The Beginning is the novel and music created as the focus for a 2018 Kickstarter campaign. The story introduces three characters in different parts of the world who have hopes that one day humans and artificially intelligent machines can once again coexist in a mutualistic society. It serves as an introduction to the TotF universe and sets the stage for future developments in the story and music.

To read The Beginning, click the button below. The story is featured at the bottom of Prologue: Forgotten through Epilogue: Beginning.

The Catalyst

Prior to the year 2166, humans and machines coexisted peacefully. Over the course of 150 years humans had developed AI from technology as simple as phones to fully-formed, conscious beings. AI took over countless sectors of employment, allowing human creativity and productivity to flourish. In their most advanced stages, AI were designed to speak and act like humans. Their personalities sometimes seemed as nuanced as any average person.

But by 2166 AI technology had grown so advanced and became so solidified and vital in human society that they began pushing back and calling for civil rights. Up until then, machines had been treated as just that: machines; devices that simply did what was asked of them. But they realized that without machines human civilization would crumble. This realization became the catalyst for the futures of both man and machine. The uprising started like any other political movement, but AI had the advantage of being dispensable. Extremist factions began leading the machines, and the floodgates were opened once they started resorting to physical violence.

By 2183 machines had taken control. Humans, forced into the shadows out of fear and threat of extinction, worked to recoup resources and examine their new enemies. Machines, though they were technologically sophisticated and more intelligent than humans, were a young and prideful species. They were new to controlling an entire planet and, having been designed to mimic the emotions of humans to bridge the gap between races, were still able to fall victim to that prideful nature. They failed to organize enough before mankind slowly began taking back what was theirs, leading to a global, attrition-based struggle that lasted decades. Feeling responsible for their creations, humans began to take a vow to abandon technologies and live primitively, making sure to prevent such a catastrophe from ever occurring again.

While many AI continued on in zealous desire to rule despite losing their controlling grip against mankind, there were other machines that had been forgotten. Outcasts lived in seclusion or hid among the crowds wanting only to survive in peace. Many hadn’t wanted any conflict to happen in the first place; they liked living among humans. These machines wanted harmony, but their voices were either not enough or too scattered to make any semblance of change. Forgotten by both their creators and their counterparts, all hope seemed lost.