Warclone technology was first conceived under the Amarr Empire’s Templar program as the basis for an immortal clone soldier army. Early warclones relied on implants salvaged from the cryostatically preserved bodies of the Sleepers, a Jovian subculture who had shifted their entire civilization into a utopian virtual reality. The implants’ ability to record and host a compact infomorph—a live consciousness in a digital format—enabled a transfer of minds on a purely human scale, without any of the bulky and delicate equipment required by existing methods. Critical instabilities caused by fragmented remains of Sleeper infomorphs discovered in these implants saw the Templar program scrapped, but not before the other three Empires had already obtained the technology and begun building warclones of their own. While the rest grappled with increasingly severe consequences, the Amarr devoted their efforts to reverse-engineering clean “second-gen” implants that would be shared freely with the others by Empress Jamyl.
Ensuing purges led to countless first-gen survivors seeking refuge with the Guristas, Angel Cartel, Mordu’s Legion, and Amarr, with the Legion’s first-gens branching off in following months to form the Arkombine – a mercenary group united by a goal of righting the wrongs done to them and forging a path to freedom beyond the borders of the Empires. They and the Legion maintained a close relationship in fields of mercenary work and warclone R&D. Behind the scenes, however, the Arkombine’s institutional disillusionment and deep interest in Sleeper & Jove technology quickly led to discreet association with elements of the Angel Cartel. A subsequent search for hidden Jovian ruins brought the Arkombine’s head clone physician and infomorph specialist—known in underworld circles as Lifegiver—into contact with affiliates of the mysterious Deathless. After being tapped for collaboration with The Quartermaster—a prolific engineer and technology dealer—on a secret Guristas project, Lifegiver’s proven talents and ideological alignment led The Deathless to recruit her into his trusted inner circle alongside The Quartermaster. This group eventually succeeded in reaching the ancient Jovian outpost known as The Fulcrum, long abandoned in the shrouded system of Zarzakh. The Deathless and his circle would uncover many treasures within the continental megastructure, with three in particular being more than the Arkombine had ever dreamed they would find:
• A derelict onboard virtuality, dark and desolate as it was, would serve as a haven for warclones.
• Archives of first-gen compatible Jovian clone bodies and an industrial-scale clonefab capacity yielded a platform for a new kind of warclone.
• Source data for FTL communications implants based on nano-adapted biotech familiar to The Quartermaster would be the key to a new era.
With these three elements as a basis, Lifegiver saw a path to harmony for the first generation unfolding at long last. Here in Zarzakh, she began a new program aimed at bringing those under her care stability, sanctuary, and the power to realize the dream of independent freedom shared by all members of the burgeoning Deathless Circle. Collaborating with The Quartermaster, work quickly began on what would become the next evolution of warclone technology.
