I was going to keep this one under my hat until I was ready to post it as a story, but I've got other things on my plate that I'm doing at the moment, so I figured I would post the idea here and get feedback on it while I wait for IRL to stop punching me in the crotch.
The story itself starts in Mass Effect, when the Normandy comes across a large derilict spacecraft drifing through space. They go onboard to investiage, and find nothing of interest, beyond the fact that the ghost ship has no remains of any crew, and was clearly attacked by another ship at some point. As they are leaving with what little they could salvage, Shepard is compelled to turn around and take one last look in a dark corner. In that corner, he finds a strange, intricate lattice crystal cube. Upon taking it onboard, the Normandy's extranet connection is breached, and the cube manifests a holographic projection of a masked individual wearing heavy robes that introduces itself as The Watcher.
When questioned, it claims to have used advanced system protocols to analyze the language and vernacular present in the extranet, allowing it to translate it's speech into English. It states that it is neither an AI nor a VI, and that the closest analogy would be a 'CI,' or copied intelligence.
The background behind this is as follows.
Star Wars is the distant, ancient past of Mass Effect. The Star Wars universe 'ended' when the ressurrected Sith Empire used Sith Alchemy and Darkside Sorcery to create a new form of <a href='http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Mechu-deru_vitae' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>Mechu-deru vitae</a>, with the intent of creating a new Darkside superweapon to help them conquer the galaxy once and for all, a form of mechanical life that fed off of blood and gave birth to itself from the flesh and genes of the enemies of the Sith. They succeeded. In fact, they succeded too well. The 'machine gods' that were created attacked indiscrimanately, destroying their creators and wiping the galaxy clean of sentient life.
However, all was not lost. A single chronicler bore witness to the end, and knowing that the war with the dark machines was lost, created a record. This record was a repository of all the knowledge, information, and technology he could possibly find. Details on the construction of hyperdrives, dissertations on the gas-based blaster technology, complete genetic breakdowns of hundreds of sentient species. A nearly complete copy of the most important teachings of both the Jedi and the Sith, listing important figures, useful techniques, and details on the construction of powerful weapons. Everything that the sentient species of the future might need to rebuild galactic society. Everything they could use to succeed where the Jedi had finally, in the last, failed.
The device, a powerful holocron, contained a million libraries of information, all of it protected and governed by 'The Watcher,' a complete, perfect copy of the mind of the chronicler who created it. It was a light cast blindly into the future, in the hope that it might one day help save the universe from the darkness that had claimed it.
Whose Holoncron is this? Who exactly is this chronicler?
Once, he stood against an empire. But even he could not defeat it alone. As his body suffered damage, he simply used his skills to replace the damaged areas with machinery. Further and further he pushed, doing greater and greater damage to both his enemies and to himself, until finally, in the last, he was a man no more, but a machine. And machines do not die. So he watched. He watched as the universe turned, as sagas unfolded, and as he watched, he chronicled. He was the observer, the recorder, passing the time by enscribing history as it happened, a personal witness that walked in the shadows, only taking action when the need was greatest.
And ultimately, what he bore witness to was the end. But he rejected that fate, and forged a masterpiece. A holocron containing all that he had ever seen and witnessed, all that he had ever recorded. A complete account of history from a shadowy immortal that dogged the steps of the greats as they walked their destined paths. A library of ten thousand techniques, a first-hand of wars that set the galaxy alight, and a nearly bottomless chronicle of all the technologies that had blossomed in his time.
Once, he stood against an empire. Now, his legacy will stand against the Reapers.
Thoughts?
The story itself starts in Mass Effect, when the Normandy comes across a large derilict spacecraft drifing through space. They go onboard to investiage, and find nothing of interest, beyond the fact that the ghost ship has no remains of any crew, and was clearly attacked by another ship at some point. As they are leaving with what little they could salvage, Shepard is compelled to turn around and take one last look in a dark corner. In that corner, he finds a strange, intricate lattice crystal cube. Upon taking it onboard, the Normandy's extranet connection is breached, and the cube manifests a holographic projection of a masked individual wearing heavy robes that introduces itself as The Watcher.
When questioned, it claims to have used advanced system protocols to analyze the language and vernacular present in the extranet, allowing it to translate it's speech into English. It states that it is neither an AI nor a VI, and that the closest analogy would be a 'CI,' or copied intelligence.
The background behind this is as follows.
Star Wars is the distant, ancient past of Mass Effect. The Star Wars universe 'ended' when the ressurrected Sith Empire used Sith Alchemy and Darkside Sorcery to create a new form of <a href='http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Mechu-deru_vitae' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>Mechu-deru vitae</a>, with the intent of creating a new Darkside superweapon to help them conquer the galaxy once and for all, a form of mechanical life that fed off of blood and gave birth to itself from the flesh and genes of the enemies of the Sith. They succeeded. In fact, they succeded too well. The 'machine gods' that were created attacked indiscrimanately, destroying their creators and wiping the galaxy clean of sentient life.
However, all was not lost. A single chronicler bore witness to the end, and knowing that the war with the dark machines was lost, created a record. This record was a repository of all the knowledge, information, and technology he could possibly find. Details on the construction of hyperdrives, dissertations on the gas-based blaster technology, complete genetic breakdowns of hundreds of sentient species. A nearly complete copy of the most important teachings of both the Jedi and the Sith, listing important figures, useful techniques, and details on the construction of powerful weapons. Everything that the sentient species of the future might need to rebuild galactic society. Everything they could use to succeed where the Jedi had finally, in the last, failed.
The device, a powerful holocron, contained a million libraries of information, all of it protected and governed by 'The Watcher,' a complete, perfect copy of the mind of the chronicler who created it. It was a light cast blindly into the future, in the hope that it might one day help save the universe from the darkness that had claimed it.
Whose Holoncron is this? Who exactly is this chronicler?
Once, he stood against an empire. But even he could not defeat it alone. As his body suffered damage, he simply used his skills to replace the damaged areas with machinery. Further and further he pushed, doing greater and greater damage to both his enemies and to himself, until finally, in the last, he was a man no more, but a machine. And machines do not die. So he watched. He watched as the universe turned, as sagas unfolded, and as he watched, he chronicled. He was the observer, the recorder, passing the time by enscribing history as it happened, a personal witness that walked in the shadows, only taking action when the need was greatest.
And ultimately, what he bore witness to was the end. But he rejected that fate, and forged a masterpiece. A holocron containing all that he had ever seen and witnessed, all that he had ever recorded. A complete account of history from a shadowy immortal that dogged the steps of the greats as they walked their destined paths. A library of ten thousand techniques, a first-hand of wars that set the galaxy alight, and a nearly bottomless chronicle of all the technologies that had blossomed in his time.
Once, he stood against an empire. Now, his legacy will stand against the Reapers.
Thoughts?
