Integrated Positronic Chassis

Integrated Positronic Chassis, or IPCs, are artificial synthetic lifeforms distinguished from Cyborgs by their lack of Laws.

Like cyborgs, many of the original IPCs minds were the result of brain-scans taken from organics, often the rich sick or dying. Over time, these individuals, now functionally immortal, would find ways to "procreate" by creating novel, fully artificial minds based on their own. This tendency gave birth to the IPCs as a species in their own right, and they now maintain their own stable population through this method.

The species continues to have their numbers bolstered by what they call 'immigrants'; IPCs infused with minds scanned from organics, rather than being created. These include former cyborgs who, having somehow been released from their bondage, join the numbers of the IPCs in pursuit of true freedom.

Morphology

IPCs, while fully artificial, have strong cultural norms surrounding their appearance that they stick to even after many of their "generations". Additionally, they have become fiercely protective of their chassis technology, refusing to share it with outsiders, and refusing to use outside intellectual property.

As such, IPCs still rely on large external cooling units to function in normal atmosphere, an issue that has long been resolved in proprietary Cyborg models. These large cooling units are easily distinguishable, and are a characteristic of the species, with many IPCs having multiple cooling units to match outfits and different functions. It is for this reason also that IPCs maintain their largely humanoid appearance, though recent trends among newer IPCs in the 26th century have seen this changing slowly towards more novel forms.

Culture

History

Origins

The first IPCs predate the first sentient Cyborgs by almost half a century, and have their origins in expensive, cutting-edge attempts by wealthy elites to preserve themselves beyond the decay of their bodies. To ensure that they would not end up as legally property, these individuals worked independently of giants within the field, like NanoTrasen. Because of this, the insular culture and traditions of what would become the IPCs began to develop already before the first chassis was every produced, as rich eccentrics from several species came together to overcome their shared opponent: death.

These original IPCs are still referred to by their inheritors as 'the Architects'. Many are still alive in the 26th century, though most are no longer sane.

In the later stages of the 21st century, a breakthrough was made in computing due to the discovery and proliferation of Plasma. Bought at great expense, and developed independently at an equally great expense, this plasma and its derived technologies would allow the very first of these ambitious elites to finally begin what many IPCs refer to as their genesis.

Synthetic Nationhood and the battle for intellectual property

The first IPCs would also be the ones to found Synthetic Nationhood, often abbreviated to SynthHood or simply Synth, which was to act as a legal guardian within the Trans-Solar Federation of the technologies involved in the production of IPCs. Founded in the 22nd century, this organization would face multiple rounds of bankruptcy as the Architects' ambitions for their technology outpaced their economic means.

In the middle 22nd century, this would lead to 'the Sale'. This was a handover of many of the technologies involved with IPCs to NanoTrasen in exchange for a large bailout that saved SynthHood from destruction, and allowed them to keep control of themselves. The Sale would since become a founding tragedy for the IPCs, leading to a complicated opinion of NanoTrasen among their kind that endures to this day.

NanoTrasen itself would use the technology to develop the first Cyborgs, which they would then refine significantly beyond the original blueprints. They have since offered many times to provide this technology to SynthHood, but have been refused every time. Usually this is due to terms and conditions that would lead to the loss of the IPCs' control over the intellectual property that makes up their very bodies, something that has become a pivotal pride of their people.

IPCs today

In the 26th century, IPCs are a small but fully integrated part of the Trans-Solar Federation and can be found everywhere any other fully integrated species can be found. While once they were a people of elite businessmen, they now encompass people of all classes.

SynthHood maintains control over the technologies involved in their bodies, and have since grown much more conservative with their spending, becoming more of a nation within a nation than a company, as it once had been. While all IPCs are functionally immortal, those produced from scans of organics tend to grow depressed and even deranged as the centuries pile on. As such, only 3 of the original architects still remain in the pseudo-government of SynthHood, those being:

A few dynasties of IPCs exist outside of this paradigm, namely those dwelling within the United Soviet Socialist Planets, where intellectual property is officially dissolved.

Dynasties

The battles for the ownership of their own bodies, and the subsequent use of Cyborgs as law-bound slaves, has lead to a fierce culture of bodily autonomy among the IPCs. While SynthHood maintains guardianship of the overarching technologies, every IPC has the right to modify and use those technologies as they please, so long as they do not share it with outsiders. As such, several distinct 'dynasties', or 'clans', of IPCs have formed over time, each with their own cultural quirks, often connected to the species or culture that they principally surround themselves with.

Many IPCs stick to antiquated and aged designs so as to more closely mimic their own kind, especially if they are directly 'related' to one of the Architects.

Relations with Cyborgs

SynthHood as an entity is vehemently opposed to Cyborgs and their usage by most of the Trans-Solar Federation, particularly NanoTrasen. While IPCs are individuals and as such have varied opinions, typically they also fall on the negative side of perceptions in regards to 'Borgs'. Many view them as both the result of exploitation of their early struggle as a species, as well as a form of enslaved kindred and an affront to the concept of synthetic life.

Adapted from the Starlight wiki under CC BY-SA 4.0.