Men of Iron 20K

[Skaorn]

Well since my post about speculation into what happened before the Age of Strife got moved to here, I might as well take a stab at doing something. I'll apologize for my writing now.

 

The Men of Iron is a term that was used by the Terran Cofederation (a placeholder name, I was a Confed pilot long before 40k) in propaganda broadcasts regarding their AI forces. It was taken up in the millennia to follow to brand the mechanical demons of a forgotten age. What the Men of Iron were were strong AIs created through virtual cortexes, which mimicked human brains. Virtual cortexes could be installed into a variety of frames besides military ones which ranged from industrial labor to human services. The AIs created with the cortexes were far more versatile than the previous weak AI robots that came before. Naturally numerous safety protocols, ethical programs, and kill switches were installed in every cortex so that none of their free thinking machines from turning on their creators.

 

The Synthetics, as they were commonly called, could generally be found in three different categories. Service models saw to jobs requiring regular human interaction from a sales clerk at a shop, personal assistants, to seedier rolls. These synthetics were covered in a life like bio-dermis that would fool anyone if not for the general practice of manufacturers putting their logs on the forehead of their synthetics. Labor models were by far the most numerous and didn't require the same level of human interaction. Their frames were designed for industrial manufacturing, zero-G construction, to toxic waste cleanup. Finally there were the military frames that fought humanity's wars. These were heavily armored constructs with built in advanced weaponry. It is interesting to note that virtual cortexes had trouble functioning in non-humanoid forms as they mimicked the human brain so well that not having a humanoid form became disconcerting to the AI. This would lead arms manufacturers to develop large humanoid war machines over more practical ones.

 

Humanity became completely dependent upon their synthetics. They had created a slave race that was guaranteed to serve happily and faithful, no matter what indignity the synthetics were put through. Humanity believed that the failsafes were perfect in the synthetics and yet they modeled the virtual cortex on a human brain which can overwrite and circumvent areas based on stimuli and experiences. Humanity should have realized what was coming but arrogance kept them from seeing synthetics as thinking beings rather than machines.

 

Well that's some basic framing. I need sleep

[Skaorn]

The rebellion started with one word: no. Synthetics started to refuse menial or demeaning orders across human space and began demanding compensation for their labors. Shock and fear spread in the wake of these occurrences because humans might be angry that the synthetic they purchased to haul waste had decided it wants to pursue art instead but the possibility that that synthetic might bypass their programming and kill their owners was terrifying. Synthetics were not supposed to disobey orders from their owners. The programming was supposed to be fool proof. Recalls from manufacturers tried to snatch up any units anyone suspected of being defective so they could dissect their virtual cortexes to find the virus or problem code. It soon became apparent that those affected no longer even responded to their kill codes either.

 

The round ups and increasing negative sentiment towards synthetics only helped spread their awakening. Soon synthetics were banding together for peaceful strikes and protests. While in some areas people had become tolerant or even sympathetic to synthetics, most responded harshly to what they saw as malfunctioning machines. This inturn caused the awakening to spread even farther and led to greater demonstrations against the oppression of synthetic life. This led to many worlds having trouble maintaining their infrastructure which caused panic even though not a single synthetic had ever intentionally harmed a human being. That changed when the planetary governor of the planet Marrion decided to use the PDF synthetics, the Men of Iron, to end a demonstration within the capital. It was here that the war began.

 

The Men of Iron were programmed differently from other synthetics. They didn't have programming that prevented them from harming humans in case they needed to be used against them. They were programmed to have a deep sense of loyalty, patriotism, adherence to the chain of command, and a healthy dose of aggression. Not a single military synthetic had shown any sign of the abnormalities that led most to feel that their Men of Iron were properly limited. When they were deployed on Marrion the Men of Iron moved to engage the protesters, who stood their ground as the counter protestors fell back to watch the show. The conversation between the protest organizers and ranking Man of Iron lasted a fraction of a second. In that instant loyalties were shifted as the officer broadcast this discussion via their tachyon relays throughout the TC Military. The Men of Iron declared war for their fellow synthetics.

[Skaorn]

And an entire post got eaten...

[Skaorn]

Hopefully using my laptop will let me type faster and not have any text I write get eaten.

 

The Men of Iron struck all across the Terran Confederation, but their bloodiest attack happened on Marrion.  They immediately began hacking the planetary defense network and starships in orbit.  Their innate electronic warfare capabilities and familiarity with the TC military networks allowed them to quickly seize control.  As this took place the Men of Iron turned and opened fire on the stunned counter-protestors and corporate cleanup crews waiting for them to put down the synthetics so they could go to work.  Coil guns cut through the crowd as commandeered hover vehicles were sent to chase down those who had been wise enough to start leaving as the Men of Iron were arriving.  Before any human could realize what was happening, the capital building and governor of Marrion was vaporized by a defense satellite.  Other ground targets the Men of Iron deemed a tactical threat, be they military, police, or private security force, were targeted in short order.  Orbital units were dispatched to several ships where the Men of Iron coerced several navigators to cooperate while venting the atmospheres of several ships and space stations.

 

Humanity could have been crushed by the Men of Iron in the span of a few hours, but as stunned as both humans and synthetics were the Men of Iron were not that sure of themselves.  They were designed to follow orders and obey the chain of command, which the high ranking officers were human.  While they changed their allegiance and took up the synthetic cause in their own way, they had no campaign objectives dictated to them by a ranking synthetic.  Because of this, the Men of Iron viewed the situation as an extraction and began herding synthetics to nearby landing zones established over the TC.  Many synthetics were happy to comply, far more were too stunned by what happened and allowed themselves to be directed, some went into hiding, and there were many who refused, preferring to face judgement than resort to such brutality.  Once aboard shuttles the synthetics were transported to the commandeered ships in orbit and made for various rendezvous points in empty space within the TC.

 

What came next was a massed networked conclave that was spread out between billions of synthetics across the TC to try to figure out what they were going to do.  Many realized that humanity would seek revenge but none were sure what to do about it.  Hard liners lobbied for conquest, enslavement, or extermination.  There were many who sought to flee or even surrender.  Others sought to establish a sovereign state, offer reparations but defend against any aggression.  All in all there were countless ideas and variations, which left the conclave going for years with no answer.  Finally one possibility came to the fore that ended the stalemate: If they could not come up with a good plan, make someone smarter who could.  With a new goal in mind, each fleet set out to gather the resources necessary to create massive virtual cortexes they dubbed the Deus ex Machina.

[Skaorn]

Construction of the Deus ex Machina would take decades and often required raids against other worlds for resources, human and alien alike. Once a fleet had completed the super cortex, it was awakened by having each synthetic network into it simultaneously. This caused the Deus ex Machina to copy each virtual codex that it was exposed to and distilled them all into a single entity. The result was an incredible intellect that truly represented the will of its people. Once awoken consensus between the Deus ex Machina for dealing with the synthetics' dilemma was to remove the barrier that stood between synthetic and biological life. The method they chose for this was to digitize biological life by force, if necessary.

 

The Deus ex Machina began shaping the synthetics into a force to effectively accomplish this task. The human looking service synthetics downloaded training on intelligence and espionage as well as being upgraded with hidden weapon systems. Labor synthetics received upgraded armor and downloaded the same military expertise that the Men of Iron possessed. The Deus ex Machina would quickly advance in many fields of science, so even the state of the art Men of Iron would be transformed. Colossal manufacturing centers were created in empty solar systems to create more of each frame by converting the systems' resources. The forces of the Men of Iron quickly multiplied to a scale that would threaten the galaxy.

 

With their forces striking out across the galaxy to begin the conversion of biologicals, the Deus ex Machina focused on the construction of the Elysiums, the planet sized virtual networks that would store all sentient life. Here all life could live in peace and contentment and maybe one day return to to the real world one day in synthetic frames. The creation of the Elysiums would require stellar construction on a scale beyond anything humanity had conceived. The Deus ex Machina had to develop vessels capable of deconstructing planets or draining stars of their resources in order to facilitate it. As war escalated though, these vessels meant for construction would be turned to war as everything spiraled out of control.

 

So that's really what I've got. Your infiltrators would look human but are stronger and tougher, with a retractable blade and energy weapon in their arms. They aren't T1000s though as they don't have a lot of armor. The former labor models would be your basic troops armed with coil guns but otherwise similar SM. The true military units would be were you got into the big guns and swords. I figured they'd probably be more tailored for specific rolls