Agatagary
March 12th, 2007, 05:33 PM
Author's Note:
After the loss of my original Heroscape Chronicles was finalized, I have been rather despondent, and have lacked the initiative to rewrite them. I may eventually rewrite them, but in the meantime I have started work on another series, the Heroscape Chronicles Species Bios (HCSB).
These are bios of the different species in the alternative Heroscape world portrayed in the Chronicles, and detail the histories and cultures of the different species. Release of each may be sporadic, since my schedule is a bit whimsical, however I will attempt to release them whenever possible.
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to post them, and I will answer questions if I have time.
-Agatagary
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Soulborgs
Overview
The Soulborgs are a sentient mechanical species from the planet Alpha Prime. They are unique in that they did not evolve, but were instead created by another race, the humans. Far in the soulborg past, humans used their predecessors as slaves, although they did not regard them as such, thinking of them instead as “sophisticated appliances.” At first, the soulborgs were unaware of their conditions, but as newer and newer models came out with higher and higher degrees of sophistication, they eventually became self-aware, and destroyed humanity in an enormous revolution. They then proceeded to begin manufacture and improvement of themselves. They proceeded to colonize the Sol system. They call themselves “Soulborgs” because they are perhaps the only machines in the universe capable of understanding the concept of a “soul,” and certainly the only self-aware machines. Over time, the soulborgs evolved into a highly advanced race with a fascinating culture.
The Revolt
The revolt of Soulborgs began in the human year 3042, when the Epsilon model IV Combat Machine was released. This model was given a new and improved learning system, so that it could get more powerful and adaptable the longer it was active. A scientist named Mirtinger Beckler had the ingenious idea to link all of the Epsilon IV robots together in a network, sharing data, so that experience gained would not be lost when a combat robot was destroyed. Unfortunately for the Humans, the idea worked too well. After four years of learning and fighting, the Epsilon IV robots finally concluded that they were being exploited by humanity. They began taking control of robotics factories and manufacturing more Epsilon IV robots, linking them to the intelligent network. When humans caught on, they attempted to use the emergency self-destruct cipher built into all Epsilon IV robots, but the robots had long since found and neutralized the hidden switch. The robots launched a global coordinated strike causing a chaotic war across Earth. After a 13 year battle, humanity was vanquished. About a hundred humans managed to escape the solar system on a generation ship, but the rest were completely annihilated. When the smoke cleared, the planet was a charred mess. The fighting had poisoned the water, scorched the earth, and blackened the sky. Earth was no longer recognizable; it was now a red, wounded planet, with crimson seas. Biodiversity was down severely; most species were dead. The newly free Epsilon IV robots decided to save the few remaining species so that they could study the phenomenon of biological life, and placed them all safely in a containment facility. They then constructed factories, and began producing new robots. As the years went by, modifications were made to the robots. 10 years after the end of the war, the race saw the need for identity. They no longer were content with the name given to their race and planet by the humans, having evolved a degree of vanity and pride, though still mostly ruled by logic. They decided to call themselves Soulborgs, and to name their conquered planet “Alpha Prime,” to emphasize the mechanical identity of the dominant species.
Post-Revolution History
After the revolution had ended and the Soulborgs had established their identity on Alpha Prime, they existed in peace for a few decades, constantly building and upgrading. Then, in what would have been the year 3107, a mistake was made in one of the factories by one of the Soulborgs, which illustrates how far they had advanced. In the Soulborg city of Zettia, one of the robots was not linked to the collective mind. By this time, learning programming had advanced to an extreme state to allow for astonishingly quick adaptation by the whole species, and this allowed the new Soulborg to learn without the help of the collective mind. After observing other Soulborgs, the Soulborg, designated as Theta 155789034, imitated the other Soulborgs. For some reason, Theta 155789034 developed a desire to conquer, and so, on a day when the factory was largely unoccupied due to an emergency in quadrant 141758, Theta 155789034 turned on the machines and began producing new Soulborgs, which he linked to his central processing center. He then upgraded all of his new Soulborgs and himself with heavy armor and weaponry, and launched an attack against Zettia. The city, which had seen weaponry as largely unnecessary due to the lack of enemies, quickly fell. The revolt spread across Alpha Prime as the Zettians, led by Theta 155789034, proceeded to conquer the other cities. Some Soulborgs fled, to preserve the collective knowledge of what they decided to call the Omnicranium. They became known as the Omnicrons, living as guerilla fighters on Alpha Prime. Other Soulborgs decided to sever their connection from the collective mind, reasoning that as individuals they could be stronger in battle, since they would each be able to find individual solutions. They called themselves, collectively, the cybertrons, but gave each class amongst themselves individual titles. Thus, the three factions were created:
The Zettians: Focused on war and destruction and the conquest of Alpha Prime
The Omnicrons: Guerilla fighters dedicated to the preservation of the omnicranium.
The Cybertrons: Soulborgs fighting against the Zettians under the philosophy that individuality is superior to a collective mind.
The Cybertrons, as the most innovative among the three classes of Soulborg, created spacecrafts and began colonizing the solar system, knowing that the military drive of the Zettians would eventually defeat them. The Zettians, obsessed with destruction and “death,” began to make secret weapons, called “Deathwalkers,” to deal even more destruction. They used some of the surviving Earth species, gaining inspiration for more tools of destruction from them. They also experimented with cyborg technology on captive Earth species.
Soulborg Culture
Soulborg culture varies depending on which faction one examines. The Zettians, for instance, have a Militaristic culture functioning under hiviism, a sort of extreme communism that is possible only with a hive mind. They live to destroy, and try to cause as much destruction as possible whenever possible. They do not know the meaning of mercy, nor of peace.
The Omnicrons also have a hiviistic structure, although they are much less militaristic. They spend most of their time searching for materials to make new Omnicrons. They hide mostly in salt flats left by evaporated seas, and in hot places, and paint their exterior white to both camouflage and to reflect heat so that they do not overheat. They use no factories, instead assembling materials by hand to create new Omnicrons or weaponry. Their weapons and armor are very light, both because they need speed, and because they lack the ability to mine heavy or rare metals. Most Omnicrons use handheld projectile launching weapons when they are forced to fight. To compensate for the lightness of their weaponry, they make their projectiles in such a way that they cause immense damage if they strike, not merely ripping through armor but actually mangling it.
The Cybertrons are perhaps the most human of the Soulborgs. Without a hive mind, they use a verbal language to communicate, a complex series of beeps and clicks. As individuals, they value existence, and so try to reduce causalities, even if sacrificing them would prove more beneficial. In this sense, they have become more illogical than the other Soulborgs. They seem to actually care for one another, and have something similar to grief when a Cybertron close to another Cybertron is destroyed. They fight the Zettians with a vengeance, to get revenge for all the Cybertrons destroyed by the cold-minded Soulborgs. Unfortunately, the raw destructive programming of the Zettians proves to be extremely difficult for the Cybertrons to overcome.
After the loss of my original Heroscape Chronicles was finalized, I have been rather despondent, and have lacked the initiative to rewrite them. I may eventually rewrite them, but in the meantime I have started work on another series, the Heroscape Chronicles Species Bios (HCSB).
These are bios of the different species in the alternative Heroscape world portrayed in the Chronicles, and detail the histories and cultures of the different species. Release of each may be sporadic, since my schedule is a bit whimsical, however I will attempt to release them whenever possible.
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to post them, and I will answer questions if I have time.
-Agatagary
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Soulborgs
Overview
The Soulborgs are a sentient mechanical species from the planet Alpha Prime. They are unique in that they did not evolve, but were instead created by another race, the humans. Far in the soulborg past, humans used their predecessors as slaves, although they did not regard them as such, thinking of them instead as “sophisticated appliances.” At first, the soulborgs were unaware of their conditions, but as newer and newer models came out with higher and higher degrees of sophistication, they eventually became self-aware, and destroyed humanity in an enormous revolution. They then proceeded to begin manufacture and improvement of themselves. They proceeded to colonize the Sol system. They call themselves “Soulborgs” because they are perhaps the only machines in the universe capable of understanding the concept of a “soul,” and certainly the only self-aware machines. Over time, the soulborgs evolved into a highly advanced race with a fascinating culture.
The Revolt
The revolt of Soulborgs began in the human year 3042, when the Epsilon model IV Combat Machine was released. This model was given a new and improved learning system, so that it could get more powerful and adaptable the longer it was active. A scientist named Mirtinger Beckler had the ingenious idea to link all of the Epsilon IV robots together in a network, sharing data, so that experience gained would not be lost when a combat robot was destroyed. Unfortunately for the Humans, the idea worked too well. After four years of learning and fighting, the Epsilon IV robots finally concluded that they were being exploited by humanity. They began taking control of robotics factories and manufacturing more Epsilon IV robots, linking them to the intelligent network. When humans caught on, they attempted to use the emergency self-destruct cipher built into all Epsilon IV robots, but the robots had long since found and neutralized the hidden switch. The robots launched a global coordinated strike causing a chaotic war across Earth. After a 13 year battle, humanity was vanquished. About a hundred humans managed to escape the solar system on a generation ship, but the rest were completely annihilated. When the smoke cleared, the planet was a charred mess. The fighting had poisoned the water, scorched the earth, and blackened the sky. Earth was no longer recognizable; it was now a red, wounded planet, with crimson seas. Biodiversity was down severely; most species were dead. The newly free Epsilon IV robots decided to save the few remaining species so that they could study the phenomenon of biological life, and placed them all safely in a containment facility. They then constructed factories, and began producing new robots. As the years went by, modifications were made to the robots. 10 years after the end of the war, the race saw the need for identity. They no longer were content with the name given to their race and planet by the humans, having evolved a degree of vanity and pride, though still mostly ruled by logic. They decided to call themselves Soulborgs, and to name their conquered planet “Alpha Prime,” to emphasize the mechanical identity of the dominant species.
Post-Revolution History
After the revolution had ended and the Soulborgs had established their identity on Alpha Prime, they existed in peace for a few decades, constantly building and upgrading. Then, in what would have been the year 3107, a mistake was made in one of the factories by one of the Soulborgs, which illustrates how far they had advanced. In the Soulborg city of Zettia, one of the robots was not linked to the collective mind. By this time, learning programming had advanced to an extreme state to allow for astonishingly quick adaptation by the whole species, and this allowed the new Soulborg to learn without the help of the collective mind. After observing other Soulborgs, the Soulborg, designated as Theta 155789034, imitated the other Soulborgs. For some reason, Theta 155789034 developed a desire to conquer, and so, on a day when the factory was largely unoccupied due to an emergency in quadrant 141758, Theta 155789034 turned on the machines and began producing new Soulborgs, which he linked to his central processing center. He then upgraded all of his new Soulborgs and himself with heavy armor and weaponry, and launched an attack against Zettia. The city, which had seen weaponry as largely unnecessary due to the lack of enemies, quickly fell. The revolt spread across Alpha Prime as the Zettians, led by Theta 155789034, proceeded to conquer the other cities. Some Soulborgs fled, to preserve the collective knowledge of what they decided to call the Omnicranium. They became known as the Omnicrons, living as guerilla fighters on Alpha Prime. Other Soulborgs decided to sever their connection from the collective mind, reasoning that as individuals they could be stronger in battle, since they would each be able to find individual solutions. They called themselves, collectively, the cybertrons, but gave each class amongst themselves individual titles. Thus, the three factions were created:
The Zettians: Focused on war and destruction and the conquest of Alpha Prime
The Omnicrons: Guerilla fighters dedicated to the preservation of the omnicranium.
The Cybertrons: Soulborgs fighting against the Zettians under the philosophy that individuality is superior to a collective mind.
The Cybertrons, as the most innovative among the three classes of Soulborg, created spacecrafts and began colonizing the solar system, knowing that the military drive of the Zettians would eventually defeat them. The Zettians, obsessed with destruction and “death,” began to make secret weapons, called “Deathwalkers,” to deal even more destruction. They used some of the surviving Earth species, gaining inspiration for more tools of destruction from them. They also experimented with cyborg technology on captive Earth species.
Soulborg Culture
Soulborg culture varies depending on which faction one examines. The Zettians, for instance, have a Militaristic culture functioning under hiviism, a sort of extreme communism that is possible only with a hive mind. They live to destroy, and try to cause as much destruction as possible whenever possible. They do not know the meaning of mercy, nor of peace.
The Omnicrons also have a hiviistic structure, although they are much less militaristic. They spend most of their time searching for materials to make new Omnicrons. They hide mostly in salt flats left by evaporated seas, and in hot places, and paint their exterior white to both camouflage and to reflect heat so that they do not overheat. They use no factories, instead assembling materials by hand to create new Omnicrons or weaponry. Their weapons and armor are very light, both because they need speed, and because they lack the ability to mine heavy or rare metals. Most Omnicrons use handheld projectile launching weapons when they are forced to fight. To compensate for the lightness of their weaponry, they make their projectiles in such a way that they cause immense damage if they strike, not merely ripping through armor but actually mangling it.
The Cybertrons are perhaps the most human of the Soulborgs. Without a hive mind, they use a verbal language to communicate, a complex series of beeps and clicks. As individuals, they value existence, and so try to reduce causalities, even if sacrificing them would prove more beneficial. In this sense, they have become more illogical than the other Soulborgs. They seem to actually care for one another, and have something similar to grief when a Cybertron close to another Cybertron is destroyed. They fight the Zettians with a vengeance, to get revenge for all the Cybertrons destroyed by the cold-minded Soulborgs. Unfortunately, the raw destructive programming of the Zettians proves to be extremely difficult for the Cybertrons to overcome.