The origin of the Red Markers is highly shrouded in mystery. The artifact was accidentally discovered by a mining crew and extracted by a religious group that thought the marker was a sign of god. Upon its extraction, it activated some sort of safegaurd: it sent out signals to cause the nearby Humans to go insane and commit suicide. It was presumed to be built solely to keep the Necromorph threat under control, and also restrained the Hive Mind: the most powerful member of the Necromorphs' race.