The Incubators, as they are colloquially to the humans, are a species of sentient, quadrupedal creatures no larger than a typical house pet. They first rose to public consciousness as part of an extranet myth where they were responsible for the unexplained abductions of young girls within Earth in the early 22nd century, around the time biotic mutations began spreading due to element zero contamination from various starship accidents.

Allegedly, the myth stated Incubators came to young women who harbored great grievances and used their psychosocial stature as a weakness to form 'contracts'. The 'contracts' indicated their acceptors (the girls) would recieve immense powers that could make all wishes come true but in exchange, the contractee must fulfill servitude under their contractor (the Incubator) - by combating 'witches', entities that feed upon positive emotions of living beings.

As it turns out, their existence may not be mere myth. A group of human, asari, and salarian scientists published research data recovered from intact Prothean data drives that were initially meant to be used for the Crucible's construction efforts. The Incubators, though that is not how they were referred to as before, were apparently a race that existed 50'000 thousand years ago with evidence suggesting they were in league with Protheans much in the same way the Council races are joined together.

The Incubators were apparently a highly-intelligent and cunning species, having interests in philosophy, arts, and culture as any elevated Citadel species would be. Their species had access to a collective conscience where each member of their civilization can easily communicate memories to all other members, including that of other species. They likely evolved from a world rich in element zero, similar to the development of the asari from Thessia - enabling them to sustain neurological connections with others, a biological trait popular during the Prothean era. Their race is said to be largely peaceful - most wars ever protracted were through non-violent 'mind games' done through their collective conscience when other races would threaten violence and/or use force to coax opponents into submission.

Much like other Prothean species, the Incubators met the same ends - at the hands of the Reapers. No other archeological evidence exists to confirm the Incubators' existence but it is possible discovered ruins belonging to them may have been wrongly misattributed to another race.

Scientists however were baffled between the pervasive connections of the extranet myth with the Prothean data drives' data. Further analysis confirmed the striking resemblance of imagery procured from the extranet in comparison to genetic reconstructions created from Prothean sources. It is now known that if ever Incubators still exist today - they are likely Reaper-indoctrinated agents artificially constructed in the same way Collectors are. They likely perform their tasks under the guise of the contracts to take genetic samplings out of creatures with potential to be biotic when exposed to element zero and that any explanations of 'entropy' are simply cover-ups about the Reapers' true intentions - to harvest all sufficiently advanced organic life in the galaxy. The Incubators' victims likely met similar fates as other Reaper synth converts - turning into husks.

Recent connections of the myth between races further indicated humans were not the only race visited by Incubators - similar stories have been found on many other races with biotic abilities.

NOTE: If you have a possible encounter with any Incubator, deny communication and immediately contact your nearest Systems Alliance or Council authority.