In 2017, a satellite on Earth detects a gravitational imbalance pointing toward Lyra, initially thought to be a black hole. Its puzzling X-ray emissions are processed through noise-removal algorithms, revealing a voice message recorded aboard a fictional future Voyager spacecraft still in the Solar System. Before scientists can determine its source, identical signals surface throughout the year from other distant gravity-based phenomena. This pattern is treated as proof of faster-than-light travel, and the wormhole at the core of Saturn’s moon Titan is identified as the source. By briefly entering a baby universe still in cosmic inflation, the signal bypasses known physics and travels at infinite speed. The wormholes themselves come to be known as Inflation Holes.
Human travel follows almost two centuries later, in 2197. A tunnel is dug into Titan, and a prototype Inflation Drive is placed on a spacecraft, enabling the first crewed FTL voyage that covers nearly three parsecs. Further exploration discovers a planet ten parsecs away with a wormhole core similar to Titan, formerly inhabited by an extinct alien species. The planet is shaped like an apple core, with all of its equatorial mass consumed by repeated Inflation Drive use. Three giant longitudinal rings encircle what scientists dub the Quantum Core, and ruins lie upon its fragmented surface, though electromagnetic radiation inside the Core is severely limited, making exploration slow and difficult.
By 2246, a base is established on the planet and nicknamed Watcher’s Nest. A 12-member expedition proceeds when an unscheduled arrival is detected by command, but the team is already inside the Core and cannot be recalled. The expedition encounters their first Ghoul and is wiped out, with successive encounters following in the days that follow. Autopsies in 2252 by a group called Alchemy reveal artificial genetic modifications, and these altered genes become the central focus of research into the Ghoul. When tested on monkeys, the genes expand the animals’ senses, but scientists cannot determine how or why this occurs.
After two decades of study, by 2272, one of the lead scientists, Doctor Kessler, grows frustrated with the slow progress on animal subjects. He believes the gene sequences are a message from an advanced alien species and pushes to begin creating genetically modified humans to witness the intended effects on a living subject. In 2275, Alchemy objects to the use of human guinea pigs and officially shuts the project down—but not before at least one test subject and one of the only successful Human/Ghoul hybrids are removed by unknown parties.
