User:TheWakingDream/Xenaphilians

"Do you know what it's like, to see everything you have created, to be outdone and destroyed? To have your work to be burned away by others who simply don't understand?"

- A'lana

Senafirim, or "Xenaphilians" are a sentient society that is believed to have existed before 500,000BCE. Ruins were first discovered on December 13, 2314 on the remote moons of Cygnus, marking one of the most important discoveries in Human history, though later overshadowed by the discovery of Forerunner ruins on Reach only months later.

Using data recovered from Forerunner Installation 00's Archives, the ruins found on Cygnus were confirmed to be that of the Senafirim. Decrypted historical records show that Senafirim society long predated that of both Forerunners and Precursors. Several notes within the index files make reference to the race's rise and fall throughout history, surviving its near extinction when its civilization collapsed under political instability. The race's first neared extinction during 514,000BCE, when the depletion of natural resources caused a global-scale famine on the Senafirim's cradle world L'iliko "infinite breadbasket". The famine prompted the society's scientific community to use artificial genetic code to promote reproduction among the Xenaphilian's "meat farms".

Unfortunately, during the testing of the new artificially enhanced food supply, a political rival had planted a large work force in the crew of the experimental project, and falsified test results. The rival party had already attempted a similar project with hazardous results, the modified supplements were genetically incompatible with most Senafirim, and caused neural decay and organ failure. The result of the distribution of poison throughout the major society caused a slow death for the Serafirim's intellectual community and created a biological threat to L'iliko's many inhabitants.

The fiasco caused a ripple effect on the planet and slowly spread the genetic poison through the natural populations, resulting in extinctions and a dramatic reduction on biodiversity. The planet succumbed to the failed desperate measures used to ensure the survival of the Senafirim. Fortunately, Senafirim space exploration, though in its infancy, provided an opportunity for the race to preserve itself through Cryogenic chambers until the planet recovered.

In 51,912BCE, the survivors of the mass extinction awakened for the first time in over a thousand years.