A long time ago, the galaxy was ruled by a wise and benevolent central body known as the Core (named after their location, at the core of the galaxy, although some believe it is a portmanteau of "Consciousness Repository"). This organization pushed scientific progress and planetary colonization forward until the human race covered almost the entire galaxy. Ironically, it was the Core's final triumph against mortality that would prove to be its undoing, for when the Core mandated uploading all peoples' brain patterns into machines in a method known as "patterning," there was a massive rebellion from the Arm (named after their location, an arm of the spiral galaxy), an organization which banded together from the edges of the galaxy and demanded to keep their physical bodies. A war like no other began, which has since raged on for four thousand years. The Core copy their finest warriors' brains into fighting robots, and the Arm respond with cloning and powerful manned units.