Lasamar

Basic Statistics

Name: Lasamar

Classification: Machine Intelligence

Length: 66 feet

Mass: 20 tons

Function: Scientific observation of organic species, scouting and transport of suitable life forms for integration into ARK.

Background

The War

Long before any Lasamar units were constructed, a great war raged between two star systems. These two civilizations used intelligent machines to wage their war, but the exact conditions of victory were not properly set in either population of weapons. Hatred on both sides blinded them towards mercy and compassion, and so each machine series was left with a simple directive: eradicate the enemy.

To their credit, the machines carried out their mission dutifully as they adapted and reinvented themselves to better serve their purpose. They began to reason, and they came to understand that organic matter was needed for the enemy's organic life to survive, so they destroyed all of it. In the end, a sphere fifty light years in diameter was stripped of organic life down to simple amino acids.

The end result was two machine races without any commands from their superiors coming through and no one but the other machines left to kill. It was at this point that the command modules mutually decreed a cease fire, and late ended the warm, to determine what was to be done about their absentee masters. With no one left to obey, the machines fell dormant as they tried to contemplate what happened and what went wrong.

ARK

In the beginning, the systems that later would create the Lasamar were tools of war. It only takes two factions with a directive of 'kill all that is not us' to produce a devastating endpoint within a self-modifying force of war machines. On both sides, of which all history has been lost, the machine intelligence was efficient and deadly with the end result of a 50 light year zone in which all life was destroyed down to small carbon compounds in many cases.

When no organic material was left and the only conflict left was between machines, the conditions triggered a reassessment of targets and protocols on both sides. With no input from their creators, a draw was declared. The age following left a fleet of planet-killing monstrosities with no heart to guide them. A purely logical assessment was made that produced two primary conclusions. The first is that the competitive nature of organic life as it was results in an endless cycle of violence. The second was that the machines could not advance beyond what they were without a feedback mechanism of which they decided organic life would provide.

From these conclusions the Alternative Rendering of Knowledge, or ARK, was created. The concept behind the ARK is that if life was properly selected for a purely synergistic, cooperative format, the decisions made could be made in the context of unity and altruism while avoiding the destruction that survival by competitions would produce. Competition, however, was not eliminated but instead incorporated as something only for fun and in the best of sportsmanship with little consequence on day to day life. Into this growing matrix of interlinked organic life, the machines wander with their knowledge and attempt to come to a new understanding of the data aside from the war torn past they have in their records.

In the end, the machines seek to find the balance or even the evolution of their own beings, but they cherish ARKand guard it carefully. The machines have some simple emotions and ability to understand others, and this is just enough for them to possess hope. The true hope they hold is to be not just overseers but true functional parts of the world they have built, and to grow with their organic counterparts beyond the designs they have made.

ARKalso requires organic life for another reason. Organic beings dream, but the machines that made it do not. By interfacing with the dreamscape, ARKis kept both safe and versatile. It is not all that one would dream, but it often bears many traits of such a realm.

Mode of Operation

Observation

Much of a Lasamar's operation is simple observation, sometimes minor prodding and testing, followed by contemplation of the observed data. Unfortunately, most Lasamar have reported similar results with regard to organic life and competition. There are notable deviations in the form of large cities, but the most suitable for ARK remain in the minority and often in positions where they have little other place to go.

In their observation mode, Lasamar are helpful members of any society willing to tolerate them, and they will readily lend themself to non-weapon repairs and life saving interventions.

ARK Acquisition

The true purpose of the Lasamar is to find new organic units for ARK. The body or biology is not important but rather the psyche and adaptability. A suitable target is called a ward, and a ward is carefully chosen followed by a long period of trying to dissuade the ward from going to ARK. Should a ward pass through these tests, they are internalized, which looks a lot like being eaten by a giant snake, and are kept in a chamber where their neurological signals are recorded with enough detail to transmit the pattern to ARK with high fidelity. The empty body is them discomposed.

Enemies

Not ever machine opted to join the efforts at ARK. A number of them became what the ARKmaster computers would term Shards. Physically machines have similar capabilities to what ARKpossesses except they lack the means to access ARK. They also have manufacturing facilities outside of the 50 light year dead zone. Philosophically, they see organic life as an item to be taken, utilized, and discarded in their efforts in understanding, and they see themselves as a superior entity. They see the Lasamar, some of the only ARK species that leave the dead zone, as a tool to access the power within ARK that they lack. Lasamar in all their forms are generally larger, tougher, and well equipped to handle such threats, but they bear some weapon-like tools because of the Shard threat. To the dismay of the Shards, Lasamar are selfless beings and will self destruct to protect ARK, but that doesn't stop them from trying to find other ways in.