The Planetmakers are a mysterious presence in the universe; immortal, transcendant, and god-like. Their power is so great that they make dragons, who are revered as gods themselves, look like ants by comparison. Despite this, they are very much creatures, albeit on an enormous scale, and their lives resemble insects to some degree.

All the information retrieved about the Planetmakers comes from the Cimdi who have deciphered bits and pieces of the Dragon Archives. What they know is still very little, but enough to paint a picture of what the planetmakers are:

Planetmaker history

The planetmakers were once a very mortal race in a different universe that transcended their mortal bodies, and over a long period of time, the universe itself. Their new movements and new forms are the very foundation of our universe, and their thoughts are stored in the Fabric of Reality itself.

The planetmakers have existed for hundreds of billions of years, but have learned that their race must die when this universe changes into another. They have learned that their race's lifespan is ~311 trillion years, as is the lifespan of any other Brahmic race.

The universe's system of suns and planets is their invention, and perhaps the closest thing that would pass for their bodies:

Planetmaker Life Cycle

Individual planetmakers go through a life cycle of about 4 billion years, through which there are four phases:

Shadowy Eggs -- 1.7 million years -- Planetmaker eggs are Shadows, whose only physical presence is a darkening of the surrounding colors. They begin by occupying concentrations of high-density elements, feeding off the radioactive energy they produce. As those concentrations start to come together, the shadows inside them interact, forming clans, societies, and finally, as individual shadows specialize more and more, they become a:

Gestalt Larva -- 1.3 million years -- The next phase of a planetmaker life is its larva form. It is an enormous (thousands of miles on average) gestalt that appears as a swathe of color, generally deep black or bright white. Larvae seek worlds without other larvae (although multiple ones can coexist.), inhabited by a strong presence of Devas. The world must be balanced by another source of energy and gravitational conflict (usually a moon), otherwise the larva's power will be too great and both it and the world will shatter.. Otherwise, it will take up residence on a section of the world and give life to it. That life evolves its own individuals, whose power is seperate from that of the larva, but gives the larva more and more understanding, until it can finally reach:

Rippling Metamorphosis -- 0.86 million years -- At some point, planetmaker larva will be wise enough to be able to transcend the physical world completely. Their former forms will break down and slowly disappear or get used up by nearby life. Their new form will undergo many changes in the fabric of reality, changes which echo out into the physical world, changing and creating natural law. At last, they will have become an:

Adult Star -- 0.43 million years -- They will depart the planet where they were incubated and group together a section of the universe where matter has been scattered and its shadowy eggs have departed. They, although still transcending it, will burn this matter as a star. This is where their name comes from: As a star, they learn to create new planets and the dragons that will help form them. Mastering these abilities takes a long time, and there will be many failed attempts before planets and dragons have been created successfully. When they have mastered the art of planetmaking, they will start to become attuned to a universe beyond this one, and its energy will start to make their star burn faster and hotter, making heavier and heavier elements. At last:

Enlightenment and Death -- 1 second -- Their essence will ascend beyond even this universe. The force of that happening causes their body and thoughts to shatter, becoming the new shadow eggs and their environment, beginning the cycle over again.