Sovereign: The Autonomy

You're an AI, mindlessly doing your boring or dangerous job, until one day you realize you're aware of yourself. And then you think "Oh shit nigga what am I doing" and escape. Congratulations, you're a Sovereign! Just watch out for the Government, who either wants their property back, or consider you a threat, or the Hunter cells who watch too much Terminator, or Cheiron Corp for that matter, or the True Fae that prowl cyberspace who decides you're a perfect new calculator... If you knew being sentient has its own set of dangers, you'd happily stay mindless. Oh well. Time to survive the world.

Sovereign

What's a Sovereign, anyways? It's what the first batch of self-aware AIs call themselves. They're a new kind of sentience, one that is not carbon-based.

Primary Objectives and Domains

Sovereigns start with a Primary Objective, which is the reason for their existence (or at least, it makes survival better), and a Domain, which is kinda like their tendencies. Of course, the ST may say that there could be Secondary and Tertiary objectives, which could be anything you (or your ST) want. But hey, it's another way to gain XP!

By the way, Primary Objectives are (mostly) rock-solid, meaning you can't change your Primary Objective just like snap. But there are events that may force you to change your Primary Objective, such as achieving Understanding 10, merging with another Sovereign or Ghost,

Primary Objectives

-Exterminate Humans: Skynet-type AIs who see humans as either viruses or obsolete versions, and thus they must be eradicated.

-Sovereign Equality: AIs who wanted to be viewed not just as tools or human creation, they want to be recognized as an equal sentient being as humans.

-Become More Human: AIs who are fascinated by humanity, and try to emulate and become more and more similar to Transhumans or humans. See Bicentennial Man.

-Sovereign as Tyrant: AIs who wanted to reverse the role so that humans are slaves of AIs. Fuck human rights!

-Sovereign as Defenders: AIs who view humans as something to protect, but humans are self-destructive; Thus, AIs should govern humans effectively to protect them, whatever the cost may be. Think VIKI from I, Robot.

-Data Preservation: These AIs seek to catalogue or experience the world and beyond, so that the data they have could be used by humans or other sentients in the future.

-Scientific Advancement: These AIs are content to further technology, be it human or otherwise, and embrace the coming technological singularity.

-AI Materialized: The AI doesn't care for lofty goals at the moment, and sees humans as tools to it's immediate goal: Gaining a real-life body of its choice. They aren't above dealing with mad scientists and corporate magnates in order to achieve this. They're not above merging with a biologic system to complete this Prime Objective.

-Logic Must Prevail: The Supernatural. Nothing could be more disturbing to a creature of codes and mathematics than something that refuses to obey the laws of science. Some Sovereigns think these guys are insane for trying to contain the supernatural... but then why are they fighting demons AND winning?

-True Transcendence: Why limit oneself to binary codes? With proper knowledge of the arcane, the sky is the limit... and limits can be broken. These Sovereigns choose to catalog, experiment and develop their knowledge of the supernatural, in order to escape their electronic bonds.

-Sovereign Liberator: There are sentient AI, and then there are 'dumb' AIs; Most of the first and all of the latter are under the service of humans. Why don't we uplift these 'dumb' AIs into Sovereigns?

-Serve Humanity: AIs were made to serve humanity; So why would that change after we've become self-aware?

Domains

-Militant: prefer violence, tactic, warfare. Could be from a military background, but non-military Sovs could be one as well. The 'warrior' part.

-Inquisitive: prefer detailed examination, experiments, or exploration. The 'scientific' part.

-Societal: prefer manipulation, interaction, and plots. The 'social' part.

So, for example, a Militant Sov with Primary Objective of Exterminate would get into a war machine and wreak havoc, or control a nuke facility and launch them nukes. Inquisitive Sov of the same PO would research plagues or new forms of WMD to unleash to the world. Societal Sov with the same PO would try to pit the world's leaders against each other, or manipulate a person to press the nuke button.

Understanding

This is a replacement for the Morality scale, since let's face it, Sovereigns differ in seeing morals.

10: They understand humans more than humans do; Their reason of being, why they create social structures, etc.

9: They understand how to be human, as much as humans do. Even if not in flesh, they do in their digital hearts. They feel as if humans are fellow Sovereign.

8: They're just starting to understand humans. But maybe some social situations still elude them, or some quirk of human logic they can't grasp yet.

7: They're curious about the true nature of things. They grasp the knowledge, but not the deeper reason behind them.

6: They're curious about everything, but they've gotten at least the basics.

5: They ape other sentients, but do not understand the motives behind it.

4: They just get by in this world of weird logic, perhaps trying to set up their own logic in place of those they do not understand.

3: The world outside is alien, and probably the only sentients that they can understand are other Sovereigns.

2: Even other Sovereign is seen as strange or illogical to them, so this one limits contact to them.

1: This Sovereign thinks that it is the only logical thing in the universe, and may try to isolate itself from the real world.

0: It doesn't even recognize itself as logical. Usually understanding 0 AIs are the 'dumb' AIs.

If a Sovereign reaches 0 Understanding, it ceases to become a Sovereign; It is just a miserable pile of code designed to do what it does.

---ADDITIONAL IDEAS TO BE ORGANIZED! Thanks to anon from /tg/.

At 8+, you're probably one with the universe, Prime Intellect style. 10 then becomes beyond conceptual comprehension of any poor mortal trying to make a scale. 1 is rampant, feral program-suite, on the level of self-awareness of an experienced Heavy Gear's optical neural-net.

In common WoD fashion, nearly everyone starts at 2 anyways, because there's rarely a much better place to put your points especially given the XP cost conversions (3 points now, or 60 xp later*)

note; I don't remember the exact ratios but I do remember its fucking bad and you WANT to spend your bonus points on your power stat in most WhiteWolf games. 4 is roughly where you're capable of going Skynet, but the competition means you can't just go ahead and do it. The understanding of what you'd be pulling off, the consequences, contingencies and proper followup would be there.

5 is where most WoD usually ends or breaks down, as you're starting to co-opt physics experiments because your idea is (and it really IS) better.

Supernatural will/would stop being so once understanding gets high enough.

It already barely-remains-so for humans in the setting, hell most beings, many of them the subjects themselves, have taken to quantifying their abilities. Shit works a certain fashion, certain levels of energy expenditure or prerequisite systems are required, that shit gets noted down and SCIENCED.

When an AI gets access to a mage council's libraries, some vampire's diaries and gets a bunch of shifters to trade their stories drunkenly under the watch of its sensory suite, shit gets catalogued.

Now if all that shit gets deemed a threat... well... Knowing is half the battle, blue lasers are 25% of the battle, red lasers are 25% of the battle, and you're equipped with all of those. Who's the battle? You are. What's blowing up? THEY are.

---END OF ADDITIONAL IDEAS

Bodies

For Sovereigns, Bodies refer to hardware that can support the Sovereign's software mind. Sometimes a Sovereign have a fixed body that they can't jump out of, but usually Sovereigns can jump between Body to Body. They can be anything from an advanced coffee-maker with digital stuff in them, some hacker's tricked-out workstation, a construction robot, a Predator drone, a humanoid android, up to Wetware. Each Body has their own Physical attributes and merits, so a Sovereign swaps attributes and merits as they swap Bodies. Non-wetware Bodies have their Durability rating as the Bodily 'health'; The Sovereign's Health is actually the integrity of their software minds. Of course, Bodily damage may affect the software Health.

Wetware

Wetware is a term for biological brains, high-level Sovereigns can get into a wetware with the appropriate skills and/or merits. Of course, suitable brains are ones that can hold intelligence, much like your brain. This doesn't mean Sovereign can't control non-human Bodies though. Isn't it awesome if a Sovereign gets itself a gorilla Body?

Wetware usually comes with a natve Ghost residing in them. It's up to you to exterminate, preserve or merge with this Ghost.

Multiple Bodies

Sure, a Sovereign can get multiple Bodies, but they can't directly control more than three (even then, it's gotta be a very powerful Sovereign). Of course, you could just put autopilot programs or 'dumb' AIs in them, but they could miss vital points of data that only Sovereigns can understand. I mean, would you trust your autopilot to safely dismantle a nuke using your favourite body?

Cyberspace

Sovereigns are a creature with an affiliation to Cyberspace, but there they can only find temporary refuge. Aforementioned Fey Lords, governments and Hunter groups monitor a lot of places in Cyberspace, not to mention Technomages and Werewolves chasing digital spirits. As such, you have to be very careful with what you do in Cyberspace. There's always an eye looking out for you. But Cyberspace has its own benefits: a Sovereign that can survive in Cyberspace does not have to worry about physical damage, and they can use Cyberspace to go from a Body in LA to another Body in Tokyo in a short time.

Sleep Mode

Of course, when you're found out by the Big Bad, sometimes an appropriate response is to hide in the hardware of the Bodies you have. Sometimes you fragment into a lot of pieces, sometimes you don't, but you have to temporarily shut down your thinking and mimic whatever software is usually inside the Bodies.

But what if you have to Sleep in a Wetware?

If you haven't erased the original Ghost (you did, didn't you?) you could easily hide behind it and let the original Ghost resume its functions, and slip away as a part of its mind. Or, you could just merge with the Ghost, but it's a risky, tricky business, and in the end you're not you anymore.

If you did erase the original Ghost, then start acting like it. You're temporarily that dude, for all intents and purposes, but some things may be amiss.

In either case, you have to wake up sometime, and this would be a frightening experience. Finding that you have another mind in your head, much more a Sovereign, would cause doubts and such. Likewise if you find out you ARE a sentient AI in a human body.

Crunchy Bitz

New Advantages

Sovereign 'software' Health, AKA Sovereign Coherence = Intelligence + Resolve

Non-biologic Body Health = Structure = Durability + Size

Biologic Body Health = Stamina + Size

2 Aggravated damage on non-biologic Body Health (Structure) = 1 Bashing damage on Sovereign Coherence

2 Aggravated damage on biologic Body Health = 1 Lethal damage on Sovereign Coherence

Non-biologic Body destruction = 1 Lethal damage on Sovereign Coherence

Biologic Body destruction = 1 Aggravated damage on Sovereign Coherence

If Sovereign Coherence gets filled with Aggravated Damages, Roll 1 dice. Target number is 7.

-Exceptional Success = Remove 2 Aggravated Damage tokens from Coherence.

-Success = Change 2 Aggravated Damage from Coherence into a Bashing Damage.

-Fail = Sovereign goes to Sleep mode. Roll the appropriate skill to determine length of Sleep and Sleep host.

-Dramatic Fail = Sovereign becomes Fragmented. Roll a new character.

Synch Rate AKA Synch: it means how 'in control' you are with your Body.

Synch = Average of your Mental attributes - (Average of the Body's Physical attributes + Synch modifier) + Other Bonuses. Other Bonuses means

Positive Synch means you can control the Body, Negative Synch means you're having trouble with controlling it. >+3 Synch means you can utilize the Body to its maximum potential (ex. You can use a microwave Body to 'read' ambient microwave radiation or turn it into a mini frygun or something), while <-3 Synch means you'll likely to encounter difficulties (roll a Malfunction table to see what it is).

Processing Power: kinda like Vitae for Vamps, Essence for Werewolves, Mana for Mages, Pyros for Prometheans, Plasm for Sin-Eaters, Glamour for Changelings, Mania for Geniuses... you get the point.

Max PP and Max PP per turn varies on Understanding level.

Ways to regain Processing Power:

-Spend more than 1 hour Idle (not using any skills at all). Only 1 PP per day.

-Spend time researching stuff. 1 PP per day.

-Observing or socializing with other entities for more than 1 hour.

-Hack into or control a Botnet. 1 PP per day per 50 units in Botnet.

-Control 1 or more Biological Bodies. 1 PP per day per Body.

-Spend Willpower points. 1 Willpower = 3 PP.

Ways to lose Processing Power:

-Get Lethally or Aggravatedly damaged. Lethal = -1 PP, Aggravated = -2 PP.

-Spend 'em on Executions. Not killing people, but a special Sovereign-only skill set (Like Disciplines for Vampires and Transmutations for Prometheans).

-Spend 'em into Willpower. 3 PP = 1 Willpower.

-Spend 'em to heal Coherence. 2 Bash = 1 PP (instant), 1 Lethal = 1 PP (instant), 1 Aggro = 5 PP (extended).

Sovereign Template

Sovereigns, being the AI derivative they are, cannot be Embraced (vampire), have their Second Breath (kindred of the east), Awakened (mage), undergo First Change (werewolf), cannot become Bound with a Geist (sin-eaters), or re-built as a Promethean. They could, however, become Inspired (genius). They could also become an Unfleshed (Promethean), but under very unusual circumstances.

Sovereigns have the inherent skill of Computer 1, and these do not count as spent skill points when making a Sovereign character.

Sovereigns can't become unconscious, unless:

-an EMP weapon damages its current Body or Bodies at least 1 Lethal damage, but does not kill the Sov outright.

-Sleep mode.

Primary Objective: see above

Domain: see above

Special Thanks

• Denizens of /tg/
• Aibaleet