The Nicrax-class was a heavy gunship designed by Syvatii Unlimited and a number of TAUFOG companies for the GACIAF administration as part of the AFEMI Initiative and the ASCAT program, taking up the functions of ships such as the Canex-class that had been manufactured in the 48,600s and 700s, as well as expanding the capabilities of GACIAF's small fleet units. Cuax Technologies acted as the primary contractor, producing the base structure and some additional systems. Hulls were shipped to Esphii Engineering which designed the main drive system and associated subsections with input from Syvatii, as well as avionics and controls for the ship. Syvatii Unlimited managed the design, testing, and integration of sensors and communication equipment, weapon systems, the reactors, and other critical systems. Final assembly was done at one of five different GACIAF shipyards, with initial units coming out of the Utageuk and Occapi systems. Full-scale production began in 48,906 ACT, and continued for about 120 years until 49,024 ACT, when Syvatii began to slow manufacturing as GACIAF did not need as many units.

The Nicrax-class was commissioned following a GACIAF internal analysis of current and upcoming potential opponents in Ivesceel, including the Shadow Fleet attacks and TAUFOG conflicts. The administration had focused on strike craft and support craft during the ASTSI program and as part of the ASCAT program, as capital ships had been somewhat ineffective against Shadow Fleets, sustaining significant losses in the first 200 years of the crisis. A number of GACIAF organizations, including AFCME on the navy's side and CEOSET on the administrative side, emphasized the need for advanced strike craft and gunships, which had typically shown improved survivability and effectiveness while active in major conflicts. The Canex-class had been a notable design pushed by GACIAF as part of this initiative, but in the decades leading up to the 48,900s, Syvatii Unlimited was tasked with developing a heavy gunship able to expand the capabilities of small naval units by adding range, defense, and offensive power without the cost and upkeep of a capital ship. Such a ship would be able to give task forces assigned to local defense missions additional support, allowing AFUCCO the ability to continue maintaining the TAUFOG sector fleets without depleting the limited quantities of new capital ships constructed for that purpose.

The Nicrax-class made use of many technologies that, at the time, Syvatii Unlimited had only recently been able to integrate with production spacecraft. One example was the twin CCEA T900-25 anti-fighter beam turrets, an iteration of the T770-23 model used on the Vesaathi HSB-4-class. With almost twice the output and a longer standard beam duration, these cannons, alongside two additional Syvatii Net NTSC-002 anti-fighter laser turrets, provided the Nicrax-class with a solid defense against strike craft. Capital-ship combat capability was achieved with four heavy laser cannons at the bow, the CEIA/BD-24 'Heasth' - also an iteration of a weapon system used on the Vesaathi - as well as 100 GAEDS-I122-2 missiles, fired from four launch systems. This was notably less ordnance than would be typical for a gunship of the Nicrax's size, which could be explained by the spacecraft's intended function in the GACIAF fleet structure. The Nicrax-class was designed to fly alongside strike craft or independently and give reconnaissance and ECM support for capital ships, allowing small naval forces to maintain increased situational awareness and communicate with ships outside of the current system. To support these functions, the ship was fast; equipped with rating 4.1.39 and 4.2.39 FTL drives that could both achieve close to 56.5 million c, and two massive Esphi Noat IPA-LC200 ion thrusters each with a dedicated Hedsa'mia-produced CHDMA-IS25 submatter annihilation reactor to fuel the drives, the Nicrax-class could outpace dedicated interceptors such as the Xexon Scyla-class by a significant margin, allowing it to quickly position itself as needed in support of a task force, or follow and identify tracks. The Nicrax-class also had long-range DPESA sensors and computers able to analyze darkspace particle collisions to detect FTL wake signatures up to 2,500 light years away, although achieving an accurate track was dependent on the size, speed, and heading of the track, as well as passive noise and active interference. Often, pairs of Nicrax-class gunships would be used in patrol groups to hunt down converted commercial vessels at low FTL cruise velocities, a common tactic used by criminal groups to evade TAUFOG sensor infrastructure which was designed to detect intergalactic traffic at high speeds. The Nicrax-class would also be used as an AWACS and ECM support ship for strike craft, trailing formations on strikes or patrols to lessen the effectiveness of opponents' sensors and point defense.