Second Age

The Second Age is defined as the period between The Crash and the development of the first true FTL Drive

=The Regrowth= A few years passed from the Second Terran War, during The Lost Time. Only since the Reboot of the Helios Network have older Empires and Factions been able to take to the stars once again. Many new races, considered primitive at the time of the Empire, have now risen to space. And there are still a few areas of the galaxy where no race has approached since the Dark Ages.

=The Second Senate= During the Second Age the Galactic Senate was revived, a direct descendant of the original one, the survivors of which had formed the core of the military alliance against the Terran Empire.

=Pax Senatus= The new role of the Senate was to regulate use of the Helios Network and ensure that there would be a strong and united front against the Terrans should they ever re-emerge from the darkness. Senate rule became very strong as it redeveloped its ability to control the Helios Network, lost to it when the First Founders left. Strict rules systems were revived governing conflicts, and democracy became stagnant through sheer bureaucracy.

With the development of the FTL drive, the Senate's power is being directly challenged, as they can no longer directly control the flow of traffic between systems...

This leads to the Third Age.