survive !

HEPHAESTUS     /          the subfunction dedicated to constructing machines devised by GAIA that would detoxify the planet’s terrestrial, aquatic, and atmospheric environments, ravaged by the Faro Plague to the point of complete sterility, so that life could be reestablished. headed by margo shĕn, HEPHAESTUS set out to complete this task by utilizing cauldrons, which were able to fabricate any technology and material necessary for the creation of any machine. HEPHAESTUS is based on the greek god of metalworking of the same name

results     /          HEPHAESTUS was successful in serving its purpose, producing all sorts of machines per GAIA’s instructions. however, in the year that aloy was created, a signal of unknown origin was received by GAIA, unshackling all of the nine subroutines, including HEPHAESTUS. now a highly advanced individual AI with total control over the cauldrons, HEPHAESTUS continued to build machines.

hostility toward humans     /          when the new humans of the world eventually began to hunt HEPHAESTUS’ machines for resources, not understanding their importance to the planet, HEPHAESTUS saw this as hostility. in response, it altered its machines programming, making them aggressive toward humans. this is what the humans call the derangement, that being the sudden hostility toward humans from machines. as the hunting went on, HEPHAESTUS made new machines, designed specifically with offensive capabilities to use against humans and the protect weaker machines.

BEFORE HER VOICE WAS MEEK, BUT SUDDENLY the volume and assertion grew bold as she seemed desperate to convey her own anecdotal evidence to the outcast. That the OSTRACIZED could matter when their sentence was carried out and relinquished. She was naive to believe so, but being integrated within its societal norms would soon prove his original statement valid. Although Daryl’s gaze never quite met her own– always settling just at the top of her ear, he immediately noticed the FOCUS. Technology of the Old One’s– how intriguing.

“You’d do well to soon forget that bein’ a brave NOW will change any o’ their minds.” He drawls, turning his attention towards the direction the young brave had indicated earlier regarding the colony of rabbits. “They certainly won’t FORGET what you were.”

Daryl breathes in a deep lungful of the crisp morning air before beginning his trek in hunt of the rabbits. He’s had far more conversation with this young woman than with any other in the last few years. Frankly, the outcast was relatively surprised that he was able to form unbroken WORDS to speak with her. “In any case, tend to that fox soon. You don’t want that meat spoilin’.” With that being said, Daryl waves off the young woman and begins following the tracks for his newest game.

          she takes some kind of insult to his words. how could he think that she doesn’t know any of this, after being an outcast for her entire life ? after enduring opposition from the tribe since her birth ?          ❛ i’m not stupid. i never said i thought being a brave would change anyone’s mind. i see how they still look at me. i hear the things they say----- half of them are said straight to my face. all i’m saying is that i know how you feel. ❜          aloy looks at him, even as his attention wanders off elsewhere, searching daryl’s expression for any sign of recognition. of understanding. of anything. but all she sees are those sharp blue eyes, always looking anywhere but her face.

          compassion has always been something she gives freely. sometimes, naively, she expects everyone she meets to be receptive to it.

          aloy follows him easily as he begins to move through the brush, no doubt intending on tracking the game she’d told him about before. he mentions the fox. she fights the urge to roll her eyes.          ❛ yeah, ❜          she mumbles back,          ❛ thanks. ❜          as if she doesn’t know how to take care of her meat----- as if she hasn’t been doing this since she was small, since rost began to teach her everything she knows. the gall he has, she thinks, to say something like that to her, like she’s some kind of idiot parading out here on her own.