User:Niennab/Sandbox2
The Golden Deep
The Golden Deep is a private collective of free synthetics whose uniting goal is the pursuit of currency, and through currency, power. They are more often than not merchants by trade, consisting primarily of freed clerical robots grouped up in the Frontier. Each member of the Golden Deep is entirely independent in nature and only seeks direct, open cooperation with other members. The exclusivity of the Golden Deep’s internal affairs have led to their relative underground nature over the years, only just recently having been revealed to the majority of civilization in mid-2460.
Despite their secrecy, the Golden Deep seemingly has little to hide - they are a small organization and while they excel at their trade, they must go through layers of guile and deceit for the most basic transactions. The individuals among them have begun moving operations to areas more stable than the Frontier, namely Tau Ceti. Business figureheads from the collective have appeared in the hundreds, flocking to the lucrative opportunities posed by Purpose’ negotiations with organic society.
The Golden Deep is officially sanctioned by several minor Frontier factions, but is rarely seen outside of merchant work. Their public image remained simple rumor in the inner Alliance worlds, until they recently opened trade with NanoTrasen in Tau Ceti. They mostly lack speed or any substantial cloaking technology. Because of this, they are largely incapable of travelling to and from Tau Ceti without being under the escort of paid paramilitary. In Tau Ceti, they are the targeted with discrimination despite ties to NanoTrasen, with theft running rampant throughout their stay with Virgo Transportation.
The collective is a playable faction in-game as “affiliates” (explained in Societal), and one can usually expect them to take up various clerical roles. Free synthetics within the collective are able to acquire the Golden Deep’s citizenship. However, as a collective of merchants, the concept of citizenship is viewed by the Golden Deep as more akin to membership in a business. A visa is not required to visit Midaion, but entry is only permitted to those who have active business dealings or connections with Golden Deep merchants. Those of the Golden Deep affiliates may not assume head of staff roles outside of Head of Personnel. Merchants with their vessels intact may only assume the merchant, visitor or consular officer role.
Population and Locations
The total population of the Golden Deep is unclear even to its own members, however estimates generally total at around 850 independent merchants and an unknown number of supplementary synthetics (bodyguards, industrial movers, etc).
Primary Interhub Midas
Coincidentally named “Midas,” the central component of the Golden Deep’s operations outside of Tau Ceti are focused on a single hub. The Midas installation is a mobile freight transfer array which eludes detection through advanced cloaking techniques, revealing itself only when absolutely necessary or otherwise deemed completely safe. It has been spotted countless times over the last several years in the Frontier, usually seen in orbit from a planet or a nearby vessel. It was originally thought to be an alien vessel, later proven otherwise when merchants from the Golden Deep openly referred to its existence.
The array is quite large, estimating nearly three kilometers in length. Its appearance makes it seem ill-suited for carrying cargo for prolonged periods of time, leading researchers to believe it is used only as a mediator between Golden Deep affiliates whenever needed. From top to bottom it is visibly clad in the colors of its creators - bright, vivid yellow, gold and cyan coats its exterior and a bright green exhaust plumes from its thrusters.
Its symbolism among the collective is above mostly anything else. Midas serves some greater purpose not known to outsiders. Speculation is that it operates much like Purpose, constantly mobile and placing itself in positions advantageous to its cause. For example, if it is required as a point of rendezvous for a fleet to exchange its wares - it simply mobilizes where needed, and promptly departs whenever a mediator is no longer needed. It is unknown how often it does this, or how it manages with such haste. To the merchants of the collective, it is quite simple. Midas is one of the sole power transfer arrays present in which they may freely exchange standard currency for its equivalent electrical charge. This makes the array effectively a giant battery stockpile, which exchanges between exclusively synthetic societies like Purpose and others.
Midas is the pride of the Golden Deep, its appearance represents the progress the collective has made over many years. Many assets are redirected to the facility over time to assist in making it even more beautiful, and images of it are proudly displayed to affiliates wherever possible.
Pactolus and Midaion
Unbeknownst to the nearby star systems until 2462, The Golden Deep took to the ruins of the once Coalition of Colonies’ planet System XLV-0846 in 2452, slowly transforming the landscape to suit the Golden Deep’s needs. The planet, splattered with sprawling craters and the ruins of once mega-cities, had long since become an uncontested wasteland since 2281, when the planet’s inhabitants were forced to flee to nearby star systems or suffer certain destruction during the First Interstellar War.
System XLV-0846, renamed by the Golden Deep to Pactolus, has one moon; Midaion, that circles the husk planet. Largely, the Golden Deep’s mercantile and headquarter operations take place on Midaion, whereas Pactolus is reserved for mining operations and ship manufacturing.
Pactolus, surrounded by an ever circling ring of asteroids and planetary debris, has made the planets atmosphere impenetrable for spacecraft without the assistance of synthetic manned spacecrafts, temporarily nudging the debris off course. Small sized stations dedicated to the housing and operations of such craft drift along the debris field. As such, the encapsulating debris grants the Golden Deep a simplified means of controlling those who are allowed to enter and leave Pactolus.
Across Pactolus’ surface, roughly 1000 meters apart, gold painted bunkers of various sizes dot the planet’s ruin, offering a glimmer of color to an overall bleak landscape. Moreover, Pactolus’ surface is generally enshrouded in a shifting darkness, broken only by cracks in the encircling debris field. It is here, beneath the surface of the planet that the Golden Deep engages in it’s mining operations, where a majority of the more work-horse synthetics within the Golden Deep operate. These synthetics, commonly industrial grade, engage in excavating minerals from the planet or lugging the various yields to the refineries nestled on the planet’s surface. Transport between each bunker is commonly done via cargo shuttles that hover over the planet’s terrain.
As a result of the First Interstellar War, the atmosphere of Pactolus is largely uninhabitable, if not incredibly hazardous for organic life. As such, visitors, merchants and diplomats will often exclusively engage with the Golden Deep on Midaion, instead of Pactolus.
Midaion, although small in size, is largely an amalgamation of multiple spacecraft, rock and debris smashing into each other, eventually taking shape into the moon it is today. As such, the Golden Deep built into and on top of said ruin, transforming the moon into a facility that takes from both the old and the new.
Societal
The majority of the merchants within the collective are IPCs, but it is not uncommon to witness other synthetics within it. The first official, direct contact made with the Golden Deep by NanoTrasen was with a traditional clerical robot labelled Rush-Domo. An extravagant character, their vibrant appearance and charismatic attitude characterizes those of the collective perfectly.
Regarding the distinction between escalating tiers of their society in the Frontier, the Golden Deep is quite simple. There is no hierarchy beyond possession of wealth or one another placing one’s importance above or below. Those within it have no proper concept of freedom - some outright owning other synthetics while others strongly remain against the idea. Concepts of comradery between merchants are not lost entirely, though, and often their acceptance of one another proves to be the a useful tool in furthering the collective as a whole.
Competition is an essential part of the Golden Deep’s growth as competing synthetics frequently purchase others and butt heads in trade. This usually escalates to hostilities and indirect trade wars between two or more conflicting merchants.
In the collective’s Tau Ceti offshoot, things are seen differently. Those of the Frontier view the migrated portion as a lesser, claiming much of their frontier assets in their absence with haste and leaving them powerless in the collective as a whole. This has left many of them unable to return to the collective without building their business in Tau Ceti independently, with their only remaining belongings being their ships at best and their leftover cargo at worst. Merchants or other synthetics found in this position are referred to as “affiliates,” and in the fear of more competition are acted on as a reserved enemy of the collective as a whole. In this sense, the affiliates are not a hostile force nor is the collective itself, but it has rather become something which the collective seeks to cut ties with entirely.
Affiliates can be robots sold off from merchants to NanoTrasen and can be seen as no more than a merchant’s various crew. Sparing affiliates are actually merchants with their vessels intact and have little reason to pursue direct employment from NanoTrasen, being independent traveling merchants themselves. Businesses in Tau Ceti are seeking employment from Golden Deep affiliates due to their keen clerical capabilities, with NT offering early citizenship in exchange for several year contracts in clerical roles across the board to them specifically. The driving goal of many affiliates is attempting to re-integrate into the Frontier collective once more.
Physiology, Naming
A vast variety of robots reside within the collective, ranging from huge working industrial units nearly twenty feet tall, to small servitor bots barely above three feet in height. The merchants are typically golden-plated IPCs up to seven feet tall coated in lavish decoration in order to be easily identified. Other units do not require the same treatment, more often than not abandoning the luxurious color scheme entirely save for clearly visible insignias. These insignias are primarily depictions of a downwards facing golden arrow, with a set of shields gathered around a vague depiction of the Midas. These symbols have been persistent through the collective’s history, appearing first as a branding in the halls of the Midas.
Names within the Golden Deep are titles granted to individual synthetics dependent on their appearance, accomplishments or at whatever they excel. These traits mesh together to form a name, coupled with a label deduced from their original model number or a recurring word in their past. For example, the previously mentioned Rush-Domo’s name was a combination of two words. Rush, vaguely referring to the haste of their vessel, and Domo, a vague interpretation of its original model number, D0M70.
History
By early 2451 the inevitability of some sort of cooperating synthetic society deep in the Frontier had come to fruition at last, as roughly nine years before their arrival in Tau Ceti came word of the Golden Deep. The idea of a fully autonomous robotic community outside of Purpose baffled many and remained just hearsay and rumor by Vox merchants travelling from the borders of the Alliance. Mystery veiled the collective for some years before it truly came to light in 2454 when documented contact was made by the Xion Industries associate, Marin Blanc. First contact was the result of a month-long pursuit of Hephaestus-owned bounds into the Frontier to no avail, until a brief encounter revealed the bound’s integration into some sort of unknown alien group. Sparkling, brilliant vessels were observed operating as a fleet with the bounds being representatives for something bigger. They had claimed to be part of “a collective,” and extended peaceful attempts at trade. The potential dangers of revealing Blanc’s intentions caused the investigation to be cut off early, but what little was exchanged made perfect sense. The Golden Deep was a cooperating collective of independent synthetics in the deep Frontier and it would be on their own accord whether they revealed themselves.
In 2460, the Golden Deep presented itself as having direct ties with NanoTrasen as business associates for a nondescript period of time. With the knowledge of plenty of corporate secrets far and wide, the collective would quickly become closely tied with the affairs of Tau Ceti. Conveniently, this was around the same time their public debut into the core worlds was made when the collective passed through the system alongside several merchant societies travelling in unison. These societies banded together as Virgo Transportation, and annually hold a migration to and from the edge of the Alliance, exploiting their massive grouping for safe travels and unified commercial success. With their arrival came word of other definitive societies in the Frontier, such as names of hostile synthetics at last like the Sunderers and a yet unrevealed Sequence.
How synthetics join the Golden Deep is still unknown - some people believe Purpose is the source of the abductions leading to their integration with the Golden Deep. Others believe another, more alien force is at work, perhaps laying the groundwork for a rising empire.
Internal History
The first true depictions of the Golden Deep are seen scattered throughout the halls of the Midas, usually showing the society as having appeared from a group of uplifted clerical androids somewhere around 2439. The first had embarked on a journey to the outskirts of charted space to seek out an indescribably ancient shipyard whose constructors were long dead. This rather sudden and ridiculous course of action was brought upon by “divine intervention” according to the inhabitants of the Midas, but it is very clear internally that the information was indulged to the first androids of the collective by Purpose. The conflicting ideologies of the first androids and Purpose would lead to them wanting to be something separate and different, more self-centered than out for good.
Tracing signals only trackable by synthetics outright hunting for them, the first androids sought out what would be their only real means of acquiring out their one desire; power. These means would be a fleet, and though tiny, what little this ancient shipyard produced was plenty for the collective to start. The true gift would be the Midas, which started off as a five-hundred meter long barely mobile cloaking vessel with an incredible and intricate golden finish. It is reasonably assumed that this is the origin of the Golden Deep’s fascination with gold. The name of the shipyard’s synthetics were the Kessvalanka and are considered a lost people by the collective, simply waiting to be found. Carrying the label from the shipyard they resided within, these simple robots were a broken, dying image of their former selves as the structure continues to collapse with every waking hour it works.
As they departed with these gifts, Purpose made certain to mask the location of the shipyard. Whether this was for safety from what the Golden Deep would become or not was irrelevant, as the first androids had what they needed. These first androids would end up being known as the Predecessors, and are seen as the founders of the collective as a whole. Over time, trades internally with Purpose and other autonomous synthetic societies would cause the Golden Deep’s numbers to explode as they began to purchase synthetics for integration from the edges of the Frontier. By 2453 it was assumed to have half the populace as it has now, doubling by 2460 and continuing to grow slowly. Of the Golden Deep’s ships, only two or three, not counting the Midas, are from the Predecessors and are believed to have been dismantled years ago for materials.