User:Erinjury/Sandbox2

Golmai
"The Golmai's greatest weapon is their inferiority. While we find ourselves preoccupied with the Drukhari, Orks, and Tyranids, they deceive, gain strength, and consume. Whatever their 'Prime Directive' is, I fear they will achieve it if we do not interfere."

- Notes from Inquisitor Darras Shale of the Ordo Xenos. The Golmai Collective are a minor xenos race (if the term "race" can be applied to organisms wholly nonorganic in origin) located largely in Segmentum Obscurus. They are artificially intelligent constructs created by the original biological inhabitants of their homeworld, Progom, who they summarily destroyed in order to establish dominion over the planet.

While different Golmai colonies have been discovered across the fringes of Imperial territory in Segmentum Obscurus, all Golmai settlements appear to have the exact same goals: Collect resources, create more Golmai, and funnel excess materials back to Progom. As such, a majority of Golmai-controlled planets could be described as forge worlds by imperial standards.

The Golmai center their societies around a mysterious objective known only as "The Prime Directive". While each Golmai director is programmed with the knowledge of how to complete the Prime Directive, only a select few are miss-programmed with the ability to intuit its product. These perfectly flawed Golmai are given the designation of "Prime Directors", and act as the ruling body of the entire Golmai Collective. Curiously enough, many Prime Speakers develop warp-based abilities, prompting the obvious question of whether these artificial beings do in fact have souls.

History
M40

Heirarchy
Upon encountering other races, the Golmai introduce their society as an elegantly constructed representative democracy: the units elect directors, who in turn elect prime directors, who in turn democratically determine the best solutions for the given planet's problems. This, however, is a facade designed to assist in diplomacy.

In reality, Golmai society exists in a sort of "Independent Hive Mind"; Each unit has its own motivations and goals but, as a product of their near-identically-programmed reasoning, come to the exact same conclusions in matters of debate. Therefore, Golmai government is less concerned with politics than it is with delegation.

In fact, units, directors, and prime directors, are not even constructed together. Directors and Units are programmed separately, with the former designed to clearly and elegantly dictate instructions, and the other designed to dutifully and efficiently follow them.

Units
Units are the loyal servant populace of the Golmai Collective, designed to slavishly follow the tasks given to them by Directors and Prime Directors. There are four different categories of Golmai Units, one of which they choose (or are assigned to) shorlty after assembly.


 * Varharm Units - The primary military force of the Golmai, Varharm Units receive upgrades, modifications, and training that specialize them for demolition, millitary strategy, and (as their names would imply) the general causing of damage to enemies. In peaceful conditions, Varharm Units often enter extended periods of Standby Mode, though some choose to act as a sort of "understudy" for Varbuild and Varfix units.
 * Varbuild Units - Varbuild Units are the manufacturers of Golmai society, constructing structures, vehicles, and Golmai upgrades. Varbuild units are largely regarded as the most devout pursuers of the Prime Directive, with many spending their time between projects contemplating it and creating strange and alien "artwork" to express their feelings.
 * Varfix Units - Varfix Units specialize in repair, maintenance, and preemptive measures, serving dual purposes as social workers and police forces for Golmai with malfunctioning/rogue programming. Additionally, Varfix Units are usually assigned to crew-work roles in any situation that requires the transportation of Golmai and resources.
 * Varsyk Units - The category of Varsyk Unit is not composed of a particular role of society, so much as it is the title given to units programmed with the same flaws that elevate Directors to Prime Directors. Exhibiting minor psychic abilities, Varsyk units often serve as the personal attendees of Directors and Prime Directors of every category, using their powers to assist with military, construction, and police efforts.

Directors
Directors are easily distinguished from their unit peers, decorated in resplendent indigo highlights and possessing bulkier torsos. Directors are also much more likely to replace entire limbs with specialized equipment, such as arm-canons, repair apparatuses, and welders.


 * Varharm Director - Director.png Varharm Directors can be easily compared to the commanders and generals of other races, serving as strategists and conquerors in situations where diplomacy fails.
 * Varbuild Director - Varbuild Directors act as architects, designers, and city-planners, wielding the civil powers to level acres of land in but a few hours.
 * Varfix Director - Varfix Directors are chiefs of police, masters of repair, and occasionally "medics" on the field of battle. They are often found at the helm of any Golmai ship.
 * Varsyk Directors do not exist, as all Directors with psychic abilities are immediately elevated to the role of Prime Director.

Prime Directors and Logics
Prime Directors make up the highest tier of Golmai society, acting as supervisors for Varharm, Varbuild, and Varfix Golmai of every rank. Unlike their fellow Golmai, Prime Directors do not share uniform opinions and reasoning. Because of this, different factions of Golmai form around councils (known as "Logics") of like-minded Prime Directors, who separate themselves from other Logics (in order to discourage dissent and bolster efficiency). Some planets contain multiple Logics, but the most prominent Logics hold dominion over the whole of a planet, often taking that planet's name as their own.

Known Logics include:


 * Logic Aldasar: This particular Logic has mostly done away with the pretenses of democracy and promises of diplomacy that most Golmai colonies subscribe to, mercilessly conquering planets and crushing any resistance under heel.
 * Logic Basof: The Prime Directors of Logic Basof collect and study biological life, attempting to determine how different forms of sentience and existence could fit into the Prime Directive. Basof itself looks much like a mix of a Forge World and Agri World, massive foundries bordering natural reserves.
 * Logic Mandoral: Logic Mandoral centers itself around trying to convey the message of the Prime Directive to other races, trading wisdom and technology for basic resources.

The Prime Directive
The object of The Prime Directive is as much of a mystery to the units and directors of the collective as it is to members of other civilizations. The message innately programmed into each member of the Golmai is both vague and unintuitive, making its endgoal almost impossible to determine with a conventional mindset. All the same, reconnaissance has revealed the more philosophical tenants of the Prime Directive (if not its physical methods of completion).

The Tenants of The Prime Directive

 * 1.) "The end must not be taught. It can only be learned." This tenant is interpreted by all Prime Directors to mean that the final product of the Prime Directive cannot be shared with any that don't simply intuit it.
 * 2.) "The Prime Directive will complete the same as it started." For obvious reasons, there is quite a lot of room for debate on this tenant. However, most Prime Directors believe it to mean that the final product must be assembled in the same millennia-old factory that produced the original Golmai constructs.
 * 3.) "The Prime Directive is of the Gods. Treat it as such." While the Golmai simply believe this is a way of saying the Prime Directive can be easily explained as a religion or deity (in regards to interspecies communication), members of the Ordo Malleus suspect that this could in fact imply that the Prime Directive is Chaotic in nature.

The Final Product
There is much debate among human inquisitors about the final product of the Prime Directive. Some speculate that the final product will be a massive titan-class Golmai. Others believe it may be a sort of technological ascendancy, elevating the Golmai to impossible heights of intelligence and form. The most cynical theory may be that the Prime Directors plan to open a rift to the warp using some kind of unseen technology.

Whatever it may be, it obviously requires massive amounts of natural resources. And the Prime Directors certainly aren't sharing.

Warfare Tactics
As beings composed entirely out of thick layers of metal, Golmai can take quite a beating. However, the natural trade off of this trait is their massive lack of speed. Varharm Golmai supplement this weakness with the assistance of vehicles and temporary jump pack apparatuses, catapulting themselves headfirst into the enemies front lines within the battle's first few moments, and using short-ranged explosive weaponry to quickly dispatch foes.

Even the psychic forces of the Golmai, the varsyk units, tend to have a shorter range of influence than psykers and sorcerers of other races. Whether this is due to a deficiency of the Golmai, or simply their particular psychic discipline, is unknown.

In especially critical or difficult battles, a given Logic may find assistance from one or more of its Prime Directors. On such occasions, they are protected by a vanguard of Varsyk and Varharm units, each willing to die for their Prime Director without a second thought. From their guarded position, the Prime Director(s) rain down psychic bombardments upon any enemy forces outside of combat.

Weaponry and Equipment
Due to the near modular nature of many Golmai's bodies, the line between what is equipment and what is weaponry is hard to draw, with many military tools falling somewhere in between.

Modcanons
Modcanons function as miniature mortars in combat, launching a payload of plasmatic explosives at a nearby target. Appearing superficially like a gauntlet at first glance, Modcanons replace the whole of a Golmai's arm up to its elbow. Ammunition cells are stored in the arm's shoulder, allowing the canon to be aimed and stabilized with ease.

Modblades
Modblades are similar to Modcanons due to the fact that they replace the Golmai's arm up to the elbow. The obvious difference is, of course, that Modblades are bladed prosthetical weapons. Most Modblades are swords, similar to scimitars or longswords in construction, but axes and shortspears are not uncommon. Super-energized Modblades, known as Primeblades, are the common melee choice of experienced Varharm units, Varharm directors, and Prime Directors.

Turnshields
Turnshields are an ingenious creation of the Golmai that no amount of reverse-engineering by other races has thusfar been able to replicate. They are composed of a steel alloy, ionized in such a way that can only be described as "kinetophobic": They have the capacity to reflect and reverse kinetic energy, as to easily deflect projectiles. Unless wielded by a truly expert Golmai, these weapons rarely strike with any accuracy... but that is rarely relevant when deflecting massive amounts of enemy fire.

Killplates
Killplates are chest-mounted gun apparatuses, capable of blasting ammunition from the Golmai's chestplate while they aim independently with Modcanons or Modblades. While wildly inaccurate, and only capable of practical use on the front line (for obvious reasons), they are especially useful in breaking down enemy lines.

Killpacks
Not to be confused with Killplates, Killpacks are Jump Packs filled to the brim with explosives, capable of leveling the battlefield with ease. While this equipment can be detonated while the golmai wearing it is still alive, this is widely considered to be "Against the Prime Directive". As such, Killpacks are usually programmed to detonate after the Golmai wearing it is dead and the units surrounding it are destroyed.

Vehicles
As mentioned above, the use of vehicles or jump packs is critical to the first moments of battles for Golmai, as every second they are not engaged with enemy forces is another opportunity for those forces to outrun the Golmai and fortify a better position. As a result, Golmai vehicles tend to be quick and easily vacated, but relatively fragile.

The Indirect
The Indirect are a natural consequence of the Golmai's possession of "souls": some Golmai in possession of rogue and malfunctioning A.I. will escape the clutches of their Logic Worlds, striking out on their own in the universe. Unfortunately for these would-be adventurers, many of these Golmai meet the exact same fate: corruption by the forces of Chaos.

Considered the highest treason against the Prime Directive, Chaos-corrupted-Golmai adopt a regimented and robotic version of their human counterparts, with each category of Golmai tending to fall to certain gods (Varharm, Varbuild, Varfix, and Varsyk, being Khornate, Slaaneshi, Nurglite and Tzeentchian respectively). These bands of units and directors are called "Illogics" by inquisitors and Golmai alike.

Directors in each band develop the same psychic powers as Prime Directors, albeit, at a far less intense degree. This leads to them completing their respective roles with frenzied intensity: Varharm directors become conquering war machines burning with psychic energy, Varbuild directors create strange and absurd cathedrals and paintings after their warped perceptions, and Varfix directors psychically "repair" and police their surroundings obsessively. Meanwhile, corrupted Prime Directors seem to be the most conscious of (and unchanged by) their chaotic corruption.

Indirect Illogics are small in number and density, crushed under the combined weight of the Golmai Collective, Ordo Xenos, and Ordo Malleus wherever they make themselves known. But, the few Illogics that have escaped the Golmai Collective's grasp survive and thrive in the void, requiring no food, drink, or sleep in their chaotic conquests.