COBALT
CARMINE
<<<< posted from raw textlog, sequentially:
the First Beacon sent to lyx activates. Azalea shows up, convinces the population that they're in imminent danger, defensive measures to deal with Edelweiss begin development.
Cobalt is the first machine created. Not an AI necessarily, more like a robot that has complete sentience and two physical bodies: its smaller shell, and the facility site created to host them that they have full control over.
The Deep is created, implemented and maintained by Cobalt. It's essentially a reliable, planet-wide internet connection that simultaneously acts as relay for most long-distance communication and as cloud storage for the collective history and data of Lyx and its people/history/technology/etc.
the Second Beacon appears.
Carmine, a companion machine to Cobalt, is built. Essentially an entity made to design, build and implement defense systems, using the Deep to coordinate with existing defense platforms and designating construction on new military assets. A machine meant to govern everything regarding war, given enough power to keep everyone on the planet in check. The Foundries in Trusik territory are remnants of Carmine's facilities, along with the abandoned orbital defense structures (space lasers).
As a means of checking the power of either entity: Carmine can only communicate with its facilities through Cobalt, and Cobalt cannot defend themself or add onto existing structures without Carmine's help. They need each other to function properly.
With the production of the two systems, ROYAL as the defense network is now called is complete, with the addition of two failsafes in the event of catastrophic failure; one disconnected system in a black site, the other on the surface of the moon, which can also manage the Deep if necessary.
The Second Beacon activates, and reveals itself to be a weapon. It acts as a sort of reality-warping EMP; a wave of some kind engulfs the planet, erasing the memory of everything with a hard drive (or equivalent), disrupting all technology, warping the landscape and twisting it into chaotic shapes, fucking with physics on a fundamental level. Millions die. Azalea is now wandering mindlessly through the new wasteland. The Third Beacon also arrives in this same time frame.
For a year, society struggles to get to its feet after essentially a planet-wide nuke goes off.
The Third Beacon activates and brings Edelweiss to Lyx. She is capable of altering or rewriting the memories and brain activity of living creatures, and is the host to a kind of hive mind that only affects machines.
She assimilates every machine she can get her hands on, and quickly finds access to augmentation technology through this method. She uses this to forcibly implant organic beings with the means to assimilate them into Solace. Millions are captured and are Proselytized.
Azalea is found in the wastes by Solace drones and assimilated. She begins to create new beings for it to control: lots of smaller drones, larger sentient swarm vehicles, and Titans (which are exactly what they sound like).
Carmine and Cobalt realize the danger they're in. They work together to hold off the contagion, but they inevitably fail and Carmine's security perimeter is breached. In a final act of desperation, Carmine seals Cobalt in their Throne so the Deep goes completely offline; it's assimiliated immediately after, and begins producing new weapons for Solace.
Cobalt remains almost entirely alone, walled off from the entire world around them, with a small handful of attendant units as company, for the next ~300 years. Their Throne is a reflection of what Hyacinths temple would eventually look like on the moon: essentially a place for Cobalt's body to connect to the Deep.
Carmine is forced to build parts and weapons and tools for thousands of Solace drones, and enables Solace to rapidly take over most of the surface of the planet.
Time passes.
Hyacinth arrives on Lyx. During their search for Azalea, they get flashes of insight that eventually leads them to the entry point for Cobalt. They are the first contact Cobalt has had with anyone since they were sealed. It is here that Hyacinth learns of the Lunar Throne... and the rest you know
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An AI construct designed to combat planar threats and deviations, and to create points of stability on the material plane.
COBALT is effectively a fully sentient being capable of assessing a multitude of threats, able to communicate effectively across many channels simultaneously. It becomes a coordinator for the military council and governs defense logistics.
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