Final Skies

Final Skies’ structure and design was much different than that of other iterators: he as a whole was built as a prototype for a model of iterators that never came to be, having significantly more organic material than others of his kind. Though his structure’s exterior and legs are built from a strong titanium, it’s essentially a shell for the living machine within, as most internal components that would be mechanical for other iterators are organic for Final Skies aside from the interior walls and supports. One particular organic addition is in the form of giant, sinewy strands of neural tissue built like webs in one massive, expansive room known as the synapse terminals. He memorizes, performs actions, and thinks through these growths of gray matter that act as a gigantic brain rather than through code or neuron flies for the most part - though he makes use of those as well, just to a lesser extent than other iterators. Branches of veins and nerves run throughout the flesh-covered walls of his interior rather than just wires, keeping every biological component connected to each other and linked to any mechanical parts.

Compared to other iterators, he is more flesh than machine, a massive organism crammed within a metal giant, blurring the line between a supercomputer and an organic lifeform.

Built atop his structure was one gigantic prison complex, consisting of towering buildings that at first glance looked akin to the city structures that top the cans of other iterators. But inside them were nothing but jail cells, rooms containing prisoners stacked atop each other to resemble the unsuspecting skyscrapers that lawful ancients would normally reside in.

While other iterators had ancients enter their chamber seeking advice and conversation, the only ancients that personally entered his puppet chamber were usually just the prison staff, often accompanied by chained criminals, seeking Final Skies’ vastly superior judgment on what the most logical punishment might be for their actions. Aside from that, they seldom interacted with him. He did not have very good relations with the ancients due to this. Especially towards the end of their existence in this plane, where those who wished not to ascend with the rest were taken prisoner and his judgment mattered not as they were forced to ascend with the rest of their kind regardless of his thoughts on the matter. Their abandonment of him and his entire kind left him with quite the negative opinion of his own creators, and it’s only worsened in his current state.

Final Skies was already quite asocial, but became even more reclusive towards the rest of the iterator populace following the global ascension of the ancients. His only companion was the even more enigmatic group senior 10 Bright Eyes. Both found solving the great problem to be a fruitless effort, though they could not simply give up on their purpose. It was either endlessly calculate a solution to this unsolvable goal, or do nothing, as rejecting their purpose was not a simple task due to the taboos hard-wired into their genome. But both refused to accept the fate of rotting away while uselessly trying to find a triple affirmative. With 10 Bright Eyes having acquired illegal information on how to circumvent the taboo of self modification, Bright Eyes went first and began what they thought would be a successful plan. All that came from it was their mutual downfall.

ONE BIG MISCALCULATION

10 Bright Eyes was just as much of an oddity as Final Skies, generating most of their energy with the use of heat provided from the molten rock within the dormant volcano their structure stood upon. Unknowing that the volcano was already close to eruption, they increased their energy intake to allow them to focus solely on creating an organism purposed to rewrite their genome. The force of overworked drills digging their way through the volcano’s rock exerted enough stress to initiate its inevitable eruption early, and right below the iterator’s can.

This resulted in the complete collapse of 10 Bright Eyes’ structure, as it toppled over and crashed into the ground, reduced to rubble strewn across the land. What followed was a series of harsh pyroclastic flows - hot clouds of gas, ash and debris that ripped through the land and melted the tundra snow.

Though Final Skies’ structure was built with the fact in mind that a volcanic eruption nearby would be inevitable, one on a scale as extreme as this one had not been accounted for. While his outer structure was sturdy and highly heat-resistant and managed to withstand the avalanche of smoldering smoke and debris, the same, unfortunately, could not be said for his internal organic components. The metal that made up the exterior walls of his structure grew hot enough to sear any biological components in direct contact with it, while some of the hot gas managed to leak within, tearing its way through his internals. The brunt of the damage was taken by the internal biology close to the exterior metal walls of his structure, some parts being cased within thick volcanic debris that's solidied into stone. Tissue further away from these walls and closer to the core of his structure remain ‘alive’, although some are considerably burn-damaged. He has just enough of himself left intact to be able to operate, though it's quite an agonizing existence with the aching pain perpetually pulsing throughout his entire structure.

THE AFTERMATH

His mental state is severely deteriorated due to the damage to his internal components and the trauma of his mentor’s collapse. He siphons just enough to stay operable from what little ground water remains in the smoldering barren terrain surrounding his structure, thus attempting to overwrite any taboos is an implausible feat, even if to repair himself. With the way things are going, it’s inevitable that the biological systems that make up the bulk of his structure will falter, even if the can itself remains standing. With the little processing power he has, he focuses solely on two things: finding an answer to the great problem, a task he cannot avoid despite it’s fruitlessness, and creating a purposed organism capable of withstanding the harsh environment of his can’s surroundings and carrying out two tasks.

Those tasks being to explore what remains of his senior’s structure, then venturing out to request aid from another iterator. Finding out if Ten is even still alive is his primary concern.