288. Architect Ants

Architect ants were the brainchild of precocious roboticist Gi Young. An experiment in emergent behavior and programming, they were designed to autonomously create cave-complexes suited for transhuman life. During the Fall Young was killed, his startup company dispersed, and control of the ants was lost.

Since the Fall the ants have been doing what they were made to do: tunneling out cavern systems suitable for transhuman habitation. The ants are no longer produced and cannot produce more of themselves, but were designed to be virtually indestructible and energy efficient.

The ants do not create their caverns from pre-made plans, but, just like real ants, from a simple set of rules resulting in the construction of cave systems. The largest complexes exist within the TITAN Quarantine Zone, although many can still be found near the borders. There are also a few complexes, fully inhabited, on Luna. These complexes consist of smoothly curved, circular tunnels interspersed with hemispherical domes of various sizes.

The ants themselves are one meter long, with an ant-like body, tool-mandibles, and are colored yellow and black.

Mechanics

Architect ants can be treated as walking automechs.

282. Cyclopes

Cyclopes were the foot soldiers of the TITANs. They were the closest thing the TITANs had to a conventional army, using our abandoned and captured military equipment against us in the late stages of the Fall.

Cyclopes got their name from the large wide-angle lens that serves as their face, but they are otherwise human in shape and size. Having a human form allowed them to navigate human environments, use human weapons, and drive human vehicles. Cyclopes used human weapons, crewed human vehicles, and even wore human exosuits.

Cyclopes can still be found patrolling the TQZ. They rarely have the chance to capture military equipment, but can often be found using recovered zone stalker gear, patrolling in small squads.

Mechanics

Cyclopes are robots [-]

Movement Rate: 4/20 Max Velocity: 20 Armor: 14/12 Durability: 40 Wound Threshold: 8 Mobility System: Walker
Enhancements: Access Jacks, Enhanced Vision, Light Combat Armor

A cyclops AI typically has the following skills: Beam Weapons 50, Fray 50, Infiltration 30, Infosec 40, Kinetic Weapons 50, Perception 50, Pilot (All) 40, Seeker Weapons 50, Spray Weapons 50, Unarmed Combat 50

250. Biots

AIs piloting biological or mostly biological morphs is not a new idea, as, pre-Fall, pods were inhabited by AIs more often than egos. To survive on Solemn, a morph must be biological through and through, meaning no cyberbrains, and that means the development of AIs with animal nervous systems as substrates. The result so far are biological robots dubbed "biots".

The form of a biot is deliberately designed to echo a typical synthetic chassis with a rigid exoskeleton of bone plates or chitin. They are multipurpose laborers first and foremost, with 4 dexterous arms and 4 strong legs, looking like a sort of ant-centaur. They function as servitor or automech robots in most ways, with the downsides of requiring food and sleep.

 Although their nervous systems are designed to remain stable, so as to preserve their AI, plasticity does ensure change. Biots are still new, but simulations suggest models over five years old will be significantly better at any tasks regularly performed, and that those over ten years old will have gained a much improved talent for fuzzy logic. The downside is a decrease in skills that have gone unused.

Mechanics

Biots are treated as robots [Expensive]

Movement Rate: 4/20 Max Velocity: 20 Armor: 11/11 Durability: 40 Wound Threshold: 8 Mobility System: Walker

Enhancements: 4 Legs, 4 Arms, Biot Brain*, Carapace Armor (11/11),  Circadian Regulation, Clean Metabolism, Enhanced Vision,

*Biot AIs cannot be switched out or upgraded. They come with Profession; Laborer 60, Perception 40, Freerunning 40, plus one combat skill at 40.

236. Terracotta Warriors of Mars

The terracotta warriors of Mars are Fa Jing security bots with a special aesthetic. The hypercorp wanted a special design of security robot for public use on Mars, where their typical bots might be considered overly intimidating. The designer, Wu Ping, came up with a design mimicking the ancient Terracotta Army. The terracotta-esque coating of the robots is complimented by the brown-red of Mars, and their ancient Chinese origin fits Fa Jing's usual public face.

The bulkiness of the statues gave Wu Ping a chance to overbuild and produce a robot with armor and durability normally associated with war machines. Enhanced vision plus a T-ray emitter gives them excellent situational awareness, especially when searching for hidden weapons and smuggling compartments. A microwave agonizer is concealed in their foreheads, a freezer is hidden in their mouths, and their forearms contain rail SMGs firing from the palm.

The terracotta warriors can be found on patrols in and around Fa Jing facilities on Mars, where their combination of durability and non-lethal weaponry make them suited to police work and guard work. The largest concentration is outside New Dazhai, Fa Jing's company town, where, when they are not in use, they power down in ranks outside like their ancient counterparts.

Mechanics

Terracotta warriors are robots [Expensive]

Movement Rate: 4/20 Max Velocity: 20 Armor: 16/16 Durability: 50 Wound Threshold: 10 Mobility System: Walker

Enhancements: Access Jacks, Enhanced Vision, Heavy Combat Armor, Structural Enhancement, T-Ray Emitter, Weapon Mounts (1 Concealed Swiveling w/ Microwave Agonizer, 1 Concealed Swiveling w/ Freezer, 2 Concealed Articulated w/ Heavy Rail SMGs)

218. Emer-gen-C Bot

Emer-gen-C bots (Emergency robots, generation C) are the go-to emergency response robots for habitats without the budget for specialized systems. Their design is based on auto-mechs, altered for speed but maintaining ruggedness. In order for them to be able to respond to multiple types of emergencies, they have no specialized emergency response equipment. Rather, they have two articulated weapon mounts, capable of mounting sprayers with NotWater for fires, sprayers with Slip, freezers, microwave agonizers, or stunners for riots, heavy tools to clear rubble or make emergency repairs, or a nanobandage applicator for first-aid. They are considered adequate for most situations with the exception of riots, as they are not armored or durable enough to withstand more than small crowds.

Mechanics

Emer-gen-C bots are robots [Moderate]

Movement Rate: 4/40 Max Velocity: 40 Armor: 4/4 Durability: 30 Wound Threshold: 6 Mobility System: Wheels/Vector-Thrust

Enhancements: 360 Degree Vision, Access Jacks, Enhanced Vision, 2 Weapon Mounts (2 articulated, with sprayers filled with NotWater or Slip, or a microwave agonizer or stunner, or a freezer, or heavy tools, or nanobandage applicators)

215. Ticklers

The societies of the solar system are far too divided and opposed to agree on a new Geneva convention to ban inhumane practices in wartime, but if they did, ticklers would probably be on them. They are rarely lethal, although they deal make horrendous wounds. Ticklers were designed to be weapons of fear, or failing that, distraction. Not many people can engage effectively in combat with a tickler on them.

Ticklers are small robots about the size of a human palm, with a spider-like body designed to maximize the effectiveness of grip pads. They attach themselves to their targets, digging out furrows and cavities, spraying the material out their backs. Damage is dealt too slowly to be a threat in and of itself, although bleeding can quickly become a problem for those without medchines. They come in the form of single-use launchers, which cannot be reloaded. The launchers use springs, which are cheap, but not very powerful.

Mechanics

Tickler launchers are single-use, and use medium pistol ranges

Tickler Launcher [Moderate, including tickler] DV: - Average: - AP: - Ranges: Short 1 - 10 Medium 11- 20 Long 21 - 30 Extreme 31 - 40

Ticklers are both robots, and a type of ammo.

Movement Rate: 4/12 Max Velocity: 12 Armor: 2/2 Durability: 25 Wound Threshold: 5

Mobility System: Walker

Enhancements: Access Jacks, Extra Limbs (4), Fractal Digits, Grip Pads

181. Dogbots

Once Fa Jing released their animalware cybersuites, it was only a matter of time before augementicist took things to the natural conclusion and placed their dog's newly cybernetic nervous systems into robotic bodies. Essentially synth morphs for dogs, dogbots have become hugely successful among those looking for guard or combat animals, because their robot bodies can be easily modified. As dogbots have become popular, versions of animalware cybersuites and robot bodies are being developed for all common species.

Common variants include synthetic masked versions, designed to catch their opponents off-guard, heavy versions with better armor, and hellhound versions with flamethrowers in their mouths.

Mechanics

Dogbots are treated as robots physically, and animals mentally. [Expensive]

Movement Rate: 4/40 Max Velocity: 40 Armor: 14/12 Durability: 40 Wound Threshold: 8 Mobility System: Walker

Enhancements: Cybercortex, Cyberclaws, Light Combat Armor, Enhanced Smell

157. Waldos

Telepresence robots have a long history with transhumanity. Their use has fallen out of favor as the skill and reliability of AIs has grown, but they have never died out. Waldos combine the strengths of both AIs and telepresence, allowing for a smooth mixing of both, a unique strategy that has paid off, and brought waldos to labs and workshops throughout the system.

A typical waldo is approximately head-sized, resembling a four legged spider-crab. They have two general purpose arms as well as two slots for specialized tools. Despite their size, they are capable of carrying heavy loads.

The key to the waldoes success is their variable-strength AI, inspired by the semi-autonomy of octopus tentacles. The AI naturally reacts to the degree of effort made by the user, never supersedeing the commands of the user, but filling in any gaps.

If the user desires full control, the AI sidelines itself. If the user is not present at all, the AI runs the robot autonomously. If the user is focusing on observing something, the AI ensures a stable viewing platform. The user might move the waldo by directly controlling its limbs, giving directions to the AI, giving the AI a destination, or any combination of the three. Waldo AIs can also be easily trained to perform repetitive tasks.

A skilled user of waldos acts like the brain of up to a half-dozen extra limbs, and can run a 6-person lab or workshop all by themselves.

Mechanics

Waldos are robots [Moderate]

Movement Rate: 2/8 Max Velocity: 8 Armor: 2/2 Durability: 10 Wound Threshold: 2

Mobility System: Walker

Enhancements: Access Jacks, Enhanced Vision, Extra Limbs (4), Grip Pads, Utilitool

Waldos are often equipped with mobile labs, disassembly tools, or other specialized tool-sets depending on their task.

155. Auto-Bombs

Autonomous explosive vehicles (usually called auto-bombs) are purpose built suicide-bombers, saucer-like drones containing charges equivalent to mini-grenades.

Auto-bombs are often used as screens for other units, engaging an enemy before they have the chance to attack, and quite effectively ruining many ambushes. Unlike seekers they can remain in flight for extended periods of time and recharge when necessary, making it possible to have them patrol a perimeter, lay an ambush, or go on extended search-and-destroy missions. Their more advanced AIs are capable of adhering to complex rules of engagement, from "HEAPs should only target vehicles" to "do not kill or injure anyone not visibly armed".

The ionic propulsion systems of most models are slower than the rockets used by seekers, making them much easier targets for point-defense systems. They are also, however, much less obvious, and stealth variants can bypass defenses that would quickly acquire a bright, loud rocket.

Mechanics

Auto-Bombs are robots [Low plus payload]

Movement Rate: 8/40 Max Velocity: 80 Armor: 2/2 Durability: 25 Wound Threshold: 5         Mobility System: Ionic

Enhancements: 360 Degree Vision, Access Jacks, Enhanced Vision, Radar

A stealth variant adds chameleon coating and signature reduction [Moderate plus payload]

144. Seeing-Eye Balls

Seeing-eye balls were, for a time, the premier choice for small, flying surveillance. They are perfect spheres the size of human eyeballs, mounting small cameras and propelled swiftly by ionic skin. They were limited in their capabilities, but were fast and reliable and were sold by the dozen in elegant pouches. They fell out of use when the smaller and even more discrete specks were released.

The balls made a recent comeback, however, when someone had the idea of modifying their synth to use the bots as eyes and, whats more, detach and reattach them at will. When attached they are almost indistinguishable from standard synth eyes, making them easy to smuggle into places that might not allow bots. Once detached, the user can see through them as if they were still their normal eyes. It is recommended they are used only one at a time or else kept paired, as disorientation and nausea often result from trying to perceive to entirely different points-of-view at once.

Mechanics

Seeing-eye balls are robots [Trivial]

Movement Rate: 4/40 Max Velocity: 80 Armor: 2/2 Durability: 25
Wound Threshold: 5 Mobility System: Ionic

Enhancements: 360 Degree Vision, Access Jacks, Enhanced Vision

Seeing-eye balls can also be installed as cyberware [Moderate]

111. Trilobite

Ground-based morphs and vehicles have significant disadvantages on the battlefield. Even on those planets where ground travel dominates, everything on the battlefield must be able to compete with a reaper, capable of smooth transitions between walking, jumping and flying. The trilobite drone tank competes by dominating one key niche: staying low, remaining unnoticed, and being virtually indestructible.

Thanks to the lack of a need for any crew, the trilobite is smaller than one might expect. Like its namesake, it has a low, smooth profile, keeping it close to the ground. Its AIs are programmed to exploit its low profile by driving like water flows, favoring the low points in a landscape. Chameleon skin and radar absorbent enhancements make it even more difficult to notice. When it does attract fire, its thick armor, built from the best energy diffusing materials and refined through evolutionary algorithms, is capable of taking tremendous punishment.

Trilobites are currently operated by the Mars Authority, Lunar-Lagrange Alliance, and Titanian Commonwealth. Few other polities combine a need for heavy hardware with an expansive surface suitable for tank warfare, and reapers remain the favorites.

Mechanics

Trilobites are robots [Expensive]

Movement Rate: 4/40 Max Velocity: 40 Armor: 32/32 Durability: 40 Wound Threshold: 8 Mobility System: Treaded

Enhancements: 360 Degree Vision, Access Jacks, Chameleon Skin, Enhanced Vision, Heavy Combat Armor, Radar Absorbent, 2 Weapon Mounts (1 Swivel with Rail Machine-gun, 1 Swivel with Seeker Rifle with HE/HEAP minimissiles)

Trilobite AIs are typically programmed with Kinetic Weapons 40, Seeker Weapons 40, Perception 40, and Infiltrate 40.

95. Brownies

Servitors are acceptable robotic servants, but wealthier homeowners may prefer something with more discretion, as well as a more artful design. Brownies, inspired by Scottish folklore, act as small, quiet, and very, very fast household servants. They are monkey-like robots built for great speed and agility. Commonly they are engraved with Celtic knotwork, or custom designs significant to the owner. They will communicate with your muse and work when you are asleep or away, otherwise they hide and recharge.

Mechanics

Brownies are small robots [Medium]

Movement Rate: 4/20 Max Velocity: 20 Armor: 4/4  Durability: 25 Wound Threshold: 5 Mobility System: Walker

Traits: Reduced Size

Enhancements: Access Jacks, Enhanced Vision, Reflex Boosters

70. Sappers

Sappers have become infamous in the decades pre and post-Fall. They are automated mine-layers, rendering swathes of ground intensely dangerous. Many infugees were ultimately killed by mines created by sappers belonging to desperate, dying militaries or suborned by TITANs. They are still common around the TITAN Quarantine Zones, and are used by militant groups as automated saboteurs and trappers. They are disconcertingly uninteresting, with a generic arachnid/crab body-plan, designed to keep a low profile.

Sappers are by no means the smartest robots, but they can be very clever within their specialization. When activated, a sapper will analyze its environment, looking for chokepoints, common pathways, roads, and any areas that appear well used or traveled. The minefields it creates are designed for its specific area of operations: they are smart enough to plant large, anti-vehicle mines on roadways, scatter anti-personnel mines along trails, plant charges that will collapse bridges and tunnels, and even rig traps into local devices and furniture. They contain libraries of potential explosive and non-explosive devices, and while frag, HEAP and plasma are common, everything from EMPs to toxic gasses may be used.

Once a sapper has either saturated its area with mines or exhausted its feedstock it will use its chameleon skin and grip pads to hide itself, often burrowing into regolith or clinging to ceilings. It will wait, scavenging for materials and rebuilding its minefields, until destroyed or ordered to stand down.

Mechanics

Sappers are robots [High]

They must typically be supplied with special feedstock for fabricating explosives [Low]

Movement Rate: 2/20 Max Velocity: 20 Armor: 8/8 Durability: 40 Wound Threshold: 8 Mobility System: Walker

Enhancements: Access Jacks, Chameleon Skin, Enhanced Vision, Grip Pads, Fabber, Utilitool

Mines can be treated as micro, mini or standard seeker warheads.

56. Gullet Worm

Hypercorp mining installations often simply devour the ground whole, pulverizing stone and running it through nanoscale filters to ensure every atom of value is extracted. In the outer system, and among the independent prospectors on Mars and Mercury, more selective approaches are called for, favoring quality over quantity. To these small mining outfits, the gullet worm is a godsend.

Small and autonomous, a gullet worm requires little overhead and seeks valuable minerals on its own. Before being deployed, the robot is a simple cylinder, one end a flexible tube, the other a "head" of complex nanotech. The tube is attached to a storage container and solar panel, the head planted in the ground. The head will begin burrowing, using specialized disassemblers to vaporize rock, and specialized fabbers to lengthen a muscular tube between it and the container. The head uses ground penetrating radar, t-rays and x-rays to survey its surroundings, steering itself to more valuable material. Once vaporized, this valuable material is moved up the tube through peristalsis.

The beauty of a gullet worm is its self-sufficiency. Once planted, it can bore through the ground indefinitely, yielding a slow but steady supply of material; a miner need only check in and pick up the results. The ends of gullet worms can be found scattered on the surfaces of Mercury and Mars, as well as larger asteroids and some moons. Often many worms work in parallel, and feed simple refineries and smelters.

Mechanic

Gullet mines are robots [Moderate]

54. Settlers of Mars

The settlers of Mars can be found almost anywhere. Perched on a ridge overlooking a patrol route, posed menacingly in cul-de-sacs along small canyons, or gathered around a broken vehicle, they are designed to appear human at a glance. Part emerging ruster cultural tradition and part Barsoomian psych-ops, the settlers are created to fool Martian surveillance with false returns, wear-down Consortium agents with paranoia, and scatter visions of "Mars for Martians" across the planet.

A settler is typically created in one of two ways. The old-fashioned create theirs with scrap metal, welding together humanoid structures, sometimes with simple animatronics. Newer methods use protean swarms, programming complex scenes then leaving the swarm to cook the Martian regolith into iron. These models are usually robotic, maintaining simple routines and incorporating heating and fake communications elements designed to create false positives in long-distance surveillance.

The robots are positioned in ways that can serve two purposes. They may display scenes of free Barsoomian life, of what life under a victorious Barsoomian movement would be like. Otherwise, they are designed to scare, appearing as convincing as possible, striking menacing poses against the horizon or be suddenly revealed in hidden corners. Many Martian Rangers have a story about panicking and shooting a settler, or of waking up to find their tent surrounded by silent iron figures.

Plot Hook: A bright young Barsoomian engineer has plans to create self-perpetuating settlers that would reproduce across Mars. This unbounded spread is itself a potential X-risk for Mars, but Firewall's true fear is how the self-perpetuating technology will interact with the remnants inside the Titan Quarantine Zone. Contaminated by TITAN agents, the settlers might become very real.

45. Octodoc

Typically found hanging from the ceiling in an operating suite, an Octodoc gets its name from the six to twelve limbs which emerge from a center anchor. Each limb typically ends in a surgical tool or generic manipulator. Rooted in telepresence systems for remote surgery, Octodocs eventually became autonomous, capable of specifically requested surgeries and performing their own diagnostics. Like Kleenex and Band-Aids, Octodocs are actually a brand, but have also become a generic name for any multi-limbed surgery robot.

Octodocs have been rendered largely obsolete by medichines and healing vats.

Mechanics

Octodocs are robots [Moderate]

An Octodoc AI has Medicine 40.

Plot Hook: An Octodoc recently cut itself from the ceiling with a bone saw, worked its way to a neighboring room containing an unconscious mafia lieutenant, then killed him with scalpels and surgical lasers. High g-rep will be rewarded to anyone who can trace the hack and eliminate the hacker.

44. Medicrabs

Thanks to their life-saving exploits and a cartoon commercial featuring "the little Medicrab who could", Medicrabs were one of the most popular robots around, being found in first-aid kits or in place of first aid kits, in households, and in vehicles, ready to pop out in case of an accident.

Medicrabs are roughly hand-sized, with a body plan that is half crab and half spider. While this could easily be unsettling, they have been carefully designed to appear cute and non-threatening. They feature numerous medical tools: mandibles capable of precise little sutures, claws used to cut through clothing, spinnerets weaving bandages and an antiseptic breath spray. Their low slung bodies allow them to crawl through rubble and make them virtually impossible to knock over, and they are tough and durable besides.

Medicrabs have been rendered largely obsolete by medichines and nanobandages, but they remain in use in the Jovian Republic and are backup systems in many habs.

Mechanics

Medicrabs are robots [Low]

A Medicrab AI has Medicine 40.

Plot Hook: Stories are being told in the souks of Valles New-Shanghai of a wild artificial described as being very similar to a Medicrab. It seems a Medicrab has gone feral, seeking out injured people and treating them in the night, or perhaps some mischievous roboticist has brought "the little Medicrab who could" into reality.

23. Centaur

Picture a robotic, mythical centaur. Now replace the human portion with a an upright weapons/sensor turret. Now picture it sprinting across the desert at 40km/h, firing its machine-gun with useful accuracy. Now picture them running in packs.

Rooted in the quadrupedal robots of the early 21st century, centaurs (or its derivatives, variants and ancestors) have been a common sight on the battlefield as a cost-effective supplement to conventional ground forces.

The centaurs quadrupedal movement allows for a powerful combination of fast sprinting with agility over rough terrain. The centaur can move at up to 40km/h over even ground, and still makes 30km/h over difficult ground.

Post-Fall, centaurs and centaur-variants are used by the Martian Rangers, Jovian Republic and any habitats with sufficiently wide hallways. They are most commonly paired with a soldier or another centaur.

Mechanics

Centaurs are robots [Expensive]

Movement Rate: 4/40 Max Velocity: 40 Armor: 14/12 Durability: 40 Wound Threshold: 8 Mobility System: Walker

Enhancements: 360 Degree Vision, Access Jacks, Enhanced Vision, Light Combat Armor, 2 Weapon Mounts (1 Swivel with Rail Machine-gun, 1 Swivel with Seeker Rifle with HE minimissiles)

Notes

Inspired by the image Big Dog by Long Ouyang.

22. Aquila

The aquila can be found watching over Martian ranger patrols, zone stalker convoys, and gatecrashing pioneers. It is invaluable to those expecting combat on the surface of atmospheric planets, where the drone can be sent up to shadow the patrol, providing fire support when necessary, firing its autocannon down on designated targets.

An aquila is typically contacted only through laser link so as to minimize the possibility of hacking. Against physical attack, it relies first on its reduced signature and chameleon skin, ideally remaining unnoticed until firing. After firing, its presence becomes obvious, so it is programmed to rapidly and semi-randomly relocate after every salvo. Still, an attack by dedicated anti-air weapons will usually be successful, and aquilas have short careers. It is a testament to their usefulness that they are still considered a worthwhile investment.

The body of the drone is a sharp rhombus with a centrally mounted autocannon, with hemispherical coverage. The thrust vector system allows the drone to hover, rapidly switch direction, and most importantly, retain its stability while firing.

Mechanics

Aquilas are robots [Expensive]

Movement Rate: 8/40 Max Velocity: 120 Armor: 8/8 Durability: 40 Wound Threshold: 8 Mobility System: Thrust Vector

Enhancements: 360 Degree Vision, Access Jacks, Chameleon Skin, Enhanced Vision, Reduced Signature, Laser Link,1 Weapon Mount (Swivel with Rail Autocannon with the equivalent of HE minimissiles)