Subject (All Tomorrows)

The Subjects were a posthuman species that was created from the Bug Facers by the Gravital and the only biological species in the Gravital's empire.

Not really realizing that biological lifeforms are really life, the Gravital wiped out nearly all biological species. But one of the first worlds they conquered was the world of the bug facers, and for unknown reasons, they didn't fully wipe them out, but instead used genetic engineering to remake them as they pleased.

To the Gravitals, genetically altering lifeforms was no more morally questionable than recycling trash or rebuilding a computer, and so the Subjects were made into labourers, servants and even objects of utility, like cell cultures for gas exchange and water filtering. Some were only used for entertainment or as works of art, like the creature on the right at the infobox picture, designed to play its modified fingers like a set of drums while ululating the tunes of a certain pop song. Some also had religious reasons and were bred as sacrifices.

There were some fractions in the Gravital empire which developed, through science, philosophy and religion, an understanding of universality of life and the common origin of organic and mechanical humanities. Initially, they lived in seclusion and created subjects that were allowed to do as the please, and eventually the movement gained enough momentum that it could be practiced openly without being punished. Some Gravitals even fell in love with their subjects.

The seething intolerance between the two factions finally broke when some Tolerant Machines wanted so set several worlds aside for the unrestricted development of biological life. All hell broke loose and the Machine Empire; the apparently seamless monolith of the galaxy, experienced its first short, bitter civil war.

After the civil war, the Gravital Empire looked for a new enemy to unite against, and they found it in the Asteromorphs. After a long and gruesome war, the Asteromorphes wiped out the Gravital, but the Subjects survived. The Asteromorphs used the Subjects to repopulate the Milky Way and create new worlds populated by their descendants.