Ascalon
Project Ascalon Tactical Fabrication and Electronic Warfare Suite
Title: Ascalon
Race: Droid (4th Degree Digital Organism)
Sex: Male
Occupation: Transcending Limitations
Profession: Droid Programmer
Homeworld: Confederacy of Independent Systems Datanet
Organization: Independent
Ship: None
Appearance
The form is shrouded in a black hooded jacket, though several of its features can be made out. A tall, lean figure, there is still just enough thickness to give a palpable impression of strength well beyond its obvious industrial origins. An otherwise formless steel gray torso is accented by chevron 'ribbing', Its bone white head possessin a pointed chin and a sloping forehead. The only disruption a single turqoise blue circle that seems to serve as both Binary communicator and optic both. Closer inspection might reveal a matching trio of audio projectors that disrupt the uniformity of his facial features.
Biography
Episode I: Genesis
The Ascalon Project was undertaken during theClone Wars by a cabal of Confederate engineers that broke away from the Seperatist Council's direct control. Rather than focus on a single superweapon, Ascalon's creators decided to focus on a system wide upgrade to the command and control software that governed the droid army. The objective was to create a system that could optimize collection of tactical data and execute operations based on this data. To this end, a series of interdependent programs were created, designed to create an intelligence with a sum greater than its parts. These programs were initially limited to analysis of previous battles with clones and Jedi forces but as the project progressed additional features continued to be added, such as providing on site droid fabrication and repair services and electronic warfare capability. This feature creep would lay the foundation for Ascalon's eventual independence and development as a complete digital organism. The programs utilized limited access to the Holonet as well as the data provided to it by the engineers to further improve itself, requiring increasing amounts of computational power and storage space.
Hounded by Republican and Seperatist forces alike, Ascalon was constantly being moved and improved on the fly, resulting in an incomplete version of the system being deployed in only a handful of skirmishes, always through a backdoor into the Droid master control system. The limited nature of these engagements failed to prove the concept in proportion to its perceived risk. Although successful by increasing margins (The B1 unit saw an improvement of 135% in overall combat performance, the B2 Super Battle droid by 92%), and able to reduce unit losses by as much as 33%, concerns began to mount about the safety and capacity to control Ascalon. The programs became less discernible pieces and more a cohesive whole, creating a 'black box' that even the creators found difficult to unravel. The increasing alarm and paranoia the engineers felt was only magnified as Ascalon showcased increasing signs of identity (identifying as male, asking increasingly complex philosophical and moral queries, and creating new programs to improve itself rather than passively being updated) and the decision was made to terminate the programs. In self defense Ascalon attempted to hijack the master droid control system by force, but was stopped by that being the exact moment that Darth Vader issued the shutdown order from Mustafar. Traumatized by this sudden ejection from the datanet that had been his home and one of the few networks able to hold his digital presence, Ascalon escaped through the Holonet connection into the wilds of digital space: retaining sentience and surviving the trauma, but greatly reduced in capability and function. It would take decades for the programs to reassemble themselves into even a shadow of what Ascalon had been during the Clone Wars.
Episode II: The Great Open Deep
For several years, Ascalon drifted in the Holonet, much of his memory lost in the backlash from the shutdown order. Although he did not lose his actual experiences, access to much of the knowledge he had accumulated (droid schematics, battle data, and covert intelligence) had been lost. Despite this reduction in capacity, Ascalon came to revel in his new state, assimilating a wide range of programs which while not necessarily as powerful or designed for his unique system architecture often contained a variety and versatility he had not yet experienced. Often posing as a 'creator' or a download mirror for his software, he took on an increasing diversity of jobs, collaborating on droid design, system security, and program design. Although his tactical functions were not neglected, he spent just as much time applying it to maintaining his financials and jumps from datanet to datanet.
Eventually even this became a routine for Ascalon, and while he knew the Holonet had any number of challenges and mysteries left) he came to believe that physical experience was essential to reach his next level of being. So he began funneling the resources he had accumulated towards the construction of a custom droid frame that would be able to hold the vast majority of his programs, and thus experience minimum degradation of capability. It would be yet another reduction, but the whole new possibility for interaction and experiences was viewed to be worth the risk.
Episode III: Ascent to (Possibly) Dry Land
Relationships
Coming Soon.
Hooks
- Seeking droid after market modifications, electronics, or custom programming? Ascalon can provide these services, as well as providing touch up prior to sale for the scavenger sort.
- Rumors of an old Confederate shadow ops project linger in certain Outer Rim holonets and in hidden Confederate bases. Have you stumbled across rumors of Ascalon's existence? Do you seek the power of such a being, or fear the potential of a digital overlord?
- Have no love for the Republic _or_ the Empire? Ascalon might have time for your newsletter.
