Farspeech stones

[forwearemany]

(It's an abrupt decision to voice the question that has been plaguing their thoughts over the stones.)

How is synthetic life treated in your universe of origin?

Comments

[forwearemany]

Yes, though we are also curious about artificially created organics.

[want_to_belong]

Umm...

[A little close to home.]

Well, we have something like that on our world. They were used as fodder for the Empire's army, so we didn't really have much choice but to fight them. I'd like to... not fight them, though.

[forwearemany]

Did they have a choice in this?

(They chatter.)

[want_to_belong]

No.

[That answer was pretty resolute.]

[forwearemany]

Could they have been freed from enslavement?

(Did they really have to fight unwilling synthetics, or was it just easy?)

[want_to_belong]

I don't know. I've been told it's not possible, but I want to try.

I think... I think it was already too late for the ones we fought. They're already been infected with the scourge and just... used.

[forwearemany]

We have repeatedly witnessed organics accomplishing the impossible. If attempts were not made, it is likely indicative of a lack of desire to try.

(They chatter.)

Scourge?

[want_to_belong]

They were people, once. On our planet, we have an awful disease that turns people into daemons. There's no cure for it. They were being purposefully infected and then the Empire was harvesting the energy from the daemons to power their.... army. At that point I'm not sure if there's any part of them left or not.

We actually thought they were just robots when we first left home.

[forwearemany]

Acknowledged.

You did not believe they were sapient?

[want_to_belong]

No. They never seemed to be.

I hope they weren't. That's no life to live.

[Just suffering and then dying.]

[forwearemany]

Clarify: meaning of statement "just robots"?

(They thought that he meant they thought they were merely robots but then turned out to be sapient.)

[want_to_belong]

Like, we had no idea what they were doing to make their army. We just thought they were built, and they looked like it. We didn't know they were using people to make them.

[forwearemany]

(Legion chatters.)

We are built, and we are alive.

[want_to_belong]

Yeah, but you can think for yourself.

[forwearemany]

Affirmative.

[want_to_belong]

They never acted like they could. They just followed orders.

[forwearemany]

Acknowledged.