Twelve years after Beta Grove crash landed on Tau Ceti V, humanity's first faster-than-light ship, the Von Braun, was launched on its maiden voyage as a joint venture between TriOptimum Corporation and the Unified National Nominate. The annelids developed a hive mind, becoming a monolithic entity which called itself 'The Many'.

After thirty years of traveling through space, Beta Grove crashed on the fifth world of the Tau Ceti system, where the creatures thrived and evolved further. During the events of the Citadel Station incident, the Hacker jettisoned Beta Grove, one of the four wildlife groves aboard Citadel Station, which SHODAN had been using for experiments with bio-engineered viruses.Īs the grove hurtled through space, the mutagenic virus and mutated creatures stored aboard Beta Grove evolved at an accelerated rate, eventually becoming a species of parasitic annelids with distinct personality, telepathic mind control, and genetic modification abilities. The Many are a creation of the malevolent artificial intelligence SHODAN.

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