Mmrnmhrm

The Mmrnmhrm (pronounced as /ˈmɵːnimhɵm/? by Commander Hayes) were mechanical beings that were churned out of the huge Mother-Ark about a millennium ago on some moon in the Virginis constellation. The origin and purpose of the Mother-Ark which created the millions of sentient machines are unknown. Each Mmrnmhrm was created with an innate knowledge and purpose, though none have ever revealed what that purpose may be. Some human military commanders, including Commander Hayes, believe that the Mmrnmhrm were the first stage in a colonization effort by a distant, technologically proficient alien culture, which would follow and colonize the planets within the Mmrnmhrm sphere of influence.

Biology
The Mmrnmhrm were always described as robotic, and, as far as can be judged, they were. Every Mmrnmhrm was constructed by a vessel known as the "Mother Ark," a great ship apparently created for the purpose of producing Mmrnmhrm. As a result, the Mmrnmhrm did not breed, as they were completely inorganic, and depended on the Mother Ark to restock their numbers. When the Mother Ark failed, for reasons still unknown, the Mmrnmhrm were faced with inevitable extinction.

Close inspection of the robots shows them chiefly to by cylindrical discs constructed around a system of poles. The discs were free floating, and were rotated and compressed depending on the robots' task. Little is known about how they accomplished everyday tasks; the Mmrnmhrm were close to the Chenjesu, but not especially communicative, just polite.

The Mmrnmhrm language is composed primarily of consonants, though it also contains a small number of vowels (at least their names).

History
The Mmrnmhrm were first birthed aboard the Mother-Ark, a presumed colony ship from another part of the galaxy. In time, the Mother-Ark ceased to produce more Mmrnmhrm and so they became a slowly declining species. In the Kessari timeline, the Precursors built the Mmrnmhrm for some unintended purpose and were allowed to activate by the Daktaklakpak failing to perform their duties. It is currently unknown what purpose this might have been, but it is likely tied into the cycles of devolution the Precursors put themselves in to avoid the feeding of the Eternal Ones.

In time the Mmrnmhrm met the Chenjesu and their co-operation and friendship became the foundation for the Alliance of Free Stars. The Spathi also mention that they had contact with the Mmrnmhrm prior to the Ur-Quan Slave War; the Mmrnmhrm tried to colonize Beta Herculis, which is within the Spathi's sphere of influence, but they left the system without incident when the Spathi explained their claim to the system. After the Alliance lost to the Hierarchy in the War, the Mmrnmhrm, along with the Chenjesu, asked to be encased within a slave shield on Procyon II, the Chenjesu homeworld. During the Ur-Quan Slave War the Mmrnmhrm flew their adaptable X-Form starships.

The Mmrnmhrm have been synthesized with the Chenjesu to form a new hybrid race, the Chmmr, to fight against the Hierarchy. This was a logical solution for the Mmrnmhrm, as no more of their species could be made after the Mother Ark shut down. It is not known whether any Mmrnmhrm still remain, especially considering that, as the Chmmr state, "The Process is incomplete".

In the Kessari timeline, it is revealed that the Mmrnmhrm were, indeed, a Precursor construct, having awoken some one thousand years ago due to the negligence of the faulty Daktaklakpak service droids. Apparently, the Daktaklakpak and Mmrnmhrm hailed from the same Mother Ark facility, but the Daktaklakpak are able to construct more of themselves, while the Mmrnmhrm were not. Perhaps it was due to poor maintenance of the Mother Ark that allowed the Mmrnmhrm to awaken; perhaps the Mmrnmhrm had a failsafe preprogrammed into them to activate after a certain time, provided the Precursors did not. Whatever the case, the Mmrnmhrm were not to have come alive without the Precursors to guide them, and to this end, the robots had no direction at all.

The seeming lack of purpose to the Mmrnmhrm existence, then, has been validated: Whatever purpose they were constructed for did not appear to have been encoded; it was to be given to them upon reactivation by their creators and owners. They simply got up, and puttered off. The Mother Ark, having been neglected for necessary repairs and restocking of supplies, broke down, ultimately dooming the Mmrnmhrm "race." Thus, the sentient robots made the decision to combine their dwindling stock with the Chenjesu, for they had no other directions upon which to act on.

While technically still Precursor property, it can be assumed that with the completion of the Process, the creators have released their hold on their unused creation, seeing no need for them at this point. The Mmrnmhrm are extinct, having never had a purpose, and never knowing why they were created, only knowing that they were.

Mother Ark
The Mother-Ark is the name that Earth Press gave to the huge, alien factory vessel responsible for the births of the Mmrnmhrm. It is sometimes referred to as the Factory-Ark or Mother Ark. After arriving in our region of space hundreds of years ago, it produced millions of Mmrnmhrm robots and eventually broke down. This meant that the Mmrnmhrm, unless finding a new way to replicate or become hybrid (as they did with the Chenjesu), would eventually become extinct. In the Kessari timeline, the Mother-Ark was one of a multitude of ships that produced machines for the Precursors, including the Daktaklakpak, who are a distant cousin and caretakers of the Mmrnmhrm.