During the Great War, as the annihilation of Earth seemed imminent, Vasudan scientists discovered the ruins of an extinct civilization we now call the Ancients. Data excavated at the site enabled the allies to track and destroy the SD Lucifer in subspace.

After the Great War, scientists uncovered more sites throughout Terran-Vasudan space. Though only fragments remain, this interstellar society thrived thousands of years ago. Their empire was more expansive than the current boundaries of known space, and archeologists believe they might eventually uncover a map of the Ancient nodes, enabling the Alliance to travel to systems previously uncharted.

There is virtually no visual record of this civilization, except hieroglyphic forms discovered at the archeological sites and a handful of technological schematics. Major excavations are underway in Altair, Aldebaran, and Deneb, but the data gathered there remains classified at the highest level.

Terran archeologists use a Minoan naming convention to identify sites and major artifacts. Current evidence suggests the Shivans exterminated this civilization over eight thousand years ago. The Ancients believed the Shivans were a race of cosmic destroyers, and that the extinction of their species was an act of retribution for striving beyond their ordained place in the cosmic order.

Recent archaeological findings seem to be artifacts of a species annihilated by the Ancients between eight and ten thousand years ago.