"All dust has an inherent instinct-like intelligence, though as this is spread over all the dust in the galaxy and there are little to no selection pressures it never evolves. On a planet orbiting a highly radioactive star, an endless ship in a decaying orbit scattered its cargo of dust. The radiation gradually corrupted/damaged the dust reducing its networking capabilities to a mere meter or two in range, limiting dust colonies into isolated networks. This lead to individual differences developing between them, the fierce bombardment by the star gradually increasing the intelligence of colonies driven by the need to consume matter and energy to repair damage.

As they understand the nature of dust very well, the race send envoys to assist allies in the gathering of it, giving allies a dust generation bonus that increases the larger the Sprites’ empire/population becomes.

When sprite ships/units are destroyed, surviving ships gain dust. This drives limited conflict in the galaxy as those receiving the allied Dust buff want Sprites to be as large as possible. That means an attack on the Sprites is an attack on their Economy which is a much more powerful motivator to go to their aid."