Another Humanity Amidst the Stars

At the end of the day, the humans of the Kor Tiaki system aren't so different from those on Earth. This is a description of their culture as well as a bonus description of their androne technology.

Mankind's Distant Sister

At least to the extent of the Kor Tiaki system and its environs, humans are the delightful mammalian hominids that originated on the planet Caszyrri orbiting the yellow G-type star Kor Tiaki Alpha. This trinary star system includes Kor Tiaki Beta, also a yellow G-type star; and Proxima Tiaki, a red dwarf star orbited by the sho'tokir homeworld of Velussek.

Humanity is an industrious species that values social conformity and brinksmanship while rewarding those who increase their status through acts of skill and distinction. Though marked by a troubled past, humanity has grown to maturity on Caszyrri; the planet's most powerful political faction, The Sintoccan Free States, operates by an advanced code of ethics that has reduced the influence of organized crime and relieved much of the suffering caused by the operation of criminal syndicates. Protections for the innocent are enforced in earnest in the parsecs of space in which the SFS Military Service holds sway. Even Emergent Identities - awakened A.I.'s such as andrones and Toys - enjoy legal recognition as sentient beings by the ruling bodies of the planet.

Not all humans ascribe to the same code of morality, of course; and the disreputable will occasionally exploit the innocent despite the vigilance of their protectors. Whether it's pirate raiders from the Oluundi Corporate Block, hackers hijacking expensive space equipment, or god-tripping aristocrats with the fleets to back it up, humanity will never truly be free from the predatory instincts that drove its evolution.

Humans stand 1 to 2.25 meters in height and vary according to their ethnicity. Humans from the continent of Etrysus have skin tones that range from pale in the north to the deep tan of the desert regions to the dark olive skin of the southerners.  A similar spectrum of skin-colors exists on the continent of Tyrivene, with the lighter skin tones of Western Tyrivene and the darker skin tones of the East. Another example of darker skin tone among human populations of this continent include the Lawasi, a powerful banking tribe that operates a pleasure city in the arid and hostile land of Skur.

Though most humans call Caszyrri home, many of their numbers live and work in space or on planetary colonies. Thoughts of their loved ones on Caszyrri are often sparked by the twinkle of a familiar double star.


Man's Best Friend in Space - The Androne!

An androne is an attack android that is designed to function as a versitile drone craft across a variety of theaters of engagement. Often deployed by capital ship support dispensers, the average androne is a combat automaton with a sophisticated computer to guide its actions and complex heuristics to give it the combat adaptability that makes it the perfect weapon for carrying out detailed orders on complex battlefields.

Though most andrones possess artificial intelligence software, a number of them have received sho'tokir artificial sentience upgrades that expand their minds into the realm of true sentience. Sentient andrones are often the result of private research; but advanced military cultures are known to use them as coordinators of specialized androne flights (groups of andrones with a common mission) and even on occasion as personnel in law enforcement, military, naval, and special operations teams. It is not unheard of for sentient andrones to be commissioned officers in cultures that offer protections for Emergent Identities (awakened A.I.'s).

Much about the form of an androne is designed for physical reconfigurability and accommodation of exotic and spontaneously generated body-shapes. An androne can rotate its limbs, retract skeletal structures, jettison damaged sections, and internally reconfigure both its skeletal supports and power distrubution matrix, assuring maximum survivability in hazardous zones of engagement. In space, andrones will often retract and fold their limbs to reduce their profiles in range of enemy ships, reforming their anthropoid bodies in a heartbeat when required. Andrones are often deployed by capital ships and can perform specialized strike missions on enemy hulls and against ship subsystems. Many an Oluundi cruiser was brought down during the invasion by the success of well-timed androne strikes.

In appearance, an androne is a bipedal humanoid of 1.75 to 2.25 meters in height and one hundred to two hundred kilograms in mass. Depending on the parameters that were established when the androne was forged (activated and configured by a drone dispenser,) andrones may appear as males or females with a variety of distinctive facial features and other biometric qualities. Sentient andrones invariably choose to wear clothing and are never seen without their dark sunglasses, which are thought to have spiritual significance for the living machines.



© Copyright 2012 to 2015 C. H. Watson. All rights reserved.

Author's Note

The humans of the Kor Tiaki System have a lot to learn from their new allies.

Reviews

[Matching Socks]

This is definitely a genre you are strong in.
Very enjoyable to read. My reviews are considerably less pedantic. :)
The role of AI in sci-fi. So much can go right, and wrong!