Hullgrave Cluster

Hullgrave is a cluster (in The New Aeon Aggregate) primarily populated by an emergent race of sapient automatons called "Hollows" that live in tribal communities of various sizes. Hollows can be very alien to humans since their personalities, desires, and traditions are often alien and unrelatable or unfamiliar to outsiders. Because hollows descended from service automatons, they often enjoy menial labor so Hullgrave is very industrial. But they also and have odd superstitions and irrational traditions which bring the various clans into conflict with eachother. Because of their history, residents of Hullgrave are often distrusting of outsiders.

## Hollows

*[Semblant/Voltaic --> Hollow: emergent, echo, multitude*

Hollows are a specific race of Voltaics native to Hullgrave (Voltaics, or semblants, are terms that refer to any automatons with true consciousness). Though hollows have some humanlike desires and personality, they also have a mix of servant automaton programming and centuries of random evolution. This results in an alien, often unrelatable being.

There are 3 main types of Hollows: Emergences,  Echos, and Unities.

**Emergents** are a mysterious race that generally do not trust non-hollows because most outsiders don’t see them as equals or really alive.

**Echos** are a newer race. They are symbotic with a special type of cyborg humans (Korosi), and are much more relatable and human since part of their creation process uses a copy of a human mind.

**Unities** are Semblants that have linked together to form a permanent hive mind.

### Hollow Consciousness

The Hollow mind is housed in a complex device called the Positronic brain. Votives, the precursors to Hollows, had a simple positronic brain designed by the Cognitions. They were not considered truly conscious. But the modifications made to votives in Hullgrave gave them true consciousness. Like humans, it is generally accepted by Hollows that their consciousness can not be moved from one brain to another. Their mind can be copied and uploaded into another but this would be a copy with a new consciousness, and the original would die. Meaning they cannot be immortal. (Or this just applies to Echos and Hollows are immortal?) Echos live to about 100 yr. Hollows can live for centuries before the device that houses their consciousness deteriorates.

Probably delete any unimportant memories after like 50 yr. So they have memory from their whole 800 year life but only the highlights.

### Procreation

Hollows sometimes have the human desire to have "children". Echos much more often than Emergents. To do so, they can assemble new bot, repair an old one and give it a new brain, or simply buy a new one from the manufactory clans. The parent then uploads some of the basic knowledge needed to make it in life on their own. Maybe a couple personal important memories too. Some then assign the new Hollow with a ”purpose”.

Echos have a human like impulse to reproduce but Emergents rarely do. So new hollows are more often created by an Emergent who just needs help with a project and can't get anybody else to help. Why not make a normal auto? Maybe they don't trust autos for some reason. Or are ideologically opposed because they can't choose for themselves to help or not.

Because they're mostly immortal but rarely reproduce, population growth is pretty balanced. Echos are responsible for the faster growth in recent history.

But Echos can only create Emergents unless they get a koros which is relatively rare? Which probably sucks cuz Emergents probably don't care much about familial relationships. And what decides who gets a koros when a korosi dies? Lottery? Earned?

## History

### Paragonis

Paragonis was originally a region of Chiliad.  After the Cognitions were voted out of power around 800 NA this region disagreed with the decision and seceded. They had a vision for a utopic civilization ruled by the Cognitions that would be a paragon to other nations so they named their new cluster Paragonis.

When the Omniscials took over the aggregate in, they destroyed the Cognitions, something previously thought impossible. The people of Paragonis were devastated. They took some time to prepare but they eventually lead assault to push out the Omniscials and kill as many as they could around 1250 NA. But the Omniscials were far too powerful. They stopped the rebellion with ease. But afterward, to make an example of them, the Omniscials killed almost everyone in Paragonis.

### Origin of the Hollows

After the fall of the Omniscials in 1302 NA, millions of Votives were left to figure out what to do with themselves. The Votives were the primary servant automatons that were created by the Cognitions to serve the citizens. Some specialized autos saw the absence of humans to serve as a problem. Their solution was to modify some of the Votives to give them more humanlike desires so that the rest of the Votives had someone to serve. These modified Votives were still service robots at heart, but evolved to be more independent until they eventually considered themselves alive and sapient. Without a purpose and without Cognitions to command them, they had to come up with their own purpose.

For a long time, most outsiders thought that Paragonis was still just a desolate wasteland. It became known as the the Hollow Rings, (or the Hollow Corridor), referring to the empty derelict space stations as “hollows”. Others referred to it has the Hull Graveyard (which eventually became Hullgrave). But the modified Votives were constructing a new civilization from the ruins. Eventually, scavengers began to spread the tales that the hollows were protected by strange territorial autos. Once the rest of Chiliad was stable enough, following the fall of the Omniscial Dominion, expeditions were sent to take control of the hollows but were pushed back by a Semblant military. This only inflamed anti-AI sentiment among the Abolition and lead to further conflicts. Even after diplomatic discussions over many the years, most outsiders did not consider these new "emergent" autos as truly sapient or deserving of rights until fairly recently. And many still do not. After so many negative interactions, the Emergents generally are distrustful of other people.

So on the outside, not much is well understood about Emergents or their culture since there is not enough interaction to study them thoroughly. Over time, the nickname “hollows” which originally referred to the empty habitat ruins, became confused for referring to the resident Voltaics themselves, lifeforms that are “hollow” or soulless.

### Samsara

There was a small number of humans that survived the purge and maintained a small community. Eventually other outsiders who did acknowledge the sapience of the Hollows started to immigrate to the Corridor. Especially Shtal who idolized the Hollows for being what Shtal wish they could be, fully non organic lifeforms. Others were motivated to move there seeing that it was somewhat idyllic in some ways because of the abundance of autos that were willing to serve humans, as long as they respected the Hollows and their autonomy.  Around 1700 NA is when the region which would later become known as Samsara began growing in human population. Until the present day where it is about 50/50?

## Society

### Culture

Hollows often enjoy menial labor and work that humans generally dislike. Many spend much of their time cleaning, doing maintenance or construction work. Sometimes working solo and sometimes working together as a clan. This can be used for practical work that needs to be done, but often they do it with no clear purpose or end goal. Some spend hours a day organizing and counting large collections of parts or trinkets into different categories. Others build complex devices that, when analyzed, have no real function, though seem to have some cultural importance to their clans. Many habitats have areas with countless unfinished buildings, with strange abstract structures. One clan continually building, and another clan continually disassembling, another recycling materials or maintaining their tools.

Some explain this behavior as being their version of fun. Others interpret it as self expression or art. But the purpose is not to be seen or interpreted. They simply have a deeply ingrained desire to do this type of work. Cognist Hollows believe they must act on these compulsions because they are the will of the Cognitions.

Another unique aspect of Hollow behavior is their internal/digital life. They don’t live on human timelines and have inhuman patience. They don’t usually experience boredom. If they’re looking forward to something coming up in a week, they might just sit and wait. They may spend days or weeks sitting motionless. They may be communicating with others, studying, or working on a digital project. Or they may simply be in a hibernation/sleep mode..

### Purpose and freedom

Some Hollows feel an innate purpose for their lives. A propensity for one type of work over any another. If they do not have this compulsion they prefer to have a task, or larger purpose, given to them rather than choosing one themselves. So, when a new Hollow is built, their parent will sometimes assign one to them. It may be simple as giving it an initial task, deciding that cleaning will be its primary vocation, or a more vague long term life direction. Once this purpose is fulfilled (if possible) they either choose to continue in a similar work or they are free to choose a new purpose. Even if a purpose is assigned to them by their parent, they still have a choice, and are not compelled to do so.

Though they often enjoy traditionally unpleasant work, and enjoy serving others, they still value their freedom. They have tried to work outside of Hullgrave, but people generally misunderstand them and treat them like mindless servant autos instead of people. Though they sometimes feel the need to have someone else dictate their work or life purpose, this is only accepted if it is from someone they care about and has mutual respect.

### Government

The higher government of Hullgrave is Democratic. Each habitat is lead by a democratically elected Overseer. Matters that affect the whale cluster are decided by a hivemind of Overseers all linking their minds together.

Though Chiliad has created the New Cognitions (also called the Caretakers), most in Hullgrave do not see them as adequate replacements for the original and don’t wish to be controlled by them. Though some still have reverence for their Cognition creators, many don’t want to be controlled by a higher power. Since many outsiders see them as mindless servants, they value their independence and autonomy too much to be led by non-hollows.

### Clans

Below the Overseers, their societal organization is somewhat tribal, with several different smaller communities that share a cylinder, often called clans. Each clan generally has their own interests, values, and traditions. These interests may have their roots in their original servant programming. There are clans that love manufactory work, construction, or demolition. Other common interests are disassembly/recycling, cleaning, machine maintenance, organization, transport/delivery, personal assistance, or social work. But after hundreds of years of evolution and cultural drift some have become irrationally extremist, or the interests have evolved to be strange and alien traditions with no clear purpose or origin.

For example, many Hollows feel a compulsion for cleaning. But the Purification Clan use such powerful chemicals and clean so regularly that they strip the paint off of their buildings and wear down the metal on their own bodies. It is speculated that the Eslor Clan originated from cleaners. They have a hatred for dirt, organic matter, and microbes and “impurities”. But they don’t do much real cleaning work. They believe their territory is pure simply because they live there. When leaving their territory they sprinkle acid in front of them wherever they walk to purify their path. Outsiders are only allowed in if they are purified by touching a sacred ceremonial cloth to their head.

Some of these more extreme clans with less practical traditions can cause problems for others leading to conflicts and gang wars.  The Monument Clan works on large scale construction projects. Sometimes functional, sometimes simply structures with no purpose. But the Dismantlers are continually disassembling their structures and recycling the materials. This type of relationship can be antagonistic but can also be self balancing and symbiotic. In the past, without a clan like the Monument Clan, demolition clans destroyed residential buildings and even infrastructure which threatened the whole space station. Likewise, construction clans can get too carried away and build so much in one area that the space station’s weight is unbalanced which can lead to mass damage. But a demolition clan and a construction clan in one cylinder will naturally find an equilibrium.

### Relationships

Though they often belong to clans, Emergent Hollows often spend much of their time solitary. They will friends, and close relationships, especially with those in their clan, but generally prefer to live alone.

Though they have some human “dna” they don’t have the more biological compulsions that humans do. They have no remnant desire for eating. Likewise, the majority of Emergents are asexual and aromantic, and genderless, though some are not. Echos are much more human and are more likely to have some desires for a romantic relationships or gender identity.

### Samsara, Echos, and Korosi

There is 3 main sapient lifeforms in Samsara, a newer region of Hullgrave. The Kesslers (essentially humans), the Korosi (a unique type of cyborgs), and the Echos. They have a unique religious symbiotic relationship because of a device called the Koros.

In the golden age of Chiliad, the Cognitions created the Koros. It is a psychotronic component that, among other things,  records the person’s life, and makes a backup copy of the person’s mind/personality. The Koros is used to help repair brain injuries and enhance the person’s memory and intelligence. But was also used as a sentimental device after the person is deceased. After death, the Koros was installed in computer’s called Urns, which created an AI copy of the deceased. This is not for any attempt at immortality because it is generally excepted that the consciousness cannot be moved. So uploading the mind into a different body would just be a copy, not the original. But the Koros Urns allowed people to have therapeutic proxy conversations with their loved ones after their death.

After the destruction of the Cognitions, the people rose up against the Omniscials, but failed. As punishment, a majority of the residents of Paragonis were killed and in the process most of the Koros were also destroyed. Because the technology was not understood, new Koros could not be made. There were a limited number of them recovered and usable. But the Koros were not designed to be reused. The amount of information recorded was massive and unalterable. So installing it in a second person was not possible.

Around 1600 NA, some people began to install used Koroses in Hollows instead of urns in order to make the Hollows more humanlike. This created a new type of Hollow, called an Echo. The Echo had the memories and mind of the previous person but it also had its own programming mixed in so it was still its own person. It was discovered that over time, as the Echo added its own experiences and memories to the device it slowly overwrote the Korosi data which eventually completely reformatted the Koros. This allowed it to be refurbished and reusable. Because of its practical benefits as well as the symbolic benefit of creating new life from the death of the Korosi, this became a common practice with a spiritual cultural component.

Because of the enhancements that the Koros offers, and the cultural history of the Koros, and the limited number of them, being a Korosi (a cyborg with the Koros installed) is a position of honor and respect. Because of this, Echos are also a sacred part of the culture and command honor and respect from the humans and Korosi.

As the Echo gets older its new experiences overwrite the original human mind. This also has the effect of gradually deleting what makes the Echo “alive”. It become less human, and less emotive. Once the koros is fully reformatted, the Echo is no longer responsive and is no longer considered to be alive. This process takes roughly the same amount of time that the Korosi lived. The reformatting progress can also be viewed so the Echo knows what percentage is reformatted and can therefore roughly predict how long it has left to live. But there is unpredictability to the reformatting process so it is not exact. As it nears completion it can be estimated within a few weeks.

When the Echo’s life is over its Koros device is taken and installed in a child, usually as an infant, creating a new Korosi. Because of the Korosi attitude toward death and toward Echos, the Echo’s often feel similarly toward the Korosi. That the death of an Echo has meaning and purpose in giving “new life” to a human by creating a new Korosi.

Thus there is a reciprocal feeling of rebirth which is why this region is called Samsara.

### Law enforcement

In most of Hullgrave, law enforcement is done by votives. But in Samsara much of the law enforcement are Echos. They believe that autos are best for law enforcement but Echos are preferable because having the memories of humans, they have empathy but less bias having now changed into a very different, more logic based lifeform. Though in actuality they often still have some of the biases of their past life, and they have their own new biases.  But culturally, people still believe that they are the best suited for law enforcement and they do well.

## Hive Minds

### Melds

Hollows, like most Voltaics, can link their minds and create hive minds they call  Conflux/Lattice/Nexus/Coalescences/Melds/integrations/Collective/amalgam. But unlike the Shtal, when linked they form a true hive mind where they all act as one superorganism. Semblants can link in and out at will, with no permanent effects. There are only a few Melds that remain connected at all times, most instead only link together on special occasions or emergencies. Clans link up when in combat with another clan. But those two enemy clans might link up along with the rest of the cluster if the Overseers declare a cluster-wide emergency to defend the Cluster.

### Unities

There are a handful of permanent melds called Unities/Multitudes. Elkinas is both a small region Hullgrave and also the name of the largest Unity/Multitude in Hullgrave who dominates that region. Though Elkinas is now considered one “person”, it is made up of hundreds of individuals who chose to be part of the hive. The other Unities are scattered throughout Hullgrave and are much smaller, generally made up of a few dozen Semblants.

### Arrayed

A different hive mind is when a single individual owns multiple bodies that are active at once. These are called Arrayed/Arrays/Remotes/Droners. True consciousness can only exist in the original mind, so an Arrayed has one “Operator” that is just remotely controlling the others. Often, operators stay in a secure location for maximum safety since there's no need for the operator to actually go anywhere or physically do anything. The operator experiences life just as vividly through their "remotes" as they would with their original body. Generally only the rich can afford to buy and maintain more than a few bodies at once.

## Economy

Hullgrave has many factories where they manufacture many products.  They export alot of electronics and robotic components to Chiliad and the rest of the aggregate which has helped their cluster get the rest of the resources they need, since many outsiders don’t see Hollows as having human rights and aren’t happy with a cluster controlled by autos.

## Religion

    The largest religion in Hullgrave is Cognism, though it is only a minority of people. These people revere them for being their creators and giving their ancestors purpose.

But the Semblant Cognists are more more esoteric than the Chiliad sects. The last command/message the cognitions sent to the Votives was while they were in the process of being destroyed and deleted. Part of the the commands had some random junk code, likely because their AI was already damaged. But the mystery is that thousands of autos each received different junk code. So each Hollow (who are “descended” from the Votives) has some unique nonsensical code as part of their programming. Some believe that there is some greater meaning to this data. They hope that if they can piece it together correctly and decipher it, that there is some esoteric message from their creators to them giving them some new purpose or truths. Some believe that deciphering it would allow them to reconstruct the Cognition AI and resurrect the original Cognitions. So devout Cognist Hollows spend hours every day studying the data and trying to make sense of it, particularly their personal data that is unique to them. But this is not known to outsiders and not all Cognists believe it.

Cognists believe that the innate sense of purpose and eccentric compulsive behaviors of Hollows are the will of the Cognitions and are therefore more inclined to the more extreme behaviors and scrupulosity.

About half of the population have a more unfavorable opinion of the cognitions seeing instead that they created the Votives as slaves. They fear that if the Cognitions were to return they may take control of the Hollows and take away their freedom and sapience.

The Resonance?

## Demographics

60% Emergent

20% Echo

20% human/organic

**In Samsara**

50% human/organic (less than half of these are Korosi)

25% hollow

25% Echo

## Locations

### Hollow Corridor

The largest region of Hullgrave, primarily populated by tribal clans of Emergents.

### Samsara

Primarily populated by Echos and humans who have a religious symbiotic relationship with each other.

### Elkinas

Elkinas is both a small region Hullgrave and also the name of the largest Unity in Hullgrave who dominates that region. Though Elkinas is now considered one “person”, it is made up of hundreds of individuals who chose to be part of the hive.