Futuristic A Purpose Under Heaven - Lore

[welian]

Under construction. World info and lore will go here.

Enjoy the brief history lesson.

APUH takes place in an alternate timeline where giant robots were invented during the late stages of the Cold War, which never quite ended.

The rapid acceleration of technology and hyper-capitalism led to a world where many countries were more-or-less run by mega-corporations.

Robot warfare minimized casualties while also provided a platform for governments and corporations to show off their technology.

Things got out of hand when artificial intelligence got involved, and some of the war machines "learned" to enjoy battle for violence and glory.

These "rogue machines" were a major cause of World War 3, alongside runaway climate change.

Anyone who could afford tickets took the next ship off Earth, either migrating to Martian colonies or remaining in orbit.

A mysterious bomb, likely some form of EMP, disables most - if not all - of the giant robots, as well as much of the modern infrastructure including the internet and satellite systems.

One thousand years later, between some percussive maintenance and a freak solar flare, a few giant robots have reactivated.

What sort of adventures will they have now?

If you have any questions, please ask away in the OOC thread!

 

[welian]

Robots and other races
Robots
For the purpose of this roleplay, a “robot” is a machine that is powered by electrical impulses and follows predetermined programming to complete various tasks. A robot can move under its own power, navigate its environment, and move/interact with its environment.

In this setting, all robots are sentient (they have AI that allows them to learn and make choices based on new information). Not all sentient machines are robots - an AI that inhabits a vehicle does not constitute a robot, unless that vehicle has arms with which to manipulate the environment (such as the Mars rovers).

On the other end of the scale, a machine made to do a simple task repetitively (what we currently think of as a robot IRL such as on an assembly line) would not be considered a robot in this story due to a lack of sufficient intelligence and possibly an inability to navigate an unfamiliar environment.

True robots look down upon these inferior machines.

Humans
Humans haven't changed much in a thousand years! But that doesn't make them very fun to play, now does it?

Due to the historical integration of technology and biology, some present-day humans appear to have what one might tentatively call superpowers. But we know better, right?

Nanites or nanobots
A non-playable and (mostly) non-sentient "race" of robots. Nanites are microscopic robots, each one can only be seen under a microscope. Like an artificial virus, they self-replicate, moving in swarms often breaking down older material to recycle.

Much like the indigestible micro-plastics still littering the world, there's a few nanobots inside every person. Alone, they are harmless.

If they form a swarm, however, the host body can become... augmented. A person with a small swarm might activate electric lights as they walk past, or seem to recharge ancient batteries with a touch. A swam large enough to be visible is called "living steel", and it's not unheard of for disabled humans to have prosthetic limbs of living steel. This is considered a religious event and a blessing from the gods by many.

 

[welian]

Geography
TBA

TLDR, within a thousand years, the magnetic poles flipped, Yellowstone erupted, and Florida is underwater.

 

[welian]

Factions
Past Factions
As mentioned in previous tidbits that I've neglected to organize properly, robots are a varied bunch of tools and therefore come from a variety of manufacturers.

Belligerents of WW3 Nations of interest

These are the countries that had the most influence at the time of the war. Military robots are most likely to come from one of these countries, but you've got a whole globe to choose from!

• United States of America
• Russian Federation
• People's Republic of China
• European Union
• Republic of India

Historical Manufacturers

A non-exhaustive list companies that probably managed to still exist in this alternate timeline, and became robot manufacturers.

• Lockheed-Martin
• Boeing
• NASA
• Toyota
• Boston Dynamics
• Amazon
• Tesla

Fictional Manufacturers (from the GM)

Here's a few companies from my past sci-fi campaigns that you're welcome to use in your character backstory if the real-ish world just isn't snazzy enough.

• Pisces Corporation: A Greek maritime company best known for their Poseidon-class submarines, and the unfortunate implications of their, and I quote, "Nymph-class tug-bots".
• GenCorp: A medical manufacturer that probably definitely had enslaved human test subjects a liberal clinical trial volunteer policy.
• Omega LLC: Brazilian industrial mining company. The most generous thing we can say about their robots is that they were sentient shovels.

Fictional Manufacturers (from the players)

Yo, you peeps have good ideas. I'm writing them down here as I read them.

• Soon.

Present Factions
(This section will make more sense once the geography section is more filled out, I promise)

Rustbelts: Not quite a standalone religion, but rather an odd off-shoot of Christianity combined with a techbro's hard-on for bipedal machines. Believers are nicknamed "Rustbelts", and preach that the Rapture happened a thousand years ago, and we are the descendants of sinners who must live ultra-piously in order to convince God that we too belong in Heaven.

The Cave: A super-secret society, akin to the Dark Brotherhood of Skyrim. It started as an anti-war movement, and morphed into an anti-technology group in the aftermath of the Great Deactivation. "Official" members are few and far between these days, but sometimes a particularly clever student still goes missing in the dead of night.

And more to come! Maybe. If you give me ideas.