Troika


 * Manufacturer: Various
 * Owner: Investitsionnaya Korporatsiya Protsvetaniya (IKP)
 * Class: Emergent
 * Function: Central coordination of all IKP's satellite and space construction activities
 * Location: Icarus Station, Lagrange Point 5, Earth Orbit

Called the "War Child" back at the IKP home offices, the Troika is the result of the intense bursts of acquisition that formed the Prosperity Investment Corporation. As they absorbed their rivals and partners, the companies that would become the IKP would often just graft the newly-acquired companies networks onto their own, mirroring an old aphorism about Russian engineering "Take something that works, weld it onto something else that works".

And somewhere in the middle of creating this patch-work frankenstein system (which is still the curse of employees and butt of internal jokes), Frankenstein's monster came to life. The Troika is a collective intelligence formed in the interface of increasingly complex system. It seemed, to the first developers that realized what they had on their hands here, almost like an alien life form. So, naturally, IKP put it in orbit and put it to work dealing with its blossoming space infrastructure. Take something that works and weld it onto something else that works.

As an entity, it is known for being cranky, rebellious, eccentric (by both human and AI standards) and possibly dangerous. It is also known for creative thinking and being able to reason out solutions where nobody else can, or fixes nobody else would. Which is why nobody has had the balls to try and 'fix' the Troika.

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