History Main / PreCursors

* In the ''NeverwinterNights'' community module series ''VideoGame/TheBastardOfKosigan'', the precursor race were early humans who lived on Atlantis, but after the natural disaster that resulted in its sinking split into the 'control' faction and the 'free will' faction. The 'control' faction, led by Gabriel, eventually won the ensuing war with the 'free will' faction, led by Elisa Than (read Satan, though she wasn't actually that bad). Their war was primarily fought by using their advanced technology to mimic deities and create religions among lesser humans, so the 'control' faction are the 'angels' of modern Catholicism (the game is set in approximately 1300, but with magic and monsters and such (the King of France has standing pacts with several red dragons)) while the 'freedom' faction became the 'demons'. Ironically, Jesus was actually manipulated by the 'demons' (and you even get to meet the 'demon' commonly known as St. John), and the 'angels' created the Catholic church to subvert his message.

* In ''{{Unity}}'', the creatures living in the ship are all distant descendants of Earth life. Humans built the ship, but disappeared long ago.

* In LarryNiven and Jerry Pournelle's novel ''Literature/{{Footfall}}'', the aliens who invade Earth are actually at a caveman level of social development; the Forerunners left carved blocks on their planet which detail everything from simple metallurgy through advanced laser weapons and Bussard ramscoops. As a result, there are many technological paths they never even thought of.
* In LarryNiven's ''KnownSpace'' universe, there are ''two'' sets of precursors. First there were the Thrintun (AKA "Slavers"), who seeded the galaxy with the ingredients of life so it would grow and evolve into unique delicacies for them to eat (being hypnotic slavers, they were defeated by the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tnuctip Tnuctipun]] in the inevitable TurnedAgainstTheirMasters, and they [[OmnicidalManiac took all sentient life with them]]. Talk about [[AbusivePrecursors bad parenting]]). Then there were the Pak, a race of more recent aliens with three life stages (child, breeder, Protector) only sentient in the third stage, and programmed to be homicidal to anything that could conceivably threaten their descendants (mutations were not recognized). Earth was a LostColony of them who couldn't advance to Protector stage when their supply of tree-of-life root ran out due to a lack of thallium in Earth's soil. They left behind lost colonies and random apelike animals all over, including [[spoiler:the {{Ringworld}}, which they had built and abandoned]].

Whatever the reason, they set the stage for the modern world, left behind a few {{MacGuffin}}s and surprises for the heroes and villains to find, and then got [[NeglectfulPrecursors conveniently out of the way]]. And then there are the times where they themselves are the reason everything's gone to hell, [[AbusivePrecursors and they intend to keep it that way]].

* The Kingdom of Zeal in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' which in 12,000 BC (during the Ice Age) built floating cities in the sky and an "Ocean Palace" under the sea. Their civilization was powered by the Mammon Machine which extracted energy from Lavos the BigBad [[CosmicHorrorStory from outer space]].

* The ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' series mention several names. The ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAlpha'' setting has the "First People", ''SuperRobotWarsW'' has the "E's" and ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsK'' has the "Crusians". Some titles like ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsDestiny'' or ''Scramble Commander 2'' have relics left by a nameless race. This is a source of EpilepticTrees in the mythos.

* The ''SuperRobotWars'' series mention several names. The ''SuperRobotWarsAlpha'' setting has the "First People", ''SuperRobotWarsW'' has the "E's" and ''SuperRobotWarsK'' has the "Crusians". Some titles like ''Destiny'' or ''Scramble Commander 2'' have relics left by a nameless race. This is a source of EpilepticTrees in the mythos.

* Disturbingly subverted in the first StarFlight. "The Ancients" were thought to be a race that left behind several artifacts and ruins. However, it's later revealed that they are unlike any other form of life, in that they are in fact sapient crystals. Modern civilization has been using these crystals as the fuel Endurium, and in self-defense "The Ancients" began causing stars to flare, setting the game's events in motion.

* One serious solution proposed for the UsefulNotes/FermiParadox[[hottip:*:in brief: The universe is at the very least not hostile to life, and it's big enough and old enough that we humans shouldn't be alone, so why haven't we encountered any other intelligent species in some way?]] is that ''we humans'' are the Precursors -- we are the first intelligent race. Or at the very least, our elders are [[SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale too recently emerged to have expanded universe-wide yet]]. If this is true, uncounted billions of civilisations are depending on us not nuking ourselves or sinking to pre-industrial levels via climate change and resource exhaustion. No pressure.

* ''The Psalms of Isaak'' has three levels of this, each filling a different precursor niche. Earliest were the [[SpaceElves Younger Gods]], who were so far in the past little of their works remain, but generally come off as BenevolentPrecursors. They were followed by the Weeping Czars, NeglectfulPrecursors who are mainly remembered for bringing the ''third'' group down on the world. That would be the [[SorcerousOverlord Wizard Kings]], very much AbusivePrecursors, though they still have worshippers in the present day of the series. The last Wizard King, Xhum Y'Zir, used a spell called the [[UnholyNuke Seven Cacaphonic Deaths]] to devastate most of the world to avenge [[DisproportionateRetribution his dead sons]], giving rise to the contemporary civilizations.

* In the ''NeverwinterNights'' community module series The Bastard of Kosigan, the precursor race were early humans who lived on Atlantis, but after the natural disaster that resulted in its sinking split into the 'control' faction and the 'free will' faction. The 'control' faction, led by Gabriel, eventually won the ensuing war with the 'free will' faction, led by Elisa Than (read Satan, though she wasn't actually that bad). Their war was primarily fought by using their advanced technology to mimic deities and create religions among lesser humans, so the 'control' faction are the 'angels' of modern Catholicism (the game is set in approximately 1300, but with magic and monsters and such (the King of France has standing pacts with several red dragons)) while the 'freedom' faction became the 'demons'. Ironically, Jesus was actually manipulated by the 'demons' (and you even get to meet the 'demon' commonly known as St. John), and the 'angels' created the Catholic church to subvert his message.

* The Mondoshawans in {{The Fifth Element}} based on their representation apply to this trope aswell, at least to a certain degree.

* In ''EVEOnline,'' ''we'' are the precursors. We used the EVE wormhole to travel to the Galaxy of EVE, but when the wormhole collapsed, so to did civilization in EVE, and as new civilizations formed, their origins faded into myth and legend.\\

* The Zilart of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI''. A few of them still remain but most of them are relatively insane and/or genocidal. [[spoiler:Only two Zilartians favor the current civilizations at all, and one of them Ascended to a Higher Plane of Existence]].

* The ''Franchise/StargateVerse'' has no less than five different precursor races. The gate network itself was created by one such race, named (creatively) the Ancients, though they later are discovered to have called themselves the Alterans (or the Lanteans, after the planet on which Atlantis resided). They eventually [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence ascended]] and adopted a strict [[{{AlienNon-InterferenceClause}} non-interference policy]] on the lower planes. The other side of that coin is the Ori, also ascended beings but [[AGodAmI with a very different policy]]; they are eventually revealed to have driven the Ancients from their home galaxy to the Milky Way. Also in the precursors category are the Asgard, Goa'uld, and Wraith. The Goa'uld use humans as hosts, and the Wraith farm humans as food, while the Asgard placed several worlds in the Milky Way under military protection from the Goa'uld.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'' does this several times with it's [[CrystalSpiresAndTogas First Age]], [[AdventureTowns Second Age]], and [[EarthAllAlong possibly]] the [[CrapsackWorld Sixth]] [[TabletopGame/OldWorldofDarkness Age]]. It even has [[DinosaursAreDragons 0th Age]] and [[EldritchAbominations -1st Age]] civilizations that few inhabitants are aware of.

** Theories on the origins of Atlantis are far ranging and include everything from islands in the Mediterranean to the continents of North and South America.

* [[spoiler:In the anime series ''Twilight Venom'' it was revealed that the precursors were from Earth, but left due to the annoyance of RandomEncounters]].

[[spoiler:In the anime series ''Twilight Venom'' it was revealed that the precursors were from Earth, but left due to the annoyance of RandomEncounters]].

* Disturbingly subverted in the first VideoGame/StarFlight. "The Ancients" were thought to be a race that left behind several artifacts and ruins. However, it's later revealed that they are unlike any other form of life, in that they are in fact sapient crystals. Modern civilization has been using these crystals as the fuel Endurium, and in self-defense "The Ancients" began causing stars to flare, setting the game's events in motion.

* Ultimately subverted in ''GalaxyAngel'' at no surprise to the viewer but the Precursors who created all the lost technology used in the games come from Eden, another name for Earth. Which makes us the Precursors and the people in the game merely our descendents.

* There are the Solon in ''{{Haegemonia}}: Legions of Iron''. You only really find their starbases protected by advanced defenses, which can blow up any ship you have. Presumably, they're meant to hold off their ancient enemies. Once you manage to get past the defenses, though, you get some nifty technology, which helps in your own war against a powerful enemy [[spoiler:who turns out to be working for those who have wiped out the Solon]]. Despite the name, the ExpansionPack ''The Solon Heritage'' doesn't explain anything, since it lacks a campaign mode.

* The history of The Realm from the game ''TheSplinter'' stretches back 100,000,000,000 years and includes potentially ''thousands'' of precursor species/civilizations. This results in a tremendous range of (some very bizarre) SchizoTech that can be scavenged by players.

* In ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'', the First Ancestral Race (FAR) dropped Black and White Eggs (Adams and Liliths) on several planets. No planet was supposed to get more than one Egg, but because we got two, we got the inter-egg wars that compose the series proper (Lilith's children vs. Adam's children). The First Ancestral Race were never mentioned in the show itself, [[AllThereInTheManual but is referred to]] in the early scripts and gets a bit more fleshed out in the ''Neon Genesis Evangelion 2'' PlayStation2 game that served as supplemental material.

* AlanDeanFoster's ''HumanxCommonwealth'' series has humanity and its allies expanding into a significantly used universe, with a wide variety of species at various stages of development from primitive to superadvanced to completely extinct. Several of these, most notably the Xunca, the Tar-Aiym, and the Hur'rikku, had a profound impact on the earlier history of the galaxy and left numerous [[{{Phlebotinum}} artifacts]] [[NeglectfulPrecursors lying around]] after they variously departed. The Xunca are actually still around, but they packed up and moved to a different galaxy to avoid an encroaching EldritchAbomination that the modern day protagonists now have to deal with.

** Some elven kingdoms are precursors to the people of Middle Earth.
** Numenor and Arnor. Even though Gondor [[VestigialEmpire still exists]] and so Númenorean civilization is not completely gone. However, it is gone from the Northern part of Middle-Earth.

** Numenor and Arnor. Even though Gondor [[VestigialEmpire still exists]] and so Numenorean civilization is not completely gone. However it is gone from the Northern part of Middle Earth.
** Khazad-dum.