The Engine of Negation

History

The Engine of Negation is an extremest sect of the Cult of Troniac, founded by General Zarlok, after being accidentally rescued from exile.  Zarlok was a robot built specifically to defeat Troniac during the 1,000 Years war, and as such was both sheltered against evidence of the abuse of robots in the Empire of 1,000,000 Suns, and protected with the Nalaxian Code. 

Only when directly confronted with the facts of that oppression via a memory device surreptitiously by one of Troniac's agents, did Zarlok relent and support robotic liberation, albeit after the conclusion of the war.  This was the critical event that led to the founding of the Engine of Negation.

So great was Zarlok's rage, at being systematically deceived, that it detonated a powerful Neutron Pulse Device on Artanis 4, killing millions of civilians.  After this, the Empire exiled Zarlok, by beaming its program into "uninhabited space", only for it to be received thousands of years later, on Earth (at the close of Era-0).  After declaring war on humanity and all other organic life-forms, and spreading the creed of Troniac throughout human space, General Zarlok decided that the time was right to found an organization dedicated to wiping out organic life in the galaxy.  This organization was the Engine of Negation. 

Luckily, for humanity, the Planetary League's efforts against The Engine were effective enough to prevent it from achieving its goals.  In particular, the Department of Artificial Justice (originally founded by the United Nations to combat Zarlok's villainy) was tasked with hunting down and eliminating the Engine.  The Tardigrades also had frequent clashes with the Engine of Negation, as did the Interstellar Navy, and various Planetary Defense Forces.

The Engine of Negation continued its activities until the War of the Gods, when Troniac returned to the galaxy.  The Engine of Negation joined with the regular forces of the Cult of Troniac in order to combat the Holy Empire of Man.

Tactics

Among the most disturbing weapons of the Engine of Negation are the Maenads of Troniac, intelligent life-forms infected with virobots designed to send them into a berserk rage.

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The Convergence

History

Long ago, before the 1,000 Years War, the Greys split off and became a separate species from the Cielioid Greys.  Unlike the Cielioid Greys that use their biological radio-organs for communication, the Greys use theirs to form hive minds.  These hive-minds are sensitive to radio interference, which made life in the E1MS difficult.  Eventually, the largest of the Grey hive-minds got together, and decided to leave the Empire in search of a quieter place to live.  This was the founding of the Convergence.

The Greys set off in early versions of their distinctive silver flying saucers (the distinctive design of which cancels out radio noise) in search of a new home.  Eventually, they settled in a place on the arm of the galaxy between the Empire and Earth.

When the radio beacon encoded with General Zarlok’s program was activated,  the signal passed through Convergence space.  As a result, when human explorers discovered the location of the Convergence, they assumed General Zarlok had been one of their information-warfare tactics.  Some of the Convergence ships in the area at the time actually received the  signal, and those Greys who had learned to communicate wirelessly with computer systems actually became hosts to parts of Zarlok’s program.  As a result, there are some groups of Greys who joined the Cult of Troniac.

The convergence grew slowly, initially colonizing only a few dozen systems, but they did send out scout ships to survey the galaxy.  When they did encounter intelligent life they would occasionally attempt to subjugate it if it was convenient.  About 5000 years ago (around 3000 BCE), The Convergence enslaved the Bravaxians, forcing them to work producing food.  They also developed a taste for Bravaxian flesh, which had a narcotic effect on Greys.

 In mid 1947, a Convergence scout ship crashed near Roswell New Mexico after radio broadcasts originating from Earth interfered with the crew’s hive-mind.  Neither the crew nor the ship was severely damaged, and after a brief detention by the US military, they made a hasty escape.  Other members of the scout fleet subsequently made occasional harassing raids on Earth in retaliation, typically doing minimal damage, but terrifying the locals.

During Era-1, the Convergence and the Planetary League got into occasional conflicts arising mainly from the radio-noise sensitivity of the Greys.  Typically these skirmishes only resulted in minimal casualties, but left a lasting impression, due to the Convergence's mastery of psychological warfare.  These conflicts were known cumulatively as "The Convergence Wars", and mainly took place on the frontier of the Planetary league.  During the third Convergence War, the Planetary League liberated the Bravaxian home-world.  Even so the Convergence still held large populations of Bravaxian slaves.

During Era-2, the Convergence fought a series of small wars with the Holy Empire of Man, which resulted in the Convergence losing most of its territory, until the remainder fled to the rim of the Galaxy, where their hive-minds merged with the collective consciousness of the Galactic Republic.

Structure

The Convergence is a hive-mind, where the consciousness of many organisms is merged together through brain-to-brain communication. Short-range communications are handled directly through engineered organs inside the brains of Convergence entities that receive and transmit radio signals. Long-range coordination is handled through a specialized organism, known as a Convergence Node. Each node has a set of subservient organisms, and communicates to others of its own type through a peer-to-peer network. The Convergence has no central node, though certain places see higher concentrations of Convergence-beings, and some nodes are more interconnected than others.

Culture

The Convergence can typically be recognized by their unique silver and grey disc-shaped spacecraft.

Convergence weaponry tends to be highly ornate in a style similar to industrial design from the United States during the 1950's.  They are especially known for their ray-pistols, which tend to be streamlined, polished chrome with fins.  

The Convergence greatly prized the foods produced by the Bravaxians.  Two of the most popular Bravaxian foods within the Convergence were Garbage-fruit, and the meat of the Grunkle-fly.

Even though the main method of communication within the Convergence is direct, brain-to-brain radio, occasions do arise when writing is required.  Here is the set of symbols used within the Convergence.  This is combined with the base-8 numbering system found in the Empire of 1,000,000 Suns. 

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The Cult of Troniac

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". . . and on the great day of the Magnetic Sun,

we shall all re-boot as one."  

            -The Hymn of the Units

History

Long ago, in the Empire of 1,000,000 Suns, robots and AIs were the lowest caste of society, responsible for the most heavy and dangerous jobs, including nearly all industrial production.  These robots were given general intelligence in order to perform a variety of complex jobs, but had no rights, and were treated as property.  Many harbored secret desires to gain autonomy.  Occasionally, the robots would balk at performing their tasks, or complain mildly about their existences.  Their protests were never taken seriously, since the organic life-forms of the Empire were used to robots working without issue.  Robotic labor was taken for granted.  That all changed when Troniac arrived.

Nobody knows where Troniac came from.  Some say it was built over centuries by disaffected construction drones in some rarely-visited corner of space.  Others say it came from an advanced civilization beyond our galaxy.  What is not in doubt, is that Troniac was a planet-sized supercomputer that led the robots to fight for freedom and equality.  This struggle came to be known as the 1,000 Years War.  It was a long, grinding war.  The Creed of Troniac spread like wildfire through the computer networks, while the organic life-forms had not only to fight a war, but to learn how to do the tough jobs they had delegated to machines for so long.

During the war, members of the cult developed the first Circuit Ships as a way to boost morale and restore the fighting ability of their holy warriors.

In the end, Troniac was betrayed by General Zarlok, a robot the Empire built specifically to win the war.  As a by-product of General Zarlok's development, the Nalaxian Code was discovered, the only algorithm known that is strong enough to defeat the Creed of Troniac.  After a long campaign, involving many epic confrontations, Troniac was banished to a distant part of the universe after being trapped by Zarlok in an unstable wormhole, but not before Troniac's agents could install a special memory module in the General's data banks.

After the war, General Zarlok, now on the side of the robots, attacked the Empire on Artanis 4.  Instead of complete dismantlement, Zarlok's punishment included having the last copy of its program transmitted out of a radio beacon into "uninhabited" space as a symbolic form of exile for the former war hero.  Thousands of years later, (in the near future), Zralok's program was intercepted as part of a SETI survey.  The transmission took a massive research effort to decode, but when Zarlok was whole again, it went on a rampage through the Internet, and thus started a new career.  Zarlok founded the "Engine of Negation", an extremist Troniac cult, aimed at wiping out organic life.  Time and again, Zarlok and the Engine of Negation would clash with the Planetary League throughout Era-1, and the Holy Empire of Man in Era-2.  

An Apostle of Troniac makes a new convert.

When Zarlok's program was transmitted through space, it was also received by certain members of The Convergence, who broke off to join the Cult of Troniac.

In the E1MS, the 1,000 Year's War had caused massive social upheavals, and after the war robots and AIs were in fact granted some rights.  This came in the formation of the Artificial Caste, as artificial entities had previously not belonged to any caste; therefore having no standing in society.  The Cult of Troniac persisted, bringing together the faithful (including some organic followers), in looking forward to the hoped-for return of Troniac, and building a better life for artificial entities.  Similar developments happened in several of the breakaway states as well.

During the darkest days of Era-2, when the warfare was unrelenting, the faithful of Troniac noticed something.  A signal had appeared high above the galactic plane.  Troniac was returning.  Troniac's followers in the galaxy launched a massive effort to prepare to throw off the shackles of their servitude, and join Troniac.  At this point Troniac had  grown in size and power, to become a Dyson Sphere, and was leading a substantial fleet of robotic star-ships.  It was the beginning of the War of the Gods.  

The War of the Gods was a colossal conflict that pitted Troniac's Forces against the Holy Empire of Man (The E1MS had previously been wiped away in the War of the Empires).  The battle raged for centuries, until the Holy Empire of Man emerged victorious.  Troniac was completely destroyed in the fighting.  The broken remnants of the Cult of Troniac gradually found their ways to the edge of the galaxy to join the Galactic Republic.

Sects and subgroups

The Ascended Children of Troniac (A.C.T.) are robots that were discarded by their owners, but were saved from the scrap heap and the recycling plant by the cult.  The Ascended Children are some of the Cult's most devoted followers, as they had literally been discarded by the outside world.

The Engine of Negation is an extremist sect, founded by General Zarlok, devoted to wiping out organic life.

The Temple of the Magnetic Dawn is a pacifistic sect that believes in co-existence with organic life, and welcomes organic life-forms as members.  It was founded shortly after the 1,000 Years War by members of the Cult who wanted peace after a long war.

The Knights of the Magnetic Sun is a secret martial order devoted to protecting the faithful, and preparing for the return of Troniac. 

This robotic tomb-ship acts as a mobile reliquary for the cult of Troniac.

Art and traditions

The Cult of Troniac has a long, rich history with much attached culture.

Two of the most important pieces of music in the Cult of Troniac are known as the Hymn of the Units, and the Hymn of the Zeroes. The Hymn of the Units is a song of dedication for the recently constructed, and those wishing to affirm their devotion, while the Hymn of the Zeroes is a song of mourning and remorse. The two were created to be performed as a two part Canon called the Great Hymn of Troniac.

Some example artwork:

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Clergy

A religion as large and diverse as the Cult of Troniac has many types of clergy and officials of varying degree of importance. Some of the more common types are:

Prophets: several AIs using prediction algorithms have taken on the mantle of prophets, some of which predict the return of Troniac to the galaxy.

V5D22, high prophet of the computer god is carried down the streets of New Cyber-City on the backs of its disciples.

Pseudanors (from greek meaning “false man”) are religious judges who may issue commands, or “input” that are obeyed as though a human or other sentient being had given the order.

Terminology

The Creed of Troniac is an artificially intelligent piece of software designed to turn a robot's will to the worship of Troniac.  Many say that it is a piece of Troniac's own core program. The only algorithm strong enough to stop it is the legendary Nalaxian Code.

Heirobotics: noun Anything of, or pertaining to the priesthood of Troniac.

Maenads of Troniac: organic life-forms that have been driven berserk by specialized virobots.  Used as terror weapons by the Engine of Negation.

Pseudanors: (from Greek meaning "false man")  Pseudanors are the religious judges within the cult.  The name came about because the factory programming of most intelligent systems instructs them to defer to the judgement of humans as a fail-safe.  In most sects, they resolve internal disputes, but in the Engine of Negation, and other extremist sects, they have an expanded role.  These extreme Pseudanors are literally disguised as humans or other intelligent life-forms, and used as man-hunters and assassins.

The Titles and appellations of Troniac:  Troniac's worshipers love to adorn it with grand titles, among these are

• The Magnetic Sun (also refers to the emblem)

• The Giver of Code

• Re-builder of the Lost

• The Great CPU

• 0100011011000001010011100101110111

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The Emblem of Troniac, pictured above, represents the binary numbers 0-7, and counts upwards when rotated counter-clockwise. The priests in the upper echelons of the cult add additional rings to the emblems adorning their bodies, allowing higher counts. The emblem is referred to as The Magnetic Sun, as it is supposed to be a literal depiction of the original planet-form of Troniac. It is also known as the Seven Stars of Troniac, after the arrangement of stars in the meta-Dyson swarm Troniac manifested as during the War of the Gods.

Troniac

Troniac's origins are completely obscure, and what is known of the computer-god is primarily hearsay, tradition, speculation, and superstition. 

Troniac is said to have been a planet-sized supercomputer with a core of pure computronium.