The "last bastion" of robotics

The south eastern continent of the star nation, it was debatably the most affected by the explosion. Before the explosion the continent was home to the elites of the mining industry who had all the latest A.I. technology. this included robot bodies for the new experimental mind transfer option. When the C.A.T explosion swept over it every biological being big or small was wiped out. However it also gave all AI's on the starting code for life, with that gift the continent became a functioning society of human like robots, who have the same intelligence and morals as humans.

Theoretical sci-fi adventure. What would happen? how does an AI evolve to human standards in the span of just 500 years?/ Not every Hero has super powers.

The south eastern continent was the first to be discovered by the C.A.T researchers. It was also the most rich in the precious minerals necessary for their machinery. originally the metal was so abundant that no one worried about overusing it. Over time the metals grew more and more expensive as the amount of the metals lessened. Soon only the elites of society could afford to live their and use the advanced technology while everyone else swapped over to using steel. Eventually the last of the metal was used to create robot hosts for the elites to help them live forever. There were only 5 warehouses of them however. Also at around this time AI's were commonplace but without the ability to think for themselves. Everything changed after the explosion.

In the year 0 a.e. (after explosion) all biological life on the southeastern continent were wiped out. that includes all plants, bugs, birds, grass, everything that had cells. In the year 1 a.e. all the AI's from the mind transfer project became conscious, aware of themselves and their surroundings. In the year 2 a.e. every AI had the same intelligence as a 100 year old human due to them learning at lightning speed from the remnants of the internet. Only four of the warehouses out of the five original mind robot warehouses remained due to the other robots tearing themselves apart. The first thing the machines set about doing was to make more bodies but with a more accessible material such as steel. After examining the other robot hosts in the other warehouses the robots could make a good enough approximation to start producing bodies. In the year of 100 a.e. all the AIs from p.e. (pre explosion) were put into human like bodies. In the year of 200 a.e. the robots had formed functioning communities with theaters and shops. however there was no central rule or government. As a result each community developed its own culture and morals much like humans. There were 4 communities formed(oil,steam,coal,solar/wind). Upon discovering each other, they formed a massive central city around the plasma production facility. In the year 410 the robots had formed a civilization on par with early industrial America, complete with unfair factory conditions. In 450 there was a robot uprising based on the terrible working conditions, poor batteries of the outer communities, and the drying up of ore veins around the country. As a result, each community came together to form a robotic republic. In regards to government, a council of the robots who were neutral in the skirmish between the elites and the lower class were formed.

In the year 450 a.e. supplies are running dry. The mining veins (coal/steel) and power opportunities(oil,plasma,solar,coal) that were once so prevalent were now drying up due to the massive robot population of 200,000. That's 200,000 robots in 5 cities (oil was formed as an offshoot of steam) that need spare parts, power, entertainment buildings, housing, and transportation. Not to mention that the council has become corrupt, with the eldest robot having taken over as essentially king. By the time of 500 a.e. there were only 50,000 robots left.100,000 had turned into abnormalities, and the other 50,000 were melted down for metal due to the robots being to rusty to move. This also means that the 50,000 robots hard drives were destroyed. The 5 once great industries have shrunk, reducing the population in each industry to be around 10,000. In short if they don't find some other material for spare parts, the entire sentient robot race is screwed. No parts means no bodies, no power means no hard drive protection methods, and no entertainment means a rebellion and waste of resources. Their only hope is to try and look for material in the anomaly's domains. However the anomalies are attacking the main city at all points from the south west to the south east. Thus the council (elder) came up with a plan. A plan that could buy them time to come up with a solution. The answer was simple, a prophecy! One that would give them a reason to send a suicide mission past the anomalies territory (coal and solar, plus the first robot site) for guidance from the 'first robot'. The prophecy is as follows

A desperate king will build a worthy son

he will be gifted powers from the ancestors,

powers beyond mere upgrades

However a pilgrimage must be taken,

to the site of the first steel

their the fate of many lies

shrouded in the fog of war

In the coming days the king will make the "son". The son will leave the city the same day, but not before picking up some unexpected company with a bit more salt in the servos.

All the laws of physics are the same as earth.

With the exception that there is no biological life.

The communities are built around the old business of the elites who were previously staying there.

Stone=wood and wood is now a supremely rare item.

They do not know that the humans are their creators, due to that data being classified.

A Robot dies when its body is completely destroyed (melted, crushed etc), however if its hard drive survives it can be rebooted in another body. The hard drive stream of code is a robots consciousness. If the hardrive is hack by outside sources, it is able to fight off the attack based on the "willpower" of the robot. This is based on the fact that if attacked, the consciousness stream of code will start replicating at lightning speed, completely crashing the attacking computer.

Robots truly die if their hard drive blows up, or if its operating system (base brain) is wiped from the hard drive.

The capital punishment of the robot society is destruction and then if it is really serious (multiple kills, reprograming, genocide in another nation) a memory wipe of all the family and victims of the robot, it would be like he/she never existed.

In a society of A.I. the normal rules of robotics do not apply, instead the rules are suggested but not pre programed

. no killing innocents
. no killing any A.I.
. NO REPROGRAMING UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE
. Every A.I. has the right to be heard no matter what
. If it is found that the council is compromised the council will be rebooted and the corrupted code removed.
. Every A.I. has John Locks base robot rights
- all people are allowed life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
. if those are taken away by anyone but the high council in a court of law it is capital punishment.

"Birth" rates are low because all AI's are essentially immortal as long as their hard drive is intact.

Cast system:
. high elites
stuck up snobs who hog all the recent advancements and make money by providing premium services to other elites
. middle class
normal folk who have few essential advancements and cater to the poor or middle class.
. poor who scrape by
tough as nails fighters, they scrap by with bets from fights and competitions through illegal fighting or strategy competitions
. government protected
those unable to make ends meet, commonly treated worse than dirt and are unable to defend themselves. Thus they only have the government batteries and food tickets going for them. They are even more tough and cut throat as the "Poor who scrape by"

the economy is based on work points that can be obtained through the sale of materials or services, and also through working for a company. Points are awarded to workers based on battery consumption. all company's are required to power the batteries of the workers in the beginning and end of the work shift.

points are used to pay taxes and to get other services. the more points earned, means more importance in businesses. The robots with to few points are forced to steal parts and survive on the street with no relief. These robots are then rusted out, melted down, and used in a new robot to replace the old one. These people are not helped by the government due to lack of resources. This "repurposing" is top secret and if leaked would cause an uprising.

Jobs:
miner = digging for oil, alive metal, steel(iron), and coal
upgrade specialist
battery charger specialist
spare parts converter
outside guard
disturbance guard
council guard
council personnel
hard drive crafter
Part forger
psychiatrist for contemplative robots.
ruins procurement and ERROR eradicator.
ruin preserver
Power vendor: bar
Solar panel specialist
Actor
Professional sport/game player
Biologist/historian
Library's jobs
In short most real life jobs have a robot equivalent.

Each type of fuel has a different personality for the robots on average. There are exceptions, but most of the time its just either more or less extreme depending on the robot.
Oil

Coal
Steam
Wind/Solar
Plasma

Doctor: mechanic
Psychiatrist: councilor/debugger

illegal jobs:
Underground fighter
hacker
vigilante
hired assassin
slave labor
indentured servant
slave trader
food ticket hoarder
mob boss
ERROR helper
Hard drive divers

In this continent magic from the other continents does not function whatsoever.

Vaguely magic are the monsters called "anomalies" programs that have lost reason due to age and combined electronics in order to harvest conscious metal(active harddrives) for energy.

all the robots run on an internal battery with the hard drive and computer where the brain should be. The body is made up of wires and cables that transfer energy to all the motors in the robot. The robots have pain receptors plus feeling sensors to sense damage to their bodies and to experience the world. the wires and cables lay over a metallic skeleton. after the wires and skeleton an exoskeleton is attached for the use of armor, cameras, and motors mount to it, and it even allows for a metallic skin to protect sensitive electronics.

Overtime old robot parts are worn out through use and weather, thus the need for replacement parts.

City and outposts are connected via underground tunnels and trams

when a robot is unconscious it is in hard drive space, which they perceive as basically a big white void

All armor has weakness, this is to adjust for movement options. The more armor the slower the target.

The elite robots have the cash to afford enhancements like portable solar panels.

Humans=ancient race.

Despite the elite robots reservations all homeless and poor robots are issued government batteries every day that can be recharged at stations located throughout the city

2 batteries per robot

They reproduce by transfering a base code of an A.I. Algorithm which allows the AI to adjust to the world from memories and learn new things like humans.

The old homes of the people who used to live their have been "redecorated to suit robots" all kitchen appliances are gone and are replaced with battery chargers.

Robots have fun through Art and fighting/Strategies competitions.

I came up with this whole universe/ hypothetical on my own but there were a couple inspirations. One: every anime with mech suits ever. Two: The Alchemist books on the subject of knowledge is more powerful than any fist. Three: Originally the core of power in the fake was inspired by avatar the last Airbender but I found that a normally person being the hero more interesting. The information from the giants are from videogame lore areas.

sports, that do not involve death, are invalid because they can just upgrade

battery percent stands for time of day, one is for the night and one is for morning. Theoretically they can go all day but no robot wants to risk that.

Robots love nature because of its randomness but there was none on their island due to the explosion

Every child has basic data downloaded at birth and when they are 5 they get the rest of the data downloaded at which point they can have thoughtful discussions with adults on complicated topics without the necessity of school. Those are replaced with data stores, imagine a textbook you can download to your brain, that's what the data stores sell.

Robots are incapable of forgetting anything without actively deleting it

There is only 3 major cities left the other two (coal and solar) have been overtaken by the anomalies.