Wardyne

Wardynes are intelligent humanoid automatons constructed by the Xanians, primarily for the purpose of warfare and combat support. Wardynes feature highly advanced, allowing them to operate on the same intellectual level as the Xanians themselves, learning and adapting to any situation a sentient being can. They are responsible for the maintainence of Xanian industry, and are largely responsible for the ability of the Xanians to field so much of their population in combat as a directly result. Wardynes have vastly transformed the way in which Xanian civilization has operate for the last six thousand years, and continue to have a major impact on the development of the Xanians way of life and standard of living.

The wardynes are given vast amounts of independence by their Xanian masters, though throughout their service to the Xanians, the wardynes have remained absolutely loyal to their creators and the Xanian Empire as a whole. The high level of autonomy of the wardynes has allowed them to operate as combat units independent of their Xanian masters, and their murderous programming as ensured that they perform their mission admirably according to Xanian standards. In one of the many cultural divergences from humanity, the Xanians have never held a cultural and societal fear and distrust of artificial intelligence. Wardynes have served their masters faithfully for more than six thousand years, and have never once given the Xanians reason to question their creations.

Origins
The history of wardynes predates the era of spaceflight in Xanian civilization, with the first wardynes developed during the Age of Tribulation by House Auran, at the height of the Varok Conflict against House Vanan in 6C 172 AZ. The Aurani Xanians sought to outmaneuver the Vanani Xanians, but were sorely lacking in the required manpower for the planned offensive after a violent civil war between two of the most powerful families in the household just before the war with House Vanan. To counter this problem, the Zharuk of House Auran, Tekan IV Auranoja commissioned the members of his scientific caste, the Sankari, under the direction of Sa'Rek Nevuda Jazhazan, to develop a weapon that would offset the severe disadvantage in manpower the Aurani had. Jazhazan's solution to the shortage of warriors was simple; just make more of them. The problem that lay before the Aurani sankari were the treaties between the various houses of Zhakar at the time, limiting the military equipment held by all of the households to that all would share to ensure a "fair fight" between warriors.

To circumvent this problem, Jazhazan came up with the idea to create a type of automaton that looked just like a Xanian nadir warrior, clad in heavy armor, giving the appearance of a regular warrior to trick combatants into believing they were fighting other Xanians. This was a huge shift from the originally planned weapons platform that would look nothing like a Xanian, but would carry numerous weapons and help to fill the role of fire support. With the new design, the new machines would be able to give House Auran a combat advantage that was limited only by its industrial capacity, all without revealing the new technology to its rivals. However, to counter the superior tactical abilities of the warriors, and to further enhance the ability of the machines to act like regular warriors to keep up the facade, Sa'Rek Jazhazan made use of AGI, or, which would allow the new constructs to operate independently, and adapt on the field of battle.

Lacking a traditional fear of "strong AI" that could learn and adapt, the Xanians saw nothing wrong with implementing AI in the field of war and industry. Rather, the Xanians believed that such technology was simply to be utilized for the further advancement of their species industry, economy, and standard of living, a stark contrast to the view held by humanity. As such, there was no outcry within the court of Zharuk Tekan when he was notified about the decision to use AGI in the machines. With a war going on, Teken was keen not to waste anymore time, and ordered the production of the warmachines at once, seeking to alleviate his combat forces before the Vanani warriors made any major gains on the field of battle. After seven years in development, the first machines were produced by the Aurani Xanians, and sent to the frontlines to combat the warriors of House Vanan.

During the Battle of Blood Valley in 6C 179 AZ, the Aurani released more than ten thousand of the constructs into the field of battle, confronting a far larger force of 30,000 Vanani warriors. The Vanani charged into the ranks of the warmachines, attempting to cut thru the Aurani troops, only to find that the bullets that struck the Aurani warriors either bounced off, or upon going through what were suppose to be vital organs, didn't kill or wound the targets. The machines began their advance on the Vanani forces, and with their weapons doing little fatal harm to the combatants, the Vanani were either cut down or forced to pull back. The battle was a total route, with more than half of the Vanani army killed or wounded, and only a mere thousand Aurani casualties. Zharuk Tekan was overjoyed with the development, though House Vanan caught on quickly, and reported his breach of the N/A Treaty to the high priesthood on the Isles of Calm.

Zharuk Tekan was forced to abdicated by Ionikon Iavan XIV in accordance with the treaty's conventions, and House Auran was ordered to share their new technological developments with the rest of Zhakar, but they had won the war, dealing House Vanan a blow from which they did not recover during the conflict. The new warmachines were named "wardynes", and their introduction into the field of battle would change the way war was fought on Zhakar. From that point onward, all Xanian combat formations would contain large numbers of wardynes, helping to fuel the Age of Tribulation, and the later Age of Conquest, during which time every household would field millions of wardynes in the countless wars of that era. However, the wardynes would field use in many other fields, not just constrained to the field of battle and the ways of war. Eventually, they would be developed into more roles that stretched far beyond the battlefield, and the technology that went into them would become far more intricate in design and purpose.

Usage and design
Though the technological advances of the Xanian Empire have ensured that most Xanians can devote themselves to the ways of war without having to worry about a small labor force, the Xanians have always been few in number, making the vast increase in the number of warriors on Zhakar and elsewhere only a marginal increase at best. Wardynes help to counter the lack of fighting forces fielded by the Xanians during times of war, filling out the vacancies in many combat units, or outright forming their own. Wardynes are utilized as line infantry of sorts, owing to their vast numbers and ease of production and disposability. Within the Zhautakar itself, the wardyne to Xanian ratio is 3-to-1, and their non-combatant variants are believed to make up at least 70-80% of the Xanians industrial workforce population. Indeed, the overwhelming automation of the Xanian industrial sectors has been the deciding factor in the vast number of wardynes in existence today.

Wardynes have found usage in many fields outside of combat itself, such as in the aforementioned industrial sector, agriculture, services, the pleasure industry, housekeeping, and manual labor. Often when visiting Zhakar, humans tend to forget that the vast individual wealth of the Xanians, and sheer gaudiness of Xanian culture as a whole, was made possible by the production and operation of the wardynes. It is thanks to the wardynes, that the Xanians were able to subjugate the natural forces of their homeworld, focus their collective intellectual capabilities on the development of spaceflight, and cultivate a post-scarcity society where the average Xanian boasts a standard of living far beyond that enjoyed by any human on Earth. Because of the many roles the wardynes fulfill, many Xanians have often found themselves pointing out the irony of the name and original purpose for the wardynes–machines built for the waging of war, now devoted to the maintenance peace.

Physically, wardynes are built to resemble Xanian nadirs in all aspects as close as possible, though most lack hair, an important trait in Xanian culture, as a sign of their artificial nature. Most civilian-grade wardynes are designed with a highly advanced form of synthetic skin, pitch black in color, and mimicking all of the traits of Xanian skin as well. Tough and hard to cut, civilian wardynes are almost as hardy as their military-grade sisters. The wardynes are powered by a small antimatter power generator in the chest, which has a lifespan of nearly a century, and requires a replacement each time the antimatter cells run dry. The internal temperature of the wardynes is the same as their Xanian masters at 86ºF (30ºC). Intellectually, all wardynes are by nature and by design, loyal to the absolute to the Xanians, so much so, that a Xanian could request of a wardyne its self-termination and immediately receive a positive response and compliance with the order, in spite of its ability to think and act independently of its master.

All wardynes have a humanoid build, with markedly feminine features and traits. The personality of the wardynes are feminine programming, though this would be "feminine" programming in accordance with Xanian sexuality. From this point onward, the external and internal design of the wardynes varies based on their function and intended purpose within the Xanian economy, industry, and military. However, considering universal features, all wardynes are designed to operate within the hostile conditions of Zhakar, virtually ensuring that they can also operate in nearly all other environments found on other planets as well. Wardynes do not process information in binary code, instead operating on the quantum level, allowing them to process information at a speed equal to or superior than that of a Xanian. Because of the nature of Zhakar's magnetic field, wardynes are designed to be particularly robust against the dangers of electromagnetism, making the use of EMPs against them a considerably taxing and fruitless endeavor.

Types of wardynes
Wardynes have come a long way from their original purpose as war-machines of the Xanians. Though this remains the most prominent role for the automatons, as well as a lasting impact on both their name and their view within Xanian culture, wardynes fulfill countless roles within Xanian civilization beyond the field of battle. Currently, there exist numerous variants of wardynes geared to several roles be they for medical, industrial, scientific, or administrative purposes. While wardynes are capable of learning and expanding beyond their intended roles, they focus their time and limitless energy into the occupation they were built for.

Military wardynes
The most legendary and culturally powerful variant of wardynes, the military wardynes are the most well-known versions of their kind in Xania. These wardynes come in many forms, be they the traditional bipedal war-machines with a history beginning with the Battle of Blood Valley, to the most bizarre and terrifying arachnid wardynes with reality-warping weaponry built-in. Military wardynes are constructed with built-in void barriers, energy weapons, advanced sensors technology, and high-grade noirium armor, producing a highly effective and highly destructive combat platform which is the archetypal wardyne of the modern day. The advanced AGI software of the military wardynes has ensured that such constructs are highly flexiable on the battlefield, adapting to new changes on the fly at a rate often faster than their Xanian masters. Because of their versatility and efficiency, these wardynes are typically fielded as the bulk of a Xanian combat force, helping to displace the general numerical disadvantage of the Xanians warriors during a battle.

Legal status
Wardynes have no legal rights under Xanian law. Officially, wardynes are considered the property first of the house which produced or purchased them, and second of the individual, group, or family within that house to whom the wardyne is registered too. The imperial government of Xania has no restrictions on the application of wardynes, granted that they do not conflict with the edicts and religious guidelines passed by the ionaki priesthood. After the events of the Varok War, the priesthood has taken a keen interest in regulating the status of wardynes within the Xanian Empire, so as to ensure that all Xanians are protected from the potential harm wardynes could pose to the population if left unchecked by certain powers within the Xanian nation. Wardynes themselves have no opinion on the matter of their legal status within Xania, viewing themselves as the legal property of the species that created them, and work in harmony with the aims and goals of the Xanian species. Indeed, many wardynes have stated that they do not view themselves as sovereign beings with individual rights, but the willing servants of their masters and creators.