History Main / PreCursors

** The series also has more traditional precursors such as the [[SpaceElves Nedians]] and [[Muah AdvancedAncientHumans]].

** The Forerunners believed that they inherited the Mantle from a long-gone race of even more advanced beings they called "The Precursors", who are revealed in the Forerunner Saga [[spoiler:to have played a major role in the creation of both the Forerunners and humanity, among many other species. They ended up being almost completely annihilated when they tried to wipe out the Forerunners for being unworthy of the Mantle. Most of the survivors turned themselves into powder with the plan of eventually re-constituting their original forms, but they all CameBackWrong and became the ''Flood''. They then apparently decided to eliminate the Forerunners, "unite" all life in the galaxy, and test whether humanity was worthy of the Mantle... or maybe they just wanted their creations to suffer for all eternity. Either way, their technology (which seems to have been made of ''thought'') was completely destroyed when the Halos were fired. The prisoner of Charum Hakkor, a scorpion-like creature with 4 arms and an impossibly ugly face, was a Precursor-turned-Flood-Gravemind, while the Forerunner Domain, a ''galaxy-wide information network'', was apparently also a Precursor.]]

[[quoteright:320:[[{{Franchise/Alien}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Precursor_2295.jpg]]]]

->''They left our planets long ago''
->''The Elder Race still learn and grow''
->''Their power grows with purpose strong''
->''To claim the home where they belong''

* The French series ''Once Upon a Time... Space'' (the sci-fi and prevalently entertaining installment of the ''WesternAnimation/OnceUponATime'' educational series) has ''at least'' two of these races. The two confirmed races were at war with each other, with one composed by [[HumanAliens human lookalikes]] (some of which landed on a primitive planet inhabitated by other HumanAliens and [[ETGaveUsWiFi taught them better science]] before [[NukeEm nuking them]] [[DisproportionateRetribution for attacking them in order to steal their technology]]) and the other implied to have normal-sized starships capable to [[PlanetShatteringKaboom blow up a planet]] (the asteroid belt is believed having been one such planet, where this race believed some of their enemies had taken refuge). The inhabitants of {{Atlantis}} are a subgroup of another race of HumanAliens, known for having interbred with Earth humans (with Psi's PsychicPowers implied to be the result of descending from them) and who are possibly connected to the first group, and a fourth, who actually appear, is a SufficientlyAdvancedSpecies that may be the same who sent the Atlanteans on Earth and have some connection to Psi.
** The protagonist themselves become this from time to time, acting as teachers to less developed species.

* In the ''{{Halo}}'' universe, the Forerunners are very much a precursor race, who believed that they held the "Mantle of Responsibility" for all life in the galaxy. All that's left of them are artifacts such as the titular "Halo" rings. [[spoiler:They purposely destroyed themselves activating the rings as a last resort to prevent a traveling parasite called "The Flood" from consuming all life in the galaxy, but not before leaving measures for the reseeding of life afterwards.]] Oddly, humans seem to have a unique connection to them -- much of Forerunner technology, including the Halos, can only be utilized by humans, and the major Forerunner installation on Earth is located in East Africa, right next to the area where modern humans are believed to have first evolved. [[spoiler: This makes more sense when you realize forerunners were contemporaries of OriginalMan and are responsible for modern human's existence.]]
** In fact, the ''{{Halo 3}}'' terminals reveals that this connection was because [[spoiler:the high-ranking Forerunner known as "The Librarian" felt that humans would the rightful "reclaimers" of the Forerunners' legacy.]] Later, TheForerunnerSaga books add a twist to this by revealing that [[spoiler:most Forerunners felt otherwise, due to a long and bloody war they fought with prehistoric humanity's own highly advanced interstellar empire, which was invading Forerunner space in order to flee the Flood and cleanse infected planets; it ended with the victorious Forerunners completely dismantling all traces of human technology they could find, devolving the survivors to a primitive state, and shoving them back to their homeworld of Earth.]]

** From the perspective of the modern day, the Elves of Tolkien's [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Middle-Earth]] are a Precursor race. Humans did not descend from them, but they've been in the world longer than anyone and have ''really'' long-lasting artifacts. Gandalf, Thorin, and Bilbo's swords in ''Literature/TheHobbit'' are all artifacts from Gondolin, a city that was destroyed roughly 3,000 years ago. Not only are they unrusted and sharp, their [[PowerGlows orc proximity alert]] is still active.

* Creator/JRRTolkien's ''LordOfTheRings'' setting has several:

** Númenor and Arnor. Even though Gondor [[VestigialEmpire still exists]] and so Númenórean civilization is not completely gone. However, it is gone from the Northern part of Middle-Earth.
** Khazad-dûm.
** From the perspective of the modern day, the Elves of Tolkien's [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Middle-Earth]] are a Precursor race.

!!Examples:

* The ''WhateleyUniverse'' appears to have at least two Precursor races - the Telemap, whale-like beings that explored the Universe through AstralProjection, followed by the humanoid Isokist, who did so in person and colonized several galaxies before they began [[ThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow experimenting with the dimensions outside our Universe]], which quickly led to them being nearly annihilated by [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]]. Somewhere along the way, one Isokist MadScientist created the Scourge - a sentient [[ApocalypseHow Ultimate Weapon]] in the form of a female Isokist. The rest is hidden in the mists of time, but it is known that the Scourge survived, until eight billion years later it merged with a human teenager, becoming the character of Tennyo.

* The ''WhatelelyUniverse'' appears to have at least two Precursor races - the Telemap, whale-like beings that explored the Universe through AstralProjection, followed by the humanoid Isokist, who did so in person and colonized several galaxies before they began [[ThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow experimenting with the dimensions outside our Universe]], which quickly led to them being nearly annihilated by [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]]. Somewhere along the way, one Isokist MadScientist created the Scourge - a sentient [[ApocalypseHow Ultimate Weapon]] in the form of a female Isokist. The rest is hidden in the mists of time, but it is known that the Scourge survived, until eight billion years later it merged with a human teenager, becoming the character of Tennyo.

* OlderThanFeudalism: {{Atlantis}} was first recorded by Plato, and may be an allegory he dreamed up to serve his conception of a utopian society by providing it with an enemy. Another possiblity is that the legend of Atlantis grew out of stories about the civilization on bronze age Crete, long before classical AncientGreece. Another candidate is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santorini Santorini]], which was once Thera, an island city-state in the Aegean Sea, very advanced compared to its neighbors, even possessing indoor plumbing, but erased (along with the middle of the island) by a volcanic explosion about 36 centuries ago.

* Medieval and Renaissance Europeans often thought of the Roman Empire this way. [[AdventurerArchaeologist Adventurer Archaeologists]] in Central Asia often thought of the various Silk Road Civilizations this way, too. Similarly, the early Iron Age civilizations of Greece, Anatolia and Mesoptamia which emerged after the Bronze Age collapse and subsequent "Dark Ages" viewed their predecessors as such, most notably the awe in which the Hellenic Greeks held the Mycenaeans.

* In Creator/CJCherryh's ''Literature/MorgaineCycle'' the Qhal left behind a PortalNetwork of {{Cool Gate}}s, which they themselves copied from [[RecursivePrecursors a still older alien speices]]. The humans who discovered this, rather than copying it like the Qhal did, are systematically ''destroying'' the network left behind by the Qhal. That's because the Gates can be used for TimeTravel, and any TemporalParadox caused by the Gates will trigger a TimeCrash which will destroy civilization on each planet with a Gate. Such a TimeCrash is precisely what wiped out the Qhal, leaving behind their Gates for humans to discover.

* In David Brin's ''Literature/{{Uplift}}'' universe, every intelligent race in the galaxy was Uplifted (engineered to sentience and given access to the Great Library) by a previous one, save the first. The Progenitors (self-evolved, now extinct) are [[GodGuise considered the next thing to gods]]. A race's clout in the galactic hierarchy is in part determined by how close they are to having been created directly by the Progenitors. Then along come the Humans, who have discovered hyperdrive and reached the stars alone, with no patron race and a complete fossil record that indicates they evolved naturally. It's practically heretical! It doesn't help matters (from the galactic standpoint) that humans have already Uplifted chimps and dolphins, too.\\

* ''{{Warcraft}}'' lore features the Titans, who ordered all the worlds in the universe and seeded them with life, then left to go pursue their unimaginable goals, leaving all kinds of stuff behind. One of them, Sargeras, is also the BigBad of the mythology. There are strong hints throughout the lore that they may be coming back some day (possibly in a future expansion).

** It's also revealed that the Protheans themselves had their own Precursor race to learn from. And so on, and so forth. Each cycle leaves something behind for the next one to find. The ultimate artifact appears to be the [[spoiler:Crucible]], whose construction started millions of years ago and was continued each cycle by a new race culminating in [[spoiler:humanity ([[MultipleEndings possibly]]) finishing the Crucible and using it to wipe out the Reapers]].

** What allows them to escape being considered [[NeglectfulPrecursors neglectful]] is that they sent a contingency against "inter-egg wars" - the Spear of Longinus, which can best be described as some sort of control rod which deactivates the egg went it is activated. Both Eggs had a Spear but Lilith's was lost on impact; since Lilith was first to find Earth, upon Adam's landing, his Spear activated and sealed him; so, technically, everything worked just as expected. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero It's not their fault the Lilim decided to yank Adam's Spear]].

** What allows them to escape being considered [[NeglectfulPrecursors neglectful]] is that they sent a contingency against "inter-egg wars" - the Spear of Longinus. Both Eggs had a Spear but Lilith's was lost on impact; since Lilith was first to find Earth, upon Adam's landing, his Spear activated and sealed him; so, technically, everything worked just as expected. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero It's not their fault the Lilim decided to yank Adam's Spear]].

Then they vanished into [[AncientAstronauts myth]], leaving behind nothing but [[AdvancedAncientAcropolis tantalizing ruins]] and rare, sometimes incomprehensible [[LostTechnology artifacts]] and [[PointlessDoomsdayDevice dangerous weapons]]. Just why, no one knows. Perhaps they [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence Ascended To A Higher Plane Of Existence]], or were wiped out by [[{{Gotterdammerung}} a disaster or war]], or maybe they just relocated ''en masse'' to somewhere else where they haven't been found yet.

* A major mystery in OnePiece is the Void Century, a 100-year period from 800 years ago which had been greatly censored by the World Government. The scholars of O'Hara managed to deduce the great and powerful kingdom from this era, who fell to the alliance which later became the World Government. The legacy of the Void Century were the Phoneglyphs detailing the events of that era, as well as the legendary weapons of mass destructions of the setting, most notably Poseidon.