[Seven Systems Legacy] - revised with "living bots"

[pilot602]

The Seven Systems Legacy

The El'dan
2800a.d. – 3100a.d.
El'dan actually start out life as the Vu'lan. The Vu'lan create genetically engineered clones of themselves, who are designed to be nearly emotionless. These clones are destined to lead the Vu'lan civilization. Prompted by passages in their Old Religion the Vu'lan believe they should not trust to themselves to govern one another; thus the creation of emotionless, rational, clones this society calls its "Elders." Eventually the Vu'lan become known as the El'dan. The Elders lead the civilization to a rational and prosperous time. During this time the Elders develop an interstellar technology and in testing it make their presence known to Humanity. However, the El'dan are still unaware of Humans.

The Humans
3100a.d – 3200a.d.
Humans have long since turned earth into one, nearly united capitalistic society. Government is not completely irradiated but is relegated to a much smaller role.  Corporations generally rule the everyday life of the citizens of earth and the mars colonies but the various corporations still allow government to handle "good of the people" type tasks. One of these tasks is SETI (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) and it is SETI that discovers one of the experimental drones used by the El'dan to test their fledgling interstellar technology. Humanity brings the drone back to Mars, turns it over to corporations who then reverse engineer the technology thus making humanity a truly space faring race.

Interstellar Travel
3200a.d.
While both civilizations now have the capability for interstellar travel it still takes many years to travel any appreciable distance.

The Great Expansion
3200a.d. – 3500a.d.
Both civilizations expand at, roughly, the same time. However, the impetus for each is different.

Humanity, fearful of an advanced race – and searching for the next big profit – starts expanding by colonizing and populating habitable worlds.

The El'dan expand as a natural extension of research and furtherance of the civilization. Their pattern and access to these new worlds is strangely patterned and controlled by the Elders.

Civil War
3200a.d. – 3500a.d.
Both the El'dan and Humanity suffer civil wars and rebellions as each expand their interstellar territory.

The El'dan divide amongst themselves over the wisdom of allowing the Elders to continue in their role as leaders. Over the first few years of their expansion the Elders seemed to have grown more and more irrational in their decisions and as such many of the common El'dan begin to question their decisions. The civilization divides into two camps – those who support the Elders and those who question them – and a very bloody war breaks out.

Humanity fights amongst itself as a result of its opportunistic and profiteering nature. In doing so the evolution of the MAIS takes place. Essentially an armored, and armed, walking forklift the invention is used to tear into space vessel hulls and allow Armored Exoskeleton Infantry Suited (AEIS) shock troops to take control of the ship. MAIS quickly fell out of use as they were too slow, and too big, to be of much use in atmospheric conditions and after the initial surprise of first few deployments, anti-MAIS defenses make its original purpose much too difficult to achieve.

The Uniting Factors
3580a.d.
Humanity comes across several more of the El'dan drones as it expands and fights amongst itself. One of the drones is a warship. On the warship evidence of great destructive power is found. Humanity rushes to reverse engineer the ship and, fearful of an invasion, unites the empire to start building a large armada of interstellar warships.

Also discovered on the warship are the home world coordinates of the El'dan with which the newly formed United Earth Empire sets out to invade rationalizing that a surprise attack would be the best defense.

The El'dan Wars had stopped all forward exploration efforts as the Elders strived to retain and return order to their civilization. During the wars many of the common El'dan return to the nearly forgotten ways of the Vu'lan and the Old Religion and in doing so realized that allowing the Elder's to lead is the right thing to do. The war draws quietly to an end and the civilization picks up where it left off. However, the war serves as a training ground for many young El'dan who had never studied the arts of warfare.

First Contact
3700a.d.
As the UEE marches towards the El'dan Home world they come across the El'dan Perimeter Colonies and thus begins the Great War. The first few colonies fall easily but as word of the invasion reached the Elders the El'dan dig in and brace for a vicious battle.

The Great War
3700a.d – 3750a.d.
Lacking practical, tactical expertise the El'dan may have been easily overcome by the Human forces had it not been for the Elder's and the El'dan's ability to learn quickly. The El'dan Civilization was also far the superior in terms of technology. Eventually the war grinds to a stalemate along the Crescent Systems and a stationary front is developed. Neither side wanting to give up its hold the front remains contested for nearly 50 years.

The Seven Systems Cluster
3695a.d. – 3748a.d.
Just before the UEE marched into the El'dan Space the last few scheduled empire Expeditionary forces were sent out in the direction opposite of the El'dan March in search of more El'dan technology with which to help bolster the UEE war armada.

As was customary in a private, corporate sponsored ships also accompanied the government vessels in part to help pay for the excursions and, of course, to reap the monetary benefits of any major discoveries.

One expeditionary force in particular, the 459th Mechanized and Privatized Expeditionary Force, came across a small cluster of seven systems. Nicknaming the system cluster "The Seven Systems Cluster," the force entered each system and found that the third and fourth planets of each system were not only habitable but held evidence of a vastly superior race once having lived there.

In each of the systems, the fourth planet was home to a mega-city. Generally these cities occupied nearly 80-percent of the available landmass on the largest continent. The remaining continents, usually representing about 40-percent of the total available landmass on the entire planet, was left relatively untouched except with regards to evidence of farming.

These mega-cities were highly automated and of a technology level never before seen. Stretching for literally thousands of miles the center of each city was comprised of a cluster of four, 6,000-foot tall buildings. The streets were hundreds of feet wide and each city looked as if it had just been constructed only a few years prior to the forces' arrival. Yet with research it was found these cities were many millennia prior. Yet no sign of the original inhabitants could be found. It was as if one day every living thing simply disappeared.

On the third planet of each system, however, a discovery was made that would forever change the fate of Humanity and the El'dan.

Located directly on the equator, on the largest continent, on each of the third planets, a large metal disc is found. This disc is actually the floor to a large elevator platform. Once the secret to operating the elevator is found research teams travel down inside to a huge underground network of hangar-like rooms and giant hallways. After each of the complexes is explored, and cross referenced to the other complexes, research teams work the elevator down one more level only to find that the top level was merely a warehouse for the factory that is the second level.

Each of the seven factories seem to have produced the same machine, yet each also produced different parts creating a seven-fold redundant system wherein each individual factory was capable of producing the complete product yet at the same time producing extra items so that the stockpile from all seven factories could, apparently, be assembled elsewhere.

Each factory was also discovered to have the ability to "reproduce" itself via the use of  

The Seven Systems Machines
The machines these factories built were large, bi-pedal, piloted robotic machines. Similar to the MAIS idea humanity briefly toyed with during the early years of the Great Expansion. These machines, however, were far superior to any fighting machine known to the UEE, and later it would be learned, even the El'dan Empire.

Each machine was constructed via an outer shell fitting over a skeletal system or chassis. The strange thing was that even though they were obviously machines of war no ranged-weapon systems, or designs for such weapons, could be found. The only armament around seemed to be a strange assortment of large hand-to-hand weapons.

Through study of the designs and schematics these machines were discovered to have the ability, not only to fly, but to enter and leave planetary orbit, travel at extremely high rates of speed via running or flying and they were even so powerful as to engage in a completely new type of interstellar travel dubbed "Needling."

While humanity was unable to completely understand and reverse engineer this new technology they did learn how to operate the factories and built several test examples of these machines.

Once a few test pilots were comfortable with the concepts and had been briefed on the limited knowledge available about the machines several tests were conducted. First, the pilots were tasked with simply walking around the warehouse. Once this was mastered the machines were lifted to the surface and running and various walking, running and jumping exercises were practiced. Once the pilots had mastered the basics of ground-based maneuver flying trials were conducted. Once all of these basic maneuvers were mastered atmospheric egress and ingress was studied and finally open space maneuvering and the Needle Drive in each machine was tested. The machines performed flawlessly with a learning curve that was shockingly easy. The pilot-machine interface literally operated at the level of mere thought. Thus making the only apparent limit to what the machine could do the brain that was guiding it.

In testing it was found that the pilot-machine interface seemed to adapt to each individual pilot. The machine eerily felt alive to those pilots who spent the most time "inside." The machine certainly acted alive at some level and it definately had a rudimentary level of AI that would adapt itself to the uniqueness of each pilot. One problem was noted with this system – the machines did not seem to be able to handle switching pilots very often. Once a machine had become adapted – or "branded" as the test pilots called it – to a specific individual it was found to be better to only allow the branded individual to pilot that specific machine. A different pilot would not interface easily with the machine once it had become branded to another pilot.

Once in the cockpit the pilot would enter a deep trance and the interface would literally wrap itself around the meditating pilot forming a cocoon of sorts. Once the man-machine "melding" was complete the pilot would feel as if he or she were actually part of the machine and as such the ability of a pilot to react and translate those reactions to the machine were as quick as thought. It was even found that if a pilot were to wear a standard-issue AEIS suit the machine would still interact with the pilot with very little loss in translation.

In fact it was theorized that the core material that was created in these factories and in turn used to build each SSM was in fact alive at a certain level. While some theories had emerged espousing the idea, and the benefits, to a living material these theories were widely believed to be the ramblings of fanatics and fringe voodoo doctors. Yet, here on the factory worlds of the Seven Systems these voodoo doctors seemed to have been instantly granted some level of credibility.

The only obvious tactical draw back to the machines was the apparent lack of any ranged weaponry. Apparently the machines were designed for melee combat – as evidenced by the examples of swords, spears and knives found in each factory – and as such no ranged weapons, or designs, could be found. Scientists hoped they might find the reasons behind this odd choice of armament through more research but in the mean time human engineers developed retrofit "weapon frames" that would attach to the back of each machine and onto which any assortment of weapons could be attached.

With a limited understanding of this new SSM technology engineers then developed specific weapons capable of damaging a SSM. These weapons were of such weight and power that only large interstellar ships or the Seven Systems Machines, themselves, could deploy them.

The machines were also tested for damage capacity. It was learned that the external armor shell was incredibly resilient to all conventional weapons including nuclear weapons but the internal skeletal structure was far more susceptible to damage. While even the skeletal system was hard to damage SSMs could be dealt enough firepower to slow them down or knock certain systems offline long enough for opposing SSMs to attack the wounded machine. Essentially it boiled down to the only thing that could stop an SSM was another SSM and in this regard the seemingly strange choice of melee weapons proved to be the most effective manner in which to destroy or disable an SSM.  


The Proliferation
3735a.d. – 3748a.d.
Of course the privateers that accompanied the 459th Mechanized EF saw profits in large, nearly unstoppable war machines that could be sold to individual worlds and systems wishing to break free of UEE control. But first and foremost they saw profit in selling SSMs to the UEE with which the UEE could end the Great War in a decisive victory.

The fate of SSMs as a "free market product" was sealed when it was discovered that these factories could reproduce themselves via the use of self produced, "Self Emanating Energized Deployment" pod – or SEEDpod. A SEEDpod could be dropped in a non-populated area and within a month the pod would burrow and build a fully functional factory without any outside intervention. It was almost as if the original designers of the technology wanted it to be found and spread. A spread it was. The privateers got several SEEDs, after the factories were brought online, and had them secretly sent back to various planets across the UEE.

Literally only months after the initial batch of SEEDs were spread throughout the UEE, factories and corporations began clamoring to sell their new weapons of war to the highest bidder.

The UEE tried to control the spread of SSMs but the technology had already been unleashed and the double problem of the technology being too simple to implement and too powerful to be resisted meant it was nearly impossible to control with law or edict and would eventually have to be kept in check by use of similar technology.

However, that was a problem that could be dealt with later. The UEE purchased hundreds of thousands of SSMs and sent them to the front lines of the Great War.

The Problems with Seeders
The amount of resources necessary to construct even one individual, fully armored SSM was enormous. And the key materials used to create the machines were rare in the early days of proliferation. Doubly troubling was the infrastructure needed to obtain the one of the materials was nearly non-existent in these early stages .

The machines used two primary resources. The armor shell consisted of what was dubbed "Black Thyron;" a super dense, super strong form of what could, on a very simplistic level, be described as a "heavy metal" that was native to and abundant in the Seven Systems Cluster. Strangely enough overabundance of the necessary resources to not only produce SSM but sustain the overall level of technology found in the Seven Systems made the abandoning of the systems even that much more bizarre. The second primary resource was the "living metal" which was produced in each factory and of which each factory was constructed of. Not long after researchers discovered the factories they too felt like they were being watched or thatthe factories seemed to open themselves up to the researchers jsut when they were ready to learn more. Very similar feelings to whatthe earlytest pilots of the SSM reported feeling.

This material dubbed "lifeore" was remarkable strong yet fragile at the same time. Lifeore seemed to not only provide the incredible pilot-machine interface and a level of built-in AI but it also seemed to provide its own power and if removed from the SSM in some way it would quickly, for lack of a better term, die. Thus lifeore and the secrets of it's internal, self-sustaining power would remain a mystery for a very long time.

However, even though Black Thyron was not a common material, it did occur naturally throughout the known universe and could even be found in the Sol System. But having few ways to mine the material in the early stages of the proliferation, many of the SEEDling factories would simply substitute inferior grades of materials to produce the armor plating. Lifeore was not a problem as the factory itself somehow created the substance but the material for the super-dense armor was hard to obtain in the mad rush to build and sell these war machines.

In combat these machines, built in the SEEDling factories, generally would not stand up to nearly as much damage as a correctly produced SSM thus leading to the derogatory term "Seeder." It was also around this time that the existence of the Seven Systems Cluster was generally made known to the various worlds of the UEE and thus two names became attached to the term SSM; Seeder for any SSM manufactured outside of the Seven Systems Cluster and 7FM for SSMs manufactured at the original Seven Factories. Eventually the UEE would procure most of their SSM from the original Seven factories but in the early stages of the proliferation they took anything they could get.

Even though the most common area to skimp on in SEEDling factories was the external armor of the machine generally speaking "Seeders" were still extremely powerful and fast machines that were nearly unstoppable - and thus they sold.

The Great War Ends
3752a.d.
Once enough SSMs (Seeders or 7FMs ) the UEE bought thousands upon thousands and deployed them to the Crescent Front. Upon arriving at the front the machines laid waste to all but the most fortified and strongest held points where upon more machines were thrown in and even these point eventually fell. As the Crescent Front started to collapse, the Elder's realizing that this new technology the humans were wielding was nearly unstoppable, called for a truce. The UEE warily accepted, now worrying about threats from internal factions, and eventually the two sides learned of their mistakes and how their paths crossed.

Recognizing the peace and stability the Elder's form of government offered the UEE agreed to merge the two empires into one – under a mixture of democratic and genecratic (as humans had come to call the idea of genetically engineered leaders) forms of government. The leaders of the UEE hoped that with the power of the Elders the government might finally take control away from corporations and lead the human worlds to a more peaceful and less competitive existence.

And Old Threat, New Problem
3755a.d. – 3800a.d.
Because humanity was steeped in opportunistic and capitalistic traditions an old threat now was presenting itself as a new problem now endangering the newly formed Elder-Human Government – and that threat was internal factions, opportunism, or simply put, Human Nature.

With the proliferation of SSMs nearly any organized faction with access to even as few as three or four SSMs could be a formable problem. And thus the EHG developed the EHG Stellar Police. Equipped with the latest advances in SSM retrofits (lightweight, heavy capacity frames, armor modifications as well as other tweaks) this force was tasked with putting down any potential uprisings within the EHG Corridor (a line of populated systems between the El'dan Home worlds and the Sol System).

Thus the Great War was ended and the great empires of Humanity and the El'dan were united it was a time of much turmoil and unabashed attempts to gain or break free of power.

Legacy of the Seven Systems
3800a.d.
With the Great War ended and the El'dan and Humans now one empire struggling to unite, the humans shared their discovery of the Seven Systems cluster and allowed El'dan engineers access to the original Seven Factories. While not even the El'dan could fully understand all of the technological discoveries found in the Seven Systems they were able to help advance some of the simpler systems found on the basic SSM.

There are still many mysteries surrounding the Seven Systems Cluster and the technology it's inhabitants seemingly abandoned but for now the EHG is occupied with controlling the newly formed federation and expanding it's exploration efforts.

As word of the Seven Cities worked it's way through the EHG Corridor many of more wealthy and educated made pilgrimage to settle in these beautiful and grand cities. They became a Mecca of sorts for the privileged and peaceful of the combined civilization. Thus leaving the "Corridor" to the more brash and "hardy" of the EHG, which of course, led to it gaining the nickname "the shooting gallery."  

[Sydney Freedberg]

Just wanted to say, nicely done. You've incorporated folks' suggestions with your own twist. I particularly like the inherent tension that the mechs are semi-alive but mainstream science scoffs at the idea -- and, come to think of, mainstream human science would pretty much have a nervous breakdown to discover so much incomprehensible alien tech. You really would end up with some people rejecting the Ancient technologies because they don't fit established mental categories and others rejecting scientific rationalism in order to adopt the semi-magical mindset you mention ("if I press this button, this happens -- don't care why -- no way to know -- but it gives me power").

[greedo1379]

This is great.  The idea has really developed in the past weeks.