Over the course of Remnant's life span, it has had legendary heroes rise and fall, heroes whose willpower, love and sense of right motivated them against the forces of evil. Sometimes, these heroes fought with weapons that one could physically hold, these weapons were extensions of one's' being, but other times, they fought with their minds, their brains instead of their brawn. The latter could be just as mighty as the former, if not stronger.
In present day Remnant, Atlas is believed to be on top in terms of technology, but when talking about artificial intelligence, such is not the case. See, a long while before the Fall of Beacon, a long while before Team RWBY, in the old glory days of Team STRQ when they still attended Beacon, there existed a particular lad in Vale, no older than 18. A right eccentric, the boy fancied electronics, and since he was a bit of a social outcast, he turned to artificial intelligence.
Despite being a social outcast, someone you weren't supposed to be seen hanging around with, he had the brightest golden heart you could ever hope to see, but as a result of his status, he was lonely, hence his interest in AI. The boy studied everything he could at the time, and when he reached dead ends, studied using his own methods. He had a particular understanding of both electronics and dust that no other being could rival, and, in but a year, created his first working AI, leagues above what those suits working for Atlas could achieve in 10.
The AI was his first, but not his last, not by a longshot, though he gave his first a unique appearance to distinguish it from the others. It's rather hard to explain the appearance so we'll start simple. The AI's casing was a brass color, it stood at a height of 6'0, and bore average body proportions. Taking the appearance of a female, it had a rather beautiful appearance despite being made out of brass. Using green dust crystals cut into small ovals, they served as its eyes, while a small horn came from its mouth, allowing it speech.
The distinguishing feature that set it apart from its other artificial siblings wasn't the horn or the appearance, but rather a blue cloak that it wore, wrapped around its shoulders. Following its creation, hundreds of other AI were born, all generations having specific features unique to them, though they all bore the same red dust crystal for hearts and the horn coming from the mouth for speech. The first generation of AI were laborers, they built a massive complex underground for the boy, ever expanding to make more chambers for the AI to both house and create them.
The second generation of AI were used for excavation, and worked hand-in-hand with the first generation to build the complex he desired so far under the soil. This generation, instead of the standard male appearance, which was the same as the first AI created save for made in the image of a male, bore little differences. Some had large plumes, some had sharp metal tails, some had drills and hammers for hands.
The third and last generation of AI were used for battle, though their creation was far more complex than the first and second and their appearance was the most unique of them all. Starting from the top, they wore helmets in the image of the bone armor the creatures of Grimm wore. Some wore Beowolf masks, some Nevermore masks, though they all had the same blood red plumes.
Back to their creation, the boy went around Vale and personally collected every combat book that he could, and, when he had all of them stored, he imprinted these war machines with the ability to learn, to discover. When the first 10 were created, as a test, he gave them books and taught them to read before leaving them for a month. When he returned, he discovered they had reached skill levels on par with master-level hunters and huntresses, and their skill only increased with every book read.
Thus began the mass production of war AI, his intentions to use them to save lives all across Remnant and to put an end to the Grimm menace. Unfortunately, his dream wouldn't see light in his lifetime. The last people saw of him was two years after STRQ graduated from Beacon Academy, roaming around the streets madly and mumbling something no one was able to comprehend.
After being seized, he was locked up in some sort of crazy asylum. At first, it seemed he recovered somewhat, though one day, they found him in a pool of his own blood in his cell. When asked, the head of the asylum said, and I quote, "It was a mess.. There was so much blood we didn't know where to begin, and what was written on the wall, I've never figured out. 'We are one and the same'."
In recent events, following the Fall of Beacon, there was a mining operation in Vale, some explorers apparently stumbled upon one of the facilities. They reported seeing brass machinery, endlessly pumping dust of various colors through tubes, automatons going about their duties without paying mind to the new lifeforms.
Not all was good, however. One particularly unlucky explorer discovered that some automatons weren't like the others. Prodding at one with a mask in the image of a Grimm, the poor lad must've woken it up, and when it woke up, it wasn't happy. One explorer vividly remembers the painful wails that came from his mutilated companion, broken bones, limbs severed from body, deep gashes in the body. It would've struck again had it not powered down, turned off.
In any case, this is just what I've been told to give to some huntress coming over from Mistral. Some hotshot I guess, likes to work alone. I hope she can figure out what the hell is going on, people are in enough of an outrage as it is with Atlas apparently attacking civilians during the Fall of Beacon. The world is severed, we don't need crazy AI leagues above us to start wreaking havoc as well.