By Samantha Webb
Dreams and Machines Faction Focus
Robotic husks are present right across Evera Prime, from the depths of its megacities to its most rural landscapes. The huge mechs that were once tools of Evera’s lost civilization now stand frozen, locked away inside themselves—but occasionally one springs to life, continuing its rampage against all human life.
The scientists of pre-war Evera Prime created a fleet of thousands of mechanized units for each metro area across its surface. These mechs were fully integrated with a centralised AI system, known as The Builder, and provided all of the manual labor needed to assist with vast public building projects. No one could determine why, but the Builder began to malfunction, and shut down basic utilities systems for longer and longer periods of time. All high-technology worldwide communications channels shuddered, then simply ceased functioning. Then, while the technical teams who had been able to assemble tried in vain to restore functionality, the Builder issued commands to the mechs to begin murdering people in every population center on the planet.
A huge swathe of Evera’s population was eradicated, the only possible solution the few survivors could fathom was to stop the power to this system via electro-magnetic pulses: some via missiles, some delivered by hand. It took several months, but finally, in a painstakingly co-ordinated attack the bombs destroyed the hubs and many supporting facilities that provided the Builder with its resources and control. The Builder flickered offline, and the mechs stopped attacking the survivors as their murderous commands ceased broadcasting.
These mechs are almost impossible to fully destroy in their shutdown protective stance, so many Everans live their lives hopeful of their communities’ growth, their children’s lives, and rebuilding their world surrounded by dormant husks of the machines. Some add graffiti to the dormant mechs, or otherwise decorate them in a vague hope of lengthening their slumber.
These machines, or Wakers as post-war Everans know them, can vary in construction and size, from small maintenance bots to enormous war-machines capable of inflicting destruction on a huge scale. Their tools and weapons are pre-War in power and design, meaning they can easily overpower the defenses of many Everan survivors. Only the most clever tactics and experience dealing with these mechanical monsters provides any hope of victory.