自奔向银河的那一刻起，文明间就陷入了彼此纷争不休，又渴求交流的困局——尽管纷争也是交流的一种形式，但比起血流成河、满盘皆输的战争，人们更期望能跨越语言的藩篱，达成双赢的共识。由此，人们开始投身对「精准翻译」技术的无尽追求。
然而语言信息在不同符号体系中转译失真、损耗的问题似乎不可征服。据史料记载，公司曾编纂了收纳近六千种文明语言的《对译宝典》，但因其检索数据体量庞大而难以投入实用。更令人头疼的是：语言犹如活物，随着文明进步、词汇与俚语便疯狂孳生，指数级提升了翻译的难度，更有「谜语人」从中作梗，令跨星系交流困难倍增。
久历岁月，「翻译」这看似简单却难如登天的问题，在「天才俱乐部」#56号成员以利亚萨拉斯的手中得到了解决。为了便利天才们的沟通，以利亚萨拉斯提出如下设想：
「文明生物的思维活动主要以内在语言的方式呈现。就像人们毫无察觉，但阅读时却会在脑中默念，形成思绪。
若能跳过传递过程，将彼此的知觉连接，转化内在语言的编码，再由对方的语言认知系统自动处理还原。阻挡交流的障碍将一扫而空。
——《沟通与交流艺术思考手稿》自序，以利亚萨拉斯
以利亚萨拉斯依此造出了第一对「联觉信标」的原型机。但遗憾的是，天才们之间沟通的障碍不仅是语言，还有傲慢。俱乐部的成员无视了他的发明，于是这枚明珠蒙尘数百年。
然而，语言这堵看不见的墙壁始终困扰着星际和平公司。这一次，他们向自己资助的「博识学会」下达不容拒绝的命令。学士们从古老的遗稿中苦心发掘、改造，终于复现了「联觉信标」。星际大交流的时代开启了。
时至今日，「联觉信标」已成了所有银河中智慧生命的基础科技。只需接种一针，在中枢神经处埋下信标，你就能听懂遥远世界最陌生的语言，如闻乡音。
可惜的是，宇宙并没有因为语言大同而变得和平。恰恰相反，争端变得更多了。当人们彼此可以理解对方的语言，但各自看待事物的标准却截然不同，陌路人之间便有了无穷无尽的争执。东风渴望着压倒西风，蜘蛛与鸟雀更迫切地算计着如何猎捕彼此。这一点，无论以利亚萨拉斯，还是「博识学会」，他们都没有料到。
Synesthesia Beacon (Technology)
From the moment civilizations started exploring the cosmos, they have been set into a dilemma between ceaseless conflict and desirous of communication, though conflict is also a form of communication. Instead of resorting to the violent carnage and loss of warfare, people crave more to surpass language barriers and reach a mutually beneficial understanding. Therefore, humanity started an endless pursuit toward the accurate translation of languages.
However, the problem of linguistic information losing its accuracy and becoming muddled between different writing systems seemed unconquerable. According to records, the IPC once created a Translation Dictionary that contained languages from nearly six thousand civilizations, but this could not be used in practice due to the huge size of the searchable database. What was even more troubling is that languages are living entities. As civilizations advanced, new phrases and slang grew rapidly, making translation exponentially harder. The Riddlers were also interfering with languages, making communication between planetary systems even more challenging.
After many years, the deceptively simple issue of "translation" was finally solved by Elias Salas, the 56th member of the Genius Society. Elias Salas proposed the following hypothesis to make communication between geniuses easier.
"The thought processes of intelligent creatures are mostly represented via inner language, just like how people would subconsciously read to themselves when looking at words and form thoughts that way.
If we can skip that step of information transmission and instead link up our consciousness, convert the codes of our inner language, then let the receiver's language processing system analyze and restore that information, then we will have no barriers in communication."
— A Manuscript on Thoughts Regarding the Art of Communication, Prologue, by Elias Salas
That was how Elias Salas created the first pair of Synesthesia Beacon prototypes. Regrettably, language was not the only communication barrier between geniuses. There was also arrogance. The members of the Society ignored his invention, and this brilliant piece of engineering marvel was forgotten for centuries.
However, the invisible restrictions of language continued to frustrate the Interastral Peace Corporation. They issued an irrefutable ultimatum to the Intelligentsia Guild, which they themselves funded. The scholars modified and labored amongst ancient manuscripts, and finally re-created the Synesthesia Beacons. The age of interstellar communication finally began.
Nowadays, the Synesthesia Beacon is the fundamental technology of all intelligent lifeforms in the cosmos. With just one injection that embeds the beacon in your central nervous system, you would be able to understand an alien language from the furthest star as if it was your native tongue.
Unfortunately, the cosmos did not become peaceful with a universal language. On the contrary, there were even more conflicts. When people could understand each other's language but had very diverse standards in life, countless fights started to erupt between groups with different outlooks. Parties sought to surpass each other, and races eagerly planned to hunt each other down. Neither Elias Salas nor the Intelligentsia Guild had predicted this outcome.
