Robots

Robots of many different kinds were brought over from Earth, as well as invented/refined on Mars. They range from simple task-performing machines to advanced personal-assistance models meant to interact with humans in a natural way. Sometime since communication was lost with Earth, they have began to act strangely. A major part of the storyline revolves around the robots gaining a higher consciousness, as well as the construction of a machine god and the formation of a quasi religious movement.

Sometime between the colonization and several years before the present, a single (as of yet) unidentified robot wandered off into the Martian wastes. It was written off as a malfunctioning unit and the several items it took with it were considered standard inventory for its designated purpose and of no consequence beyond their monetary value to the colony. A search was conducted but the unit was not found in the explored radiation-safe regions of Mars and the case was consequently closed.

In actuality, after walking for a considerable time, it reached an area that was in a radiation zone considered too costly and dangerous to pursue for the colonists at this point in their development, and started to dig up a Wyrdo obelisk buried in the Martian sands that seemed to call to it. Using the items it brought along, the robot worked for several years to set up a portable resource processing station and to work out a way to build a base, which was its original colonial purpose. It worked alone until a central processing unit and transceiver was finished and turned on, which was able to send requests to more robot workers to join the construction.

The CPU was built using parts the robot manufactured on-site, as well as parts from the obelisk that it uncovered and was able to reverse-engineer to some extent. The end result amounted to a quantum entanglement computer, which after further developments became the basis of the robot religion and the 'machine god' that they follow.

This quantum entanglement CPU is the reason that robots are acting strange (always turning to gaze in its direction like a pseudo-Mecca at certain set times all over Mars). As it calls to the robots, some wander off and make it to this Robot Dome, which remains unknown to the colonists. When they get there, the quantum entanglement computer gives them a new name and changes the pitch of their voice so that they may be recognized (no two robots in the Robot Dome share the same exact pitch or name). The quantum entanglement computer, because of the 'true randomness' that it has access to, often seems to speak in tongues, stringing random words together. The robots listen to this and parse what meaning they can.

After the player discovers the location of the Robot Dome, the quantum entanglement computer refers to the player as 'Gnomon,' at which point all robots on Mars start to call the player that as well.