From the introduction:
Invented, created, discovered, or harvested by a sadistic villain eons upon eons ago, the Hate Plague is a nanofungal threat to sentient beings everywhere. When it first reared its hideous crimson head in a time long forgotten, entire worlds fell to its madness, forcing a mysterious and ingenious bio-alchemist whose name has been lost to time to lead the efforts in finding a cure. Slowly eliminating cases of the Hate Plague until they possessed what they believed to be the last active spores of the infection, this scientist sealed them away in an energy-reinforced vault which was summarily shot into orbit around a local star. The vault would use the radiation and energy of the star to strengthen its seals and protective measures, and the galaxy believed the Hate Plague to no longer be a threat.