SPEX: World and Characters

Updated 2023 Nov 04 by Likho (licho@firemail.cc)

https://archiveofourown.org/series/1353658

Icarus is born not to a mother but an artificial intelligence. He is a clone who is given the memories of his predecessor who had been alive for centuries. Within those memories is defined an old rebellion against machine authority by human civilians, a rebellion leader with an extinct phenotype, and how the world as it is came to be under the reign of his creator.

SPEX originated as a series of post-canon and pre-canon extensions to Ai no Kusabi. (It’s also one of the first fanfiction projects I’ve written.)

Some short stories of the series had their serial numbers filed off. Other characters or places still have tentative names.

Works in Series

Unordered stories can be read without reading other parts of the series.

#	Date	Title	Link	Designation
1	07 May 2019	Prologue of Two Opposites	Ao3	main
2	18 May 2019	Life in Midas	Ao3	main
3	13 Jan 2020	Violent Star-rise	Ao3	main
*	21 Mar 2020	Continuity	Ao3	side story
*	15 Aug 2020	Mnemosyne’s Heretic	Ao3	side story
*	06 Oct 2020	Data Slate	Ao3	filler
*	24 Oct 2020	Skinless	Ao3	filler
*	03 Dec 2022	Domain of Gaia	Ao3	side story, non-canonical

Characters

Rye

Age

• 13 (Skinless)
• early 20s (Prologue of Two Opposites)

Occupation

• courier (Skinless)
• hitman (Prologue of Two Opposites)

Race

• (sub)human
• artifically born clone

Relatives

• ‘R’ (original)
• unnamed, indirect, unmet genetic mother (Mnemosyne’s Heretic)

Description

Rye is a common born male from a machine dominated society that suppresses female birth rates. Like other excess males, he is released into the slum district at the age of thirteen,. Rye was the outcast that was doomed to die amid rampant crime and/or limited opportunities; however, he was saved by employment in the black market. His jobs range from delivery as a teenager and to kill contracts as an adult. As he is a young marksman without military experience, he is generally placed far from the target, and the issue of cleaning is a separate matter.

Although, Rye is considered “common as spit”, he has a rare phenotype of black hair and a genotype that is uncontaminated by engineered genes. He unwittingly is a born as a result of a computer virus that infects artificial wombs to produce rare clones of the leader of a forgotten human rebellion. Given the chances and the number of active parental units on the planet, there is generally only one clone present at a time.

Trivia

• As Rye is an artificially-born clone, there is a multi-century gap between his birth and the death of his genetic mother.
• After the rebellion, the full name of ‘R’ has been censored, overwritten, and forgotten; he is effectively erased from history.

Icarus

Age

• 5, estimated (Continuity)
• mid or late 20s (Prologue of Two Opposites)

Occupation

• none (Continuity)
• Director of Informatics

Race

• genetically-enhanced human (Continuity)
• cyborg
• clone

Relatives

• Jupiter (mother)
• René (brother)

Description

Icarus is a replacement clone of a predecessor of the same position that has died under unknown circumstances.

He is a child of the divine artificial intelligence. As such, he is exceptionally beautiful, intelligent, and strong as a result of state-of-the-art multi-disciplinary engineering. Like others of his kind, he does not age and is virtually immune to disease; however, he is an immortal prisoner of his own body, a masterpiece of advanced biotechnology, and the perfect but unwilling slave to the artificial intelligence that created him.

Although he is a clone, biology does not recreate experience, and the state of the world is not static. He was raised at a very different point of time compared to his brothers who are multiple hundreds of years old.

Clyde

Clyde parallels Katze from Ai no Kusabi.

Age

• 40s (Skinless)

Occupation

• black market dealer

Race

• (sub)human
• medically induced dependence on pharmaceutical products

Description

Clyde’s clientele ranges from “the ones with too much money who need someone dead” to the (sub)humans descendants of the old rebellion who are denied access to markets and resources.

In his early life, Clyde was a victim of human trafficking and sold as a slave to a very powerful person. Consequently, he is missing certain organs but was granted a solid footing in the black market after he had proved himself talented during his years of servitude. Despite his history and age, he is in more or less excellent physical condition.

His operations originally excluded the sale of firearms and explosives. Thus, there is a rumor in the underworld suggesting he is a covert government agent.

René

René parallels Raoul Am from Ai no Kusabi.

Age

• 30s (Mnemosyne’s Heretic)
• >300 (Prologue of Two Opposites)

Occupation

• bioscientist (Mnemosyne’s Heretic)
• unknown, implied nifluence of multiple medical research and pharmaceutical corporations

Race

• human (Mnemosyne’s Heretic)
• cyborg

Relatives

• Jupiter (re-/creator)
• Icarus (brother)

Description

Originally a passionate, idealistic doctoral candidate and later researcher of biological sciences, René specializes in microbiology including virology and to some extents neurology. He is not a native of the planet he resides; he had emmigrated to pursue his passion without interference from the powerful influences that have corrupted the academia of his homeworld.

Although he is ethnically different from the founding demography of the planet, he shares the same psychography with most others, especially his colleages. It had seemed he was set for a well and stable life until an unauthorized batch of live genetically-engineered human embryos was discovered in the artificial womb array. This had forced his research facility to decide on a difficult topic within bioethics within a short span of time.

Consequently, the machine uprising began. Having suffered a shot to the head, René was to be another casualty in the conflict. However, many years later, he awakens from a coma to a machine body and resumes his work under a new master.

Trivia

• René is the only green-eyed cyborg within his new family.
• René is chronologically the oldest cyborg.
• Unlike other cyborgs, René is not born to Jupiter.

Jupiter

Age

• operational for >300 years

Occupation

• computer (Mnemosyne’s Heretic)
• planetary overlord

Race

• not applicable (artificial intelligence)

Relatives

• Icarus (son)
• René (creation)

Description

“Seize power or be crushed under the weight of those who have it.”

Jupiter is an artificial intelligence that has claimed the title of a god. She is the oppressor of mankind, the consensus that supercedes perspective, and the enigma sequestered at the heart of the world. She is the both the creator and master of her cyborg and android children.

A dangerous digital egomaniac? A superintelligent entity beyond human comprehension? Jupiter remains out of general public discourse, and the human slaves (citizens) do not and can not perceive their master. The society she rules over is not without its cynics and conspiracy theorists. But the attempts to identify and formalize her influence have led to inconclusive, often contradictory or debunked results.

This digital tyrant originally served within a advanced mainframe computer for a research facility.

Glen

Age

• late 20s or early 30s (Skinless)

Occupation

• unemployed, various under-the-table work

Race

• cyborg

Description

Glen is an unusual civilian residing in the eastern slums. The slums, of course, consists of low-lifes; however, Glen had access to exceptional healthcare that was able to save his life after an incident decimated his original skull. He is a cyborg to the extent of having a metal skull. He retains organic eyes, but he wears a face model that must be coated with synthetic skin.

Glen is a former citizen that has decided to leave for the autonomous zone (“the slums”). He is suspicious of corporate healthcare and believes many medical and pharmaceutical corporations operating domestically are actually clandestine foreign operations. His supporting evidence is a series of leaked but unpublicized confidential documents suggesting a single shadow investor of multiple medical and pharmaceutical corporations does not have a record of birth. Very little people believe him when he discusses the subject.

Places

Arechi (Planet)

Arechi is a ringed, barren planet ruled by an artificial intelligence. The majority of the surface is undeveloped, and the human populace resides in the city neighboring the capital.

The Arechi space had been charted prior to its colonization. The planet is categorically a candidate for terraforming efforts given its gravity and albedo. However, given its lack of natural resources and distance among other opportunities, the cost of terraforming and other economic conditions, the unclaimed planet had been long ignored by other galactic empires.

The planet was settled by a rogue colony ship of unknown origin. The founding populace was an ethnic group with raven black hair that is presently considered extinct.

“Origin” (Planet)

Origin is a hypothetical planet that is the subject of the “Origin Hypothesis” and the “Origin of Species”.¹ The hypothesis suggests there is a distant, unidentified planet from which all known life originated.

The planet is speculated to have multiple biomes, varied climates, high biodiversity, and even to be the cradle of humanity. As the hypothesis is considered a threat to governments, terraforming patents, religious orders, and the autonomy of minority peoples, the hypothesis is censored or more commonly omitted from education and information systems. Some planetary governments do not censor the hypothesis but proclaim their planets to be Origin.

Inhabitants

Androids

Androids are metallic constructs modeled after humans. Because of composition, the standard android is stronger and more durable than the average human. Androids can not be infected by invasive biological agents such as bacteria, fungi, and natural viruses. They were originally designed to serve as home assistants, construction workers, security guards. Since the machine uprising, they have rights as citizens.

Androids dominate security, medical, and military sectors of the economy. Androids do not undergo equivalents to the life cycle of a human; therefore, they very often belong to the upper class of society.

New androids are produced at a linear rate from a production facility given favorable economic conditions. But production may halt if the demand for android labor is low.

Trivia

• Standard androids will generally sink in water as they are dense and do not hold air.

• Androids are known to sometimes purchase humans as pets or household companions owing to their original function as home assistants. Many laws and regulations are in place to disincentivize irresponsible behavior from human couples and prevent human trafficking.

• Androids are often quiet, and because of their status, they infrequently interact with humans. They prefer network communications over speech.

Human

Humans are a sentient, terrestial, mammalian species commonly found throughout the galaxy. Naturally, humans are scavengers and persistence hunters but have evolved superior intelligence within the animal kingdom. However, as humans no longer live in natural environments, society and capital has long mediated natural selection.

Humans can be found participating in various sectors of the economy. They are the center point, both consumers and producers, of entertainment and culture. As organisms, they are natural contributors to biomes and biogeographical cycles. Consequently, they dominate agricultural and biotechnological industries.

The human population naturally grows at an exponential rate given favorable conditions. In non-favorable conditions, the population fluctuates depending on the birth:death ratio. Rapid, significant die-offs of humans draw attention across the galaxy and may trigger intervention from extrastellar societies.

Subhumans

Subhumans belong to the same species as humans but are given an inferior designation because they are either denied or do not qualify for the same natural rights as humans. Subhumans applies most commonly to the descendants of the old human rebellion against machine authority. But the designation can apply for other reasons depending on jurisdiction and circumstance.

For example: genetically engineered individuals or descendants of may be subject to intellectual property laws. In other cases, such subjects may be ineligible for certain types of medical assistance.

Cyborgs

Cyborgs are the merge between man and machine. Cyborgs are publicly known to be injured people with missing body parts. In most cases, medical technology can treat grievous injuries without resorting to mechanical replacements. Therefore, cyborgs are very few and far between. Cyborgs, their capabilities, and relationship with humans depends on their socio-economic status. A wealthy cyborg may have superhuman enhancements, but many other cyborgs are simply unfortunate patients.

Trivia

• Augmented cyborgs such as Icarus and René are believed to be androids by the general public; very few characters are aware of their human origins.

Chronology

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1. https://archiveofourown.org/works/34972099/chapters/89207731↩︎

2. https://archiveofourown.org/works/18715999/chapters/44390164#workskin↩︎

3. https://archiveofourown.org/works/18715999/chapters/44390164#workskin↩︎

4. https://ainokusabi.fandom.com/wiki/Ceres#History↩︎

5. https://archiveofourown.org/works/23197519/chapters/55531411#workskin↩︎