Spectra

In the Great Beyond, time is measured not in hundreds, thousands, or millions of years, but rather in eons—in iterations of reality itself. Only rising to prominence within the last three centuries alongside the advent and proliferation of Drift technology, spectra have thrived in a burgeoning niche of the otherwise stagnant zeitgeist of the Great Beyond.

Though their origins and objectives remain shrouded in mystery, encounters with spectra revolve around new technological discoveries, sharing the knowledge of faster-than-light travel, and protecting the Drift. No one knows if spectra existed before the Drift, but their connection to the hyperspace plane is indisputable. Prominent metaphysicians believe spectra were created as amalgams of raw quintessence pulled into the Drift, just as the Drift itself grows from pieces of the Multiverse. If this is true, spectra's interest in the proliferation of Drift technology takes a subtle sinister turn, as each new Drift engine serves to harvest the Great Beyond and all its denizens for the growth of the Drift and spectra themselves.