Written by timski.
The Beginning
In the beginning there was nothing. Nothing is everything: Essentially the absence of meaning, structure, and detail. By its nature it is impossible to comprehend.
From nothing came two god brothers, Hamalzah and Horridahl. Hamalzah represents stability, order, good, light, right. Horridahl represents instability, change, evil, spitefulness, darkness, absence of ore.
Throughout history the two gods constantly disagree and fight with one another. The Quantar people are often the focus of these disputes: We are told they are created by Hamalzah, but they have many characteristics of Horridahl - the existence of the Quantar is due to both gods.
The Conflux
In the First Book of Hamalzah, Chapter 7, we are told Horridahl "created his own Race, one Race that was full of Chaos, and he named them his Conflux and send them to bring fear and death upon the Quantar." He aimed to make the Quantar fear him, and in their fear, to join with him.
The idea that Horridahl simply said "let there be Conflux", and there were, is simplistic.
Every detail has to come from something. Everything already existed - "nothing" was already structured and detailed. This means that subsequent "creation" is impossible: What creation actually means is conversion of some detail into another.
Immediately prior to the creation of the Conflux we learn that Horridahl already had many Quantar followers. Again a simplistic hypothesis could be that these followers physically became Conflux.
This fails to understand the nature of belief. Hamalzah and Horridahl are no more real than those that follow them believe they are. The physical things associated with each are only real because certain people believe they are. So, the arrival of the Conflux reflects a general growth in the influence of Horridahl across the Quantar race, rather than a simplistic creation story.
The Spiritual
Mixed up in all this is the notion of physical and spiritual. The best explanation of this is contained within the Second Book of Hamalzah.
The Quantar had established a colony called Far Quantus, which was "farther away from the homeland than any colony had ever been before", with which contact was then lost. Parin, and later Roh, tried to investigate. The stories tell of powerful fleets of blood-coloured ships, destroying without mercy, in a land where Horridahl was strong and able to corrupt the minds of those who entered. When Parin return he was not believed, and when Roh returned he was so confused that only Hamalzah himself could save him.
To interpret the Parin and Roh stories as literal truth, misses the point. They are important because the events described therein refer entirely to spritual realms, not the galaxy in which the Quantar mostly exist. Both the Parin and Roh accounts have descriptions of things that appear physical. But these merely give tangible form in the story to the dominant theme: the battle of wills between them and Horridahl. The descriptions of physical battles are needed because the spiritual dimension is so hard to understand for anyone used only to the physical.
What physical descriptions there are, read much like an attack of Conflux. For example, "he saw many ships homing in on his position, and these ships had the same fearful colour as the milk of Noch'Sha... the blood-coloured Lotus" and "only strange noises fell upon his ears". This may simply re-enforce the notion of the Conflux being the force of Horridahl.
Tales of the Conflux
There are many references to the Conflux in Quantar religious texts. Often they are citied as demon chariots from the sky, or Hordes the colour of Noch'Sha Milk (blood red), normally "spitting" fire. They are always associated with Horridahl.
They first appear in the First Book, chapter 7. Hamalzah had banished Horridahl to the "farthest outskirts of Creation", where Horridahl became consumed by hate, and turned from god to demon, so we are told. He tried to walk among the Quantar people, but could only make them doubt Hamalzah, not make most of them follow Horridahl. So he "created" the Conflux, to make the Quantar fear him. After many Conflux attacks, Horridahl came before the Quantar and said "I do not desire your demise, follow me and I will show ye the way to fight the Conflux." We are then told that many Quantar went to Horridahl, and were trained to fight the Conflux with guns, later to become the Octavians.
Literal interpretation should be avoided. The story is symbolic of fear. The way Horridahl teaches the Quantar to fight their fears is to give in to them - turning their beliefs to him immediately solves the problem. The text is meant to encourage belief in Hamalzah, not the opposite, so this fairly simple message has become clouded by stories of Quantar becoming Octavians.
Hamalzah's Quantar became very weak, and they retreated to the Dark End, where Hamalzah gave them the gift of ore and made them pure and strong again. When Horridahl came to the Dark End the two gods fought. "And thus it happened that pure Chaos once more began to gain control of the Conflux and they entered into the fight, slaying each and everyone in their sight." After hundreds of years of battle Horridahl was exiled, and Hamalzah claimed victory. "The Conflux, now lacking the force of Horridahl that brought them into life vanished back into the Chaos whence they came and were never again seen."
The Conflux reappear throughout the Second Book, but in an entirely spiritual context (discussed earlier).
The Third Book (sometimes regarded as pre-history, sometimes not regarded at all) describes how a Conflux fleet took Quantar prisoners, thus: "And some of the Quantar climbed into chariots and went away from the tribe. And the number of the chariots was eight, and within each chariot were eight priests, and eight workers and eight warriors. And they were seen to be escorted by Hordes of Horridahl, and eight red and black demons accompanied their chariots to the skies."
The book then describes a battle, lead by Roh, in which Horridahl leads the Conflux fleet: "they saw Horridahl himself, astride a huge eagle. And the eagle had been born of fire, and risen from the ashes thereof."
The "Hordes" are described as being assisted by "unliving chariots with their hearts of white fire". This implies that the Conflux (Hordes) are different from the majority of Conflux drones we are familiar with: "unliving" implies mindless drone, the "white fire" appears to relate to the biological power core. Later as Horridahl flees there is reference to "his demons and unliving chariots".