Military Spore Technology
Aftermath of a spore attack
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Military Spore TechnologyAftermath of a spore attack |
Spore technology is a common defence and self-preservation strategy
employed by many devices operating in hostile environments. A spore
device, typically a bot or vec, periodically
releases numerous small "spores" that quickly
conceal themselves and then go dormant for some period of time or until
they
receive an activation signal or, conversely, cease to receive a signal.
At this point, the spores begin to rapidly and often stealthily
replicate and then construct a duplicate of the original combat unit.
The original unit's control software or mind state is also duplicated
from highly compressed data (often utilizing quantum memory cores)
stored in the spore. Though spore technology is quite common in
peaceful industrial or research applications, its use in warfare is
more notorious, especially in the form of automated ground combat units.
In addition to dropping spores during combat, many such units also
contain large quantities of encysted spores within themselves. If the
unit is somehow destroyed, hundreds or thousands of spores may be
released into the local environment. Often these spores are spread very
widely as a side effect of the energies needed to destroy the combat
unit in the first place. As soon as a spore has settled in a suitable
location, and sometimes after waiting for a suitable period for an
enemy's attention to turn elsewhere, it will rapidly begin the process
of recreating the destroyed weapons system.
The use of spore technology can often have rather disconcerting effects
on a combat situation, especially for those who are not familiar with
such devices. Often a would-be defender may expend tremendous effort
and energy to apparently destroy an attacking force only to discover
sometime thereafter that they are now facing a larger number of
attackers then they originally started with.
Efforts to prevent such delayed attacks may involve various sorts of
advanced hunter-seeker or "sweeper" systems often based on swarm
technology. However, on several unfortunate occasions desperate or
terrified military commands (often under baseline or nearbaseline
control) have resorted to attempting to "burn out" a spore infection by
massive nuclear or kinetic bombardment. The resulting environmental
destruction often far exceeds the damage of the original conflict and
has even resulted in planetary sterilization and/or the destruction of
the defending civilization.
Another secondary effect of the use of spore devices is the
prolongation of warfare. Combat, and the effects of combat, may be
stretched out for years or even decades as particularly persistent or
covert spore systems activate and rejoin the conflict or attempt to
continue a campaign which has long since ended and whose original
reason or purpose may even have been forgotten. Synsect swarms with
spore capability are particularly insidious in this way.
For those spore tech combat devices that support sophont class minds,
various counselling and rehabilitation services and virtuals are
available and usually enjoy a high success rate. However, for
non-sophont systems or those rare units that will not or cannot be
rehabilitated and reintegrated back into society, containment and
destruction or software stasis is often the only option. In some rare
instances, sympathetic transapients
may be persuaded to intervene in
otherwise intractable cases. The TRHN,
Sophic
League, Beneficence,
and
the Utopia
Sphere have been particularly active in these rehabilitation
efforts.
Spore devices (also sometimes referred to as Dragon's Teeth, or Cadmus
bots, both for obscure reasons) are often employed during combat
operations as a force multiplier. In addition to the combat units
initially deployed, spore units may be spread across the theatre of
operations where they immediately begin replicating and working to
construct additional units to reinforce the original deployment.
Depending on the duration of the engagement and the technological
sophistication of the defending forces, such tactics can have varying
degrees of success.
Spores have been created at the nano, pico, and femto
levels
of
technology. At the highest level, femtotechnology permits the spore to
use transmutation to operate with virtually any base material, as well
as producing a particularly virulent and difficult to contain or
eradicate infection.
Related Pages:
AW (AutoWar seed) - An AW or AutoWar seed is a missile launched into an opponent's solar system, often without eir knowledge. The emergence of the autowars is sometimes aligned with the arrival of an extra-stellar invasion fleet, but especially against foes of lower tech level autowars are quite capable of taking over or eradicating a system entirely on their own.
General Applications of Spore Technology - Non military uses.
