Matter was matter in motion, and motion was the motion of matter.
On a macroscopic scale, the Moon rotated as it orbited Earth, Earth orbited the Sun, and the Sun moved with all the planets of its system in tow.
Even the Milky Way was in motion. Countless stars slowly revolved around the supermassive black hole at its center, and innumerable forms of matter in endless motion made up the universe.
The Milky Way's rotation gave it a standard circular shape with multiple spiral arms.
That was how it should have been.
Yet beyond that circular galaxy lay two detached clusters, one large and one small, trailing outside the Milky Way like a pair of tails.
Even the supermassive black hole at the galactic center could not draw these two clusters into the galaxy. It could only hold those stable little clusters at a distance as they slowly rotated.
The smaller one was the sealed Isomer Cluster, territory of the Chosen.
The larger one was the mysterious L-Cluster.
Without opening the L-Gates scattered throughout the Sea of Stars, the only way in was to position oneself in the system at the very edge of the Milky Way closest to the L-Cluster and use a Jump Drive. Even then, at the drive's maximum range, there was only a chance of jumping into one of the L-Cluster's outer systems.
The ancient Dessanu civilization had lived in this isolated cluster. Its remote location had allowed it to develop steadily for a long time. The Dessanu civilization had fully achieved Nanite Ascension and, building on that foundation, developed even more advanced nanotechnology.
With the help of countless nanites, the Dessanu civilization established a connection to the Milky Way.
Jump Drives carried them into star systems, and another year of vying for the galaxy began.