A YJA Moment - Artificial Life

Most individuals are familiar with biological self-awareness but few are aware that there are as many inorganic sentients in Known Space.  Whether occupying robotic interfaces or free-roaming within computer networks, Artificial Intelligence or Infolife is everywhere.

Infolife does not generally evolve like organic life.  They are most often purposely created to be intelligent by programmers and computer engineers.  Only very rarely does a computer program, usually, one designed to learn and adapt, develop sentience on its own.

The earliest Artificial Intelligence occurred on Cybertron when the mysterious creators developed what would later become known as the Transformers.  

The Guardians of Oa, not trusting the frailty of the flesh, decided to entrust their crusade against evil and chaos to the Manhunter androids.

Before the Republic, researchers with Cybot Galactica developed the first artificially intelligent android on Corellia.  By the time of the Galactic Republic, so-called Droids were an integral part of the society, performing everything from interpreters, laborers, servants, and soldiers.

Most Republic citizens considered Droids to be property and any thought of emancipation was lost after the Separatists used Droids to attack the Grand Army of the Republic.  The Holonet videos of artificially intelligent machines murdering Republic citizens turned public opinion against Droids and during the Imperial era, they were greatly mistreated.

Today the treatment of Droids depends on where you are in known space.  Governments like the Nova Empire have given Infolife the same rights and freedoms as any citizen, while the Kree Empire, the Core Worlds, and the First Order continue to see Artificial Life as property.  Some nations such as the Klingon and Romulan Empires, forbid non-organic sentient life from its borders.

A YJA Moment - The Empires of Known Space (Part II)

Much like the Nova Empire, the Shi'ar Protectorate grew out of the collapse of the Old Republic.  The ruling nobility of the planet Chandilar was incredibly wealthy and grew even more so during the Republic era, bartering their natural resources for credits.  After the fall of the Galactic Empire, the Shi'ar offered planets the protection of the Chandilaran.  The resulting Protectorate mirrors the Nova Empire but is strictly under the control of the Majestrix.  In addition to the potent space-fleet, the Shi'ar are defended by the Imperial Guard, made up of metahumans from throughout the Protectorate.

In many ways The Dominion is the opposite of the Republic idea enshrined in government like the Nova Empire.  They are a collection of species that provide vital functions, but instead of the cause of mutual benefit, they are solely for the enjoyment of their leaders, the so-called Dominators (or Founders as they are known within the Dominion).  No one is sure what the Dominators look-like - witnesses say they have jaundiced skin and massive teeth and claws.  However, recently its been theorized that this is a form is but a ruse and that the Founders might be shape-shifters themselves or utilize advanced cloaking technology to hide their true form.

Originally believed to have been a race of near-humans, the Borg Collective is now a multi-species empire with grand ambitions.  They have enhanced themselves with advanced cybernetic implants and are linked together via a sophisticated hive-mind.  Their stated goal is the assimilation of all sentient life in the Universe.  In their time an entire fleet of the Grand Order of the Republic and later the Imperial Navy was tasked to contain the spread of the Borg.  Since the fall of the Galactic Empire, various combined fleets have been assembled to deal with the Borg threat.  With a great cost in personnel and equipment they have beaten the Borg back to their hive-worlds, only for them to return a few years later stronger than ever.  As the cost of repelling the Borg increases it is feared that soon they will not be able to be stopped.

Another species of cyborgs, the Chitauri have made their mark on Known Space.  Once a divided people living on their home-world, they were visited by the Mad Titan, Thanos, who forcibly unified them and honed them into a fearsome army.  Augmenting their physical form through eugenics, bionics, and advanced technology, Thanos led his new people on a grand crusade against the surrounding systems, even launching an unsuccessful invasion of planet Earth.

A YJA Moment - Will the real David Xanatos please stand up?

The Gargoyle Demona believed that to realize her goal of protecting her people, there must be a thinning of the human heard.  Realizing that she would need the knowledge of man to do it, she joined Stark Industries under the alias Dominique Destine.

She learned that Stark was particularly paranoid with his personal information, specifically in regards to his War Machine project.  His primary databases were encrypted using a key derived from his biometric data, meaning that someone had to be Tony Stark in order to access it.

Unhindered, Demona obtained a sample of Tony's blood and used it in a ritual to create a magical clone - a homunculus - of Stark, implanting it with all the information and memories needed to fulfill her plan.  The Gargoyle knew that there was no way that she could just replace Stark, as his friends and colleagues knew him too well and would immediately know something was amiss.  Therefore, Demona had to come up with a new plan to get her creation in control of Stark's company.

The Xanatos family was old money, the product of generations of investments.  Their oldest child, David, was pretty unremarkable for an heir to a multi-million dollar fortune.  He loved to ski and spent much of the winter months traveling to the world's greatest ski slopes to spend his inheritance.  He had taken many trips on his father's private jet, but on the occasion something went wrong and the plane crashed in the Colorado Rockies.

David was taken to the local hospital where he was stabilized but had suffered severe burns and scarring to his upper torso.  In order to repair his damaged face, he was flown to a private clinic where emergency plastic surgery was conducted.  When he healed, he was handsome again, but many people noted how different he looked and acted.  The trauma of the accident had seemed to make him like another person.

No cared enough to investigate the changes to David or the fact that over the next year very paramedic, doctor, nurse, or attendant mysterious passed away of a number of completely normal-appearing illnesses and accidents.  Even when David's parents both passed away because of a severe case of influenza, the coroner ruled it "natural causes".  All according to plan.

When Stark was declared dead after the Watchtower Incident, Stark Industries stock took a nosedive, further dropping after word emerged that the leader of Checkmate, Henry Gyrich was reevaluating the effectiveness of the War Machine project.  Using his fortune David Xanatos bought controlling stock in Stark Industries and renamed it Xanatos Enterprises.  His rebranding of the coffee-shop Stark-Bucks to breakfast-focused Xana-Toast was particularly hard for Mel to take...

Gaining access to the Stark Files, Xanatos' programming kicked in and he gave Demona data so she could barter with Orchis.  Fascinating by the schematics himself and the newly, Xanatos used the War Machine schematics to create the Steel Clan, autonomous robots that looked like metal versions of the Gargoyle Goliath.

With the defeat of Destine by the Mythic Avengers, the Gargoyle could not control David any longer.  Unable to utter the code-phrase to keep Xanatos under her control, David began to have doubts about what he was doing and who he actually was.  Using his advanced knowledge of computers he hacked into her personal files and discovered the truth about his life.  

Losing his touch with reality, he became obsessed with the Gargoyles and pursued them mercilessly. Discovering a way of entering Outland, he sent his Steel Clan in the pocket dimension, immediately raising the ire of Ken and the Mythic Avengers.  In the following battle at Xanatos Tower, David donned a suit of Red Clan armor very reminiscent of Iron Man.  He was soundly defeated and incarcerated in the Black Mass detention facility for observation.

Knowing he was a copy, David Xanatos signed over his stock in the company to Stark.  Tony said he always wanted a brother and surprised everyone by welcoming David into the family. Because David was not his real identity, the homunculus renamed himself as Arno Stark, after Tony's late uncle Arnold.

A YJA Moment - The Eternals

Almost four billion years ago, the powerful species of cosmic-empowered wanderers known as the Celestials, seeded the universe with life.  When this life evolved to self-awareness, the Celestials returned to its worlds to further refine their development.  For much of intelligent life, this meant being seeded with the genetic sequences known on Earth as the metagene.  Some individuals were further uplifted, becoming beings known as Eternals.

Ageless and immortal, the Eternals we granted a fragment of the cosmic power possessed by the Celestials.  This granted them many individualized powers, but most Eternals were able to rapidly regenerate injury, fly at cosmic speeds, and emit powerful energy blasts.  It was almost impossible to permanently defeat and Eternal, as one would have to disintegrate every atom to prevent them from reforming.

Its unclear how many Eternals were created throughout the known universe.  Theoretically they may have numbered in the thousands but only a handful are known today.  While many of them have chosen to retreat from civilization, many others have perished.  Though it is almost impossible to kill an Eternal, its is known that they themselves have the ability to end their own existence when the march of years becomes unbearable.

The following the few known members of the Eternals:

• A'lars and Sui-san are the leaders of human-like Eternals who live on the planet Titanos.  Sui-san is especially notable for the son she bore with Darkseid named Thanos.

• Ego used his vast powers of matter manipulation to form a planetoid around himself of which he is able to directly control.  He is the father of Mogo, who in addition to being an Eternal is a planet-sized member of the Green Lantern Corps.

• Ikaris heads a small colony of Eternals on Earth.  They have incorrectly been identified as gods and heroes for much of history.  The individual known as the Forgotten One is particularly famous as the basis for the legend of Gilgamesh.

• The Collector from Cygnis XI manages a planet-sized museum of existence's rarest artifacts, while his brother the Grandmaster operates the Contest of Champions gladiatorial battles on the junk-filled world of Sakaar.

A YJA Moment - Thanos

Darkseid, the Lord of Apocalypse and New God of Chaos has had a few children over his millennia-old life.  Some like Kalibak have remained faithful to their dark father, but most of them, such as Grayven and Orion rebelled against him and opposed his every move. With the erasure of Orion in the time-stream during The Crisis, a new child of Darkseid has emerged - Thanos the Mad Titan.

The offspring of Darkseid and a powerful member of the race of Eternals, Thanos has sought to be accepted by his parent into his Apokalips Elite.  Because of his lineage, however, the Lord of Apokalips has rejected Thanos and exiled him to live amongst the younger species.  Swearing that he would earn his father's respect by any means, Thanos has launched into a grand crusade against the forces of order.

After murder his half-brother Grayven, he set his eyes on the planet he knew his father coveted - Earth.  Having forged an alliance with the rogue Asgardian Loki Laufeyson, he led his subjugated Chitarui forces against the Terrans, requiring the full might of the Justice League and the Covert Action Team known as The Sword to repel them.

Discovering that his father is seeking the Anti-Life Equation, Thanos traveled Known Space looking for any trace of its existence.  During his search, he briefly came in contact with the Time Stone, in which he became aware of the changes that had been made to history and Darksied's role in making them.  Furious that his existence was "false", Thanos then set his sights on finding the Infinity Stones and using them to replace his father as Lord of Apokalips.

After failing to secure the Time Stone, Thanos set about creating an alliance of villains in order to secure the Stones from their current owners.  Inspired by an ancient ruler who attempted to unite the stones in the past, Thano constructed an Infinity Gauntlet to hold the stones to harness the full power of the cosmos.

To complete his task with his Chitauri, he recruited Cyborg Superman and his Manhunters, Kanjar Ro and the Ravagers, several Mandalorian clans, the Sinestro Corp, and the Sith of the First Order.

A YJA Moment - The Empires of Known Space (Part I)

Although the Old Republic is no more, the Milky Way Galaxy is filled with dozens of multi-planet, Alliances, and Empires.  The Nova Empire and Controller Space are the most well-known of these governmental bodies, but there are still others that hold great power in Galactic affairs.

The Kree are a near-human species that evolved on the heavy-gravity world of Hala.  They have struggled to unify for many generations, suffering through endless civil wars and political struggles. Eventually, the scientists of the Kree invented a powerful bio-computer which they called the Supreme Intelligence to lead their civilization and within a generation, the Kree Empire was born.

The emergence of the Kree Empire eventually led them into conflict with the Skrull Unity.  The Skrulls were a race of reptilian shape-shifters who had developed on the planet Skrullos which was strategically near Hala.  The resulting Kree-Skull War would rage for untold generations.  The conflict only ended when Galactus entered Skrull space and devoured Skrullos.  Although the Kree absorbed much of the Unity in the aftermath, the Skrulls themselves would spread-out through Known Space, using their powers to subvert governments and create what has become known as the Skrull Shadow Empire.

Another bitter conflict has erupted between the Vulcan High Command and the Andorian Empire. The Vulcans are a biological off-shoot of the Elven people, who had discarded their magical essence to embrace reason and science.  The Andorians are a  cold-adapted species from an ice world, known for their antennae and their passion.  With few habitable systems in their sector, it was inevitable that they would compete for colonial rights, a cold war that exists to this day.

As the Vulcans were abandoning their immortal natures, they found the resulting passions hard to control.  Though the majority embraced the logic philosophy of Sarek, a renegade faction adamantly refused.  These dissidents appealed to the Old Republic, who relocated them onto the uninhabited world of Romulus. After subjugating the inhabitants of the sister-world of Remus, the emerged after the fall of the Republic as the Romulan Star Empire.

The Klingons, on the other hand, were one of the few species to successfully reject the Republic.  A militant civilization, they rebuffed most offers of diplomacy.  They raided nearby colonies and engaged in a concentrated campaign to acquire banned technology from groups like the Ferengi.  The Grand Army of the Republic maintained a blockade around the few worlds of the Klingon Empire in order to contain it, but once the Republic fell, the Klingons launched a massive expansion campaign.  Only the Romulans have been able to hold off the Klingon Empire, earning them an eternal enmity.

A YJA Moment - Successor States

Within the Milky Way, there has never been a government so large and influential as the Galactic Republic.  Although it has been gone for many years, the cultural and legal foundations it laid have continued to be the cornerstone of interplanetary civilization.  Indeed, there are several so-called successor states in existence today.

The human-dominated Core Worlds had for centuries been the cultural and political axis from which the rest of the galaxy revolved.  During both the Republic and Imperial eras, Coruscant was the capital planet and worlds like Corellia were the centers of manufacturing.  After the fall of the Empire, there was a conscious effort to remove the Core from their place of preeminence, which continues to this day.

Coruscant has been the most unwilling to give up its position as the heart of the Republic.  Once the home to both the Republic Senate, the High Chancellery, and the Jedi Temple, It continued for a time to be the home of the Imperial Senate and the Emperor's Palace.  Today, it continues the traditions of the Republic, rebuilding the Senate to its pre-rebellion splendor and continuing to proclaim itself as the birthplace and center of the Old Republic.

Corellia, on the other hand, never held an interest in politics, concentrating on large-scale engineering. The shipyards in orbit were the backbone of the Senate's push to build the Grand Army of the Republic and continued to be a vital part of the Imperial Navy.  Today, they leverage their experience and expertise for dozens of governments throughout Known Space, being one most influential shipwrights in operation today.

After the Galactic Core Worlds, the Rebel Alliance made a conscious decision to relocate the capital world from Coruscant to the Mid-Rim planet known as Xandar.  Though the reaction of many worlds was positive, the Core Worlds were completely opposed.  The opposition of the Core would eventually end the dream of a galactic-wide New Republic, but the supporting worlds would unite to form what would later be called the Nova Empire.  Despite its name, Xandar has a long history of democracy and equality, all under the watchful eye of its own protectors, the Nova Corps.

A YJA Moment - Galactic Corporations

During the Republic era, the galaxy was filled with megacorporations which exercised great influence over the populace and the Senate.  Much of the legitimate movement of goods was supervised by the Trade Federation, while money and engineering were controlled by the Intergalactic Banking Clan and the Techno Union respectively.  Unhappy with the laws enacted by the Republic, they joined the Separatists during Clone War.  After the war, the Galactic Empire refrained from nationalizing them but installed puppet leadership to ensure their compliance.

The only megacorporation to survive the Imperial purge was the Corporate Alliance, a collection of companies that had joined for mutual benefit.  During both the Republic era the Alliance found itself with increasing profits and sway over the political arena.  BlasTech and Sienar Flight Systems held a near-monopoly over weapons and starfighter technology which is believed why the Corporate Alliance was almost completely untouched during the Imperial era, being granted control of several systems. After the fall of the Empire, the Alliance would absorb the Trade Federation, Techno Union, and Banking Clan; forming the Corporate Sector Authority in the worlds within the Etti Sector.

Entertainment of in Known Space is largely the product of the Holonet, a three-dimensional holographic communication system.  One of the most dominant channels is the Mojoverse, the gladiatorial soap opera created by genius executive Mojo the Spineless One.  Trillions everyday tune into live feeds dealing with the complicated lives of the fighters battling in the arenas.  Though most of the stars of the Mojoverse are paid actors, there have been some accusations that many of the secondary participants are unaware this is a broadcast or have been coerced into being a part of the show.  Mojo denies any wrongdoing and is infamous for his aggressive litigation against slander.

Owned by the millennia elder of the universe The Collector, the Tivan Corpration is Known Space's largest trading network.  Utilizing private contractors and mercenaries, the corporation's selling point is the ability to move whatever you want to wherever you want, no questions asked.  Those in his employ also serve as an intelligence-gathering network, seeking out strange objects of interest for The Collector to procure and store in his museum-world of Cygnus XI.

However, of all the known species, the one most aligned to the realities of unfettered capitalism is the Ferengi. Known for their large and sensitive ear-lobes, the entire Ferengi culture revolves around the concepts of enterprise and wealth.  The Ferengi Alliance doesn't have a stellar reputation amongst the other nations, as they do not feel constrained by concepts such as ethics and laws.  The only corporation which has found a foothold galaxy-wide is the Kokakola Corporation, which primarily makes a variety of refreshments.  In order to keep prices down, the company is known to build is factories in back-water worlds such as Earth.