The Albian Legacy - a short history

Drifting in space around a decidedly spherical planet in an unknown star system is a remarkable starship, grown from genetically-modified materials. This remarkable spacecraft, abandoned by its creators, is home to a variety of lifeforms that originated on the far-away, disk-shaped planet of Albia. Many of the animals on board the ship were originally indigenous to Albia, with a select few specifically engineered by the planet's only advanced race, the Shee.

The Shee were an ancient and clever species entirely lacking in common sense. This rather endearing trait manifested itself in a preference for genetically engineering mice that dislike biscuits (but are rather keen on used teabags) rather than inventing a sensible mousetrap. This led to some ingenious (and generally massively over-engineered) solutions to simple problems. Some of these experiments in genetics resulted in the creation of three species that were intended to act as servants to the Shee, who were finding that good help on Albia was jolly hard to find.