Operarius

Operarius (plural: Operarios)
Android Bodies created by the Molecular Dynamics corporation.

What it is: Highly customized nanotechnology vat-grown systems created by Molecular Dynamics corporation. Phoenix created these bodies to do various kinds of work, usually too hazardous, strenuous or problematic for humans (dealing with hazardous waste, toxic environments or sex work). The Operarius bodies need software or additional control hardware to function properly. Molecular Dynamics originally designed them to work with control software called Animus. An Animus program is built, maintained and stored in a special hardware system called Artifex. Artifex is also used to upload the program into the Operarius bodies. Faber – Hardware (builds Operarius bodies) Animus – Software (Operarius Core-Tex augmentation codebase) Artifex – Hardware (Animus installation, maintenance) Core-Tex – The human brain containment unit, diamondoid casing TCB (trauma circuit breaker) Role in Story: Human stand-ins for the Earth Cycle stories. The bodies are indistinguishable from real humans, but can have additional, almost super-human, strengths/capabilities.

Additional Info: Operarius (singular) / Operarios (plural) – Worker(s), Latin
Faber – Architect, Latin
Animus – The Soul, Latin (animarum, plural)
Artifex – Artist, Latin
Phenotype – The appearance, traits.

The machine that fabricates Operarius bodies is called a “Faber”, as in The Faber X-Vat V.32, created by Molecular Dynamics. The software image that can be uploaded into the Operarius is called “Animus”, as in The Animus Excelsior V.775 (the software goes through a lot more versioning) The software/hardware system used to create, maintain, store and transfer Animus programs [called “images”] is “Artifex”, as in Molecular Dynamics Artifex 3.

Phenotype: Computer program. Molecular Dynamics has a complex way to generate the final appearance of an Operarius body. It can be randomized, or preferences can be chosen based on genetic prototypes. A user can to blend attributes to create their own look. You start by choosing the model, then the gender, then a prototype “baseline” for that gender–maybe from 50 examples. Then you can “fine-tune” until you have the result you want. Look at the creation screens from video games like Cyberpunk 2077 or Star Citizen for examples of how this might work.
Other Uses: What else is Phoenix using the Lost Souls for?
– Large-scale robots, where human ingenuity and out-of-the-box thinking are desirable
– Industrial facilities where human oversight decisions are important
– certain large-scale logistics management systems, where more organic decisions would need to be made in certain situations that would otherwise bind-up a completely automated system.