Wanderers (Noon Universe)

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Wanderers (Странники - pronounced: "stranniki") are a fictional alien race from the Noon Universe created by Strugatsky brothers. Their homeworld is unknown. No official contact between Earth and Wanderers has ever been registered, although they've contacted humans from other planets, e.g. Hope (Надежда). Wanderers are mentioned in nearly every book about the Noon Universe.

Appearance

No information available. Judging by the remains of their technology available to humans, Wanderers were non-humanoid.

Technological Advancement

Wanderers are clearly the most technologically advanced race in the Noon Universe. Their scientific know-how easily surpasses that of humans, Tagorians and Golovans put together. Although they are extremely secretive, traces of their technology are found all over the Universe:

• Artificial satellites of Vladislava (discovered in 2121 AD) and Mars
• "Sarcophagus" (discovered in 2137) on an unnamed planet in the system of EN-9173 (see Stepchildren)
• "Everlasting machines" on Saula (discovered in 2141)
• Emanation emitters on Saraksh (discovered in 2148)
• Artificial tactical satellite of Ark (discovered in 2161)
• Assumed deportation of local population of Hope (discovered in 2162) and consequent hunt of the remnant population
• Assumed involvement in genetic enhancement of Tagorian race (exact date unknown)

A common attribute of most of Wanderers' technologies is yantarin (янтарин), a material with an unidentifiable structure. The name derives from Russian "yantar" ("янтарь") - "amber", because yantarin is very similar to amber visually.

Background

Nothing is known about the origins of Wanderers for sure but considering their actions and the traces they leave, it is obvious that they are "progressing" the Universe just like humans from Earth do. For example, the idea of what they did on Hope is quite similar to that of what Earth has done to Pantians. In the first case the reason was a man-made catastrophe, in the second - a natural one, but the solution was the same - deportation. It is also assumable that Wanderers from their higher technological state "progress" the humanity itself ("Stepchildren Case").

Wanderers and Humans

Wanderers and humans from the Earth have one thing in common: they are both "progressing" the Universe, since they are the only two actively spacefaring and exploring sentient races. Despite this, Wanderers somehow manage to keep their secrets and Earth knows only what they forget to hide or want it to know about them. For some people on Earth (see Rudolf Sikorski) Wanderers became a phobia but generally the public is not very concerned with them. It is suspected that the unsuccessful "Mirror Project" (учения "Зеркало") that led to numerous human casualties in 2136 was meant to work through Earth's defence in case of an attack launched by the Wanderers.