The Calliope Star Cluster predates the various burgeoning nation and entities that have in recent history begin to pock its interior.

Thousands of years prior to the current GC¹⁾ a race of powerful precursors ruled the star cluster in its near-entirety for millennia without count.

These precursors, their history now lost to all but the most advent of stellar archeologists chose to shepherd instead of rule the many races of peoples in the star cluster; Guiding them and watching over them when they could have ruled over them like gods. The precursors lived with and among the fledgling races of the star cluster until one day they simply vanished from any known records or annals of history, leaving the weak and vulnerable races of the star cluster to fend for themselves.

Their disappearance is highly speculated and disputed among those nations to uncover ruins, technology fragments, and installations of the precursors such as the Gates.

The reasoning behind their disappearance is widely up for debate; As no definitive answers have ever been found. To do so would require one to invest heavily in the exploration of Hadals Chasm; The great and sector-spanning great nebule that cuts a great tear across the star cluster and sits on top where many signs point to being the heart of the precursor's society.

But the chasm is not only great and turbulent but also filled with horrors and terrors beyond comprehension that only the bravest and most well-equipped of adventurers, treasure seekers, nations, and archeologists dare brave for more than just the secrets it holds.

With the fall of the precursors' many fledgling races and nations have risen and built over their graves and now seek their turn as the masters of their own destiny.

The enigmatic Gatekeepers who manage the sector's FTL gate system have a pronounced effect on those that they interact with. They only operate within their time scale and using their own currency, so it is common that any of the Nations that interact with them will slowly adopt their calendar and currency for trade and communication outside of their systems.

The Gatekeeper Calendar, “GC” for short, has been the sector's primary way to track time since other Nations first contacted the Gatekeepers. It moves in approximately the same space as our time in the real world.

Gate Credits, or credits for short, are the most commonly accepted form of currency. Gate travel can only be purchased with Gate Credits. Credits are obtained by trading goods or services with the Gatekeepers, but they can also be traded independent of the Gatekeepers themselves. Due to their necessity in long-range travel and ubiquity across Nations capable of FTL, Credits are typically accepted as currency by any Nation which interacts with the Gatekeepers.

Articles may use whatever calendar and currency they like - but they must include the in-character year in GC and prices in Credits first. Example: 2000 Credits (3500 Moon Bucks).