All Alone in the Night
It is the year 3001 AD and humanity has colonised thousands of worlds, forged giant empires and birthed new forms of sentience. For all the exploration and discovery that has been done, it would still seem that we are alone in the universe.
The time before the Reconstruction is known as the Dark Ages, for much information about the history of humanity was lost, along with Earth, during the Machine Wars. It is known that this was the time of the Immortals, powerful leaders who made use of the biological advances to grant themselves and their families immortality. Only the richest and most powerful could obtain this, and through it their riches and power grew until the old nations were lost under the domain of the Great Houses.
At some point, towards the end of the 22nd century, the jump drive was invented and the colonisation of other worlds was begun. But then can the Machine Wars, and any signs of technology was hunted down and destroyed by the insane Berserkers. Earth, and the rest of the planets of humanity's home system were dismantled and built into a shell around the sun to harness its full energy.
The humans known as The Reborn make peace with the Machines, and the Reconstruction begins in the 26th century. New empires arise amongst the colonised worlds, some of them rebirths of the old Immortal Houses.