Many claim to be the legitimate descendants of the Rift architects with their own contradictory legends. Over the years four major factions became dominant.
The Astral Mandate
The Mandate is a faction of robots who claim dominion over Riftspace. They claim their machine god created the maelstrom and all rift gates as a gift to its machine children. They are fanatical in their devotion to this god and consider it their divine mission to both control riftspace and also convert all matter in the universe to more robot servants. It is unknown whether their god still lives, but once benevolent powerful machines did rule for much of the pre-Crunch years. They all disappeared mysteriously from real space long before the Crunch, but perhaps a failing remnant created this race. Whatever the original intention, they have been on a crusade for millennia of strip mining worlds to haul back to their great foundries which produce more robots. They consider all organic life and non-Mandate robots to be heretics that must be sent to the foundry. Even as the other factions fade, the Mandate only grows stronger. All factions and planets have been resisting Mandate invasion, but the Keepers and Mandate have been in an outright war over Riftspace for many years.
The Keepers of the Gate
The Keepers consider themselves the true inheritors of the Rift architects. They do not claim to be their descendants, but the only ones to inherit their legacy as rulers of the rifts. Unlike the mandate who care little for real space, the Keepers have as much interest in real space dominion as rift space. They have no worlds of their own, but instead have placed their capitol city in rift space itself. While the Rifts are a strange and limited space, they are massive. The keepers rule over dozens of worlds in real space through their control of rift gates. They are less authoritarian than the mandate, but still imperialists. They accept new members of any species provided they give up all ties to their home and serve the Keepers. They are more diplomatic than the mandate and have forged alliances with other factions, though they consider those alliances more as protectorates than partnerships.
The Open Hand
Unlike the other major factions, the Open Hand does not seek to rule rift space. Instead they are an organization of knowledge seekers, historians, and merchants. As the name implies they welcome any and are the most egalitarian of the major factions. Their main interest is the preservation and study of the past. They also are the only organization with a major presence in most worlds that is officially neutral. They run the major markets and trade in most worlds. They are not pacifists though and maintain a defense force that rivals the other factions. Their wealth is considerable and they use it to pay for mercenaries when needed. Many worlds that have no wish to join the Keepers or be foundry fuel for the mandate pay the Open Hand for protection.
The Demonic Clans
The last major faction is more a loose alliance of clans that share a common origin. These "demons" are the remnants of a once powerful civilization that had existed for eons. Their original forms are long forgotten and their current forms range from humanoid to monstrous. They are the only faction with a religious origin, believing themselves to be the chosen of the maelstrom itself. While they have their own worlds in real space, their most important sites are in rift space. They consider the maelstrom a holy site and rift space their birthright. They are hostile to all other factions and only ally with each other when forced. Their society is based on strength and the clans are constantly fighting each other. However when threatened by outsiders they will unite under a single clan leader.