The designation “Empire” does not appear in any surviving Vandyrian records. It is a label imposed almost exclusively by those who, finding themselves a mere fractal segment within the greater system, grasped for early classification.
What terrifies even the boldest chroniclers is this: ancient reconstructions suggest that “Vandyrian” most accurately translates to “Vanguard.” Not people. Not empire. Not race. Vanguard. A forward element. A spearpoint. A preparatory force, deployed in anticipation of something larger behind it.
If an empire of one hundred million systems named itself the vanguard, then the unspoken questions become unbearable:
A vanguard for what?
A vanguard for whom?
A vanguard against what adversary or toward what cosmic project so vast that even their colossal empire was merely its opening gesture?
For the originators, such boundaries were irrelevant—a vanguard is defined by function, not domain.
