I've seen this mentioned a couple times - what species has the EI annihilated because they aren't useful? Interested in the background etc on that.
While I appreciate a throwback reference to Australian genocide as much as the next Kiwi, you are objectively wrong about "Helots". I suggest checking out the more detailed background in the PanOceania expansion for the RPG.
They want to transcend because their ego's said it was the next logical step for their civilization and they deserve it. They aren't avoiding the end of existence, or even a threat to their then government. The Artilect told them they weren't worthy, so they tried again, and again, and now they're trying to conquer a worthy species to copy their notes. They are egotistical parasites, swarming the galaxy and assimilating "worthy" species and exterminating "unworthy" species only in regard to their own goals, not the betterment of anything overall. But at least they're honest about it. Tohaa also conquer and destroy and enslave, but lie about it and so the people in the Ur empire are actually more free as long as they observe the rules and "know their place". The Tohaa will simply engineer your loyalty and force you to think their way and convince you they're right. Humans WANT to do both ways, and if they knew about Transcendence, they'd want that too! Humanity just isn't good at it yet. That's why we must trust ALEPH. Only ALEPH knows what's best, only ALEPH will lead us forward, Trust ALEPH!!!
Some PanO may have WANTED to, and some don't consider the Helot's at all while doing what they want, and some are pro-Helot and some live on one of the other PanO planets and might not even be aware Helot's exist. The Helots have not been wiped out. Even Libertos attacks have not resulted in a large scale coordinated attack on Helot's as a race or culture.
The books comment on that as a general policy, but we don't know of specific races (though some of the "we're here to conquer you" races are most likely examples). We (as players) don't even know who Cal3fex is, and it's not even clear if the Cal3fex information is available to the governments of the Human Sphere or Tohaa.
Interesting discussions you have here. Now I see better what EI is. (It is not clear picture, but still interesting. Interesting! That’s the main word.) And as I see, there are no good guys in Infinity. First I saw Combined Army as faction, that no one wants to be friend with. So, they were not at first place in my chart. Now I am reading this, and I really want some Shasvastii and the others at my shelf (and on the game table of course). And I am dreaming about distant worlds with alien civilizations. (A have Tohaa/Spiral armies. Couple of Military Orders units. Some YJ... a little of this, a little of that. Instead of buying MO box now I am thinking about Shasvastii box instead.) More laconic: WOW CA IS INTERESTING. I WANT TO TRY IT. By the way, Shasvastii look like turians in some way
Why choose a basic economy model AI like that when you can have the real deal? Instead you could be... "Roman" around the galaxy Subverting interesting civilizations Defeating entropy itself! Join today and transcend your boring old self!
I would argue the most evil races, from a human perspective would be Morats and the Umbra. Umbra, if I'm remembering, were considered to be better off for the universe to be extinct. Then the EI resurrected the species. Morats are aggressive, xenophobic, and racist as a species. They have wiped out most of the "not the right kind of Morats" on their home world, and subjugated the ones they haven't killed yet. The Morat star empire consisted of mass slaughter, subjugation, and enslavement of all species they came across. If you could be put to work in a factory building more war materials you could live in slavery, if not you were executed. But I think the fact every faction is shades of grey is the key take away. My personal breakdown of the core factions driving ideals, or maybe dreads that they encompass. PanO - Corporate Greed Yu Jing - Government Oppression Haqq - Religious Oppression Ariadna - Selfish Colonialism Nomads - Legal Corruption/Greed/Science Run Amok Aleph - Big Brother is always watching Tohaa - Shadow Governments and forced compliance Combined - Humans are insignificantly small
Kinda curious; when the EI takes over, it prods these civilizations towards ascension, monitors them via cybernetic implant and then .... what? If a civilization gets close to ascending, does the EI just wave goodbye or does it step in, nerve has the populace, and start taking samples?
Not all civs are ascension projects, some it keeps around because they're useful (Morats), some it determines it can't control and wipes out (I forget the name but their opponent in the Blink Wars) some it deems too dangerous and effectively sepsitorises the entire civilisation (Umbra) and some get more of a light touch (just give everyone EI comlinks). I don't believe any of it's "client" races have ascended yet. I'm actually willing to bet that the EI's interference actually prevents most races from achieving ascension in a glorious twist of irony. That is a personal theory though. The recent RPG sourcebook turns out to be rather a fluff treasure trove for the CombArmy.
Yeah, their last successful ascension was the EI’s predecessor. I’m pretty sure they’ve stated (or at least strongly implied) that the EI involvement dooms any transcendence project it touches.
The EI is monitoring the Ascension Projects for data on how it can achieve it itself, so no need to nerve gas anyone when you've got all their data coming to you already. Some races are just resources of course, the idea that the Morat will ever ascend is amusing really, and some races just get wiped out because they're not worth bringing into the fold. One of the factors against the Shasvaasti is that the EI thinks they might be wiping out races that could be adding to the Project out of their own fear of endangering themselves.
This and a few other factors have had me wondering if we will see a rebel-Shas NA2 element at some point. Like at least a few individuals.
I have my pet theory about that for some years now, about Shas betting on all horses instead of sticking exclusively with CA. Also, I think there was a mention of CA finding some but not all Shasvastii; so it's possible that there are some "neutral" ones out there.
You've also got deep cover individuals like the Speculo Agent that replaced Aida Swanson, who are showing signs of going native.
Let's ask the Exrah how well that turned out, shall we? It does make total sense for the Shas to have their backup plans for potential surprises, but I'll doubt we'll ever see a full rogue faction. Thanks to all the terror ops they've poisioned their image with every other race so badly that they couldn't really coexiest unless they kept up a disguise forever, at which point they're essentially humans/Tohaa/Morats with a Seed-Embryo rule.