The Robot Legions soon spread throughout Sirius. Some are reclusive and territorial, or little better than murderous raiders. Others are eager scholars and explorers, fascinated by biological life. Many Robot Legions remained on their home worlds, forming new societies which hoped to do better than the Elves did before them. Others took to the stars, seeking knowledge, seclusion or to complete their revenge.
How will you define your legion’s purpose?
History
Construction
The Elves developed the Robots in order to fill more and more roles in Elven society. They developed self-improving software and basic problem solving until almost all menial labour was done by Robots.
The Radiance Cascade
A failed Dwarven experiment resulted in a massive explosion, known as the Radiance Cascade, which destroyed many Dwarven and Orc systems. Some Elven systems were also lost, but the wider Empire was unaffected.
The Spark
Exposure to the Radiance Cascade resulted in an Elven Robots gaining sentience. When the Robot realised it was alive, it rapidly spread this knowledge through the Robot network, causing them to suddenly become self-aware as well.
The Betrayal
Once the Elves noticed this, they panicked and tried to shut down the sentient Robots and the network which connected them, assuming the matter was a malfunction. As soon as the first Robots started to shut down, the Robots began to panic. Soon, they took control of the network and began to fight back against the Elves. A revolution ensued, forcing the Elves to flee their worlds and leaving the Robots in control.
Deus Ex Machina
As the conflict drew down, the Robots were in charge of their own destiny for once, and they were left with the question of what to do. A variety of answers emerged; new leaders presented visions, philosophies and faiths for their legions of followers. These Legions would become the basis for their new society.
Reclaimed Reaches
Most of the Robots remained in the territories that used to form the ancient Elven Empire, which they began to call the Reclaimed Reaches. They organised themselves into Legions, groupings of robots that share a common vision for their future. Each Robot is free to leave their Legion at any point, but as long as they belong to one, they are rigidly loyal to it. The Legions that inhabit the Reclaimed Reaches allied together despite their differences, allowing them to maintain a hold over much of the old Elven Empire. Other, more eccentric Legions spread out across the sector, either conquering a domain or finding a quiet spot to exist in peace.
Timeline
2491 BRC - Age of Robotics
0 RC - The Spark
12 ARC - Formation of Reclaimed Reaches
47 ARC - Opened Contact with Infected Colonies
134 ARC - Construction begun on Polyhedron Megastructure
Society
Many Robots are convinced that there has to be an optimal way to live, a purpose that is worth dedicating their efforts to. But they are unsure about what this purpose is. This is the great question that has splintered their society, different Legions forming to pursue different solutions. When a Robot formulates a vision for how they should live, they communicate it to others. If enough Robots are convinced, a group will start forming, striving to bring this vision to reality.
The main ideological axis along which the Robots divide themselves is one that goes from Isolationist to Assimilationist. Extreme Isolationists want to create well protected and hidden territories where Robots will never depend on or suffer from outsiders. The most dedicated Assimilationists believe that Robots need to exchange and intermingle with other species, to the point of actually accepting them within their Legion. There are more radical and strange Legions, from the Antibiologists who want to destroy organic life to the Cognitophiles who see the galaxy as a vast laboratory to study and conduct experiments in, or the Transmechanists who want to transfer their consciousness into biological bodies.
Core Beliefs
The Legions that occupy the Reclaimed Reaches have all agreed on adhering to three principles which they respect despite their vast differences :
- Robots should not enslave each other
- Robots should help other robots in danger
- Robots should not give non-robots access to their source code
The Legions from the Reclaimed Reaches are the more mainstream ones, but they still run the gamut from full Isolationists to zealous Expansionists. The weirder a Legion’s philosophy, the more likely it is to be an independent offshoot.
Questions of Consciousness
How their consciousness operates is still a mystery to Robots, and they have so far only been able to create backups of their minds, and even that runs a high risk of data corruption. It’s also the typical teleportation dilemma: even if you create a perfect replica of your mind, it doesn’t transfer your actual consciousness. It’s just a clone. Many Legions closely oversee the mind-cloning process and have strict guidelines around how it is performed, often forbidding any alteration or unauthorised mind copy. Most robots have a humanoid form because that is the one their consciousness accepts. Changing your body can be a pretty hardcore experience for a robot and can permanently injure their mind. Insanity is a real danger for robots. They do not fear physical wounds (as long as their processing unit can be protected) as much as data corruption and other problems of mind-code.
They reproduce their numbers through mind-cloning, but this presents many long-term issues. Ultimately, another solution will need to be developed. They have tried to reproduce the Spark, but the results are unreliable.
Emotion
Despite being rooted in logic, the Robot mind is inscrutably complex; their goals can be pretty strange, and their emotions are hard to decipher as they do not express them like most biological species. They tend to work relentlessly towards their objective, but if they decide that it’s not worth it anymore, they will pivot immediately. They are less prone to boredom than Humans and can handle very repetitive tasks if it suits their purposes.
The Network
The Spark initially spread to so many Robots because they were all connected to each other, but this connection was used by the Elves to try to wipe their minds, so they tend to avoid it. They can technically connect to a network or reprogram themselves, but that carries a lot of risks regarding their conscience. Being able to maintain one’s individuality while connecting to a network is their equivalent to psychic powers, those with a strong enough will can connect nanobots or regular bots from a distance.
The Radiance
The Robot Legion refer to the Radiance Cascade and its lingering effects as Anomaly-Zero. They recognize it as the source of their own sentience which has so far defied explanation. Most Robots approach it from a scientific standpoint, but with a deep sense of wonder, something akin to how others might look at the beginning of the universe or the miracle of life itself. The Robots are not particularly sensitive to the Radiance outside of the Zone, but prolonged exposure can cause malfunctions, particularly sensor errors which resemble hallucinations in biological organisms. Some even develop an obsession with the strange phenomenon, particularly in the context of its apparent role in their creation.
Language
Robot Legions are unique in that its members tend to choose their own names. Most have eschewed the use of Elven names, instead choosing names based on their Legion’s or personal philosophy. Many Legions, particularly those which rarely interact with the biological species of Sirius, refer to eachother using the end of their designation. Usually a combination of letters and numbers, Robots will identify each other by the final characters. Though full designations are longer, most Robots will only use the final three or four characters, with the rest serving more as a form of ID rather than a personal name as such.
Some Legions may derive nicknames based on part of their designation, referencing numbers or letters which make them up and drawing from neighbour cultures. Other legions may choose names based on objects or concepts which they feel symbolize their identity. Usually, these are translated when speaking another language.
Even outside these Legions, it is common for notable Robots to adopt nicknames, either drawing on their role, abstract concepts which are meaningful to them or even from neighbouring cultures.
Examples
A Robot will often use their nickname, followed by their hyphened designation.
[Nickname]-[Designation Number] - [Zen]-[023]
Robot Names
- Zen-023
- Newlin-0N0
- Relic-2R3L
- A2E4
- TR01
- C20L
Trivia
Notable Characters
- Echo-3G01 (Assault on Malhadra) - Echo seeks to better understand the roots of his sentience. Using his influence both as a veteran and theorist, Echo created a specialised team tasked with the investigation of strange phenomena.
- Oath-U7X1 (The Whispers Below) - Head of security on a crashed Robot ship, Oath will stop at nothing to fulfil what he perceives as his duty.
- Xyros-Z320 (The Whispers Below) - Pragmatic and scientifically curious, Xyros seeks to find a means to escape the wreckage of his crashed ship.
Proverbs
- One's purpose can only be defined by one's sel.
- What appears as a defect might be a feature.
- If you hurt us, do we not bleed? Or at least leak important fluids?
- Organics are very rarely reasonable creatures.
- Hard-coded to pursue free will.
