Project Morpheus
Overview
Project Morpheus (from the Greek god of dreams) is the attempt to fully document the state of research by Aedeal and Ander Fred into the history of Anoikis and the Sleeper/Talocan, with occasional forays into other areas.
Please do not edit this page, but feel free to leave comments on the discussion area, or mail either of us ingame
Timeframe and Legends
The CCP created timeline, whilst known to contain a few inconsistencies, is accurate enough for this purpose. There is not much to pin down dates for the Sleeper era, but we have a little. The COSMOS mission referenced here says that Sleepers lived in the constellation of Ani 'long before us Minmatar'. The Minmatar settled only 3 systems until after they were freed of Amarrian rule (CCP changed that page, need to find it again), with the Ani constellation further out. The Minmatar rebellion was in AD 23216. With a translation of YC to AD (23236 AD is YC0), giving us the almost as pointless figure of 'long before 133 years ago'.
The other piece of information comes in the form of two casings, said to be of 'the late Jan Yung era'. Though that doesn't give us a time, it does give us the primary mover in that period of time. Thus we know of another race present, though in a different part of space.
[OOC: This presents a specific lore problem. If the scientists can date this, why can't they date the bits and pieces found elsewhere? Those who like writing fiction, write me up an explanation!]
As these are currently the only dates we have, and they are all relative to other occurrences, we cannot put specific times to events in the Sleeper history. What we can do though, is establish a series of large-scale events.
The Origin of the Sleepers
The Sleepers were known to have existed in New Eden in the Ani constellation, as well as the surrounding space. Though the map tracking the path of colonisation was a very interesting idea, it is ultimately flawed in all but relative distance from point to point, since the gates that exist currently were created by the current empires. There is no suggestion that these routes existed in the long ago Dark Ages.
So from here we have to go back to examining remains of physical objects and of stories (COSMOS). The remains indicate that a race lived alongside the others present, without any mention of robotic people, aliens or the such. As of the date of writing, aliens have not been discovered. The Rogue Drones are being discounted as aliens, as they are the product of humans. If contact with aliens of non-human descent has been made, it is the best kept secret in all of New Eden. Starting at this point, it is likely that the origins of the Sleepers was in humanity and the EVE wormhole.
The only legend that speaks of the actions of the Sleeper race is the one explained in the mail, linked above. That they developed a vast neural network containing a virtual reality world, where all was fair, all was golden. This network was so attractive to them, that vast numbers of them left the real world behind and join the virtual world. This is, almost certainly, where the name they are currently known by comes from. What their name was prior to this is unknown.
To make things clearer, this VR network has been given a name by the researchers: the Dream. Those who are currently living in the VR world are the Dreamers. Those outside are the Awake, whilst (although none are currently ascertained to currently exist) the name for those who are in the Dream yet aware of the real world is the Aware. This last group would be infomorphs capable of communicating with the real world.
According to the legends, the Sleepers faded away, leaving to join the Dream and Utopia. Of course, we now know where they faded to: Anoikis. Anoikis holds the remains of a civilisation far in advance of the one left behind in New Eden. The reasoning for this is simple: Fullerite technology is lauded as the greatest leap in modern technology for a very very long time. Witness the overwhelming power of the Jovian fullerite-based navy, the complexity of T3 ships, the advanced nature of the Sleepers. Remains in Anoikis have fullerite tech, those outside do not. If they still had a significant presence in New Eden, they would have exported fullerite tech there. To this end, we assume that Anoikis was never easily accessed from New Eden, or at least that entry to it could be controlled. Known to be recluses, and one would assume them to be vulnerable to real-world forces whilst inside the Dream, it makes sense that they would choose a far-flung out of the way place in which to settle.