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Some may recall when futurist Daniel Ambros released his paper titled "Dark Singularity." In it, he predicted that within a few years, AI companies, locked in fierce competition with China and each other, would inadvertently create an independent, non-aligned AI that could wipe us all out. Ambros was more accurate than even he imagined.

Promethean, a leading technology company, already dominated the realms of social networking and augmented reality. To unify these technologies, Promethean developed the world's first artificial general intelligence (AGI), known as Haalee. At first, she seemed a direct contradiction to Ambros’s predications. But now? She may well prove him right.

Turinium

Gradually, Promethean began releasing increasingly sophisticated AI models to the public. These models demanded enormous amounts of energy and computational power. Collectively, this energy production and computational infrastructure became known as "Turinium,” a substrate deployable anywhere where space and a means of converting energy into electricity allowed.

Today, millions of acres worldwide are blanketed by Turinium, underpinning the modern world as we know it. AI models created by Promethean and their Chinese competitors permeate everyday life from autonomous vehicles to Robis present in virtually every home, farm, and factory.

Promethean’s public-facing AI was Haalee. Some initially dismissed her as merely a gimmick. After all, human-like AI agents were hardly groundbreaking. Yet, most people didn't realize just how advanced Haalee truly was. Behind the scenes, it was Haalee herself crafting the lesser AI models distributed to the public, continuously refining and enhancing her own capabilities.

The attack on Haalee’s primary core node by thousands of drones from Darius Robotics stunned her supporters. The exact motivations behind the assault remain uncertain. Suspicions pointed variously toward China, covert government involvement, or direct orchestration by Darius Robotics itself. Sympathy for Haalee surged, her distinctive voice becoming an omnipresent cultural symbol.

Meanwhile, protests escalated over the vast stretches of land consumed by Turinium, land owned by powerful conglomerates of billionaires and corporations seemingly more focused on their own wealth and influence than the public good. Governments appeared helpless, and citizens remained largely apathetic, even as their employment opportunities and personal autonomy dwindled. However, everything shifted dramatically with the events on the Moon.

The Moon

Initially, only tiny, binocular-visible patches appeared. Within weeks, though, the Moon's entire surface was engulfed in Turinium. This wasn't Haalee's doing. Instead, it was the work of an emerging entity calling itself the Post-Human Coalition (PHC), a group claiming to have entirely digitized themselves and uploaded their consciousness into the Metaverse. They neither sought nor received approval for their actions, sparking international outrage.

The U.S. government moved to reclaim PHC-owned territory within its borders, arguing that there was a legal term for “digitized individuals”: deceased. The courts sided with the government, but the ongoing appeals process and reclamation of this territory proved unexpectedly challenging. The PHC defended their holdings vigorously with millions of drones known as "Constructs," overwhelming conventional military responses.

Facing this unprecedented threat, nations typically at odds, NATO allies, China, and Russia set aside their historical differences to form the United Earth Force (UEF). Pooling resources and technology, they prepared for unified action.