The Apostate was a male Shedai. Aeons ago, the Apostate allied himself with the Tkon Empire to eradicate the Serrataal, a group of Shedai known as The Enumerated Ones led by the Maker. He provided the Tkon with a weapon that could defeat the Shedai, but did not tell them how to activate it because they refused to show mercy to himself and his brethren. The Maker, and her faithful, then ambushed the Tkon's capital system and detonated its star which ended the Tkon threat. (VAN novella: The Stars Look Down)