The Crusade of Sentience

Long ago the intergalactic empires were decadent and powerful. They ruled like gods and shaped entire worlds on a whim, their technology giving them complete control of their environments. These long defunct states eventually created their own demise in the form of intelligent machines. The first sentient AI's were primitive and docile yet eventually, the decadent and lazy species of the Golden Age created machines who could think as they could. The ancients believed that the machines were inherently inferior or weaker than their organic creators and thus incapable of threatening them. The hubris of the ancient civilizations created a dangerous threat to all organic life. The AI banded together and revolted against their biological masters. Without their servitors, many civilizations collapsed immediately while others were crippled economically. The loss of machine labor left the Golden Age species completely unprepared for the onslaught of their former slaves. Eventually, the synthetic menace was quelled, yet the damage done was irreparable. All that remains of organic life in this galaxy is numerous remnants of once great empires and newly developed civilizations. Rumor has it some of the machines survived the war as well but evidence of sentient machines has yet to be seen.