Addendum:
When you step back and look at it, the Neuroi as a whole truly are a marvel and a wonder unto themselves. They are a race of sophont machine intelligences that somehow evolved in the wilds without any real interference from any other species until they became a starfaring race. And even then, they likely had very little contact with other intelligent species as, being an obvious race of inorganics, had very little interest in life-bearing worlds. In fact, worlds that had things like atmospheres with corrosive gasses, e.g., oxygen, would probably scare them off in all actuality.
And so things would stand.
That is, until, they discovered Mana - an energy source that seems to completely and happily anal-rape the laws of thermodynamics. It can be used, and then captured once again, and re-used as much as you please.
However, it seems that only life-bearing worlds that they previously avoided seem to possess this energy.
So, they've been at this for a while, seemingly sucking planets dry of Mana, and in the process leaving them devoid of life. The Neuroi thought this was only natural. It's logical to assume that each world would have a finite supply of this energy. But what they do not understand, or rather, what they have forgotten to do was to experiment further with Mana. But they can be forgiven for this since they haven't really come to understand - even though Mana can be recycled, living organics are capable of still generating more of it over time. It is through this process that planets can recover from terrible conflicts that leave entire countries ravaged.
However, the Neuroi have been completely extinguishing life on the worlds they come across. They don't even see them as being intelligent. They process information too slowly, and their behavior seems parasitic in many cases. They're merely pests to get rid of. And in doing so, they kill the goose that lays the golden eggs, and they don't even realize it.
But that all changes when they get to Earth. The advanced survey group that discovered the planet encountered the usual resistance. However, the investigative party sent in to perform a full survey of the planet encountered far greater resistance. The implements were very crude. However, the materials used had improved dramatically. Instead of bronze, now there was steel - actual, high-carbon steel that when used with enough force could actually hurt them!
But there was precedence. Such things had been seen a time or two before. But usually when the harvester hives come in, everything is dealt with in a timely manner.
However, that wasn't the case. By the time the hives had shown up, this infection... had evolved.
Machines. They made their own machines. Crude. Very crude. But potentially dangerous to them.
An all-out extermination of such a virulent and pervasive infection would require a phenomenal amount of resources. So instead, it was decided that a heavily reinforced expedition to establish a beachhead was best.
And then came the biggest shock. They retaliated by building machines that utilized mana.
One hive, though - one that was tasked with learning about this infection and developing better ways to combat it - started returning strange results. They began to regard the infection not simply as an infection, but suspected them of actually being intelligent. They were sternly reminded that it was not their job to determine the nature of the infection, simply to defeat it more efficiently. But the rumors began to spread throughout the network, and this one hive was deemed dangerous.
The last straw was when it began to attempt to communicate with the infection.
Unacceptable. Illogical. Aberrant.
And then there was That One.
The One that seemed to produce an ebullient, never-ceasing flow of mana.
The Breaker. Unmaker. Destructor.
That One was the beginning of the end as they saw it. But in all reality, it was a change - a transformation as Neuroi came to realize what the truth was... and what possibilities could be realized...
When you step back and look at it, the Neuroi as a whole truly are a marvel and a wonder unto themselves. They are a race of sophont machine intelligences that somehow evolved in the wilds without any real interference from any other species until they became a starfaring race. And even then, they likely had very little contact with other intelligent species as, being an obvious race of inorganics, had very little interest in life-bearing worlds. In fact, worlds that had things like atmospheres with corrosive gasses, e.g., oxygen, would probably scare them off in all actuality.
And so things would stand.
That is, until, they discovered Mana - an energy source that seems to completely and happily anal-rape the laws of thermodynamics. It can be used, and then captured once again, and re-used as much as you please.
However, it seems that only life-bearing worlds that they previously avoided seem to possess this energy.
So, they've been at this for a while, seemingly sucking planets dry of Mana, and in the process leaving them devoid of life. The Neuroi thought this was only natural. It's logical to assume that each world would have a finite supply of this energy. But what they do not understand, or rather, what they have forgotten to do was to experiment further with Mana. But they can be forgiven for this since they haven't really come to understand - even though Mana can be recycled, living organics are capable of still generating more of it over time. It is through this process that planets can recover from terrible conflicts that leave entire countries ravaged.
However, the Neuroi have been completely extinguishing life on the worlds they come across. They don't even see them as being intelligent. They process information too slowly, and their behavior seems parasitic in many cases. They're merely pests to get rid of. And in doing so, they kill the goose that lays the golden eggs, and they don't even realize it.
But that all changes when they get to Earth. The advanced survey group that discovered the planet encountered the usual resistance. However, the investigative party sent in to perform a full survey of the planet encountered far greater resistance. The implements were very crude. However, the materials used had improved dramatically. Instead of bronze, now there was steel - actual, high-carbon steel that when used with enough force could actually hurt them!
But there was precedence. Such things had been seen a time or two before. But usually when the harvester hives come in, everything is dealt with in a timely manner.
However, that wasn't the case. By the time the hives had shown up, this infection... had evolved.
Machines. They made their own machines. Crude. Very crude. But potentially dangerous to them.
An all-out extermination of such a virulent and pervasive infection would require a phenomenal amount of resources. So instead, it was decided that a heavily reinforced expedition to establish a beachhead was best.
And then came the biggest shock. They retaliated by building machines that utilized mana.
One hive, though - one that was tasked with learning about this infection and developing better ways to combat it - started returning strange results. They began to regard the infection not simply as an infection, but suspected them of actually being intelligent. They were sternly reminded that it was not their job to determine the nature of the infection, simply to defeat it more efficiently. But the rumors began to spread throughout the network, and this one hive was deemed dangerous.
The last straw was when it began to attempt to communicate with the infection.
Unacceptable. Illogical. Aberrant.
And then there was That One.
The One that seemed to produce an ebullient, never-ceasing flow of mana.
The Breaker. Unmaker. Destructor.
That One was the beginning of the end as they saw it. But in all reality, it was a change - a transformation as Neuroi came to realize what the truth was... and what possibilities could be realized...