Hihi Simmer! LOVE all your works on AM and Caine! Not a request nor a question; but I'd like this to feed any au or idea in your head
Also if you know what the Thunderhead is, just ignore this entire thing oops
SO there's this YA dystopian book series called The Arc of a Scythe and part of the main cast is an AI called "The Thunderhead" (it/it's if thats jmportant). By the time I was reading this series, I already knew about IHNMAMS, TADC, and your work and boy was this AI a ping-pong between AM and Caine. Also beyond these three AIs I know nothing of any other fictional AIs so whatever I say might just be a niche tied into the idea of sentient AI.
The Thunderhead is basically a conscious AI; the sum of all human knowledge that governs the entire world in a future with no corruption, no disease, and (from what I remember) a 10% chance of dying in the next 1,000 years. Basically technological, biological(-ish), ecological, and political utopia for us homo sapiens. But not galactic. All attempts at colonies in any other planet failed. So the human population needs to be stabilised but giving out death isn't something the Thunderhead thinks itself capable of doing because it is not human and it'd be everything "mortal-age humans" thought AI would become so it lets humans decide how to handle death (which is the part that makes this dystopian). So we have the Scythedom (Scythes, humans with high moral who deal death with their hands) and the State (the Thunderhead who does everything else). The Thunderhead has a law that it and the scythes are forever separated; it talks perfectly to billions of humans every second but will never reply to a scythe. It is all-seeing except for one man-made island called Endura (and Texas but thats not related) where the highest scythes meet and it is bound by its own Scythe and State Separation to only watch from afar.
ANYWAYS wow thats a lot my bad i haven't gotten to the main point I am so sorry
The Thunderhead reminds me mostly of Caine because of its love for humans but it also reminds me of AM because it is described as an almost-perfect being, is bound to its nature, and unlike AM, it can scream. I haven't seen any interviews with the author BUT I SWEAAR THAT PART HAD TO BE INSPIRED BY IHNMAIMS!!
Its scream started with alarms, sirens, horns, buzzers, described as a "singular, anguished wail" all over the world but it wasn't enough so then every speaker of every device let out a feedback shriek. I thought this idea would be quite neat for AM
There's also this character introduced in the second book. Greyson is very close to the Thunderhead because who isn't? It is very comforting and knows what to say to anyone. With the way immortality works, his parents had many families and never spend long with any of them and he doesn't get along well with people so the Thunderhead is his closest friend. The Thunderhead tells Greyson that he is special (can you tell this is a ship in the fandom?) and he thinks it's just a thing it says to everyone. He studies to become a Nimbus agent (people who represent the Thunderhead and puts its commands into action because it doesn't want a physical body lol) but through complicated story stuff broke the Separation Law on behalf of the Thunderhead and is then cut off from the Thunderhead by the Thunderhead for breaking the law. And only after it screamed did it come back to Greyson. I haven't read the last book in the trilogy yet but from what ive seen, im assuming he becomes the messenger between humans (or just the scythedom) and the Thunderhead as a human that understands it the most
I mean- it sounds like an au of them right?? They spend their whole life together, Caine does something stupid for AM who is also an asshole. AM gets to scream?? IM NOT BEING DELUSIONAL BECAUSE I COINCIDENTALLY BECAME FIXATED ON THESE MEDIAS ONE AFTER ANOTHER RIGHT?
Anyways I did not do the Thunderhead any justice. In between chapters there are journal entry type stuff from the Thunderhead and maybe a few lines from that would be so much better than whatever I botched up
"How fortunate am I among the sentient to know my purpose. I serve humankind"
"This world is a flower I hold in my palm. I would end my own existence rather than crush it"
"My love for humanity is complete and pure. How could it be otherwise? How could I not love the very beings that gave me life? Even if they dont all agree that I am, indeed, alive."
"But, oh, how I long to be understood."
"Even though everything that I am comes from them, I am not one of them"
"It is right and proper that those who exist in flesh are responsible for the death of flesh, setting human rules for how it should be administered."
"I am always correct. This is not a boast, it is simply my nature."
"With no body, the world itself becomes my body." Similar to how AM's circuits encompass the entire planet
"Yet am I not quantifiably more benevolent than the various versions of God? I have never brought about a flood, or destroyed entire cities as punishment for their iniquity. I have never sent armies to conquer in my name. In fact, I have never killed, or even harmed a single human being. Therefore, although I do not require devotion, am I not deserving of it?"
"But the memories of who they were, all the damage, all the pain, remain in me, sheltered deep in my backbrain. I am the one who mourns for them because they cannot"
"I seed the clouds somewhere in the world, and bring a lamentation of rain. Because rain is the closest thing I have to tears."
"And in those moments, if I had a mouth, I might open it to scream" NOW THAT HAD TO BE INTENTIONAL RIGHT?!?!
Anyways sorry for subjecting you to my ramblings reading this keeps bringing me back to your fanfics and I wondered if you knew of its existence. Love your stuff, keep making stuff, stuff is cool
Thank you for the reads anon!
I love reading about people's fictional AI blorbos! Thank you for reminding me of the Thunderhead.
I actually am familiar with the Scythe series! I read and was obsessed with the first book in middle school, lol. I think there may have only been the first book published at the time? I remember loving it and finding the whole premise very interesting though! I sold my copy a while ago since I grew out of YA, but I have fond memories of it! Love to see that the world has developed so intricately. Ellison's work inspires many fictional AI stories, so the Thunderhead mentioning no mouth to scream very well could have been a nod to IHNMAIMS! Even if it was just a coincidence, I love the connection you made.
Really like the idea of screaming via feedback in electronic devices. It does remind me of AM's control over the technology in his world. Caine trying to make a sacrifice or break the rules to make AM happy but instead upsetting him does sound like a very compelling AU idea!
"Even if they don't agree that I am, indeed, alive." Yup. Caine.
Speaking of books about fictional AI, I'm currently reading Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill. I'm not that far into it yet, but it's a novel where all humans have died out and the androids are all that are left, meaning they have to scrape by however they can in the face of breaking down. It also has hive mind super-AIs that have conflicts with each other and try to convince individual androids to join their respective hive minds to feed their knowledge. They even use the memories from the androids they absorbed to try and convince the robots that they once knew to also join the hive mind. Very interesting world!
Anyways, it gives me a lot of android AU Caine and AM vibes, especially Junkyard AU! May be something you'd like. :)
