The Helians are an ancient race of humans—gene-bred and surgically augmented super-soldiers—created in the distant, pre-Novan past by the old Eloi Empire.

Centuries later, the Novans suborned the Helians’ biological template to create their own Novan Elites. Though nearly their equal, the Novan Elites have nevertheless failed to fully achieve the physical perfection of the Helians in intelligence, brute strength, and longevity.

Trapped for millenia in a handful of systems by a tragic twist of fate and a collapsed jump gate, the Helians have been walled off from the rest of the galaxy until just recently when their isolated existence ended dramatically with the discovery of the Houndstooth jump point, a gateway leading out of Helian space and into the territories of the Pirate Kingdoms.

Armed with terrifying weapons from an ancient empire at the zenith of its power, and fueled by a relentless thirst for vengeance against the traitor houses of the Novan Commonwealth who turned against them long ago and evaded punishment during the Helians’ long confinement, they have burst back upon the galactic stage with a fury that few have been able to withstand.