Long ago, when the universe was still young and dense, before the first stars formed, back when all matter was imprisoned in volume smaller than a single galaxy, there was life. In the ever-swirling chaos of the primordial universe, by sheer chance, matter and energy coalesced into a form of life capable of thriving in it - Star Leviathans.

Majestic creatures swimming through the concentrated matter, feeding on the abundant warmth and energy, hunting for the still sparse elements heavier than hydrogen, creating the first society, the first works of art, the first wonders... But it was not meant to last. The universe was unstable. Vacuum decay progressed, releasing more latent energy, and feeding the previously non-existent dark energy with every wave, until it finally tipped the scales. The universe expanded once more in a violent way, leading to the destruction of the Star Leviathan civilisation... but not them.

In a near instant, they became stranded in this new, unfamiliar reality, surrounded by seemingly endless void in all directions... and alone. Space grew so fast and so much that the miniscule distances became unfathomable. Each of them was left isolated.

Some of them died - of cold, of hunger, some took their own lives out of grief and loneliness... Others learned to live in their strange, new reality. Soon, the cycles of vacuum decay ceased, with gravity - previously a negligible factor - emerging as one of the dominant forces. The first nebulas formed, then the first stars... Those firey balls served as beacons for the remaining Leviathans to come and witness them. They brought back a semblance of normalcy to the reforming, but still shattered tribes, granting them a new form of heat and sustenance.

It took them a bit of time to realise something else though - that stars weren't the only results of star formations. Myriads of leftover rocks and gassess concentrated by gravity coalesced into spherical shapes orbiting the stars. Ranging in size and structure from gas giants on the verge of becoming stars themselves, to rocky spheres barely large enough for a Leviathan to sit on, those "planets" as they came to be known became their main source of material for both creation and reproduction. To the detriment of everyone else.

Seeing a planet being more green than usual was for a long time regarded as a curiosity more than anything else, and certainly not a reason to be careful, or leave it alone - Leviathans in their full forms were simply too big to realise there were microscopic (to them) lifeforms on said planets. Entire planetary ecosystems were harvested, and repurposed or digested without them realising it. Nobody knows how many planets, lifeforms, and civilisations were destroyed out by Star Leviathans, by accident or otherwise - from their perspectives, one day, the sky would be blocked by a single, incomprehensibly vast creature heralding the end of the world that would soon follow.

Eventually however, one of them ran into a species advanced enough to defend itself. Sending decades worth of munitions and spacecraft managed to cause the equivalent of a few minor cuts for the Leviathan in question... but managed to spark its curiosity. A few unfortunate accidents and a lot of investigation finally made the Leviathans realise that certain planets hosted life... and even microscopic people.

The implications of their actions were... substantial. Didn't go down well within their societies. Some argued that those new lifeforms should have been disregarded, or ruled over at best, but they were quickly silenced - the vast majority desired to connect, get to know, explore... and perhaps, make up their past actions in some way.

Thousands of years passed since then, with the wider universe finally allowed to thrive. The "Dustlings" - as the Leviathans called every planetary species because of their size - developed technology, explored beyond their star systems, connected with each other, built a massive, intertwined society of myriads of different species... to the joy of Star Leviathans.

Leviathans' not fully understood powers allow them to not only control their own gravity and generate forces they use to fly through space, but also to dimensionally fold themselves, reducing their own size, which allows them to interact with other species on a somewhat equal footing... or some form of it at least.

Ka'ealo'iaeth Jore'lat-qyn - or Kaelith as she is known amongst everyone not proficient in the Star Leviathans' tongue - was born quickly after the initial discovery of Dustlings. And if there is one thing she adores more than anything, its them.