The people of Auraxis were all originally colonists under the Terran Republic. When the wormhole collapsed, there was much confusion, many riots, etc. Also, an alien technology was discovered on the planet. This lead to many speculations, and what could sort of be described as a cult of individuals, who called themselves the "Vanu", after the strange technology, came into being. If i am not mistaken, they believed this technology could lead to the next evolutionary step of mankind. during all of this, the TR could not contain the populace, and many rebelled against the TR. Those rebels formed the New Conglomerate. These three factions then split apart, and open war started.
I may have made a few mistakes, but thats the jist!