Faction » Mchwaliman Hive
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The Legends[]
On a few worlds, scattered amongst the galaxy, world that people even now scarcely walk can be found ancient, earthern towers. These unnatural spires of stone appeared to be fortifications - stronger than concrete, weathered by the passing of aeons. Though strengthened by some ancient art, all of these fortifications show signs of extreme damage, including what may be laser burns and the craters . Explorer and anthropologist (perhaps, more accurately, Xenopologist) Andrew McCauley was fascinated with these peculiar sites and sought to unlock their secrets. With no apparent aperture on the outside and many of the damaged sites showing signs of repair before their apparent abandonment, McCauley explored alternative means of entering. Conventional explosives could not crack the outer walls but, quite by accident, eventually unveiled an underground basement complex, where perhaps once the garrison of the fortress had lived.
Inside, he discovered that whoever these ancient people were, they were both proud of their art and proud of their cutlure. Though much of the art appeared to be incomprehensible, the writings found could be made sense of. In each of these towers, a large spiralling monument made of black stone that tapered to a point was found. Around it, twisting around upwards, was the description of some ancient, unspoken war. Though these people had no Rosetta Stone to reveal the nuances of their language, the pictograms carved into the rock revealed something of their history. They described a war that broke out, between the daughters of the earth and the sons of the stars. The daughers of earth had long laboured, looking to the heavens lovingly, travelling upon it's solar winds to find new earth to tend. The sons of the stars mostly allowed the daughters of the earth to work, occassionally courting them. McCauley determined this once meant the two powers likely had reasonable relations and traded goods and services with each other - the daughters of the earth appeared to build what could only be spacecraft for the sons of the stars in exchange for more advanced technology. One image appears to show the daughters of the earth building an actual world or a star. In exchange, as the next image suggests, the sons of the stars gave them the secrets of what may have been genetic engineering - two entwined spirals were depicted as descending from the stars themselves, at the base a priest conduts workers to reshape it.
Something changed their relationship drastically, however. When one of the sons of the stars spoke of other 'children' (apparently galactic civilizations previously unheard of to the daughters), that lay beyond gateways they had been told not to pass. Feeling despondent that things had been kept concealed from them, they sought to honour the request not to pass such gates and, instead, attempted to build a doorway of their own, set into a massive tower. Ggreater in size than any of the fortifications that McCauley has explored and considering the context, McCauley believed he discovered something along the lines of an alien "Tower of Babel" story, perhaps even suggesting whoever the daughters were, they may have been descended from humans. The sons of the stars discovered this and began a bloody war against their former friends. The daughters fought back, but ages alternating between peace and internal struggles left them with only the experience to fight each other. When things were at their worst, however, a previously unknown force stepped in. These beings appeared to be spacefaring creatures, the size of starships. They intervened on behalf of the daugters and ultimately allowed them to push the sons of the stars from their homes. These new creatures breathed secrets of other worlds, now gone, from which they came from. Though they did not reveal why they sided with the daughters of the stars, they expressed a desire to settle amongst them. For being there in their hour of need, they were welcomed. For their considerable age and the appearance that these spacefaring creatures, something akin to whales of the stars, were at least slightly cybernetic, they became known as the Old Machines.
After ths, peace returned to the daughters of the stars. The sons of the stars were not seen again but the daughters lost many worlds and countless people to the war. They could no longer support the empire spread as it was and gradually abandoned the old forts, such as those McCauley had stood in, in their return to their homeworld. For safety's sake, they did not reveal where they were returning to but McCauley, through starcharts and following rumours and somewhat cryptic hints, believed he could find their ancient home. Keeping these secrets to himself, he gathered a team for an expedition and went off into deep space.
He was never heard from again.
The Rumours[]
There have been numerous instances of strange disappearances in the darker corners of the galaxy. Some of those that turned up again were found damaged by means inconsistant with known weapon technologies - ships that seemed to have corroded or burst from the outside in. Little trace could be found on scene - significant damage could be found on the inside, to ducts, pipes and wires. Many pointed towards extensive system failures - life support, gravity, engines, etc. Though this could account for the deaths of those onboard, it could not account for the disappearance of countless crew members and distinct corrosive marks located both inside and outside of the ship. No pattern was established for ships damaged in this way, nor of the whereabouts of the crew. The only clue came when the logs of such a ship were recovered intact, and it was noted that the ship had made a stop at a small, backwoods colony. Little remained of the colony when investigated, barring a thin, brownish fungus spread over many of the buildings. Upon discovery it was already dying - before a research team could be deployed, what remained of the fungus had broken down into it's component elements, leaving little but an uninformative organic goo.
The only reason stories of ghost ships and strangely damaged hulks can be even remotely connected to the entity known as Mchwaliman Hive Republic is because of what they, themselves have revealed. When the Hive took to the stars, they produced a number of lists, sent out to various heads of states and political entities (some of which no longer exist), with a note of apology. Though this does not take credit for the destruction of the ships nor explain what happened to them, a number of these particular ghost ships were found on these lists. The only explanation for this provided is that Mchwaliman systems are hazardous to other lifeforms and they express condolences for ships that were lost due to passing through territories they control.
Amongst these ships is one chartered by the McCauley Expedition.
The Truth[]
As there are no yet documented encounters with the species, little can be said of the Mchwaliman Hive Republic. Upon opening broadcast channels to the ouside after sending out notes of apology, the only one to have spoken to the leader of the Hive Republic is Commander Rainor of the Senate. Once further diplomatic channels have been opened, a bigger picture of the Hive can be revealed.