Life-spore

Life-spores were an aspect of the Enemy. They were originally found in a shipwreck discovered by the human vessel Narcissus, and distorted the Spiral Politic so as the asteroid the wreck was found on was now a colony planet, with the spores being timed into blossoming into creatures just as the first colonists arrived, and constantly evolving.

They continued to pop up in other species' records, discussing "the Enemy", once or twice, before always being there.

Eventually, from the perspective of the Great Houses, the life-spores tracked the Narcissus into the past, arriving on earth, attempting to bloom on that planet, needing reserves of psychic energy to do so. One attempt was through the body of John F. Kennedy, who died of a heart attack right before the spores were birthed. (PROSE: The Annotated Autopsy of Agent A)