Nale started off as a terminally ill person recruited by the Sisters of EVE. He had worked, in family tradition, as a miner on asteroid colonies, though his profession - if any - at the time of his diagnosis was unknown. He had no known surviving relatives. After blood analysis, an AI doctor predicted he had between six and eighteen months to live, based on median data. Amazingly, Nale managed - possibly in shock, but still - to accept the judgment with good grace and found that it led to an awakening of the possibilities of life. Shortly after, he was recruited by an unnamed Sisters of EVE operative who, upon discovering his affinity for a particular mind-control device codenamed the Book of Emptiness, recruited him to a secret search squad.