Neglectful Precursors Discussion - Television Tropes & Idioms

The Twelve Tribes in the remake of Battlestar Galactica didn't leave any outstanding problems for their descendants, other than blowing up their homeworld, and in fact helped out by leaving a breadcrumb trail to Earth. However, the immediate ancestors of the current generation of humanity created a race of machines that they apparently abused until it rebelled (a rare instance of AI Is A Crapshoot being our fault rather than due to random chance) and came back with a vengeance. (Verdict: Pending)

Not this trope; it's Turned Against Their Masters/Sins Of The Father.

Nezumi: I need to run this by bigger fans of the series for accuracy, and to make sure it's this trope:

If one takes the director's commentary as canon, the Space Jockeys from the Alien series were running around using xenomorphs, swift and powerful predators with a parasitic reprductive cycle, that are nearly impossible to wipe out once they've gained a foothold on a world, as bioweapons, without considering the consequences if they should get loose. (Verdict: Is there a worse verdict than "Guilty, guilty scumbags?")

Earnest: I have no sources, but I read something pretty similar, only they actually made the Xenomorphs and used them in an a civil war that ultimately wiped them out of our part of the galaxy at least.

Nezumi: Eh, that's good enough, and I doubt I'll get much more feedback letting it linger in Discussion, so I'm going to put it in and let the Wiki Magic work.

Eric DVH: Does the KoTOR example really count? The Rakata were basically supposed to be the Sith of their day. If we let them in then other blatantly evil examples like Larry Niven's Slavers and Pak might slip in.

Bob: Maybe you're right, we should probably decide how loosely we can use the term Precursors. I'll move it in the meanwhile.

The Rakata from Star Wars (encountered in the Knights Of The Old Republic) used their superior technology, powered by the Dark Side, to enslave various species around the galaxy... You know, I really don't think I need to say more than that. (Verdict: Guilty!)

Ununnilium: Note this is Neglectful Precursors, not Downright Evil Precursors. I'm also pulling out:

Still, no matter how bad the ascended Ancients are, it is still worth remebering that the Ori, who also qualify as Precursors, are even worse. This makes them very, very bad people. (Verdict: Probably the most Guilty precursors on this entire list!) (With the possible exception of the Warhammer 40000 examples. Life under the Ori might be mindless slavery, but at least it is life, which is a lot more than the Necrons would give us.)

Bob: Okay, boss. Thanks for the clarification.

Regarding the Chozo creating the Metroids... don't we discover in Metroid Prime that... Metroid Prime (the creature) is the first/origin of the Metroids? It is described in the battle as the origin of Phazon, but that Phazon seems to be created as an after-effect everytime it creates a Metroid (during the battle, pools of Phazon necessary to defeat the creature only appear under it when it spawns a Metroid.) I don't have my copy of Fusion anymore to check the storyline in that game, but does it specifically say that the Chozo created the Metroids? I don't think that this is true. Metroids and X-Parasites had a predator/prey relationship independent of the Chozo.

Bob: I can't remember anything about the Metroid Prime being the source of Metroids everywhere. Just because it's a Flunky Boss doesn't mean it is the progenitor of the species.

Peteman: Would humanity from Red Dwarf count? They left a huge number of maladjusted sentient beings ranging from genetically engineered bioweapons to homicidal cybernetic war machines with indefinite lifespans to overpossessive gestalt entities to mind and emotion sucking parasites. The only saving grace seems to be that they all want to kill all humans (virtually to the exclusion of everything else), which 3'000'000 years into the future, consisted mainly of Lister for a long period of time.

I've managed to recover the Neglectful Precursors page, but I don't really want to convert it at this point. I'll throw it here and let people who are currently more into it go for it.

Neglectful Precursors Precursors; kindly ancient civilization or deadbeat parents? You decide, on today's episode of Judge Troper's Court!

The plaintiff: The Adventurer Archaeologist claims that the Neglectful Precursor has left this galaxy and not provided a proper means of child support. Alleging that the abundance of Sealed Evil In A Can with flimsy seals and easily found keys, leaving outstanding debts with ancient enemies bent on collecting from humanity, and civilization shattering plagues are a clear sign of neglect. The plaintiff demands that the ancients stop leaving dangerous weapons laying about for villains to acquire, or alternately making access to them morality sensitive so only heroes can use them to pay off previous debts.

The defendant: Claims that since they've become Energy Beings thousands of years ago, they have evolved past conventional morality but are nonetheless caring for humanity or "Testing it", evidenced by their "wise" decrees of holding back Lost Technology until we're ready to use it, and scattering the keys to important technology so it can be used again. They defend their "long distance parenting" as character building, making sure the threats humanity faces are in line with it's skill, and that there's always one more Forgotten Superweapon around for each. They assure the court they "always knew we would win."

The Verdict? You decide! Examples of "Guilty" and "Not Guilty" verdicts in different courts and media:

TV Series

The Ancients in Stargate SG-1 epitomize this trope. Those that don't die off from an incredibly deadly plague evolve into Energy Beings, who refuse to help normal humans ascend save on their own merits. Fair enough, but it turns out they won't allow anyone who ascends to help humanity. In the "outstanding debts" department, they have a "kill any one species inside this galaxy" weapon they never used to kill off their enemies: the Goa'uld, the Wraith, two species of killer nanite robots, and a group of evil Energy Being cousins. Though they know rule by any one of these races means either the death or enslavement of all humanity, they won't lift a finger to help it. (Verdict: Guilty!)

o Then there's the way they handled the Anubis business, the fact that they let supremely powerful Ori battleships and nearly-ascended humans just waltz into our galaxy on a technicality (especially bad, because if the galaxy falls to the Ori, it is implied that the Ori will then attack the Ancients), This seems to place the Ancients into "They like torturing us" territory. Warts and all, humanity (AKA Stargate Command) has done more towards solving the universe's problems in a mere ten years than the Ancients did in millions. (Verdict: Guilty, Guilty Scumbag Energy Beings!)

The Ancients again have to answer for their neglect in the spinoff show Stagate Atlantis. Not only did they inadvertently create the Wraith by bringing humans to the Pegasus Galaxy and not keep a closer eye on the killer mosquito bugs, but decided to solve the problem by creating a race of indestructible human-form Replicators. The idea didn't pan out the way they hoped, so the Ancients nuked the Replicators from orbit, but they couldn't even do that right. Naturally, the surviving Replicators are a bit miffed at the Ancients for trying to kill them and then making the humans their official beneficiaries. Not wanting a visit from Social Services, the Ancients then skipped town and returned to the Milky Way, leaving the humans in the galactic dumpster. The result? The humans in the Pegasus Galaxy are left with either having their life force sucked out of them, or get blasted from orbit by vengeful robots. Not only that, but both of these races would love nothing more than set up summer homes in the Milky Way. Good going there, Ancients.(Verdict: Guilty... Again!)

* Humanity themselves, in Red Dwarf. They left a huge number of maladjusted sentient beings ranging from genetically engineered bioweapons to homicidal cybernetic war machines with indefinite lifespans to overpossessive gestalt entities to mind and emotion sucking parasites. The only saving grace seems to be that they all want to kill all humans (virtually to the exclusion of everything else), which, three million years into the future, consisted mainly of Lister. (Verdict: Despite the cliche of putting Humanity On Trial, guilty!) o OBJECTION: As it has been clearly established that there is no "everything else" in the Dwarf-iverse, save for the creations of humans, the defense demands the prosecution supply testimony of a living, non-human witness. If this is impossible, the defense moves for the dropping of all charges, save the lesser offense of "Having Your Own Race Destroyed by Your Foolish Frankenstein-esque Creations."

The Prosecution calls forward The Cat. He and his people were not the end result of any genetic engineering or design, but rather eons of inbreeding and mutation (and as descendants of a domestic house cat, have no trace of human DNA in them). He was targeted for destruction by Kryten's replacement, had his emotions sucked TWICE, was subjected to the horrible effects of the Despair Squid, had been threatened by Simulants on multiple occasions, been trapped in the psyche of a dangerously neurotic individual on a psychically sensitive artificial moon, been kept prisoner by a gestalt entity, been captured by sentient wax figurines depicting the worst humanity had to offer, been captured by an entire race of Arnold Rimmer Clones (which in and of itself should be more than enough to convict humanity a dozen times over), and in an unaired but storyboarded episode (which was replaced by the cheaper "Duct Soup"), had the few remaining members of his race imprisoned by GELFS who used them alternatively as slaves and a food source. This probably does not cover everything that happened over the course of the series, not to mention offscreen events like the attack of the pan-dimensional liquid beast on Christmas of 3'00x'xxx.
(He's really got me against the ropes... there has to be a contradiction in the court record that I can use to turn things around!)

HOLD IT! I have here the sworn Holy Book for the entirety of the Cat people, wherein it states the utmost love and reverence for Cloister the Stupid, a human whom they credit as the father of the race, willingly frozen in time so that they might survive. As near as we can tell, this refers to the actions of David Lister, who is indeed (if barely), human. Not only does this prove that Felis Sapiens's very existence is due to human influence, but the willing sacrifice of Lister to protect the holy mother, Frankenstien, hardly seems "Neglectful," your honor! (Cue Pursuit-Cornered!)

Your Honour, David Lister could not have foreseen the creation of the Cat Race and nor the events that surrounded it (Red Dwarf's Reactor Meltdown, which kept the mutations high enough that inbreeding would not have destroyed the population). Meanwhile, the one who could have predicted it wrote the incident off as a drug-induced hallucination. Furthermore, the inadvertent development of a single semi-stable population (which the Prosecution adds, nearly wiped itself out in holy wars because Lister was not sufficiently clear on the colouring of the hats) can not offset the multitudes of humanity's intentionally created monstrosities that managed to escape them. This court has already convicted other Negligent Precursors who left behind beneficent populations in addition to their multitudes of doomsdays artifacts and deranged sentient creations (see Tropers V. Star Control Precursors as precedent), and the Prosecution does not see why humanity should be given leniency here either.

o Counselor, your argument is faulty. "Intentionally-created monstrosities that managed to escape them" is another way of saying Turned Against Their Masters, or, to quote the defense, "Having Your Own Race Destroyed by Your Foolish Frankenstein-esque Creations." As yet, there are still no examples of humanity acting as a precursor race regarding another species (or even a related race which developed from a seeding program), which it then left in the lurch. This court will grant a continuance to gather further evidence, but unless you can present evidence of your claims, this court will grant the defense's motion and dismiss this case.

Thank you, your honor. Also, the defense would like to call attention to the lower court decision Justice Field V. David Lister, a ruling that has exonerated David Lister of all crimes (save some unrelated Hotel Theft), and thus proving himself not liable to the Cat Race.

If Ridiculously Human Robots may be counted as a "species", the prosecution brings forward the remains of the Wax Droids of the episode Meltdown. After being abandoned for millions of years, they broke their programming, whereupon the Villain Wax Droids attacked the Hero Wax Droids and almost wiped them out (so the "good" wax droids were indeed left in the lurch). We are even forced to overhear the execution of Winnie the Pooh. It wasn't until Arnold Rimmer arrived and used his military "genius" to wipe out the entire planet.

Though it may be argued that Rimmer's actions had the main effect of sending them to their eternal happy reward in Silicon Heaven, the defense accepts the prosecution's logic, and therefore moves for an indefinite suspension of the proceedings until a higher court rules on What Measure Is A Non Human: a decision that will clearly only come at the same time that Silcon Hell has been reasonably determined to freeze over.

o This court finds the motion in order, and now, before we sock everyone with a felony Thread Mode fine, we shall adjourn to the Bad Guy Bar across the street for Beer Milkshakes and the pre-requisite Schiff One Liner. Gavel Pound... Roll Credits. ]]

Despite the many examples of various precursor-style races in the Star Trek series (such as the Iconians, whatever race made the Doomsday Machine, or the "First Federation"), most prevalent are the proto-humanoids of the Star Trek The Next Generation episode "The Chase." They apparently seeded the rest of the galaxy with their DNA, and left an encoded message wishing that everybody would get along. In their defense, this race did absolutely nothing else of consequence. No superweapons (despite the hopes of several races who helped unlock the DNA message), no aberrant creations, no plagues ready to happen. (Verdict: Not Guilty!)

o Really, the people on trial here aren't the precursors, but the producers and writers—for letting their obsession with justifying Rubber Forehead Aliens produce one of the worst Wall Banger episodes in Star Trek: a mash of Hollywood Evolution and a profound misunderstanding of science that has continued into other "evolution disaster" episodes such as "Genesis" and the Star Trek Voyager episode "Threshold." (Verdict: Stupid!)

Arguably, the Time Lords from Doctor Who, which is why they have so many renegades!

o The defense would refer the court to a prior guilty plea: much of the Time Lords' apparent neglect is because they chose to treat themselves as Sealed Evil In A Can after the abuses of ancient (pre-Rassilon) regimes. This has had the benefit of largely insulating the rest of the universe from the rife political corruption of later years...

Your honor, the prosecution humbly submits the case of the Vorlons and Shadows of Babylon 5. To be sure, they initially attempted to care for their successors, however this only serves to prove that their neglect was willful. They lost control, forgetting to take care of their successors, and in fact using their successors to wage war on one another. They had to be woken up by force and ordered to leave the galaxy so that their successors could live their own lives. Furthermore, when they left, they carefully locked up all of the technology which would have been useful to their successors while leaving some of their most potent destructive technology lying around.

o This court does not have jurisdiction in this matter; the series itself is largely the trial of these races. They were judged guilty, and their sentence commuted to exile.

Videogames Of Note

Nobody's mentioned the Forerunners of Halo yet? OK. The evidence: They knowingly concealed the existence of an extremely dangerous and parasitic organism capable of annihilating all sentient life in the Galaxy. They defeated this organism via the use of superweapons which did, in fact, annihilate all sentient life in the Galaxy. They leave the superweapons in an operable state capable of another Galactic genocide. AND they don't even bother to destroy the last remnants of the parasite, which they left in stasis on board the superweapons!

o To be fair, the Halo superweapons were an absolute last resort, and just before the rings were activated it appeared there was a good chance that they would be able to defeat the Flood without using them. Given the presence of the Ark and the ineffectiveness of the rings against the smaller forms of the Flood, it was not unreasonable to make the weapons multi-use. At least the Forerunners tried to keep anyone but themselves from firing the rings. Also, the Flood may have been left to them by an even older species, the Precursors, turning this into a case of doubly-neglectful precursors! o Additionally, the information offerred in Halo 3 confirms that the Forerunners' entire extinction was due to a sudden and unexpected shift in the war with the Flood, which forced them to fire the Halo array. In fact, in that same game, it is reveale dthat the Forerunners were actively attempting to preserve the species of the galaxy by sheltering them on the Ark, well away from the Halo array's firing range. Only when this came under threat did they utilize the Halo array.

The mysterious and ancient Sages of the Legend Of Zelda series constantly underestimate Ganondorf and seal him in an incredibly flimsy prison, then put all of the tools needed to re-seal him in incredibly out of the way dungeons filled with monsters and hazardous traps. It's almost like they want everyone to be enslaved. At the very least, they do apologize for the whole thing in Twilight Princess. Still, one apology isn't going to cut it for a couple thousand years of monster plagues every century. (Note that the sages aren't Precursors in every Zelda game.) (Verdict: Guilty!)

o OBJECTION! While the measures taken by the Sages are often insufficient to properly seal away Ganondorf, these are usually not their fault. One must keep in mind that, being in possession of the Triforce of Power, Ganondorf's powers with magic are far beyond what the Sages themselves may be capable of. Indeed, in Twilight Princess, the Sages threw Ganondorf into the Twilight Realm not because they had planned to, but because they were unaware that he possessed the Triforce of Power and he broke free after they had attempted to execute him.

Motion granted. Even though Ganondorf is never properly defeated by them, The Sages oppose his influence every time he show up and are thus innocent of the charges of neglect. (Verdict: Not Guilty!)
The Cetra in Final Fantasy VII, defeated Jenovah but did not truly kill or hide her; of course, she did fight them to extinction. And she regenerates from cellular matter. What's strange is that they had but did not use either the Black Materia, a doomsday weapon, or White Materia, it's antithesis, to try and stop her. They did, however, properly seal the Black Materia from being randomly stolen. Note that some theories state that they DID, in fact, use Meteor...which was as close to killing Jenova as they could get, and what finished off the rest of 'em! (Verdict: Not Guilty!)

* In their exodus from this area of the galaxy, the Precursors of the Star Control series absent-mindedly left behind a humongous battleship armed with superweapons that can wipe out entire fleets with each shot. Naturally, the enslaving Ur-Quan Kzer-Za stumble across it, naming it Sa-Matra. Among the numerous other artifacts the Precursors left behind are: bombs used as planeteering tools (one is used to put a hole in the outer layers of a star, causing it to flare like a supernova and sterilizing the entire inhabited system, and another is deemed powerful enough to destroy the Sa-Matra only after amplifying modifications are added by the Chmrr), the Mycon (biological planeteering tools that evolved into a race of fungi who terraform inhabited water worlds by force to their own scorching ideal conditions), and Inter-Dimensional-Fatigue-wave-generating devices (the study of which gets the Androsynth eaten by Lovecraftian extradimensional horrors). (Verdict: Guilty!) o Your Honor, the defense appeals this ruling, on the grounds that in order to avoid an enemy more powerful than themselves, the Precursors turned themselves into cattle.

The appeal is denied, as this occurred in Star Control 3. Which never happened.

o The Precursors were in a hurry; according to the Slylandro, "the Shaggy Ones were described as being... worried. They were always hurrying from place to place, seeking knowledge, as though they were in a desperate search for some important secret, some answer to a question that they never shared with us." They didn't have time to clean after themselves.

Appeal denied. Lack of planning is not a valid defense.

o The Precursors did leave behind a sentient race of robots who fused with the Chenjesu to form the Chmmr, so they weren't all bad. unless the mind controlling evil crabs were their fault, in which case they need to be burned at the stake. + Irrelevant. It is virtually impossible that the Precursors could have foreseen the viability of crystalline-robotic cross-species fusion. Even if they had foreseen it, they should have performed the joining themselves and saved the Alliance the trouble.

The Chozo in the Metroid series created the titular creatures to hold off the Body Horror X Parasites. However, they did not think to adjust their creations so that they could not suck the Life Energy from other living things, making them hideously powerful biological weapons. In their defense: 1) They could not have anticipated the Space Pirates. 2) They had other things to take care of, like holding off the evil on Tallon IV (as seen in Metroid Prime). 3) They did raise and equip Samus Aran to fight back against them. 4) The X could take over/mimic other species, so limiting Metroids to X alone would be a potential point of failure in their design. In the end, humanity is to blame for screwing around on SR-388. (Verdict: Not Guilty!)

* The Xel'Naga of the Starcraft series created the Zerg, which promptly killed them, then spread like a plague of locusts and started consuming other species wholesale. The Zerg Overmind's rebellion shouldn't have been entirely unforeseen; the Protoss, their prior creations, similarly rebelled and chased their creators off. As of the end of the Brood Wars, it seems that the Zerg are the single most powerful force lurking in space, making things all the worse. If the kooks spent a little of their supposedly-vast resources building some defenses for their worldships instead of mucking with genetics, this mess wouldn't have happened. (Verdict: Guilty!) o The prosecution would like to call to the stand Samir Duran, whose actions in a bonus mission in Brood War suggest that the Xel'Naga may still be alive, and trying to create Zerg/Protoss hybrids despite the fact that both races rebelled against them previously. Furthermore, the testimony of the Zerg Overmind itself supports this case, implying that it was in fact premeditated. The final verdict is pending trial from a higher court in the upcoming Starcraft II.

Mankind itself in Xenogears: tapped into an otherdimensional, omnipotent existence with limitless energy, created a sentient superweapon, and hooked up one to the other. When Deus naturally went rampant and annihilated the crew of the spaceship ferrying it about, it became a problem for posterior generations.

o Objection! As described in Xenogears itself, the "posterior generations" in the prosecution's argument are humans. Humanity screwed itself over something royal, that point is valid, but that's not the essence of Neglectful Precursors. Had Deus run rampant on another species, especially one humanity had been mentoring, we'd be in business. Lacking that, this appears to be another case of Turned Against Their Masters.

The Protheans in Mass Effect, though the rest of this entry will be spoiler-protected as the game is still relatively new: They left behind much useful technology, including information on the FTL "mass relays" and the massive Citadel space station, uplifted races, possibly monitored humanity from ancient times, and...were wiped out by the Reapers in the latest of a series of cyclical genocides. In fact, they didn't create the Citadel or the mass relays, or set up the cycle; in truth they weren't precursors so much as the previous iteration of a loop. However, the last survivors of the race did manage to provide the next iteration, humanity and its contemporaries, with enough information and technology to break the cycle. (Verdict: Not Guilty!)

Film

If one takes the director's commentary as Canon, the Space Jockeys from the Alien series were running around using xenomorphs — swift and powerful predators with a parasitic reproductive cycle, that are nearly impossible to wipe out once they've gained a foothold on a world — as bioweapons, without considering the consequences if they should get loose. (Verdict: Is there a worse verdict than "Guilty, guilty scumbags"?)

o Yes, there is. This prosecutor would like to point out that the Space Jockeys may very well have intended the Xenomorphs to be nigh-impossible to remove once they got a foothold, as a persistent planetary-scale biological weapon. Which would mean they were innocent of negligence... and guilty of the worse crime of deliberate malice.

Tabletop RPG

Every species old enough to be considered precursors in Warhammer 40000 are jerkasses. Yes, everyone. Including (some would argue especially) humans. (Verdict: Guilty!)

o It is debatable whether humans are old enough to be precursors in this setting, but they most certainly are jerkasses.

Please. This is Warhammer 40000. Who isn't a jerkass?

As the Imperium of Man is an active and malevolent galaxy-spanning major civilization, humanity can neither be neglectful nor precursors. When humanity eventually dies off (or at least fades from prominence), they will likely be judged not guilty of being neglectful, but be brought up on far more serious charges as they are actively malicious.

o Rather, I believe that one should look at the other two primary precusor civilizations, the Necrontyr/C'Tan and the Old Ones. The Necrontyr/C'Tan certainly cannot be held guilty of being neglectful precursors, when one considers that they are very active in the "modern" timeframe. The Old Ones, on the other hand, can potentially be seen as neglectful, though they themselves were wiped out in the long war with the Necrons, so it may not have been intentional. However, they did leave behind the Eldar, who, left unattended, singlehandedly gave birth to a new Chaos God, and the Orks, an unguided species of extremely adaptive, extremely warlike, and completely self-sufficient species whose whole existence revolves around expansion and war.

The Eloh, the ancient precursors of Tabula Rasa, created a superscience capable of manipulating energy and matter by acts of will. They then went through interstellar space handing this stuff out randomly. When this didn't end well — surprise, surprise — they annihilated the entire military of the first race to uprise against them, the Thrax, firmly cementing xenophobia. Then a small faction called the Neph went and enslaved the Thrax and went on a war against the rest of the universe to make sure no one would ever be their equals again, starting with the mainstream Eloh. Rather than actually fighting back or enlist (or even warn) the sentient races across the universe, the Eloh just tossed various pieces of Applied Phlebotinum on random populated and unpopulated worlds. At least the Sages of the Legend Of Zelda series bothered to seal away the evil in a can.

Peteman: Okay, I am curious about something: are Precursors considered Precursors if they created everything, or if they just left stuff behind that newer races scavenged?

Bob: The Warhammer 40000 examples is in need of some clean-up so I'm starting it over. I'm saving the past examples here.

Every species old enough to be considered precursors in Warhammer 40000 are jerkasses. Yes, everyone. Including (some would argue especially) humans. (Verdict: Guilty!)
- It is debatable whether humans are old enough to be precursors in this setting, but they most certainly are jerkasses.
  - Please. This is Warhammer 40000. Who isn't a jerkass?
  - As the Imperium of Man is an active and malevolent galaxy-spanning major civilization, humanity can neither be neglectful nor precursors. When humanity eventually dies off (or at least fades from prominence), they will likely be judged not guilty of being neglectful, but be brought up on far more serious charges as they are actively malicious.
  - Again, this is Warhammer 40000. Every faction is "active and malevolent". The Imperium of Man is actually one of the more hospitable environments available to live in... and isn't that just depressing.
- Rather, I believe that one should look at the other two primary precursor civilizations, the Necrontyr/C'Tan and the Old Ones. The Necrontyr/C'Tan certainly cannot be held guilty of being neglectful precursors, when one considers that they are very active in the "modern" timeframe. The Old Ones, on the other hand, can potentially be seen as neglectful, though they themselves were wiped out in the long war with the Necrons, so it may not have been intentional. However, they did leave behind the Eldar, who, left unattended, singlehandedly gave birth to a new Chaos God, and the Orks, an unguided species of extremely adaptive, extremely warlike, and completely self-sufficient species whose whole existence revolves around expansion and war.
  - Objection: The defence seeks dismissal of everything from Necron backstory on grounds that they never happened.

Not so much an example of Neglect as an aversion and a job pretty well done: the folks that sealed away Regirock, Regice, and Registeel to seal away Regigigas in the Pokémon games knew what the hell they were doing; as evidenced by the conditions of unsealing the caves in the first place, it's pretty clear that they're not meant to be opened. Then there's the (admittedly fairly simple) puzzles in Braille, as well as the fact that you need to placate and capture the three "keys" in the first place. To cap it all off, the separate regions that the trio and Regigigas are located in are based on the two main islands of the Japanese archipelago that are as far away as possible. If the ancient civilization didn't foresee the development of Pokéball technology, then there's the added stipulation of having to move three fairly large and very heavy (immobile once placated) statuesque creatures a relatively long distance. One of said statues is made of ice cold enough not to melt in molten frickin' lava. Trying to move that manually would likely make your hands fall off from frostbite. And it's the one that would need to be moved the furthest as well. Oh, and while we're at it, Regigigas is at what is practically the northernmost part of the other island — as far as humanly possible from the first island.
- My question: Does this fit in at all?

CapnAndy: Goku is not a Precursor. What's wrong with some people?

Peteman: Should we prune the Red Dwarf example?

Would everyone mind if I change the Red Dwarf example to read:

On the one hand, they are responsible for all life in the Universe outside of Earth. On the other hand, given the sheer number of deranged bio-weapons that are still around, crazy functional artifacts with minimal security (to the point that the misfit crew of Red Dwarf were able to get ahold of any number of them), and creations (some of which seem immortal) that seem to be so deranged that they seem out to exterminate humanity despite the fact that the species would have died off over a million years ago.

Removed the excess natter on the Red Dwarf

Humanity themselves, in Red Dwarf. They left a huge number of maladjusted sentient beings ranging from genetically engineered bioweapons to homicidal cybernetic war machines with indefinite lifespans to overpossessive gestalt entities to mind and emotion sucking parasites. The only saving grace seems to be that they all want to kill all humans (virtually to the exclusion of everything else), which, three million years into the future, consisted mainly of Lister. (Verdict: Despite the cliche of putting Humanity On Trial, guilty!)
- OBJECTION: As it has been clearly established that there is no "everything else" in the Dwarf-iverse, save for the creations of humans, the defense demands the prosecution supply testimony of a living, non-human witness. If this is impossible, the defense moves for the dropping of all charges, save the lesser offense of "Having Your Own Race Destroyed by Your Foolish Frankenstein-esque Creations."
  - The Prosecution calls forward The Cat. He and his people were not the end result of any genetic engineering or design, but rather eons of inbreeding and mutation (and as descendants of a domestic house cat, have no trace of human DNA in them). He was targeted for destruction by Kryten's replacement, had his emotions sucked TWICE, was subjected to the horrible effects of the Despair Squid, had been threatened by Simulants on multiple occasions, been trapped in the psyche of a dangerously neurotic individual on a psychically sensitive artificial moon, been kept prisoner by a gestalt entity, been captured by sentient wax figurines depicting the worst humanity had to offer, been captured by an entire race of Arnold Rimmer Clones (which in and of itself should be more than enough to convict humanity a dozen times over), and in an unaired but storyboarded episode (which was replaced by the cheaper "Duct Soup"), had the few remaining members of his race imprisoned by GELFS who used them alternatively as slaves and a food source. This probably does not cover everything that happened over the course of the series, not to mention offscreen events like the attack of the pan-dimensional liquid beast on Christmas of 3'00x'xxx.
  - (He's really got me against the ropes... there has to be a contradiction in the court record that I can use to turn things around!)
  - HOLD IT! I have here the sworn Holy Book for the entirety of the Cat people, wherein it states the utmost love and reverence for Cloister the Stupid, a human whom they credit as the father of the race, willingly frozen in time so that they might survive. As near as we can tell, this refers to the actions of David Lister, who is indeed (if barely), human. Not only does this prove that Felis Sapiens's very existence is due to human influence, but the willing sacrifice of Lister to protect the holy mother, Frankenstien, hardly seems "Neglectful," your honor! (Cue Pursuit-Cornered!)
  - Your Honour, David Lister could not have foreseen the creation of the Cat Race and nor the events that surrounded it (Red Dwarf's Reactor Meltdown, which kept the mutations high enough that inbreeding would not have destroyed the population). Meanwhile, the one who could have predicted it wrote the incident off as a drug-induced hallucination. Furthermore, the inadvertent development of a single semi-stable population (which the Prosecution adds, nearly wiped itself out in holy wars because Lister was not sufficiently clear on the colouring of the hats) can not offset the multitudes of humanity's intentionally created monstrosities that managed to escape them. This court has already convicted other Negligent Precursors who left behind beneficent populations in addition to their multitudes of doomsdays artifacts and deranged sentient creations (see Tropers V. Star Control Precursors as precedent), and the Prosecution does not see why humanity should be given leniency here either.
  - Counselor, your argument is faulty. "Intentionally-created monstrosities that managed to escape them" is another way of saying Turned Against Their Masters, or, to quote the defense, "Having Your Own Race Destroyed by Your Foolish Frankenstein-esque Creations." As yet, there are still no examples of humanity acting as a precursor race regarding another species (or even a related race which developed from a seeding program), which it then left in the lurch. This court will grant a continuance to gather further evidence, but unless you can present evidence of your claims, this court will grant the defense's motion and dismiss this case.
  - Thank you, your honor. Also, the defense would like to call attention to the lower court decision Justice Field V. David Lister, a ruling that has exonerated David Lister of all crimes (save some unrelated Hotel Theft), and thus proving himself not liable to the Cat Race.
  - Objection! The Justice Field works by detecting guilt therefore its verdict only proves that Dave Lister feels no guilt regarding the creation of the cat race.
  - If Ridiculously Human Robots may be counted as a "species", the prosecution brings forward the remains of the Wax Droids of the episode Meltdown. After being abandoned for millions of years, they broke their programming, whereupon the Villain Wax Droids attacked the Hero Wax Droids and almost wiped them out (so the "good" wax droids were indeed left in the lurch). We are even forced to overhear the execution of Winnie the Pooh. It wasn't until Arnold Rimmer arrived and used his military "genius" to wipe out the entire planet.
  - Though it may be argued that Rimmer's actions had the main effect of sending them to their eternal happy reward in Silicon Heaven, the defense accepts the prosecution's logic, and therefore moves for an indefinite suspension of the proceedings until a higher court rules on What Measure Is A Non Human: a decision that will clearly only come at the same time that Silcon Hell has been reasonably determined to freeze over.
  - This court finds the motion in order, and now, before we sock everyone with a felony Thread Mode fine, we shall adjourn to the Bad Guy Bar across the street for Beer Milkshakes and the pre-requisite Schiff One Liner. Gavel Pound... Roll Credits.

Bob: Rewriting the Warhammer 40000 part.

Warhammer 40000:
- The Eldar had a interstellar empire in the past but it was brought down by their own ~~decadence~~ debauchery. Currently there are two kinds left in the galaxy:
  - Eldar. The very literal Defectors From Decadence saw what their civilization where coming to and tried to stop it. They failed, and in a last resort to survive they constructed small artificial planets to escape the downfall of their species. They are currently occupied desperately trying to survive in a hostile galaxy, but they still take the time to fight the Necrons and Chaos. They are not friends with humans (no more than the occasional Enemy Mine scenario), but on the other hand, we barely deserve that much tolerance from them. Verdict: Not Guilty!
  - Ah, now hang on: sure, they stand against the common enemies of themselves and The Imperium, but the Eldar will sacrifice any number of members of a "lesser race" in order to save one Eldar hundreds or thousands of years in the future. They're utterly self-centered and interested only in their own survival. But...they weren't the precursors of any other race anyway, so it's a moot point. Humans don't even use their lost technology; they just destroy it.
  - The ECLU volunteers as amicus curiae that nothing is worth an Eldar life, and a non-Eldar life is worth nothing.
  - The court wish to remind the Attorney at law that the verdict is about "Neglectful", not "Nice". Are the Eldar Racist? Yes. Sinister? Yes. Jerks? Yes. Arrogant? Definitely. Neglectful? The court says: No.
  - Objection: One could consider how the Eldar deal with many problems as rather neglectful, such as in Dawn Of War, when Gabriel Angelos was about to destroy a demon-containing Mac Guffin, Farseer Macha tries to prevent him from destroying it but seems to prioritize insulting the humans than actually preventing the release of the demon.
  - In addition to how the Eldar prioritize insulting everything that isn't Eldar, they also seem to prioritize saving their own (mentioned above) than to get any of the demon-slaying or Necron-stopping done. And not at the same time. There is their idea that the use of enough souls to summon another god to combat that other one they made, but antagonizing everyone else into killing them with their high and mighty attitudes at times when it's extremely inappropriate while they're trying to do that implies stopping the Necrons or their Chaos God isn't so high on their list of priorities. It also makes one wonder what they're trying to do by getting themselves killed while saving their own asses if more Eldar litter the fields, trophy racks and examination tables than those actually left alive.
  - Dark Eldar: They were so ~~decadent~~ debauched that it created a Chaos God and The Eye of Terror. If that isn't Neglectful then I don't know what is. Verdict: Guilty.
  - Actually, there are four kinds of Eldar left: the Exodites, Space Amish who left the Eldar worlds to get away from the "pleasure cults"; and the Harlequins, select individuals from all Eldar groups who actively fight against Chaos wherever they find it.
  - As the Eldar are now trying to fix the damage they've done, the Court finds that they have already pled Guilty and have sentenced themselves to an eternity of Community Service. The Court accepts the plea and sentence.
- Regardless of how much of the Necron backstory you accept as canon, there is one undeniable fact about the C'tan. They enslaved a species with the promise of immortality, claim to have succesfully used said slave army to have wipe out all life in the galaxy and they are actively trying to do it again. They are thusly not covered under this trope by reason of this being about Neglectful Precursors, not Abusive Precursors.
  - Objection: New evidents has been discovered that the C'tan may in fact just have never existed at all. (See Warhammer 40,000 5th edition rulebook) awaiting futher information.
- The Old Ones left around a number of sentient species, like the Eldar who Squick-ed a Chaos God into existence and the Orks whose entire culture and existence revolves around killing everything that "isn't orky enough" (which includes other Orks), and by doing so, inadvertently turned the Immaterium into the hellhole that it was. On the other hand, they died off millions of years before either culture got to the point that it did, and if the backstory is to be believed, were too busy dealing with other, bigger problems.

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