The Evdraph are an advanced civilization of powerful creatures that hail from a swamp covered world, upon which many of their natural weapons developed for self-defense and the hunting of prey. The Evdraph communicate through telepathy rather than speech, giving other races the idea that they are controlled by a hive mind, though this is mostly false. Each member of the hive has complete free will, though they serve the Matriarchs without question, as any order is for the good of the hive.
Other races also believe the Evdraph absorb conquered races and enemies. This is true, but not in the way many have come to think. When the Evdraph conquer a race, they destroy its culture, and begin a long slow process of turning the race into mindless slaves, degrading their will and sense of self over a matter of months or years, and making them more susceptible to an outside will. These absorbed races are treated as tools, not living beings. Only two races have that made contact with the Evdraph avoided this fate: The Slurr, who retreated beneath their home world's surface as their galactic empire crumbled around them and the Rakala, who repelled and destroyed a hive ship that had splintered from the main forces to go on its own. The Slurr have returned to re-forge their empire. The Rakala, a long lived and strong willed race, have been scarred by this encounter, and strike at any and all other races that have similar practices.
However, the belief that they can absorb machinery is true. Small, flexible tendrils of nerve bundles can be extended from the body, most notably from the hands and back, and link into electronically run devices. An Evdraph can disconnect from a device if they are linked for a few hours (i.e: collecting data from a computer), but, over longer periods of time, the creature's nervous system will replace the wiring and flesh will grow over device, making it a permanent addition. Some Evdraph pilots will link into their craft in this manner, allowing them to out maneuver some of the quickest pilots produced by other races. Synthetic opponents are especially vulnerable to this ability.