[[{{ptitleh3elkyxdypyw}} http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/monolith.gif]]

->''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''
->-- '''{{Rush}}''', ''2112''

A standard fixture of much science fiction and fantasy: an ancient race whose culture and knowledge rose to its pinnacle in ages long past but which is now extinct. In science fiction settings, they are usually considered the ''first'' race to have gained sentience in the universe or galaxy, giving them a noticeable leg up on everybody else. At their height, they are usually rumored to have been capable of doing (and have done) just about anything, up to and including creating intelligent species and reworking entire worlds with a snap of a finger, and almost any strange and persistent mystery in the story's [[TheVerse 'verse]] is usually laid at their feet. They may have been [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien sufficiently advanced]], or just much better than everyone else with technology/magic, but either way they left their mark, a mark that remains to this day.

Then they vanished into [[AncientAstronauts myth]], leaving behind nothing but 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.

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.]]

Sometimes the Precursors can be rediscovered; usually nobody -- especially not the Precursors themselves -- is happy with that.

Bonus points if Earth Humans are Precursors and their incredibly human descendants try to rediscover their heritage -- or, conversely, if Earth Humans are the only descendants. If Humans are the Precursors and everyone's scared of them, that's HumansAreCthulhu. If they pick on their descendants, that's AbusivePrecursors; if they couldn't care less about anyone else, it's NeglectfulPrecursors..
----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* In the ''Houshin Engi'' manga, five aliens, The First People, came to Earth millions of years ago after their home planet self-destructed. All but [[SealedEvilInACan one]] merged with the earth and its life forms to spread their blood, leaving behind the first seven paopei (magical weapons used in the series) from which all others would be copied.
* In ''LastExile'', this turned out to be the answer to all the mysteries (and [[KudzuPlot there were plenty]]). That one gets [[TransplantedHumans full bonus points]], too.
* In ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'', the lost civilization of [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Al Hazard/Alhazred]], whose artifacts and technologies were considered [[LostTechnology Lost Logia]] even back in the era of [[TheEmpire Ancient Belka]].
* In ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'', Precursors dropped Black and White Eggs (Adams and Liliths) on several planets, according to [[AllThereInTheManual one rather obscure video game that served little other purpose than as supplemental material]]. 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).
* In ''OutlawStar'', an ancient race is revealed to be responsible for the Galactic Leyline, yet another of the many {{Sequel Hook}}s in the last episode.
* This ''HeroicAge'', the precursors (known as the ''Golden Tribe'') was the source of many wonders; giving birth to stars, discovering the [[FasterThanLightTravel Star Way]] which connects all stars, as well uplifting several races. In time they eventually undertook a journey out of their home galaxy and into a new one. The story is about how the lesser race cope with the ''Golden Tribe's'' absence.
* The ''{{Macross}}'' series has the Protoculture, who are apparently responsible for everything that happens in the universe: [[spoiler:humans and Zentradi were both created and seeded by them, and [[MacrossZero the Birdman]] was made by them in an attempt to mimic [[MacrossFrontier the Vajra]]. Moreover, they "created" (it's a bit more complex than that) [[{{Macross7}} the Protodeviln]], who pushed them to the brink of extinction before being defeated.]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* In the ''MarvelUniverse'', the race of giant Celestials have influenced many planets, including Earth. They wear strange suits of armor, giving the impression that they are mechanical, but that's not the case. They also test races and civilisations according to their standards to see who are worthy. In addition, there are also the Elders of the Universe, a loose associations of beings who all are The LastOfTheirKind, and who hail from the first intelligent races to develop in the universe. They are less active, though, since they are all obsessed with one narrow hobby which appearently is the only thing that keeps them from dying of sheer boredom. The Grandmaster may be interested in the gaming and gambling habits of various lesser races, for instance, but couldn't care less about any aspects of their culture that has nothing to do with his obsession with games.
* In the ''DCUniverse'', the Malthusians were one of the earliest sentient races in the universe. They went on to become the Guardians of the Universe.
* There's also the Old Gods, precursors of Jack Kirby's Fourth World beings. They are actually older than the DC Universe, and are said to have caused the destruction of the one before.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* One of the most widely known Precursor stories is ''[=~2001: A Space Odyssey~=]'', where they are also (presumably) EnergyBeings who guided human evolution.
* In ''AlienVsPredator'', the [[{{Predator}} Predators]] are retconned to being responsible for teaching humans how to build Pyramids.
* The ''StarWars'' universe has several features that are attributed to Precursor-like races, whether they are real Precursors or just people in the Unknown Regions is, well, unknown.
* ''Film/{{Contact}}''. The alien says that the PortalNetwork used by the protagonist was not built by them, but by a long-disappeared race.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* In DouglasAdams' ''[=~The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy~=]'', the Magratheans seem to hit all the key points of the trope, although they also subvert it in that they're capitalists who disappeared because the bottom had dropped out of the custom planet-building market, and they went into SuspendedAnimation until the Galactic economy recovered enough to provide them with customers again.
** They actually weren't that old in galactic terms. A lot of the backstory was ridiculously ancient history when they got started in the business, most obviously the Krikkit Wars.
* The Ancients of Piers Anthony's ''Cluster'' series.
* IsaacAsimov's Robot Detective/''{{Foundation}}'' universe played with the idea that humans are the Precursors, wherein Earth was in a small band where it was more radioactive than most planets (thus resulting in a higher rater of mutation and thus, faster evolution), but not ''so'' radioactive that life couldn't survive there.
* In David Brin's ''{{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 [[CargoCult 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....
** In the first novel set in the Uplift Universe, ''Startide Rising,'' [[spoiler:the first dolphin-captained Earth ship discovers what is assumed to be a fleet of the fabled Progenitors, and must try to return to Earth while being hounded by bickering alien battle fleets after the transmission of their findings is intercepted; the most active (and warlike) of the alien races/alliances are not happy that the wolfling Humans might have the key to the fate of the Progenitors (which could prove most or all of their belief systems wrong]]. The idea that [[spoiler:humans may be the descendants or direct product of the Progenitors]] is also examined.
* CJCherryh's ''MorgaineCycle'', dedicated to AndreNorton, features a protagonist who -- ironically -- is on a mission to destroy a ''[[StargateVerse Stargate]]'' network, which was created originally by copying a single artifact (left on a long-dead world by NeglectfulPrecursors) to establish each new node in the network.
* {{Alan Dean Foster}}'s ''Humanx Commonwealth'' 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 or went extinct.
** The Xunca are actually still around, but they packed up and moved to a different galaxy to avoid an encroaching CosmicHorror that the modern day protagonists now have to deal with.
* The [[CosmicHorror Cthulhu Mythos]], by H.P. Lovecraft and others, features the Elder Things, who colonized the Earth two billion years ago and sowed the seeds of all advanced life on the planet. Among the many monstrous elder races of the Mythos, the Elder Things are portrayed as less alien and less inimical than many. They feature most prominently in Lovecraft's ''At the Mountains of Madness'' and are sometimes called the "Old Ones" (but that term is notoriously ambiguous in the Cthulhu Mythos).
** In ''Whispers in the Darkness'', the Mi-Go are hinted at being even older, possibly coming from outside the known universe.
* In LarryNiven and Jerry Pournelle's novel ''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 ''Known Space'' 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 [[NeglectfulPrecursors 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]].
* AndreNorton worked with this trope in both her science fiction and fantasy novels.
** She wrote a lot of space opera novels featuring relics of various lost civilizations, collectively called "Forerunners". She was one of the early developers of the abandoned-gateway-between-worlds idea that the ''[[StargateVerse Stargate]]'' films and TV series are based on; one of her Forerunner cultures left behind such a network, which younger species, including humans, have started to explore.
** In her ''WitchWorld'' fantasy novels, humans migrated to High Hallack centuries ago only to find that the Old Ones had been there before them; these NeglectfulPrecursors left behind quite a few ruins and dangerous artifacts.
* Frederik Pohl's ''[[HeecheeSaga Gateway]]'' and its sequels set many of the standards for this trope. Humanity has stumbled on an space station abandoned by the local Precursors, the Heechee, and try to use the FasterThanLightTravel spacecraft left behind to search for alien artifacts to reverse-engineer. The destinations are pre-programmed and can only be accessed randomly, making exploration a dangerous crapshoot. Some of the survivors return rich; many return dead, if they return at all.
* In the Carl Sagan novel ''Contact'' and the movie based on it, an unknown ancient race of aliens built the "cosmic subway system" of wormhole transportation used to bring a single human to meet the successor aliens who inherited the system.
* In Charles Sheffield's Heritage Universe novels, the Builders left behind artifacts the size of ''planets'' -- e.g. Cocoon, the first such artifact discovered by humans, was so named because that's what it looks like if you're far enough away from the planet it surrounds. A whole discipline of {{Adventurer Archaeologist}}s exists to study Builder artifacts.
* In the Strugatsky brothers' Noon Universe, the Wanderers may or may not be still active, but they fit this trope closely enough because the humans only ever find the traces of their continued and enigmatic work. They seem to be "progressing" the other civilisations, but their activities often enough utterly screw over local civilisations, though it [[OmniscientMoralityLicense might be for their ultimate good in some way anyway]].
* From the perspective of the modern day, the Elves of Tolkien's [[TheLordOfTheRings Middle-Earth]] are a Precursor race.
* Iain Banks' [[TheCulture Culture]] novels are practically littered with Precursors, numerous advanced civilizations that existed in aeons past until they variously died off, [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence Sublimed]], or just plain mysteriously disappeared. These Precursors are the SufficientlyAdvancedAliens ''of'' SufficientlyAdvancedAliens, since most of Banks' protagonists themselves belong to a civilization that can casually travel across the galaxy, build gigantic habitats in space, and ''use the fabric of the Universe itself as a weapon'' -- and ''they'' are occasionally awed by the Precursors.
* In Terry Pratchett's novel ''Strata'', the {{Precursors}} built the titular strata machines reverse-engineered by humans for buiilding planets, and other tenchology that humans didn't already develop themselves. In ''TheDarkSideOfTheSun'', the {{Precursors}} called "Jokers" were known only for the mark they made on the universe of building [[AGodAmI blatantly impossibly things]] for no known reason but [[GreatGazoo the lulz]].
* Every known non-human race in Andrey Livadny's ''TheHistoryOfTheGalaxy'' series can be considered a precursor, as four of them are at least 3 millions of years old, while several others are ''billions'' of years old. Humanity is the youngest known race, even though their technology level means they are strong enough to kick everyone else's backsides should the need arise. It helps that most of those races have long ago passed the peak of the civilization. In fact, two of them spent several million years as slaves, degrading their technology to the point where they forgot about their former greatness.
** Ironically, the race that is actually known as the Precursors (or Forerunners, as there is no official translation to English) are non-sentient proto-lifeforms which have been created by an [[EnergyBeings energy being]] (supposedly, the first being to ever gain sentience in the universe) to serve as seeds for its copies. The Precursors contained within themselves the first ever DNA molecule. The unintended side effect of this was the creation of all known organic life in the galaxy.
* Sergey Lukyanenko's ''A Lord from Planet Earth'' series features the Seeders, mysterious ancient beings who have left highly-advanced artifacts, some of which are [[BlackBox Black Boxes]], while others are understood and adapted fairly well. They have also left mysterious spherical temples on every inhabited world (except Earth). It is eventually revealed that the Seeders are [[spoiler:humans from the future, who have seeded their past with humanoid races and advanced technology to create an army to fight an extragalactic enemy (Earth was left undisturbed to avoid messing with history)]].

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* From ''[[BabylonFive Babylon 5]]'', the "First Ones", who have all mostly emigrated "beyond the rim of the galaxy," although some remain lurking about in known space; especially Lorien, the "First One," literally the first sentient being in the galaxy. Not to mention [[spoiler:the Vorlons and the Shadows]], which drive the main plots of the entire series.
* ''DoctorWho'' sometimes paints the Time Lords like this, with the widespread presence of HumanAliens attributed to their, or more specifically their leader Rassilon's, xenophobia. They were even worshipped as gods on at least one planet, until their technological gifts [[YouAreNotReady backfired]]. Then they had a few nasty wars (particularly with the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Great Vampires]]), and they retreated to their home planet.
** The unseen race who caged [[{{Satan}} The Beast]] also qualify.
*** Bonus points for having done this before the beginning of time.
**** Extra bonus points for The Doctor pointing out that this is stupid and impossible.
* Of course you can't forget the Ancients from ''{{Farscape}}'' either. In fact, it seems that the Precursors are so often called "the Ancients", that would be just as good a name for this trope.
* ''RedDwarf'' postulates that all life originated on Earth; after three million years, there are many variations on sentient life -- creatures descended from genetic experiments, animals that evolved into sentient humanoids, self-sustaining races of androids, "pan-dimensional liquid beasts," etc. etc. etc.
* The Stargate network from ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'' and ''StargateAtlantis'' 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).
* From ''StarTrek'', the Preservers, the Iconians, and possibly the members of the "First Federation" mentioned in the [[StarTrekTheOriginalSeries original series]] episode "The Corbomite Maneuver".
** For that matter, the Ancient Humanoids in ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', though it seems to be a given in the ExpandedUniverse that the Ancient Humanoids are the Preservers.
* Slight subversion: the inconceivably ancient Morphin Masters of ''PowerRangers'' themselves worshipped their "Ancient Ancestors" who watched down on them... [[WildMassGuessing Apparently from Rita's similarly super-ancient lunar palace]].

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* The originator of this trope may be Atlantis, which was first recorded by Plato and is thought to be an allegory he dreamed up to serve his conception of a utopian society by providing it with an enemy. So, [[TheOldestOnesInTheBook you know the drill...]]
* One serious solution proposed for Fermi's Paradox (in brief: The universe is at the very least not hostile to life, and it's big enough and old enough that we humans [[HumansAreSpecial 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]].
* 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.
* This is also a favorite theme with ConspiracyTheories, where the role of the Precursors is filled by ancient, vanished technological empires like Atlantis or Lemuria, or by alien visitors who founded humanity's ancient civilizations (the Pyramids are particularly prone to built-by-aliens claims).

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Table Top Games ]]

* [[Mutants&Masterminds]] have this in the form of the "Preservers" in Freedom City.
* In the ''ForgottenRealms'' campaign setting for ''DungeonsAndDragons'', a saurian race ruled the world in the days when the world was warm. They are not entirely gone, though...
** The reptilian creator race, the sarrukh, was only one of several races that dominated the pre-human Realms. Others included the dragons, the amphibian batrachians, the birdlike aeree, and [[TheFairFolk the fey]].
** In the ''{{Planescape}}'' setting and later (3rd edition) sources, it's heavily stated that the [[LawfulEvil baatezu (devils)]], [[NeutralEvil yugoloths (daemons)]], and [[ChaoticEvil tanar'ri (demons)]] were each predated by three primordial races of fiends: the ancient Baatorians, the baernaloths, and the obyriths, respectively.
** The rhulisti, or ancient halflings, were the first civilized race in the ''DarkSun'' campaign setting; all other humanoid races are descended from them (including humans and giants), while those who retained their original form are now mostly cannibalistic savages.
* ''GURPS Space'', a sourcebook for ''{{GURPS}}'', includes Precursors as a potential element a gamemaster might want to weave into his game world.
* The Ancients of ''{{Traveller}}''.
* The Old Ones in ''{{Warhammer}}'' (both fantasy and [[{{Warhammer40000}} 40k]]) created most sentient races. In Fantasy they just left, never to return, but in 40k their backstory is given out in more detail. Apparently they had a massive, galaxy-shaking war with another old race, the Necronty (which later became the robotic Necrons), and created many races to help them fight. They (as well as most life in the galaxy) were nearly wiped out in the aftermath of the war, when the psychic disturbance caused by the massive amount of warp-fueled power used by them and the races they created caused the reality to tear apart and horrible creatures to spill through.
** These may or may not be the same race, and the two collapses may be parts of the same event. The 7th edition Warhammer core book and Lizardman book hint heavily at this, and the 40k Necron book suggests using Lizardman models to represent the last refuges of the Old Ones.
*** That's somewhat interesting -- the ''{{Warhammer}}'' world (un)officially used to be an isolated world in the [[NegativeSpaceWedgie Eye of Terror]] of [[{{Warhammer40000}} 40k]], but had been drifting from that idea for a while before WordOfGod revealed them to be separate but parallel 'verses (similar to the split between Warhammer Fantasy and Blood Bowl), sometime around '98 if this Troper recalls correctly. Of course, the references noted above are not the only hints: the Amazons of Warhammer have weapons left over from the Old Ones which bear a startling resemblance to wargear from 40k, not to mention Chaos champions with chainswords, and the second half of each volume of the in-universe ''Liber Chaotica''
* The Thran in ''MagicTheGathering''.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* ''[=~Assassin's Creed~=]'' has subtle nods to some kind of Precusor civilization, in the form of various ancient artifacts the Templars are hunting for. ''Assassin's Creed II'' [[spoiler:outright confirms their former existence thousands of years ago, where they are said to have created humanity in their image as a slave race, along with said (highly technological) artifacts; an apocalyptic event later wiped them out, allowing mankind to proliferate. Real life gods are, in the ''AC'' universe, apparently distorted retellings of their existence.]]
* 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 ''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 "Ancients" from ''{{FreeSpace}}'' fit this trope, although for once we actually get a [[ApocalypticLog detailed history of their annihilation]] at the hands of the Shivans. (They recorded this so that later races would be warned not to piss the Shivans off... or, having failed that, would have some insight into the Shivans' [[FlingALightIntoTheFuture weaknesses]]). The [[BigBad Shivans]] themselves qualify as Precursors in some respects: while not extinct, their technology is far more advanced than humans' and they've been that advanced for at least 8,000 years. There are EpilepticTrees both in-game and out about the origins of the Shivans (whether they were created as weapons by an even older race), and exactly how long they've been at their xenocidal mission (one character muses that there might be multiple Precursors extending far back in time, each annihilated by the Shivans when they grew too powerful and the later ones founding empires on the ruins of those that came before). [[ShrugOfGod None of this has been confirmed nor denied by the authors.]]
* In the ''{{Halo}}'' universe, the Forerunners are very much a precursor race, who have left behind artifacts such as the titular "halo" rings, and whose fate seems to be either of the vanished or wiped out variety, perhaps a little of both. Oddly, humans seem to have a unique connection to them -- only a human can activate the Halo's final weapon. This connection is explained in the final game... sort of.
** Note: Backstory of the Forerunners reveals that they were preceded by a race of long-lost superior beings they called "The Precursors".
* ''Homeworld 2'' featured the aptly-named Progenitors, who left behind various relics including several {{Wave Motion Gun}}s which the player and the enemy fight for control of.
* In ''{{Iji}}'', the Komato are the ancestors of the Tasen, and, although it's not clear how close they are to humans, first evolved on Earth, leaving without a trace some time before the halocene period.
* The ''Jak and Daxter'' franchise has an ancient race called "The Precursors". They leave deep-voiced oracular statues and various giant robots scattered about, and depict themselves as glowing EnergyBeings, [[spoiler: but that's just a Wizard of Oz act; they're really Ottsels, otter-weasel things like Jak's sidekick Daxter. In fact, he becomes one because all eco contains their essence.]]
* In ''TheLegendOfZelda: [[TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]'', the Ooccoo are suggested to be the Precursors of the Hylians -- as one AdventurerArchaeologist tells us, the goddesses may have made the Ooccoo first, then the Ooccoo made the Hylians before retreating to their city in the sky. Some [[WildMassGuessing fan-speculation surrounds these creatures,]] probably not the least because of their [[NightmareFuel incredibly bizarre appearance.]]
* In the ''Marathon'' series, made by Bungie, a race of ancient vanished beings called the Jjaro serve essentially the same role the Forerunners do in ''{{Halo}}''.
* The Protheans in ''MassEffect,'' at least until Dr. T'soni joins your party and suggests that they probably weren't the actual precursors. Turns out she's right, as [[spoiler:the ''real'' precursors are the Reapers, which are robotic [[CosmicHorror Cosmic Horrors]] that are out for everyone's blood.]]
** Though the Protheans must have been interested in early humanity, since [[spoiler: as the big silver unexplained ball explains; the Prothean research station on Mars would routinely abduct and mess with early humans. ]]
* In ''{{Metroid}}'', although they raised Samus to adulthood and had extensive contact with faraway races like the Luminoth, Elysia, and even the Federation, the Chozo have vanished from all known space. Their entire legacy consists of decayed ruins, cryptic messages for Samus, and the odd upgrade module for her Power Suit. And, of course, the Metroids themselves.
* The Ancients from the ''MightAndMagic'' universe (at least when it was in the hands of New World Computing) were creating various worlds out of the four elements and seeding them with life as part of a great experiment. Their true agenda is never entirely revealed but there are hints that they had a specific outcome in mind for most of their worlds, before the Creators and the Kreegan interfered.
* The ''{{Myst}}'' series of games gradually reveals that the long-lost civilization of D'ni was actually located on Earth; its founders originally ''came from'' an alternate universe, but they founded a city BeneathTheEarth.
* ''PacMan World 3'' features the Ancients (possibly members or ancestors of Pac-Man's spherical race), about whose lives little is known, although their deaths comprise a well-known story 'of greed, of tampering with unknown forces, and of running and screaming and dying', to quote an in-game archaeologist. As it turns out, the Ancients were wiped out when they tried to siphon energy from the Spectral Realm (the Pac-Man universe's afterlife), [[HistoryRepeats which is exactly what the game's villain is trying to do in the present]].
* Appropriately for a series where ancient ruins are one of the most populous level types, the ''SonicTheHedgehog'' series is jam-packed with different precursors, whose ancient weapons/relics/monsters set the stage for the world-threatening terror of the game. Interestingly enough, although absolutely all of them are shown to have possessed and utilized the series' recurring {{MacGuffin}}s, none of them claim responsibility for creating any of the Emeralds.
** Not to mention in ''Chronicles'' a race referred to as, well, The Precursors.
* In the ''StarControl'' games, there is a race explicitly called "The Precursors" which vanished but left behind many artifacts and installations across the galaxy. The wondrous second one is notable for containing artifacts and mysteries which are ''not'' [[AWizardDidIt explained away]] with the Precursors. The third one attributes everything to them to the point of [[RetCon Retconning]] previous reveals, though since the game's [[ExecutiveMeddling not]] [[WriterOnBoard all]] [[CharacterDerailment that]] [[AdaptationDecay impressive]] the fans [[DisContinuity don't much care]].
* In ''{{StarCraft}}'' the Xel'Naga take this role, although the reason for their disappearance is [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters less mysterious than most]]...or so it seems at first...
** It is interesting to note that an ExpandedUniverse novel proposes that the creation of the Protoss and the Zerg races was not a part of some grand experiment to create a perfect race but a deliberate action of the part of the Xel'Naga in order to perpetuate the Xel'Naga race. Basically, their entire history consists of cycles of creating two races (one to embody their physical form and the other to personify their mind) and having them join together in a distant future, thus re-creating the Xel'Naga and beginning the next cycle. Overmind's [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters betrayal]] threw that plan out the window, forcing the remaining Xel'Naga to find a third race to balance out the coming war between their creations. How great it was that they found us.
*** On the other hand, that book is not canon.
* The ''Star Ocean'' series plays with this trope. The games are filled with Out of Place Artifacts, mystical technologies such as the time gate on the apparently sentient planet Styx, and near the middle of the third game, there's even a precursor-like group of beings called the Executioners who rain havoc upon ALL the races of the galaxy. It turns out [[spoiler:that the universe is actually a video game called the Eternal Sphere, and all the Precursor like artifacts, including the Executioners, were planted by the programmer.]]
* ''SwordOfTheStars'' Morrigi are actually still around -- [[CulturalPosturing and very smug about it]] -- but until the last expansion, they had to quietly limp into hiding thanks to the efforts of the [[AbusivePrecursors rather less nice variety of Precusors]].
** And then the [[SpaceWhale Liir]] had to go and kill off the bad kind of Precursors, allowing the Morrigi to return.
* In the ''{{Thief}}'' series, the Precursors had much more sophisticated technology than does the present-day civilization; in the second game, this sets the plot in motion when a MadScientist / SinisterMinister gets hold of some.
-->When we looked at the relics of the Precursors, we saw the height civilization can attain.
-->When we looked at their ruins, we marked the danger of that height.
-->-- from the ''Keeper Annals''
* ''{{Warcraft}}'' lore features the Titans, who created 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 {{Big Bad}} of the mythology. There are strong hints throughout the lore that they may be coming back some day (possibly in a future expansion).
* On Filgaia, the world from ''{{Wild Arms}},'' a race of {{Precursors}} left behind a vast array of LostTechnology. [[spoiler:In the anime series ''Twilight Venom'' it was revealed that the precursors were from Earth, but left due to the annoyance of RandomEncounters]].
* The Steltek, from ''WingCommander Privateer''. Arguably they were Precursors of the [[NeglectfulPrecursors neglectful]] variety, though they did make an effort to clean up after themselves once made aware of the problem.
* The as-of-yet unnamed race from ''{{Sins of a Solar Empire}}'' who built the Phase Jump Inhibitors and, presumably, the other obtainable artifacts.
* The Ancients from ''PanzerDragoon'' qualify, having made many, many technological breakthroughs, most notably [[spoiler:the many, many Towers, the drones to control them, the dragons to protect them, the monsters the Towers create to sustain the environment (or so Craymen claims), and Sestren to tie it all together]]. And then they conveniently vanished, leaving virtually nobody who understands any of the crap they left lying around, just that it's powerful and needs to be reclaimed. Of course, [[spoiler:the Towers keeping the environment in its status quo means removing any factor that could be a detriment. Including humans, should they overpopulate. Thus, the Ancients are ''kind of'' the reason the series takes place in a CrapsackWorld]]. It's never really stated what the true nature of all of the above is, really, just that it's bad and you have to stop it ([[spoiler:which you ultimately do in ''Saga'', leaving it on a somewhat triumphant note - and then in ''Orta'', it's implied that the consequences to the environment afterwards [[NiceJobBreakingItHero were hardly worth the effort]]]]).
* 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.

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[[folder: Web Comics ]]

* In the furry webcomic ''{{Jack}}'', the furries that currently live on Earth are the descendants of furries created in a lab by humans, making humans the Precursors. They were wiped out in a war started by the first furry, Jack. The furry version of the United States government knows about furrykind's origins, and is (probably wisely) [[GovernmentConspiracy keeping it a secret]].
* In ''{{Order Of The Stick}}'', where the inhabitants of the First World did go extinct before the dawn of history, but were annihilated ''entirely'' by the coming of the Snarl, forcing the gods to build the present Second World from scratch. Thus, while they may or may not have been powerful, the First World's peoples didn't leave behind ''any'' knowledge, artifacts or descendants.
** Might not stick, it was recently revealed the original planet is ''inside'' the current one. It may or may not be inhabited.

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[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* In ''{{Gargoyles}}'', the First Race, while never directly referred to in the show, has been revealed by Greg Weisman to have preceded the Three Races.
* In ''ShadowRaiders'', a mysterious race created world engines (if not the planets themselves). This allowed the natives to not get consumed by the Beast Planet. One has to wonder who they were and why they did it.
** Presumably the same reason given in the ''InvaderZim'' episode "Battle Of The Planets". The ancient Martians [[spoiler: worked their race into extinction]] to turn their world [[spoiler: and Venus]] into space vessels. When asked the reason why, the [[spoiler: hologram that is all that is left of the civilization responds "because it's cool"]].

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[[folder: Music ]]

* In the The Sword song, "Fire Lances of the Ancient Hyperzephyrians", the Precursors are [[spoiler:humans from roughly the current era. After a presumably nuclear war screws up the planet, the survivors idiotically decide that they need to find and launch ''more'' of our missiles.]]

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[[folder: Web Original ]]

* ''OpenBlue'' has the Jormungand Imperium, a once glorious empire that prospered thanks to their god. When a new religion started encroaching on the fringes of the empire and the local ChurchMilitant did nothing to stop its growth, aforementioned god turned his back on them while they were in the middle of a war with invading [[TheHorde barbarian hordes]]. Suffice to say, it led to their {{gotterdammerung}}, and their [[ReligionIsMagic blessed weapons]] and [[ArtifactOfDoom artifacts]] being scattered across the world for the present nations to search for.

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