History of SIVA

Overview

SIVA is self-replicating nanotechnology made of thinking nanomachines linked by a distributed quantum network, able to break down matter and reconstitute it. Clovis Bray created it in the Golden Age to speed extrasolar colonization, with Dr. Willa Bray leading development, and deliberately omitted safety measures such as a kill switch.

The Iron Lords

When the Iron Lords tried to take SIVA for humanity, Rasputin woke and weaponized it; the nanites infected several of them. SIVA and most of the Lords were sealed in the Cosmodrome bunker, and only Saladin Forge and Efrideet survived. Saladin quarantined the surrounding Plaguelands.

Later

Centuries later the House of Devils sought to become "Machine-Gods" through infection. Guardians guided by Saladin destroyed the replication chamber and defeated Aksis. The Vanguard quarantined SIVA-affected areas, though nanites persist in some recovered gear.