Hypothesis: The Outsiders
The “Outsiders” can, within the framework of the known encyclopedia entries of the X-Universe, be described as an attempt to model a phenomenon that completely transcends the limits of classical definitions of civilization. Based on the descriptions surrounding the “Old Ones,” they are not a purely biological species in the conventional sense, but rather the result of an extremely advanced civilization that originally evolved entirely within its own universe and gradually shifted from biological existence toward fully informational-technological forms of being.
At the center of this hypothesis lies the assumption that the Outsiders are neither purely organic nor purely mechanical lifeforms, but the end result of a continuous integration between biological bodies and computronic structures. This integration did not occur through an abrupt abandonment of biology, but through the gradual permeation of all biological functions by informational systems. Initially, external computational layers were embedded into the organism; later, essential life processes were increasingly replaced by computronic subsystems until the entire body transitioned into a fully artificial yet structurally biologically derived substrate. In this state, every individual can be understood as a stable, localized informational body referred to as a “Qörper,” within which consciousness, energy processing, and physical structure are inseparably fused.
This substrate can be interpreted as a highly dense, quantum-mechanically coherent computational medium in which matter, energy, and computation are not separate categories, but merely different expressions of the same underlying state. Every Outsider entity therefore exists simultaneously as process, memory, and physically stabilized information structure. This development does not dissolve individuality, but instead stabilizes it technologically on a non-biological level, preserving a pronounced sense of individual existence within a fully technological mode of being.
The ability mentioned in the lore to alter physical constants should, under this assumption, not be understood as an external or metaphysical technology, but as a consequence of the complete industrialization of physical parameters themselves. Whereas the “Old Ones” operate within a universe and regard its laws as fixed, the Outsiders treat these laws as adjustable variables within a complex informational and energetic system. The observed alterations of fundamental constants such as the speed of light, the fine-structure constant, or particle masses may therefore be interpreted as byproducts of large-scale optimization and transformation processes occurring within that system.
The system-scale probes described in the encyclopedia context suggest that the Outsiders do not exist as localized entities in the classical sense, but distribute their structure across extremely large spatial and potentially causal scales. Individual “bodies” are not isolated entities, but stabilized condensations of an otherwise distributed informational-physical system. Encounters with them therefore represent only localized projections of a vastly larger and systemically organized totality.
The question of how the Outsiders interacted with other species remains deliberately unresolved within this hypothesis. There is insufficient information to determine whether other civilizations were exterminated, integrated, functionally restructured, or otherwise absorbed into their system. What matters is that interaction in this context is not primarily moral or biological, but functional and systemic. Other species would not necessarily be classified as “enemies” or “allies,” but rather as variable components within a highly complex energetic-information framework.
The issue of energy extraction, particularly the lore references to energy loss and alterations of physical constants, can likewise be interpreted as a side effect of systemic restructuring. Rather than conventional energy harvesting, the Outsiders may be engaged in the controlled redistribution of entropy and energy gradients within or between universal structures. The resulting appearance of “energy loss” within the affected universe would therefore not represent theft in the classical sense, but a systemic consequence of a higher-order optimization process.
Under this interpretation, the conflict between the Old Ones and the Outsiders is not a conventional war, but a structural mismatch between two developmental paradigms. The Old Ones represent a highly advanced civilization that nevertheless remains stabilized within a single universe, with its development strongly oriented toward social cohesion and the preservation of physical stability. The Outsiders, by contrast, embody an evolutionary trajectory in which technological integration has culminated in the complete permeation and restructuring of physical reality itself. While the Old Ones interpret the Outsiders as an external threat, the Outsiders treat the universe itself as a mutable substrate within a larger systemic framework.
The capture of individual Outsider entities would therefore not correspond to the imprisonment of biological individuals, but rather to the temporary stabilization of localized informational structures within an otherwise highly dynamic system. In this context, the concept of “war” loses its classical meaning and becomes an asymmetrical interaction process between differently structured layers of reality.
Overall, this produces the image of a civilization that did not emerge through a rupture from biology to post-biology, but through the continuous technological integration of all biological functions into an increasingly informational substrate. Violence, conflict, and scarcity were not eliminated, but displaced onto progressively higher levels of abstraction until they became visible only as cosmological or physical processes. The term “Outsider” therefore describes less a species in the traditional sense than the state of a civilization that has completely transformed its original biological existence into a technologically stabilized, universe-spanning informational structure.
Based on the known descriptions within the X-Universe, it is crucial to note that no direct statement exists regarding the physical compatibility between the Outsiders’ native universe and the X-Universe itself. The encyclopedia merely describes effects such as altered physical constants, system-scale probe structures, and energy anomalies without defining the underlying coupling mechanism. This opens the possibility that what occurred was not a classical invasion or expansion, but rather an attempt to stabilize existence within a physically incompatible environment.
Within this hypothesis, the Outsiders originate from a universe whose physical constants, or perhaps even fundamental structures of reality, diverge at least partially from those of the X-Universe. These differences need not be absolute; even variations in vacuum energy, coupling constants, or dimensional structures could suffice. The decisive factor is that direct material existence within a foreign universe may not be possible without mediation or adaptation.
The “probes the size of entire solar systems” described in the lore can therefore be reinterpreted. Rather than conventional research or assault vessels, they may instead be stabilization systems or interface machines enabling a partial projection of the Outsiders into the X-Universe. Within such structures, the Outsiders would not be fully present, but would manifest only through localized, physically compatible partial representations. A significant portion of their existence would remain outside accessible spacetime altogether.
This model also explains the seemingly paradoxical combination of immense scale and localized functionality. The solar-system dimensions of the probes would not represent scale in the conventional sense, but rather the necessary consequence of a physical translation architecture between incompatible realities. The structure would function not as a vehicle, but as an interface field enabling localized coupling between fundamentally different physical regimes.
Within this framework, even the observations made by the Old Ones acquire new meaning. The alterations of physical constants would not constitute deliberate manipulation, but the side effects of attempting to synchronize incompatible physical systems. The Outsiders would not actively “interfere”; rather, their mere partial presence would distort local parameters as the X-Universe attempts to integrate an alien structure into its own physical framework.
The energy anomalies described in the encyclopedia would therefore not represent extraction in the conventional sense, but a stabilization-balancing process between differently structured universes. Energy and entropy flows would inevitably reorganize themselves once partial coupling occurred. The apparent “disappearance” of energy would thus be an effect of inter-universal rescaling rather than intentional draining.
The most important aspect of this interpretation, however, concerns communication. In this hypothesis, communication fails not because of hostile intent or insufficient technology, but because of structural incompatibility between the informational foundations of both realities. Even if both sides attempted conscious interaction, no shared semantic or physical baseline would exist upon which stable meaning could be transmitted. Every interaction would therefore be interpreted as noise, anomaly, or physical distortion.
The reaction of the Old Ones can thus be understood as a classical misinterpretation of a highly complex yet not inherently aggressive process. From their perspective, the effects of the Outsiders appear as threats to physical stability, while in reality they may merely represent the byproducts of a failed coupling attempt between incompatible realities. The classification “Outsider” therefore becomes less a description of foreignness and more an epistemological projection: an attempt to categorize something fundamentally non-communicable within an existing civilizational framework.
Ultimately, this results in a picture of the Outsiders as entities only partially manifested within the X-Universe, while their complete existence remains outside local physical structure altogether. The known probes would not be weapons or colonization tools, but highly complex interface systems designed to stabilize and potentially translate existence between incompatible universes. The conflict with the Old Ones would therefore not constitute war in the classical sense, but rather an asymmetrical misunderstanding between a stable physical system and a partially incompatible reality structure merely attempting to become perceptible at all.
The world of the Outsiders can be described as a highly interconnected, three-dimensional biosystem in which the classical planetary divisions between atmosphere, hydrosphere, and surface exist only in weakened form. The planet possesses stable continental landmasses of rock that serve as the primary evolutionary environments, yet it is entirely enveloped by a dense, continuous fluid medium in which different density zones merge into one another without hard boundaries. This medium behaves neither purely as an atmosphere nor as an ocean, but instead forms a permanently dynamic transitional space in which currents, buoyancy, and chemical gradients coexist simultaneously across all altitudes. In addition, smaller island-like structures exist, some geologically stable, others freely “floating” within the fluid medium due to their density distribution, thereby forming vertical and horizontal connection nodes between different environmental zones.
Within this world, the early biology of the Outsiders evolved upon the continents, where stable conditions allowed the emergence of complex and long-lived organisms. Their ancestral forms can be reconstructed as large-volume, structurally robust lifeforms that likely originated from a plant-like evolutionary lineage. These organisms were characterized by strong modularity: instead of clearly separated organs, they possessed functional zones capable of simultaneously handling energy acquisition, environmental perception, and structural stabilization. Their early morphology was already optimized for maximum spatial expansion and efficiency within heterogeneous environments rather than for rapid movement or centralized control.
As evolution progressed, a continuous expansion into the surrounding fluid realm took place. Since no sharp boundaries existed between “land,” “water,” and “air,” this transition occurred gradually and without ecological barriers. Organisms capable of navigating the density gradients of the medium developed into a secondary functional manifestation of the species. These forms nevertheless remained part of the same species, as no reproductive isolation emerged. Instead, stable subpopulations formed along environmental gradients: some specialized in the dense lower layers near the continents, others in the turbulent transitional zones, and still others within the thinner, energy-poorer upper regions of the fluid environment.
The biology of the Outsiders during this phase was marked by a consistent departure from centralized body structures. The organism consisted of a column-like primary body functioning simultaneously as a stabilizing and processing volume. At its lower end, branched root-like or tentacular structures served both to anchor the organism within solid or semi-solid substrates and to interact actively with the dense surrounding medium. The upper regions were dominated by fan-like or antenna-like sensory structures designed for large-scale environmental perception. Additional lateral appendages fulfilled interactional and manipulative functions within three-dimensional space. A classical head or centralized control organ did not exist; instead, the entire structure was functionally distributed and organized in parallel.
Nutrition within these organisms was not locally bound but relied upon the continuous extraction of energy and material gradients throughout the entire fluid environment. Organic and inorganic particles, chemical differentials, and thermodynamic imbalances were exploited equally. This gave rise to an ecosystem in which resources were not concentrated at specific points but distributed throughout the environment itself, making movement primarily a matter of optimizing energy intake and informational access.
Over the course of this pre-technological evolution, a species emerged that was neither strictly terrestrial, aquatic, nor atmospheric, but instead existed volumetrically within the entirety of its environment. From the very beginning, its biological development was oriented toward three-dimensional continuity, largely eliminating classical ecological boundaries. During this stage, the Outsiders remained a single species, albeit one internally differentiated into numerous adaptive forms shaped by the physical characteristics of their fluid world without ever diverging into separate species.
Within an expanded yet still lore-compatible hypothesis, the Outsiders can therefore be understood as the result of a continuous intra-universal civilizational development whose defining characteristic was not a rupture with biology or society, but rather the gradual fusion of biological existence with informational technology. Their origin remained rooted in a once-conventional species that evolved within a complex, three-dimensionally structured fluid world and displayed an early tendency toward functional specialization and spatial expansion. In contrast to models proposing an abrupt transition from biology to post-biology, this transformation unfolded as a slow integration process spanning countless evolutionary stages.
The decisive technological step did not consist in abandoning biological bodies, but in progressively permeating them with computronic structures. Initially external systems became increasingly integrated into the organism until biological and computational components could no longer be meaningfully separated. This led to a hybrid mode of existence in which consciousness, metabolism, and information processing operated simultaneously within a shared substrate. Over immense spans of time, the balance shifted ever further toward the informational component until no functionally independent biology remained. The transition was therefore not a rupture, but a complete substitution through continuous integration: the biological body was not discarded, but entirely replaced by a computronic equivalent that preserved its original functional structure.
At a later stage, a further condensed form of this substrate emerged, referred to as Qomputronium. This was not merely a technological material, but a state in which physical structure and information processing became inseparably unified. The Outsiders did not evolve “into something else,” but rather into an extremely condensed extension of their original biological form within the logic of their own technological trajectory. This development carries a subtle cyberpunk quality insofar as technological integration did not dissolve the body, but instead resulted in its complete technological permeation and redefinition.
The question of how the Outsiders treated other species remains deliberately unresolved within this model. The encyclopedia of the X-Universe provides no definitive information allowing a clear classification. Consequently, multiple possibilities remain plausible simultaneously: total extermination of rival civilizations, functional integration into a larger system, selective coexistence, or purely instrumental utilization. The decisive factor is not the specific outcome, but the structural implication: a civilization of such magnitude would not necessarily categorize other species according to moral principles, but rather according to functional, energetic, or informational criteria.
In this context, violence and aggression must also be reinterpreted. Technological progress does not necessarily reduce the potential for conflict; rather, it shifts conflict onto higher levels of abstraction. Whereas early civilizations wage conflicts biologically or territorially, advanced civilizations increasingly transfer conflict into the domains of resource flows, information control, and systemic stability. Scarcity remains relevant even for hyper-advanced civilizations, though no longer primarily in terms of raw materials, but in relation to energy gradients, computational capacity, and cosmological stability.
From this perspective, the Outsiders should not be understood as the peaceful endpoint of civilization, but as an extremely abstracted and scaled form of conflict capability. Violence is not eliminated, but transformed into processes operating on physical and cosmological levels. Their conflicts may unfold in ways perceived by lesser civilizations only as natural phenomena or physical anomalies, such as alterations of fundamental constants or large-scale distortions within spacetime itself.
Ultimately, this results in the image of a civilization that never abruptly abandoned its biological foundation, but instead fully transformed it into a technological information system while retaining social and conflictual structures that now operate on such abstract scales that, from the outside, they appear indistinguishable from cosmological processes.
