clashes, as human society is know for both its outspokenness and willingness to debate all sorts of ideologies. This not only affects humanity, but any species that they come in contact with as well.

The galaxy now is a far different beast than it was fifty years ago, and that much can be attributed to the emergence of humanity from their small sector of controlled planets. The Empire has transitioned from a Theological and Monarchal power to something more akin to a constitutional monarchy due to the damage done by the previous rulers, while the Coalition has been allowed to continue their existence under human protection and influence. The Thulu themselves have been more active as of late in not solely due to the fact that human involvement in any situations results in constant flux and unpredictability. No longer can they just patiently wait things out, as humans will find some way to bypass the original goal altogether. Human impatience, in this way, as bled out into the other galactic powers by means of necessity in order to keep up with such a species, and as a result the scale and rate of change we have witness has been unmatched by our previous experiences.

In this way we realize that humanity is a Trailblazing type species, something not uncommon to what we have witness but never to such potency. This is again attributed to their cycles of aging. Other species are granted more leeway and time with their lifespans, which leads them to entering periods of stagnation more often than not, and we Faar'Shar were no different as a result of our longevity. Humanity has no such leeway. For them, every year, every day is as precious as the previous one, drawing them closer and closer to death at rates faster than their fellow sentients. I am not saying that other species do not possess ambitions, the Empire especially has plenty to spare, but within humanity such ambition has be condensed and magnified as a result of their own biology. Ambition, curiosity, desire, and any such emotions derived from impatience run strong in human blood, but rather than collapse under such instability humanity has managed to harness, whether purposely or accidentally, such raw emotion and refine it into the tools that continue to drive them forward.