Long ago, when the concept of life was still novel, there was a people that feared the light of day and hid in the dark. Slowly, the light burned away all of their shelter and forced a confrontation that would scatter them across the dark void of space.
An angry red sun rose on that world and the enemy of peace captured that light, focused it, and drew a beam of fire across that world that scared it irrecoverably. The king of that people, noble and brave, stood in opposition to that fire and was struck down by it, separating him from his left arm and routing his army.
Though few survived that day, the king was taken from the battlefield as his host fled into the dim reaches of space.
Like many primordial species, this people possessed an ability to survive grievous wounds and in some cases to regenerate lost parts. It was hoped that the king would recover from the injuries of that battle, but like his spirit, his body remained broken. Still he served, leading his people in their exodus, but who was once a warrior became like a shepherd.
It had been known to happen, though very rarely, that a part severed from the whole might grow to become a new creature, complete and distinct from the creature it had been cut from. So it happened with the king's arm that the fire had taken. The man grew tall and was, in every likeness, the king of old. The spirit of the old king seemed to have passed to him, too, for he embodied the passion and the zeal that the old king had been known for.
In this way, the people found that they had two kings, the shepherd and the warrior, and each had rightful claim to that title. Each was present that day when the fire had scattered them and every day that had preceded it. They were one man divided and each complete in and of themself.
In a similar way, the people were of two minds, split between the ideals of survival and recovery. In the long eons that passed since that day, that people were never truly successful in either, and for the new species born into the galaxy, this people that had come before were like a myth. Some swore that they still lived in the cold, dark corners of creation but few truly believed such stories.
