Prehistory (non-narrative)
Before the universe of Wheelbreaker there existed a progenitor universe where the proto-orks and a race of AI were fighting a war known as The War Before Time across all of creation. Eventually the orks, who had used their technology to unlock the secrets of the limited magic that was available to them decided to destroy the universe of old and create a new one where magic flowed freely and easily and where the science for creating AI was beyond the reach of any mind, mortal or immortal. And so they built an ark ship and various god engines to melt down the 2 planes of existence and reforge them.
The proto-orken ark ships activated sometime after the new universe had cooled off and solidified, and the orks set about creating a new society. Since both magic and science were new they had to start largely from the ground up and they changed greatly between then and when they took to the stars at the start of the Age of Exploration. As a result almost all of their history from the previous universe is lost to them.
The race of AI machines were not entirely destroyed by the melting of the universe and attempted to build a new civilization in the new world, but even their most advanced nanotech was not able to overcome the magical and scientific challenges placed on them by the new universe. The ritual that the orks created to bestow magical ability upon sentient life in this new universe was designed to specifically exclude the AI and without the ability to do magic the machines died on the first and only planet they set foot on. The remains of their nanotechnology was consumed and integrated into the creatures that would eventually become the Volagog.