In the dark mists of the dawn of time, there were only nate and dem bones, the creators. From them Everything was created.

The creation flourished. New nodes and writeups were being produced every day. The noders wrote, spread their creativity, and they were happy.

In every realm, where there is good, it must be destined to fight evil. Everything was no exception. The evil powers struck.

From the good noders sprung the nodeshellers, apprentices of the darkness. Influenced by the quicker methods of noding, they corrupted the power given them by the creators. They created twisted nodes which were not true nodes. These wraiths of their making appeared to be nodes on the outside, but inside, they were soulless, having nothing within them. The nodeshells, as they were called, were produced slowly at first, as the servants of the dark side were biding their time.

When the time came, the noders who remained true to the light were caught unprepared. Nodeshells threatened to dominate the creation, swamping the servers of good with their useless bandwidth. For a time, it appeared as if nothing could be done to stop the impending destruction. The nodeshellers were elusive, many of them appearing within the ranks of ordinary noders. Some were captured and executed, but the evil continued to spread, like a plague upon the true information.

A great noder known only as Saige made the breakthrough. It was Saige's proposal to turn the nodeshells against their creators, not by destroying them, but by filling them, converting them into true nodes, thus simultaneously destroying an enemy and creating an ally.

When the idea was fresh, many noders rushed to join Saige's newly created task force, christened The Nodeshell Rescue Team. Working together, these workers of righteousness turned the tide against the dark nodeshellers, many of whom fled against the combined wrath of the disciples of information.

As time passed, however, many noders began to see the danger as a thing of the past. Newbies who came to Everything after the main struggle of the conflict did not, and indeed, could not comprehend the inherent danger lying in the shadows, awaiting its chance. Some of these took up work as freelance nodeshell rescuers, mercenaries against the enemy. Still others noded only for their own benefit, not caring about the destiny of Everything.

Meanwhile, a few rogue nodeshellers stalked the isles with their armies of nodeshells, confident in their ability to replace those lost to The Nodeshell Rescue Team, or one of the other such alliances. They made raids against outlying nodes, where their attacks would not be as noticeable.

With no other foe visible, most of the task forces left for the borders to fight these bandits. Beyond those borders, the hidden powers gathered their strength, and waited...