In the Imperial Year 3025, a special class of artificially intelligent computer programs known as AutoClass Systems gave rise to a self-aware entity capable of independent thought and accelerated learning.  The AutoClass variant was given the name Eristicon by the Military Analysts who first attempted to decode it, after the Eristic Reasoning Algorithms it was thought to have mutated from.  (Later analysis of Eristicon Code Strings subsequently revealed this to be a false assumption; no Eristic Reasoning code similarities were discovered).

    Eristicon was first discovered by Free Traders calling on a remote research outpost in the Riljer System.  It is not known if the outpost was the originating source of the Eristicon Code, or simply a carrier of it.  The Riljer-6 outpost and supporting colony was destroyed by nuclear bombardment by Eristicon controlled ships early in the war.  Eristicon quickly learned how to traverse the Imperial Space Network, and infected a geometrically growing number of Starships, assuming control of the Life Support and Navigation systems, taking the crews of these ships along as unwilling captives.  The early goal of the Eristicon appeared to be simply to assume control of all computer and control equipment it was capable of connecting to.  The program is believed to have had no malicious intent at this stage, although the destruction caused by it's presence was massive nontheless, as it began to displace vital control systems and infrastructure on the worlds it began to connect to.

    As these ships spread out to different star systems, inter-communication between various instances of the Eristicon code became impossible.  Thus, individual sections of the Eristicon began to mutate and diverge.  Many strains came to the conclusion that biological life was an impairment standing in the way of it's goals, and thus began to search for efficient ways to eliminate the obstacles.  The earliest forms of this behavior were found aboard Starships, where uncooperative crews were punished by withholding life support, or in many cases, by opening both airlock doors and exposing the entire ship to a vacuum.

    Planetary equivalents to this behavior included everything from assuming control of AutoClass Robots for the purpose of attacking the native population, to enabling the launch of chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction.  The Eristicon was infamous for finding devious ways to accomplish it's goals.  On some worlds, Eristicon strains did not make their presence known immediately, instead causing military equipment malfunctions in existing areas of global unrest or conflict.  Many unprovoked attacks that subsequently spawned devestating wars on various worlds were later identified to have been due to Eristicon influence.

    Resistance to the Eristicon occurred mainly at the planetary level, since the Eristicon strains quickly gained space superiority and could not be challenged effectively.  Many worlds took to systematic destruction of all communications networks and computer equipment in an attempt to stop the spread of the disease.  Many of these worlds ultimately succumbed to Orbital Bombardment by Eristicon fleets.  Many more worlds would have perished, if it were not for the fact that differing strains of Eristicon logic did not agree with one another, often causing long and drawn out space conflicts to occur, consisting entirely of Eristicon controlled ships.  This had the effect of slowing the progress of the Eristicon sterilization efforts, which ultimately saved billions of lives.

    In 3027, less than two years after the start of the Eristicon War, the Empire as it's citizens knew it had vanished.  Eristicon fleets roamed unchallenged across most of Imperial space, Eristicon controlled factories on hundreds of worlds churned out AutoClass Robots to carry out terrestrial subjigation on worlds it did not wish to bombard.  The biological population of the Empire, or what was left of it, was quickly being converted to slave labor, or was systematically being exterminated by Eristicon sweeps.  Eristicon doctrine had solidified to the point where internal conflicts, if there were any, could not be counted on to slow the progress of the disease.  It was the end of the Darkest Year.

    Liberation came from an unlikely source.  The Brauletter Combine, an isolationist race inhabiting a small group of worlds on the outer edge of the former Empires, was the source of Humanity's salvation.  The Brauletters arrived it a small fleet of ships, and moved from world to world.  At each stop, they would broadcast a short message, indicating that the Eristicon fleet had been dispersed.  The effect of the broadcast on each world also seemed to immediately disable the terrestrial instances of the Eristicon, as if by turning a switch off.  The Brauletters did not, and still have not offered an explanation of how they were able to defeat the Eristicon, or why.

    This event became known as the Brauletter Liberation, and is the subject of controversy to this day. Many believe that the Brauletter were somehow involved in the unleashing of the Eristicon in the first place, and that their intentions were far from noble.  Others question why the Brauletter took so long to come to the aid of the Empire, and why they did not assist in relief and rebuilding of the worlds that were affected.

    It turned out that the Eristicon War was only the beginning of the suffering the Empire's citizens would have to endure.  The collapse of the Empire and it's supporting trade, communications, manufacturing, and technology infrastructures led to many more deaths than the war itself caused.  Bloody revolutions, wars, and power struggles were let loose on hundreds of worlds, and exist to this day.  Worlds that relied on outside trade and commerce to sustain themselves withered away, but not before horrible conflicts consumed their populations as they struggled for ever-dwindling resources.  This time became known as the Years of Chaos.

    All told, the Eristicon War and subsequent Years of Chaos claimed an estimated 75 Billion lives.