The year—or, rather, the century—is 21XX, and overall the human race has done rather well for itself: the nations of the mid-twenty-first century survived a third World War; Global Climate Change has been halted and is now slowly falling back to early twentieth century levels; the colony on the moon is thriving and Mars Colony is making steady The year—or, rather, the century—is 21XX, and overall the human race has done rather well for itself: the nations of the mid-twenty-first century survived a third World War; Global Climate Change has been halted and is now slowly falling back to early twentieth century levels; the colony on the moon is thriving and Mars Colony is making steady progress; and a new form of Intelligence has been born unto the world.

Mirroids—so named for being humanoids in the mirror image of the human race—have been unearth. Lost for decades beneath the sands of the wasteland surrounding the great city of Earthsaver, six Mirroids were left there by history’s Dr. Lucy Valentino. Their discovery began a new age of prosperity for humanity as their abilities and technology lead to advancement in what, at the time, was still referred to as “artificial intelligence”. As of 2113, the idea of AI was relegated to simple robots, as the mirroids that were discovered refused such a concept, arguing that life is either intelligent or it isn’t.

The proof of the mirroids’ humanity was made evident when two of six that were found went rogue one decade after being unearthed, attacking the humans trying to study and replicate them more accurately. Declaring war on the “inferior” human race, Xi and Vulgal brought about a new era in human policing. Squads made up of humans and mirroids together were created as Rogue Hunters, protection units with the explicit purpose of tracking, subduing, or otherwise eliminating mirroid threats.

Your character is one such Hunter, living and breathing in the year 2143, two decades after the last major uprising lead by Xi. A member of one of the most advanced and fully autonomous Rogue Hunters divisions, you have just been transferred to Earthsaver’s District Three where reports of Rogue activity has been steadily increasing in recent weeks. If only the occasional violent mirroid was to be their only concern…
The above is the introduction screen of Adaptation 21XX (Working Title).

Some time prior to the turn of the twenty-second century, Dr. Lucy Valentino created six mirroids based on her years of research into artificial biological creations the most famous of which is the super fighting robot, Ultra Wolf. Though the six uncovered mirroids themselves never truly met their own creator, it is understood that she’d left her impressions upon each of them in her designs. As did Dr. V’s “daughter”, Ultra Wolf, whose life and experiences had shown great promise as well as the limitations of robotic intellect.

After Ultra Wolf’s third defeat of Dr. Wáng, Dr. Valentino implored the world to take note of her heroics and understand that they had come at a great cost. The truth of her life was that Ultra Wolf had become a war machine. After her third victory she had instead chosen to no longer function… understanding that she had fully reached her potential as a robot and was no longer able to grow and learn as an individual. With her design and function tied intrinsically to war, yet her personality and desires being of peace, Ultra Wolf asked to be deactivated with Dr. Wáng now dead. That choice brought great sorrow to both Lucy and the world and lead to the scientist becoming more or less a recluse afterwards.

It is unclear what brought about the reactivation of Ultra Wolf for her fourth and final victory of Dr. Wáng’s creations in 2164, nine years after her deactivation. It is believed that perhaps Dr. V had seen no other choice as the world had fallen once again into chaos or perhaps she had been pressured by the world governments. Whatever the case, Ultra Wolf made her way into Dr. W’s expansive arctic compound and brought about it’s destruction within just a few day’s time. However, neither her nor Dr. Valentino were seen in the public eye ever again, and the assumption had been that Lucy’s work or depression had consumed her.

Skip ahead 40 years, and the early twenty-second century unearthed mirroids from Lucy’s hidden lab beneath Sumpter Forest west of Earthsaver, SC. But what even are mirroids? Good question.

Mirroids’ name comes from being mirror image humanoids, but that’s not entirely accurate to their design and functions. In truth, not unlike Ultra Wolf or the Robot Alphas of the last century, all mirroids are based on designs of various animals… mainly mammals, some reptiles, a few birds, limited fish, a handful of mythological creatures, and a number of fictional designs. Additionally, a number of them also appear human in design. They are bio-mechanical and are pieced together from biological organs with manufactured DNA about as complex as human DNA.

Being manufactured was of benefit and detriment to the mirroid race, however. Though laws protecting robotic entities with intelligence approaching that of the famous robots of the last century had been created, mirroids were far too often used as slave labor. Once their designs had gotten to the net and picked up by other countries, mirroids being used as a military force was also not uncommon. Negative sentiment grew around mirroids, and many people around the world made comparisons to Dr. Wáng rather than Dr. Valentino because of these events.

This is what lead to Xi and Vulgal becoming the first Rogues. While it is true that they rose up against the humans and incited insurrection by numerous mirroids, had it not been for humanity’s mistakes in treating mirroids merely as robots, it is likely no uprising would have occurred. As mirroids could be controlled no better than humans, and the “Three Laws” were more a suggestion than anything else, the mirroid race banded together to take the fight against their oppressors.

Most mirroids were not designed for combat even though they all had combat potential. Different sizes and shapes of mirroids were created for various menial labor, though the most common slave-trade for mirroids was actually the sex trade. As a result, a number of mirroids created before 2120 have somewhat unrealistic body proportions with unique features. Additionally, many were manufactured in an assistance capacity and were themselves designed exclusively as animal form with very little anthropomorphism.

Mirroids range in size from nearly twelve feet tall to as small as a foot and a half. Their shapes are also varied, as mentioned above… though the come mainly in humanoid and quadruped. Most all of these kinds of mirroids are about human size, regardless of what type of animal they may have been based upon. However, a number of quadruped mirroids have limited form shifting, allowing humans or other mirroids to ‘wear’ them to gain special abilities.

During the third mirroid uprising, American manufacturing company Redactor Microvisions pioneered a powerful if expensive design of mirroid in a number of limited makes known as a WarTaur. This mirroid design was by far the most different from Dr. Valentino’s original creations in that it was quadruped from the next down, yet humanoid from that torso’s neck up. They are nearly all bigger than regular mirroids and designed with larger animals in mind such as large cats, wolves, horses, and large dogs.

Of additional note, human brain transference to a manufactured brain casing and gel was first created in the mid twenty-first century and perfected near the end of it. As such, a number of human to mirroid copies came about after their discovery. Before that, human brain-copies in robot bodies were also not unheard of. And, lastly, for those very attached to their robot companions did have the capability of transferring the less sophisticated robot brain as a copy into the mirroid brain ‘chip’.

And that’s a little bit more depth into the game setting. Please to Enjoy.

See you in the Future,
—Huntermun