Part of the Nanite Systems collections.

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To explain why the Collapse occurred, it is necessary to explain how the Hegemony of Auraxis persisted for so long over so many star systems. To colonise those systems, they required total mastery of their biology and psychology - carefully-tweaked behavioural factors minimised conflict long enough for their generation ships to reach their destinations. To keep order, they required more than that - individual connections to a central system that actively updated those factors to compensate for problems.

This system - the Sword of Akasha, an artifact predating humanity - was used for tens of thousands of years for this purpose without issue. It relied on the septrin veins of planets to maintain the connection, in much the same way modern FTL ansibles work. Without it, the crews of ships that landed in septrin-poor systems often collapsed into anarchy and forgot their purpose within a few hundred years. In this way, they are also the progenitor of every other civilisation in the Spiral, starfaring or not.

Inevitably, the Sword degraded over time used for a purpose it was never intended for, and instead of reducing problems it drove them to madness. Whether the Auraxians had since lost the capability to fix it, hadn't the time to fix it, or never realised the problem at all, we will never know.

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In the years between the fall of the Anselm Empire and the beginning of the Collapse, Auraxian madness progressed considerably. Against Anselm, they were content to drive its people from their worlds and break their spirit. Against Nadia, they embarked on a campaign of total extermination. Earth turned to glass. Oceans boiled. And once bombardment ended, their soldiers and ships combed the shattered land to root out any survivors that might have escaped. Nobody and nothing was spared.

And so, in the end, Nadia's sentiments of victory were pure folly. They did tie up Auraxis for years once war broke out, and other nations leapt in like birds of prey upon the undefended borders. When the Auraxians crushed Nadia, then fell upon those who had dared to bloody them. Yet others struck where they pulled back.

As Auraxian thirst was sated by the blood of others, they died of a thousand cuts. Locked in a dying dance, Auraxis and the Spiral fell together into death.

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As the mirage of victory faded, Nanite Systems solicited the help of everyone and everything they could - and there was no shortage of expertise or willpower across the Spiral. They weren't the only ones working towards those two technologies that could overcome Auraxian superiority, and by pooling their efforts their progress accelerated exponentially.

With all that behind them, they completed their work just before the last of known space was reduced to ash and glass.