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What is this Codex?

The Codex is the archive of the COLONIZED universe: its worlds, its people and its history. Every entry opens with a plain summary and cites its source. If a word means nothing to you, look it up in the Glossary.

The Codex tells the story of the world, not of the game. What you can play in each alpha wave is listed in the alpha notes.

Where does it all begin? The Éxodo

Centuries ago, a civilisation lived in Solmera, another galaxy. Humans and allied species shared one society there. Then their star began to die.

To survive, they launched the Expedición Aura and built the Flota Aura: ark ships for the population, mobile shipyards and refineries. The journey, the Éxodo (the Exodus), took centuries. Along the way they standardised all their technology in the MMU, the Matriz de Manufactura Unificada. It is one system to build ships, suits and structures.

Where are we? Aurin and its worlds

The fleet arrived in Year 0 of its new calendar, E.A. (Años de Asentamiento, the Years of Settlement). Its destination was the Aurin system, in the Parhelion galaxy. Aurin is a white-gold star. Four planets circle it, all habitable and all the size of Earth:

Planet	What it is like	Who holds it
Ormek	Hot, under a veil of white cloud	The Zenith, through the Colector Solar Prima
Kharsis	Arid, with canyons, dunes and oases: the system’s quarry	The Zenith, with The Forge
Ithera	Temperate, with oceans and the richest native life	The Guilds: no armies allowed
Kaldrek	Cold, with geothermal valleys, glaciers and rings	Nobody: both sides fight over it

Ten moons and a captured asteroid, Ashkar, orbit around them. The largest moon is Melvara, with sea, islands and breathable air. There are also three bands of debris:

• the Cementerio de Aura, full of wrecks from the battles of the war;
• the Anillos de Kaldrek, all that is left of a dead moon;
• the outer ice belt, which marks the limit of exploration.

Who is in charge? The Zenith and the Nadir

A year after arriving, the fleet argued over how to settle. The argument ended in gunfire: the war of Year 1. The fleet split into two sides. Mid-battle, the Arca Aurora, a giant transport ship, took fire from both sides and crashed on Ithera. Nobody has ever established who fired the decisive shot.

The war lasted twelve years and nobody won, because both sides depended on the same MMU. In Year 12 they signed the Armisticio de Ithera. That began the cold peace: a tense peace without open war. These are the two sides today:

	The Zenith	The Nadir
Formal name	La Cátedra de los Arquitectos	La Concesión
Motto	“La luz se gana” (light is earned)	“Lo que nadie quiso” (what nobody wanted)
Idea	Progress without limits: exploit, optimise, ascend	Put down roots: conserve, adapt, endure
Station	El Pináculo	El Fondeadero
Government	The Cátedra de Ascensión	The Círculo del Fondeadero
Armed force	The Guardia Vertical	The Flotilla Libre

They share almost everything: the same ship chassis, the same base weapon, the same technical language and the same currency, Solmera Credits. They disagree on one thing only: whether a new world should be remade in our image or allowed to remake us.

Their stations are anchored at Delvar and Trasvar. These are two rocks that travel along Ithera’s orbit: one ahead of the planet, the other behind it.

And the neutrals? The five Guilds

The survivors of the Arca Aurora were stranded on Ithera, at La Cicatriz (the Scar), the furrow the ship tore open when it fell. Nobody came to help them, so they organised themselves into five trade groups. In time these became the 5 Global Guilds:

• The Pioneers, the settlers: building, medicine and crops.
• Apex Syndicate, the hunters: they keep the fauna in check.
• The Forge, the producers: mining, refining and logistics.
• The Vanguard, the soldiers: security, defence and escort.
• The Pathfinders, the explorers: maps, anomalies and lost data.

They belong to neither side. Since the Armisticio they have run Ithera, and both factions fund them because neither can do without what they produce. As they put it: “the Guilds don’t ask which house you come from, only if you deliver”. They also run El Fulcro, between the two stations, home to the Mercado Global de Aurin, the neutral channel for trade between the two sides.

What are the compis?

On the arks of the Éxodo, every section had an auxiliary core: a small thinking machine that logged everything and decided nothing. After the war, almost all of them were lost among the wreckage.

A compi is one of those cores, rescued and fitted into a new shell. It is a sphere about 35 cm across that floats just behind a settler’s shoulder. Five have been found, one per Guild:

• MAMPARO, with The Vanguard;
• AVISPÓN, with Apex Syndicate;
• LUMBRE, with The Pioneers;
• FUELLE, with The Forge;
• CUADRANTE, with The Pathfinders.

Each has its own character, and only one can be awake at a time. The cores nobody went to fetch are still out there, repeating old orders: they are the sentinels, and they are hostile.

What lives out there? The fauna

The bestiary records four creatures: three animals native to Ithera and one machine.

Creature	What it is	Does it attack?
Ombrask	A giant predator, about 6 m long, that defends its territory in the canyons	Yes, as soon as it senses you
Rolvak	Its small and numerous variant, about 2.5 m, that moves in herds	Only if you attack it
Lumbro	An armoured ball under a metre across, that moves in herds	No
Sentinel	An auxiliary core that nobody rescued	Yes

The hunters of Apex Syndicate follow one rule, the controlled cull: kill what is necessary, leave what is enough. What each creature yields is in the resource and loot guide.

And the newcomer? Where the story begins

It is Year 47 E.A. The first generation that never saw Solmera has grown up. The cold peace is cracking: there are more and more clashes at the strategic points, the places both sides fight over. And both stations are recruiting in numbers again.

This is what the canon tells of the recruits in this wave:

• They wake up on the Arca Custodia, a neutral ship anchored the same distance from both stations. There they are registered by CUSTODIA, the ship’s administrator and the only voice in the system that takes no side.
• They choose a house. An envoy from each side makes their case. The choice belongs to the recruit.
• They reach their station: El Pináculo for the Zenith, El Fondeadero for the Nadir.
• They meet Ithera. Most see La Cicatriz for the first time from the Pioneers’ Puesto de Enlace, on its edge. Close by, at Los Espejos de Rocío, is where newcomers start out.
• They learn the trade. A newly arrived colonist is picked up by an induction crew, as told in the people of Aurin. The crew teaches them to mine, to build a weapon and to come back with the cargo.

What should I read next?

• The full picture, in more detail: The universe of COLONIZED.
• Every date, in order: the chronology.
• A mystery nobody has solved: the Tabla de Fases, the moons that run faster than they should.
• How rank and trust are earned with the houses and the Guilds: reputation.
• The ships of the canon: the canonical fleet.
• Who else is out there: the scavengers.
• Who’s who, with no spoilers: Ada Lys, the heroine of the Crónica, and the people she meets. For example, Vedma Oleiro and her crew, El Notario, Commander Kray, the Tejedora Vunn, Colonel Ostrach and Chancellor Vantis.