Automata

PROLOUGE

About one hundred years ago, a giant meteor crashed into the Earth. This meteor was originally being studied by scientists and the global government since it was orbiting quite close to the Earth, but when they landed their first rocket on it, the meteor started changing its trajectory. It started heading straight towards Earth. At the time, there was nothing anyone could do to stop it since it was so big. It ended up wiping out a little more than half of Earth's population. The meteor caused a disturbance in Earth's atmosphere, and therefore, the climate began to get hotter. Because of this rapid climate change, humanity was forced to relocate Underground, but this wasn't the only reason for humanity's relocation...

Upon impact, the meteor exploded, and creatures called "The Molded" by humanity emerged. Humanity's population began to decline fast because they didn't have a way to properly kill these alien-like creatures. During their time Underground, the government and the remaining military created Androids. The Androids were built to kill off molded monsters and observe the environment and molded creatures and report findings back to the government. Some selected humans join the military (every year there's the Military Selection) and get trained to go on the Surface as well. The others just live a carefree life Underground. Androids who were fighting on the Surface wore blindfolds to protect their eyes from the sand, and even though they couldn't see out of the blindfold (this is a design choice made by the government), they were able to sense their surroundings perfectly fine. Humans that were selected to go on the Surface, however, didn't need blindfolds or any other protective covering for some unknown reason, so it was very easy to identify Surface/Scanner Androids. Androids are synthetic beings that resemble humans. They are smart and fast-thinking. They can detect threats, socially interact with humans, kill Molded (scanner-types only), and so much more. They were given special weapons that are engineered to kill the monsters such as guns and in some cases, katanas for close combat.

The Androids (scanners) were usually recognized by their black blindfold. They were blindfolded by the government to prevent them from "seeing the truth" though no one knows this is the true reason except for the government themselves. In the present day, the climate on the Surface has mostly turned into a barren wasteland. What was once flourishing forests, were turned into sandy dunes, and the cities are now in ruins.
The story is set in the United States. On the Surface, the climate is like a desert with occasional wasteland cities and some forests. Rain is quite rare. The terrain is mostly like that in a desert. It's filled with dunes and some plastic trash that were left by past generations of humans. In some ruined cities, you may find camps that are used for temporary shelter and research. The story takes place in both the Underground society and the Surface. Underground (where most humans reside), there is artificial sunshine coming from the high ceilings of the place. It never rains or snows there. Seasons other than spring also do not occur. The protagonist originally resided in the Underground society. The government is in a rebuilt version of the White House. The setting Underground is urban, and the setting on the Surface is mostly rural.

Social classes that exist in this society include the government, military, Scanner Androids, Household Androids, and the Underground civilians. The government is treated as the highest authority. Everyone reports to them when there is a discovery or a problem, and they make the laws. The military is highly respected, but some people still don't trust them because they think that they're hiding something. Plus, most people who go onto the Surface, don't come back. This untrusting group is in the minority though. There are two types of Androids: Scanner Androids and Household Androids. Scanners ([number]s, ex. "7s") are the ones who record information about the Molded and the environment and send observations to the government. They are not given human-like names simply because they rarely have to interact with humans on the Surface. If they have to engage in combat, they are usually long-ranged (using guns). Rarely will you find a scanner-type using a melee weapon. Any android can go "deviant" which means that they defy their program (whether it be taking off their blindfold or refusing to follow orders) and go their own way. Deviant androids also have more human-like movements and way-of-speech. This is what the government and the military don't want to happen.

Androids that show signs of deviance will be destroyed and factory reset into a new, identical model. Their manufacturers strongly believe that blindfolding them and programming them to not take off the blindfold or have anyone else take off their blindfold will prevent them from going deviant. Humans could purchase Household Androids (The Household Androids are given regular human names to better fit in with humanity rather than keeping their factory names: [number]h, ex. "8h".) to assist them in everyday life until it's safe to come back onto the Surface. They aren't given blindfolds. Race and gender aren't related to social class since anyone could be chosen to be a military cadet. Just because you're in the military doesn't mean that you'll immediately get trained to go onto the surface. The government has told the citizens that the military was also made to protect the people Underground, so you could either choose to adventure out onto the Surface or stay in the Underground to protect citizens. People who want to stay and protect others get trained like all the other cadets because there could be a chance that they might need to be dispatched onto the Surface one day. The military teaches chosen cadets how to use special weapons that are designed to kill Molded creatures. These weapons were mainly used by the Scanner Androids since they were the ones originally designed to defeat the Molded. Androids are immune to their bullets, so if you want to deactivate a hostile hacked android, you have to engage in hand-to-hand combat with a melee weapon like a katana or a knife.

Almost all of the humanity lives Underground. If a human is found on the Surface they are either a solider, a person with a death wish, or an escaped prisoner. But why would you ever want to go up there when you have everything you could ever need down here?