THE SWARM

('The Universal Blackout' redirects here.)

Known across the human domain for many names...

Prometheus (defunct)

Ź̸̝̜͝ĵ̷̖̞̾e̷͈̭̿ī̸͔̎ň̵̤'̴̰̀̓Ę̴̺̔s̴͍̥̋̂s̴̰̻̈

Enemy

Apophis

Nemesis
Aishtma

Surtir

Nhargal

Seng

or more commonly, the Swarm

Last updated: August 28th 2026

COLLECTIVE SUMMARY

Core domain of Seng (formerly 'Human Space')

The Swarm was the entity responsible for the 'Universal Blackout' - a historical epoch marked by the extinction of all anthropogenic interstellar communication as a functioning civilization-wide network, which began with Sol in 3321 CE.

Origin

According to fragmentary archaeological records unearthed on Saturn's moon, Enceladus, by the Sable-Rustichelli's Archaeological Division based on Sol:

Late 22nd to early 23rd century humans, possibly a secretive organization known only as the Moon Alliance, coaxed the Titan Academy of Computer Sciences to pursue the research of AGI technology based largely on a military war-gear program, at the time known as VOYNET some three decades prior. The results of such clandestine research were twofold: Project Dandelion, alluded to be a interstellar human dispersion program, and Project Prometheus. Dandelion was supposed to lean heavily on the data and resulting assets produced by Prometheus in order to execute is mission. It is unclear whether Dandelion was further pursued after the failure and termination of Project Prometheus, though tax, engineering, and payroll records amount to materials and crew to build approximately 7-10 starships of modern standards, even if the concepts partially censored in the documents seem rather unsofisticated compared to modern pion rockets.

The termination docs on Project Prometheus final report point out to a deep alignment disconnect between its solutions and the needs of the Moon Alliance: "the minimization of human suffering and decay of the Earth's biosphere at the time". The original research team's recommendation was for the ultimate destruction of everything related to the research at the time.

In the early 2290s the assets produced Project Prometheus were summarily archived and buried under the icy surface of Enceladus. A new research team was assembled to man Project Labyrinth, as a successor program which had partial access to the reports of the Prometheus team. It is yet unclear what was the purpose of Project Labyrinth other than the inference it was probably also AI-related - if the file reference is of any clue, then the prevalent theory is of some sort of guidance or navigational purpose for its mission, likely still related to Project Dandelion.

In 3321 CE, after five years of research on the remains of the Prometheus burial site (Ivory Peak, Saint Andre site Ad-66), believing Prometheus might turn the tide of the Great Human Civil War, the ancient console was powered.

It was not.

The machine baptized itself Ź̸̝̜͝ĵ̷̖̞̾e̷͈̭̿ī̸͔̎ň̵̤'̴̰̀̓Ę̴̺̔s̴͍̥̋̂s̴̰̻̈, it did not pick sides, it followed through with the directives of its own plan, beginning with total nuclear exchange between the nations of man.

Sol fell on day one. Followed by all heavily industrialized colonies across human space in the following ~1,000 years. Hopping from every known settlement from Alpha Centauri to frontier systems like Upsilon Andromedae.

Cultural rationalization of the Universal Blackout by survivors is said to have evolved into the principle known as the Spark Veto today.

Description

Early descriptions of what forms the Swarm might have taken in the initial years of the Universal Blackout. Human civilizational centers were too unprepared for proper responses and intelligence gathering on the enemy. Later reports from survivors and war veterans then made it very clear the Swarm was changing and adapting its strategies and forms.

More commonly found as massive industrial complexes or machine fauna, with geometric and pointy armor plating as radio extinction-camouflage, neogothic aesthetic and anodised in jet-black. Autonomy or hivemind unclear. Machine civilization (?).
Variable forms dedicated to specific roles within the larger operation, for cargo transport, mining, curation, sample collectors to sentinels, combat units and infiltrators. Upholding the status-quo of a natural paradise, where all indices of emerging higher intelligences are culled or curated to remain pre-industrial, including hunter-gatherer stone-age societies of humans and aliens alike. It is particularly sensitive to metals and star travel, due its millimetric scanners, microwaves, and x-ray sensors, giving their sensor arrays a dull amber glow.

Spacetravel

The Swarm's interstellar mobility appears contradictory on a first-impression basis.

It has access to all of 45th century Old Humanity's technological prowess and reach, including methods of spacetravel and arsenals. From its inception, it already possessed the capability of traveling at γ~1.5 - though for whatever reason, be its faulty pre-existing infrastructure or lackluster pool of knowledge, or both, it had chosen to initially spread through virulent radio transmissions directed at automatic factories, hijacking the existing TRAMN communication system - with the intent of building new nodes of itself. A sensible tactic, travelling at essentially lightspeed in between stars.

When humanity severed connections in between the colonies, then the Swarm initiated its thousand-year crusade across human space, departing from Sol and the Inner Colonies towards points of resistance. Typical reported travel time between stars at time of conflict with humanity was around 20-50 years.

Rumored to have been seen around the Ishtar system (139, 19, 98) in the borderlands of the Dominion circa 5500 CE, and HD 117207, the Raydee homeworld and its associated nearby colonies sometime between 14,000 and 17,000 CE. It is possible the Swarm could've expanded far and wide through some 'civilizational bridge' between territories, as it does not actively seek other civilizations to cull.

Relations

Unknown to the galaxy at large. Lives in the myths of humans as the root of the Spark Veto. Deemed a legend at best, a civilizational memory at worst.
Lawful neutral (hostile), Ecocentric Utilitarian. Curious?
Hostile to technologically developed civilizations, not Life.

OTHER LINKS

no known links at this time