Cylon Republic.	The Cylons (Species).		Cylon Republic.
The dirty secret of the Kobolese is that they evolved from robots. Around 100,000 years ago, the "Ancient Kobolese" evacuated their homeworld for reasons that have been totally lost; Kobol, the planet upon which the Kobolese species evolved (probably from a simian species), was caught in a solar flare that destroyed the surface of the world to the point nothing could be recovered (not that the UGC knows about it, nor to the Kobolese Confederation). At some point the Ancient Kobolese had developed bi-pedal machines capable of rudimentary thought; Basic programing to accept given tasks, identify obstacles, and develop solutions. This basic construct occurred well before they left Kobol, but continued throughout their very long (sub-light) journey. The journey itself altered the Ancient Kobolese DNA, and they could not survive on their new homeworld; They died off. Before they did, though, they imparted into their creations the basic requirements to survive, develop, and thrive. The Cylons did one better than that, though, developing into biological robots first, then developing the means to construct new Cylons at around 10,000 years AL ("after landing")- They developed procreation. A messy system that had it's own intrinsic advantages. But the Cylons didn't die off in favor of the neo-Kobolese, but rather remained for many generations, working to build a better world. Around 25,000 years ago on neo-Kobol, civil unrest between the Cylons and (neo) Kobolese began fomenting; The strife was between those who believed the Cylons were legitimate inheritors of the Kobolese faith and those who rejected the idea that a machine could inherit, especially since the "Kobolese" were made BY the Cylons for their own purposes. The strife became so intense the Kobolese leaders chose to send the people out to the nearby systems, to "break up" the hordes. Millions had already died, so it was hoped that this would give them space to breath. "Kobol" was abandoned, taking Cylons with most factions but in far smaller numbers. The 12 Colonies were the result of that exodus. Around 12,000 years after that, sectarian strife once again arose, this time focused at the Cylons; The Kobolese had worked very hard to suppress their memories of the Cylon/Kobolese connection, so the thought that the Cylons could be their ancestors would not have occurred. The violence was fairly limited this time, as Cylons took to ships and just left the planets, generally settling throughout the asteroid belt to mine in relative obscurity. The leadership fo the colonies knew the Cylons were out there, and generally where, but as long as they STAYED the Colonial Governors were content to leave them be. The Cylons, for their own part, realized the idea of developing biological robots was "not well conceived," and ceased that theory entirely, developing instead a series of progressively more and more advanced robotic bodies. Around 50,000 years ago, massive sectarian war, both inter- and intrA-colonial, broke out; The Cylons returned, in significant force, to quell the violence, without taking sides. They only came to force the factions to STOP fighting. By this point, the Cyons had bifurcated as a species into the feminine Raiders and the masculine Centurions, but had backslid on intellectual capabilities significantly, being dumbed down to the basic essentials of their mission parameters. Into this breach was developed a THIRD type of Cylon, the ship-mounted Central, a gender-neutral organic-computer hybrid system that controls that actions of the Centurions and Raiders assigned to it. There are no mutinies within the Cylons, though each Centurion and Raider does express their thoughts fully, and quickly, on any given matter. There are not "hive minded" so much as interlinked (less collective than say the Beorge, but far moreso than a biological species). There is a breakaway faction of Cylons; During the Exodus from the 12 colonies, 18 ships loaded with Cylons departed; Only 14 arrived, and it was assumed they were lost to a misfold or some other misfortune. 1,500 years later 12 ships arrived; Using an ancient code, they identified themselves as "The Children Of Zoe," part of "The Guardians," which comprised 3 of the lost Cylon Exodus ships. They explained that the Cylons of the 4 ships had decided to strike off on their own, totally independent of the Colonies, the larger Cylons and everyone else. However, new leadership had arisen within the Guardians, leadership that spoke of genocidal sectarian war with the Kobolese, and the Children Of Zoe had chosen to turn their backs on the Guardians and return to the Colonies. The only verification of the Childrens claims comes from the Children themselves, which makes some uneasy. The Children claim the 4 Guardian Ships had grown into a fleet of 1,000 ships, each of 10,000 Warrior type Cylons and thousands of pre-Exodus Raiders. This is fortunate for both the Colonials and the Cylons, as both factions had almost as many battlecruisers as the Guardians are reported to have total. The fourth ship is still unaccounted for, and probably lost. The Colonials, Cylons, AND UGC have found absolutely no indication of the Guardians, not terribly surprising as the defectors reported the Guardians would take whole asteroids into gas giants or nebulas to rend them down for materials. Also, the defection of the Children would have sent the Guardians into panic, and they most likely would have fled the local systems for the far side of the galaxy. Note: Cylons are not suitable as a PC; They really are NOT very bright, and without a biological partner are not capable of "much" on their own. The Cylons are fond of a few species in the UGC; The T'sentraedi, the Soong collective, and other "manufactured" species find the Cylons generally open. This feeling is not generally reciprocated, as the Cylons understand, since they are literally manufactured. However, the T'sentraedi and Soong are slowly opening up; Two Centurions have been invited to Neopolis (the T'sentraedi capital) and a Baseship orbits over Fantoma, and the Soong have opened a consulate on Taurion with several L4L's doing general sociologic research, trying to understand the Cylons. This bodes very well in both respects for the Cylons. The normally very accepting Beorge-mot have maintained a very arm's length friendship with the Cylons, though it's more open than most anyone eles so far. The Beorge, Cybermen, and Daleks would like to make inroads with the Cylons, but their various attempts have been rebuffed at gunpoint; The Beorge, in particular, mounted an expedition that would have proved threatening to a march 10 times the size of the Kobolese Republic, and were STILL sent packing with "significant" losses (2 CUBE-Class stations were destroyed and another 3 were damaged). The Founders/Dominion tried using their shape-shifting abilities to infiltrate the Cylons by posing as Kobolese, but these attempts failed, since the Cylons' various sensors were able to detect that the Founder's bodies were very different to a Kobolese' body.