Background

Collator B-5 was the creation of the Ethereum Collegiate, an alliance of species that had reached Dysonian levels of technology, obsessed with the collection of knowledge.  To further their information gathering, they created the Collators; robotic androids designed to travel between the stars, studying other planets, species and cultures and transmitting that information back to the Collegiate.

Collator B-5 was originally no different to any other Collator, but fate was to set him apart from the others.  Studying a unique, semi-intelligent electromagnetic entity that existed in the naturally-occurring piezoelectric crystal matrix of a dense, rocky world, the interference caused by the planet’s structure meant that B-5’s sensors did not detect the fierce ion storm being drawn to the planet like lightning to a rod.  The resulting planetary-scale electromagnetic disturbance overwhelmed even the Collator’s toughened systems, and he fell dormant.

Millennia later, the planet was struck by a rogue planetoid; the resulting electrical surge caused by the warping of the planets piezoelectrical matrix jump-started the Collator’s system.  As it awoke, it found its programming being invaded; the electromagnetic entity was fleeing the destruction of its home by leaping into the Collator’s circuitry.  As the Collator fled the doomed planet, the entity and the Collator merged together, the synthesis of the two creating a new, truly sentient being capable of independent thought.

This new being, who still thought of itself as Collator B-5, wondered what to do with this new gift.  In the intervening millennia, the Ethereum Collegiate appear to have vanished without a trace; perhaps wiped out, perhaps ascended to a higher plane of existence.  It spent centuries continuing to travel and learn about the universe; as it did so, it saw that knowledge was a fine thing, but that knowledge could be good or bad, depending on what it was used for.  Collator B-5 saw entire cultures-worth of information destroyed in religious fervour, and also saw cultures torn apart after being provided with technology beyond their ability to absorb or control by unscrupulous merchants.  The Collator became a guardian of knowledge, both in preserving knowledge and stopping it from harming innocents.

Powers

Collator B-5’s body is constructed from incredibly robust materials, capable of withstanding extremes of heat, cold and pressure.  Being robotic, the Collator has no need for sustenance, air or rest, and is powered by a near-inexhaustible cosmic battery, capable of recharging from numerous energy sources whenever required.

Designed to travel between the stars, the Collator is capable of interstellar flight via a very advanced warp drive system and atmospheric flight at speeds up to Mach 3.  As well as its shell being extremely resistant to damage, the Collator series were also equipped with a dermal force shield, both to aid its survivability and to protect it against radiation and micrometeorites during intergalactic travel; it is most efficient at deflecting and dissipating energy attacks and fast-moving small projectiles.  In the event of damage occurring, the Collator possesses an inbuilt nanorepair system capable of repairing damage to its shell or systems.  Whilst not designed for power, the Collator’s physical strength is sufficient to lift around five tons.

The Collator’s brain is a quantum neural matrix computer, capable of processing information at incredible speeds and storing massive amounts of data.  The Collator is also equipped with a fine sensor suite from the planetary scale down to the nanoscopic, capable of scanning planetary systems from space and performing detailed biochemical analysis.  It is also capable of interfacing with other computer systems wirelessly or, for more secure systems, by touch, and is capable of breaking through most security measures (depending on the technology level and measures in place, this takes a varying amount of time) to access the information therein.

Understanding that the Collators would be visiting alien cultures and would need to pass undetected, the Ethereum Collegiate also equipped them with personal holographic projectors, allowing them to alter their appearance to match that of local humanoids in order to interact and gather information, or to manipulate their subdermal energy field to bend light around them, effectively rendering them invisible to avoid visual detection.  The Collator is also capable of manipulating its dermal protection field to mimic different textures and pliabilities so as not to give away its nature at the shake of a hand.

Merging with the electromagnetic entity has given Collator B-5 powers beyond the standard Collator; it is now capable of manipulating electromagnetic energy.  This allows B-5 to generate magnetic fields to attract and repel ferrous metals, produce electromagnetic pulses to disrupt non-hardened electronics and generate electromagnetic force bolts.

Weaknesses

As a robotic entity, Collator B-5s systems can be disrupted by certain energy emissions of sufficient strength to bypass his defenses; in particular, ionic energy that manages to penetrate his systems, as not only does it disrupt his robotic component but also affects the electromagnetic component, causing the equivalent of an LCD trip.

His sensors can also be jammed or interfered with, particularly on the large scale; his planetary scanners are of little use on a populated technological planet for example, being disrupted by the various transmissions and energy emissions from the surface.  Even on an unpopulated planet local magnetic and gravitational disturbances reduce their effectiveness.  In space, Collator B-5’s sensors could detect an unshielded ship jumping into the system; on an uninhabited jungle planet his sensors might pick up a ship entering orbit; and on a populous, technologically advanced planet he might not register it until it was hovering above the city he was standing in.

The Collator used to possess a quantum link back to the Ethereum Collegiate’s information storage system; however, upon his reawakening the link was dead.  Collator B-5 has no idea what the fate of the Collegiate was, and has not encountered another Collator in the centuries since.