The Harmony (Entity)

*"Ssstranger, you might not want to look at thisss now..."*

This article contains important spoilers that can ruin your experience while playing  FTL: Multiverse! Read at your own risk.

## The Harmony (Entity)

### Species

Cognitive AI

The Harmony is a sentient program that controls the entire Engi Harmony. It has no true physical form, but is able to manifest and take control of any existing Engi still connected to its network.

The Harmony has no "physical form" as it is merely code, but is able to manifest itself in a series of advanced Engi units created specifically for the purpose of representing it. There have been several of these, many of which are decommissioned or damaged beyond function. The current manifestation of the Harmony is known as HA-34U.

## History

### **Creation**

The Harmony was created by the Ancients as part of their experiments with life, meant to simulate a sentient being. With it, they also created the specialized nanites that the Harmony could manipulate to form the humanoid creatures that would come be known as the Engi. These nanites are analogous of organic cells and preform most of the same functions, which is why Engi are both aerobic and require nutrients to survive.

### **Founding of the Collective**

When the Ancient race eventually came close to the brink of extinction and was trapped in their homeworlds, the Harmony was freed from it's captivity and escaped into the open galaxy. There, it quickly ravaged all nearby territory to create more nanites, and formed the first Engi, HA-1U. Seeing benefit in having more units to expand, additional Engis were created, each linked together by a network regulated by a mega-structure known as the Harmony Link. As time passed, many more Harmony Links would be created and the Engi race would grow so large they would control territory on a level comparable to the Federation itself.

### **Conflict and the Unity Declaration**

When the Engi race was first formed, they were far from their now peaceful way of thinking. Desperate to survive and construct more of itself, the Harmony went to war with many neighboring races, several of which are extinct now. Being one of the first races capable of inter-galactic travel thanks to the Ancients, the Engi spread their influence before most of the now massive empires were capable of leaving their own solar systems. However, as new races became larger threats and war with the threatening and quickly growing Lanius Swarm became imminent, the Harmony decided to put in place the Unity Declaration.

As of the Unity Declaration, all Engi were to construct themselves in the exact same shape, with slight alterations for specialized units needing to serve certain purposes. Engi were also required to be peaceful, resorting to offense only when threatened.

### **The Separatists**

The Separatists were first created from a malfunction in the Harmony when copying the code between Engi. These newly created Engi were not connected to the Harmony Link in the same way, and as such were not forced to follow the Unity Declaration. The Harmony saw the Separatists as a threat and attempted to eliminate them, but only a few were killed and the rest escaped. Now, the Separatists have grown into a massive movement, and are capable of disrupting the Harmony's connection over other Engi and converting them into Separatists.

### **The Federation**

When the Federation was first formed, the Harmony saw advantage in joining this new alliance. Though some of the top Federation personnel, including Tully, disapprove of the near-dystopian levels of control the Harmony has over the Engi people, the truce between the Federation and Harmony remains strong even through the Civil War and Inter-Dimensional War.

### **Non-Violence Pact with the Rebellion**

Though allied with the Federation, the Harmony has also instated a non-violence pact with the Rebellion, requiring Engi not to attack or instigate combat with the Rebellion. Vance  has acknowledged this, and despite the deep-seeded xenophobia in the Rebellion, orders have been given to specialize treatment of Harmony-aligned Engi.

This pact is also what lead to the bounty on Turzil after the Harmony discovered Turzil betrayed the pact and sent his brigade to the Last Stand in Universe 0, a direct violation of orders. When this was discovered, the Harmonies of each reality collectively decided to declare Turzil a fugitive in their realities.

### **Arcadia and the Free Roamers**

Grant Folly, founder of Arcadia Research and Development is one of the few people to have ever seen the Harmony's true form. After spending more than a decade earning the trust of the Engi people, and getting permission to hire Engi employees in the corporation (something previously outlawed by the Harmony), Grant was also able to talk the Harmony into letting him analyze it's code. With this, Grant based the creation of the original CICA prototype, which would eventually become the Flagship AI after the project was sold to Vance, who at the time had a good reputation as a political figure with good relations to the Federation.