Cursebreaker

Hi! I know I'm a bit late to this discussion but I literally just finished Starsight! I basically agree with you but came from a different angle. I thought that figments came from AIs, that they started as AIs but grew and developed until they became figments and able to move at will. So that is what M-Bot is becoming, rather than being a figment that has been trapped and changed, that he is the on the verge of becoming of a figment. That would explain why there are so few figments and they don't reproduce, because advanced AIs aren't allowed. AIs that can advance as far as to be like a figment, think and choose for themselves rather than always fighting for the humans and doing what they are told would definitely be something that humans would be afraid of. And they would try to eliminate "rouge AIs" which is why most were lost in the war. Likely before they became capable of existing outside a vessel.