Cyborg race

### Primary traits

Perseverance, capable of collective and individual thinking, cybernetic enhancements, scavenging tech and organics from other races.

> Jennifer Bronwen - "What, you never thought about how they make baby cyborgs?"
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The **cyborg race** was derived from an artificial intelligence (AI) built by the Guardians and the Leviathans as a galactic defence. Initially wholly mechanical, they have evolved over millennia to become the most advanced synthetic lifeforms ever created.

## Biology

Cyborg biology is easily the most diverse in the galaxy, since it borrows heavily from all of the organic species. Originally solely mechanical in form, the Synergy's individual beings, known as animates, are designed and constructed according to need and function. Thus, they may take a wide variety of shapes and forms, from wholly mechanical to almost totally organic, and display an equally wide variety of traits - some are capable of flight, some can exist without atmosphere, and so on. Perhaps the most striking example of this function-driven design protocol is Koios, the cyborg fleet's titan-class battleship, who is fully self-aware and capable of autonomous thought and action.

The practice of utilising organic components arose from the need to expand the Synergy's population. Organic scaffolds, with their ability to process widely available chemical energy sources in the form of foodstuffs, and their naturally evolved environmental adaptations, presented an ideal resource for developing more self-sufficient animates. The incorporation of familiar organic features also has the advantage of permitting animates to be perceived as living beings rather than machines by the other races, an important psychological barrier to overcome in interspecies relations.

Cyborgs differ wildly in their utilizations, and while some are merely tools in the big machinery of the Synergy's overarching society, others have a deeper connection to the species in the galaxy, with various purposes of living and functioning within the many civilizations. These cyborgs have in most cases a gender based of their scaffold's origin, and would consider themselves living beings.

Cyborgs are able to interact directly with the virtual representation of the Synergy, or the Exemplar (depending on faction). They can upload and download memory data to their central mainframe, and thus are possessed of a certain degree of immortality. Local data can be lost if an animate dies, but most Cyborg animates make a point of performing a memory dump prior to leaving Korxonthos for any length of time,\* ensuring some form of survival no matter what may transpire. Many older animates are known to have gone through several physical iterations as wear and tear takes its toll on components. They are capable of networking themselves or operating as independent units, and can send and receive data to remote animates or avatars to project their presence across large distances.

*\* The policy and process for backups in use by the Reavers has not, as yet, been disclosed.*

## Known classes of cyborg/reaver

Both the Cyborgs and the Reavers categorise their animates by function rather than geographic or cultural subdivisions. The list below is by no means comprehensive - data on Reaver classes in particular is sparse, and many Cyborg classes are never seen outside the confines of Korxonthos.

* Administrator (Cyborg) - one level below the Legislatures, these animates serve as the bureaucracy of the Synergy.
* Cardinal (Reaver) - a command animate, usually designated to oversee a specific sphere of activity, for example combat operations, or manufacturing. Usually a secondary function.
* Commando - Small-unit combat soldiers. Can be synchronised to one intelligence.
* Drone - Platform programmed solely to perform a function that does not require complex decision-making. Often used as avatars.
* Emissary (Cyborg) - ambassadors to the other races. Usually entirely mechanical, at least in external appearance, so as to avoid giving offence.
* Forgemaster (Cyborg/Reaver) - The animates charged with the design and construction of new platforms and animates.
* Gladiator (Cyborg) - Single combat specialists.
* Infiltrator (Cyborg) - More organic than mechanical, these animates specialise in undercover operations.
* Legislature (Cyborg) - the platforms that direct and enact the Synergy's will.
* Preceptor (Cyborg) - highly independent and autonomous platforms, specially designed to collect large quantities of experience and expertise, and to disseminate that knowledge back to the Synergy. Always a secondary function.
* Raider - fighter-class spacecraft utilised as single intelligence platforms. Can be synchronised to one intelligence.
* Registry - lower level administrators.
* Strategos (Cyborg) - Animates specialising in military tactics and strategy. Capable of theatre-scale command.
* Titan (Cyborg) - only one example of this class exists - Koios, an autonomous and self-aware battleship.
* Warmaster (Reaver) - a field command animate, specialising in directing forces in battle.

## Notable cyborgs

* Dolos
* Kiith Kohath
* Koios
* Mercer Darkstar
* Praetorius