As I've mentioned previously, the universe that Galactic Civilizations exists in has been swishing around for a very long time. Back before I could even program, I always hoped to write it. I never thought that the way that the story and characters would manifest themselves would be in a computer game. But that is how it has gone so far.

Galactic Civilizations I barely touched on it other than through random events. The expansion pack, Altarian Prophecy, touched on it a bit more. And GalCiv II: Dread Lords borrows heavily from the existing universe.

A number of users asked that more of the back story be written. I don't want to give away too much of what will be in future versions of the game other than to say that any future GalCiv III (and we're talking YEARS from now) would have "heroes" (characters) in them and one such character is DL Bradley. I think he is mentioned in the Dread Lords campaign actually and (spoiler warning) at the end of GalCiv II: Dread Lords he is in a pocket dimension.

One series of short stories I had outlined long ago was entitled "Legacy of the Orb" which deals with what happens to many of the characters long after the events of the main series of stories. One of those stories deals with DL Bradley and is called "The Reluctant". In my spare time, I've been tweaking the original and putting it up.

If you're interested in reading them, the first 6 chapters are now available:

Chapter 1: https://www.galciv2.com/Journals.aspx?AID=124063

Chapter 2: https://www.galciv2.com/Journals.aspx?AID=124513

Chapter 3: https://www.galciv2.com/Journals.aspx?AID=124598

Chapter 4: https://www.galciv2.com/Journals.aspx?AID=124749

Chapter 5: https://www.galciv2.com/Journals.aspx?AID=124830

Chapter 6: https://www.galciv2.com/Journals.aspx?AID=124919

Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar, will start to unravel some of the origins of the Dread Lords and Arnor for those interested in the back story.

The main enemy of humanity and by humanity I don't mean mankind but rather compassion and the stuff that makes us connect with each other -- what makes us "human" -- is time. Make a man live forever and you will eventually strip him of his humanity. Make a thing that can sense the passing of time live long enough and eventually it'll become totally alien to us and its actions seemingly evil and cruel -- to us.