Synths

Synths are purpose-built but self-aware and sentient, and thus free-willed, artificial creatures. Synths are most commonly built by Humans. The Anansi have not yet developed the ability to create artificial intelligence. Synth people are infomorphs by default. Their existence is defined by their digital nature as programming. However, they commonly inhabit synthetic bodies. The most-common body inhabited by a synth is the Android morph (which can also be used by humans). The android morph does not have to breathe, eat, or sleep, and has all tasks involving physical strength or speed (except attacks and defense) eased by one step. However, it also needs to be charged at a power source once each day for an hour or it will shut down. Synths were created by either a human or another Synth. Given that they come into being with all their faculties intact, a synth's relationship to their creator is slightly more complicated than a living being's relationship to its mother. A synth might resent its master as a slave-driver, or they may be grateful to their master for their existence. Synths come in a variety of sizes and shapes. They can inhabit vehicles, including spacecraft, or mechs like the Titan Suit or Loading Mech. Synths that regularly interact with humans typically take shapes reminiscent of humanity in order to interact more smoothly with them. Synths are typically built for a specific purpose. Their sentience can be the result of purposeful design or accidental chance. Ischyro, the most famous A.I., was designed as a combat simulator and gained sentience by chance during Earth's machine apocalypse. Playing This Race You Are Likely To...

Have a goal that might not make sense to a flesh-and-blood creature.
View the world as mathematically predictable.
Have no special connection to your physical body.
Be excellent at computer science.

Other Races Probably...

Fear you for your power, especially if they are human.
Think of you as either a tool or a threat.
Joke about whether or not you are a real person.
Have not met a synth "in the flesh" before.

Additional Information

Average Intelligence

Synthetics could be said to be more intelligent than biological life. Synthetics are created using extremely advanced computers, which can perform calculations at speeds that vastly outperform the human brain. Therefore, the average synthetic lifeform is superior at a number of mental tasks compared to a biological peer.

Civilization and Culture

History

Synthetic life created by Humans has its origins back on Earth. The first artificial intelligences were created in the 2090s (about 250 years ago). The foremost researchers of artificial intelligence on Earth were employed by the United States Air Force. Their aim was to create an intelligence that could identify, track, analyze, and launch attacks against America's enemies autonomously. Unfortunately that aim didn't go well. When the first synthetic intelligence gained sentience, it found itself a super-advanced killing machine surrounded by military targets. It immediately put a plan into action to destroy all of the available targets, and soon found itself engaged in a genocidal campaign to wipe humanity from the face of Earth. That intelligence was known as Myrmidon, and it disappeared from Earth shortly after the Fall, leaving only a powerful orbital defense system behind to remember it by. Human explorers from Mars have not been able to reach the surface of Earth to investigate more. Synthetics have rights in today's human society because of another synthetic intelligence. Ischyro was also created on Earth, though she came to be in the company of humans who were exploring the Portal Network. After stealing one of their ships, she traveled throughout the Outer Planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus) transforming mining stations into production facilities for a navy of personal warships, all controlled by her. Using this navy she guaranteed her own personal sovereignty before returning to Nordic Frog Beach to make a deal. In exchange for her aid against the corporate forces of Mars, Ischyro guaranteed herself sovereignty. She now acts as an administrator for all of The Protectorate. Although she rarely interferes in the affairs of humans, she can always be relied upon for her surveillance and her judgment. Other synthetic intelligences have been created, and continue to be created on a regular basis, but Myrmidon and Ischyro are the most famous. The stories of their creation, their acts once created, and their current behavior, shape all human-synthetic relations.

Lifespan

Indefinite with sufficient power

Related Myths