The dead world hung in space, an outcast from its sisters. Cold and lifeless, its surface scoured by ancient rocks and stellar winds, it envied the worlds of the inner system. However, it was the perfect spot to build a monitoring station.
For years the Prothean Empire had an eye on this system, a quintet of planets orbiting a star of average size and output, with an assortment of asteroids and no gas giants. Many probes were launched, exploring these alien worlds and documenting its life forms:
* A planet of fire on the extreme inside of the stars habitable zone, the life forms developing biotic fire into their very nature.
* A planet of rock orbiting next; a parched world with life that combined organic and non-organic properties, a fusion of tissue and stone.
* A garden world, a putrid swamp lacking heavy metals, the home of mega-fauna and mega-flora.
* A planet of ice on the outside of the habitable zone, the home of insectoids lacking the ability to develop fire.
* A twin to the dead world, at the farthest edge of the system, all but forgotten.
It was rare for a system to develop without a gas giant, but not impossible. It was also rare for multiple planets to develop life independently of each other. But still not impossible.
What was impossible was the massive amounts of Element Zero in the cores of each of the life-bearing planets.
Made in the nova of dying stars, it collects during planetary formation in various amounts, from traces to veins running throughout a planet and in surrounding debris. This was an unprecedented find for the Empire, enough to last the empire many centuries.
Plans to mine the worlds and uplift the native species to imperial client status were developed, but never got very far, for the ancient nightmares had returned.
The Imperial Planetary Survey team were all but stranded as the Reapers deactivated the Relay System, The system was a distance away from the nearest Relay, far into the wilds of unknown space.
Orders eventually arrived by courier, ordering the Survey team to abandon the station and return home to aid the war effort, as much good as it could do.
The Protheans fought the Reapers as best they could, but their strength was not enough. The Reapers scoured the Empire from the galaxy, leaving little trace of their existence, and leaving the cluster of five worlds unmolested to develop on their own.