I have time for a little background so here is the back story for the Fourthspace mod:
At it's pinnacle, the Vasari Empire reached dizzying heights of technological understanding--then the Darkness came and much was lost. Retained in data banks throughout the Dark Fleet though were hastily salvaged databases that were saved in hopes that a time would come when the Vasasri Empire could be reborn to its former glory.
As time has passed, some of that information has proved useful and it was at an obscure, high-security research base hidden deep in space that a major breakthrough was made--the dimensional drill.
Utilizing advanced understanding of phasic technology, the dimensional drill is able to penetrate phasic space and open and create a fleeting inter-dimensional singularity that bridges the dimensions and allows energy and even matter to be siphoned from other dimensions into our own.
It was during this experimentation that the first breach was created. The breach was a permanent hole in space. Though not traversable by matter from our own universe it leaked zero point energy that promised to be a never-ending supply of power. In eager anticipation, Vasari scientists attempted to widen the breach and liberate even more power and allow access to inter-dimensional types of new matter and energy not found within our own universe.
They got all these things and more...far more.
The first creature on the other side of the breach to encounter it was equipped natively as a function of its own exotic biology(?) with a vastly superior dimensional drill of its own. Perhaps it was searching for food or power...or whatever creatures (if that's what they were) needed in that other dimension and it was drawn to the exotic "odors" passing through torn space. Attempting to push its mass into our own universe, a singularity was created by it--but one unlike any seen before. This was the paradox hole--a two way inter-dimensional anomaly that when opened allowed the creature in its dimension to simultaneously interact and exist within our own.
Each breach is linked to a single creature, allowing only it to exist in both spaces--though each creature is able to spore off "eggs" (for lack of a better description) that exhibit fearsome properties and effects and seem to be alive if not actually sentient.
The only way to destroy (or at least banish back to its own dimension) a Yggdrasil--the name given to them by a TEC researcher familiar with a forgotten ancient planet's mythology--is to collapse its paradox hole. Simply destroying the creature's physical form is insufficient--another incarnation of it quickly reappears from the paradox hole to replace it. Massive firepower focused on the paradox hole will eventually collapse it--but this is a daunting task as every paradox hole pours out dark and gravitational energies that only special ships (those having a dimensional drill equipped) can withstand.
All factions...TEC, Advent and the Vasari view the Yggdrasil as threat to all life in the universe. Prominent scientists of each race believe there is the possibility of Yggdrasil egglings developing the ability to fully develop into "adult" forms of the Yggdrasil while in normal space. A single fully functional creature is able to strip the atmosphere and surface liquids from a Terran sized planet within minutes.
Much debate rages within the scientific communities regarding whether or not the Yggdrasil are sentient. Much of their behavior resembles nothing more than that of a virus yet they are able to process vast amounts of information nearly instantaneously and quickly develop adaptive strategies and weapons in response to new threats. The Yggdrasil presence disturbs cognitive functions in sentient beings and it is not known if this is a communication attempt or simply a by-product of their inter-dimensional energies.
