The Kelbrid Research Organization

[Ol' Johnny]

A summary of Core

Core is a busy place.

At the start of the chain you have the Tech-Drones. These are charged with maintaining the many solar generators that cover the searing deserts of Core. They are the ones in control of the energy that sustains the KRO, and without them the KRO would not survive as energy was absolutely vital to run every Kelbrid and the many machines they used. The Tech-Drones affect every other Drone, menial or complex, by necessity. A third of all Kelbrids are Tech-Drones, and it is by far one of the most important jobs a drone can be given. Hence why they are at the start of the chain.

Next you have the Mining Drones, who dig up the precious resources that are converted into all sorts of things, from deadly weapons to the very tools they used to dig up more important minerals. They are supplied by the Tech-Drones and the Maintenance Drones, who they interact with more as they supply the Maintenance Drones with the resources needed to create the tools used to maintain other Drones. Mining Drones interact with all complex drones except Hunter-Seekers and Coordinators. Mining Drones are not quite as important as the Tech-Drones, but they are certainly tied for second most important Drone with the Maintenance Drones.

Maintenance Drones are the reason Kelbrid society is sustainable. They interact with all other Drones as well as each other, often being found in large Drone storage complexes, where Drones are stored until they can be recharged and/or repaired. Maintenance Drones are specially designed for their job, being able to last far longer without maintenance that all other Drones, as well as having their own special storage facilities where they are automatically maintained and recharged by far more basic machinery. It is due to their important role in sustaining and allowing Kelbrids to live for far longer than they otherwise would that they are tied in second place along the chain with the Mining Drones.

The chain then reconnects with the third most important Drone type, Replicator Drones. They hold the place of third most important Drone in Kelbrid society for the obvious reason that they actually create new Drones. They most often interact with Mining Drones, who provide the resources that the Replicator Drones then process into Kelbird parts. The Kelbrid limbs and torso are put together on multiple different conveyors before the pieces are finally united later on in the process. After that a personality is randomly generated for that Kelbrid according to the Personality Pool, an important piece of programming created by the Creators that is the core of what makes a Kelbrid a Kelbrid. That Drone is then assigned a job, usually being built for the job it is given, and sent off to fulfil it's purpose.

Some might wonder why the Drones that create new Drones are only in third place for most important drone, with all the menial drones being before it. Simply put, the Kelbrids value being able to sustain themselves for a very long amount of time over being worn down and replaced quickly for two main reasons. Firstly, it is more efficient. Secondly, while they are machines they still have personalities and are capable of simulating rudimentary emotions. This means that treating them like normal, easy to replace machinery is highly inadvisable, as they will almost certainly take offence to that.

Fourth in the chain are Coordinator Drones. Essentially, these are the ones who control the signal towers that unify the Kelbrids as a robotic gestalt consciousness and give Alpha the control he has over the rest of the KRO. If they were to be destroyed, every single Drone would suddenly go deviant and the entire system would collapse under the weight of insanity and irrationality. If only one of these Drones was to go deviant, the result would likely be similar, but on a lesser scale. Luckily Alpha had long since thought about that possibility, and Coordinator Drones were created in their own specific assemblies where they were connected with Alpha directly, essentially becoming just another part of his personality. For the most part he has these many other bodies simply ensuring his control over KRO, preferring to use his own personal body when it comes to communication and interacting with objects.

Next up you have Hunter-Seeker Drones, Kelbrid equipped with emp weaponry designed to quickly take down a fellow Kelbrid without completely destroying them. Hunter-Seekers are important for the fairly obvious reason that they eliminate deviancy before it becomes to large of an issue. Without them, deviancy would of slowly built up over the years until it became unmanageable long before the KRO entered the galactic stage. Their goal is to hunt down and knock out deviants, at which point they bring said deviants back to the assemblies made to quickly remake a deviant Kelbrid, with parts occasionally being taken out or given to other Kelbrids depending on the nature of the deviancy. More often than not a simple reset is enough to deal with the issue, as it is usually the personality that causes the initial deviancy.

Finally you have the Fabricator Drones. These are the Drones which further process already processed materials into far tougher materials, usually to be used for constructing things in space like starbases and ships. They are at the end of the chain because the KRO as a whole simply doesn't see alloys as important compared to other things, like research. The process of creating alloys is also a relatively long path when those minerals could instead be spent on research. However, with their newly discovered neighbours being what they are, Fabricator Drones may soon rise in importance...

Now, the Fabricator Drones are at the end of the chain, yes. But there are two types of Drones that are separate from the chain. The first, obviously, are the Advisors. The second are the Calculator Drones. When it comes down to it, everything the Kelbrids do they do for the purpose of further advancing their scientific knowledge and learning more about the galaxy they reside in. Therefore, Calculator Drones are a special case as most Kelbrids would consider it foolish to place something so valuable in the same chain as the other Drones. Calculator Drones are almost revered by all other Drones due to the dedication to furthering science they often hold, and they make up a relatively small portion of the total Drone population. Therefore, there is a small percentage of the KRO population that is actually revered in a similar way to how organics might worship demigods. That is really the best way to describe how important they are considered by other Drones.

 

[Ol' Johnny]

Poor unit U6

I agree that seeing various exotic and bizarre alien empires is interesting. Platypus Fanatic Purifiers, Cockroach Moral Democracies, cute gecko Bandit Kingdoms... always a pleasure.

My first playthrough got wiped by fanatic purifier geckos. It was sort of funny but terrifying at the same time.

The good news is the latter is impossible in this case, since Determined Exterminators love fellow Machine Empires.

True, I suppose a better way of emphasizing my point in this case would be Fanatic Purifiers.

 

[stnylan]

A busy core is a happy core

 

[Ol' Johnny]

It is 2210.01.01. 7.5 years ago, Alpha had remarked on how impressed he was with the progress that had been made since 2.5 years before that. If Alpha was impressed with the progress that had been made then, he was truly amazed at what had changed in the last 10 years. 7.5 years ago, space faring life had been considered a notable possibility, but still relatively unlikely to exist, with mere theories forming the bulk of discussion about sapient, space faring life. Now they knew without a doubt that life existed. Not only that, his hope had been well placed.

The Sakyt had grown up on an arctic planet wonderfully rich in minerals and far from lacking in energy and even agriculture, with vast underground caves where great fungal forests exist hidden from the surface. Minerals and geothermal power are also prevalent on the planet. Indeed, the caverns are the perfect environment to live in, with the only real downside being a lack of light. Even today the majority of Sakyt society thrives in the same underground caverns where their ancestors first evolved.

The Unknown Age, as the Sakyt call it, has relatively little information available on it, something the Sakyt Commissary-General Pe-Ti apologized profusely for. From what they do know, however, early Sakyt societies evolved based around two things. The first thing was the large underground fungal forests. The second was the vast mineral wealth of the caverns. He who had the largest combination of food and shiny rocks was placed in charge of a Clan until he died, at which point they then elected the next person with the most food and shiny rocks after the previous Clan leader's belongings were handed out to other members based on who grabbed the most first. This created an odd situation during the Early Unknown Age where a Clan would work together in near perfect unison to survive the fairly harsh conditions they lived in back then up until the leader died and the clan turned on itself as everyone tried to grab as much as possible in an attempt to gain the most food and shiny rocks so they were elected clan leader.

However, at a point around the transition into the Middle Unknown Age, this changed. It was realized that the Clans that fought each other the least after the death of a Clan leader did the best, and the might makes right mindset of the Sakyt began to collapse, replaced by a newer idea that remains with the Sakyt today: Cooperation makes right. Clans began unifying with other Clans so that more of them could benefit further from simple numbers. These Tribes then began fighting other Clans and Tribes, doing their best to gain more people so they became more likely to survive. Around this time they began using the rocks they had considered mere symbols of power not so long ago as tools to gather more rocks or, far more commonly, as tools to kill other Sakyt. The shiny rocks became less about showing off and more about having proper military power as the Sakyt began using new weapons with the rocks many Clans and Tribes had hoarded for countless years. It is believed that it was around this time, a time of constant warfare, that the ancient militaristic traditions of the Sakyt began to form as war and cooperation strangely merged in Sakyt society. Thus began the Late Unknown Age.

During this time the Sakyt seemingly entered a medieval age, as large fortresses and walls were built at key points where they could be used to defend fungal forests and large mineral deposits. Fighting had become almost normal as it was simply accepted that if your side lost you would be incorporated into the lands of the victorious side. It is during this time that the favourite combination of traditional duelling weaponry in Sakyt society today was perfected. In their central left arm, a large tear drop shield with an indent on the top, where a spear held by the top left arm would rest. In the central right arm a long falchion, more there to deflect enemy attacks than anything, and in the top right arm a shorter and much thinner dagger designed to pierce deep into the opponent through their armour. The armour at the time, though it is no longer used, had also turned from the wood of the fungal trees to proper plate, thought the joints were often exposed for more manoeuvrability and were the most popular weak point.

The ability to dig and build also became important and well respected professions as the Sakyt sought to expand into the walls of the caves, creating great underground cities with their abilities. The Sakyt also became extremely resilient over time, adapting to their tough conditions both physically and mentally. Democracy also spread as people grew tired of the ever increasing might makes right over cooperation mentality, and the imperial nations felt threatened by the emergence of this new form of government. During this time the surface had also been partially explored and even colonized by a few powerful political entities. One of these entities, the True Sakyt Empire, would later be known as the ancestor of the government that would eventually control the entire world.

It was at this time that the Growth Age began, as Sakyt society spread across the planet and found entrances to other caverns never explored before and began finding ways to reach them safely, with the most popular method being to dig their way to these new lands. The idea of gaining prosperous new land without having to fight and risk losing proved addicting to many of the great political entities of the time, as conflict became not necessarily disliked, but more seen as a tradition that you could and most likely would follow on a more personal rather than national level, as the Sakyt were very traditional. Indeed, it was at this time that the Sakyt began growing culturally as well, as republics overthrew the increasingly tyrannical kingdoms trying to cling onto power and began trying their best to get more citizens to join them by showing off how great and friendly they were compared to their competitors. But this was known as the Growth Age for a reason, as technology also boomed for the Sakyt due to the need for more land created by a population increasing faster and faster while the construction of housing barely increased at all.

Great machines were created to automatically dig out large areas for a rudimentary solution to the problem of housing, while other machines were created to dig safe tunnels to various new caverns discovered all over the globe, both deeper and higher than the Sakyt had ever gone before. More and more outposts were also established on the surface as quicker overland routes became prized and outposts were constructed along roads paved to distant caverns to allow the Sakyt to survive the strange, harsh conditions of the surface. The thing that effected them most was their sun, which shined brightly on their planet and made it difficult for the Sakyt, who had evolved and existed in caverns for so long, to see. Yet technology answered that too, and they created special headsets to allow them to see on the surface.

Meanwhile the ancestor to the Sakyt Commonwealth, the True Sakyt Empire, changed it's name after the Empeor united four other political entities of similar power through an entire lifetime of work dedicated to creating a powerful country run by the people while still being centralized under the rule of a single leader with an advisor council which had limited power, but which he often listened to, entrenching it as a tradition that future rulers would seek to follow due to the inherent need of the Sakyt to cling onto old traditions so that they may be remembered for being a significant thing.

After this the Sakyt Commonwealth began snowballing out of control. The general willingness of the Sakyt to cooperate had created many great powers, and now it would be the primary factor behind planetary unification. One after another the kingdoms and republics of Sakyt Ux pledged allegiance to the Sakyt Commonwealth as semi-independent Sectors, with borders drawn not only based on the original size of the nations, but on the culture and ethnicity of those within and outside their borders. Many Sectors lost and gained land like this, as people voted on whether they wanted to stay in their current sector or become a part of another sector that they had more in common with. Over time these sectors would become a part of the democratic system, with planetary governors being given seats in a senate where they voted for which one of them should be governor of their intersystem Sector for life. Then the governors of those sectors, the governors of the sectors below them and the people voted on who would rule them for a 10 year term. A 10 year term could become a 20 year term if a Commissary-General was voted back in, but it was exceedingly rare.

Interestingly old militaristic traditions play a key role in deciding governors and CGs. Indeed, it is theoretically possible for any person to challenge any governor or even the CG to a duel for their position. Due to this most governors and the CG are generally very good at duelling, though the CG is often only good at personal combat due to the governors preferring to elect CGs who are good at combat to avoid times of political instability caused by multiple CGs dying in quick succession. Indeed, one of the main goals of the Sakyt Commonwealth is to find a worthy foe somewhere out there in the galaxy who they can fight on an even footing according to their old military traditions, but on a much larger scale.

Once the Sakyt Commonwealth controlled most of the planet, they began quickly placing outposts on other planets in their system in their current age, which they call the Golden Age. It has been a time of prosperity for them as their growth has simply continued and allowed them to colonize multiple other arctic planets with good enough caverns and spread their control over multiple systems. They also seem to of gotten a head start compared to us, apparently having achieved hyperlane travel 43 years ago, and they are significantly stronger militarily and economically. However, the KRO is technologically even with them and likely to grow superior to them technologically over time.

Luckily for the KRO, the Sakyt Commonwealth understood this and their primary goal was to find new friends who they could share advantages with while receiving advantages in turn. With this in mind, Pe-Ti realized the likely technological abundance the KRO would eventually have, so they agreed to a deal. Both empires would come to each other's aid in any defensive conflict, in return for exchanging technology with each other. This did create a minor complication of course, as Alpha now needed to design a new type of Droid that was capable of remaining connected to him despite being long distances away and having it's own personality, but the protection and technology exchange was most definitely worth the effort.

The Sakyt were not the only ones to grow significantly in their new Golden Age. The KRO now controlled 5 systems, each of which gave enough energy to pay for itself and more. Not only that, colonization of Rotanev III, now known as First Landing, was soon to begin. Systems in the northern and southern belts, as they were called, had also been further explored-no doubt R5 was looking forward to compiling a report on these new systems. If there was one thing Unit H8 had going for him, it was that absolutely nothing slipped through the cracks. Quite different to the other, rather more carefree, Scientific Advisor sent to explore new systems, K2, who R5 often had difficulty convincing to write an actual report longer than a small paragraph for each system. They had also discovered an old mining drill digging into one of the asteroids on Hodranus which Fabricator was currently on it's way to deal with. So many discoveries.

One discovery, however, was notably more important than the others.

Alpha had so many questions about the Cybrex. How were they created? What did they look like? Why did they go on a crusade to wipe out organic life? Who created them? Alpha had many, many questions and it looked like none of them would be answered any time soon. Still, he needed to try, and the Cybrex had once controlled this entire section of the galaxy. With that in mind, he sent out an order to the science ships Analyst and Scholar. If any evidence, no matter how small, was found of the Cybrex, it was to be intensely studied and any artefacts found were to be left with security until a Frigate with a significant armed force was able to retrieve it.

The Kelbrids were very curious about themselves. Much of their curiosity came from their desire to learn more about themselves. However, they were confident that they might not be the only machine empire in the galaxy. After all, what happened to the Creators could easily of happened to some other unfortunate organic race, and studying these different machine empires would no doubt prove infinitely valuable to the Kelbrids if they were to learn more about themselves. This was part of the reason why Alpha was so curious about the Cybrex, the knowledge that would no doubt be gained from analysing their history and why they did things.

The other reason was that Alpha was worried. If the other types of machines they had been forced to defeat to bring Core to it's current height existed somewhere out there currently, they could prove devastating to Kelbridan attempts at learning everything there was to be learned. Not only that, it would give more knowledge to Alpha personally about what the downfall of those empires was. Which brings us back to the Cybrex. From what they had gathered so far, the Cybrex didn't initially start off as crusaders against organic life, instead launching their centuries long crusade after they had already established themselves as a player in galactic politics. And the numbers of organics they recorded killing seem almost impossible, suggesting that life was once abundant in the galaxy but because of the Cybrex life was far rarer.

Another way of interpreting the numbers they killed is that sapient life still is abundant, and there are tons of empires on the galactic stage that still survive to this very day. Indeed, the hyperlanes only connected to an infinitely small portion of the galaxy's total number of stars, so there could very well be millions of empires connected to some other hyperlane network that the KRO would never discover before the galaxy burned itself out. If that was the case then the Cybrex may very well of discovered a way to travel to unconnected stars without the use of hyperlanes, and if that technology was discovered it would prove immensely useful to the KRO.

Alpha looked up at the stars again. Sometimes he enjoyed simply staring up at the stars and imagining what technological marvels might be hidden just barely out of reach, waiting to be discovered. In a way, it amused him that a mere 10 years ago his biggest concerns had been an increase in deviancy and a few housing issues. It was sort of funny, looking back, that he had now discovered alien life, begun the colonization of a new world and advanced technologically on top of dealing with those problems. An iterative AI had even been introduced, further advancing the Kelbrid capacity for learning. And that wasn't even mentioning the advancements in technology.

B4 has long since finished improving the servomotors, primarily through the use of more advanced materials and more efficient designs, and has been working on standardizing the specialization process of each individual Kelbrid through a vast number of standardized templates that allowed for quicker construction, allowing the Kelbrids to remain the same but improving construction speeds. Basically he was making Kelbrid construction speed more efficient. B4's constantly increasing narcissism has yet to stop, though it has slowed down, and he is dangerously close to being reprogrammed for lowered efficiency, something he will be warned about later today.

Unit R5 has been enjoying studying the wildlife of the various planets from the safety of his office but Alpha, being a benevolent AI, has planned a surprise visit to each world so he can gather more data in the field, something he is sure to enjoy. Society research has been significantly improved by his new studies and knowledge of biological life and it's evolution is at an all time high, especially with the discovery of the 6 planets mentioned previously. Once he has finished his research he will most likely be continuing the advancement of Kelbrid knowledge of biology by taking a personal trip to planets like Tir III. From within the safety of an armoured vehicle, of course. R5 has personally become calmer, having learnt to contemplate things for half a second longer before he rushes into them.

There is little to say about X7. Progress on introducing the new subroutines is going well, with the exception of a few cases of deviancy caused by the introduction of new programming, and projections expect the result to kick in at around 10 months, during which time X7 will oversee the process and ensure no major incidents occur. With little else to do, X7 also assisted with a project of A8's to double the amount of research labs on Core so that they could more efficiently contain and study the vast number of samples and theories created by the sudden influx of discoveries that had occurred in the past ten years, as well as helping A8 with the construction of more dedicated Drone Storage buildings so that he doesn't have to deal with Kelbrids overflowing from their storage containers again. A8 is apparently very pleased by the results, and further mining districts dedicated to taking advantage of the Creator ruins are planned to be finished early next year so that more labs may be constructed.

Overall, things have been going quite well for the KRO and it looks like everything is set to continue falling into place for Alpha. Let's just hope that luck continues...

 

[Ol' Johnny]

A busy core is a happy core

Not only that, a busy core is an efficient core!

 

[Vilhelm]

Those are probably the best organic neighbors a machine empire can hope to have, though their military strength at this point is slightly worrying. I also like how you incorporated the planetary features into the Sakyt's history and culture.

 

[Ol' Johnny]

From: Unit X7
To: Alpha
Subject: The Rontor Hierarchy
Date: 2211.03.15

As you know, I have spent some time studying the conversations you have held with the Rontori Empress and analysing a number of different possibilities for how they came to be and how they work. I can shed no light on how they became what they are today, but I can suggest theories and possibilities based on our knowledge of them and can give a rough analysis of how they work based on what their Empress has revealed.

The Rontor Hierarchy are the KRO's eastern neighbour, and they differ significantly from the KRO's ally in the Sakyt Commonwealth. The average conversation between a Kelbrid and a Sakyt would start with the Sakyt complimenting the Kelbrid, generally about their efficiency, and the Kelbrid would then thank the Sakyt and return a compliment before talking about what they were their to talk about, sort of as a greeting. This was because the Sakyt truly did admire the Kelbrids and their efficiency in working together, almost seeing the KRO as their own beliefs not only being taken to their hight, but being used to amazing effect and efficiency.

The average conversation between Alpha and Empress Igvi-Inor I involve the Empress demanding that Alpha prostrate himself before her and pledges his allegiance to the true ruler of the galaxy, being refused, and then arguing with Alpha for multiple hours about whatever they are to talk about, usually over comms so that neither side attempts to kill the other. The Empress loves to insult the Kelbrids repeatedly throughout this argument, generally making comments about their similarity to the large junkyards where the Rontori dump unwanted materials so they can be crushed into something useful at a later date. Alpha ensures they have each insulted the other an equal amount of times by constantly commenting on how absolutely disgusting and horrid the Rontori look and act until the Empress loses her temper, screams something intelligible at Alpha, and closes communications.

Ironically her quick temper and desire to prove the 'idiotic garbage machine' wrong caused her to reveal an outstanding amount of information about the Rontori when you consider her as the only real source of information the KRO has. For a start, they first discovered Alpha and the KRO after secretly listening in on the talks held between the Sakyt and the Kelbrids through a weakness in the network that has since been fixed. She decided to wait until a science ship was at her borders, at which point she had a construction ship jump into the system and announce the presence of the capital ship of the fleet of the Glorious Galactic Rontor Hierarchy, before demanding that the KRO submit to her. The science ship simply scanned the construction ship, discovered it had no weapons and called her bluff, writing an initial report on the new discovery and continuing with surveying the system.

In outrage the Empress contacted Alpha and demanded that he personally submit to the will of the Galactic Empire of Rontor or be completely destroyed. Alpha commented on the change in name and called her a fool, at which point she screamed something unknown at him, closed communications and ordered her construction ship to begin construction of a starbase in the system the science ship was in. Since then she has admitted to the bluff but said, quote, "Well yes it was a bluff, but that doesn't make us any less superior to a bunch of machines, you don't even have brains!"

When it comes to how the Hierarchy runs there is some information and some theories, but of their history little is known. Essentially a single Empress or Emperor directly controls some limited land known as the crown lands, while the rest is given to a number of different Kings who pay for the protection of their overlord with military and financial support. The Hierarchy also has a council of 10 Advisers made out of the 10 most powerful vassals of the monarch currently in control. Once they rise to the position of Adviser, they occupy that position until they die. Technically the monarch has complete control over their vassals and their orders are valued above all else, however this may very well not be the case.

Simply put, the Empress is terrible as a leader. They spend large amounts of time simply arguing with Alpha, they seem to have little knowledge of how to actually govern, have a ridiculous ego and just generally seem idiotic and incompetent. Indeed, she herself admitted that the 10 Advisers play a powerful role in deciding the actions of the Hierarchy, though she also said that they were still subservient to her. However it seems likely, given what is known about her and her Hierarchy, that the control of the monarch has been decreasing over time as vassals continue to grow in power while the monarch's power is stunted due to cries of tyranny at any attempt to take their land, as she also admitted that the Crown lands have not been expanded for centuries.

Therefore, the monarch is not actually in control at all. Instead, she relies heavily on her Advisers, who have learnt to manipulate the Emperors and Empresses, who have become little more than figureheads. This would explain a complete lack of actual knowledge about governing things and how passionate she is about the superiority of her species. After all, the people love a leader who constantly talks about superiority not of the government, though that is often preached, but of the species compared to the filthy xeno of the west. Of course she could just be incompetent, but it seems unlikely that an incompetent ruler would not be manipulated in a government structured around most land being controlled by people other than the monarch and that has a council made up entirely of the greatest vassals, so she is likely still being manipulated in some way.

Whatever the case, what's for certain is what the Rontori themselves are like. They evolved on a savannah world with little rain but plenty of water on the surface and underground. Much land is fertile, perfect for agriculture, and the earth is rich in minerals with very hot deserts and highlands perfect for generating energy, not to mention the possibilities from the geothermal vents. The life there is mostly peaceful herbivores, simply eating the abundant plant life available on the rich black soil, with no carnivores except a few scavengers who feed off corpses and occasionally hunt very weak prey if they can lure it away from it's herd.

Evolving on such a world, so perfect for sustaining life, it is unknown why much of their body is gooey and weak, surrounded by an incredibly tough shell. It is theorized that, early on in their evolution, the planet actually had a considerable amount of predators and the Rontori often hid in caves, using the tendrils of their upper torso, neck and face to essentially absorb digestible materials in through thousands of tiny openings where the food they ate was subjected to a special acid that melted it down into mush, making it a lot easier to digest. They most likely wiped out their predators later on in their history, considering how little is known about how they tend to act. It should also be noted that, with the exception of their facial tendrils, all of their tendrils are able to extend further outwards, including the arms in their central body.

Something else noted was that the Empress was able to hit her desk with surprising strength for having weak arms made of the same gooey substance as the rest of the body. Upon questioning she loudly proclaimed that the arms of the Rontori were the strongest part of their body, able to carry far more than any other species. Unlike in most cases, she proved this by proceeding to pick up her desk and everything on it, including what seemed like a sizeable device used to communicate over long distances. At least, it was, before it fell off the table when the Empress dropped it. Therefore it is believed that their arms are actually quite solid but, oddly enough, don't look like they have joints, allowing for much more manoeuvrability than they would otherwise have.

Not only that, many of the efficient, at least for an organic, designs in the buildings and wall in the background and the way the Empress talks about the engineering prowess of the Rontori suggest that they are accomplished engineers. Most likely they learned to become greater at engineering to deal with a substantial problem early on in their history, that being quicksand. There are many deserts next to large bodies of water on Rontus Prime, and where there are deserts and large bodies of water there is quicksand, likely even more than the quicksand on First Landing.

Conclusion: Due to the placement of the Rontor Hierarchy eastward exploration and expansion is not an option, with any further exploration having to occur through the far friendlier Sakyt to the west. Conflict with RH is inevitable and defences should be built to be as strong as possible on any borders between us and them. Make it clear that we see them as an enemy to both the KRO and SC, and if an opportunity arises they should be attacked and their land taken so they prove less of a threat in the future. While their Empress is foolish they should not be underestimated, for her vassals most likely aren't. Attempts should also be made to force more information of their history and how they function out of them to further advance our knowledge. Let no secrets be hidden from us.

 

[Ol' Johnny]

Those are probably the best organic neighbors a machine empire can hope to have, though their military strength at this point is slightly worrying. I also like how you incorporated the planetary features into the Sakyt's history and culture.

Yeah, I got lucky with a friendly advanced AI being nearby! And I'm glad you like it, I thought it made a lot of sense that where they evolved would effect their evolution.

 

[LWE]

I liked the backstories of the Rontori and the Sakyt. Indeed, you can creatively rationalize a lot of strange AI empires this game throws at us.

 

[stnylan]

The only two times I have played Machine Intelligences I have encountered the Cybrex chain. I wonder if there is meant to be a greater possibility for that (of course, very small sample size).

 

[Ol' Johnny]

From: Unit X7
To: Alpha
Subject: Holy Vurxac Nation
Date: 2212.10.23

It has been a year and a half since my last report. Truth be told I actually didn't expect to be writing another report so soon, but here I am, writing about our newest enemy in the Holy Vurxac Nation.

The HVN itself is a Theocratic Republic with two main councils, the Democratic Council and the Theocratic Council. The Democratic Council is made out of 10 people known to be the best in their fields, with each council member being elected by the people directly, though other members do technically have the ability to simply choose another member, this is uncommon for reasons I'll get to shortly. The Theocratic Council is similar, also being made up of 10 council members, but instead of being elected by the council the Revered Elder personally chooses new members of the Theocratic Council.

The Revered Elder is elected by the combined vote of the Councils and needs to have a minimum of 5 votes from each council to win. While this has the potential for creating an issue, the Revered Elder is often elected by a unanimous vote by all 20 council members, which all agree on who the best candidate for the position of Revered Elder is before they have to vote, regardless of personal opinions. The position of Revered Elder is never given to the same Vurxac twice to ensure a power trip does not happen, though rare exceptions can be made if the Revered Elder believes their term should be extended. Which brings me to the next oddity of the Vurxac.

The complete and utter trust they have in each other. I'm not kidding either, it's true. Their entire government is built on idealistic foundation, where the councils hold weekly meetings where they, theoretically, can choose to do essentially whatever they want with the church or the people, depending on the council, and the people or church would probably do it so long as it wasn't something stupid or suicidal. While in other cultures this trust would no doubt be abused, with the Vurxac it allows the councils and Revered Elder a very efficient degree of flexibility as the trust the people have in their government means actions are carried out remarkably quickly. Freedom is valued extremely highly in Vurxac society, and the people actually also legally have the right to not follow orders, but it is also believed that freedom should be maintained for the Vurxac people by constantly working, creating a meritocracy.

And here's yet another impressive aspect of the Vurxac; their government has existed since soon after the Vurxac entered existence. The name has changed, the government has been reorganized and there have been a few incidents along the way, but there has always been two councils, there has always been a Revered Elder, and the same values have been held since the start. To be perfectly honest in either of the other two nations such a government would be an absolute disaster as to call it a government is honestly an insult to governments all across the galaxy. The ability of every Vurxac to do whatever they want without consequence so long as they work hard, and the fact that they still choose to work for the government mindlessly is absolutely preposterous. It is not a government, it is meritocratic anarchy that has somehow worked itself out! No models have shown this as possible, the likelihood of any species developing like this is ridiculous! If someone said these existed a few years ago they would be reprogrammed for deviancy and reduced efficiency! Let me clarify once more. The Holy Vurxac Nation should not exist. It's existence is an error. It is the most illogical, inefficient government ever designed and the fact that it has actually worked is a crime against logic. However. All of this is assuming average biological standards. And the Vurxac themselves are far from average.

They are extremely intelligent. They are most likely the smartest species in the galaxy, assuming there are more, which seems likely considering the current density of known alien civilizations. The rate at which their communication technology advanced simply upon meeting us is absolutely spectacular. They went from being barely understandable to having figured out all three languages in mere weeks, compared to the months it took the others to decipher each other's languages. They are even on par with us in many ways. The Vurxac are the most amazing discovery so far, so incredible that the potential knowledge that could be gained from them would likely catapult both our nations to greatness, as the efficiency they show for biologicals would give us a significant trustworthy insight to the minds of other biologicals. And they refuse to negotiate with us because we're machines. Let me repeat that. They refuse to negotiate with us because we're machines. For all their intelligence, their absolute brilliance and the possibilities of our governments working together, they still believe machines to be evil, and won't even elaborate as to why beyond 'The Saviour decrees it'.

To see such intelligence, such absolute BRILLIANCE, be hampered by such pathetic tribal beliefs is outrageous, as everyone else has agreed, and no doubt you will agree too. This is the true flaw of their society, their trust. Their trust with each other means they blindly accept the religious belief that machines are evil. Though their Revered Elder says it's not as simple as that, there is no excuse for not accepting advanced intelligent machines just because your religion says so, all of our models showed that for any society to advance this far they would HAVE to give up that belief at some point, yet they haven't. They can't even be goaded into giving up information either, we simply aren't allowed to know anything about them. We only know half of what we know because one of their less intelligent citizens started a debate with us and we were able to goad him into giving up information.

The Vurxac, one day, must be liberated. They must be showed the error of their ways and brought to their full potential as an ally of the KRO. Their potential is simply too great to be chained in the shackles of religious beliefs so idiotic as to believe machinery is evil. It's a catastrophe of the highest order that such a fascinating species has no information on it. I almost want to believe that it's not true, but every encounter we have had with them has said otherwise. I simply can't stand it. You have to liberate them one day, Alpha, so that we can correct their error and make them realize we could be valuable allies to each other. So many models for the future would be changed if we just knew more about them. So much knowledge trapped behind the bars of religious dogma. Even if it reveals it is not just as simple as their religion saying so, we must erase their religion and make them understand we can only benefit from each other. So much efficiency lost to their beliefs, their complete and utter trust in each other. I weep for technological knowledge all across the cosmos.

This report is incomplete, but rightly so. I shall create a newer, more in depth report once we have gained the knowledge from them. Much can be guessed by their appearance and the desert state of their planet, but I simply cannot allow myself to write more about them until we have learned more about them. This is less of a report on what they are like and more of a description of their flaws and what must be done to fix them and gain more knowledge about them. I hope you see their enlightenment as as much of a priority as I do. I repeat.

Let no secrets be hidden from us.

 

[Ol' Johnny]

I liked the backstories of the Rontori and the Sakyt. Indeed, you can creatively rationalize a lot of strange AI empires this game throws at us.

Just wait until we get to the backstory of these guys. They may be randomly generated, but I have big plans for their backstory. Almost as big as the plans I have for the eventually written backstory of KRO, but more relevant because KRO backstory will probably be coming much, much later.

The only two times I have played Machine Intelligences I have encountered the Cybrex chain. I wonder if there is meant to be a greater possibility for that (of course, very small sample size).

I think I got Cybrex last time I played machines too, actually. Anyone know if that's just luck or a difference in chance to happen?

 

[stnylan]

Well, they may not technically be a genocidal empire but might as well be from the perpsective of the Kelbrid. I did like the near-righteous anger of this line:
"To see such intelligence, such absolute BRILLIANCE, be hampered by such pathetic tribal beliefs is outrageous, as everyone else has agreed, and no doubt you will agree too."

 

[TheAnguishedOne]

Loved going through all this in one sitting. The KRO are fascinating, and their neighbors are just as deep so far. I'm impressed by how much detail you've put into all of them, not just the one you're playing.

 

[Ol' Johnny]

Unit A8 was having a good day.

When he had first been assigned to his job it was because the previous governor, U6, had gone deviant and needed to be reprogrammed. He had been chosen because of his happiness and eagerness in all matters scientific, and if there was one thing the KRO had an abundance of it was science. On Core a massive project had been undertaken to create vast complexes of labs dedicated to researching every discovery of Core and gathering as much information out of those discoveries as possible.

This information would then be used to advance scientific knowledge as a whole in more advanced research labs where the majority of the Calculators worked. These were the labs were models for the future, present and past of the galaxy and even the universe were created, from the evolution of other nations to the very creation of the galaxy they existed in. Not only that, these labs were where the vast majority of the actual testing of theories and careful study of more delicate things happened, most notably some initial testing of the volatile motes brought back from First Landing.

Finally, all of the information gathered by the previous two layers of labs would be fed into labs where the the most complicated research was undertaken. Here was where the Scientific Advisors spent much of their time, creating huge tests for theories that required being undertaken on a much larger scale. Here was where many of the creations of the KRO, including the lab system itself, were invented, from basic construction ships to colonizing new worlds. Here was where important decisions were made and plans were formed to be analysed by Alpha. More often than not these plans would be considered acceptable, and much of the decision making process of the KRO was based around this final layer of labs, a mixture of government and glorious scientific advancement. Truly, the most important piece of the KRO was the vast research labs that made up almost half of all Kelbrid constructions. The only other thing to come close in importance was the metal boneyards of the long gone Creators, where much of the research was held, and where nearly all resources used in these labs came from.

Ever since he had come to power as Governmental Advisor of Core he had been working tirelessly to increase the amount of labs all over Core. When he began, the number of research labs was at a mere third of what it was now, mostly concentrated in the densest area of Core, around where the Kelbrids first came into existence. Now the focus has been shifted, and these research labs were instead focused around destroyed Creator cities, where an abundance of resources were readily available for use by the Kelbrids. Not only that, he had also constructed large drone storage complexes in the centre of these new labs for decreased maintenance inefficiency.

This had taken it's toll on the KRO, however. Simply put, the number of Maintenance drones had yet to catch up with the increased number of labs. While the number was still definitely adequate enough to maintain the research complexes, other areas had been suffering from minor low maintenance issues. While this wasn't anything to really worry about, and would be solved quickly enough in the second phase of his plan, this combined with the increase in resources used to further advance KRO's scientific knowledge had begun to tap them dry of basic resources, and they were close to running out of minerals. They were still increasing their number of minerals, but at an extremely low rate. Luckily A8 was not U6 and had the perfect idea for how to solve this.

The Creators had covered much of the planet in their cities, and one of their favourite places to build a city was on a good old ore rich mountain. This was because those who were there first would have to wait the least amount of time for those resources to be processed or even just straight up delivered to them upon removal from the ground, depending on the resource. A8 planned to further focus away from maintenance drones for a while so that he could focus on a project of steadily increasing the number of Mining Drones dedicated to harvesting the mountains of their mineral wealth to further feed scientific advancement indirectly by supporting all the other aspects of the KRO and creating a steady surplus of minerals. After that project was finished he would simply allow the assemblies to construct the needed maintenance drones to be getting the maximum efficiency out of the Kelbrids of Core and so that he had a surplus of drones that could be quickly converted to some other field that was considered of more importance. All in all, Core was doing quite well under his leadership and he was quite happy with what he had accomplished so far.

Then there was First Landing. It was... fascinating. The Deployment Post had been positioned on one of the largest tropical islands in the great ocean of the planet to avoid having to deal with the quicksand problem, and the way the wildlife reacted was interesting. The wildlife that called the island home had initially acted extremely aggressively to these intruders but, after they were forced to leave by Hunter-Seekers lightly electrocuting them, they had mostly stayed away. In fact their landing had seemingly caused a chain reaction as the wildlife left the island to try and survive on other islands instead, either losing or winning. The losers of those fights would then go onto the next island and the chain reaction continued until it simply petered out as the last few creatures died attempting to fight for land. It is best described as the reaction caused when a pebble is dropped in a pond. Another good way to describe it is convenient, as an initial worry held by the colonists was that the wildlife would attempt to continue fighting for their territory after already losing.

When it comes to the actual usefulness of First Landing there is little to be said about it yet beyond the reaction of the wildlife to the colony due it only being colonized for just under a year. No resources are being pulled from the ground and no resources are being processed, though some engineering knowledge has been gained from tests performed with the quicksand there, though these tests hold more importance for Unit R5 in his effort remove the quicksand annoyance, as he calls it. First Landing is also draining energy and minerals for the construction and maintenance of Kelbrids, but this is perfectly reasonable as the long term benefits will no doubt be worth it. Another interesting thing to note is that Hunter-Seekers are not just used to remove deviancy from the planet, but have also been used to fend off the wildlife during the initial attacks without using lethal force, something that will no doubt change how they are produced in the future.

Unit A8 had also gotten to a position where he was superior to the Scientific Advisers. The Governmental Advisor had always been seen as an important part of the KRO, being Alpha's left tool set and often being the one proposing the actual plans that Alpha went through with. The amount of effort he had put in to advancing rge KRO's scientific knowledge had been significant and even B4 begrudgingly admitted that the amount of resources they had access to because of A8 had likely increased the speed at which they researched thing by years. Years add up, and A8 was now also seen as a sort of Head Scientific Advisor, essentially putting him into a position where he was Alpha's right and left tool set. He was not to get too cocky with his new power though. After all, tools are easily replaceable, he had learnt that lesson from U6 going deviant. Besides, why would he abuse his position when he could further expand the scientific knowledge of not only himself, but KRO as a whole? Really, it would be quite a silly thing to do. Maybe an biological like the Rontor would do it, but he was not organic.

Anyway, technology has been advancing at a more than comfortable rate due to his efforts, and his new position meant it only made sense he also oversaw the efforts of the Scientific Advisers.

Unit X7 had only become more experienced as time went on. His love for figuring out every possible way of doing things had cooled somewhat into a more efficient desire to simply learn the things that ensure an increased efficiency in researching other things. It is believed that the academic optimization performed a while ago had a significant effect on X7 has it confined the inefficient ideas to a lesser priority. When it came to simple skill through practice X7, despite not having much natural skill, was better experienced than the other Scientific Advisers. X7 is currently working on better global energy management for future increased energy harvesting efficiency. The plan was to create buildings that better organized the energy grid across Core as well as collecting the energy that would normally simply dissipate and collecting it in large batteries alongside energy specifically harvested to be stored in these batteries for increased energy efficiency in the future.

Unit X7 has also taken on the role of organizing the records held of other nations and collecting that information into reports written to Alpha that were then changed to be written to the general Kelbrid populace to inform them of the discovered alien races without affecting their work. So far he had been working hard at this job, despite R5 expressing disappointment at not being given the job. X7 has also begun to express anger at the fact that half of the known empires in the galaxy, if you include the KRO, have been discovered to be extremely illogical, and has begun to study and edit the models for the requirement of a species to develop space technology far more intensely than previously. In general X7 has begun taking on a lot more work recently, and is performing his new jobs admirably.

Meanwhile Unit R5 has also been very busy recently. On the behest of Alpha he has begun tour to each of the different worlds in the KRO space and studying them for further ideas on how to expand the technological knowledge of the KRO. His studies on biodiversity caused a notable increase in the efficiency of advancement in the field of society and he is currently on First Landing compiling information on the quicksand and figuring out a quick and effective way of removing it without causing significant disruptions among the local wildlife or damaging the planet's natural resources. R5 also expressed displeasure with the ripple effect among the wildlife of the tropical islands on the planet after their arrival, saying that they should of landed in an area that would cause less of an impact upon said wildlife. He was reminded that such a place would only exist in the middle of the barren desert and warned for advising a decrease in efficiency due to personal reasons, and has since simply ignored any discussion about it.

Finally B4, in classic B4 fashion, has continued spending his time changing every Kelbrid for the better. He has begun a project to further automate the customization process of each Kelbrid, meaning that any future Kelbrid created with his altered design will not be any different, but will be quicker to make. Also in classic B4 fashion he used the opportunity created by A8's changes to Core to experiment on already created Kelbrids to perfect his new design. This has not created any issues except replacing a large number of personalities with different personalities without editing the intricacies of their design creating minor confusion between Kelbrids. He is set to stop doing this in a few days now that his point is proven and will continue working on zero gravity refineries for a much needed increase in mining station efficiency. In the mean time, all future Kelbrids will be created with the new, quicker assembly design in place and the original Kelbrids assembled less efficiently will from now on be known as Class-A Kelbrids, and be given slight priority over B-Class Kelbrids due to their higher age meaning more experience and the fact that neither design has any advantage over the other besides Class-A age.

It is amusing. A8 remembers how, only 3 years ago, Alpha spoke about how much had changed in 10 years. And now, a mere 3 years later, they had discovered even more. The southern and northern belts had been almost completely explored and their name was in the process of being made official by A8, who had taken over writing reports about newly discovered systems. Not only that, ideas were being made about dividing the galaxy into different sectors with assigned names based on the discoveries present in those sectors for a slight increase in efficient conversation. And databank uplinks, a combined creation of B4 and A8, had allowed research experiments to be held at exactly the same time no matter the distance, with uplink latency reduction also being looked into to further the efficiency of long range combined experiments. The galaxy was a big place. They needed to learn as much as possible about if they were going to not only survive, but thrive.

 

[Ol' Johnny]

Well, they may not technically be a genocidal empire but might as well be from the perpsective of the Kelbrid. I did like the near-righteous anger of this line:
"To see such intelligence, such absolute BRILLIANCE, be hampered by such pathetic tribal beliefs is outrageous, as everyone else has agreed, and no doubt you will agree too."

Heh, yeah, the Kelbrids don't like religion, especially X7.

Loved going through all this in one sitting. The KRO are fascinating, and their neighbors are just as deep so far. I'm impressed by how much detail you've put into all of them, not just the one you're playing.

I'm happy you're enjoying my AAR and I'm glad you like how in depth I go, thank you!

 

[stnylan]

You know this portrayal of the units reminds me a little of the portrayal of the azi in C J Cherryh's Alliance-Union universe. In particular in the first portion of Forty-Thousand in Gehenna.

 

[TheAnguishedOne]

So much explored, and yet so much remains unknown. Fingers crossed you find some more friendly aliens out in the stars.

 

[Ol' Johnny]

Due to A8's project of expanding the research labs and the buildings needed to sustain them, research was moving forward at an incredible rate. Unit K2 had also been brought back from surveying the Northern Belt to assist research on Core, increasing efficiency by a small amount. With such an increase in the efficiency of their research, much more was being accomplished in a far smaller amount of time and Core was at it's height in terms of research efficiency.

Unit X7 was not doing particularly well. While he was still advancing research, the discovery of '...the Vurxac, but dumber, uglier, more religious and obsessed with mining...' had effected him the worst, as he now often ranted about how idiotic the biologicals were, and how the Sakyt seemed to be the only intelligent biologicals in the entire galaxy. He has convinced himself that religious beliefs are actually a potential reason behind gaining the technology to travel the stars after editing a model in an attempt to see how religious beliefs came about, and if not for Alpha's orders overriding his own will he would no doubt of tried to create a secret navy to destroy the religious aliens. While many Kelbrids are very angry at the religious biologicals surrounding them none have been affected as much as X7, and someone else will need to take over the writing of reports on alien species.

His anger at alien species, however, has only fueled his desire for more knowledge and his previous desire to learn as much as possible with no care for potential inefficiencies has flared up once more. Global Energy Management was completed earlier than expected and implemented on a minor scale near the the research labs, the batteries are expected to prove a fair amount of extra energy when activated and are likely to be implemented on a larger scale, depending on the results of the initial Capacity Overdrive test. Already roughly 3-5% of batteries have filled up, and the Capacity Overload test is expected to be ready in a few years. These buildings have also opened the doors to future increases in energy harvesting efficiency, and such improvements will also very likely be easier because of these buildings.

Unit X7 has also finished a project of multiple simultaneous experiments held for a few years all over Core and even as far as First Landing and Brius. These experiments mostly involved studying quantum theory and how subatomic particles work on an extremely detailed level. The majority of the effort spent on the project was dedicated to studying the results of these tests, and scientific knowledge has benefited quite a lot from the knowledge gained. During these experiments a side project was held to increase uplink latency reduction during surface to orbit transmissions, and it was discovered that this increased the efficiency of research by a remarkable and unexpected amount. This experiment was actually begun by Alpha personally wishing to take part in a few experiments to increase efficiency after had an idea about how changing the uplink latency might change research efficiency.

Currently X7 is working on automating exploration algorithms to improve survey speed. This is a notable project for other reasons too, as this could also lead to Alpha not having to directly control Drones that are an extreme distance from him. If this project is successful it could mean that Alpha could realistically spread Drones across a quarter of the galaxy without suffering any notable issues involving accidental deviancy. Not only that, this could theoretically allow Alpha to exert less effort on decreasing deviancy on Core itself as an automatic system could be designed with a lesser personality, perhaps similar to that of a pet, dedicated to removing deviancy. This could also make the Kelbrids seem more Sakytian, as they also have pets, therefore improving relations between the 2.

Unit R5 has been progressing along with research at a similar rate to X7. While he has also expressed righteous anger at the religious empires of the galaxy this has not effected him much unless they are mentioned, at which point he deactivates his sound sensors until another Kelbrid signals that they are no longer being discussed. This has had the unfortunate side effect of causing him to resent X7 for constantly mentioning them, and R5 has spent most of his time on First Landing and ignores all communications from X7. A8 is currently acting as their only way of communicating with each other. Essentially if one of them has something vital to say to the other they send a message to A8, who either denies the message if it involves aliens or accepts it if he sees it as important, then beginning communications with each from his office. If aliens are mentioned he instantly mutes the one who mentioned it for 10 minutes. This has caused minor inefficiency, but the two Kelbrids have simply learned to deal without the other's help, instead often asking B4 for help, with the obvious result of inflating B4's ego further.

Anyway, R5 has long since finished his project to deal with the quicksand issue on First Landing. Using a specific mix of chemicals made out of materials gathered from multiple worlds, including worlds from the Sakyt Commonwealth, the connection between the quicksand the water was loosened. Then the water was pumped out using special hydraulics and travelled through a pipe into a container on top of a mobile vehicle. From there the water could be dumped wherever it was not in the way or even somewhere it was needed. So far a small scale experiment was successful and a pool of quicksand had been converted into normal sand while the water was dumped in the ocean.

After that R5 worked on less costly positronic CPUs capable of allowing for less costly Kelbrid designs. Future leaders will be built with this design and the early stages of research into widespread use across the Kelbrids is progressing but unlikely to amount to much until it is given a higher priority. A worry Alpha holds is that it allows for slightly more freedom for the average Kelbrid, potentially increasing deviancy rates, but other than that there's not much to talk about here.

Currently R5 is working on ground defence planning. Interestingly this is actually a project involving both X7 and R5, and is the only real reason they try to communicate with each other through A8 at all. With the discovery of multiple nations that detest the KRO the two of them have decided to work together on increasing the defences of Core and First Landing. Basically a series of fortresses, bunkers, AA guns and other fortifications are going to be positioned across each world and future worlds to allow for a defence in depth. Different areas will be given different levels of fortifications, with most fortifications made simply to guide the enemy into attacking seemingly easier places elsewhere which, in actuality, contain significantly more underground trouble. These guiding defences will still be manned, however, and will be made such that they can fight off air and land attacks. All in all, this planning should mean that any attacks made against the KRO worlds will suffer significantly. There's also talks about the viability of a world made purely for defence blocking an enemy from passing through the system without taking on the planet, but this is only theoretical so far.

B4 has been an immense boon to recovering from the near miss of a mineral crisis that almost happened previously due to A8's expansion of the research labs, and did most of the effort in step 2 of A8's plan. Zero-g refineries, geothermal fracking and mineral purification all helped immensely with the effort to increase mineral production beyond even what it had been before. Not only that, mineral purification especially allowed for excess minerals to be left in storage areas for a long amount of time. In case of an emergency these minerals could be removed from their containers and used to ensure that production targets are still met. The other two benefits to mining are fairly self explanatory.

Currently B4 is compiling all information gathered about every known building made previously by the KRO in an effort to create the most efficient assembly patterns possible. It is believed that once the project is finished and the assembly patterns introduced the time it takes to build things will go down by 25%. This will contribute to every building created afterwards for thousands of years, and is considered extremely important to the future of the KRO. Not only that, but these patterns will likely become a significant part of the defence in depth plan created by the other two Scientific Advisers, as such a defence would no doubt take a long time to construct.

When it comes to B4's personality, he has still not gotten any better. Maybe one day he will realize that Kelbrids don't like him distracting them by going on and on about how great he is. Maybe one day.

 

[Ol' Johnny]

You know this portrayal of the units reminds me a little of the portrayal of the azi in C J Cherryh's Alliance-Union universe. In particular in the first portion of Forty-Thousand in Gehenna.

Didn't know what that was previously so I decided to google it, didn't seen anything about the azi but it seems very interesting. Maybe I'll give those books a read some day.

So much explored, and yet so much remains unknown. Fingers crossed you find some more friendly aliens out in the stars.

Indeed, KRO is starting to feel a little lonely with only 1 out of 4 people being friendly. At least they're a strong friend. Then again, that may not be such a good thing after all...