Telfegor Robotics Foundry

The Telfegor Robotics Foundry was a small, mostly-automated asteroid colony in the eponymous Telfegor System in the Sealed Kingdoms region of the galaxy.

History

A relatively remote outpost of the arcopel interstellar empire, the Telfegor facility was primarily involved in advanced artificial intelligence and robotics research. This research was headed by an arcopel named Lufthaus and a team of arcopel and vbyifabid researchers from Applied Synthetics. One of the major projects by the Telfegor research team was the development of a race of humanoid servitor automatons which could be adapted to take the form of the various semi-sentient species then being researched by the arcopel, including the primitive human and human-descended species.

Skyphoform Ideogram by BCGR_Wurth

This project eventually bore fruit in the creation of the first skyphoforms, with the Lufthaus 1b model being based on Dr. Lufthaus' own neurological architecture. Little did the researcher know that including this model and his descendants in the production line would have a significant impact on the post-arcopel geopolitics of the region - including the eventual Orthodox-Defected Conflict that saw those skyphoforms loyal to the arcopel beyond death and self-actualization-seeking Defected violently struggling to define the future of the artificial species.
With the collapse of the arcopel empire in the aftermath of the Mind Catacysm, however, this arcopel-vbyifabid collaborative project fell apart as the colony as a whole collapsed. More than half of the researchers were killed outright when the signal front reached the asteroid, while the rest were left with varying degrees of neurological damage and psychological trauma as a result of the event. Population numbers drastically declined as a result of a combination of mass death, loss of genetic diversity, and social upheaval stemming from a loss of leadership elements.

Current State

The Telfegor Robotics Foundry was ultimately not destroyed by the loss of its population, as those skyphoforms which remained aboard the station remained operational and maintained it after the last researcher, Dr. Lufthaus himself, perished. However, in an attempt to prevent the 'lesser' species of the Sealed Kingdoms region from stealing advanced (and dangerous) arcopel assets, the facility's 'silent running' protocol was activated. As such, the colony's communications systems were disabled and the facility's station-keeping thrusters were used to put it on an orbit that would eventually carry it to an undisclosed adjacent star system.
Thus, while the 'homeland' of the skyphoforms is well-known even unto the time of Wurth's Matrioshka Multiverse project, it remains an elusive object of study and pilgrimage despite the efforts of still-physical scouts for the Substrate. For their part, the Choir Blanks and Elder Blanks have an equal stake in finding this asteroid. Aside from its rich bounty of ancient artificial intelligence technologies to study, finding the Foundry would give the skyphoforms now serving the needs of the Matrioshka a much-needed shared cultural touchstone in the way that the idea of Evermorn or the Cobalt Protectorate is for the humans.

Type

Starbase

Population

500, plus numerous artificial life forms

Inhabitant Demonym

Researcher; Telfegorian