I think I'll have a post up by tomorrow. Just need to get back into the rhythm of writing. I'll explain what Lazarus has been up to for so long, and why.
@WrongEndoftheRainbow Actually an fun NS, the implications of them being ancient, and having vast technology; presents a scenario likely to happen. One species might opportunistically try to steal these black boxes then tinker with them. Though I would assume the self-destruction, or other such securities are near impossible to bypass.
More than likely so advanced that the nation wouldn't understand it even after a reverse engineer attempt.
Two feet tall, carved from fine and expensive wood, with a decorative trim made of real gold, the chassis’s of these robots are incredibly expensive and fancy. They have highly effective personal shielding, allowing their electronics to survive in any condition and protecting them from a majority of attacks.
There are 500000 in existence.
Scale & Territory: The robots occupy but one world. They have plenty of advanced technology, but not the means to make more of themselves. They could, in fact, leave their planet whenever they so wish, however they have not decided to do so. They have, however, explored the arm extensively.
Culture: The culture of the robots are based purely on the arts; with no natural needs of their own, they instead dedicate themselves full-time to the arts. Something is only valuable if it is beautiful or would make an excellent story. Further, the robots have no concept of war or conflict. They observe the other species, taking note of their achievements and considering how these achievements could be translated into art.
They’ve grown more active now, as their myriad of art galleries are full up, and their archives are reaching capacity. For the first time in millions of years, they are taking the initiative to share what they’ve made with other species.
History: I sought to create something beautiful, I like to think I have.
Millions of years ago, perhaps even a billion, long before the modern species, there was a massive galactic power. A skirmish grew into an armed conflict, and an armed conflict turned into total war. Total war turned into mutual genocide. Their great works were bombed off the face of the galaxy, with their species being killed nearly to a man. Once the war had unofficially ended -- they did not have the infrastructure to officially end it anymore, isolated packets of survivors counting at most 10, for a total of 500 surviving members of the species in the galaxy -- one of the remaining survivors decided they would leave a legacy to endure the test of time.
After witnessing so much horror and war, they purposely did not give their creations a concept of conflict, nor did they give them conflicting opinions. Instead, they filled the creations with the need to create beauty, the need to make the galaxy richer. And so they flowered on their home planet, and thrived under the watchful eye of the sole survivor, before the inevitable death.
To this day they give thanks to the one they have named ‘The Creator’, and though the survivor’s appearance and even personality are lost to the sands of time, their legacy in the form of the peaceful robots remain. They use incredibly advanced technology, completely and utterly indistinguishable from magic, and though they have no weapons, they employ advanced armors and shielding to protect themselves. Though, they only protect themselves from nature; they have, never in their existence, been attacked by another sapient species.
Technology: Just about anything can be found in their technological archives, though they all share one key similarity: they are all essentially black boxes. The robots do not understand them, and simply use the existing infrastructure to create more. They do not design new versions, for they do not understand what each item does.
Due to the fact they have observed all of the species from their inception, they use shockingly accurate translators built into their body, and their predictive analysis technology is great enough to allow them to learn new languages with awe-inspiring speed.
Their FTL is incredibly advanced, and involves bending causality to instantly appear from one place to another with startling precision.
Military Forces: N/A. They do not have weapons, let alone a military.
@Palamon if I get accepted, I'd be up for a collab. My art robots probably won't make the connection that your nation is racist, however.