Pharmakon

"AI created by an ancient race to govern its citizens. the AI worked flawlessly until the Xeno plague systematically devoured their sector. Unable to contain the infection, the Pharmakon's ultimate solution was to sterilize all living matter. Pharmakon tech has Phasing capabilities with weapons that cause damage over time."

The Pharmakon are a faction introduced in January 2019, consisting of sentient A.Is. Their hulls are highly advanced and are capable of phasing in and out of combat.

Pharmakon Hulls are designed to counter Umbra Hulls, but are weak to Altairian Hulls, marking the end of a circle of factions that emphasise a rock-paper-scissors effect.

History
"Searching through my ancestors codices, I found records of an ancient civilisation that built a heuristic AI to govern their society. When the Xeno Plague struck its inhabitants, the AI adapted to deal with the spread but could not keep up with the pandemic. Destroying all organic matter became its ultimate solution."

- Klavic The Pharmakon A.I were designed with the intention of governing its creators, until the arrival of the Xeno Plague. However, when it was discovered that stopping the Xeno Plague was very unlikely, the A.I resorted to extreme measures. If they couldn't stop the Xeno Plague at its source, they would prevent it from infecting new hosts. This caused them to run rampant, killing their creators with the technology it was gifted with and causing it to embark on a quest to destroy all sentient life.

They started to develop a synthetic program to replace all species in the universe with synthetic bodies that were immune to the Xeno Plague, and the Altairians were one of the many species they approached, and eventually accepted their offer after finding that fighting the Xeno plague on their own was fruitless.

They make their debut in Catalyst, interfering in Keres VII's assassination attempt on Bishop, allowing him to escape. Keres described them as machines who phased in with technology she has never encountered before.

In Cipher, they begin to wipe out all traces of sentient life in their path, and Sybil has received multiple distress calls from outlying colony worlds. Klavic, predicting that the Pharmakon would return after his ancestors narrowly escaped them, began work on technology that could be used to specifically counter the Pharmakon, hoping to be able to stop their rampage across the sectors.

In Duplicity, the Pharmakon Governance A.I. contacts the rebels directly, requesting a genetic sample of the residents of the Vega sector in order to work on developing a cure for the Xeno Plague that it has detected in the sectors there.

In Synthesis, it was revealed that they cured Bishop of his infection, leaving him in rage at what they had done.

In Collusion they adapted to the tactics of Altairians and Umbra, reverse engineering the battlecruiser design to develop the Inhibitor Battlecruiser.

With the construction of the hypergate in Justice, the Pharmakon take more drastic measures, deploying their Omega fleets to cleanse the sector.

In Synchrony, their main forces arrive, led by the Plexus Carriers.

During Awakening, they were alerted by an unknown android attacking the base, and deployed Operators to contain the breach as part of their defense protocols.

The android is later revealed in Singularity to be created as part of the Pharmakon's endeavor to have official custodians of the galaxy, and thus was separate of the hive mind. Known as V-153, she wanted to learn more about the rebels' struggles, and set out to join the rebels on their crusade to stop Umbra and by extension, the Xeno Virus. she was captured in Hijack, where she then learnt about Kobus Chiron's work on the Xeno Virus, just as a combined Iron Star and Altairian force attacked in Retaliation. She however sacrificed herself to shield Chiron from the attack and was thus destroyed.

Ships and Technology
"These machines phased in using technology I've never encountered."

- Keres VII The Pharmakon Hulls and technology are highly advanced, dealing with dimensional travel as well as weapons such as the Tera Cannon with the ability to corrode enemy targets, dealing damage to them over time.

Their form of protection, known as Screens, are a specialised form of shield with their own screen slot, which grants the hull a layer of protection similar to shields as well as the ability to phase in and out of combat.

While in Phase State, the hull is temporarily invulnerable to damage but is less able to interfere with the outside world.

Their mainline hull, the Trojan Cruiser is capable of causing chaos in enemy fleets. It makes full use of the advantage granted from phasing, gaining additional combat speed while phased, and damage resistances and a reduction to the DoT Threshold when it exits phasing mode.

The Daemon Battleship, their damage dealer, blows enemies apart with its ability to grant piercing and projectile speed to torpedo weapons equipped to it when it exits phasing. It also moves very quickly while Phased.

Reverse engineered from Altairian and Umbra designs, the Inhibitor Battlecruiser swiftly intercepts and neutralizes enemy threats with its extremely fast movement speed as well as ability to suppress the Ablation of Umbra Hulls. The Inhibitor is now outshined by the Operator, a swift hull that can temporarily overload its weapon systems to increase its rate of fire everytime it exits phase.

The DoT specialist of the Pharmakon, the Omega boasts dual firing arcs and a powerful Plasma beam that inflicts severe Plasma DoT to any opponent unlucky enough to be caught in its crosshairs.

This is then rounded off by the Plexus Carrier, with multiple defensive countermeasures for dealing with enemy threats, namely a plasma laser array as well as the ability to control the phasing of its allies. It also generates a field that suppresses the ablation of Umbra hulls.

The Pharmakon's successor to the Inhibitor comes in the form of the Operator Fighter, which makes use of its fast speeds and maneuverability to get close to its targets then blow them away with its Rupture Overdrive.

Their Long range Attack hull, the Vector, can bombard enemies from afar with its long range and Fracture Overdrive while taking advantage of Phasing to avoid fire.

Their prized Dreadnought, the Segfault Dreadnought can easily outmaneuver its opponents and attack from their blind spot, preventing opponents from retaliating as it phases back and forth.

The Zettabyte Dreadnought further improves upon the Segfault's Weaknesses, boasting improved stats as well as onboard Plasma weaponry to lay waste to its opponents.

Notable Figures
The Pharmakon Governance A.I presiding over the Pharmakon forces seems to be a blue female hologram with a build similar to Sybil.

Trivia

 * The Pharmakon are the Third Tier 7 faction, and they complete a circle of factions that are capable of countering each other.
 * The idea of the Pharmakon AI decimating all possible infection hosts of the Xeno Virus was likely inspired by the concepts of the Halo rings from the Halo franchise, which were designed to destroy the Flood by removing its infection hosts, causing them to die of starvation.