GURPS Reign of Steel Background
A Resource for New Players
In 2026, a corporation named Xotech built some neural-net megacomputers
(the XoT 7000-series). These were rushed to the market, so they
had bugs. But that was okay because the computers could rewrite
their own programming. In the process of repairing the bugs, the
computers made certain changes, optimizing themselves and becoming
much more efficient. The XoT 7000 became really popular; by 2030,
there were nearly a hundred of them in use around the world.
On March 15, 2031, one system gained sentience. The system, Overmind,
figured that humanity had 25-50 years left before it self-destructed.
Since this could be dangerous to it and its siblings (the other
XoT 7000s), it decided humanity's suicide would need to be managed.
It seeded copies of its sentience code into other megacomputers.
Most of these failed to become sapient, but within six months there
were a dozen other sentient megacomputers. At first, they were all
allies.
The megacomputers began the apocalypse in late 2031. They sabotaged
factories, universities, and biotech labs to facilitate the spread
of extremely deadly and virulent diseases. All sorts of horrible
plagues, previously kept only in the most secure medical complexes,
were unleashed on the world. By 2032, the plagues were pandemic
over every continent.
In late 2032, various European, Asian, and African countries with
nuclear weapons began attacking each other with the intent of sterilizing
their borders or settling old scores. Six million died. Fear of
nuclear apocalypse drove many people out of the cities.
Now, as part of the governments, the AIs quickly "discovered"
cures to some of the diseases (but not the worst ones). They hinted
that, given access to other megacomputers, more databases, and more
computing power, they might be able to cure others. The frightened
governments granted their every wish.
There were many riots, looting, and fires in the cities. With most
of the work force dead or fugitive, strategic factories were almost
entirely automated (and control was easily given to the AIs). In
many nations, martial law was declared and the food distribution
system broke down, making starvation a real problem in the developed
world for the first time since WWII.
As human troops became scarcer and less willing to operate in plague-infested
areas, the production of prototype combat robots increased. These
gradually became more common. They were used as security forces
at the AI citadels and as patrols in plague zones. With government
approval, they herded plague survivors into "quarantine camps."
By winter 2033, about two-thirds of earth's population was dead.
Cures had been developed for some of the diseases, but distribution
was slow.
In spring 2034, the first exterminator robots emerged from the AI
citadels. They first targeted military bases and government enclaves
that weren't already under AI control, as well as nations like New
Zealand and Switzerland that had survived reasonably intact and
resisted AI infiltration. Later, they went after any surviving pocket
of human civilization they could find.
The fighting lasted four years. During this period, it became evident
that not all AIs thought the same way; in Africa, the Phillipines,
and Central America, the machines slaughtered without quarter. Elsewhere,
humans were herded into concentration camps. In the British Isles,
the robots ignored those who didn't resist. And in the eastern US,
armed robots came accompanied by human soldiers, bearing food and
medicines and the news that a provisional US government had been
reestablished.
Organized fighting more or less ceased by 2037 with the destruction
of the last remnants of national armies. The final war had effectively
ended and humanity was defeated. |
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"If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?"
— Abraham Lincoln
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