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6/8/2025, 2:52:27 PM
“What do you know about the Chorkrum?”
You’re taken aback by the sudden change of subject. Again.
“Uh… Holy Chorkrum Empire. Bigshots on the far side of Savis and Yibrak space, to the galactic west. Real religious types, like New Antioch kind of zealous but around only one religion. God-Emperor kind of thing. Hate robots. Don’t get out much… that about cover it?”
Hail gives you a so-so gesture, indicating you covered just about most of it. “They condemn synthetic life to be more precise, their creed censures it all right down to and including cybernetics. But it is the ‘abominable intelligence’ that they hate most of all.”
Abominable Intelligence, humans adopted the term not too long after they entered the galactic stage even though they managed to miss whatever crisis it was that saw the creation of sentient synthetic life virulently outlawed across the known galaxy. Officially, that is. You’ve also been on enough borderline-to-outright-illegal missions relating to black op research sites to know that each of the major powers in this region still dabble in the tech, even in the cases where it’s being solely done to shore up countermeasures against its use by less scrupulous threats like the Faenwedhe.
Only a handful of times has the Holy Chorkrum Empire set out from their borders, and it has almost always been related to wiping out a rogue AI or some similar threat brewed up by their neighbours. They weren’t exactly surgical about it either, it sounds like the galaxy stopped being grateful the first time the Chorkrum demonstrated their ‘orbital bombard them all and let God sort them out’ approach to keeping the galaxy safe. Humanity was thankfully never on the receiving end of the Chorkrum interventions, but maybe Nines wouldn’t even exist if they had been.
“Capital ships and Titan-class armoured vehicles. Those are always the first to go.”
You don’t see Hail’s point. “They’re both pretty obvious major military targets.”
“True. And a Chorkrum orbital bombardment is said to be even less discriminating than most. But they always direct the brunt of it to planetside Titans whenever those are present.”
“A lot of titans have weapons capable of hitting targets in orbit, and many have shielding that can take those kind of hits, maybe that’s the most credible threat?”
“Not to the point of ignoring other spaceborne planetary defences to do so, including dedicated anti-orbital systems. The after-action reports I’ve read indicate that the Chorkrum will go out of their way to obliterate a Titan even when it means ignoring targets that can actually damage their giant ships to do so.” Hai crosses his arms, giving you a telling look. “Why would a zealous alien race that views AI as irredeemably unholy go to such extreme lengths to see them destroyed?”
“…You think the Savis Titans run on AI.”
[3/6]
You’re taken aback by the sudden change of subject. Again.
“Uh… Holy Chorkrum Empire. Bigshots on the far side of Savis and Yibrak space, to the galactic west. Real religious types, like New Antioch kind of zealous but around only one religion. God-Emperor kind of thing. Hate robots. Don’t get out much… that about cover it?”
Hail gives you a so-so gesture, indicating you covered just about most of it. “They condemn synthetic life to be more precise, their creed censures it all right down to and including cybernetics. But it is the ‘abominable intelligence’ that they hate most of all.”
Abominable Intelligence, humans adopted the term not too long after they entered the galactic stage even though they managed to miss whatever crisis it was that saw the creation of sentient synthetic life virulently outlawed across the known galaxy. Officially, that is. You’ve also been on enough borderline-to-outright-illegal missions relating to black op research sites to know that each of the major powers in this region still dabble in the tech, even in the cases where it’s being solely done to shore up countermeasures against its use by less scrupulous threats like the Faenwedhe.
Only a handful of times has the Holy Chorkrum Empire set out from their borders, and it has almost always been related to wiping out a rogue AI or some similar threat brewed up by their neighbours. They weren’t exactly surgical about it either, it sounds like the galaxy stopped being grateful the first time the Chorkrum demonstrated their ‘orbital bombard them all and let God sort them out’ approach to keeping the galaxy safe. Humanity was thankfully never on the receiving end of the Chorkrum interventions, but maybe Nines wouldn’t even exist if they had been.
“Capital ships and Titan-class armoured vehicles. Those are always the first to go.”
You don’t see Hail’s point. “They’re both pretty obvious major military targets.”
“True. And a Chorkrum orbital bombardment is said to be even less discriminating than most. But they always direct the brunt of it to planetside Titans whenever those are present.”
“A lot of titans have weapons capable of hitting targets in orbit, and many have shielding that can take those kind of hits, maybe that’s the most credible threat?”
“Not to the point of ignoring other spaceborne planetary defences to do so, including dedicated anti-orbital systems. The after-action reports I’ve read indicate that the Chorkrum will go out of their way to obliterate a Titan even when it means ignoring targets that can actually damage their giant ships to do so.” Hai crosses his arms, giving you a telling look. “Why would a zealous alien race that views AI as irredeemably unholy go to such extreme lengths to see them destroyed?”
“…You think the Savis Titans run on AI.”
[3/6]
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