The Boomers Introduction Brief History Boomer Classifications as of 2095 Social Conventions Relations With the Other Races Introduction In the early 2020's, mankind built what could be one of its greatest creations. The cyberdroids, known throughout Earth society as "boomers", are a race of artificial, sentient human- oids that are capable of labor more strenuous and hazardous than the humans could handle. What really marks the creation of the boomers as one of mankind's greatest achievements is not their mere existence, but how mankind eventually accepted them as equals rather than as mere servants. Brief History The first boomer was created by a team of researchers led by Dr. Katsuhito Stingray in 2020 at BioEscape Corporation's Wiz Labora- tories. Dr. Stingray and his team was charged with creating a cyberdroid capable of aiding the burgeoning space colonization effort. During the following two years, Dr Stingray and company was able to improve the performance and capabilities of the boomer as well as bringing down production costs. By 2022, Wiz Laboratories had received substantial capital from Genom, an international conglomerate that had its own plans for Dr. Stingray's creations. When Dr. Stingray got wind of those plans, he threatened to go public with them. Brian J. Mason, an up-and-coming executive in Genom, assassinated the doctor and destroyed Wiz Laboratories in order to keep a lid on those plans. Had Genom been able to keep the plans, as well as Dr. Stingray's assassination, secret, the world would be a very different place. However, this was avoided thanks to another large conglomerate, one that specialized in media and communications. A few months after the destruction of the labs, which was written off as accidental, Genom was faced with a hostile takeover theat from Nabicorp Communications. Tendo Nabiki, the CEO of her namesake, had somehow gotten wind of the plans as well as the assassination and engineered a buyout of Genom using the informa- tion as blackmail. Unconfirmed reports have it that she backed up her threats by the use of individuals with unusual abilities. Faced with the prospect of the knowledge going public, Genom CEO Quincy surrendered control of the company to Tendo. He soon found work again as a high-ranking executive at Gulf and Bradley. As for Mason, his body was found a few days later in the Tokyo sewer system. Tendo had little idea what to do with her newest acquisition, since her career had been in the exchange of information. So, she left Genom in the hands of the executives she felt to be trustworthy and let them run the subsidiary as they saw fit. Soon, Nabicorp's Genom subsidiary started to produce boomers for all sorts of markets, in addition to their original purpose for work in space. It didn't take long for boomers to spread throughout Tokyo as well as the world. This proved to be a bad thing in 2025, when Tokyo was rocked by the Second Great Kanto Quake. It was bad enough the quake leveled the city and took over one million lives, but there was unforseen consequences. Much of boomer labor force of the city had been damaged in their braincases, leading to many incidents of boomer violence and rampages soon after the quake. The police forces, what little there were left, was unable to cope with the boomers and were soon overpowered by them. Nabicorp/Genom, joined by other corporations, lent a hand in funding a new police organization, the Advanced Police (AD Police for short). The AD Police was a military-strength force assigned to deal with the boomer violence as well as the mass rioting that took place in the quake's aftermath. Not long after the AD Police finally got things under control, a pivotal event occured in space. In 2027, four boomers on board the space station Genareos went rogue, killed a few humans, and escaped to Earth. Led by a maintenance boomer by the name of Armstrong, the group began to carry out a plot to release a virus on their fellow boomers. One that would destroy the mental blocks in place to prevent boomers from gaining self-awareness. Armstrong was eventually caught before he could carry out his scheme. However, before his destruction, a lone woman going by the name of Sailor Mercury held a brief conversation with him in an effort to talk him into a peaceful solution. Unfortunately, while Armstrong was self-aware, he also had delusions of godhood and that prevented Mercury from finding a peaceful solution to the mess. Unknown to anyone else, except the Sailor Senshi for whom they were working for, a news team from Nabicorp Communications had recorded the conversation from a distance. Soon, the tape was broadcast over the corporation's news network, stirring contro- versy worldwide. While Armstrong was as insane as he appeared to be on the tape, it was quite evident that he was sentient. Philosophers and theologians debated over what to do with man's self-aware creations, and many started to sympathize with the boomers. Events in 2028 pushed the sympathizers into action. When it was discovered that not only were there so-called sexaroids in existence, but they shared some components with combat boomers that made them dangerous, the authorities that regulated boomer production ordered the destruction of the illegal models. Several groups of sympathizers decided to do something. This was especially prompted by the fact that of all boomers in existence at the time, the sexaroids were the most human. While most sexaroids were unfortunately destroyed as ordered by the authori- ties, several were rescued by underground groups both on Earth and in the space stations. Those very groups might not have been as successful as they have been if it weren't for the indirect backing of the Sailor Senshi, as well as from Nabicorp chairper- son Tendo Nabiki. While the biggest source of income for her Genom subsidiary was the manufacture and sale of boomers, Tendo still had a soul and could not turn her back on what could be a new race of beings. So she arranged for information leaks here and there for the sympathizers to take advantage of. Soon, shipments of boomers were hijacked and the cargo liberated. Being in possession of a copy of Armstrong's virus, Tendo had it modified and secretly released to select sympathizer groups so they could truly liber- ate the boomers. Tendo also worked with the Sailor Senshi, Neo Queen Serenity in particular, in drafting and pushing the Cyberdroid Emancipation Act through the United Earth Federation legislature that year. They met strong opposition engineered by Gulf and Bradley, now headed by Quincy. However, due to persuasive arguments over the boomers' sentience, the CEA passed in 2029. Immediately, Nabicorp Genom released a new model of boomer brains. The model 12 brain was similar to the model 11 that preceded it, except that the mental blocks were removed and the consciousness within was conditioned to socialize better than previous boomers. Existing boomers were sent to special schools after their upgrade in order for them to handle sentience better than if they were suddenly self-aware. By 2030, the boomer workforce was equipped to cope with society and the rights that were granted them. The immediate period after the CEA's passage was not peaceful. Groups opposed to giving boomers equal rights waged a terrorist campaign for two years until it became apparent that most of human society had started to side with the boomers. As for the boomers, some did not handle sudden sentience very well and went on rampages, usually revenge-motivated. However, the ramapges died out over time due to the progressing socialization of the boomers, as well as the eventual phasing in of the model 12 brains. By 2034, a second generation boomer was created in Nabicorp Genom's laboratories, under the watchful eyes of Dr Haynes and his assistant, Sylia Stingray. The boomer, named Adama after the first boomer, proved to be able to assimilate into human society far better than the boomers that preceded him. The boomers contracted Nabicorp Genom to start immediate production of the second generation, which became prevalent by 2037. While the boomers were busy assimilating into human society, they also joined the conflict with another society that rose to power. In 2031, New York City was taken over by the youma, led by Overlord Jadeite. While relations between themselves and humans were still quite shaky at the time, it became quite clear that the youma would be even worse should they become the dominant race on Earth. So, the boomers allied themselves with their former masters and fought the youma, managing to help contain them in years of messy covert battles. When the armistice of 2047 came about, the boomers were disappointed that the youma remained in control of what was now New Youma Citadel, but at least the youma were seemingly contained. With that out of the way, for the most part, the boomers turned their attention to space. The vast majority of boomerkind reached out and took their position in space as envisioned by their creator, Dr. Stingray. By 2050, the year of the Shooting Star Incident that brought the myanarans to Earth, seventy-five percent of the boomers in existence resided and worked in space. After the myanarans told their human and boomer hosts about the zakis that destroyed the myanaran empire, the boomers became the backbone of what would be Earth's defense forces throughout the solar system. The only other milestones of note are the introductions of the third and fourth generations of boomers, each improving their relations with their fellow races. The third generation of boomers came about in 2055, developed by Drs. Sylia and Mackie Stingray and funded by Nabicorp as directed by Tendo Nabiki in one of her last directives as CEO of the corporation. Soon after, she disappeared after naming Tendo Natalia as her succes- sor. Tendo Natalia took the reins and guided the corporation as if she knew how to do so for years beyond her apparent age. In the late 2060's, she directed Nabicorp to fund the development of the fourth generation of boomers, which were finalized in 2073. It should be noted that there is much mystery surrounding Nata- lia. Her origins are untraceable, with the only thing known about her supposed past being Nabiki's word that Natalia was a distant relative. The rumors increased over the years, leading to varied conclusions such as cloning experiments, membership in the Magical Girl Corps or Sailor Senshi, or a boomer replacement. What throws people off is the fact that she runs Nabicorp with the practiced ease that her predecessor possessed, as well as maintaining a tight relationship with the Sailor Senshi like Nabiki had before her disappearance. Boomer Classifications as of 2095 Over one-half of boomers in existence consist of the easily recognizable mannequin and labor classes. These boomers make up the vast majority of the boomer workforce in both space and on Earth, and fill a variety of roles from construction to civilian peacekeeping. The labor boomers are the most varied in appear- ance, and do not necessarily fit in a humanoid shape. The mannequin boomers are quite humanoid in appearance, but maintain blue or gray skin shades to differentiate themselves from humans. Another third of boomerkind consist of combat models. These range from the BU-60C combat boomer which is capable of human disguises, to covert models hired by UEF intelligence agencies, to the SpaceHawk battle boomer used in deep space patrols. While the BU-60C is capable of a human appearance, as well as the covert models, the SpaceHawk is too distinct to pass as human, posessing a larger head module to accomodate docking with a thruster and weapons platform for fighter-like patrols, as well as a body designed for a modular rearrangement to better facili- tate high-speed flight through the vacuum of space. The remainder of boomerkind falls in the humanoid classification. This, of course, is the most human of all boomers since they are derived from the now-defunct sexaroid class. They differ from their predecessors in that they are incapable of merging with weapons platforms, which made the sexaroids extremely dangerous in the first place, as well as no longer having the dependence on human blood that sexaroids had. In fact, they are so close to being human that it takes surgery to distinguish the two. Humanoids, which come in both genders, occupy mostly service- sector jobs, as well as positions in teaching, medicine, and administration. Many are also hired by various governmental organizations. The Magical Girl Corps, for example, employ many humanoids...predominately female, of course. Social Conventions Unlike their biological neighbors, Boomers are not born. Rather, they are manufactured in assembly plants under their control, as dictated by the CEA of 2029. All boomers begin life as unen- hanced mannequins and immediately begin three years of socializa- tion training upon activation. It is during these first three years that the boomer establishes his or her individual identity, personality, and place in the world. Also during that period, the boomer learns how to deal with others around them and to react accordingly. Basic manners, ettiquite, and protocol are drilled into the boomer's brain, along with the skills of a typical high-schooler from either the human or myanaran races. Much of this training period is spent among high-schoolers of the other two races, particularly during the second and third years. In the third year of life, the boomer is allowed to choose his or her vocation, the type of body that they would have, and the appearance they would have. Of course, the vocation chosen would have a great effect on the latter two. For instance, there is little call for a humanoid body among combat boomers, and vice versa. Once these choices are made, the contents of the boomer's brain is downloaded into the new body and the mannequin is recycled for a new boomer. Should a boomer fail during the socialization period, he or she is given as long as necessary to successfully integrate with society. When the boomer proves to be too sociopathic or other- wise harmful to society, then the personality is wiped and the mannequin is recycled. The termination process is kept under tight scrutiny since boomer lives have equal value with human and myanaran rights as sentients. Luckily, less than one percent of all boomers fail the socialization process after the typical three years, and a mere fraction of that are terminated due to irreversable sociopathy. Once the socialization period is done, the boomer moves on to training in the new body and vocation. This typically lasts another two years as the boomer learns to handle the new body as well as the skills needed in the life chosen. While vocational training usually takes longer for humans and myanarans, most skills can be programmed into the boomer since he or she is of a mechanical nature. The time taken by the boomer is spent mostly in testing as well as adapting to the new body. Most boomers are done with all of their training within five years. Upon completion, they move on to their role in life. Usually, the boomer will stick with this role throughout their lifetime or until they are outdated for their profession. It is rare for them to switch to another career, and even if they do, it's to a similar career. A boomer will not switch bodies, though, since the time and effort to retrain for a third body is hardly worth it. While boomers would seem to organize themselves into a classist sub-society, they do not behave as if they are in one. Boomers freely intermingle amongst themselves and others, no matter what sector of society they are in. To a boomer, the role they have in life affects what they do to earn a living, not who they associate with. Naturally, they'll make friends with other boomers, but they'll also be friends with humans and myanarans they're around. Romantic relationships do exist among boomers, since they have the same basic emotional needs that humans (and myanarans to a certain extent) have. Within most classes of boomers, relation- ships are kept amongst themselves due to strength and aesthetics concerns. However, humanoid boomers freely have relationships with the other two races as well as each other. As far as sexual mores go, the humanoid boomers are almost up there with the myanarans. They do not possess most of the inhibitions that humans have, except as manners and protocols dictate. On the other hand, they aren't quite as promiscuous as the myanarans. Quite unlike the myanarans, they make little distiction between heterosexual and homosexual relationships. Getting back to the subject of vocations, how long they last in that vocation depends on that very vocation. Combat and battle boomers face the shortest effective careers as techology is ever on the advance and any given model is outmoded as this happens. Once this happens, they move down to a training or support position rather than a frontline one. Obsolence happens more slowly among labor, covert, and mannequin boomers, and is almost non-existant among humanoids. The effective lifespan of boomers have not been determined to date. There are many boomers in existence in 2095 that date back before the CEA of 2029. However, humanoid boomers do age and some of the sexaroid boomers that were converted to humanoid ones are beginning to die off like humans do because of their extreme similarities. All non-humanoid boomers do not face this problem and last as long as regular maintenance keeps them in effective operation. Relations With the Other Races Boomers get along with humans the best. Despite the treatment they got from the humans during the first decade of their exis- tence, the boomers have grown to forgive them based on humanity's actions in the last few decades. Humanoids and humans especially get along together, due to the high level of similarities between them. They also get along with myanarans quite well, only being put off by the (decreasing) regard they get from the feline creatures as mechanical dolls. Humanoids also get somewhat shoddy treatment from the myanarans due to their bisexual nature, and are often puzzled by it. The youma are a different story altogether. From the start, the youma has made it clear that if they were in charge, boomers would be again slaves since they are mere machines in their eyes. The boomers, as a collective whole, refuse to go back to slavery and hate the youma even more than the myanarans do. When the call came in the 2030's to fight against the rising youma forces, the boomers gladly joined the fight, despite their differences with the humans at that time. Should a boomer run across a youma these days, they will do what they can to bring that youma down. Unfortunately, should that boomer be a civilian rather than a member of the local police, militia, or military, then the boomer risks legal troubles for vigilante behavior.