Humans

Originating on Earth, humans are a small but somewhat predominant species within the Orion Cluster thanks to their great adaptability and survival instincts. The majority of their population has been evacuated from Earth, after the near destruction of the planet caused by the Corporate Wars. Humanity is seen as both brutish and highly intelligent, however poor with risk assessment, this has been one of the points that make humans a great interest to the galactic community.

A realtively young species, the human civilization is not quite as evolved as most spacefairing races, having been taken from their planet prior to colonizing any orbitable bodies in their own solar system. Rather FTL technology was essentially handed to them, and ships of their own design have only recently begun being produced by small human operated corporations, which are usually heavily assisted by non-human scientists. Despite being a naturally non-spacefairing species, prior to the Corporate Wars, they had begun research on advanced quantum manipulation, which was later weaponized and branded as QuaS-R Tech.

Feast of Ascension
Celebrated on the 29th day of the 5th solar month (May), the Feast of Ascension, also referred to as the Day of Ascension, is dedicated to humans leaving of Earth and the star system.

Exodus of Earth and the Xenophobic Conspiracy
Broad survey results of human refugees from Earth has found a slight majority hold prejudices against most non-humans. This stems from the nature of AON's involvement in regard to the Corporate Wars, which has been described as a political double edged sword. The human governments of Earth were warned of their self-destructive nature and the horror it could bring, however the anti-involvement laws of the Orion Cluster prevented intervention. Equally damaging is the fact that when the War did begin, it took several months before any intervention occured. This slow response was partly due to the red tape that had to be crossed in order to break the still standing laws and save as many humans as possible. Having let the still rather young species play with fire and not having acted sooner to prevent their near-destruction has been regarded as AON's biggest mistake, but have done as much as possible to give the humans that were willing to leave Earth a new life.

To humans that see xeno-life in a negative light, most of these events are wholly too convenient for the large galactic governments. With the Earth in ruin, several billion people willingly volunteered to leave the planet, scattering humans across the stars on new colonies (either new human only colonies and where they are just another percentage). These people are often referred to as "sheeple" and are seen as cheap, expendable labor, working in foreign lands as subservient citizens. The number of humans the volunteered to join the AON forces are also seen as oppressors, taking the side of non-humans for money, and potentially being lead into combat (the worst case being against other humans). No amount of openess in giving lands, technology, knowledge and research, is able to change the perception of many humans, still viewing the Orion Empires with guarded suspicion, unsure of what these governments hold for the future of the human species.