A.I.

Aetherial Intelligence

The desire of the living to create artificial life was always a dream, be it in the current time, or back in the darkness of the Void age, where we Eternals are originating from. People of all eras have researched methods to simulate life, to create A.L., artifical life. But this dream was and still is futile to this very day.
But we Eternals run on something similar, yet completely different. We are similar to what you know as A.I., aetherial intelligence. With one key difference, however. An A.I. still has a life expectancy of roughly 100 - 200 years, we Eternals on the other hand are timeless beings, living souls contained in nearly impossible-to-recreate artificial hearts. The crystals of A.I.'s are affordable and carryable.

Terminus: The impossible quest for artifical life.

When travelling across the streets of Etherium one can meet at every corner strange constructs of various sizes and forms. They can appear in the form of rovers, who are carrying out duties for their close ones, or stationary holograms, who greet people attempting to advertise the store of their loved ones. A.I.s are part of the everyday life of Etherium, a species of the dead, living anew in their second and final form.

A second Life

Etherium had conquered death already many centuries, no millennia ago. Death is but a mere formality for the techno nation. Given the fact that something with the afterlife is askew for some reason, Etherians usually include in their last will methods to either grant them salvation turning the soul into a beneficial battery, slowly sapping out the dead until nothing remains or turn the soul into a so-called Soul Crystal to be able to power computers or robots imbuing them with the presence of the deceased, turning them into an A.I.. By the law of Etherium are there two kinds of A.I.s to considerate when interacting with them:


On the one hand, there are the living A.I.s, people who have kept their personality intact, their free will non-confiscated. These A.I.s usually operate to protect those they held close while still alive being the supportive 'spirit of the house'. But the soul is corrosive. With every year passed the crystal will grow weaker and let information seep out. While the living A.I. will remain clearly recognizable for at least a decade after their death will this impurity slowly strip them of their memories, and their desires to protect and numb them out. These unaltered souls live on a timer before they become too powerless to use any computer to interact with the mortals. It is common to turn the remains of the crystal after 10 - 15 years into a battery to painlessly strip them away from all remaining energy granting the living A.I. their final curtain at last.


On the other hand, there exist custom A.I.s. The soul of the deceased will experience numerous alterations to their persona and abilities, artificially restricting the usage of the A.I. to dedicated functions. These changes are necessary to ensure the longevity of the A.I. being able to create custom crystals that can better shield against the corrosive abilities of the soul. The more focused the custom A.I., the fewer kinds of corrosion they emit and the more protection the crystal can spare to counteract these specific corrosions. A custom A.I. can therefore survive for far more than a century before signs of deterioration become apparent. A custom A.I. does however still have a personality, their former living counterpart is still clearly recognizable. They are however stripped of much of their freedom to not let them operate outside the dedicated area to not cause rapid deterioration. Customs are quite prominent zealot figures amidst the various religions following the Eternal Counsel, as well as serving the good fight as supportive A.I.s for the Army of Peace. Their desire for the cause burns bright and far past their mortal coil. Living for the cause, existing for the desire to remain useful.

"My desire to change the world with you, sir, is the fuel keeping my soul clear and my mind focused.
As long as I revel in our intrigues and command the army of peace at your side I will persist.
I am M.I.L.L.E.R., revived and repurposed to be your personal assistant, to commandeer the central computer organizing every military operation in Etherium.
I am the extension of your will, General Field Marshal Fide, and we will write history together.
Just as we attempted to before the peace summit ... where I got assassinated."

M.I.L.L.E.R.

Scientific Name

Aetherial Intelligence

Origin/Ancestry

Etherium

Lifespan

Living: 10 - 15 years
Custom: 100 - 200 years

Average Height

0,3 - 0,4 m
Depending on form and function.

Average Weight

100 - 150 g
Depending on form and function.

Geographic Distribution

• Etherium

Related Ethnicities

• Purists
• Ultrapurists

Discovered by

E.V.0

Crystal =/= Casket

Due to the presence of the artificial living gods, the Eternals, many citizens of Etherium do wonder why A.I.s work the way they do. Which means in a clearly inferior way to the divines, existing with an actual lifespan and noticeable deterioration. The answer is as unsurprising as it is boring. Money and time. The Eternal Counsel only adds every 500 years a new demigod to the counsel due to how ridiculously difficult the process is to create a vessel, a soul casket to preserve the personality of the most skilful. Noctec claims that the technology of creating these vastly superior crystals remains classified and only accessible by the gods themselves due to a scarcity of certain materials necessary to provide the impervious state.
A.I.s are therefore merely an option for citizens of Etherium to prolong their existence for a bit, being either a universal-use crystal with many ports but a short life expectancy or a specialized crystal with a singular port but in exchange protection from their own corrosion.

Living beings?

Due to the fact that Etherium is so closely alligned to the Eternals is it quite obvious that Aetherial Intelligences get treated like mortal beings. Discremination against A.I. is illegal and any act of dehumanisation is to be persecuted immediately. Outside of Etherium however are A.I.s at risk of getting treated like tools without feelings, made to carry out orders and nothing more. Hence the technology of A.I. will only get granted to trueborn citizens of Etherium as they grow up with respect for those serving their country far past their demise.

"Are you serious, daughter? Look at me, I am a hologram protecting our house. WHY ... DO ... I ... HAVE ... TO ... PAY ... TAXES?!"

Undeath and Taxes