In recent history, Ferragon engaged in a deadly civil war that resulted in a weapon of mass destruction that destroyed the majority of their population and created much of the desert on the surface. An event they call 'the searing.'

As a result of this, martial, biologic and medical science are strictly regulated by a demarchic, technocratic federation of councils that dictate the direction of research and development and possibly avoid similar mistakes from the past.

The remaining population is very small, with less than a billion Ferragon living on Ferros and even less in colonies elsewhere; Creating synthetic Ferragon to implant fresh genetic diversity into the population is a popular topic in scientific engineering.