The Hive have an alternate reality, the netherworld. That is where the true versions of themselves are confined to- and everything in our world is just a "shadow" of themselves. The Big Three- the three sister heirs to the Osmium Throne- had to choose where their thrones were so that their deaths were not permanent. Each one chose the center of where their nature was: Oryx (Auryx at the time) chose his (hers at the time) throne world at the Dreadnaught because his nature was to Explore and Understand. He also saw the Dreadnaught as one of the most secure places in the universe. It was put there by the advance sciene and power of the Darkness the lesser call "magic."