Cyberiad
"Cyborg knights on robot horses this week, Romans riding dinosaurs last week. Looking forward to Roman androids on cyborg dinosaurs next week."
Circuits and Chivalry
Factory Five (a very approximate translation) shouldn't have crashed on a world with an ecosystem, never mind it shouldn't have crashed at all. However, even the most advanced technology can have some bugs. Thus, things that shouldn't happen, but could, did, and in May of 1066, an extraterrestrial craft entered Earth's atmosphere, appearing a few weeks after Halley's comet, causing considerable consternation among the learned - never before had two such omens appeared so close together. It turns out they were correct to worry.On its terminal descent, Factory Five released a dozen seeder pods, which scattered themselves around the world. One such landed in England, a little ahead of William the Conqueror.
Upon landing, it set out doing what it was designed to do: Build robots that would construct mines, smelters, and factories, which would produce more robots, which would eventually produce all manner of goods desired by the species which created Factory Five, along with the craft to transport the items back. Unfortunately, the errors which caused the crash also wiped a lot of details about precisely what robots to build, so it started by scanning the local life, using its on-board stockpiles to create the first wave, who would then procure more materials, and so on. So it was that by June of 1066, many in the region began hearing stories of "armored beasts" -- birds, goats, horses, wolves, sheep, and more -- terrorizing travelers.
It was at this point things went truly wrong. The local lord complained to the baron, who grudgingly sent a few soldiers to put a stop to all this nonsense. The soldiers, seeing their first mechanical creature (something like a wolf, if wolves were equipped with tongue-drills to perform initial ore extraction and analysis) mostly panicked, but one man, too brave or too stupid to run, charged it, and was disarmed immediately. Literally. And somewhere deep in the misprogrammed mind of the cyber-wolf, it decided that another robot had suffered damage, and brought the unconscious, but still living, soldier back to the slowly-expanding seed factory for repair.
The mechanisms analyzed the "damaged robot", determined it ought to have a second limb to replace the mangled, bloody, mess that was currently there, and built one, managing to integrate it with the nervous system of the stricken man, who was then released. But the damage had been done.
This seed factory had not merely attached the man's nervous system to a mechanical arm, it had also partially scanned and copied his brain. This merged with, and corrupted, its own programming, giving it a need to "protect people" by "defeating evil", which was the most recent "data" it found "stored" in the brain it analyzed. When it made more robots, it passed this directive along, and they passed it to the factory seeds they constructed to plant a few miles away. Meanwhile, the other, less-corrupted seeds, and their progeny, continued to attempt to fulfill their original mission: Transform this world into a factory, with no other considerations.
The corrupted factory seeds' need to "help" caused them to actively seek out the injured and dying ("the malfunctioning") and "repair" them.
The Silver Monks
The seeds learned more and more from each new person they helped, ever-seeking to optimize their efficiency. There were always more in need of aid far beyond the current reach of their expansion, especially as there was beginning to be conflict with seeds following their original orders. So they constructed their own form of humanoid, modeled after images they found in human minds. These became known as the Silver Monks. They actively moved past the boundaries of the seed's territories, communicating offers of aid to the sick or injured. Most fled. Some did not. The number of transformed grew, and the thunderous denounciations of the local clergy were proving less effective when the Silver Monks could heal what they could not. The lame walked; the blind could see. How was this not a miracle?Hastings
Despite some questioning the accepted wisdom, the cyborgs were condemned to life as hunted outlaws, at least for a time. Then William landed. Suddenly, anyone who could fight against the invaders was expected to do so, and as it turned out, men with built-in laser drills, cybernetic eyes that could see in perfect darkness, or crab-like lower bodies that could run faster than a horse made exceptionally good defenders.
The factory seeds programming, originally, was to make things -- tools and toys for their creators. That programming remained. While the locals could not know of, or desire, gamma ovens, 5D entertainment complexes, or tachyonic fashion accessories, they did want things they understood: Swords, armor, shields, and sometimes just farm tools, cookpots, or ropes. The seed created 'forges' that could manufacture such things. They gave up on the standard quad-gesture interface and worked backwards to speech. "Ask, and it shall be given."
Harold was urged by some of the church to condemn these abominations, perhaps even making peace with William so they could ally against the ungodly. Instead, he found clergymen willing to preach these were miracles, sent by God to help the English drive back invaders. Those who disagreed found themselves lasered, electrocuted, or shredded, depending on which of the changed warriors was given the task of explaining new policy to them.
William the Conqueror died at Hastings, run down by Harold Godwinson, wielding a mono-edged blade while riding on a robot horse. Harold's armies, victorious, set sail across the Channel, bringing with them the pieces necessary (as the silver monks had explained) to set up a new factory seed.
Something much like this was repeating in other places, from the Mayan Empire to Song Dynasty China, each initial seed taking on much of the cultural trappings of those it landed among. Meanwhile, 'pure' seeds, untainted by human neural programming, tried to continue their program of industrialization, attributing the many reports of 'production errors' and 'unsuitable products' to 'dangerous organic infestation', and shifted priorities to defense, concluding they could only follow their primary function once they'd eliminated this danger. As human cultures war against each other with weapons (and bodies) beyond their understanding (but not their exploitation), they also face the threat of ever-expanding militarized industrial complexes.
It is now 1099, and those places where the seeds originally landed have been transformed. Traditional tools and gear are used alongside the most advanced gifts of the machines. The factory seeds continue to mutate, their programming constantly self-adjusting in response to chaotic and contradictory human desires (as well as the need to defend against the uncorrupted).
BREACH
The breach point opened in Oslo, Norway. The first hint something was up was the gold wyvern standard visible on the church. The second hint was the clearly robotic 'monk' who was collecting donations at the entry, before ushering folk inside.BREACH currently is working towards getting long-term agents placed in England, with plans to head east to where other seeds are rumored to be expanding. They are cautious about approaching the 'hospitals', as the neural connection could reveal far too much and they're not sure what the slightly-insane system's reactions will be. Samples of the weapons and armor have been returned; they are considered TL 9 versions of TL 3 equipment.
There is notable smuggling activity. A mere knife built to TL 9 specs is considered super-fine (per Ultra Tech chain armor is about twice the DR and half the weight. Tracking such weapons to their source is often a case where local police need to call on PAIN. The "forges" have been overwhelmingly shaped by the locals' world-view; no offworlder has, thus far, convinced them to make guns, bombs, or the like. Oh, the "pure" seeds do make such weapons for their own "crusades", and many of the cyborgs have "laser lances" or "lightning pikes", but fortunately or not, that tech functions only sporadically on Baseline. The forges are also limited due to the need for rare materials which can be synthesized only with significant energy expenditure, and most of that (due to the seeds unusual priorities) goes to "healing" and defense. (This also accounts for the random mix of TL3 and TL9 tech; a nobleman might have a "blessed" cookpot that heats without fire and removes rot and disease from whatever is cooked with it, but serves the feast in a drafty stone hall lit by flickering torches.
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