Manufactured by Yugumo Corporation beginning in YE 43 until YE 44, the KAIMON/Ascendant Consort Android is deployed internally wherever semi-sentient, anthroform drones are suitable for the task. It is also intended as an attractive alternative body for sentients looking to make a switch, and is particularly useful for life in otherwise uninhabitable places. As the Consorts tended to become fully sapient early and often, they were expensive to rely upon due to the frequency and cost of replacement, as well as the resulting policy to pay the drone in trust in case it achieved sapiency. They were never produced in great numbers, and almost entirely for internal use, with the balance to individuals as Soul Transfer shells. While not officially discontinued, another production run has yet to be made, and the first batch are the only ones in existence.

A highly advanced near-sentient anthroform drone. Out of production but not officially discontinued.

After Yugumo Corporation subsidiaries such as Takeda Fleet began to rely heavily on anthroform drones such as the EM-J2-3a Douryo Android (Deluxe) and Mimic Computer, the limitations of these older designs began to become apparent. Chiefly among them was compatibility with the new KAIMON system once it became standard. A close second was that several types of drones were required, hindering standardization. Drawing on their extensive experience with these sorts of drones, it was decided to develop a KAIMON AI-based model in YE 43.

Meticulously crafted to make every detail and movement seem as Human-like as possible, the Consort appears more or less indistinguishable from a Nepleslian or Minkan, or other similar species. They are anatomically correct, at least superficially, with all Consorts produced so far being female. There are natural variations among them, their manufacturing process allowing for some degree of randomness, though they generally appear Yamataian. They may be manufactured to a specific specification for organizational orders, or even to look like a specific person, but generally only for resleeving purposes, or for very special circumstances such as a security decoy for a VIP.

The Consort is designed to approximate a small, slight humanoid form for ease of storage, deployment, and maneuverability. The endoskeleton is capable of expanding or contracting the spaces between its joints, and the Yarvex Foam atop the head and at the soles of the feet may be inflated or deflated to give a +/- 15cm (6 inches) variance in its overall length. Consorts may be produced with a taller or shorter baseline by custom order.

• Height: 167cm (≈65¾ inches)
• Variance: 157cm-177cm (≈59¾-71¾ inches)
• Mass: 72kg (≈158⅔ lb.)

The Consort is an anthroform drone designed to resemble an organic humanoid such as a Nepleslian or Minkan as closely as possible in appearance, function, and behavior. At the time of its release in YE 43, the most advanced such Androids on the market were nearly a decade old¹⁾. It was designed to fill any of the roles that those models could, and more, better than they could. The KAIMON/Ascendant Consort's semi-sentient, near-sapient AI is capable of tasks as complex and abstract as being starship crew, (including technicians, pilots, and engineers), medical practitioners, and business administrators. They are more than capable of leading and managing less advanced drones, and are adept at working together in groups to solve problems. Due to their advanced evolutionary learning models, the Consort tends to achieve full sentience and sapience more quickly than the older models of androids.

The Consort is powered by an ultra-high-density capacitor that provides about 240 hours of operation at normal output levels, and an induction-cycle charger. The charger is compatible with all standard, and many other, wireless and induction charging systems such as those found aboard ships and bases, or in buildings or cities. When charging via such a system, the android has near unlimited endurance unless operating close to maximum output. It takes around two hours to charge from less than 10% to a full 100% charge using the induction charger. An auxiliary power-outlet connection via a 5m (≈16½ feet) retractable universal power/data cable in a hidden compartment at end of the sacrum allows charging in less than an hour when connected to mains power. Consuming organic substances, water, and oxygen can recharge the capacitor over a 24 hour period. The Omnihue in skin may be used for solar charging, but it is far, far too slow to maintain any activity but standby sleep under all but the most intense energy gradients.

• Backup Battery Pack: Provides minimal functionality, communications, and locomotion/propulsion functions in the event of primary power failure for up to 12 hours.
• Emergency Capacitor: In case of catastrophic failure, there is an automatic failover to a high-density capacitor to allow the android's system to be put gracefully in standby mode.

The Consort's anthroform articulation is limited by physics to a ground speed of around 45km/h.

The integrated Gravity Manipulation/Inertial Control System has a maximum hovering speed of around 100km/h. It can move approximately three times the mass of the Consort to a maximum altitude above the surface of a gravitationally dominant body of about 2,500m in Yamatai (Planet) gravity, proportionally more or less depending on the body's mass. Using the GM/ICS at high levels of output in terms of speed, altitude, or mass moved drains the Consort's capacitors very quickly- in only about 60 minutes at maximum output for all factors.

Nearly neutrally-buoyant in freshwater, and even moreso in salt water, the Consort's anthroform body can swim like a human at a top speed of around 11 knots. Its GM/ICS can propel it through water at about 30 knots, though this is particularly draining.

The systems within the Consort are based around the KAIMON suite. A Consort uniquely features four massively interconnected KAIMON Passage quantum computer cores assisted by a smaller KAIMON Aperture core and supplemented by many thousands of densely packed classical digital compute nodes. KAIMON handles all of the control, sensor, and communications faculties of the drone. The KAIMON system includes the SYNC module. The Consort Android is able to be used by the KAIMON AI as a Ship's Avatar as an alternative to its solid volumetric default.

Optionally, if the drones owner (or a Consort that has achieved sapience) is a vetted citizen of the Yamatai Star Empire, the PANTHEON module allowing access to the civilian levels of the network is available. Access to military levels of the system are restricted to owners or sapient drones who are Star Army of Yamatai personnel only. KAIMON/Ascendant Consort drones with the PANTHEON connect module have a failsafe lockout program installed where the PANTHEON systems can override the drone; shutting it down, or disabling systems to prevent acts of treason. This programming automatically deletes itself if the unit gains sentience, but the PANTHEON module is disabled unless the Android becomes a member of the Star Army of Yamatai.

Hard-linked interface access is through the SQUID, provided by the Dataweave below the drone's skin covering.

The Consort's skeleton is lightweight Durandium Alloy and ADNR (Aggregated Diamond Nanorods) and covered in a shape-giving structure of Yarvex Foam and a layer of Yarvex Mesh. The myomer fibers and microhydraulic vesicles suffusing the Yarvex Foam cause it to change shape with the drone's movements like humanoid muscular action. The limbs are designed to be modular, capable of being removed, swapped, and reattached at the joints. The drone is very strong and sturdy, able carry up to 300kg (660lbs) easily. Pockets and chambers in the Yarvex Foam may be inflated or deflated by the android using any liquid or gas it can access, allowing for very minor changes to the drone's facial features and body proportions, as well as its buoyancy and mass.

Covering the understructure is a layer of sensor matrices backed by Dataweave that allow the Consort to experience touch to a very high degree of sensitivity.

The Consort's skin is soft, supple, and heated to approximate temperatures of humanoid norms. The skin heating may be turned off to reduce the drone's heat signature. The skin is self-healing via a system based on Self-Regenerating Fabric Coating (SRFC) and what's beneath it is protected by a backing layer of Kinugoshi-ko. The consort's skin, irises, and hair are impregnated with Omnihue, allowing the hair and skin to change colors or patterns. The Kinugoshi-ko hair is retractable and extrudable, allowing the Consort to mimic various lengths, textures, and styles of hair in addition to changing its color.

Though it does not require eating, drinking, or breathing to continute to operate, the Consort has systems analagous to respiratory, digestive, excretory, and reproductive systems in organic humanoids, though they all either function somewhat differently (digestion and excretion) or only superficially (the drone is not actually capable of reproduction). While features like simulated respiration and the ability to eat solid food and drink liquids are good for passing as a living organism, they serve other purposes such as making the Consort a functional alternative for resleeving. Taking in oxygen, water, and organic substances can be used to charge the drone's capacitors. Additionally, the Consort's nose, mouth, esophagus, trachea, lung-analogs, and stomach-analog are densely lined with sensitive chemical sensors and analyzers, providing the drone with not only amazing senses of taste and smell, but also sophisticated analysis capabilities.

Field generators in the Consort's forearms allow for a small Scalable Graviton Beam Projector that can assist with moving objects of up to 300kg, or emit an energy pulse on touch in standard or heavy mode for Damage Rating (Version 3) Tier 0 or Tier 1 (Light Personnel) Stun, respectively. It can also provide the precisely-controlled electical pulse for the Consort's hands to act as a defibrillator.

The Consort also has a cutting-edge Solid Volumetrics projection system with emitters in several places around its body. It can project volumetric displays for supplemental interactions with KAIMON or other computers, or to allow others the same. It can also use this system to project holographic or solid clothing, or to create simple, ad-hoc hand tools, freeing them of the need to carry basic tool kits.

Yuuki created this article on 2021/10/30 15:58. Article makes use of the Drone Template.

• Approval Thread
• Uniform design and illustration by whyswan commissioned by Yuuki.