Species: biological drones

Biological drones are the achievement of many years of scientific discovery and advancement; they are produced by humans as a general purpose, low-maintenance workforce.

Appearance

Biological drones were made to look like humans: they were designed to their creators’ image. They have a limited understanding to prevent people from getting worried about what would happen if they should revolt, which explains their blank stares, picturing their stupidity. Moreover they are generally very athletic. In order to further distinguish them from humans, they also bear a specific marking on their face; this marking can’t be removed, even through surgery.

Behaviour

Each Drone is grown from a batch of genetically engineered cells; these cells are modified with a specific purpose in mind - heightened strength, improved reflexes… However, due to the belief that the Drones could complain and possibly turn against their masters if they were too intelligent, much of the drones’ higher brain functions were disabled, which results - amongst other things - in a high happiness under most conditions; it would be an impossible task to find a drone who is capable of complaining.

History

Biological Drones were first engineered in a lab, the result of years of scientific advancement in biology and artificial intelligence. The Biological Drone encompasses many different species combined together to obtain a creature which is suitable for working in factories and carrying out jobs that other people simply refuse to even consider. However, fear of the so-called “Frankenstein syndrome” caused much debate around the issue; these ethics debates and legal issues were the cause of the final, “dumbed down” version.

Individual names

Biological drones, as engineered creatures, are generally considered as inferior by humans and their creators didn’t feel it was necessary to give them names per se. However each drone is individually identified by a code consisting of:

  • a factory identifier corresponding to the factory it was produced in,
  • a vat number corresponding to the specific vat of the factory it got out of,
  • a batch number identifying the batch extracted from this vat they were part of,
  • a serial number which corresponds to the unique identifier of the drone compared to his batch “brothers”.

In-game effects

To be blunt, Biological Drones are incredibly stupid. They are always happy, even when they are being completely abused as a workforce. Their lack of needs (with the exception of food, of course) make them very hard to corrupt; they are very sensitive to propaganda. The downside is that they are utterly useless as researchers, and that anyone’s propaganda will work on them. Due to their non-aggressive nature, using them as soldiers is pointless. Their sole purpose is to serve as factory workers, which they do extremely well. The drones’ population growth is completely controlled through laws; they do not prey on anyone, but an unchecked Biological Drones growth can have a devastating effect on other species’ populations in the long run.

6 Comments

  1. Yuckwitte:

    Is it possible to sabotage someone’s biological drone vats?

    Maybe corrupting the the drones to be evil or something?

  2. TSeeker:

    It is possible to sabotage drone vats, but it’s not that direct - it’d be the results of a “sabotage” spy mission, which can’t be directed against a specific building.

    Having the biodrones corrupted and becoming “evil” would be too specific for a special agent mission however; it could be arranged as a species-specific random event (some virus corrupts the drones’ programming).

  3. Yuckwitte:

    Do people care if you kill off your drones?

    Like, if they are getting too much for upkeep or if they are affected by a random event.

  4. TSeeker:

    People are actually quite unhappy about their presence, although that might be compensated by the fact that the drones prevent them from being overworked. The effects of “losing” your B.D. population depend very much on the planet’s current status.

  5. Yuckwitte:

    Are mining vessles, drifting along harvesting Asteroids and Nebulae or whatever, crewed by Biological Drones primerily or do people actually want to be stuck on a mining ship with some smeghead with a big ‘H’ stuck on their head. (Heh, british comedy may not be subtle but it has MEANING unlike slapstick comedy of the USA)

    Do other people mind biological drones taking crap jobs like deep space mining and putting out fires in nuculear power planets?

  6. ju:

    Taking crap jobs is what biological drones were originally designed for, so…

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