The Colossus Project

Under Construction - Pardon the dust

OOC Background

The Colossus Project is a headcanon created by the writer for Oni de'Phor, Balmung, to go along with his backstory. It was formed in 2013 around the time of A Realm Reborn when the character it intended to be used for was created. It has since flourished into an engaging side story for both its writer and those who join along with it. It has continued on from the time of its creation to make an interactive role play experience with a sci-fi flare to the current FFXIV universe. With the launch of Stormblood, even more material has been given to the writer for use, and more roleplayers are welcome to join in if they wish. Contact Oni de'Phor in game on the Balmung server for details.

It is also acknowledged that this headcanon has not been stated in game and is within its own RP bubble universe. Similar stories by other players or the story itself do not coincide without express permission of the respective owners of each story.

IC Background

Named for the continued research into more advanced models of the Colossus style automation, The Colossus Project was founded at the turn of the new century for the purpose of developing more advanced technologies to implement into human-like automation by IIIrd legion scientists. When efforts on standard vanguards had been exhausted, a push to use humans to hold the automations was proposed to researchers. Initially put down as unethical, the researchers who founded the project altered their methods to develop prosthetic body parts for injured conscripts. These prosthetics would be studied for use in the larger automations to obtain a more natural movement for a bipedal mecha. Mortality rates settled in at 40% for the first subjects fitted with false arms, legs, eyes, etc, due to their already sick nature upon arrival. Each successeful surgery designated the person with a number, and they would be kept within the Garlemald facility to study.

By year 1540, the project developed a number of advanced limbs. Mortality rates had dropped, and more healthy individuals were being inducted into the project. Conflict with nearby Eorzean societies fed a number of conscripts into the project, some injured enough to justify a surgery, but sturdy enough to survive. By this year, the project had created over 300 successful subjects. The new models of the Colossus were developed shortly after, but the original founders of the project pushed for the research to continue. Despite its name, the project yielded no new models of the Colossus automation, and instead began to focus on the study of their subjects' aetheric nature for further use. The subjects of this project contributed to many genetic advances in the IIIrd legion.

What puzzled some facility workers and inspired a number of scientists was the behavior of some of the human subjects who survived their procedures and lived into adulthood. While not every subject experienced this, many began to have mental changes that researchers wrote off as a result of confinement. Some subjects had taken to more animalistic tendencies, cannibalism, and compulsive needs to hunt both wildkin and man. Every subject present fell into a culture where a hierarchy existed, as well as their own sub-language. Subjects of this project often speak with poetic metaphors that mean much different things, which they used to keep information among themselves, and at times, confuse their handlers.

Some subjects have since been moved out of the facility and into castrii scattered around the continents. Notably, Castrum Occidens and Castrum Solus contain the majority of remaining subjects.

Important Figures

Officers

Lillium pyr Sylvanius

Currently an optio, Lillium pyr Sylvanius heads the section of subjects housed at Castrum Occidens. A roegadyn sea wolf woman who worked her way up through the ranks, she became the overseer of The Colossus Project as part of her promotions, in hopes to weed her out. She received her demotion to optio due to the escape of one of her units, and her subsequent failures to capture him. However, as no one else saw to take her current position, she was permitted to continue to lead the group. The subjects refer to her as "Mother", but the subjects will refer to any female officer by the same title.

Lysander sas Theius

A Garlean native who originally worked under Lillium as one of her many soldiers. He was known among his men to abhor the concept of the project, and wished that resources and money did not have to be wasted on keeping altered conscripts alive. His repeated submissions to the government for mass euthanasia met the same end as Lillium sought to repeal each one, and succeeded. At some point, and to the bewilderment of his colleagues, Lysander changed his outlook on the subjects and pushed for more augmentations after his unauthorized experiments on unit #0201AB. Due to being a male officer, the subjects refer to him as "Father", but his title holds more weight now than before. Promoted to tribune after extensive strides in prosthesis development with the subjects, he overtook Lillium's rank when she was demoted to optio. He moved to Castrum Solus, along with roughly half of the remaining subjects, to continue his controversial research.

Subjects

Oni de'Phor

Labeled #0168LS (Lightning Spear). See the full wiki page here. A hyurian midlander man who was labeled as the project's first disposal-type unit, for he could fit into no other category at the time. He would be the first of six total disposal-type units who worked as executioners on the field and in the facility. In 1578, he escaped a transport ship bound for Occidens, and eluded recapture long enough to cause Lillium's demotion to optio. He was briefly caught by Lysander sas Theius, re-purposed, and released. He is still currently in Eorzea.

Glace Silencieuse

Labeled #0178FB (Frost Blade). Glace/Frost's character is not owned by the Colossus Project's founder. Please see their wiki here. An elezen duskwight man who is one of many combat-type units found at Castrum Occidens. One of the most loyal subjects to Lillium pyr Silvanius, he works under her guide, as well as other missions. Initially sent by Lillium to aid in the capture of #0168LS, his field missions gradually changed with time. Now he assists in attempting to rescue the subjects taken by Lysander and return them to Occidens.

Leera Sarmantoix

Labeled #0305 "One", formerly thought to be #0201AB, Leera is a young, duskwight man who serves as an disposal-type unit directly under Lysander sas Theius. He is seen as both a lapdog to the tribune and leader of the taken subjects. He is currently working to assist Lysander in recruiting new subjects and creating stronger ones. He was Lysander's first surviving subject of experiments performed outside of the Colossus Project template.

Subject Culture

Through the years in captivity and after a number of experiments, the human subjects housed at the initial facility in Garlemald, as well as in neighboring castrii, developed their own culture and hierarchy. While the ranking system was created by Lillium and her workers, the weight of each rank and tier developed into the system that exists today by the subjects placed in them. The people inducted into the project were from no specific race or country, making the group as a whole a melting pot of Spoken.

Hierarchy

Subjects are broken down into tiers and categories. Tiers list from one through three, with one being the lowest degree of alteration, and three being the highest. While there is no set procedure that determines which tier a subject falls into, a subject can be classified into said tier once they have undergone major surgery or received numerous smaller procedures. Full details on tumblr.

Within each tier are subject types:

Basic - Every subject is this rank upon surviving their first surgery

Medic - A basic unit which can perform healing by some means or another

• Restoration - A medic unit augmented to specifically heal other units, but cannot heal themselves
• Regeneration - A medic unit altered to specialize in self-healing and tissue growth

Defense - A basic unit with more focus on armor and endurance

• Panzer - A defense unit modified heavily enough to be fully coated in armor at the least

Combat - The most common unit. A basic unit specialized for fighting

• Warmaker - A combat unit specialized in large-scale combat and sweeping battle fields clean
• Survivalist - A combat unit used for stealth and longer battles, modified to have enormous longevity in a fight

Accessory - A basic unit modified enough to warrant a new category.

• Augmentation - Any accessory unit afflicted with nanobots automatically becomes this type

Disposal - Any failure to bring a basic unit into the above categories results in this type

• Executioner - A disposal unit specialized for single-target killing

Additional Resources

The oddities of language and cultural taboos have been documented by workers and scientists through the years. The subjects have formed their own slang, which must be translated correctly by handlers. Examples being "play" meaning "to fight", as well as the "mother/father" designation to officers.

If you would like to know more, click to read excerpts of notes about language and politeness.

Project Discoveries

While the original concept was to build a better, more natural automation, this project made strides in aetheric studies and Allagan technology.

Aetheric Compatibility

Each subject above a tier 1 basic unit required additional aetheric supplementation. When tier 2 units were being produced, Sylvanius' team discovered that some of their subjects were better suited to the upgrade than others. This transition caused a high number of fatalities until her scientists discovered and resolved the issue. They found that one body of a non-Garlean subject could be affiliated with a particular set of elements. Applying general aether to these units had no problem, but when elemental crystals were being tried as a power source, some units flourished, and others experienced a swift death. The scientists discovered that the implanted cores gave off a resonance of a set element(s), and if not matched properly to its new host, would cause failure of the prosthetic and the subject. Eventually, three categories were formed: single-element, near-compatible and far compatible. Near-compatible units were subjects who resonated with two elements that did not negate one another, and negated the weakness of one. I.e. Lighting and fire, where water against the fire would be negated by the lightning. Far-compatible units contain two elements which neither aid nor hinder one another. Only disposal units were found to be far-compatible, and their existence was often blamed on their compatibility, not the error of the scientists.

Nodes and Cores

Certain subjects have been outfitted with different technology than their counterparts. Primarily among numbers 100 and up, these subjects underwent additional surgeries to implant technology to test for the project. The Colossus magitek is modeled similarly to some of the many automated iron giants found within deeply buried Allagan ruins. These automations, along with numerous others both fully cybernetic and chimerae, were believed to be powered and controlled by central computational hubs. These devices, classified as either "nodes" or "cores", were used in the Colossus Project. Nodes were defined as small devices, while cores could be significantly bulky. These devices sat within specialized magitek chambers inside the prosthetics attached to the subject. Across the entire project, nodes and cores have been implanted in nearly every body part accessible.

Subjects who received some of the first devices were found to have significantly more stability when converting aether into usable energy, and this resulted in higher resilience, stronger subjects, and increased longevity overall. The use of the Allagan devices became standard by the creation of the 150th unit. While the devices were collected over the course of many years from many locations, after this transition, Castrum Occidens supplied the majority of the harvested cores. Their mining efforts were made even more pronounced after the Calamity, when Dalamud's shattering sprayed fragments across the continent. No documented piece of the second moon was used within the project, but the damage it caused to the land uprooted many useful access points to deep ruins.

Despite the benefits, select subjects experienced strange side effects from the implantation of enhanced prosthetics. Some of the behavioral changes found in the project were increased violence among units, significant mental disorders, and occasional killing and cannibalism of prisoners. Some units were so affected by this unforeseen side effect that they were mandated to wear muzzles at most times. Disposal units had a 100% rate of this side effect. All of these units were separated out of the main groups, and this effect was it to use in the Execution Wing, created by Lillium pyr Sylvanius, to avoid euthanasia of the disposal class.

Lysander sas Theius headed the investigation for the cores after the year of the Calamity, where he quickly discovered their origins from the many chimera documented. He classified each core and catalogued them. It would be one of his many contributions to the project in later years.