The Xoret Cluster was a grouping of more than a million old, metal-poor stars in the Intergalactic Void. Originating from one of the Companions, the cluster sat still in the gravitational tug-of-war of the AG-12 and the galaxy. It contained several inhabitable systems and had at least one native sentient species, the Lefans, who hailed from the planet Lef deep in the core of the cluster and evolved in an isolated, undisturbed status into a formidable, warlike race, beginning a campaign of conquest against the other core planets by using a mixture of biotechnology and artificial inventions. This bloody crusade lasted from 4,000 BBY to 3,950 BBY and resulted in a pyrrhic Lefan victory, with the Lefan Imperium becoming the dominant government in the cluster. The remnants of the defeated races