What is the history of the Cytoverse?

Spensa's story, which begins in Skyward, takes place long after humanity's first contact with aliens, the disappearance of Old Earth, and the three Human Wars—so we only hear about these events in snippets. Here's what we do know about the history of the Cytoverse.

Humanity makes first contact

The events of the first contact between humans and aliens are detailed Sanderson's short story "Defending Elysium." This story, written in the early 2000s, initially inspired the Skyward series. (Spoilers for this story follow!)

On Earth, the Phone Company was working on a form of telepathic linking. The experiments ultimately failed, but the efforts were enough to attract the attention of the Tenasi. When the Tenasi sent out a diplomatic scout to make contact with humanity, though, they were shot down by the United Governments military. To avoid starting a war with the entire universe, the Phone Company intervened, offering to be the point of contact between aliens and humanity. Soon, other species would only communicate through the Phone Company, and the Phone Company grew in power.

While humanity spread out across the solar system, they hadn't yet discovered faster-than-light travel, which made it impossible to go much beyond that. The Phone Company was suspected of having faster-than-light technology but hiding it, assuming that humanity was not yet ready to interact with the rest of the universe and would endanger other species. In "Defending Elysium," a Phone Company employee learns the dark truth about how these alien species enforce peace and decides to share the secret of cytonics with humanity—and faster-than-light travel with it.

The Human Wars and their aftermath

The notion that humanity would start conflict with other species turned out to be a fairly accurate assumption. After adopting faster-than-light travel, humanity became an interstellar power. They used this power—and an alliance with Figments—to conquer species like Kitsens. This was the first Human War, which humanity eventually lost.

The Second Human War was even more destructive. Humans built laboratories on distant planets, trying to weaponize Delvers. Instead, they lost control of 13 Delvers, to disastrous effect. This made Nowhere more dangerous and even limited some cytonic abilities.

The Third Human War was quashed by the Superiority, an alliance of five alien species that consider themselves of greater intelligence. This group becomes the most powerful political force in the Cytoverse because they control who has access to faster-than-light travel or communication. Some species, like Kitsens, join the Superiority as second-class citizens. But even those who don't align themselves with the Superiority depend on them for trade.

In the aftermath of the Human Wars, the Superiority keeps humanity isolated, denying them access to faster-than-light travel or communication and keeping them on the brink of extinction. Old Earth has vanished, so humanity is stuck on the same distant planets where they researched Delvers. The rest of the Cytoverse fears humanity escaping isolation and ending the hard-won peace of the universe.

Of course, it's not that easy to keep humanity down, which brings us to Spensa's story.

What stories are set in the Cytoverse?

The stories set in the Cytoverse are the Skyward series, the Skyward Flight novella series, and the previously mentioned short story, "Defending Elysium." The Skyward series follows Spensa's journey to become a pilot and fight against the Krell aliens to defend her planet. Along the way, she discovers the truth about cytonics and what's really happening to humanity—and she might just change the whole Cytoverse.

The Skyward Series

Skyward Flight Novellas

The Skyward Flight series, written with Janci Patterson, takes place on Detritus during the time Spensa is gone. Its main characters are pilots Freyja “FM” Marten and Jorgen Weight, engineer Rodge “Rig” McCaffrey, and Alanik, a Cytonic from the planet ReDawn.