THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE A.I., CHROME.
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[background=rgb(30,30,30)]The Sith have always been a problem. Their passionate and all-consuming hunger for power has driven them to take thousands upon thousands of lives, crippling the fragile essence of the Force faster than it has time to heal. Some would argue that the Sith were a necessary evil--a conflict needed to push the galaxy further up the evolutionary ladder, but Peron knew otherwise. Evolution was a slow and time-consuming process which took place over millions of years. Organisms did not adapt to sudden changes over the course of their life, rather their genes would mutate and evolve through several generations of natural selection. The Sith were all but natural, acting almost like a newly introduced invasive species. They were a gluttonous and deadly virus, and they would stop at nothing to consume the galaxy.
Peron understood this. She had encountered the deadliness of the Sith multiple times throughout her life, and experienced what death felt like first-hand. She knew that one moment of hesitation--one moment of mercy would be enough for them to strike at you. If it weren't for the healing properties of the Force and the hand of a very skilled medic, she would have died with a hole through her gut and excrement in her robes.
She had believed in balance and justice and strove to make them a reality. At first, she thought the Jedi Order was the path to this, and she put great amounts of effort into her Jedi training, leaving behind family, friends, and a promising career in cybertechnology for the Jedi. For many years, she believed the lie that peace would be won through patience, generosity, and meditation. She excelled quickly in ranks and was well revered as a proficient Jedi Knight, but realized that the Sith were becoming stronger. The Jedi's teachings just weren't enough to combat them anymore. If she wanted to eradicate them, she had to find another way to do it.
Upon leaving the Jedi Order, she pursued studies in the dark ways of the Force. She had a strong will, mind, and was extremely adept at controlling her emotions, which gave her the assurance she needed to continue. The ends justified the means. The Sith were a torch, the Jedi a candle, and she would be a high-powered Sonic Flamethrower 5000. They were all playing the same game and if she was going to win, she needed to progress.
[background=[background=rgb(30,30,30)]Numerous years passed and Peron was soon heeded as a Dark Jedi Master. Her command over the Force was astounding, and she took down many Sith. After a savage fight with two Sith--a lord and his padawan--she lost her right arm and many internal organs, surviving only by calling on the powers of the dark side. She found the merit in keeping an apprentice and though she never considered taking on one, she quite badly needed one now.
[background=Peron did not trust people easily. It is said that Dark Jedi are lonely, paranoid individuals and this was true of her. This was where her former occupation in the field of cybernetics proved its use once again, as she would go on to conceptualize and create an A.I. companion.[/size]
[background=Droids themselves were fairly useful. Each one was tailored to a specific task, and they performed them tirelessly. Battle droids themselves were tough, but like the Jedi weren't enough to take down the Sith. She needed something capable of making smart, timely decisions on the spot. A thinking machine capable of registering its opponents facets, exploiting weaknesses and counterattacking strengths. Something that could process, learn, and get the job done.[/size]
[background=The beginnings of this project began in a fairly isolated planet located in the outer rim. Due to past endeavors, she had set up a base there consisting of a lab and resource bank, which suited her needs perfectly. The surroundings were wide and vast enough to be able to test high-powered explosives, or in this case, a killer robot, without much interference.[/size]
[background=The production of a.i. was not a rare thing. Mass produced droids of several functions had amazing memory-recall and sentient programming, and a few well known factions and companies were developing advanced A.I. capable of independent thought and goals, so the foundation with which her A.I. was to be created was built off of existing technology. Now, while Peron amassed a massive skill set and was highly regarded as a scientific genius among her peers, there were certain tasks she could not do, either because she did not possess the knowledge capable of tackling them or attempting to do so on her own would take an endless amount of time. She was not one to trust, but she knew her former connections possessed the ability and loyalty to help her. After a few re-established connections, they relocated to her lab and production soon began.[/font]
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[background=rgb(30,30,30)]Of course, an advanced artificial intelligence would be little more use to her than a comlink if it did not have a body to accompany her on her ventures. She headed this task with a group of engineers and left the development of the a.i. to the rest of the scientists. She dropped in on their work often, making sure they stayed on task; mentoring and guiding them as she saw fit, but for the most part she spent her time manufacturing the droid.
[background=rgb(30,30,30)]The body itself had the framework of a bipedal. The original design proposed by the engineers included Laminanium-coated circuits to rewire and repair itself in case any internal damage occured; Phrik casting to allow flexibility as well as adequate protection against one of the Sith's favored weapons, the lightsaber; and a mix of ultrachrome and durasteel plating. The design was sound if a tad arduous, but it was ultimately abandoned due to the difficulty of acquiring the items needed to make it.
[background=A second design was being made. Peron wanted a droid capable of leveling a Sith in combat. The decision to adopt an inorganic companion was already proving itself wise as majority of a dark sider's powers focused on manipulating the living. Still, she knew that nonliving things were still susceptible to the will of the force. If caught by the grip of a Sith, the droid could be crushed, flung around, and obliterated within a matter of seconds. The droid had to be fast--fast enough to attack a Sith before they could even open their eyes. It needed to be able to take them down before they had a chance to fight back.[/font]
[background=Such thoughts were ambitious, but speed really was an imperative factor in designing her droid. There have been instances of people escaping a Sith's grip either by blocking out their vision or moving with enough speed and power that it broke out of the Sith's range of influence.[/font]
[background=The body was made out of an Armorplast and Dura-armor meld which gave it a lightness Dura-armor did not usually have. The framework consisted of several joints and links which allowed for impressive flexibility and was reinforced with Hybrid Plexisteel. She wanted to play around with unconventional materials not usually found in armor, arguing that they had immense protective capabilities, and that a droid's stronger body would be able to carry them as opposed to a weaker organic's. Numerous materials were tested and many failed, including a prototype of Duranium armor. The process of melting the Duranium and casting it into armor molds was tedious and time-consuming, and it also it limited the droid's mobility too much and couldn't even withstand a strike from a lightsaber.[/font]
[background=They gave the droid Turanium plating which they could switch out with other platings easily, should it not serve its purpose at the given moment. They installed a jet which used air to propel itself off the ground, a well as a high-powered repulsorlift which utilized gravity wells to propel itself at massive distances. Both of these had their limitations as the jet could only function in places where oxygen was present and the repulsorlift in places where gravity was present. The repulsorlift also took up a great deal of energy. Because of this, the jets and repulsorlifts were meant to be saved for emergencies only.[/font]
[background=The body was constructed in a way that allowed for mobility and speed. They focused a lot of energy towards making the feet and legs, as these were the primary mode of transportation. They wired the delegation of energy throughout the body and installed valves in the legs, which would intake more energy to allow for faster movement. The process was similar to how a stomach would use other body part's blood to aid it in digestion. Briefly, they considered a complete design change to that of a quadrupedal, as faster speeds could be obtained. It was rejected due to the difficulty of blending in with a quadrupedal companion, as well as the inability of the quadrupedal design to weild weapons. To prevent overheating, they added an inlay of Dalorian alloy.[/size]
[background=After the completion of the body, the basic form, the engineers installed a few weapons to help it in combat. A [url="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Shatter_beam"]Shatter Beam[/url] was put inside the left arm and a plate would slide open, lifting the device to the surface for use. The other arm had a Wrist Laser as well as solar panels to re-charge it. Finally, a small Gas Projector was applied which could carry two pellets of noxious gas.
[background=They gave the droid a set of clothes, a full body suit, and a [url="http://starwarsrp.net/topic/57282-gloria-100/"]helmet[/url] to cover up the exposed metal. No synthetic skin was applied, but with the apparel on it took on the appearance of a slightly androgynous being and could easily pass as a human or near-human creature.
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[background=[spoiler=Artificial Intelligence]
[background=rgb(30,30,30)]Meanwhile, the team tasked with developing the a.i. was making impressive progress. A lot of technology was borrowed from existing droid's programs, such as the ability to learn, express emotions, and produce independent thoughts. Further additions such as being able to comprehend complex ideas such as a soul, consciousness, and the nature of the force were accomplished by creating what was arguably a robot neuron--a small software which registered stimuli and sent it to numerous operating systems within the a.i. to be categorized and dealt with. Experiences which brought about positive changes in the program were welcomed while experiences which brought about negative changes were avoided, evaded, or destroyed. It was the closest thing to 'feeling' that the a.i. had, and while the system was simple, it was groundbreaking to the scientists.
[background=rgb(30,30,30)]Further versions of the program were modeled after an organic's brain in terms of how it worked. The brains they used were primarily from species who were well known for their intellectual prowess, such as the humans. Less primitive brains were not used as often as they were more instinct based. At this point, the scientists knew that they were ignoring the cause for which this a.i. was supposed to serve and instead used it as a means of pushing boundaries and testing limits, but curiosity got the better of them and they continued on with their research, keeping it a secret from Peron.
After much work, they succesfully created what they believed to be a near perfect a.i.
Taking their primitive design to the next level, they created something which was almost akin to a human brain. It was capable of taking in vast amounts of information and recalling them. But learning programs and a large memory capacity were common, mundane even, as it seemed every droid had them. What was truly impressive was the artificial's drive to actively seek out information and form unique ideas and thoughts based off of the information processed. Dubbed 'Levi', the a.i. they developed showed signs of curiosity, creativity, and the ability to form an opinion, conversing as if it had a will of its own. It could feel, and expressed emotions such as happiness, joy, and sorrow. Peron eventually found this out and let loose her rage on the group of scientists. She stopped before any serious, fatal damage could be done, but made her point glaringly clear. She demanded they create the a.i. based off of the qualities she wanted, and the immediate termination of Levi.
Taking their primitive design to the next level, they created something which was almost akin to a human brain. It was capable of taking in vast amounts of information and recalling them. But learning programs and a large memory capacity were common, mundane even, as it seemed every droid had them. What was truly impressive was the artificial's drive to actively seek out information and form unique ideas and thoughts based off of the information processed. Dubbed 'Levi', the a.i. they developed showed signs of curiosity, creativity, and the ability to form an opinion, conversing as if it had a will of its own. It could feel, and expressed emotions such as happiness, joy, and sorrow. Peron eventually found this out and let loose her rage on the group of scientists. She stopped before any serious, fatal damage could be done, but made her point glaringly clear. She demanded they create the a.i. based off of the qualities she wanted, and the immediate termination of Levi.
The final, downgraded product was a learning a.i. who could easily pick up certain traits and categorize them. It could take in information and store them for later use, as well as react uniquely to a situation based on past experiences. In this respect, it developed behavior patterns and attitudes original to itself, but not necessarily a personality as limits made it unable to feel. It could think on its feet and quickly react. Strictly speaking, it did not have a sense of morality, but it was guided by a moral code within its programming, based off of the ideals of Peron. Certain thinking patterns were also integrated, but these were never meant to be permanent and instead flexible and changing as new situations were encountered. It was capable of communication, but not to the extent protocol droids were. Indeed, its communicative abilities were quite limited. It was programmed to be totally obedient to Peron, but could act independently if not given any commands.
Unbeknowest to Peron, however, Chrome possessed one more feature. Reluctant to discard the technology they worked so hard on, the scientists buried Levi's code deep within Chrome's programming. It was impossible to extract without the skills of a proffesional splicer and it was virtually invisible; if you weren't looking for it, you wouldn't know it was there. They knew that trying to sneak out with the technology would be the death of them, so fearing that the technology would be lost forever, they gave Chrome a limited, reintegrated curiosity and a small ghost of emotion in hopes that it would care enough to find and release their creation to the world.
Chrome was put on multiple tests. Its speed proved superior to that of any human, running 200 km/h at maximum speed. Naturally, it was prone to overheating if high speeds were used for a long amount of time, and while the Dalorian alloy helped cool it, it was still more efficient to run in short bursts. In combat, it was fairly adept with a lightsaber and complemented Peron's fighting style impressively. It excelled well in tests that measured agility, mobility, resourcefulness, and reflexes; proving also capable of finding and exploiting weaknesses. It didn't do so well when tasked with strength-related activities, but was still noticeably stronger than a human. It also seemed to be somewhat lacking in the communication department, so Peron issued scientists to work on installing a language software. During a couple of the tests, Peron noted weak spots in the armor which could be abused if found. These weak spots were easily damaged and could lead to the malfunctioning of some of the devices, but were needed for Chrome to be flexible. To counteract this, Peron scheduled a trip to collect Laminanium for use in the weak spots.
Before the trip was launched, Peron assigned Chrome to buy items from the black market, which was located quite a ways away. This tested its ability to follow orders not related to fighting, as well as observing its ability to blend in with a crowd and adapt to social and potentially dangerous environments. Chrome performed fairly well, obtaining the items for a bargain price, but when it came back, the lab had been destroyed, the people inside disintegrated.
