Organismus Cyberneticus

The Organismus Cyberneticus, or Alien Cyborgs for short, are a species rarely encountered by humanity. Found in the Milky Way towards the core and extending as far as some neighbouring systems to human controlled region of space, they are so far neutral to humanity. Conflict has broken out on occasion, usually over territory and human elements trying to get their hands on the Alien Cyborgs technology.

Basic Information

Anatomy

The actual anatomy & morphology of the Alien Cyborgs is nearly impossible to classify. It appears that they were in some way humanoid, at least once. Each is heavily modified with cybernetic and bionic implants of which only a few can be readily worked out by human scientists. Many still have a cranium and some facial features such as eyes, a nose and upper jaw parts similar to humans though parts of these are still heavily modified. Many may have the remains of general humanoid anatomy in appearance such a chest, one or two legs or arms, or lower abdomen. Minimal organs are present with only a superficial skin, skeleton, and muscular system left. No hair is present and most organic tissue is filled with metallic and/or silicone based substances, and what appears to be nanomachines.

Biological Traits

Little biological parts remain of the cyborg race, though they start of as organics. They take on cybernetics easily leading to more highly efficient systems.

Genetics and Reproduction

The Alien Cyborg civilisation relies on a form of In-Vitro Fertilisation. Done on an industrial scale, whole chambers of their largest ships to city sized factories on their worlds are dedicated to this. The fertilised eggs are drawn out of fertilising chambers by specialised suction tubes, with scanners built into both the tubes and the chambers. The chambers are usually 6 feet in height and about 3.5 feet wide & deep.
Both the eggs & sperm are stored separately in low temperature banks. Each is marked as to the genetic lineage of each strain and each is mathematically worked out as to which would be most genetically compatible, then placed together is the large tanks that act as a precursor to a womb. When removed, they are placed individually within bioengineered wombs based on tissue drawn from the same tissue found in their species females. There they sit for roughly 10 months, with minor biological & cybernetic work are carried out until matured. Afterwards they are passed to maturation chambers.
The species have 48 base pairs in their DNA sequence, with 24 from the male line and 24 from their female line. The shape of the male DNA is a V shape, and female a W shape. So, this works out as WV for a male, and WW for female. Examination by human scientists indicates that a certain amount of genetic engineering has been done on the DNA. The exact reasons for this is unknown without knowing the genetic history of the species.

Growth Rate & Stages

When 'born', and placed in maturation chambers, the individual are fed growth hormones & fed information directly into their nervous system. Hard-wiring of cybernetics & neuron pathways are carried out at this stage. Within a full solar year, the individual is fully grown, roughly equivalent to a 21 year old human adult.
During the growth cycle they carry out a number of tasks that determine the psychological makeup of the individual. Even with the bio & cybernetic engineering during the year, the individual still develops a personality and talents of their own. This allows for a more flexible individual Alien Cyborg, and they develop unique traits along with highly individualistic cybernetic implants.

Ecology and Habitats

As a species, these people prefer a slightly warmer, drier environment. There is a higher carbon dioxide (CO2) and Ozone (trioxygen / O3) in their ships and buildings, along with their planets.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Each individual cyborg has a primitive digestive system, and requires a diet of high grade food paste made in factories using a mix of microbes & fungal extracts. These are grown in hydroponic facilities, and have a number of nutrients. Water is available, and tablets are fed to the individuals too. The latter is extracted from the same nutrient sources, and from processed inorganic mineral sources.
On top of that, the machine parts are constantly being rebuilt, repurposed and refined. This adds material to each cyborg, and nanobots constantly recycle parts & molecules within the cyborg body. As needed, there are alcoves throughout their settlements and vehicles that dispense the foodstuffs, update cybernetic implants and waste disposal. These are linked to automated systems that are constantly monitored by robotic machines that keep them topped up & dispose of rubbish (again are recycled where possible). The cyborgs that are permanently linked into a space has their own supplies wired in directly.

Biological Cycle

Nobody outside their empire knows the exact age they die at naturally, though they seem to be much longer lived to well over 100 years or more. The older the cyborg is, the less biological tissue they have. If anything the elders of their species seem to be more of a brain & nervous system wired up to & inside machinery. Examination of the remains by scientists have shown that the cyborgs have longer telomers in their DNA, and seem to have it capped after a while where it doesn't loose any more of these.

Behaviour

The Alien Cyborgs are described as cold and calculating. They are known for being highly intelligent as well, along with finding other species as inferior and unworthy of being dealt with unless they need too. Most also come across as individualistic though sometimes seem to have a hive mentality. This is in part to their ability to link into a centralised AI quantum computer core, and to other individuals.

Additional Information

Social Structure

A hierarchy of some of the eldest cyborgs rule over the rest. They are buried deep throughout the cyborg empire's space and none outside of the empire has ever encountered them, at least directly. Their commands are followed through by those under them without question, and all information is passed through the different layers or sections through to them to make the final decision on.
Below the elders are sector command. Led by experienced cyborgs that act as a collective when the need arises, they take orders directly from the elders while following their own agendas & tasks. Sometimes these overlap with others and will gladly work with other cyborgs. They never allow their own agendas to interfere with anything that threatens the social structure of the species as a whole.
Regional officers, planetary officers and general officers are below the sector command. All are of equal rank, with the regional officers govern a set region of space to look after, while planetary officers usually deal with the specifics of a star system or planet controlled by the cyborg empire. General officers control any manner of duties. These range from laboratories, work details, military units or naval assets, and factories. They have a broad range of responsibilities and as long as it furthers the aim of the citizens & empire they are generally left to carry out the day-to-day running of their charges.
General cyborg citizens make up the majority of the empire. They are loyal and can be raised up or down in society as necessary to fulfil tasks. Individually, many have experience & knowledge that helps in specific areas, and can be called upon to fulfil specific roles for a set amount of time or until a task is complete. They do follow orders as best they can, and are willing to question their superiors if there is something they object to or need further information.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

The species is spread over a great part of the galaxy stretching from near the galactic core to the western arm and appears as a long rectangular tunnel extending many light years in every direction. They nearly touch on the human occupied space.

Average Intelligence

Very intelligent, the species is known to have highly advanced sciences and repositories of knowledge. They can almost recall any information or process knowledge in a matter of seconds at the longest.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

The Alien Cyborgs use a mix of auditory / visual perception primarily with their sight & hearing heavily modified down to the nano level. They seem to hear & see in wavelengths similar to humans, but this can be modified by two basic means. The first involves genetic modification and the second is by cybernetic modification. The latter are more common. This allows them to see into other spectrums of light & pick out specific details that can be programmed in. Their hearing seems to be similar to humans, and upgrades allows them to expand the range of picking up infrasound & ultrasound.
Other sensory elements are present but can be modified accordingly. Neural pathways to pain seem to be a common sense that is dulled or shut down altogether making it harder for enemies to target the Alien Cyborgs. Heat & cold can be affected this way too unless the Alien Cyborg senses a possible need to keep it in place. Balance seems regulated by a system of cybernetics that act like the human inner ear. This involves a miniaturised system of two nanomillimetre metal spheres in a different oil filled tube. One moves up & down, and the other front to back to allow for the Cyborg to sense & calibrate their movement.
They seem to sense time by using an 'atomic clock' internally built into their personal neural network. Taste is almost always non-existent and smell is modified depending on the individual. Some have a stronger sense of smell, while others dull it. They can modify these depending on the situation and using nanomachines to carry out the rebuilding of the sensors almost instantaneously. 
It has been noticed that there is elements of a hive mind in the species and a device found wired directly up to their central nervous system is responsible for this. It appears like a micro transmitter and a collection of artificially created nerves linked directly to the individual's nervous system. At a prompt from the nervous system, the individual sends out a subspace signal it another individual or a centralised system (yet to be proven by humanity). The recipient appears to pick up the signal and sends the information back. By doing this the micro transmitter buffers the information and acts as a temporary repository for the information. The individual that receives the the information can ignore it if they choose and it automatically wipes the data after 24 hours if still there, or removed if further information received.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Each cyborg generally is applied a code at conception, and when 'born' is assigned a name too to denote who they are. Either is applicable to use, and since most of their language uses complex machine generated sounds the names can be quite complicated to outsiders. This in part has led a number of other species into situations where they cannot even begin to understand the names, let alone the language overall.

Average Technological Level

Highly  technological as a species, they are marked as a Type II civilisation on the Kardashev Scale.

Major Language Groups and Dialects

They speak a strange language made up of binary, and strange glottal sounds that most cannot decipher. What can be made out it seems filled with specific jargon involving technical details and comparable terms depending on the individual's pursuits. The cyborgs are capable of understand & communicating with other species due to using specific devices nicknamed 'universal translators'. These are rarely deployed, and only when necessary using their own language where possible to confound other species.

Common Etiquette Rules

Cyborgs are strictly defined by who they are and what rank they achieve. When interacting with each other, they refer to superiors as Sir, and will happily speak up if they feel they have something to contribute. Other than that they defer to their superiors in all other matters. To get into arguments is seen as a major embarrassment to all involved, as well as the sharing of feelings. They do not like being touched unless it is for specific reasons and only if consent is obtained.

Common Dress Code

Most clothing covers up parts of their bodies that are still organic and do not want to be seen. They wear practical clothing with pockets, pouches and suchlike. Clothing is regularly dark in nature, highly durable and imperious to water & oil stains. They are regularly flameproof too, and have built-in devices that link to any cybernetics they have fitted.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

To the cyborg species, there is the belief that to become one between flesh and machine is all important, and to excel at some type of task. This so far has proven very successful for them, and the power of their technology (at least to them) is proof of this. They also try their best to make the best of anything they are required to do as they know it will both improve the individual and their own species overall.
The fact that they have an empire is a mark of their greatness, and nothing will stop them eventually taking over the whole galaxy after all others have died out.

Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals

They generally have very little in the way of customs except the veneration of the elders of their society and the pursuit of knowledge first & foremost. No question is to be left unanswered and will willingly ask others a number of different questions as they see fit. They also seem to think it is in bad taste to embarrass, humiliate, or harm / kill one of their own.
What customs are observed is that they will try to strip their dead of all necessary equipment (including some cybernetics) before placing the remains in a specified container that is linked to a settlement's or ship's mainframe for use as a conduit between the living & the dead. No marriage or birthdays take place, and the young is not celebrated. They seem to mark a few days each solar year to remembering the ancestors, marked by games of intelligence, logic & cunning combined.

Common Taboos

One thing that is noted by the cyborgs is that they refuse to allow access to any system, whether biological, cybernetic, or machine to outsiders. They are intensely private about how their technology works and the exact history of their species.

History

The Cyborg Empire came to prominence in the galaxy roughly 3000 years of Earth Time. They were a human-like species originally known for their intelligence. A great number of their early architecture is still found deep in their settlement and ships, with many more deep in their space. They had travelled space from their homeworld somewhere deep in the Milky Way galactic core. During this time, they had started to experiment heavily with nanomachine, cybernetics and some bioengineering. The latter was more geared to removing the need to eat complex food stuffs and enhancing & programming of the central nervous system, along with the speeding up of growth.
After a few decades, the cyborg empire succeeded in getting the basics of these down. This was during a time that the empire was starting to regress technologically so any edge to their survival was necessary. The next few years was spent refining these processes and rolling it out across their empire for their people.
During this period, they invented Faster Than Light travel using powerful engines and improving the energy shields to cut them off from real space. They now use ships that can enter subspace with this technology allowing them to effectively warp space around them in the process. Also, they found remains of a 'gate' system that uses similar technology and have been experimenting with them since.
Once they started to expand, most of the species had turned into full cyborgs with a few outliers that were either too far from the core systems, cut off for some reason, or were resistant to the change at first. Being calculated creatures naturally, nearly all accepted the change and they expanded further. A few wars against other species ensued, some wanted the technology, others wanted to stop the expansion of the cyborgs. The cyborgs themselves class nearly all the other species they encountered as inferior and a few as being close enough to absorb in or to avoid at all costs. Two they encountered terrified them. One was a species of hunters & killers that could easily kill most of the cyborgs almost at will. The other is a species of bioengineers that are ancient, and lives the other side of the core worlds.
The cyborgs generally avoid conflict though. It is a waste of potential resources for them to do so, and they don't need the same biological or ecological resources others would. Instead, they have developed over time to seek out many planets high in inorganic materials, such as metal rich worlds or gas giants in which to harvest what they need from them. Unfortunately in the former, many of the other species have a tendency of doing the same.
What causes contact between the cyborg empire and others usually involve trade deals or border disputes. They have learned to negotiate first and attack as a last resort if all other options fail. Their powerful ships and their survivability usually makes up for this. They generally leave well enough alone though if at all possible as quite a few potential enemies would want to plunder their secrets.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

To put it plainly, the cyborgs are quite xenophobic. Not outright hating other species, they dislike others thinking that only their own civilisation will endure over time. Any that shows a comparable level of the sciences will the cyborgs try to openly aid or trade with. A rare few though meet the exacting standards of the empire. They try to avoid as many species as possible using spyware to monitor others from afar before deciding whether to approach them or not.

"I've seen them, even met them, once before. Strange bunch indeed and incredibly creepy. Fleshy parts that appear dead but ain't, and you can see some of their cybernetics just below the strange gray skin they have.
We were part of the delegation that met them in the Sirius System, with my squad armed and ready if need be. A powerful looking came in, tall and aged looking, with taut skin covering a bald head and with cybernetic eyes, wearing a black cassock of some type. Machinery was present here and there, and the way it walked, it was as if the majority of it's main body & limbs were replaced with cybernetics. A group of five surrounded it, all smaller about a foot in height and all modified in some ay similar to it and dressed similarly. It sat down at the table and the others stood behind it. At this point we couldn't tell if any where male or female. We just couldn't.
Then it spoke, a mix of binary and strange grating noise came out, though we couldn't make out if it was words or not. All of a sudden we could understand it and it gave it's name as the Elder. It was here to barter access to the asteroid field at the edge of the system. The ambassador had to say no as it was human space and if the cyborgs came in system in any way then it was a violation of the pre-existing treaty. They were then told we would be willing to trade with them for raw material if they wanted. Stiffly they agreed and swiftly left.
What struck us was the eyes & movement of all of them. They appeared dead so to speak, and they didn't care, though they appeared to be sizing us up for some inscrutable purpose. I'm just dreading as to what that purpose is."
Sergeant Billy Stone, United Human Colonies special forces..

Origin/Ancestry

Unknown

Lifespan

Unknown