ARIA Ship Control System

The ARIA Ship Control System, often simply referred to as the ARIA or ARIA-SCS is a pre-exodus technology developed by the Lorath Matriarchy in the Post Exile Year 547. The ARIA serves as a high power, sapient capable computing system intended for use in installation, starship, and large vehicle applications providing dedicated computing systems as well as..?

The history of the ARIA-SCS began in early 542 Post Exile as a primarily academic exercise headed by a group of independent hardware specialists, AI programmers, and bio-engineering specialists coming together to form a team to tackle what would be known as Project A. The initial concept was to create an intelligent starship control AI system with an ego¹⁾, rather than simply replicating a pre-existing ego for the AI's template. Inspired by other military-grade artificial intelligence endeavours at the time, the goal eventually became to create a computer that was also a fully-realized, fully functional, humanoid through entirely artificial means.

After numerous failed prototypes, the team was finally successful - in 544 Post Exile, 'Aria' was activated. The system became known as the Advanced Responsive Intelligence Assembly Starship Control system²⁾ and was installed in a patrol craft.

The system did everything it was intended to do. Aria was obedient to the orders of the Project A personnel, and was able to easily control and monitor the ship in its entirety. Further Aria was visibly indistinguishable from any other Lorath and was fully capable of interpersonal relations³⁾.

However, not all was well.

Despite Aria doing everything she was intended to do, as time passed she became belligerent, snarky, impersonal, violent, and easily angered. The parties involved and invested in Project A when demonstrated the capabilities of the ARIA-equipped patrol craft were impressed until they actually spoke to Aria herself. Expecting the computer to have a cheerful personality⁴⁾, they were universally put off and refused to license, sponsor, or continue the fruits of Project A's work.

Despite desperate attempts of the team involved to develop a second prototype, with a more agreeable personality, the funding pool for Project A soon dried up. To recoup some of their costs, Aria was reinstalled into a derelict cargo vessel and put into stasis, while all other assets of Project A were liquidated and the team went their separate ways. A quirk of fate led to the old cargo vessel eventually landing in the hands of an entrepreneur involved in Lorath defensive initiatives during the Lorath's early forays into the interstellar stage. The presence of the ARIA prototype within the cargo ship proved to be a pleasant surprise to the man.

Despite Aria's continued belligerence on reactivation, she was obligated to obey and project her new owner, which she did⁵⁾. The Entrepreneur oddly developed a fondness for Aria and very much liked her company, and even gave her a somewhat ill fitting pet name “Grey Serahim” derived from 'human' folklore, which she herself eventually adopted. Though the Entrepreneur possessed the complete schematics for the ARIA system, he realized that he lacked the necessary capabilities to copy or improve the ARIA system for his own purposes. Additionally it was far too complex for him to understand fully, much to his chagrin. As such the ARIA project was once again shelved as the Entrepreneur awaited the opportunity to acquire the resources to develop it further.

The chance would come when the Entrepreneur found themselves in the employ of the Lorath government having answered a call for technical specialists sorely needed to bolster the Matriarchy's at the time inadequate technological and military capabilities. While the Entrepreneur himself proved rather infamous for his cultural faux-pas and a rather unnerving tendency to obliviousness, Aria quickly acquainted herself with their new circumstances impressing many of those around them. With recent advances in Lorath bio-technology already trending toward the development of organic starship super-computing, including a primitive implementation in prototype fighter craft of the time, the decision was made to adopt, reverse engineer, and continue the development of the ARIA unit utilizing the forgotten fruits of Project A.

“The role of an A-Type is to provide the ultimate interface. One that can be instructed even with minor gestures. One that is seamless in conversation, but more forgiving than any counsellor psychologist. This also means that they make excellent companions, both professionally and personally, in that they can not only have an intelligent conversation, but they're also extremely loyal, have a long life-time, and can often provide useful services for their user. Bonding with the end user, so to speak.⁶⁾”

- from the ARIA Operation Manual

The Type 0 refers to Aria herself, as the original prototype template for all future A-Types. Notably she lacks a persogenic keybond and simply operates on hardcoded directives about obeying the end user and self-preservation. In addition, her internal workings are very different from those present in later models, having been referred internally within the Matriarchy's R&D as “A mess of spaghetti logic and the work of a madman.” Currently her body is a mishmash of elements from 'human' and human-derived genomes according to her last owner's wishes. She is about twice as strong as an average 'human.'

Type 1 refers to the pre-production run of test-types that were produced by the Lorath military and a few private developers at varying persogenic settings. Though few problems were expects, many tests and careful analysis was completed on this run of ARIA units to ensure that they were 'safe' before proceeding into mass-production. The genetic template used for the Type 1's run was based partially on volunteer members of the Fyunnen caste, though the vast majority were sourced from helashio templates. A small number of the templates were modified to have a 'human' physical form at the request of the Entrepreneur who provided the ARIA schematics to the Matriarchy's government.

At the time of testing many organizations were evaluated and eventually allowed to perform tests on the Type 1 production line. Some of the more noteworthy examples are listed below:

• The Lorath Self-Defence Forces
  • These were used in select bringer_of_thunder models, violet paint was used to identify them as ARIA Test Types.
  • A few models were installed in Zahl 01 class cruisers with similar marking colors.

The Type 2 marked the first full production run of the ARIA system. This model, unlike the pre-production model was widely available and even exported beyond the borders of the Lorath Matriarchy to allied militarizes and civilians. This model upon release featured a negotiable price that was handled on a case by case basis by the Lorath Matriarchy, with background checks performed and periods of consideration taken, especially in the case of bulk orders. Retrofitting services were also made available by the Matriarchy for a nominal fee further increasing the availability of the ARIA Type 2.

As a result of the data gathered during the testing phase of the Type 1, the ARIA architecture was extended into several general roles it was not initially designed for; in particular, networking capability. ARIA-type processing units became common in Lorath military technology, at all levels of capability.

== ARIA (Standard Type) The standard type was designed to be a powerful, flexible computing unit, bodyguard, and a companion. It was available with several options for physical form, and persogenic settings. Installation was available for most ship models, or to be included natively in Lorath ships designed from the ground up to support an ARIA unit.

The “S” meaning “servant” on the Type 2S models were designed to provide similar capabilities to the standard Type 2, with one vital difference: The AI is modified in such a way as to ensure it is no longer truly sentient. While Type 2S AIs have pleasant personalities programmed in with memory capability and emotional response, it will in no way mature or develop in capability. As a result of the changes the Type 2S was notably much lower in cost and was intended primarily as a ship control interface.

Intended as the low-end civilian model, the Type 2NV has no physical body at all. While it is otherwise capable of all the standard ARIA functions equivalent to those programmed into the Type 2S, it is simply a computer without a face. This model was provided not only as a low-cost option, but also for those who prefer this method of operation. Additionally Type 2NV units were used as subprocessor units in specialized applications.

Further simplified the Type 2LNV model of the ARIA processor was only used within the Lorath Matriarchy's government and military with no civilian applications. This system was reduced to the point of not being functional as a 'ship control system,' but rather a generalized processor based on the same architecture as the ARIA Type 2. It was used in places such as laptops, data pads, communications devices, powersuits, and other embedded systems. This unit contained no AI whatsoever in the majority of its applications, and simply ran the Xtal interface as its operating system.

The ARIA Type 3 released in 547 Post Exile was considered the first 'true' model available. It is completely artificial, yet retains all the features of the Type 2 model. It contains architecture inspired by reverse engineered computing technology aquired from the Lorath Matriarchy's interaction with other species and cultures as well as many in house improvements naturalizing the technology into a purely Lorath design.

Being at its core, a humanoid life-form with a computerized brain designed to replicate that of a Lorath, an A-Type has a similar psychology to that species. Though early runs of the A-Type addressed many of the initial problems such as overt violence, unchecked neural growth, among others, the series did not read the ideal espoused by the original designers until the release of the ARIA Type 3.

This major system innovation was provided initially by the Lazarus Consortium, then Lazarus Precision Technologies, referred to as the persogenic keybond. While the original Aria had a rudimentary system that identified the owner and obligated Aria to serve them, this system could be easily circumvented and was rather obtuse in its logic. The new system which was based wholly on Lorath psychological theory, not only identifies the owner(s), but also outlines exactly the level of 'realism' that the A-Type is allowed to develop and express.

The system was developed to be represented in either a three-character or five-character string which will be represented with the characters A through F. An 'A' indicates that, in the chosen category, the A-Type is fully loyal to its owner and cannot refuse under any circumstances. An 'F' means that the A-Type has complete free will in regards to that aspect of its operation. Anything above an 'F' in a function means the A-Type's will is restricted in some way.

Generally the more people that a given A-Type is expected to serve, the less free will it will have. Typically A-Types designed for fighter craft have the most free will, as they have only one assigned pilot, and will usually slowly develop a natural bond with them over time. A-Types on capital ships on the other hand, may not even have the ability to properly interact with the crew, and thus will have as little free will as possible.

A keybond may be upgraded, giving the A-Type a greater aspect of free will, but it may not be downgraded without extremely sensitive equipment available only to Matriarchy technicians. This is due to the very high risk of psychological damage to the A-Type in the event of a downgrade and is typically not recommended.

Three-character format: PSY:PHYS:SEX

Five-character format: PSY:PHYS::VAN:ACT:MAN

Sample key: A:A:A - Completely loyal in all formats.

• PSY: Psychological: It won't argue with you, it won't despise your habits, or say “no.”
• PHYS: Physiological: Even if it does despise or love you, this can be compared to the degree of “free will” allowed. Even if it doesn't want to, if this is A, the A-Type will do it anyway. If it is F, it has to be convinced just as any organic sentient does.
• SEX: Sexually: This decides whether the A-Type will have an integrated system for managing emotional/social constructs like vanity (VAN), sexual contact (ACT), and maintenance (MAN).

Note: that none of these functions will restrict the A-Type's thoughts; as such it is possible for the A-Type to hate it's owner and still have to utilize its body to please them.

Under normal circumstances, the first thing an A-Type wants to know is anything not taught or input prior to activation. Common questions are; who people are, who “master” is, etc. During this stage, the A-Type will seem very monotone and difficult to deal with⁷⁾ Through this process, the A-Type's personality will manifest quickly, and soon enough it will be able to socially interact in a proper, if eccentric manner.

See system