IRIS was built eons ago, long before even Ratchet arrived in the Polaris Galaxy. By the time of Ratchet's birth, its purpose and the identity of its creators had long been forgotten. However, it was known that Terachnoids aided in its construction. IRIS once served as the ultimate search engine for the universe, but was later claimed by space pirates and was sealed off from the public. During this time, IRIS fell under the control of Captain Romulus Slag, who claimed that use of the IRIS was restricted to "educational purposes only." The crew was not allowed to download games, music or alternative cinema without Slag's approval. However, it is doubtful that space pirates ever properly used IRIS during this time—Slag disallowed his crew to use math, much less pursue other academics. Instead