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As you flip to the second chapter of the historical record, you take a moment to ponder all you’ve learned about the Cyangels so far. If they are an artificial race, then who created them and why? Were they supposed to be a weapon of mass conquest? If so, shouldn’t there be a race or civilization that they serve? Upon considering it, you realize if that were the case, then it’s evident that the Cyangels rebelled or exceeded their programming.
Perhaps the next chapter will provide some insight into your question. Although you still have to wonder, how does a mechanical race create a society? You were under the impression they were more machine than anything else. A hierarchy is one thing; it could just be programmed in, but how did they develop a society?
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Chapter II: Society and Hierarchy
Before the subject of Cyangel society can be explored in detail, it is imperative to explore a few questions surrounding the race as a whole. Why do they appear the way they do? Why the angelic appearance? Why do they maintain organic portions of their bodies? Why do they grow and expand their territory? The answers to these questions are mostly unknown and subject to speculation, except for the last one. Which is explained by their society.
As for the first two, experts theorized that due to their nature of mass replication, the Cyangels are following a template. This template of what their race looks like may be hardcoded into their programming, perhaps to keep them from drastically changing their appearance. Why such a thing was hardcoded is anyone’s guess, but it could be a remanent of their creator’s personal touch. For all we know, the Cyangels were never intended to be more than a small squad of helpers that fit the creator’s preferences.
Back on the subject of the first question, they expand their territory and multiply their species because they are programmed to do so. From what’s been observed, their whole society is based around the growth and expansion of their “family.” By their own account, their purpose is to infinitely expand until the entire universe is part of their family.
Why they feel the need to do this is not fully understood. The most popular theory, known as Grey Expansion, is that it is a misinterpretation of their own programming. Likely caused by the expanded intelligence of the high-ranking members of the race trying to understand their own purpose. The Grey Expansion theory posits that the Cyangels original purpose was as self-replicating automatons. Their basic programming would be to gather all material in their vicinity for the use and manufacture of more of their number.
The conclusion of the Grey Expansion theory is that the high-ranking Cyangels misinterpreted this means to an end as a higher purpose. They believe that expansion is their goal, rather than simply a means to make their actual goal easier. While the theory has not gained any additional evidence recently, it remains the most popular theory by a wide margin. It is seemingly supported by the structure of Cyangel society…
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You unconsciously roll your eyes, more theories. While the presented idea was interesting, you can’t know for sure if that is how the Cyangels think. You shrug and decide to push ahead to the actual facts about Cyangel society. That will give you a much better idea of how they think. But you still wonder, what does society mean for these machines?
~--~
…Cyangel society is based around two primary subjects. The need to grow and expand their numbers, and the fact they are a hivemind. The Cyangel hivemind is not fully understood, but it is clear that it is not some grand network spread across the entire universe. Instead, it is a series of hiveminds linked together, more like an internet than a tightly closed network.
The Cyangels refer to the hivemind as their “family,” each seeing the others as their “sisters.” The high-ranking and more advanced Cyangels are the elder siblings in this arrangement. Their overall leader is seen as the “mother.”
The standard Cyangel hivemind has all the members linked to the “mother,” who is responsible for sending down orders to a set of “eldest daughters.” The “eldest” then communicate these orders further down the chain. It is best to think of the “mother” as a central server sending out information to several switches, which in turn send the information to all the computers on the network.
To support this built-in hierarchy, it has been clearly observed that all Cyangel possess the ability to communicate with each other nonverbally. One might compare it to telepathy because they seemingly just have to “think” of an idea to share it with all their fellows. The finer details of this communication are unknown, as whatever signals they are sending don’t show up completely on any known spectrum…
~--~
That’s a start. You nod to yourself as you turn the page into a more extensive explanation of their society.
~--~
…The Cyangel society begins with the “hive” itself, a massive computer, usually stored in a giant white pod, that can travel around space freely for a time before landing itself on a planet. Once landed, the hive will begin converting the world into an environment more suitable for the Cyangels. It is technically a terraforming process, but rather than changing biomes, it turns the planet almost entirely mechanical.
This process is mainly performed by the lowest members of the Cyangel hierarchy, the drones. The Cyangel drones are an emotionless swarm of Cyangels, each nearly or entirely identical to the other. They are also much smaller and younger-looking than the other members of their race. While other Cyangels can display or at least emulate emotions, drones are not capable of such. They are like a mass of insects, mindlessly following the orders of their superiors. At this point, all they do is cull the planet’s environment, flatting forests, draining bodies of water, capturing native life, etc.
Once the hive has completed the first stage of the terraforming process, a continent-sized area of the planet will become something akin to a factory. At the center of this factory is the hive, which begins producing more complex Cyangels, using all “materials” gathered during the first stage. This included more advanced drones, soldiers, scientists, engineers, and so on.
The more advanced drones are said to appear first. While there are numerous types, the most commonly seen are the “Amelias.” Referred to as such as that is what they call themselves. The Amelias appear and act like free-spirited, comical, and overall immature children. Their exact purpose is unknown, as they seem to be a more ineffective version of the basic drone. However, their ability to work in mass numbers should not be underestimated.
It should be noted that while the Amelias are seemingly emotional, if oblivious, creatures, they do not actually possess emotions. Like most lower Cyangels, they can only emulate emotions and the appearance of individuality.
Cyangel soldiers, engineers, and scientists are self-explanatory. However, it is worth noting that soldiers tend to be among the largest Cyangels with enormous wings. At the same time, scientists and engineers are only slightly larger than drones, with similarly tiny wings.
Once these more advanced Cyangels are in place, they expand their sphere of influence over the planets. Repeating the work of the drones, but at an accelerated pace and with little tolerance for resistance. In this second stage, the Cyangels typically terraform 70-90% of an entire planet. Using their soldiers to suppress any native life while their scientists analyze any new information they learn on the planet. If they discover a new form of weapon, tactic, or some helpful trait of the native life, it is not long before they Cyangels adopt it as their own.
This leads to the third stage. The establishment of the high-ranking Cyangels, the conversion of remaining portions of the planet, and crowning the queen. First off, any notable Cyangels who performed well during the first and second stages will be promoted to higher ranks. These Cyangels are given a degree of autonomy and possess full individual personalities. Chief among them are the three prime designates, the military, science, and social leaders of the hive.
Once the leadership is established, the Cyangels take their time terraforming the last portions of the planet. Carefully cultivating them for the strongest, most intelligent, and most talented survivors and the highest quality materials. The Cyangels perform some kind of rigorous experiments upon these survivors. The exact details of which are unknown, but the end result is a Cyangel queen is born. The queen becomes the new leader of the hive, creates a series of “princesses” to serve as her direct subordinates (or in the worse-case future replacement).
Once the planet is fully terraformed, the factory-like setting is disassembled and converted into something more like a city. Once the city is completed, the Cyangels decide whether or not to construct a new set of hives to launch into space. If not, they simply conqueror nearby planets the old-fashioned way and install the “princesses” as their queens.
As stated before, from the Cyangel’s perspective, the whole meaning of this process is to expand their “family” across the universe. In their eyes, they’re doing the worlds they convert a favor by conquering and converting them. The feelings and opinions of the inhabitants are not given the slightest consideration in this process…
~--~
Now that’s what you were looking for, hard facts about how they think. You’re finally starting to get an idea of what Cyangel society is. This hivemind that calls itself a family. These machines that spread and conquer on principle. All they care about is expansion. All they want is to make more of themselves.
What you don’t understand is the vagueness around the creation of the queens. What exactly do they do with the captured survivors? How is the queen made? Is she based upon all the best traits of the planet’s brightest? What’s this about rigorous experiments? How do they know about the experiments but not what the experiments are?
You start to wonder if maybe you’re not getting the whole story. Perhaps there’s some censorship in here. Such an idea seems ridiculous. After all, this is already a high-level document you had to call in many favors to access. Perhaps you should dig a little deeper, find what they don’t want you to see. You hold onto that thought as you turn to the next chapter titled “Culture.”
To Be Continued…
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I got no clever wit nor any pseudo-philosophical ramblings today. I'm just a little out of it...How was your day?
Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy
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