(This article is currently under construction!)
1 Information
Synaptic Donor Units (abbreviated as 'SDU') are talented prodigies that are specially recruited and trained to become the cybernetically-augmented human commanders of the Resistance faction after undergoing the machine upload surgery to pilot and control the formidable host station war machines, as well as all networked computers and military hardware linked to the central command and control system of the host stations.
2 Official Help File Description
The Resistance was just months away from certain destruction by its approaching enemies when a band of hackers and engineers wired together all of the free world’s computers to create seven Host Stations as the ultimate Resistance force. Seven human synaptic donor units, or SDUs, were chosen based on their nervous systems' response times and neuro-configuration to pilot these Host Stations. Because the surgical upload of an SDU to a Host Station is irreversible, these champions came to be heralded as heroes who sacrificed their own humanity for the continual humanity of others. You are the last of these SDU champions to be deployed into battle. Learn from the mistakes of your predecessors. The survival of The Resistance and all of its ideals rests with you.
3 Overview
Under Construction.
4 Lore
The primary machine interface of a host station requires a single human being uploaded into it, who will undergo various cybernetically-enriched enhancements via neural augmentation surgery, as well as the machine assimilation process to eventually become a fully-functional mechanical component of these fearsome war machines. Therefore, the process of searching for the most promising and gifted human host station master is an extremely scrupulous and meticulous task; because a normal human being is not meant to acquire the unimaginable power of becoming one with the host station and wield its power at their own volition, which entails great discretions and responsibilities as well as powerful mind and mental capacity.
As a matter of fact, the potential cadets for host station masters are only selectively recruited or headhunted from the most intellectually gifted and talented individuals (such as a child prodigy, or a 'Wunderkind'; which was the case with SDU7.) that have demonstrated promising feats, who will be subjected to lengthy and rigorous security and surveillance sessions by the top government and military intelligence departments to evaluate their true potential abilities and capabilities over an extended period of time before the final verdict is authorised.
Initially, this design practice was prompted by the fact that no human will entrust the fate of their world up to the modus operandi of the artificially constructed war machines and brains. But the selected human components of the host stations have also proven themselves to be effective commanders and decision-makers in battle that no machine brain is (yet) capable of imitating. Additionally, the host station masters are also required to be accepted and 'chosen' by the machines first to establish the synchronisation compatibility between both entities.
The machine develops a symbiosis with the human master by granting its unimaginable power and abilities at the hands of them, whereas the human will provide the machine with their minds and thoughts stemming directly from their brain signals and memories within the empathic network for them to learn and study human consciousness. As the synchronisation process occurs, the human component will be gradually assimilated into the machine itself, while also developing extra sensory features and perceptions that are unfathomable to any normal human being in the process to become an embodiment of true war machine themselves.
The host stations are also known to be banking human brains - whether biological or cybernetically mapped/configured - and grey matter directly inside their neural networks and data storages. These components form bearing knowledge and functional databases which are implied to be a quintessential element of the core mechanisms that constitute the Host Station Memory Bank. The stored brains inside retain their own independent minds and thoughts of their former memories and knowledge, and their backed-up minds and consciousness may also attempt to initiate interactions with the uploaded host station masters through their cerebration inside the linked neuro-net.
This communication and data exchange commonly manifests as the 'voices in the head' for the host station masters; sometimes regarded as a sign of encroaching insanity from losing their human minds, with a varying degree of effects. They can also provide visual panoramas of their collective memories and recollections of the past (such as how the planet Earth was like before the Big Mistake), which can be simultaneously accessed by the host station masters. Sometimes these sentient minds and 'ghosts in the machines' emerge directly from the (re-)stored memories and lasting consciousness of the former predecessors that were uploaded into the earlier 'saviour machines'.
5 History
There are various historical records and memories of the former SDUs stored inside the Host Station Memory Bank. The interaction and communication between their sentient (restored) memories and SDU7 takes place over the course of the Resistance campaign. They also provide direct advisory and strategic instructions or plans during the mission briefing sequences.
5.1 Chronicles
- SDU 1: Defected to Black Sect at Maze Wayz, date unknown. The only known female SDU and also a covert operation/sleeper agent of the Black Sect.
- SDU 2: Killed at Great Confusion, (restored) 3/17/2014.
- SDU 3: Killed at Hurz, date unknown.
- SDU 4: Killed at Hurz, (restored) 3/19/2015 - Also managed to activate the Stoudson Bomb at Hamburger Hill.
- SDU 5: Killed ('lost contact') at Taerkastik, (restored) 7/15/2016.
- SDU 6: Killed by Ghorkovs at Moonlight City, 3/17/2071 (NOTE: a potential typo of 2017).
- SDU 7: The player!
6 Known Names
- SDU6: Dietmar 'DIDI' Köbelin (one of the original Urban Assault developers!)
(Warning: Heavy Spoiler!)
Display Spoiler
- SDU7: 'Leather Jacket' (The nom de plume of his own childhood diary).
7 Trivia
- SDU 3 is never directly mentioned in any part of the storyline, nor there are any entries or records from him/her.
- The 'crazy theory amongst scientists' that has been satirically mentioned by SDU 2 in the Industrial Centre mission briefing is a reference to Gaia Hypothesis by the British scientist James Lovelock.
- It is unknown where the Generation II Prototype for the highly advanced Anvil-class host station was being developed by Resistance Research at the time of the activation of SDU 1. However, it is speculated that either SDU 1 had managed to reach Maze Wayz region via skilful applications of the Anvil's stealth projection module (in order to rendezvous with the Black Sect), or the development location of the Anvil-class host station was closer to the region at the beginning before the Resistance had lost control of the area to their enemies.
8 Notes
- The death year of SDU 6 (2071) is most likely a typo of 2017; considering the relative timeframe between death dates of the other SDUs in the storyline.