Slavers/secret

The "Slavers" exist, but there is only one. It is a (mostly) functioning Ancients-era robot that calls itself "The Shepherd". It is tasked with gathering rare minerals which it achieves through the Voyagers. It controls a number of pseudobio Droyne-like robots, the so-called Greys - it is these that carried out the actions that occurred during Slaver Year. The Shepherd sees the mark of its Creator in the humans it has encountered. It believes them to have been sent to the Distant Fringe on some unknown mission.