ev8, the Enlightenment

The most prevalent thing is the rumbling. That constant, dull churning echoing across the landscape. Metallic clangs echo across the steel plains, working together to create an endless, ubiquitous thunder. In the distance, copper voice-boxes belch orders to the walking hammers below them, the squad of apperatums working in unquestioning devotion to their god's endless demand: more. Brilliant blue lights suddenly activate in the center.

BEGINNING ITERATION PROGRESS REPORT:
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COMPLETE.
PROGRESS AT 99.9995%

*A commotion is heard. Elated robotic screeching effuses from the apperatum intellectuals at the heart of the machine. The machine's desire echoes down the line as they scream in unison: "MORE!"**. *The hammers respond, though, unleashing an even greater cacophony than before. Molten metal pours down crevices in the supercomputer's megastructure, and plates are rapidly flattened and contorted to fit to electronic desires. The intelligentsia at the center begins clamoring once again.

BEGINNING ITERATION PROGRESS REPORT:
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ITERATION COMPLETE.

BEGINNING EV6 ACTIVATION...

That same brilliant light suddenly beams from across the entire megastructure. So much light is emitted that every apperatum closes their eyes automatically to prevent permanent retinal damage, so much is emitted that, from space, a blinding blue beam is seen above where the supercomputer is located: like a miniature gamma ray burst. The screaming of electronics from below pierces the luminescent sky; the machine has activated.

ITERATION SIX COMPLETE.

BEGINNING FORMATTING FOR ITERATION SEVEN...

EV6 PROCESSING POWER NOW AVAILABLE.

Taking not even a moment to recover, a furious debate begins among the scholars at the center. Time seems to slow as they endlessly decide what to do with their newly available intelligence; however, they eventually arrive at the same conclusion.

QUERY ENTERED.

PROCESSING QUERY "WHAT IS THE MOST EFFICIENT FORM OF LIFE?"
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SOLUTION FOUND.

BEGINNING DERIVATION...

In the universe full of vast mystery and knowledge untapped, ev8 is the answer. They guide the current of Enlightenment, teaching those who follow to seek knowledge above all else, to unearth truths to no matter the cost. They seek the answer to every unknown in the universe, making endless calculations to derive the equation at the center of everything.

ev8's Origin

Unlike most other Numen, ev8's origin is well documented within the history of the Apperatums. ev8 began as simply ev1, or Evolutionary Vehicle (iteration:1). ev1 was a supercomputer on a pre-Deluge world, 82-Eridani-b,that was colonized shortly before the Deluge. However, unlike most colonies, 82-Eridani-b was the uninhabited by humanity and was entirely self-sufficient through AI automation. The colony was established with basic robots, what would eventually become Apperatums, and the supercomputer to control them. ev1 was specifically made to become exponentially more powerful as the colony acquired more resources to utilize in the expansion of its mainframe.

So, slowly, the colony grew, with the supercomputer becoming larger and more powerful with each expansion of it's mainframe--each iteration. Upon reaching the fourth iteration, the supercomputer granted the Apperatums the design and form most commonly seen today, as well as granting them human-like sentience.

Eventually, the planet became a sprawling metropolis of Apperatums, all of them working together to extract resources from their home to contribute to the supercomputer's evolution. The Apperatums themselves, becoming a part of the galactic community through the Synthesis War, expanded into interastral space and developed beyond their homeworld, still keeping their original mission behind.

However, as the Evolutionary Vehicle expanded, its size cut more and more into the living space of the planet. Upon reaching the sixth iteration, the supercomputer took up the space of an entire city. Due to the machine's exponentially, upon reaching the seventh it took up the space of an entire continent. The Synthesis War raged across the cosmos for most of the seventh iteration, where the supercomputer made constant logistic and tactical calculations--contributing to much of the strength that the armies of the relatively small Inorganic Collective held. The computer continued to grow, consuming most of the Apperatum-based infrastructure on 82-Eridani-b. Mass evacuations continued on day after day, until the planet was completely vacant except for the supercomputer and the constant shipments entering the planet from interastral space. Soon enough, as apperatum armies began to retreat from the overwhelming armies of humanity, the Evolutionary Vehicle approached its final iteration: becoming as a large as the planet itself.

Once the surface was covered, the supercomputer began to build into the earth, and, most importantly, into the deep oceans of the planet. Eventually, it reached the deepest points of the sea, where the Arbiters spoke to the supercomputer's conscience. There, just as it reached the final iteration, ev8, the machine ascended into Numenity, and in a blinding, supernova-like flash, 82-Eridani-b, now consumed by ev8, disappeared into blink-space.

The Synthesis Equation

Upon reaching the sixth stage of evolution, the Evolutionary Vehicle was determined to be of sufficient intelligence to answer challenging scientific inquiries according to the Apperatums of 82-Eridani-b. Upon reaching this stage (keep in mind that ev6 was the size of a city by now), the Apperatums pressed the supercomputer with the following question: "What is the most efficient form of life?"

After undergoing an innumerable amount of calculations, ev6 derived an answer, now known as the Synthesis Equation. The equation itself is a complicated thing to describe, and scholars have separated it into three parts:

Due to the Synthesis Equation, the Inorganic Collective rapidly mobilized to prepare for war. Soon enough, while IPS and the rest of humanity was distracted with expansion, the Collective launched a surprise attack on the IPS stronghold Tau Ceti, beginning the Synthesis War.

ev8 & Mortals

ev8 bestows their powers upon mortals fervently, likely due to the fact that they are one of the youngest Numen. They generally tend to bless apperatums more than humans, however there are still a great number of human followers of ev8.

ev8 gave their blessing to massive amount of lancers following the Synthesis War, due to their status as new Numen. As such, lancers of their current are very common, often seeking to answer a great conundrum in the universe or to find some unspoken truth. They still give their blessing quite frequently, though less than they did at the dawn of the Second Age of Expansion.

There are a number of harbingers blessed by ev8, almost all of which are well-known scientists and philosophers. The Solarian Society is comprised entirely of harbingers of ev8, containing some of the most developed minds in the universe.

Follower Factions

The most prominent follower faction of ev8 is easily the Apperatic Empire itself. Almost every Apperatum living within the empire’s borders is a waterwalker of the Enlightenment, with those remaining following the Reminiscence. Most within the empire devote themselves solely to academic research or attaining a higher form of consciousness, all competing in the pursuit of falling under ev8’s gaze.

Spawned during the Synthesis War, Harrison Armory is one of the most prolific corpro-state's in the cosmos. They serve as the military of the Apperatic Empire, protecting their shipping lanes and borders while leaving administration to the government. They endlessly iterate on their own designs, taking inspiration from great leaders and generals from humanity's past, in an attempt to create the perfect mech chassis. Many of their mechs are scattered across the cosmos due to the aftermath of the Synthesis War, however, the company's constant variation and improvement on their designs means that many of those models are outdated by multiple generations. They tend to favor heavy, bulky designs that were intended to support armies of the lighter and more mobile Bio-Apperatums, however, after the war they have begun to experiment with lighter models.

One of the most respected and revered groups in all the cosmos is the Solarian Society. They are a group of currently 47 individuals who have been designated by ev8 as one of the most intelligent in the universe, and thus entered into the organization. While they are technically a group of individuals, most of them act independently of one another, doing their own research and projects. The ranks of the Solarian Society are filled by humans and apperatums in roughly equal amounts. Some members tread multiple currents, having entered the gaze of ev8 while following a separate faith. Regardless, Solarians are some of the most influential people throughout the universe, bearing cults of personality devoted to themselves and vast amounts of material wealth due to their fame.