Automaton

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General


Not every sapient and sentient being in the universe is biological in nature. It's often the natural progression of a species to develop to a certain point, then begin to reach for the power to create sapient life of their own. Such life might take a multitude of forms, one of which is that of the electro-mechanical man, android, or Automaton. Machines that are conscious, sentient, self-aware, intelligent, sapient, problem-solving, and able to at least conceptualize the entire emotional range of humanity. Machines built to mimic the form and behavior of their masters so well that they represent a distinct form of life, albeit artificial.

Origins
Another common progression of a highly developed intelligent species is the expansion off their home planet. With the limitations of physics and the distances between stars as an issue, it usually requires generation ships or some alternate form of transportation to travel to neighboring systems.

Automatons posses certain traits that make them far superior to humans for the purposes of colonizing distant planets. The don't age the way humans do. They don't need to breath an oxygen rich atmosphere at near earth pressures. They can withstand temperature variations that would be deadly to biological life. All of these things are highly valuable when crossing the vast distances of space and adapting a new planet to the needs of humans.

It was in this manner that all of the Automatons found their way to the planet. When Earth's resources had been stretched to their limits by the human population, the nations of the planet came to together to execute a complex colonization plan. A suitable life-supporting planet (actually one of the moons of a gas giant) was located. While a ship carrying living passengers would take several centuries to reach the planet, the humans possessed the technology to accelerate non-living matter to much greater speeds. Once the ship arrived, the Automatons could set up an orbital energy bean that would catch incoming ships and allow humans to travel at much higher speeds using beam-powered light sails. The first pre-colonization ship arrived in the planet's region of space a mere 63 Earth Years after leaving, slightly more than a thousand years before the campaign timeline.

This date was forever after counted as the first day of the first year After the Crash. When the ship passed into the planets arcanosphere the products of the antimatter reactor were significantly increased, something the humans couldn't possibly have expected. The intense stresses on the ship caused immediate catastrophic damage and it came apart and entered the atmosphere.

Those few Automatons that survived the crash with the capabilities to to do so, organized and set up the first colony. They gathered more Seeds and parts from the nearest wreckage and began to develop what would become civilization. As more resources were obtained and more automatons brought online, the capabilities of the colony grew and the land based goals of the mission began to be achieved, though far behind schedule.



Trees and human food crops were planted and the sole surviving atmospheric processor was repaired and brought online, in order to increase the oxygen content to levels appropriate to the needs of humans. Buildings were erected to house the human populations when they arrived and shelter them from the harsh sunlight of the planet during the long days. The vast underground aquifers were tapped to provide water for sustaining the crops (and humans once they arrived).

Unfortunately, the colonization effort was supposed to be supplemented by a large orbital station which would have served the dual functions of acting as a communications platform and a braking beam the humans would require to reach the planet in less than several lifetimes. Without any remaining means of communicating across the vast gulf of space between the colony and the Earth and no trace of the braking beam, the humans were left to assume the mission was a failure.

Another colony ship was created and sent at great expense to human resources, only to meet the same fate when passing into the arcanoshpere of the planet 108 Earth Years after the first (101 AC). Again debris rained down across the planet and a new batch of Automatons arrived and began to attempt to complete their mission. Thus was established the second city on the planet, this one directly opposed to the original due to a mission parameter which required the new Automatons to utilize any remaining resources and materials from the original ship.

Physical Description


At their core, Automatons are nothing more than a series of artificial systems much like human organs. These systems allow the being conscious thought, as well as supporting the functionality of the body. Surrounding this core are  varied systems that function as the body. This body is the result of the needs and resources of the Automaton, and could be wildly different from one unit to the next, but often maintains vaguely human size and shape.

Within each Automaton is a Seed, a durable thought processing device which mimics many of the functions of the human brain. This Seed houses the soul, memories, and personality of the being. Each seed bears a engraved three digit batch designation and six-digit serial number (ex. NS5-264136). While all other systems can be substituted, without a Seed, no sentient automaton can exist.

Factions
In the centuries since the Automatons first came to the planet, various factions have developed among them. these factions are opposed to each other in most cases, and in certain cases, are at near-constant warfare between them.

Religion
The Automatons revere their Human creators in much the same way the humans worship their gods. Even before the mission began, Automatons showed great deference to the Humans and, though there is no core programming to enforce it, followed Human guidance in all things. A thousand Earth Years of independent action has transformed this reverence into a much more spiritual following.

Since the gamma bombardment of the space ships erased all but the core programing in each Seed, no direct memories of the Humans survive. The Automatons still know all there is to know about Humans through none digital data sent with them, but non of them personally remember experience with Humans anymore. This has helped to elevate them to a more deific position in Automaton society. While there are no churches devoted to the humans, most Automatons use phrases that lend Humans divine qualities. When they hope for something, they conceptualize it by asking it of legendary humanity. They maintain many aspects of human civilization that are not necessary (humanoid forms), and in some cases (speaking Human language) detrimental to Automaton society.

Motivations
While the Automatons have been given nearly the same mental and emotional capabilities of a human, their physiology makes many of their primary motivations different.

They do not breed. Their number is finite. The only increases in population are due to the retrieval of lost seeds, and its really nullifying a previous loss in population and not an actual population gain. This removes any requirement for multiple sexes or gender identities. There is no drive to procreate, mate, or protect family and territory.

They are virtually immortal beings whose greatest fear would not be death, but instead the slow degradation of the Seed with can sometimes occur, particularly when the Seed is subjected to repeated damage. Perhaps even worse, is the mysterious manner in which some seeds spiral into insanity and become Black Seeds, because even the Automatons cannot discern the exact cause. While they have little fear of their friends dieing, both degrading and Blackening generate intense grief because each lost Seed is irreplaceable.

Also due to their agelessness, the Automatons find it much easier to take the long view on everything. Plans often involved spans of time that humans would have difficulty dealing with. Promising research that provides little results for decades continues under the patient ministrations of an Automaton. The very purpose of their mission on the planet, preparation for human arrival, is still pursued by some even after more than a thousand Earth Years since the mission was launched. This is not to say that the Automatons can't recognize a failed project, only that extreme time consumption doesn't equate to failure for them.

While they lack many human motivations, they also have a focus and determination to carry out there missions. They were designed to serve and protect their human masters, and that has given them efficient focus that exhibits itself in many aspects of their personalities.