The Anomaly
The unprecedented anomaly that resulted in the termination of the Lucidus mission was a space-time irregularity determined to be of a multiversal nature. The anomaly was a consequence of the collision and intertwining of multiple parallel universes at the specific point in space and time at which the Lucidus ships experienced the anomaly.
The anomaly directly resulted in the settlement of the surface of Neonisi by a multiplicably duplicated population of humans from the three Lucidus ships originating from multiple parallel realities, but within one singular reality, presumably, so far as anyone within the given singular reality can understand at this point.
This article is intended to be a technical examination of the Lucidus termination event focusing on the specifics of the anomaly and the effects of the multiversal population duplication.
The event
- See article: Lucidus termination event
While traversing an uncharted galaxy, systems aboard the three Lucidus ships unexpectedly observed an inexplicable instantaneous collection of impossible and conflicting observations later attributed to a space-time irregularity associated with the anomaly.
Reported observations included travel at 100 times the speed of light, bearings in multiple directions simultaneously, ships on collision courses with themselves, and other extraordinary and impossible observations, assuming a current understanding of conventional physics.
The event resulted in the declaration of an Existential Crisis, the most serious situational declaration upon a space-bound mission. As a matter of protocol established early during Lucidus mission planning, the ships were evacuated and self-destruction of the three spacecraft was initiated.
Observations
Evacuees who remained conscious and able to visually observe conditions surrounding the evacuation modules of the Lucidus ships, upon arrival on Illuminatia and after completing a triage of the situation on the ground, reported observing what appeared to be more than three Lucidus ships in a state of disassembly in preparation for the evacuation as well as a preposterous number of evacuation modules—far more than were known to be deployable by the three Lucidus ships.
Some survivors were adamant that they saw six, nine, or even 27 unique Lucidus ships concurrently within confined and overlapping space. These observations were recorded but not initially given any legitimate credence, as the crew's understanding of the situation was based on knowledge of only three Lucidus ships, no prior contact with Lucidus personnel from duplicate parallel realities before or after arriving upon the planet of Neonisi, and no serious knowledge of multiversal physics or multiple parallel realities or universes.
Explanation
It is now understood that the anomaly somehow effectively either duplicated the three Lucidus ships, their contents, and their populations many times over, or caused versions of the ships from other parallel universes within the multiverse to converge into the same reality. This duplication or transportation between parallel universes affected the ships, their contents, and their entire populations.
These "duplicated" ships existed briefly in the same space before the evacuation, during which an impressive number of duplicated evacuation modules charted a course for the nearest habitable planet. Evacuation modules from different ships and different parallel realities charted slightly divergent courses for the world of Neonisi, resulting in landings over a wide area of a single hemisphere generally targeted on a single continent.
The multiversal explanation of this event has not yet been able to establish which parallel universe the known Illuminatian population currently occupies, whether the parallel realities also have copies of the Lucidus survivors forging an equally complicated path into the future, or how this potential trans-reality multiversal occupation will affect the future re-establishing of communication channels with Earth—not to mention whether the Earth that might be contacted by Illuminatians will be the Earth with which the Lucidus mission had been in contact up to the point of the anomaly.
Discovery
As camps and settlements of Lucidus survivors on the Illuminatian continent made excursions to discover fellow survivors from other evacuation modules as well as from other ships, some groups of survivors made special note of rendezvous with humans who appeared to be duplicates of habitants of settlements with which they had already made contact.
As these anomalous observations occurred more frequently and were further confirmed, certain groups of Illuminatian settlements began to expedite their efforts to make contact with Lucidus survivors from parallel universes who had crossed into their specific reality and who might be occupying distant locations in Illuminatia adjacent to the landing sites of their respective evacuation modules.
Clusters of Illuminatian settlers from different parallel realities were establishing camps and settlements in different locations across the vast Illuminatian continent within the same universal reality. In most cases, these settlements occurred with significant distances in between settlers from one universal duplication and settlers from a different parallel universe. These Illuminatian settlers carried out amazingly similar courses of action, thanks to protocols established by the Lucidus mission meant to provide guidance for specifically this type of potentiality in combination with the dutiful willingness of each respective crew to follow these protocols.
Adherence to these protocols deviated somewhat among clusters of settlements that were able to confirm contact with populations from parallel universes. Crew from these settlements, with their expanded knowledge of the situation at hand, made it a priority to discover and contact any previously uncontacted settlements of multiversal origins, catalogue which parallel universe these settlers might be from, and combine knowledge from these settlements to accelerate geographic discovery and scientific advancement.
Consequences
The Lucidus mission originally planned for the seed population of humans inhabiting a new planet to reflect the population of the three Lucidus spacecraft—roughly 9,000 to 10,000 people. The possibility that a multiversal duplication of the entire population of the ships might have increased this population by a factor of three or more times was not foreseen or in any way planned for. This situation significantly changed the course of Illuminatian settlement on many fronts. Early planning for this new multiversal reality employed an initial estimation of the Illuminatian population of between 27,000 and 30,000.
The established form of government was made to reflect this new reality. Population regulation plans had to be drastically altered not only to account for numeric differences in population but also to prepare for genetic diversity planning in a world in which there might be at least three identical copies of every original Lucidus survivor as well as a larger number of genetically similar offspring.
Increased certainty that the major population clusters of the various multiversal copies of the Lucidus survivors led to efforts to establish a central government to unite the previously self-administered clusters of settlements. The establishment of only one sovereign government to oversee all humans on the newly-settled planet was a primary directive from the Lucidus mission plan and was not altered for this unexpected diversion from the plan. Despite this, the government took a larger and more complex form to accommodate the larger population and faster population growth that was anticipated.
The population of Illuminatia accelerated dramatically. Scientific and industrial advancement quickened to match the needs of this larger-than-expected population as well, thanks to a workforce and pool of intellectual assets that was now much larger than anticipated. New settlements, towns, and then cities were established to accommodate the increasing population utilizing urban planning radically superior in its intricacy than anything that ever happened on Earth.