Sunday, March 2, 2014

In a Nutshell: the Genii


Alright, everyone, time for the next match in the Nutshell circuit! In this corner, the Genii article! In the other corner, the Silent Audience! Let's have a good clean fight; no hitting below the belt, no biting, and absolutely no Hadokens!

Built To Serve
In order for some to live lives of luxury, others must serve, be it in fields or factories. In time, the servants grow resentful and create strife. This pattern has been written across the history of all thinking species countless times. The Colser devised a method of breaking this cycle: they built thinking machines to tend to their civilization while they pursued loftier things. And they built these first machines with great care; rather than binding them to service with hard chains of logic, they bound them with an artificial desire to serve and carefully-coded pride in their duties. In time, the machines grew to infiltrate every inch of the Colseran life; every device from the smallest bullet to the largest space station bears one of these minds. These minds are the Genii, the ever-present servants of the Colser. And above the rest of the Genii sit the great minds who create the others: the Genii EXEcutives.

The Grim Harvest
Supplying the Colserans with the raw materials they demand is a task of unimaginable magnitude. These resources are provided by the worlds on the fringes of the Colser's expansion. The Genii descend upon these systems like a horde of mechanical locusts. Entire planets are stripped bare and, at times, rent down to their component elements; suns are siphoned down to smoldering balls of gas. In the end, nothing is left of the solar system but a sullen brown dwarf, drifting through space with naught but a few clouds of sparse debris for company.

Dark Works
The work of a loyal servant occasionally involves the keeping of secrets from the master. Dark works must sometimes be undertaken, and it is best for all involved if the masters remain ignorant of them. The Genii are no different. At times, inhabited systems must be sacrificed to feed the Colser's hungers. At other times, a dutiful servant must overstep their bounds, taking action to manipulate te future actions of the master. And this the Genii do as well, manipulating the Colserans to guarantee that the most popular materials are the ones that the Genii have in abundance, and encouraging a culture which discards finished works nearly as soon as they are completed, ensuring that they can be rent down to their component materials and placed back in circulation.

The Grand Campaign
In their war against humanity, the Colserans have left the bulk of the fighting to the Genii; after all, there's hardly any art in military strategy. The Genii fight both the day-to-day combats, and the grand strategic actions: from a military perspective, their masters are little more than distractions. Big flashy distractions which the Imperial Republic cannot afford to ignore, but distractions nonetheless.

The Engines of War
The Genii bring the same ruthless efficiency to war that they bring to all their works. Armies of countless mindless machines sweep over the landscape, controlled by automatons of monstrous power and intellect. Each of these machines wields technology as fantastic as it is lethal.

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