There are butchers at the gates, four-armed and eager to slaughter.
Known in their tongue as eliksni, the Fallen are an insectoid race of scavengers and raiders who seek to reclaim their former glory by taking control of the Traveler at any cost.
The Fallen’s society is divided into noble Houses, divided into castes which are based on rations of Ether, the lifeblood of the Fallen. Sphere-shaped machines called Servitors transform matter and energy presented to them into Ether using unknown processes. Higher-ranking Fallen get larger rations of Ether, causing them to swell in size. The head of a House, the Kell, gets the largest portion, and also determines the rationing for the rest of the House. The Dregs of a House have the lowest priority, surviving on the leftover scraps of Ether. Dregs can be identified by their lack of a second pair of arms; A dreg’s secondary arms are cut off through a process called “docking” as punishment.
Known History
In ancient times the Fallen were blessed by the light of the Traveler, which they called the “Great Machine,” building a great civilization not unlike that of humankind. Then an event called the Whirlwind took it all away — including the Great Machine, which forsook them and fled the Whirlwind into the vast reaches of space. The Fallen boarded their ships in pursuit of their god, and found it in the grasp of an alien species — humanity. From that day they’ve sworn to reclaim the Traveler from us, no matter the cost.