CM/XI Boundary
The CM/XI Boundary was an interdimensional rift identified by the Empire of Namine as an active tear in the fabric of space-time. It served as a bridge between Universe:526F6F74 and the Root Universe. The Boundary was ground zero for the emergence of the Chalidrytes into the Root Universe, spurring the Boundary Cataclysm with the Boundary itself serving as the site for the Battle of the Boundary.
History
Before recorded history, the Agnaren created the CM/XI Boundary as a gateway from Universe:526F6F74 to the Root Universe, intending to use it to usher in the Chalidrytes to prepare the Root Universe for their arrival. The Kraniir Singularities, who found the prospect of directly confronting the Agnaren too much of a gamble, retrofitted the Abiogenesis with weapons capable of combating the Chalidrytes and technology capable of manipulating the fabric of space and time as a means of closing the Boundary. For a time, this worked in halting the advances of the Agnaren, but the Agnaren proved persistent as they continually re-opened the Boundary in numerous attempts to resume their invasion. The Agnaren were ultimately stifled for aeons to come when the Kraniir implemented the Veil of Webs, a tangle of contradictory timelines that confused the Agnaren into an inert state. For reasons presently unknown, the Boundary itself was left open[1] and remained undisturbed by interference from extra-universal entities until far into recorded history.
The Empire of Namine studied the CM/XI Boundary extensively for FTL travel applications; their findings resulted in the advent of Tearstream in 31 PRE. In 986 PRE, the lost Imperial warship, Eternal Solace, reappeared in orbit around the Boundary. The ship's Bio-AI, Symphoda, had been driven to insanity by subconscious messaging sent by the Chalidrytes, and was luring Imperial forces to the Boundary as part of the Agnaren's declaration of invasion upon the Root Universe. Imperial interceptors were sent to investigate, triggering the emergence of a Chalidryte's tentacles through the portal's event horizon, marking the beginning of the Boundary Cataclysm. This would later spur Zaarthren into explaining the prehistoric conflict between the Kraniir and the Agnaren to Syndicate officials, revealing that the Agnaren had finally comprehended the Veil of Webs and were able to use a Chalidryte to pierce through via once again utilizing the CM/XI Boundary.
The tentacles of the Chalidryte would be active through the Boundary Cataclysm until the entirety of the Chalidryte emerged from the event horizon sometime after the Battle of the Boundary, leaving the Boundary itself in an inert state. The Chalidryte proceeded to consume a pocket of reality near the Boundary, creating and escaping into a new anomaly in close proximity to its event horizon. After the Boundary Cataclysm's conclusion, Zaarthren sealed the CM/XI Boundary, leaving silence in its place. It is unknown if the Chalidryte-created anomaly remains present.
Trivia
- According to Thegalet, many Keilicaela died studying the CM/XI Boundary thanks to its unpredictable, often destructive event horizon.
- The Boundary has a field of metal shards surrounding it, which were the remnants from probes and ships that the Empire of Namine sent to study it.
Notes
- ↑ Couldn't they have just...closed it? Even if it served no threat, it could become a problem in the future and very well did. Though I suppose the Agnaren could've simply re-opened it again after seeing through the Veil of Webs, so maybe it doesn't matter. I didn't give this enough thought when I wrote Eternal Solace in 2015, and given the Keilicaela studied it to create Tearstream, I need to carefully consider why the Singularities would leave the Boundary open after creating the Veil of Webs.