Lore

The subject of this article is from the Atlas Rises update.
The information from this article is up-to-date as of 23 July, 2018.

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Summary

The Universe of No Man's Sky has a deep lore regarding events that happened before the storyline. Dave Gibbons (Watchmen, Kingsman, 2000 AD) and James Swallow (Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Star Trek) contributed to the lore of the game as well as the Adventures in No Man's Sky comic that is part of the game's limited edition. The lore gives a consistent narrative and different perspectives from each lifeforms across the universe. It is discovers in colonial outposts, shelters (traveler's log), artifacts such as Plaque, Ruin and Monolith found throughout the game.

In June 2017, Hello Games partnered with company Alice and Smith to release an ARG (Alternate Reality Game) called Waking Titan, as a teaser for the Atlas Rises update. Waking Titan told the story of the creation of the No Man's Sky Universe, and the events of the ARG tied into the new storyline introduced in Atlas Rises.

Sources

The lore can be pieced together from various sources, such as:

• NPC conversations
• Plaques
• Monoliths
• Crashed Ships
• Abandoned Buildings
• Boundary Failures
• Rogue Data
• The Atlas Path
• The Artemis Path

Characters

Here are the list of lifeforms and special named characters intertwined in No Man's Sky's universe:

• Gek Dominion, Gek the First Spawns, or Gek Trading Federation (see Gek for now)
• Korvax or Korvax Convergence (see Korvax for now)
• The Aerons (see Sentinels)
• Vykeen Alliance (see Vy'keen for now)
• Hirk the Great
• Nal
• Artemis
• Apollo
• -null-
• Nada
• Polo

The Multiverse

There seems to be an endless number of universes (or "dimensions", according to some accounts), known as "iterations", however, they all share the same set of rules and have the same history, with a few minor differences.

Each Traveler seems to inhabit a different universe.

A History of the Universe

See also: Testament of the Korvax, Script of the Gek and Saga of the Vy'keen

This is a summary of the larger backstory of the No Man's Sky Universe.

Since the birth of this universe, there have been thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of unique entities. Over many millennia of advancements and wars, three entities reached the pinnacle of evolution before falling into a dark time, and they are -

Gek Dominion: Known as Gek the First Spawns. They are very religious, and their culture involves demonic practices, witchcraft, and sacrificial ceremony. Through these methods they empower themselves and have earned an infamous blood thirsty reputation due to the fact that they will also murder their own kind with their beaks if they are weak. Their numbers are highest at the Center of the Universe and they eschew engagement with other entities.

Korvax Convergence: Known as Korvax, are the most intellectual of the known Mechanical Lifeforms. Through technological advancement they wield an impressive power never meant to be used against any other entities in the universe. Their belief system was unknown until the arrival of the Aerons who began worshiping them as gods. As robots, they constantly look for ways to advance themselves while peacefully engaging other entities. It is said that they mainly reside in a distant secluded system but have also wandered planet to planet between The Outer Edge to the Edge of the Universe studying fauna and vegetation.

Vy'keen Alliance are the nomads of the universe. Widely scattered, they can be found on almost every planet. They originated in the Outer Edge and are known for their violent disposition, seeming to be in perpetual conflict with other entities, They do not eliminate every entity they encounter, rather they accept the strong-willed and exile the weak into the vast universe to wither. The Vy'keen worship their war heroes. Hirk the Great, and a few who have had the honor of fighting with Hirk are the leaders of the alliance.

Hundred of years before the mysterious travelers came across the No Man's Sky Universe, the Gek decided to dominate the universe with their beaks and magical enhancements. As they devoured every entity they encountered while advancing out from the Center of the Universe with pride, an unknown entity entered the galaxy from the Outer Edge -

The Aerons, also called Sentinels, are mindless mechanical lifeforms that invaded the No Man's Sky universe. The Aeron forces consist of different variations, from small, drone-like entitie to giant walkers to Starship carrier, While they reached into the universe effortlessly with astonishing speed, they were quickly spotted by the Vy'keen Alliance and the Aerons were soon engaged in a decades-long war with the Alliance.

While the Vy'keen believed they needn't worry about the threats of the Gek advancing outward because of their peace treaty, the Korvax intensified their efforts to move as much valuable knowledge out of their Edge of the Universe forward research base and back to their home system as possible before the Gek knocked on their door. Sadly, Korvax Prime was chosen as the next target by the Gek as the Vy'keen had calculated, due to the Gek's fervent wish to enhance their knowledge about demons and witches through the use of Korvax technologies. Shortly after, the Gek consumed the entire planet of Korvax Prime as well as others that existed near the Edge of the Universe.

As the war leader of the Vy'keen Alliance, Hirk carried the great responsibility to lead the alliance forward. Although Hirk seldom discussed tactical options with its advisers, during the Aerons War it had to swallow its pride and ask for opinions. At one point, Hirk even sent a messenger to consult the great witch of Gek the First Spawns to help the Vy'keen win the Aerons War but soon realized the Gek were too busy expanding their empire. Hirk was forlorn, as it had earned the trust of the many Vy'keen willing to die for it fighting against Aerons' invasion.

On the other hand, there isn't much of the old world knowledge left in perspective of the Aerons, who practice the winner takes it all approach to war very thoroughly. For the next few decades and into No Man's Sky Universe, Aerons has influenced countless newborns to think that Aerons exist in the first place as god of the universe and enraged due to these entities' disobedient behaviors and descended to punish them.

Despite the Aerons, war resulted in massive casualties for both the Aerons and the Vy'keen Alliance. Hirk and it's allies had the last laugh when the Aerons began their retreat, but what Hirk didn't expect was that the Gek did not stop with the destruction of Korvax Prime; they also wanted the power the Vy'keen wielded with their quality craftsmanship of weapons and star ships. When the alliance hadn't yet fully recovered from the war, the Gek landed a strategic first strike from many directions, encircling the Vy'keen who all swore to protect Hirk to their last breaths. Soon, the Gek had Hirk surrounded. Hirk was shocked and suddenly roared and ended his life as an offering to the ancestors in front of First Spawns encirclement. It is rumored that the planet Hirk sacrificed itself on rained 4 days and 4 nights of hailstorms to freeze every First Spawns and little metallic balls to burn everything to ground.

When Gek the First Spawns conquered the universe, they celebrated for days with corpses and rivers of bloods. It was then Aerons saw the opportunity and came back; sneaked up on the First Spawns, eradicated almost completely to the point where leaders of the First Spawns refuse to give up fighting the Aerons and then was exterminated into dust by the Aerons technology, such as laser, to show other First Spawns the power of the Aerons. Within a year Gek the First Spawns was completely absorbed by the Aerons and work for them.

While the life-time enemy Gek the First Spawns was completely absorbed by the Aerons, the Korvax sigh to the fact that they can't even protect themselves while the Aerons, thus far deemed to be much simpler Mechanical Lifeforms could took the First Spawns down easily, Korvax attempted to studied Aerons from the casings and broken technologies left in space where Vy'keen Alliances had fought the Aerons. But all they could find is a small red marker within the casing written in an language even Korvax has never seen before, the short text resonated researchers with a rumbling vibe came into mind: "The Atlas".

The vibe was so immersive that many of the Korvax entities who touched the casing went to insanity and ceased to function properly. In order to find a cure, the leader of the Korvax had to bow down to the Aerons willingly and treat them as gods in order to save themselves from insanity.

After Hirk's death, the Vy'keen Alliances was scattered in sorrow and despair. Some Vy'keen swore a death oath to avenge Hirk and kill every single Gek until they are completely wiped clean, while some adopted the new reality where the Aerons rule the universe, and some blame the Aerons for bringing the catastrophic events upon them and hunt them with unyielding ferocity.

16

The number "sixteen" is a recurring element in the lore.

In Waking Titan, the AI that created the No Man's Sky universe was called Loop16. Also, the cassete tapes were numbered out of 16 (note: not all of them were delivered in the ARG).

The number of planets in a galaxy (18,446,744,073,709,551,616) is equal to 16^16.