The Travelers – Humanity’s Eternal Warriors

The loud echo of the steel door closing on your ship, the silence that grips your heart as you depart, and with each and every star you pass, a subtle reminder that time is ticking away back home. Becoming a Traveler is no small feat. There is no training program to ease the transition into a lonely and isolating life that comes to surround you like a skin you cannot shed. The act of balancing the known threats looming over your homeworld versus the unknown dangers you will face on your mission is the first trial you have to conquer. Everything else is just table stakes as we used to say back on Earth.

Nothing you have experienced up to this point can prepare you for the perils that await. But you know that. That’s why you became a Traveler. The fear of losing everything, even our very lives, is not daunting enough to deter us from our goal – ensuring the survival of our species.

What defines us? We believe in the value of our inheritance and the promise of our heritage. The belief that we will survive, and triumph, is in our DNA—it is the most powerful weapon we have against our Celestial adversaries. We have not lost that spirit that empowers us to confront the unthinkable and believe we can prevail. Humans share an undying faith that we are meant to be. History has taught us to stand firm in the presence of evil and to tap our inner strength—to harness our faith in humanity as the power to fuel our actions. This bond unites us in our commitment to humanity’s survival, to our salvation. Against the Celestials, it is our secret weapon. Well, one of them anyway.

We hardly think about the fact that surviving an Exodus is a near miracle. On the surface, we are ill-equipped to battle such insurmountable power and live to tell our tales. But what we lack in physical strength or technology, we compensate for with courage, conviction, and commitment. We leverage our hearts against their intelligence; we use our instinct to fight their intentionality and inspiration to outwit their innovation. Our mission is spiritual: a commitment to humanity’s salvation. Their goal is practical. Based on the logic that they were here millennia ahead of us and have evolved well beyond us, they do not need us—or want us. We are but a grim reminder of a past they have chosen to forget. But does superiority trump spirituality? Does it?

Travelers are a rare breed. Committed to challenging an enemy whose intelligence vastly outstrips our own. The Celestials, once our equals, 40,000 years ago, are now highly advanced beings with superior technology, ingenuity, and therefore, great power. To the Celestials, we are relics of a past they have discarded; useless and worse, a threat to their continued existence and dominance. They see us as a passing infestation that they must eradicate. To us, they represent what happens when you sacrifice your humanity on the altar of technology. We fight to shift the balance in our favor, hoping to create a new civilization that is wiser, more compassionate, and more connected.

Hailing from disparate homeworlds, all Travelers are bound by The First Principles: “Assume Nothing, Question Everything.” This philosophy is vital for maintaining our sanity in a universe where so many of humanity’s beliefs are challenged or discarded and deemed irrelevant. Separated by our travels and spread across distant stars, it is not often we have the chance to connect with our comrades. But we are allied – united by our shared faith in humanity. We know they are out there fighting with us.

Our common bond is that we can never escape the real enemy - time dilation. While we spend mere weeks on a mission, years slip away at home. Time stretches and warps, reshaping our homeworld and forcing unforeseen changes on loved ones left behind. Ties to our homes grow tenuous, our relationships are tested, and the heartache of separation from all that we hold dear is a constant companion on every mission. In the endless stretch of space, the silence is deafening, giving our nightmares free rein. Most heart-wrenching of all is when we return to find our homeworld pillaged or destroyed. The horrors that strike in our absence dull whatever successes we achieve, be they hard-won relics, tech, or insights. Though outwardly we appear unchanged, our souls carry indelible scars.

The life of a Traveler is a heroic pursuit of survival and spirituality fueled by skill and grit (something no longer present in our technologically advanced descendants). It's less about braving the unknown and more about the defiance that comes from a bold heart and a resolute spirit. We are humanity’s eternal warriors, traversing time and space to face the unexpected and capture the unimaginable. We are the explorers, treasure hunters, archaeologists, scientists, and engineers… the pathfinders who are always pushing the barriers and battling the obstacles that block the way to a better future. We are also mothers and fathers. Sons and daughters. Friends and lovers. We don’t know any better than to overcome. That is our heritage… the same legacy that follows us from Earth, where we escaped extinction. We did not come this far to go quietly.

For each of us, every Exodus mission is a leap into the abyss —the only thing we can be sure of is that days for us are decades back home. Time dilation is a blessing and a curse. Every minute we lose with our loved ones, every tear we shed upon our return is a part of our story and a reminder of our humanity. Every decision is made in service to ending the sacrifices we make to time. We are the frontline fighters in humanity’s final battle: survival vs. extinction. We are humanity’s last hope. When you think back on our history as a species, we have survived political upheavals, cultural revolutions, and world wars. Who knows… perhaps one day we will have our day of independence, a day to celebrate and honor the timeless sacrifices we Travelers make for humanity’s future.

And that, my child, is what it means to be a Traveler. We exist outside of time; it is the price we pay. One day, I hope our story will be etched ‘into the history books’ of Centauri.