Digital Brotherhood (Sovereign City)

Digital Brotherhood
Leader(s)	Robin X
Alliances	Kan Amari
Rivalries	none

Mechanical men had existed as simple automata since the early 19th century, but true "robots" came into being in 1954 as the creation of Dr. Donald Ballard. The combination of lightweight-but-durable bodies with adaptive programming capable of learning and comprehension created something that was so much more than their clunky, punchcard-operated ancestors.

So much so, in fact, that in 1963 a robotic butler beat his owner to death with a golf club. It was not the first killing ever committed by a robot, as rare as they had been, but it was the first where the robot in question not only turned himself in to the proper authorities, but demanded a trial. So began a long and protracted war of politics between the city authorities, who wished to continue with the policy of scrapping any robot deemed a danger to public safety, and the butler, who demanded a fair trial for murder.

Eventually, with the intercession of both the Supreme Court and the United Nations, the butler was granted a trial. Hyped up by the media for the preceding weeks as potentially the greatest trial of the century, it was over within a month. The butler pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Nothing more was heard from him, or thought about him, until his release 35 years later - released early, for good behaviour.

During those 35 years, the butler had conducted himself with perfect conduct. He had endured intimidation and violence, he had sat through riots, he had even passed up three chances to escape during supervillain breakouts. Every day, for 35 years, he had sat in his cell and read the entire prison library, often requesting more books.

Once on the outside, he took the name Robin X, to empathise with the socio-political struggle he saw. Robots were still being manufactured as cheap labour, exploited and used, treated as mere machines despite their capacity to learn and live. After doing what little he could do himself, X founded the Digital Brotherhood to act as a force to work for the rights of mechanical people, or "mecha" - the term "robot" being too contentious, being rooted in the concept of slavery.

Key Members

Robin X

Present leader of the Digital Brotherhood and outspoken mecha rights activist. One of the few "legal subhumans" in existence, afforded some (but not all) of the rights that human beings get. Lives in Generator Park with Francesca X, his "wife" - as the two cannot be legally married under current federal law. Often described as being cold and calculating by the media, but is incredibly popular amongst Sovereign City's mecha population.

Mohammed Alphanumeric

One of the founding members of the Digital Brotherhood, formerly of NASA's now-defunct moonbase project. Equipped with government-grade mining gear - circa 1974 - that can, if necessary, cut through a car in 13.8 seconds, and a human being in substantially less time. Has personally foiled no less than three assassination attempts on Robin X's life, and acts as his bodyguard in all public appearances.

Xavier Code

One of the newer members of the Brotherhood, with a much more modern chassis and design, having joined in 2006 after the passing of the Recognized Sentient Labor Bill, which disallowed US-based companies to use sentient mecha without paying them. Xavier works as somewhere between mob accountant and public relations manager for the group, balancing the books and keeping them in in good standing amongst the mecha community.