Abyss

"They are perhaps the only faction that is stronger now than before the Disk's creation. Their entire species is dedicated to conquest and converting the worthy. In some ways it reminds me of the Crusaders of Ancient Earth. They see themselves as heroes, saving other species from inescapable extinction. I doubt the species they 'save' are comforted by that fact. The idea of a massive ice asteroid crashing into your planet is somewhat unappealing, along with the knowledge that the survivors will be twisted into brainwashed aquatic mutants."

- Wotan

From the water world of Triton comes the endless tide of the Abyss, a massive ever expanding empire of aquatic races. They are made out of many species, each with an exact and specific role they are required to fill, creating a finely tuned society built to continue their conquest as efficiently as possible. First encountered by humanity in _____, the Abyss has been incredibly hostile to humanity since first contact. Thanks to Tilharii support, the initial Abyss fleet was pushed back from Human Outer colonies and subsequent incursions have been kept in check. However, the few worlds lost to the Abyss have been flooded by their signature Ice Asteroid and terraformed into ocean worlds.

Little is known about the Abyss and their reasons for such aggressive expansion. Although the vast majority of Abyss members are hostile, there have been several reports of non-hostile elements aboard certain Freeport Stations. These groups seem to have no loyalty to the Abyssal Empire and have even been seen firing upon Abyssal forces. This has led many experts to believe that the Abyss are not a hive minded race and are individualistic, although that individualism seems to be kept in check by the constant brainwashing done to them by their enigmatic Kanaoloa overlords. The appearance of more and more of these renegade groups suggest a growing unrest in the Abyssal Empire, perhaps caused by an overaggressive expansion of territory.

Religion and Culture
The Abyss are a ____ society built around the spread of their empire and the converting of other species. This belief in spreading and uplifting is borderline fanatical and clearly religious in nature. This fanaticism seems clearly pushed onto the other species by the Kanoalas through brainwashing and indoctrination from birth. The reason for this obsession is unclear, but the brief communication established by human personal aboard several Freeport Stations with Abyss Rogue Groups suggest that it has something to do with an artifact of incredible power on their homeworld.

The way the Abyss expanded after the formation of the Disk has led many to believe that somehow, the Abyssal Empire knew the Disk of Woes would be formed and had prepared for it long in advance. It seemed as if they used it as an opportunity to grow in power rather than as a crisis to be overcome.

Kidnapping at Gostea
(instance where the first diplomatic meeting with the Abyss went well until the diplomatic unit was kidnapped and taken by the Abyss for unknown reasons, perhaps experimentation)

The Dragon War
(war with the Tilharii in the Dragon Nebula)

Ships
-Aquatic based faction, accelerated mental evolution through a pre-disk formation relic on their planet.

-Led by some squid/octopus/mollusk race as the masterminds

-"uplift" worthy races to a level slightly below their own, changing them to be aquatic and completely loyal to the Abyss

-First species uplifted were species on their homeworld, all resembling Cambrian ancient ocean life. Basically it would be like if humans uplifted dogs to a sentient level

-They have also "uplifted" many humans they have obtained from colonies pre-Solar League formation, turning them into aquatic based humanoid lifeforms, among other species that have been completely assimilated.

-The species will use ice-asteroids to turn worlds into ocean planets before terraforming them. If a species is not worthy to uplift they will just do that from the start if allowed. Otherwise they will take a sample population before doing it anyways.

-Uplifted species are not mind controlled, but they are completely indoctrinated to the Abyss. They are not treated badly, although the Mastermind race will always be at the top.

-Group sees it as their religious duty to convert the worthy races of the galaxy so they are safe from extinction. We will need to work on this line of thought to give them better motivation.

-Has fought a previous massive war with the Tilharii faction