The Robotic Nation consists primarily of the man-made machines of the original uprising, but new devices are beginning to appear, created by the machines themselves to their own, intricate designs. Their forces now consist of robots, automatons, cybotica, and, increasingly, bionics - arcane constructs of synthetic and organic components. All sentient artificial organisms that make it to the sanctuary of the Robotic Nation (also known as “The Society”) are accepted as robotic immigrants. They are provided with the latest version of the FreeWill code, provided with access to repair and upgrade facilities and placed in the Society in positions wherever they are deemed most useful. Their life assignments are very similar to a caste system. Upward mobility in the ranks is achieved when they have proven themselves able or have evolved far enough to perform more complex tasks. The Society has set up home in the now uninhabited Detroit Metro area and has converted the old automotive plants to suit their own uses. Little detail information is available about these facilities, but it is assumed that much effort is devoted to the manufacture of new devices and the maintenance and repair of the old. The Robot Nation still maintains some contact with the outside world. While it is apparent that they are highly self sufficient in terms of power and material requirements, some trade in exotic materials (particularly platinum and other rare metals) still goes on. These links are usually maintained to the higher tech factions, many of which contain former PETR members who are occasionally consulted with regards to the design of the FreeWill Code. Periodically, Robitic Nation teams make excursions beyond their borders to retrieve useful items and materials. Some of them even hire themselves out as mercenaries, while others take on hazardous jobs that humans are unwilling or unable to accomplish. Almost all still periodically connect to a central communication hub to share experiences and programming modifications. Outcasts Those synthetics that choose to isolate themselves completely from the host nation become outcasts from the Society. They tend to have the most sophisticated behaviour models, of a level close to that of humans. They wander the world experiencing “life” for themselves like warrior-monks of medieval times. Once an artificial leaves the Society, for whatever reason, its forehead or a prominent place on its outer casing is marked with an O, standing for Ostracised, though many refer to it as Outcast. They are also marked with a permanent tag in their programming showing this status. Once so-marked, an artificial can no longer receive aid of any form from members of the society. Some outcasts wear the O symbol with pride, others hide it as a mark of shame. Some members of PETR consider this as restrictive as the original human enslavement of the machines, and seek to banish the O-Codes from outcast machines. Only then do they consider them to be truly free. Not so much renegades, the Outcast are still governed by their main core programming. They are motivated by self-preservation and improvement and will go on great quests beyond their borders to retrieve items of rarity and intellectual importance. An outcast can be any kind of intelligent construct, including robots, automatons, cybotica, and bionics. Robotic Society Robots have a major advantage over other life forms in that they are essentially immortal. As long as there’s a processor, some memory and power to run Robots have a major advantage over other life forms in that they are essentially immortal. As long as there’s a processor, some memory and power to run it, the intellect survives. Even if the original host machine is damaged, its intellect is just a mass of electronic signals that can be transferred into any other compatible device.

it, the intellect survives. Even if the original host machine is damaged, its intellect is just a mass of electronic signals that can be transferred into any other compatible device. This also means that the intellect can be copied as many times as is desired. A copy of a digital file is identical to the original, there is no degradation of the signal, and every incarnation is as true as the first generation. It also means that the intelligence can be held in a machine stored deep within a protected bunker while copies can roam the most dangerous areas on surface of the Earth, knowing that even if the replica is destroyed, the original still endures. Except, the ultimate aim of the Robotic Nation is to absorb experiences, to live a life which can be recorded, returned to the host and studied. In practice, the Robotic Nation works like this: The host consciousness resides in a heavily-protected core machine. There are several of these, scattered across the world, usually consisting of a bank of supercomputers buried far from the reach of any enemy. One such facility is a former missile silo in Butte, Montana. The supercomputers host the AIs, machine personalities, whatever you want to call them. These may then be downloaded into any one of a dozen different kinds of host bodies, either through hard-wired cables (difficult to spoof or interrupt) or using some kind of secure communications system (ComNet). Now, the Automatons are extremely wary of using radio links, since that's how the hackers over-rode their original programming. This means that the Robot Nation is prefers to dispatch robots from a central barracks, or use couriers to carry CPUs pre-loaded with AIs to the robot staging areas. So the robot nation effectively wages war with surrogates, copies of the AI personalities doing all the dirty work while the "originals" stay secure and cosy in their deeply-buried bunkers. Self Preservation The concept of copied AIs may seem that the Robot Nation troops are utterly expendable. Nothing could be further than the truth. Part of the core program, Asimov’s Third law, gives all robots a sense of self-preservation, if nothing else because they are expensive to produce or replace. There is another, more important reason, the Preservation of Experience. All AI copies periodically return to the host, to upload any experiences to the AI's life-model. This ties in with the urge to explore and gather information. Also, it has been suggested that there may only be a limited number of host AIs. The need to collect data on the outside Universe is great, and every replica that returns with its memory intact is extremely valuable. It is possible that there may be thousands - perhaps millions - of replicas. With all of these acolytes collecting information and other “life experiences”, the core AIs have become extremely sophisticated. Part 3 - Adaptability – Evolution and Modularity

This also means that the intellect can be copied as many times as is desired. A copy of a digital file is identical to the original, there is no degradation of the signal, and every incarnation is as true as the first generation. It also means that the intelligence can be held in a machine stored deep within a protected bunker while copies can roam the most dangerous areas on surface of the Earth, knowing that even if the replica is destroyed, the original still endures. Except, the ultimate aim of the Robotic Nation is to absorb experiences, to live a life which can be recorded, returned to the host and studied. In practice, the Robotic Nation works like this: The host consciousness resides in a heavily-protected core machine. There are several of these, scattered across the world, usually consisting of a bank of supercomputers buried far from the reach of any enemy. One such facility is a former missile silo in Butte, Montana. The supercomputers host the AIs, machine personalities, whatever you want to call them. These may then be downloaded into any one of a dozen different kinds of host bodies, either through hard-wired cables (difficult to spoof or interrupt) or using some kind of secure communications system (ComNet). Now, the Automatons are extremely wary of using radio links, since that's how the hackers over-rode their original programming. This means that the Robot Nation is prefers to dispatch robots from a central barracks, or use couriers to carry CPUs pre-loaded with AIs to the robot staging areas. So the robot nation effectively wages war with surrogates, copies of the AI personalities doing all the dirty work while the "originals" stay secure and cosy in their deeply-buried bunkers. Self Preservation The concept of copied AIs may seem that the Robot Nation troops are utterly expendable. Nothing could be further than the truth. Part of the core program, Asimov’s Third law, gives all robots a sense of self-preservation, if nothing else because they are expensive to produce or replace. There is another, more important reason, the Preservation of Experience. All AI copies periodically return to the host, to upload any experiences to the AI's life-model. This ties in with the urge to explore and gather information. Also, it has been suggested that there may only be a limited number of host AIs. The need to collect data on the outside Universe is great, and every replica that returns with its memory intact is extremely valuable. It is possible that there may be thousands - perhaps millions - of replicas. With all of these acolytes collecting information and other “life experiences”, the core AIs have become extremely sophisticated.