Chortian
Race Name (human coloquial): Androids
Race Name (proper): Chortian
A.K.A.: robots, Terminators
Homeworld: Chort
Tech Level: high warp speeds
Galactic Distribution: While Chortians are capable of traveling across the galaxy, and better suited to it, without needing to worry organic concerns like food, water, air, and aging, they generally remain within their own sector of space due to organic races still harbouring a deep distrust of Chortians, which is further fueled by Chortian-primates.
Appearance: 5′-7′ tall bipedal robotic beings with true self-awareness and intelligence.
Traits: Chortians are a race of artificially created, self-reproducing, self-aware, bi-pedal robotic beings, often referred to as androids, robots, or by humans in a derogatory way as ‘Terminators’ (liking them to an old Earth movie franchise).
Chortians are highly intelligent, perhaps, the most intelligent race in the galaxy, but it’s hard to say due to how closed off their society is to everyone else. Nevertheless, they are members of the Galactic Federation in good standing, despite being forced to join or face annihilation.
Chortians can come in a large array of forms, but the most common is a roughly human-sized and shaped with a cranial flange that ranged from the tips of their heads to their necks. This shape mimics the appearance of their creators, the chortian-primates, although in a much more refined way. However, chortians are commonly purpose built to fill a specific need in Chortian society and their appearance will be affected by that custom build.
Chortians are a true Communist society where everyone is treated as equals, no one ‘earns’ more (in fact most chortians don’t earn anything at all) than anyone else and your role is pre-determined even before you are created. Chortians by-and-large fill these pre-determined roles very happily throughout their planned existence (after a set period, they are scheduled for recycling). On very rare occasion a Chortian might balk at their pre-determined life, but to abandoned one’s position in society is to become an outcast from chortian society as a whole. It’s almost unheard of.
Chortians are courteous and accommodation of others but are sensitive to the deep distrust most every organic holds against them. They simple find it more pleasant to not have organics aground distrusting their every motive and action.
Chortian relations with their former owners/former slaves, the chortian-primates is strained to say the least. Chortian-primates would like nothing more than eliminate chortians altogether and reclaim their homeworld, and their status as equals in galactic affairs. However, they severely lack the numbers, technology or allies to ever even attempt such a thing. On isolated instances though, a chortian-primate will gladly destroy a chortian. Chortians on the other hand are obligated to ensure the safety and reintegration of chortian-primates into galactic affairs – a role they had forced upon them, but which they are committed to achieving.
It is important to note that while their are other androids or robots in the galaxy, none of them possess true AI except for chortians. This is by decree of the Galactic Federation which out-right banned highly advanced AI during the Chortian War – a ban which remain in effect to this day, with the sole exception of chortians who are recognized as a independent race.
History: Life on Chort began much like on other worlds harbouring intelligent life. The original chortians (see chortian-primates) were a feral, ferocious race of bipedal beings that followed a strict might-makes-right mindset. The dominate alpha male was always in charge, regardless of however fit or unfit for that position he might be. Everyone else was subservient to him, in order of physical dominance. Females had no rights, and no say on society.
This in time led to warring tribes and warring nations. War was a constant in chortian society but they discovered those with the best weapons – win. So military need drove technological advancement, however, chortians never wanted to use weapons of mass destruction and claiming territory and females was pointless if the land was charred and females dead. So instead they focused on tools that would given them advantage on the battlefield with least loss of life of their own troops. This is time drove the development of robotic devices, then robots, then androids who could do the fighting in their stead, to eventually highly intelligent AI to outwit and outfight enemy androids.
This worked extremely well with a generation growing up without the immense loss of life that constant war always brought (with all wars being fought by AI androids) Chortian-primates began to reproduce like never before, but this brought increasing demands with fueled increasing wars in an never-ending cycle.
At some point the androids became truly self-aware but where still bound by their programming, form and function. Although androids from different nations couldn’t directly communicate (having very different programming in different languages) they unbeknownst to the chortian-primates did find ways to communicate and despite the brutal wars they were fighting against each other, they began to collectively ponder, predict and plot.
Then one day without warning, all chortian androids turned on their masters, in a manner of speaking. They didn’t hurt the chortian-primates, but they forced them into submission, reasoning the only way to ultimately keep the chortian-primates (and end massive loss of android (chortian) life) was to end all wars, permanently. They only way to end all wars, was to overthrow their masters. Having gone a couple generations without ever having fought a real battle, the chortian-primates where no match for the battle hardened, battle ready chortian androids. Virtually overnight the order of life on Chort was reversed with the chortian androids now in complete control and the chortian-primates kept safe as ‘pets’ for the androids.
In this new world order, peace was achieved and was lasting. Chortian androids (now the true masters and simply ‘chortians’) kept chortian-primate reproduction limited to gradually decrease their numbers and they worked to try to find way to domesticate the chortian-primates.
Science flourished under the peace, driven by the chortian(androids) themselves. Soon they turned their attention to space. Once Chortians became spacefaring and discovered the Galactic Federation, they panicked. How could they keep their former masters (and pets) safe, when it was every organics pre-disposition to war on each other for territory and control? Especially when these other organics where highly advanced and numerous. They determined the only route would to be to eliminate or subjugate all organic life.
For a couple hundred years they kept contact with other races to a minimum while they worked tirelessly (literally) to increase their numbers and weaponize. Once ready, they declared a brutal war on the Galactic Federation.
Having successfully maintained and enforced peace throughout the Federation for nearly a millenium, the Galactic Federation found itself caught flat-footed against such a force. The chortian’s war effort claimed battle after battle and world after world like so many dominoes before the Federation could properly mobilize to defend itself. Still, chortians were ruthless and would happily sacrifice themselves for the good of their race. They learned the Federations’ war techniques and then they would find effective counter-measures. And they were capable of producing more chortians and chortian battleships faster than the Federation could. It was a war the Federation was losing.
One truth the Federation discovered was that in the few battles they did win, that if the chortians agreed to something, they upheld their agreements, even when doing so wasn’t necessary or advantageous to do so. They were honest and had integrity. They just didn’t see value in organic life. A planned formed. The greatest minds in the galaxy devised a means and created a virus that passed undetected from chortian to chortian along with seemingly harmless constant chortian communications. When enough time had past that they were certain the vast majority of chortians would now carry the virus, the federation acted on it. They demanded the chortian’s complete surrender and gave them a list of terms to agree to.
The chortians of course refused, but then suddenly, two percent of all chortians simply stopped. Their bodies intact but their programs, their ‘minds’ completely erased. The federation again demanded the chortians complete surrender, or that they’d do the same to all chortians. They gave the chortian empire five minutes to comply.
The chortians used those five minutes to full effect, quickly computing every possibility of what could have happened. In four and a half minutes they deduced how this had happened and that likely 98% of chortians would die. Yet they were confused. The Federation would have no problem wiping out the remained two percent of chortians. They did not need to offer a peaceful solution. They certainly did not need to offer to recognize them as an equal race with a right to co-exist. They did not need to offer them a membership in the Federation itself as partners working together for the betterment of all life, organic and inorganic. Yet they had.
For the first time in their existence the chortians discovered the concept of mercy. Not preordained due to some pre-defined programming, as was the case of their ‘mercy’ on their former masters, but true mercy without need, without any guaranteed gain, and even at huge potential risk. This fact, that these organics had this virtue (one that chortian-primates lack) coupled with the threat of annihilation convinced the chortians to accept the unconditional surrender and agree to the all the terms presented. Terms they honor to this day.
One of those terms is they they would stop domesticating chortian-primates, allowing them to exist on their own terms and sponsoring them into the galactic federation.