#{space verse}

Androids are a thing, but they do not function or look the same way that DBH androids do. They are more machine like, having a human shape, but no synthetic skin and visible seams in their very obviously metal and plastic construction. Their eyes all glow green and don’t look very much like human eyes at all. They are archaic machines with limited A.I. that functions more like current real world Artificial Intelligence does, perhaps slightly more advanced, but not by much. 

Alma and Arda are still the newest invention involving A.I. and synthetics are far more advanced than androids. Much of Alma and Arda’s base lore is the same regarding their mechanics, NPC’s, and some of their stories. Mostly it’s the things involving DBH that are different. 

Not going to get into this too much, but at one point, Alma was stolen by Evander Graves and tortured. Basically disassembled piece by piece, leaving the nervous system and his core processor intact so his body was by al rights dead, but he could still feel pain and could not actually die unless his processor was damaged. Evan, of course, didn’t want that. 

The police find out about the “theft” which was more of a kidnapping, and they investigate until they find Evan and arrest him. What remains of Alma is taken in as evidence and eventually returned to Dr. Chen, who puts him into a new body and fixes him. 

Basically I tell you that just so you know that Alma had significant trauma at the hands of Evander Graves before ever going into space. 

Anyways, there is a man funding Dr. Chen’s project (who’s name isn’t terribly important) who has way too much time and money on his hands and is bored, so invests in many different things. One of which is the Horizon project.

The Horizon is a massive, city sized ship, designed to go out into space, find suitable planets for terraforming, Bring thousands of colonists along, and begin the terraforming process while also acting as a base home while things get started on the new planet. It is designed to be the first of many ships that will find new planets for us to inhabit and replace a dying earth. 

Because of his involvement in both projects, the man that is funding them refers Alma to be the first of three synthetics to board the Horizon and assist in the mission. After convincing Dr. Chen that he is a person and she accepts that he has free will and is essentially her son, Alma decides he needs a purpose that isn’t just being a slave to mankind, and accepts the offer, figuring it is as good a purpose as any. To help keep the human race alive.

Alma becomes the primary synthetic aboard the Horizon. His job is to do anything and everything he can to see the terraforming and colonization mission through to fruition. Because he is not specialized in any specific task, he can do many different things aboard the ship and spends much of his time learning new ways to help. He basically could run the whole ship by himself if he had more hands to do it. He is also granted access to the Ship’s A.I. program, G.O.D.E.S.S (general onboard defense and support systems) that allows him full access to the ship and all its systems. 

Arda is the medical synthetic aboard the horizon and she specializes solely in medically related ordeals. She acts as the life support system for the colonists in cryogenic stasis for the journey (the ones that don’t have a job on the ship) and a nurse for an important NPC named Dr. Loric (one of the scientists that helped to create synthetics who is a medical doctor and surgeon as well.)

When Arda was brought online, she did not have the random lines of code in her system that Alma did when he first was brought online and calibrated. Alma was “born” with his random lines of code that allowed him to have a personality, dreams, emotions, desires, etc. Arda was not “born” with them, but rather, she develops these lines of codes slowly over a period of time spent on the ship with just her, Alma, and Abel as the only people keeping the ship running. (Other crew mates are brought out of cryogenic stasis once they get closer to the new planet, but aren’t needed for most of the journey.)

Abel is the Military android aboard the Horizon. He is an important NPC who’s job is solely to protect the crew and make sure that nothing compromises the mission. He does not have the random lines of code and never develops them. It is unknown why or what causes the random lines of code to appear. Some people speculate that this code is actually a synthetic’s soul, and only some of them have them or can develop them, while others can’t. There is no proof for or against this though, as souls are an abstract concept to begin with.

 Alma spends years trying to develop Arda and Abel’s “souls” and show them they can be independent of their original programming, while the humans on board are in stasis (synthetics metabolisms are much, much slower and more efficient than humans, they do not age nearly as fast, which is why they were essential for the project while all the colonists have to enter cryogenic stasis for the duration of the journey to prevent them from aging). He only succeeds with Arda and cannot seem to get those lines of code to appear in Abel no matter what he tries. 

Once they come closer to the new planet, the essential crew are brought out of cryogenic stasis and Alma discovers that the robotics engineer in charge of maintaining him and the other synthetics, as well as G.O.D.E.S.S. is none other than Evander Grave’s daughter, Mandolin Graves. Naturally, Alma has some strong feelings about this. She plays an important part as an NPC as well.

After arriving on the new planet, they discover it is already inhabited by intelligent life. A very shaky alliance is made, heavily reliant on trust, and the humans are allowed to coexist on the planet with these aliens.