This ancient and mysterious race nearly destroyed themselves with Focus usage. The few surviving members have dedicated themselves to correcting the destruction of their people. To do this, they have dedicated themselves to the study of Focus. They are willing to pay almost any price for a greater understanding. It is in this vein that they have set themselves up as Gods of other races, intervening in their development.
The Overseers are what's left of an ancient race that was born with the ability to use Focus. They found themselves alone in their galaxy; there were no sentient races. Other life, yes, but not any that they could commune with. So over millions of years they slowly honed their craft, learning about Focus and becoming adept wielders of their willpower. Over this some some sentient races evolved, but none of them were able to use their willpower like the Overseers could.
As the Overseers explored the depths of the universe, they discovered pockets of willpower through which they could channel their Focus for astoundingly powerful results. They called these pockets "jyse", or "loci". They believed they were centers of the fundamental will of the universe.
As they continued to use these jyse, a strange thing started happening; the jyse started responding to stimuli. They developed behavior and personalities of their own. Overseers with a particularly rare talent found that they were able to create forms for these creatures, allowing jyse to, in essence, exist inside the universe they were a part of. The Jyse race was born.
As beings of concentrated willpower, the Jyse were gods; able to reorder and restructure the universe as they saw fit. their only weakness was that they could not maintain their physical form without the Overseer that created it maintaining his Focus. At first, this limitation was hardly even considered. The Jyse and the Overseers maintained a friendly relationship as the Overseers taught the Jyse how to use their abilities, and what it meant to exist with a physical form. Over time, however, the Jyse could see that they were so much more powerful than the Overseers. They started asking why, if they could rule over others, shouldn't they? Wouldn't that just be easier? Isn't it the natural order of the universe? The Overseers found themselves trying to explain to beings who were not listening.
The Overseers where easily overwhelmed by the Jyse, without much fighting or resistance. However, it didn't take long for individual Jyse to start fighting among themselves, amassing Overseer followers to do their fighting for them. These petty wars took their toll on the Overseer's people, and their numbers dwindled quickly. The Jyse didn't even seem to notice, consumed by their petty wants and desires.
The few Overseers that remained faced a difficult problem. If those of them that maintained the Jyse's physical form all agreed, they could banish the Jyse forever. However, if even one of them betrayed the others, that Jyse would become the defacto god and ruler over existence. In the end, there was only one course of action. Those remaining Overseers who were not maintaining the Jyse betrayed those who were, killing all of them in a coordinated strike. They could not risk leaving even a single one alive. Many of them were friends and family, but it simply could not be allowed.
The Jyse, strong as they were, maintained both their sentience, and the ability to communicate with any Overseer who focused their will through them. They begged and pleaded with the Overseers to allow them to exist once more. When that didn't work, they threatened. Eventually, they started looking for other races they might tempt to allow them to exist.
In response to the continued Jyse threat, the remaining survivors of the war banded together and called themselves 'The Overseers'. They continued their research into Focus and searched for races with the abilities that might allow the Jyse to return. They did not find any until they discovered humanity. Our abilities were too raw, and too chaotic to pose a threat, they felt, instead choosing to create the Sooni.
The Sooni were created to allow them to quickly study how a race with the ability to use Focus might be guided in such a way as to either be able to combat and destroy the Jyse, or be guided such that they never gain the ability to give form to the Jyse. They cultivated the race, accelerating their development as quickly as they dared without ruining the experiment.
However, the Sooni's predilection to viewing them as Gods threatened their experiments. After much debate, they decided to stop direct interference, allowing the Sooni to fend for themselves. They were aware of The Grey's presence, and had been offering them protection, however, that ended when they removed their influence. Many of them worried that the Sooni wouldn't survive, and in fact, they almost didn't. The Grey nearly destroyed them, however, the Overseers used Focus to influence them and make them more amenable to the Sooni plan. How much this was necessary, however, is still being debated.
After pulling back from the Sooni, the Overseers discovered that there were other, more concerning things going on in the universe. As terrible as the Jyse were, they were just one of many dangers in the universe. The Overseers were troubled by some of these dangers starting to pose more of a threat then they had in the past. With the Sooni mostly on their own, it was decided that the majority of the Overseers would leave to deal with these ongoing threats, only to return once they were dealt with.
The remaining Overseers are continuing to observe the Sooni, avoiding interference as much as possible. However, there is disagreement as to how much longer the experiment should continue. Some feel that the experiment has been a failure, and the Sooni should be euthanized. Others feel the experiment should be ended, but the Sooni should be allowed to continue to exist. However, most feel that the experiment should continue at least for now. So far, their opinion has prevailed.
TBD.
My intention is to keep the Overseers as an oft-talked about, but not actually present force. They are a motivation for the Sooni, but in this novel they are not going to participate much.