Dragonstar: The Dark Zone
The most dangerous region in the known galaxy actually cuts through the edge of the Outlands. This region is a massive dark nebula, an impenetrable curtain across space known as the Dark Zone. Most of the ships that teleport into the Dark Zone never return, though the crews of those that do tell of exotic treasures and terrible dangers. This black scar cutting through the periphery of the Empire is thought to be the home of the mind flayers and other alien beings, and only the most foolhardy every venture there.
A dark nebula shrouds the Deep Outlands far above the galactic plane. The Dark Zone cuts across the top of the Empire, a black and seemingly impenetrable cloud hanging over each of the imperial domains. The nebula is formed of thick gas and dust that absorb nearly all the visible light emitted from the stars within the nebula's embrace. The dark nebula is less than 100 light years wide where it intersects the Empire, but imperial astronomers believe it is many thousands of light years deep. The borders of the nebula are somewhat indistinct, as it twists and turns in on itself in almost serpentine fashion.
Explorers have been testing the Dark Zone since the first days of star travel. Few of these expeditions have returned. The crews of those rare ships that have entered the dark nebula and returned describe it as a terrifying place of eternal blackness, a place where barren planets are dimly lit by the baleful light of ancient and bloated red stars, planets where alien and terrifying things rule the perpetual night.
Scientists believe the mind flayers originated in the Dark Zone, and that their subterranean lairs throughout the Empire and the Outlands are remnants of ancient and long-lost colonies and enclaves. Based on the accounts of survivors and rare encounters, it is thought that the mind flayers have an advanced technological civilization of their own. All of the evidence points to a technology that is very different from the standard of the Empire, emphasizing biotechnology and strange devices powered and controlled by psionics.
The Royal Exploratory Service has declared the Dark Zone off limits, and no official expedition has been launched into the dark nebula in more than a thousand years. There are rumors of ISPD teams charged with penetrating the Dark Zone and gathering intelligence on the starfaring mind flayer civilization it conceals.