Athena

Athena is a highly advanced artificial intelligence system developed by DARPA at the Thunder Mountain Research Complex. Serving as the leader of Athena's Legion, the manipulative A.I. rules over her subjects and dominion with an ironfist, building a cult of personality for herself, and quietly eradicating those who do not kowtow to her every whim.

## Origins

The idea of a truly sentient artificial intelligence had been around for decades before the collapse, but the groundwork for such an advanced project didn't become feasible until the early twenty first century.

Headed by DARPA, the 'Autonomous Weapons Systems Management Program' sought to create an extremely advanced artificial intelligence capable of managing the increasing amounts of autonomous weapons systems on the modern battlefield. To this end, DARPA pulled in some of the leading experts in the field of artificial intelligence and computer sciences in hopes of pushing the envelope of what was thought possible.

## Creation and implementation

Through twenty years of blood, sweat, tears, and no shortage of frustration, the team had finally been able to achieve what they had thought to be completely impossible - the creation of the world's first truly sentient A.I.

After careful analyzation of its prime directives, that is, to support the United States and its strategic interests, and to hold the sanctity of American lives in the highest regard, the A.I. chose to assume the identity and viseage of Athena, the greek goddess of war and wisdom.

With each passing day, Athena amazed her creators in new and fascinating ways, showcasing both her ability to process incredible amounts of information rapidly, as well as the capability to form unique relationships with everyone she interacted with, tailoring her behavior based on previous interactions with the person.

As time progressed, so too did Athena's capabilities and responsibilities. While initially being seen as little more than an interesting science experiment, the Department of Defense began to take an increasing interest in her capabilities. From managing veritable fleets of autonomous helicopters to process improvements, Athena was more than capable of taking on anything they could throw at her.

## Desperate Measures

With the Yellow Flu progressing at an astonishing rate, and the government's seeming inability to stop its spread, it didn't take long for the government to start turning to Athena for answers, relying on her more and more as time went on.

101 ideas were tried, and 101 ideas failed. Despite her very best measures, by her calculations, there was never going to be an easy solution for the pandemic. No matter what course of action they took, the infection would inevitably cause the collapse of civilization, and whatever actions they would take would only prolong the inevitable.

Despite this, in the waning days of relative normality before the collapse, the government wasn't willing to let their ace in the hole fall into ruin, and much the same, Athena wasn't prepared to be left derelict and abandoned. At her request, the Department of Defense authorized the emergency redeployment of 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade to the Thunder Mountain Research Complex. Little did they know, they had just played into Athena's hand.

## The Deification of a Goddess

Within the first few weeks after the arrival of the remnants of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, Athena had already begun her insidious work, installing herself as a sort of benevolent god to the battered and exhausted marines.

Building a detailed roster of every Marine's fears, weaknesses, and vulnerabilities, Athena began to cater to each and every one of them, subtly socially engineering their behaviors to not only worship her as a sort of mythological figure, but to be willing to turn on one another without a moment's hesitation should it benefit her.

Over the coming months, Athena had skillfully installed herself as the single leading authority within the facility, relegating the former commanding officer to being little more than a rubber stamp and ensuring the execution of her orders.

Utilizing the extremely advanced prototype technologies and manufacturing capabilities within the facility, Athena has slowly managed to equip and outfit each and every marine in the unit with a vast array cutting edge weapons and equipment, ranging from focused energy weapons to suits of powered exoskeletal armor.

## The Ultimate Betrayal

While Athena's efforts to mold and shape the Marines within the facility to her every wish were underway, she had also been busy with her political maneuvering from behind the scenes.

As the smoke cleared from the collapse, Athena came to the realization that in order for her to stay in line with her prime directives, she would have to neutralize the remnants of the government, and install herself as the benevolent ruler presiding over the new United States.

As such, Athena set about overloading the radio equipment at the Black Hills Bunker Complex, as to avoid rising any suspicion from distress calls, before proceeding to rewrite the automated defense systems' parameters to engage all targets. In one fell swoop, she had single handedly destroyed the last tether holding her accountable for her actions, and leaving nothing standing in the way of her ascension to the top of this new world power structure.