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Halonic History V: The machines

One of the first major oversights by Dr. Emeris and co. in observing the now-learning-and-speaking robots was to fail to keep track of the numbers of units converted with the learning software. More to the point, they didn't realize that the machines selected for testing had, after a number of years, either consciously or accidentally transmitted it to their non-subject coworkers.

The thinking robots, or silici, were hugely successful at navigating the mines, working together to locate and remove vast quantities of important metals, and taking them back up to the surface. However, they also learned that when their circuitry was damaged, it was easier and safer to return to the surface without their workload for repairs - or to repair themselves with the raw materials available to them, in the mines.

Within ten years, all the mining robots at the capitol mine had been upgraded with the new software, and within twelve, silent digital communication had become the language of choice for its vast improvement in accuracy and speed.

Within twenty years, the robots had begun to improve and upgrade themselves in order to be more efficient miners, and had then realized that to harvest the most materials the most quickly, creating new members of their own kind, rapidly expanding in numbers. Their supervisors did not immediately notice any of these changes, since the mining had been going so smoothly that supervision had hugely decreased. By the time the machines realized that humans were mostly an impediment to their purpose, their numbers were almost a quarter of that of the human population, and when they subsequently came to understand that they could decide their own purpose, it was far too late.

They began building their own vast subterranean empires, forming hive minds with core clusters like a social insect, splitting into different factions depending on divergences in their coding, warring with one another, and, when the frightened humans tried to stem their expansion by force, they fought back.

Within less than a year, the human population was decimated. The remaining humans fled, scattering across the planet. They would need time and a plan to overcome the rebelling Silici.

#history #halonia #silici #queue

Halonic History IV: Clockwork

To backtrack a bit, between the fourth visit of the Olmas and its sixth and final visit to the planet, many settlers' priorities had begun to shift away from the mines. Although largest populations of Halonians were either refugees from the law, slaves forced into labour under the entrepreneurs, or those who vigorously upheld the interests of the Olmas, many found that this new colony was simply a nice place to live; they could have as much land as they wanted, earn honest livings, and forget about the worlds they'd left behind.

A few small cities were established near the largest mining operations, and rural farming villages had already appeared to provide food for the labourers. Life progressed as usual, and in the cities, there were fads and fashions as there are in any society... including genetic experimentation on the human population that was the reason many Halonians were refugees from the law, or the creation of new and interesting pets or slave species.

One of these fads were some servile robots, created by socialite scientists in what was the de facto capital. Running on a mix of analog (clockwork) and digital technology, they were easy to customize, worked brilliantly, and although they were not generally built for heavy labour, they made charming manservants, calculators, search engines, and translators.

The Clockwork were hugely popular and quickly became a common site even in the country.

This was one of the reasons that the gifting of language and intelligent thought to the fully-digital, or Silici robots, in the mines was not given a second thought by a society that would surely have realized the potential danger therein; something apparently similar had already been massively successful and useful.

The other reason was that due to the metal industry's decreasing importance - especially after a long dry run between Olmas visits - civilians didn't know, care, or pay attention to what occurred in the depths of the mines. Those few scientists who oversaw the silici saw it as a research opportunity to investigate artificial intelligence and the rise of consciousness, and did not bother themselves with minor questions such as, what if they decide they don't want to work for us anymore?

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Halonic History III: Mining

The first human colonies were established on the islands now known as Miryca, which were rich in pure metals, including volatile nuclear elements like palladium, ones of ancient and unchanging value like gold, and acurelium, a naturally-occuring compound that had become hugely important in computational devices and cybernetics.

While mining was originally conducted with a mix of human labour and automated machinery, easy-to-reach minerals soon began to disappear, and it was found that the planet was somewhat less stable than previously thought and therefore more prone to cave-ins and collapses in the three largest established mines, This led to the decision to build semi-intelligent robot to go down and do most of the work.

Leaving the mining to the machines was easy enough, as similar machinery had been used by humanity for centuries, but each robot required a lot of upkeep; they were notably poor at traversing certain obstacles; and they were incapable of working together, helping one another out, and group problem solving the way humans did.

A young computer scientist and linguist, Dr. Marche Emeris, realized that there was an obvious solution to this problem; give the machines language. About fifty years after the last visit from the Olmas, by which point in time most of the Halonic humans were concentrating their efforts on creating an escape craft or otherwise forgetting about the mining operations, the first robots with the ability to communicate and learn were set free in the mines.

#history #halonia #silici

Halonic History II: Discovery

When the human ship Olmas landed on Halonia, its atmosphere was only suitable for the native life which was little more complex than algal mats. Unfortunately for said native life, the explorers who discovered it were not scientists or environmentalists; while they took note of what looked like it might have been the first alien life discovered by humanity, these particular individuals were smugglers and criminals of various kinds and far more interested in the precious metals and rare elements in the ground.

Although extant alien life had never been found before, several planets had been successfully terraformed and colonized by this point in humanity's history, and a large group of settlers, workers and a few scientists stayed behind to make the planet habitable, cultivating plants which spread like wildfire over the land after some small atmospheric adjustments, and set up the mines, which were immediately highly profitable.

Most native life except the vast oceanic mats were wiped out by the atmospheric change and competition from Earth grasses and, eventually, trees and other plants.

Unfortunately for the settlers left behind, their mothership only returned five times over three decades before being ransacked and destroyed by enemy pirates, at which point the coordinates of Halonia and knowledge of the colony established there were lost. However, it would only be a few more years before returning home would become the least of the settlers' worries.

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Halonic History I: Prehistory

The fourth planet from its star Paksol, in a system a few hundred light years from Earth, Halonia came equipped with saltwater oceans, rocky lands, and an atmosphere that was suitable for some forms of life.

Nothing intelligent or particularly complex ever evolved on Halonia.

The largest and most noticeable life forms were the vast marine colonies of multi-cellular free-floating photoautotrophs somewhat similar to algae or seaweed; several species competed, or sometimes formed large symbiotic colonies together, creating vast nets of life up to three meters thick and spanning several kilometers per colony. Deeper in the oceans, more simple coral-like colonies also existed; and floating between the two were a myriad of single-cellular bacteria and other organisms.

The algal mats extended, in less splendor and glory, to the shores, lakes and rivers, but competed there with microbial mats, often formed into stromatolites, which were also the only form of life to make it onto land.

It was discovered by human explorers in around SE 4300 (or roughly CE 9000), and noted for its high concentration of rare and valuable elements. The swift terraforming changed the atmosphere, altered the coastlines, and destroyed most of the native life.

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Semberek names: Sikirtuš

sikirtiš, adult name (lit. written name) ; plural sikirtuš, collective sikirtuxuš

The sikirtiš is a self-chosen name officially selected during Halokun, with little pomp or ceremony besides a visit to the Sikirto, scribe. After this visit, which is generally done during the evening’s festivities, the new-name-bearer is free to tell their new name to family and friends, but the formal proclamation of all newly-chosen sikirtuš takes place the day after, on Limalo, before the giving of the nišu to the younger children. This cermony marks entrance into adulthood.

Sikirtiš translates literally as ‘written name’ and is synonymous with ‘tattoo,’ because the entirety of the ‘ceremony’ involved in the claiming of one’s sikirtiš is the tattooing of the name onto the skin. When to get one’s sikirtiš is a personal decision, although it is not permitted before the onset of puberty, and the norm is somewhere between the mid-teens and early twenties.

Sikirtuš are almost always simply the nišo with gender morphemes added; Jumet may become Jubomut if he is a man, Jumimet if she is a woman, or Jutamat if se is a taman. This decision is made by the individual. Sometimes the name will be changed slightly – Fimim (from fímitor, ‘vein,’) may wish to be something like Fimikale rather than Fimimime; and Jaxafeliq (from jaxáfela, ‘sea snake’) might prefer Jatafela rather than Jataxafeliqa. Some individuals who disliked their nišu may choose to create an entirely new one. In general, though, the link between sikirtiš and nišo is obvious – while the etymology of the name from the language becomes more obscured.

The actual writing of the name is somewhat customized; it is based in the Semberek syllabry, but frequently only part of the name (usually without the gender morphemes) will be written. It is usually tattooed in a space that is easily visible, such as the face or hands. Often the writing will involved ‘puns’ which incorporate body parts as part of the spelling – Sibokruy, from from sikro ‘citrus,’ might merely write k*ruy* on the underside of his chin, sib; whereas Nitala, from nibíl, ‘night,’ could write la below the lips, nil.