Precursor

This article is about the Precursor race. For information on the remixing project, see Precursors Remixing Team.

The Precursors, or Shaggy Ones, were an ancient, highly advanced species and the earliest known race to extensively explore the known universe. Unfortunately, the actual name of the race as been lost in antiquity. The Precursors moved quickly to become masters of the galaxy, leaving evidence of their presence virtually everywhere. The height of Precursor culture seems to have been approximately 200,000-250,000 Earth years ago. However, it appears that the Precursors vanished from the galactic scene quite suddenly, but there is no indication as to why. From the recovered Precursor artifacts, it has been determined that as a species they were a race of giants (the Slylandro call them "shaggy giants") perhaps 5-8 meters tall and twice as wide and seemingly not bipedal.

The only species that has been confirmed to have first-hand contact is the Slylandro. However, due to lack of writing implements, much of their knowledge of the Precursors has been lost over the passing time. The Slylandro do mention that prior to the mysterious exodus, the Precursors were frantically searching for something and were obviously worried over the situation. Their last transmission seemed to indicate that the Precursors had found the answer they were searching for, and that the arrangement of Rainbow Worlds would give a hint as to where they went — the Galactic Core.

The Spathi, however, believe that the Precursors are not really gone, but that "they simply came to their senses one day and used their superior technology to invent some kind of perfect invisibility shield and remain alive and happy to this day". Obviously, the Spathi hope to rediscover this secret someday and disappear into similar obscurity.

While the species itself appears to be long gone, evidence of their existence still remains. Various artifacts of Precursor origin have been discovered on any number of worlds. The largest artifacts known to date are the Sa-Matra battle platform discovered by the Ur-Quan, the Precursor factory discovered underneath the surface of Vela I (Unzervalt), and the 10 Rainbow Worlds found throughout this region of space.