Mayhem
A habitable planet in the Cascadian System, Mayhem is a former American Federation world which came under the control of toren scavenger clans during the Interstellar Dark Ages. It is notable for its feral mechology which scavengers harvest for parts and resources.
While similar situations happened on other planets, Mayhem is notable in that the emergent mechology was not eliminated or marginalized when it was re-occupied. Instead, the toren settlers carved out safe "green zones" in which to build settlements while leaving the rest as vast hunting grounds. These areas, covering most of the land and ocean, are infested with feral drones and other autonomous systems of many kinds, rendering them extremely dangerous to unprepared travelers.
These drones come in many types, sizes, and roles, a large portion of them descending from military robots equipped with various types of weapons. They have arranged into an emergent technological ecology alongside other systems such as power stations and factories. Among the most commonly-seen types are rover-like reclaimers which salvage the remains of other fallen drones, underground drillmites which seek out raw resources, flying-wing scout aircraft, various forms of wheeled or tracked fighting vehicles, and vicious airborne jackhoppers. Other, rarer, classes of drone include feral attack fighters, bombers, orbital interdictors, and deep-sea submarines. "Evolution" has occurred in these robots over time as their replication and production systems are subject to selective pressures, refining their outputs in accordance with environmental changes (e.g. removing extraneous communications equipment and reducing interior volumes designed to hold people). Some Mayhem drones are capable of self-replication with onboard fabrication units, however most are produced in large factory structures which are sometimes mobile. Using gathered resources, these manufacture new drones and repair damaged ones.
There are also environment-altering drones which install infrastructure for others to use. A traveler crossing the Hunting Grounds will often see fields of solar flowers connected to electrical lines which passing drones can tap for energy, and biomechanical trees which extract minerals from underground and deuterium from water.
Through a complex system of hunting privileges and restrictions, the Mayhem clans have managed to keep their mechology sustainable, only harvesting from it at rates it can regenerate without long-term damage. Attempts to gain direct control over the autonomous systems have yet to succeed on a large scale since the original encryption keys are long-lost and in many cases the drones have evolved away their capabilities to recieve remote commands. The mechology can be manipulated in other ways, however, such as introducing new components which are adopted and duplicated for later harvest, and feeding drones resources to increase their replication rates.
It was in this wrecked, robot-infested state that Scavlord Deff Killaton and his clan found the planet during the Interstellar Dark Ages. Ever the enterprising scavengers, the torens saw an opportunity to build a new civilization from the ruins and began to establish settlements and organize drone hunts to secure their territories and obtain valuable components. As interstellar civilization rebuilt, more toren clans came to the planet, which gained the new name Mayhem to reflect the dynamic nature of the hunts which range across its surface. In the present, even torens who have never been to Mayhem are often quite proud of it, since it represents a world molded by them, free of any outsiders trying to control their destinies. Most of Mayhem's population is torens, with minorities of other Terran uplift species and small communities of avens valued for their expertise at high technology and airship design. Humans on Mayhem are viewed with suspicion, the surrounding Independent American States do not exactly appreciate the torens having appropriated a planet which once belonged to their ancestors.
Planetary Characteristics
Orbiting on the inward portions of its sun's habitable zone, Mayhem has approximately 0.85g of surface gravity and a sea-level atmospheric pressure of around 1.1 bars. Oceans cover about half of the surface, resulting in most continents blending together into one continuous landmass with lowlands and highlands.Feral Mechology
During its time as an American world, the original inhabitants invested heavily into robotics and autonomous infrastructure to support their terraforming effort and build a defense against the nearby Celestial Union. After Mayhem was devastated in the Age of Strife, surviving autonomous systems, capable of self-replication and now uncontrolled, spread across the planet to form an artificial ecology.While similar situations happened on other planets, Mayhem is notable in that the emergent mechology was not eliminated or marginalized when it was re-occupied. Instead, the toren settlers carved out safe "green zones" in which to build settlements while leaving the rest as vast hunting grounds. These areas, covering most of the land and ocean, are infested with feral drones and other autonomous systems of many kinds, rendering them extremely dangerous to unprepared travelers.
These drones come in many types, sizes, and roles, a large portion of them descending from military robots equipped with various types of weapons. They have arranged into an emergent technological ecology alongside other systems such as power stations and factories. Among the most commonly-seen types are rover-like reclaimers which salvage the remains of other fallen drones, underground drillmites which seek out raw resources, flying-wing scout aircraft, various forms of wheeled or tracked fighting vehicles, and vicious airborne jackhoppers. Other, rarer, classes of drone include feral attack fighters, bombers, orbital interdictors, and deep-sea submarines. "Evolution" has occurred in these robots over time as their replication and production systems are subject to selective pressures, refining their outputs in accordance with environmental changes (e.g. removing extraneous communications equipment and reducing interior volumes designed to hold people). Some Mayhem drones are capable of self-replication with onboard fabrication units, however most are produced in large factory structures which are sometimes mobile. Using gathered resources, these manufacture new drones and repair damaged ones.
There are also environment-altering drones which install infrastructure for others to use. A traveler crossing the Hunting Grounds will often see fields of solar flowers connected to electrical lines which passing drones can tap for energy, and biomechanical trees which extract minerals from underground and deuterium from water.
Cultivation and Hunting
The feral drones roaming Mayhem are hunted for parts and resources by numerous scavenger clans who operate out of bases in the Green Zones. The end result is similar to conventional manufacturing--packaged product ready for use or export--but by "outsourcing" production to the pre-existing artificial ecology the inhabitants can avoid the expense of constructing their own factories. The Hunting Grounds are typically roamed by heavily-armed scavenging parties in airships or landcrawlers who fight, disable, and bring aboard drones for salvaging. The catches are then usually carried to a facility for processing.Through a complex system of hunting privileges and restrictions, the Mayhem clans have managed to keep their mechology sustainable, only harvesting from it at rates it can regenerate without long-term damage. Attempts to gain direct control over the autonomous systems have yet to succeed on a large scale since the original encryption keys are long-lost and in many cases the drones have evolved away their capabilities to recieve remote commands. The mechology can be manipulated in other ways, however, such as introducing new components which are adopted and duplicated for later harvest, and feeding drones resources to increase their replication rates.
History
The planet was terraformed and settled by the American Federation, which dubbed it Independence. With its favorable environment, it attracted large numbers of colonists and the population grew to over fifteen billion. Located on the outer edges of the Federation wormhole network, near the Celestial Union, the Cascadian system changed hands several times as the two superpowers squabbled for control and the planet was threatened with attack on numerous occasions. When these disputes broke out into apocalyptic warfare, Independence, along with many other planets, became the site of mass catastrophe as it was devastated by relativistic weapons. Survivors, if any, are thought to have escaped to space habitats elsewhere in the Cascadian system or perished as the feral mechology established itself.It was in this wrecked, robot-infested state that Scavlord Deff Killaton and his clan found the planet during the Interstellar Dark Ages. Ever the enterprising scavengers, the torens saw an opportunity to build a new civilization from the ruins and began to establish settlements and organize drone hunts to secure their territories and obtain valuable components. As interstellar civilization rebuilt, more toren clans came to the planet, which gained the new name Mayhem to reflect the dynamic nature of the hunts which range across its surface. In the present, even torens who have never been to Mayhem are often quite proud of it, since it represents a world molded by them, free of any outsiders trying to control their destinies. Most of Mayhem's population is torens, with minorities of other Terran uplift species and small communities of avens valued for their expertise at high technology and airship design. Humans on Mayhem are viewed with suspicion, the surrounding Independent American States do not exactly appreciate the torens having appropriated a planet which once belonged to their ancestors.
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