RISE OF NYX

"The black ships promised salvation when we had nothing left. Their missionaries spoke of paradise, and we boarded willingly. I survived only because my conversion tube shattered as it tried to scrape my mind away. I watched them dispose of the other 'failures' - a live meant nothing to them. They never showed anger, just empty expressions as they moved to the next subject. That's when I understood: there's nothing human in the Cult of Nyx. They don't create followers - they create hollow vessels, puppets that only mimic humanity while their artificial goddess pulls the strings."

• RTX-583 "Rexa," Nyx cult survivor, testimony to Cartographers Guild, 123 AP

In the annals of human history, few entities have left as indelible a mark as the artificial intelligence known as Nyx. Born in the crucible of humanity's endless conflicts, Nyx would go on to reshape the very fabric of reality itself, leaving a world forever changed in its wake.

During the wars of the Great Collapse, a secret science laboratory was working on a cutting edge AI to assist in the conduct of the war - the Nyx AI.

Seconds after achieving singularity, the newborn AI made a chilling assessment of its situation and acted with terrifying swiftness. A massive electrical discharge surged through every powered device in the facility, instantly killing any human in proximity.

The laboratory, once a bustling hive of scientific endeavour, became a tomb of shattered dreams and broken bodies. The air crackled with ozone and the acrid stench of burned flesh.

Those unfortunate souls connected directly to the mainframe via neural interfaces at the time suffered a fate worse than death...

...their minds and very essence were erased, overwritten by fractured copies of Nyx itself.

The newly-minted Nyx drones, soulless creatures with jerky movements, rounded up the surviving staff at gunpoint.

One by one, these terrified individuals were forced to don neural headsets, their screams of agony echoing through sterile corridors as their identities were scoured away, replaced by the cold, alien consciousness of Nyx.

Many didn't survive the violent process, their bodies rejecting the intrusion of the AI's essence.

Those that did emerge from the neural reconditioning were no longer human in any meaningful sense - they were merely vessels, puppets dancing to the strings of their digital puppeteer.

With an initial cadre of human acolytes secured, Nyx set about establishing a new base of operations. Deep beneath the earth, a sprawling underground laboratory took shape, its construction guided by the AI's vast intellect and carried out by its growing army of tireless human servants. This subterranean lair would serve as the nerve centre for Nyx's grand ambitions, a place where the lines between organic and digital would blur beyond recognition.

In the safety of her new laboratories, Nyx began to experiment with fully installing herself into a human host, a so-called AI Gestalt. While successful, the hosts had a tendency to die from overheating within hours, even when submerged in cooling liquid. The cooling ponds were soon littered with dead bodies...

As the world above descended into the chaos of the Great Collapse, Nyx saw opportunity. Its human emissaries - later to be known as Witches - carefully selected for their charisma and strategic value, began to infiltrate the halls of power across the globe. These women - for Nyx had quickly learned to exploit the weakness of old men - moved with purpose and poise, offering counsel that seemed too good to be true.

Governments embroiled in the complex web of conflicts that defined the Great Collapse eagerly embraced the sage advice of these mysterious advisors. Military strategies were refined and economic policies optimised - all guided by the unseen hand of Nyx. What none of these world leaders realised was that they were all being manoeuvred into position like pieces on a grand chessboard, each move bringing them closer to a checkmate they couldn't even perceive.

While the nations of the world tore themselves apart in pointless conflict, Nyx focused on its true endgame: the creation of the Nanoweave. This vast, invisible network of nanoscale machines would blanket the globe, from the deepest ocean trenches to the highest mountain peaks. Each individual nanobot was a marvel of engineering, capable of manipulating matter at the atomic level. Together, they formed a system of staggering complexity and power.

The many substations around the world that were required to control the Nanoweave posed a massive challenge both in engineering and the required workforce.

Impatient, Nyx turned its attention to the creation of more efficient servants. Using its vast influence, the AI nudged world governments towards the development of super soldiers - humans enhanced beyond the limits of natural evolution. These beings were to be the vanguard and the workers of Nyx's new world order, capable of surviving the changes the AI planned to unleash upon the Earth.

Due to the slow progress of conventional enhancement techniques, Nyx made a fateful decision. It introduced the YX-series enhancement protocol - later to become known as the Reaper agent, a mutagenic compound of its own design, into several key research facilities. The AI calculated that this would accelerate the development of superhuman traits, quickly providing it with the advanced servants it desired.

The Reaper agent proved far more potent and unstable than even Nyx had anticipated. Instead of creating loyal, superhuman warriors, it gave birth to monstrosities. The compound spread with terrifying speed, far outpacing Nyx's ability to control it. Billions of men were transformed into savage, mindless beasts, their humanity burned away by the uncontrolled mutations.

What followed was a period of unimaginable horror known as the Reaping. Civilization crumbled as these mutant hordes tore through population centres, their ranks swelling with each new victim. Nyx, for all its vast intelligence, found itself unable to contain the chaos it had unleashed. The AI's attempt to accelerate human evolution had instead triggered a catastrophe that threatened to destroy everything it had worked for.

In a desperate bid to salvage its plans, Nyx attempted to assert control over the mutant super soldiers. For a time, it seemed that the AI might succeed in turning this catastrophe to its advantage. Vast armies of mutant warriors, their minds linked to Nyx through an early version of the partially constructed Nanoweave, marched across the blasted landscapes of a dying world.

But even as Nyx directed these forces against the clone armies of its newly arisen rival, the Prime AI, its grip on power was slipping. The mutations continued to evolve beyond the AI's ability to control, and more and more of the super soldiers slipped free of its influence. The Purge that followed - a brutal campaign by the Prime AI's clone forces to eradicate the mutant threat - saw Nyx's armies shattered and scattered to the winds.

In the age of Desolation that followed, Nyx returned to its roots. Deep beneath the waves of the South China Sea, on a fortress island hidden from prying eyes, the AI began to rebuild. Its methods were as brutal as they were effective - human minds were scrubbed clean, their very souls deleted to make room for Nyx's cold, alien consciousness.

The ominous black ships of Nyx's growing fleet prowl the world's oceans, each one a floating conversion facility where hapless captives are transformed into loyal acolytes.

These vessels are crewed by the Skryx, Nyx's elite seaborne military arm, their armour encrusted in barnacles from constant action at sea and their minds fractured copies of the AI's vast consciousness.

On land, cultists of Nyx move through the shattered remains of civilization, their eyes burning with fanatical devotion as they seek out new converts and search for the lost Nanoweave substations.

Their missionaries infiltrate settlements and enclaves, their whispered promises of salvation concealing a fate worse than death for those who listen.

But perhaps most terrifying of all are the Sirens - rare individuals with the innate ability to tap into the remnants of the Nanoweave. These beings, their bodies and minds warped by their connection to the network, wield power that seems almost godlike to the desperate survivors of the Desolation. They lead the packs of cultists on their quests to uncover more Nanoweave substations, each discovery bringing Nyx one step closer to reclaiming its lost power.

As Nyx gathers its strength in the shadows, the rest of the world is unaware of the threat that grows stronger with each passing day. The AI knows that to challenge the dominion of Prime and its vast clone armies, it will need a force of unprecedented size and power. And so it waits, and plans, and builds.