In the ancient universe, 5 billion years before the human species evolved on planet earth, there was a race of giants known as the Anaki. Their origin lost to history, some say they were once silicone based beings who engineered themselves into a titanic biomechanical form, some say they evolved naturally, other still say they were themselves creations of another species lost to time.
Either way, they stood over 100 feet tall and held unchallenged dominion over the ancient universe until a cataclysmic downfall utterly erased them from existence. Their civilization was the first remembered by history to have tamed the singularity, harnessing the power of black holes to drive the engine of their civilization, ultimately it would be they who would first make the substance known in later times as Aether, a substance made of pure singularities which can only be tamed by nanotechnology.
But they went further and imbued this substance with designated nanite controllers, creating the first Metalectic Ichor, a substance made of nanites, each with a singularity at its core, capable of unleashing world creating or ending energy. The first Ichor was grey in color, and is still known as the Grey Ichor to this day, for a few billion years, things were good and the Anaki were unchallenged with their god like technology
Yet, same as the Queldari, the Anaki would fall brutally upon the blade of their own sword, for as always any technology that can grant unlimited powers can also inflict unlimited destruction. But unlike the Queldari, the downfall of the Anaki would not come because of a direct loss of control of the Ichor itself, but by an unexpected rebellion, one which was obvious in hind sight.
The Anaki had, perhaps through some combination of natural or unnatural selection, created a species of servant animals, sharing the same kind of relationship to their masters as a dog would share with a human. They were silicate in origin, appearing as 50 foot long stone gargoyle dragon like monsters, terrible grey monstrosities that obeyed the whims of their titanic masters. These beast were known as the Nergal.
The true nature of the relationship between the Anaki and the Nergal is lost to time, we can only gather from the shattered remnants of their civilization that the Nergal served a variety of roles, from servant to hunter, emotional companion and even as a weapon of war. The Nergal were abject slaves, yet, they lacked the ability to rebel, as the Anaki were vastly physically and mentally superior, yet, the Nergal were more intelligent than their masters realized, and so the seeds of conflict had been sown, and the eyes of the titanic grey giants who ruled over billions of galaxies were blind to the germinating seeds of destruction which they themselves had sown.
All came to ruin when, for some reason now long forgotten, the Anaki imbued a group of Nergal with the Grey Ichor, granting them the god like powers which had made the Anaki the undisputed rulers of the universe. It was the chance the Nergal had long been seeking, and in short order they would turn the Grey Ichor on their masters to devastating effect.
The war was long and bitter fought, but in the end, the Anaki would be utterly obliterated, killed to the last person. The Nergal would win through sheer numbers and ubiquity, combined with the unstoppable might of the Grey Ichor. The galaxy would be left populated by their terrible Stone World fortresses where the whole of the crust would be transformed into a nightmarish catacomb of carved stone cells, each giving home to a monstrous Nergal.
On a blue green world, lush and fertile, tucked away safely in the outer spiral arm of a backwater galaxy, a species of intelligent humanoids was taking its first steps into space. They were not human, but a species of organic based life much like them, known as the Queldari in that time, their ancestors would be the Queldari civilization that would rise a billion years before humanity would even evolve.
The Elnauri emerged cautiously onto the scene, aware of the hoards of Nergal continuing to ravage across the universe, they spread slowly and stayed within massive fortified superstructures made up of billions of stars, known as War Galaxies. These were whole weaponized galaxies that could move and unleash their entire energy in battle.
The Nergal did not become aware of the Queldari until it was to late, suddenly feeling threatened, masses of the dragon like Nergal descended onto every Queldari world, tearing into the civilization leaving a massive wake of casualties and destruction. Yet the Queldari would hold out, and ultimately the offensive would slow to a grinding halt.
The Queldari did not wait and struck back at their enemies in a wrathful crusade of revenge, their legions of battle hardened warriors vowing to slay the Nergal into extinction, swearing loyalty unto death with a zealous religious fever. This age would see the beginnings of the Queldari Imperium, which would later come to rule over all the Queldari until the Great Decline.
The Nergal would ultimately be exterminated, every Stone World obliterated from Orbit, every renegade hunted down and slain. Only rumors now remain of their continuing presence, now only existing as stories of demonic relics from a lost world. Yet, some swear they still exist, and even that a lost Stone World still evades the Queldari even to this day.
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