At the formation of the pilot leagues, it became apparent that the wealth that private pilots would be able to accumulate would be dangerous and economy-destabilising. To attempt to alleviate the dangers of economic crashes, pilots were not only refused entry to most cities and towns in the alliances, but were also heavily taxed. Some would-be pilots were unhappy with this state of affairs, and decided to forsake their alliances, stealing or otherwise 'acquiring' starships and fleeing out of the beaconed Known Space space, living 'unregistered' lives.
The governments of the alliances placed bounties on the heads of unregistered starships, citing the illegality of flying without a licence. Over time, the unregs stopped being defensive and actively attacked first when encountering alliance pilots, thus a mutual long-standing hatred began that would last over half a century.
The unregs were a scattered, unconnected group of individuals. For many years they tended to fear each other as much as alliance pilots, uncertain of each other's motives. In time, however, allies were made, groups formed and congregations of unregs banded together in an attempt to help each other survive. By the mid 2290s, the unregs were believed to number in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, with individuals working alone or in groups of two or three, all the way through to families or large groups of friends up to entire clans or communities of thousands upon thousands.
Various unreg groupings occasionally fought one another, each vying for the resources available in the region of space they were currently inhabiting. At some point in 2297, a large number of unregs had gathered together under the banner of two men who have never been named, who managed to intercept EAOS transmissions during the EAOS-Jinu effort to construct the expedition starship "Percival Lowell", leading these unregs to be the first humans to construct what would later come to be known as battlecruisers.
With the EAOS gone on the voyage to locate the space of the alien Jinu, the collective of unregs struck. Their battlecruiser "David's Last Summer", along with a fleet of destroyers, gunships and cruisers, assaulted alliance space and quickly proved a formidable force. Landing on the planet Grenwold along with some alliance pilots, the two men demanded credits and control over space in the alliance sectors for their collective. The gathered alliance pilots agreed to discuss this with their alliances, but an overzealous pilot assaulted the men and the discussion ended prematurely, with the unreg fleet returning to hold the pilots on Grenwold under siege. One ship, crewed by a mixture of alliance pilots, launched and requested to restart negotiations. It became clear that now the two men felt the alliance pilots were untrustworthy, they increased their demands beyond acceptable levels. With the unreg fleet sent away and a slip of the tongue informing the alliance crew that it would take several minutes to call them back, the alliance pilots used a temporary structure to aid in destroying the unreg battlecruiser. The first Unreg War had ended in the favour of the alliances, if only due to luck and good timing.
Many questions were asked after the war ended... how did the unregs manage to get access to encrypted EAOS transmissions? Where did they get the ability to construct a battlecruiser? Where did their sheer numbers come from?
The numbers became clear when it was discovered that the unregs were creating entire societies within station-states and city-ships, and families were forming. People were being born into unreg society who had never even set foot on a planet, as well as the continual, if small, number of citizens within the alliances leaving for unreg space in secret.
For a time, things remained stable. Unregs were sighted in Known Space, some aggressive, some running. And then they vanished. Unreg activity near Known Space suddenly ended, with no explanation. The alliances were concerned, and their fears proved well-founded when the Renegades finally revealed themselves.
