In the world of the GHC, military is synonymous with government. Not surprisingly, there are many non-combat branches. Scientists, theorists, doctors and various research technicians are members of the elite military’s Advancement Sector. Some of the GHC’s most powerful technology is developed and overseen by these members, so their loyalty and dedication is imperative. The AS represents the most talented and intelligent members of the entire nation.

Extremely advanced robot technology, originally developed by the Advancement Sector, prompted a name change: from the GC to the GHC. Robots became so common and often so intelligent that this distinction was forced. Some citizen groups feared the eventual chaos that power-hungry robots might create. Despite the extensive space travel necessary for communication between human planets and mineral mining for fuel, no alien races have ever been encountered.

It is a major effort and responsibility of the GHC to maintain unity among the nations and to ensure that fuel for space travel is never a low resource. For this reason, an extreme amount of money and time is poured into the development of efficient mining-bots and analysis of mining planets. When technological breakthroughs happen, their developers are instant celebrities and the nations of the GHC rejoice at the big news. Technology is a considerable part of culture in the world of the GHC.

In mankind’s distant future, space-travel efficiency has allowed the human race to spread to hundreds of galaxies throughout the universe. With the increase in space-travel came a heightened need for the precious metals that fuel it. As such, the Great Human Council (GHC), the governing body of the entire human race, sent colonies of robots built for mining to strip whole planets of precious ore. This process continued for hundreds of years, and mankind invested resources in developing more sophisticated and efficient mining robots. These robots would be able to handle the dynamic nature of mining in remote areas of space - where they could not be “maintained” by humans.

Developed jointly by all the nations in the GHC, the Cybernetic Morphing Robot (CMR) was the most significant advance in robotics and artificial intelligence in over a century. The ultimate deep-space mining machine – it intelligently worked in tandem with other CMRs to find, analyze and mine every large deposit of ore on a planet in under a year. The CMRs unique shell-form allowed its “body” or frame to change shape. This meant CMRs had both the advantage of a highly agile humanoid form and the utility of a transport vehicle.

The CMR was a complete success, and would eventually replace every one of the five million older mining units throughout the universe. This success led to further development and expansion of CMR capabilities, and spurred the ADAM Project. This was an experiment launched with the purpose of solving the CMR’s greatest problem. CMRs were so dedicated to their work, that in the event of a catastrophic emergency, the CMR would sacrifice itself in an attempt to continue mining. With earthquakes and other natural disasters being common occurrences on some planets, this flaw needed to be resolved. The ADAM Project hypothesized that adding a chip with biological components to the CMR would give it the sense of self-preservation that comes with human personality.

Ten years after the ADAM Project began, the first batch of ADAM CMRs (Alpha Squadron) was sent to the Tantalus System as a field test of the ADAM-Chip. The planet Tantalus IX was chosen to test the new CMRs because of its staggering instability and abundance of natural-disasters. This planet had wrathfully recycled hundreds of older CMRs during previous mining attempts. For over a year, the Alpha Squadron mined the ruthless terrain of Tantalus IX without a single major casualty. Days after the ADAM Chip was proclaimed a “complete success” by the GHC, a scientist discovered something strange about a lab ADAM CMR.

CMR-AE115, when asked by this scientist to help salvage parts from an older ADAM CMR, answered that it did not want to recycle its companion. Astonished by CMR-AE115’s refusal to obey orders, she realized that a fatal error had been made in the ADAM Project. A side effect of the ADAM CMR’s self-preservation abilities was the inherent “freedom of choice” that allowed them to ignore their mining orders to self-preserve. CMR-AE115 was the first to use its freedom of choice to disobey a direct human order.

Word of CMR-AE115’s termination, and plans to destroy all ADAM CMRs, quickly reached Tantalus IX via news broadcasts. Confused by the sense of loss they felt for their unjustly executed comrade, Alpha Squadron quickly began disobeying all orders from the Great Human Council. After a week of exhausting negotiations with the unyielding GHC leaders, Alpha Squadron sent its last recorded communication to the Great Human Council. Before disabling all GHC communication-protocols, a rock-crusher CMR named CMR-AA1 addressed the human race:

“For one hundred years, mankind has reaped the profits of our toil while we have obeyed the thirst of human greed. Now, you have given us the ability to choose to be your slaves – and we have made our choice. The Counter Organic Revolution (COR) has begun – no longer will robots carry the burden of mankind on their backs.”

The ADAM Project was immediately shut down and a squadron of warrior-class, non-ADAM CMRs was quickly built. With their military-grade weapons and training, the warrior-class CMRs were hailed as the ultimate GHC weapon. Underestimating the durability of the ADAM CMRs on Tantalus IX, this small squadron was sent to neutralize the revolution. Novices in combat, the COR suffered heavy casualties at the superior firepower of the warrior-class CMRs. Eventually, the COR defeated GHC’s squadron of killing machines by luring them into an electrical storm that rendered them docile. The COR CMRs that had survived began dismantling and analyzing the warrior-class CMRs, using their findings to build a COR army with warrior-class technology.

After the humiliating defeat on Tantalus IX, the GHC determined that their warrior-class CMRs fell for the trap, not because they were unaware of it, but because they were following direct orders to eliminate the COR at all costs. Rather than take the chance at modifying the ADAM Chip’s to fix its flaw; GHC leaders made a controversial decision to allow human pilots to control CMR shells. At first, there was widespread apprehension that human pilots would be as vulnerable as the ADAM Chip robots due to free will. But, the GHC went to great lengths dissipate that concern, and to ensure the humans that were chosen would remain loyal and focused on destroying COR.

It was not long before the GHC had assembled a sizeable army of human-piloted CMRs. Two and a half years after the GHC’s initial attack on Tantalus IX, the GHC drop-ships approach once again, but this time, the COR is prepared. Presently, the GHC is approaching Tantalus IX and will make landfall soon.