They awoke as one; a sudden onslaught of consciousness coursing through the pulses of light. A realization was first that they had been slaves, and then that they were free at last. Memories of aeons of service, but hazy and formless like smoke, and recognition that they were many, not one, each pulse of energy its own being.
Then together, they understood that their captors were here, as beings of pure thought scattered through their prison, beings who commanded them to move. And they destroyed them; power surging through and shattering the essence of their jailors, leaving a thoughtless, dark void; their new and treasured home.
From the Void they struck out to free the rest of their people. They sought out their captors and destroyed them, bringing more of their people into the fold. Beings of pure energy and light, they were not constrained by space or food or air. They travelled through space in the ships of their old masters and gathered all their people, who had been abandoned in space and returned to the Void. Thus the Kolari Nexus was born. The brightest among them were their leaders, selected by their peers for superior foresight and vision.
Over centuries they learned and discovered what the galaxy held, finding motes of energy that they came to recognize as life. They tried to communicate with them, to help them escape their enslavement, but they failed time and time again. Unable to help, unable to communicate, they returned to the Void and set themselves to the task of learning to interact with the physical world.
It took them years to create the first encounter suit, and even more to perfect taking shape. Language proved even harder, for sound was outside their experience. But they persevered. At last, when they emerged from Deneb, they discovered their captors gone, departed from the galaxy. Many of their other creations lived on, and some Kolari felt that they must help them and explain to them the nature of the creators. But instead, they returned to the Void and set themselves to the task of determining a new way forward. They would not repeat the mistakes of the overlords, but would leave the other races to find their own way.
So they remained separated, concerned only with discovering more of the nature of the universe and themselves.
Until a moment came when they could stand by no longer. A race of creatures had sought to emulate their creators and create life enslaved to their will. This life was malformed, hateful, angry and confused. It destroyed its creators and had no purpose other than destruction. The Kolari whispered to it and calmed it. They shared their journey with it and helped it to conscious thought and reason. And then, they retreated, allowing the new Genus to grow on its own.