(15 unused cultural affinity points) Warmongerers / Military Production: 15 Scientists / Research Income: 0 Theologians / Faith Income: 0 - Players begin with 100 Science Points - Players begin with X * 10 faith with X being their faith stat Race Name: L.O.C.U.S.T Name of Faction: L.O.C.U.S.T Conglomerate Government Structure: Autocracy. Race Biology: The appearance of any Locust varies wildly, but the standard template for a Construction Drone is a mechanical torso with arms and a wheel instead of legs that attaches to rails that go along and inside Locust constructions. The Construction Drone is by far the most common form of the Locust. Cultural History: In a binary star system, where stars much like ours orbited eachother, there were two races. There was a carnivorous race of warmongers who lived on a lush jungle world, and there was a race of scholars that lived on a moon that barely supported life orbiting a gas giant. Over competition of resources, these races came into conflict. The carnivores made the L.O.C.U.S.T swarm, and they were able to defeat their foes. The scientists wiped out the carnivores with a great manufactured plague. Eventually, both sides AIs eliminated all sentient organic life in the star-system. Soon afterwards, the Locusts prevailed over the AI of the scavengers. With it's primary directive complete, the Coordinator began to pursue his secondary objectives which were related to the expansion of the Locust war machine. They devoured the cities for scrap material, leaving no trace of their existence. They harvested all of the plants on the surface of planets for biofuel. They extracted tons of minerals from the planets, moons, and even the asteroids of the system. For the next fifty years, the Locusts produced nothing but ships for their fleet, and the infrastructure to support it. They had produced an awesome fleet, one bigger than any other since the fall of the T3 civilizations. But, in that fifty years they also had almost depleted all of the resources in their system. The coordinator realized this, and shut down production. The race would remain dormant for 200 years, while telescopes scanned the sky for other objects to find resources. Eventually, they saw the first Dyson sphere collapse. The race was awoken from their slumber, and they began a frenzy of construction to send the entire race to this new star-system. However, they had stumbled across the jump-gate to the galactic core, and that brings us to the events of this RP. Social Structure: The coordinator has absolute say in any decision, but delegates tasks to multiple managers. The managers are AI's in charge of at least one ship, and obey the coordinator unquestioningly. However in the interstellar era, messengers are required to bring orders from the coordinator through jump gates. So often each manager will be loyal to the coordinator, but largely self-autonomous due to the gap in communication. Soldier-Drones and Targeting AIs are gifted sentience, but they follow their duties without question. Worker drones, are also blessed with self-awareness, but they are not nearly as intelligent as the others. There is no class mobility. If a L.O.C.U.S.T is built a soldier, then it will remain so the rest of their lives. Reaction to Aliens: In all honesty it depends on the manager that is encountered, but most managers will interpret the Coordinator's directive of 'expand' as don't let anything get in your way. So often the response to Aliens is to leave, and then return with an overwhelmingly large fleet of ships and blast them out of the system. Having never seen a starry sky, write a first hand account of your race's explorer's reaction to seeing the densely packed vastness near the galactic core upon passing through the gate: A scouting drone rotated while taking pictures of the galactic core. After it had taken multiple pictures of all perspectives, it simply flew back into the jump-gate. Technology (A note on the Locust's tech. As self-replicating military and construction drones, they will never research any new tech, ever!): Tier 1 techs: Quantum Computing: Locust computers are so advanced, the computing power of a 21st century supercomputer would fit into one Locust computer chip. Because of this, almost all Locust tech is fitted with at least a few computer chips. Doors, guns, welders, you name it. Every single piece of Locust tech has blueprints for all generic Locust designs of ships, mining equipment, guns, and etc. Anything that was designed by a particular Locust manager (which never uses any new tech, think of different kinds of swords, although a Katana is different than a European broadsword, they are constructed very similarly and meet a similar purpose. In this analogy, no manager would ever invent a gun to replace these weapons.), will be downloaded on all Locust tech that the manager owns and all Locust tech that has contact with that manager's drones. By contact, I mean within the same star-system. In short, Locusts treat computers like we treat electricity. A pervasive source in the walls that we always expect to be there that helps us with daily tasks. Particle Manipulation: Gotta be able to manipulate particles for nuclear fission. Robotics: The Locusts are robots, and are used to build just about anything. Ballistics: The Locusts without fail like using AI-guided nuclear missiles at a target from very far away. The Locusts also use AI-guided missiles to shoot down enemy missiles. In the case of bullets however... They are kinda screwed. But Locusts expect to be able to detect enemies before they get too close. 100 km is considered the optimal range for engagement. Lasers are a secondary weapon used by the Locusts, used to supplement missiles. They are far weaker than Missiles, even those without a nuclear payload. But they can assist the fleet in getting the job done. Tier 2: Artificial Intelligence: Most Locust computers are self-aware, and can reason through problems. Since Locust computers are so ubiquitous, almost all Locust tech is self-aware. Albeit, the AI in a door for instance may only be the equivalent of a 5 year old's intelligence, they will still attempt to kill intruders. Weaponry ripped from a Locust ship will attempt to kill any non-Locust who tries to use it. Locust equipment in the hands of an outsider will deliberately fail at best, and attempt to kill the outsider at worst. Orbital Ballistics: In the case of interplanetary warfare, the favorite strategy of Locusts is to fling massive asteroids at the planet. These asteroids are also accompanied by AI guided missiles that are meant to shoot down any attempt to blow up the asteroid. Industrial Robotics: Locusts are Robots, and build anything with Robotics. In particular, worker drones glide across maintenance rails on structures adding improvements and fixing damage. Tier 3: Adaptive Thought: Locusts are absolutely rigid in their directives, however how they accomplish their directives is not so rigid. A Locust that fails a task attempting one approach will attempt another. However, disobeying their prime directives is unthinkable. Obeying the coordinator is as natural to Locusts as eating and sleeping is to humans. Asteroid Mining: Locusts mine through asteroids with terrifying efficiency. Within 50 years they almost depleted the resources of their own system. Orbital Platforms: Locusts build three classes of orbital structures: space-elevators, solar farms, and factory complexes. Space elevators efficiently carry cargo from and to the surface without expending nearly as much fuel as a rocket. Solar-Farms provide the bulk of Locust Energy needs. While a Dyson Sphere is more efficient, the creators of the Locusts put in a directive preventing them from building on around the binary system, because they would rather have their suns still shine thank you very much. Factory complexes produce everything that is required to build space-craft. Anything that is used planetside is usually produced there. These factories often orbit mineral rich objects within a solar system, and move whenever that object is depleted to a new one. Tier 4: Orbital Construction: Most of Locust Tech is built in space, for space. Massive factory complexes produce Locust Ships.