Around a large white star with a long history, a lost population of humanoids formed a settlement. A settlement that grew to encompass the entire fourth planet, and then on to create small settlements on most of the other planets. The star was known as Canopus and the star-system was originally famous for the third planet of the system, now more barren than it had ever been, this knowledge was long forgotten before the fourth was settled by these people. Most of the settlements throughout the rest of the system were not built for major populations but for a reason that was almost entirely unique amongst the stars of the galaxy.

The Canopians had developed a culture centred around a love of speed beyond that of any species in the galaxy including the Ork speed kults and the Dark Eldar.
This love of speed was coupled to a need for competition and led to a culture surrounding racing in all it's forms from the early tribes competing on foot or mounted on the native animal life to the latest high-tech, high speed, anti-gravity craft at the peak of their technological development.

However, even all of this was before the age of strife and therefore the knowledge of this planetary system was lost to the sands of time after the population was wiped out by the desertification that had given the planets sister it's colloquial name. This left most of the advanced technology unscathed for The Scientist to find thousands of years later.

A small pod of drones sent out to find raw materials for the army arrived in the system and landed, as programmed, a drone or two on each of the major planetoids. Each drone would first search for signs of life, from intelligent beings to native flora and fauna, and then the search would move on to basic materials such as mineral deposits. All the data would be sent back to The Scientist who would decide what to do depending on what had been found.

What was found on Canopus IV and the surrounding planets was a decaying infrastructure of racing circuits and associated population centres, everything had been geared towards racing and anything associated with racing. Racetracks were found on every planetoid in the system, most were hundreds of miles long with features from long sweeping corners to small sharp hairpins. The tracks would utilize the natural features of the particular planetoid, such as the natural ice caves of the frozen eighth planet, the tree slaloms of the jungles on the fifth planet and the dunes of the deserts that covered the third planet. The tracks were not always fixed to a 2 dimensional layout either, and included loop-the-loops and corkscrews and on some of the smaller moons there were large sections of track that were upside-down. The technology involved staggered even The Scientist, but was soon understood by him.

Most of what was found was decayed by the passage of time, weathering and animal or plant damage, but deep underground were huge, untouched, hangers for the anti-gravity craft that were used for racing. These hangers were completely sealed and isolated from the outside world with their own, still functioning, power supplies which maintained controlled environments within. The hangers were used to store the craft between races due to the knife-edge technology involved. The owners built these controlled environments to keep the craft at their peak, as every thousandth of a second could mean the difference between winning and loosing. The upshot of this was that everything contained within these hangers were found in perfect condition thousands of years after the last person had died.

Each craft, while being as individual as the owner, consisted of largely the same equipment and capabilities. There was space for a single occupant/pilot usually positioned centrally, the engine(s) occupied roughly half of the craft which could be longer than a Wave Serpent and have aerodynamic surfaces almost as wide. The hull of the craft was made from extremely thin layers of a remarkably strong and light material that maintained enough structural integrity to hold the craft together but not to withstand impacts. The cockpit however, was heavily armoured and would survive a direct hit from some of the most destructive weaponry in the galaxy. Despite being made for racing, the craft were fitted with a range of energy, ballistic and missile weapons and were actively protected by an energy field that surrounded the craft. The weapons were used to gain advantage in a race or even to completely eliminate opponents without killing the pilot cocooned within the armoured cockpit. Smaller, bike-sized craft were also found, but they did not include the armoured cockpit or weapons.

The crafts were, however, built for speed. Being extremely light due to their construction, travelling with very low friction due to being surrounded by an energy field, using anti-gravity technology and housing high power engines. The craft could reach speeds well in excess of 3000 miles per hour (for short bursts, but could maintain 1000mph+ speeds almost indefinitely) while only inches from the track surface. With modifications for war these craft still maintain speeds and manoeuvrability to rival or exceed the fastest of the Dark Eldar vehicles.