epicenter00
SOC-13
Once you get to like TL25, I think technology really starts becoming indistinguishable from magic. However, the Empire at TL21 would still understand it, even if their scientists tell them that the enemy is 50-100 years ahead of them.
However, higher TL might not mean higher TL in all areas. For instance, the OTU Third Imperium lacks knowledge in psionics or the biological scientists that the Zhodani and the Solomani have. A revelation of some sort of heinous knowledge that the Empire had that the Great Enemy didn't have a good defense for might have brought the Great Enemy to the bargaining table.
While the Empire's Space Marines are dying 100 soldiers to a single one of the Great Enemy, deep within depots, the Empire has learned of gaps in the Great Enemy's knowledge. Typical areas of asymmetrical superiority might be the genetic sciences (Solomani vs. Third Imperium) or Psionics (Zhodani vs. Third Imperium).
Perhaps the Empire developed a wide spectrum of retrovirii. While bioengineered plagues are typical of this kind of thing, something more insidious would make for a more fun weapon. Like the Empire realized they had little chance of winning against the aliens of Great Enemy however, they cracked the rules of inheritance of the Great Enemy (their "genetics") and realized if the human Empire couldn't win against the Enemy immediately. The Empire would fall, but the Great Enemy would become extinct in a generation to be replaced by humanity due to the effects of the Empire's biological warfare.
What happens is that the infection is subtle, causes no physical signs until it pounces - the childbearing members of the Enemy would only bear human children after that as would most of the animal lifeforms of the Enemy world's biosphere. Because human children are very vulnerable, a certain percentage of those born would be fast-maturing 'protector/nurturers' - like warrior-form humans with a limited lifespan (say 30 years) but would be born with all the skills and knowledge needed to identify, raise, and protect the human infants born so humankind would re-establish itself in the cities and worlds of the now-extinct Enemy even if the rest of humanity is extinct.
The Empire threatens to release this weapon, the horrified Enemy agree to peace. The Empire sighs a breath of relief as well because their final weapon was designed to re-establish the genetic diversity as humanity would most likely have to climb back out of TL0 again. So the protector/nurturers are murderously protective of the children they find, but are unable to cooperate with adults in numbers greater than twenty or so, ensuring that humanity would be protected by many small independent tribes. The protector/nurturers learn and mature very quickly so would: contact other protectors to form a 'tribe', grab whatever children they could, stash them safely, then start learning how to operate technology items and use them "ensure the safety of the children" by wiping out local threats - including other tribes, other humans and so on.
The virii are designed for long-term viability, and it looks so harmless, sitting in little glass ampules...
However, higher TL might not mean higher TL in all areas. For instance, the OTU Third Imperium lacks knowledge in psionics or the biological scientists that the Zhodani and the Solomani have. A revelation of some sort of heinous knowledge that the Empire had that the Great Enemy didn't have a good defense for might have brought the Great Enemy to the bargaining table.
While the Empire's Space Marines are dying 100 soldiers to a single one of the Great Enemy, deep within depots, the Empire has learned of gaps in the Great Enemy's knowledge. Typical areas of asymmetrical superiority might be the genetic sciences (Solomani vs. Third Imperium) or Psionics (Zhodani vs. Third Imperium).
Perhaps the Empire developed a wide spectrum of retrovirii. While bioengineered plagues are typical of this kind of thing, something more insidious would make for a more fun weapon. Like the Empire realized they had little chance of winning against the aliens of Great Enemy however, they cracked the rules of inheritance of the Great Enemy (their "genetics") and realized if the human Empire couldn't win against the Enemy immediately. The Empire would fall, but the Great Enemy would become extinct in a generation to be replaced by humanity due to the effects of the Empire's biological warfare.
What happens is that the infection is subtle, causes no physical signs until it pounces - the childbearing members of the Enemy would only bear human children after that as would most of the animal lifeforms of the Enemy world's biosphere. Because human children are very vulnerable, a certain percentage of those born would be fast-maturing 'protector/nurturers' - like warrior-form humans with a limited lifespan (say 30 years) but would be born with all the skills and knowledge needed to identify, raise, and protect the human infants born so humankind would re-establish itself in the cities and worlds of the now-extinct Enemy even if the rest of humanity is extinct.
The Empire threatens to release this weapon, the horrified Enemy agree to peace. The Empire sighs a breath of relief as well because their final weapon was designed to re-establish the genetic diversity as humanity would most likely have to climb back out of TL0 again. So the protector/nurturers are murderously protective of the children they find, but are unable to cooperate with adults in numbers greater than twenty or so, ensuring that humanity would be protected by many small independent tribes. The protector/nurturers learn and mature very quickly so would: contact other protectors to form a 'tribe', grab whatever children they could, stash them safely, then start learning how to operate technology items and use them "ensure the safety of the children" by wiping out local threats - including other tribes, other humans and so on.
The virii are designed for long-term viability, and it looks so harmless, sitting in little glass ampules...
