The Mind Cataclysm was a catastrophic even that caused the death of around 90% of the
Arcopel population in the
Sealed Kingdoms Region and the severe neurological injury of around 90% of the survivors thereof, hastening the end of the
Upper Late Arcopel and functionally consigning the Arcopel culture to extinction.
The Conflict
Prelude
The Upper Late Arcopel, ever the consummate scientists, were always on the lookout for useful adaptations observed in the species they manipulated and controlled. One such scientist on Arctopelago, whose name has since been lost to history, had conducted extensive studies on the physiology and psychology of the Arcopel's Vbyifabid client species. He noted that their Flockmind - a collective, subconscous communications network moderated by that species' unique radioluminescence and radio-wave visual accuity - could be the key to establishing a pan-Arcopel intelligence and ensuring Arcopel dominance of the galaxy for the forseeable future. In typical Upper Late Arcopel fashion, he and a picked team of scientists worked together to develop a transciever and software package that would network the ubiquitous neural implants together in such a manner - whether the new members of the network consented to this or not.
The Vbyifabid Flockmind, even in the time of the Upper Late Arcopel, was remarkably adroit at coallating seemingling disconnected pieces of information to make informed decisions about how to best protect the Family-Flock from danger. At the same time, this 'sixth sense' comes less in the form of a command from some centralized power but as an unspoken, subconscious urge to do something that, in time, will prove salubrious to the collective as a whole. For this reason, when numerous Family-Flock vessels started to gather at the fringes of Arcopel space in apparent preparation for an assault against the Arcopel home world of Arctopelago, the commanders of this fleet thought nothing of it beyond some ineffable trepidation at what lay ahead and a concern that, regardless of the outcome for the Family Flock, their own lives would ultimately be forfeit for the crime of turning against their ever-haughty Arcopel masters.
Vbyifabid commando ships disguised as bulk freighters entered Arcopel orbit and started deploying elite Fire Vby commandos just as the scientists were preparing to activate the first node of what they thought would become the Arcopel Flockmind. The Vbyifabid were outgunned and only somewhat prepared to deal with the terribly advanced technology of their Arcopel opponents, but had the benefit of surprise and ferocity against a foe who failed to regard all Vbyifabid subspecies as anything more than particularly smart animals. The commandos fought their way to the laboratory - only to arrive just as the activation command had been sent.
The virus-like pirate signal generated by the scientist's apparatus rippled outward from the laboratory at the speed of light, attacking the psyches of all Vbyifabid and Arcopel with cybernetic implants as it traveled. The signal was cleverly designed, but still very much a flawed and incomplete product launched out of desperation as the commandos' approach threatend to undo all the scientists' progress. Unprepared for the sudden onslaught, augmented Arcopel died or were driven insane as their implants attempted to subvert their owners' consciousnesses; unaugmented Arcopel were immune to the first-order effects of this attack, but many succumbed from the effects of pilots, surgeons, reactor technicians, and other critical personnel collapsed in the middle of their worksites. Then, the signal was propagated by every Arcopel station in range, amplifying in strength as it went. Vbyifabid within one light year of any Arcopel station heard the attack as a psychic scream that temporarily blinded them to the thoughts of their peers, non-fatally wounding them in the process.
The deadly signal at the heart of the Mind Cataclysm is still racing outwards in a sphere from Arctopelago centuries later, killing and maiming Arcopel survivors as it reaches them unless they are somehow rendered insensate (i.e. as a result of being in
cryostasis).
The Vbyifabid Flockmind still remembers the screams of a dying species and recoils in horror at the very thought of approaching the grave-world of Arctopelago. As such, though the homeworld of the Arcopel would represent a treasure trove of advanced alien technology for anyone brave enough to explore beneath its frigid methane sky, all Vbyifabid observe a taboo against landing there except by way of remote controlled drone or artificial intelligence
platform.
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