The Scourge. Horrendous abominations of flesh, metal and mineral, it absorbs all in order to make the most efficient machine possible. Impossibly ugly, but indeed incredibly efficient, the Scourge ravaged the civilized universe before vanishing, almost entirely and all at once. This was not before it had wrought unprecedented destruction, especially to the Terran Empire. For all accounts, it had been outright destroyed, leaving any humans still alive without an ancestral homeworld, or an empire of their own kind.

Though most of the Scourge has gone, remnants remain. Incapable of production on any meaningful scale, Scourge forces only grow when fed, doubling the importance of keeping people away from known Scourge zones. Not much is known about the Scourge, beyond its horrifying nature. Some fools try to use it for prosthetics, seeking the ridiculous power of the hideous force, but such ideas inevitably turn against them.