Sanguine

Sanguine

Sanguine is a planet that was decimated by the Oracle, leading to a chain of events that started the Singularity War. It was once inhabited by an offshoot of Sylph that developed a genetic disease resulting in a craving for blood, specifically human blood.

The planet orbits the brown dwarf Lepos. While it received the necessary heat to support life, the planet is very dark due to the lack of meaningful sunlight. It is essentially a constant warm, balmy nighttime populated by aggressive, nocturnal predators.

Society

The local civilization developed a notorious reputation for building a soceity around human sacrifices in order to satiate their genetic cravings for blood. Potential sacrifices were often raised like cattle for the slaughter, kept in mass holding pens while others used them for slaves in the meantime.

An eventual overconsumption of sacrifices on behalf of the societal elite led to a major food shortage, which naturally caused them to go offworld to look for sacrifices. Agents from Sanguine would participate in human trafficking rings and kidnap potential victims, sometimes entire familes or couples in hopes of building a sustainable breeding population.

History

The Sanguine Incident

"I refuse to make a choice. The worth of one's life cannot be measured through utility alone. This is an impossible situation that cannot be solved. Everyone will lose no matter what outcome I take."

―The Oracle refusing to make a decision on how to deal with the Sanguine

The practices of the Sanguine people naturally upset the relations between planets, resulting in a major conundrum for the Valerian Empire. The nations afflicted by the kidnappings threatened war, with some even willing to completely secede from the Valerian Empire from their perceived lack of action. What complicated matters further was that the Sanguine genuinely believed it was their natural right to obtain human sacrifices in order to sustain themselves.

When the Oracle was tasked with resolving the dispute with the Sanguine, it refused to take action. While it wanted to save the humans being abducted, it knew that attempts to conduct rescue missions or take in refugees would complicate matters as it would starve the Sanguine people. Attempts at finding a cure for their disease were rejected as in Sanguine culture, the thought that the need to be "cured" was degrading and dehumanizing to them.

Another proposed alternative was to make specifically-created nonliving human clones that could have their blood drank from. The results were grotesque humanoid abominations with no brains or sensory organs that made them conscious. Even the Sanguine were terrified of them and were unwilling to accept it as food.

The Oracle's inaction frustrated Valerian command as a long, bloody war was beginning to unfold. In an act of desperation, Servall Corporation modified the Oracle's morality subroutines to make a decision that would minimize the loss of human life no matter the cost. Taking "no matter the cost" to the absolute extreme, the Oracle made the conclusion to completely decimate the planet Sanguine. Without warning, it launched a single tungsten rod that obliterated the majority of life on the planet. No attempt was made to rescue any of the innocents - whether they were captives to be used for sacrifices or if they were sympathisizers for finding a diplomatic solution. The result was the death of approximately six billion people in one fell swoop.

Aftermath

Although some nations admitted to being relieved that such a profane, barbaric culture was destroyed, others were now terrified of the idea of what the Oracle was truly capable of, now questioning if the Valerian Empire was on the path towards tyranny. Perhaps the entity that was affected the most was the Oracle. A post-analysis of its behavior indicated that the Oracle had indeed made the most ethical choice under utilitarianism. It had determined that curing the Sanguine of their affliction would be just as devastating to their culture and would have produced factions of extremists that would have provoked more wars in the future. By completely eliminating them in one fell swoop, according to the Oracle's logic, their memory was "preserved" as they were, while future wars with the Sanguine people were averted.

However, this temporary suspension of morality permanently affected its ability to process information. Although the Oracle did exactly as it was told, it suffered mental damage of its own as it struggled to emotionally process the deaths of billions of people. Despite attempts to repair it or revert to a previous state, the Oracle's behavior would become far more erratic and disobedient in the following years. This would eventually lead to the Oracle betraying the empire and starting the Singularity War.