自奔向銀河的那一刻起，文明間就陷入了彼此紛爭不休，又渴求交流的困局——儘管紛爭也是交流的一種形式，但比起血流成河、滿盤皆輸的戰爭，人們更期望能跨越語言的藩籬，達成雙贏的共識。由此，人們開始投身對「精準翻譯」技術的無盡追求。
然而語言信息在不同符號體系中轉譯失真、損耗的問題似乎不可征服。據史料記載，公司曾編纂了收納近六千種文明語言的《對譯寶典》，但因其檢索數據體量龐大而難以投入實用。更令人頭疼的是：語言猶如活物，隨著文明進步、詞彙與俚語便瘋狂孳生，指數級提升了翻譯的難度，更有「謎語人」從中作梗，令跨星系交流困難倍增。
久歷歲月，「翻譯」這看似簡單卻難如登天的問題，在「天才俱樂部」#56號成員以利亞薩拉斯的手中得到了解決。為了便利天才們的溝通，以利亞薩拉斯提出如下設想：
「文明生物的思維活動主要以內在語言的方式呈現。就像人們毫無察覺，但閱讀時卻會在腦中默念，形成思緒。
若能跳過傳遞過程，將彼此的知覺連接，轉化內在語言的編碼，再由對方的語言認知系統自動處理還原。阻擋交流的障礙將一掃而空。
——《溝通與交流藝術思考手稿》自序，以利亞薩拉斯
以利亞薩拉斯依此造出了第一對「聯覺信標」的原型機。但遺憾的是，天才們之間溝通的障礙不僅是語言，還有傲慢。俱樂部的成員無視了他的發明，於是這枚明珠蒙塵數百年。
然而，語言這堵看不見的牆壁始終困擾著星際和平公司。這一次，他們向自己資助的「博識學會」下達不容拒絕的命令。學士們從古老的遺稿中苦心發掘、改造，終於復現了「聯覺信標」。星際大交流的時代開啟了。
時至今日，「聯覺信標」已成了所有銀河中智慧生命的基礎科技。只需接種一針，在中樞神經處埋下信標，你就能聽懂遙遠世界最陌生的語言，如聞鄉音。
可惜的是，宇宙並沒有因為語言大同而變得和平。恰恰相反，爭端變得更多了。當人們彼此可以理解對方的語言，但各自看待事物的標準卻截然不同，陌路人之間便有了無窮無盡的爭執。東風渴望著壓倒西風，蜘蛛與鳥雀更迫切地算計著如何獵捕彼此。這一點，無論以利亞薩拉斯，還是「博識學會」，他們都沒有料到。
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.
