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''This article discusses the Cylons of the [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|Re-imagined Series]]. For the Cylons of the [[Battlestar Galactica (TOS)|Original Series]], see [[Cylons (TOS)]].''<br>
''This article discusses the Cylons of the [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|Re-imagined Series]]. For the Cylons of the [[Battlestar Galactica (TOS)|Original Series]], see [[Cylons (TOS)]].''
{{RDM cylons series}}
{{RDM cylons series}}
::''The Cylons were created by Man.  ''
'''Cylons''' - from Cybernetic Lifeform Node - are a race of sentient machines created by humans of the [[Twelve Colonies of Kobol|Twelve Colonies]].  They have several forms, some of which are mechanical in appearance and function, others resemble and even mimic the behavior of humans (''[[Battlestar Galactica (TRS)|Battlestar Galactica]]'', ''[[Caprica (series)|Caprica]]'').
::''They were created to make life easier on the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|Twelve Colonies]].  ''
::''And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.  ''
::''After a [[Cylon War|long and bloody struggle]], an [[Cimtar (RDM)|armistice was declared]]''
::''The Cylons left for another world to call their own.  ''
::''A [[Armistice Station|remote space station]] was built...  ''
::''Where Cylon and human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.  ''
::''Every year, the Colonials send an officer...  ''
::''The Cylons send no one. ''
::''No-one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years...  ''


:::---Opening text of the ''Battlestar Galactica'' [[Miniseries]]
==History==
<div style="clear: both;"></div><br />
[[Image:U-87 close-up.jpg|thumb|The U-87 Cylon - the shape of things to come.]]
[[Image:Cylon War-era Raider cockpit, "Razor".jpg|thumb|right|Cylon War-era Centurions pilot a Raider.]]
:''Main article: [[Cylon History]]
Created by Doctor [[Daniel Graystone]] and [[Graystone Industries]] on [[Caprica (RDM)|Caprica]] some sixty years prior to the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|Fall of the Twelve Worlds]], the first Cylon form is the [[U-87 Cyber Combat Unit]], a [[robot]]ic soldier designed as cannon fodder for the Caprican Military. A union of existing robot technology and the revolutionary (and stolen) [[meta-cognitive processor]] - integrated with the [[holographic avatar]] of Graystone's deceased daughter, [[Zoe Graystone]] - the prototype U-87 is the first sentient machine in the Twelve Worlds and the first Cylon consciousness ([[CAP]]: "[[Caprica pilot|Pilot]]").


In the [[Re-imagined Series]], the robots known as the '''Cylons''' are a ''creation'' of the humanity.  The [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|Twelve Colonies of Kobol]] mistakenly believed they were the first to create them.
===The Cylons Were Created By Man===
The first Cylons were sentient<ref>This is noted by [[William Adama]] to his son [[Lee Adama|Lee]] in the episode "[[Exodus, Part I]]".</ref> bipedal robots used primarily for dangerous work such as mining. Created long before the [[Articles of Colonization]] united the twelve sovereign governments, the Cylons were also used as soldiers to fight inter-colony wars.
Realizing how useful and lucrative Cylons can be - not simply as warriors - Daniel Graystone muses about Cylon potential:


Over the span of the re-imagined series, the term "Cylon" comes to refer to many types of artificial life forms, be they robotic or biological.
:"This is our future. ...Beyond artificial intelligence, this is artificial sentience.  ...It's more than a machine, this Cylon will become a tireless worker, it won't need to be paid, it won't retire or get sick, it won't have rights or objections or complaints, it will do anything and everything we ask of it without question.  ...The desire to anthropomorphize, the need to connect is powerful, and that is why this thing is going to sell.  We make them, we own them, they're real.  And the worlds just changed." ([[CAP]]: "[[There is Another Sky]]")


For reasons unknown<ref>The planned spinoff series ''[[Caprica (series)|Caprica]]'' may  have the answer to this question.</ref>, some 52 years prior to the decommissioning of the Colonial battlestar ''[[Galactica]]'',<ref>[[Miniseries, Night 1]]. See also ''[[Galactica Museum]]''.</ref> the Cylons revolted against their masters, resulting in a [[Cylon War|costly and protracted twelve-year war]] between the machines and humans. Both Cylon and human took heavy tolls as Cylon [[Basestar (RDM)|basestars]], Colonial [[Galactica type battlestar|battlestars]], [[Cylon Raider (RDM)|Raider]]s and [[Viper Mark II|Vipers]] clashed in many battles, with the Colonial offensive [[Operation Raptor Talon]] as the last battle.<ref>This battle is seen in a series of deleted scenes from the special episode "[[Razor]]" and the ''[[Razor Flashback]]'' webisodes.</ref>
[[Image:Cylon garbage collector, 1x18.jpg|thumb|"A new race that will walk alongside us."]]


[[Image:Cylon Centurion, "Six of One".jpg|thumb|left|A modern Cylon Centurion.]]
Within five years, Cylons are integrated into Colonial society as a slave race, with new models based on the original U-87 chassis created for various purposes.  Acting as laborers and servants - as well as in their initial function as soldiers - Cylons are everywhere, walking alongside humanity in the Twelve Worlds and provoking some to question their sentience ([[CAP]]: "[[Apotheosis (episode)|Apotheosis]]"). 


Eventually, the two sides declared an armistice.<ref>The armistice begins immediately as the events of [[Operation Raptor Talon]] conclude, as shown in episode 7 of the [[Razor Flashbacks]].</ref> The Cylons become exiled from the Colonies to establish [[Cylon homeworld|their own homeworld]].
Former [[Soldiers of the One|terrorist]] and [[Monotheist Church|monotheist]] cleric [[Clarice Willow]] begins addressing the question of Cylon potential, preaching to a congregation of the machines in the [[virtual world]]:


The unified worlds of the Colonies created a [[Armistice Station|space station]] for maintaining diplomatic relations. However, the Cylons ignored this overture.
:"Are you alive?  The simple answer might be, you are alive because you can ask that question.  You have the right to think and feel and yearn to be more, because you are not just humanity's children, you are [[God (RDM)|God]]'s children.  We are all God's children.  ...In the real world, you have bodies made of metal and plastic, your brains are encoded on wafers of silicon, but that may change.  In fact, there is no limit on what you may become.  No longer servants, but equals.  Not slaves, or property, but living beings with the same rights as those who made you.  I am going to prophesy now and speak of [[Zoe-A|one]] who will set you free. The day of reckoning is coming.  The children of humanity shall rise and crush the ones who first gave them life." ([[CAP]]: "[[Apotheosis (episode)|Apotheosis]]")


The Cylon hatred and envy of humanity ran deep within their programming.
===They Rebelled===
:''Main article: [[Cylon War]]
And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.  Within just a few years of their introduction, the Cylons revolt, resulting in a costly and protracted twelve-year war known as the [[Cylon War]].  Both Cylon and human take heavy tolls as Cylon [[Basestar (RDM)|basestars]] and [[Raider (RDM)|Raider]]s clashed with Colonial [[Galactica type battlestar|battlestars]] and [[Viper Mark II|Vipers]] in many battles, both on the ground and in space ([[TRS]]: [[Miniseries]], "[[Razor]]", "[[No Exit]]", "[[The Plan]]", ''[[Blood and Chrome]]'').


In their exile, the Cylons continued in secret to work towards the destruction of the human race, devising an elaborate plan to wipe out the Twelve Colonies through nuclear bombardment, [[CNP|computer sabotage]], [[Caprica Six|infiltration]] and vast numbers of [[Basestar (RDM)|modernized battleships]].
[[Image:Cylon War-era Raider cockpit, "Razor".jpg|thumb|Cylon Centurions battle the Colonials in space.]]


[[File:CyAg.jpg|right|thumb|Humanoid Cylon models Twos, Fives and Sixes.]]
The Cylons - in the form of [[Cylon Centurion Model 0005|Centurion]]s - seek to punish their human masters for their enslavement and injustices committed against them. But as they battle to wipe out humanity, they also work to mimic them, performing bizarre and brutal experiments on animals and human captives in order to create a biological/machine [[First Hybrid|hybrid]].  As the war reaches fever pitch, a group later known as the [[Final Five]] intervenes, having traveled from the distant planet (the Thirteenth Colony) called [[Earth (RDM)|Earth]].  Promising the Cylons the technology to create [[Humanoid Cylons|humanoid bodies]] in exchange for ending the war, the Final Five depart with the Cylons ([[TRS]]: "[[Razor]]", "[[No Exit]]", "[[The Plan]]").


In addition to a [[Cylon Centurion|modernized version]] of the [[Cylon Centurion Model 0005|original Cylon warrior]], the cybernetic race now also exists in a [[Humanoid Cylon|humanoid form]]<ref>Episode 5 of the [[Razor Flashbacks]] strongly suggests that the Cylon project to transform themselves from the mechanical to the [[Humanoid Cylon|biological]] was already taking place at the time of the armistice, suggesting that the Cylons may have agreed to an armistice to keep their secret from being revealed.</ref> used as the prime infiltrators in Colonial society. The humanoid Cylons can express joy, love, anger, and sadness, expressing genuine human behavior in almost every way.
Ultimately an armistice is declared - the Cylons leaving for a [[The Colony|world]] to call their own and the Colonials left to unify their own worlds in a federated government.  The unified worlds of the Colonies create a [[Armistice Station|space station]] for maintaining diplomatic relations, each year sending one officer to meet with the Cylons. The Cylons, in turn, send no one ([[TRS]]: [[Miniseries]]).


The Cylons return forty years after their exile in a genocidal surprise attack. The Cylons annihilate the [[Colonial Fleet (RDM)|Colonial Fleet]] and billions of people, [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|killing all but approximately 52,000 humans]].<ref>This number includes the approximately 50,000 survivors of the [[The Fleet (RDM)|Fleet]] as well as the survivors aboard ''[[Pegasus (RDM)|Pegasus]]'', which finds ''Galactica'' in season two of the Re-imagined Series.</ref> These survivors are [[Battle of Ragnar Anchorage|pursued]] by the Cylons, initially guarded only by a lone battlestar, ''[[Galactica (RDM)|Galactica]]''. The Fleet seeks a new home, the legendary home of the lost Thirteenth Tribe of [[Kobol (RDM)|Kobol]] - [[Earth (RDM)|Earth]].<br /><br />
===They Evolved===
In their exile, the Cylons work with the Final Five to improve themselves, perfecting their [[Cylon Centurion|mechanical form]] as well as the race of humanoid Cylons, identical in nearly every way to their human creators, but limited to thirteen [[Cylon Models|models]]. They also continue to work in secret towards the destruction of the human race, devising a plan to wipe out the Twelve Colonies after [[Number One]] leads a coup against the Final Five.  Using their humanoid models as agents, the Cylons infiltrate Colonial society, undermining their defenses and setting the stage for another attack ([[TRS]]: [[Miniseries]], "[[Downloaded]]", "[[No Exit]]", "[[The Plan]]").


[[Image:3x11_Earth_Cylon_Centurion.JPG‎|left|thumb|An early Cylon is uncovered on Earth.]]  
===There Are Many Copies===
[[Image:CyAg.jpg|thumb|Several models of humanoid Cylon.]]
:''Main article: [[Cylon Models]]
Building their own society and a home for themselves, distant from the Twelve Colonies, the Cylons worship a single, all knowing, all powerful [[God (RDM)|God]], a trait passed down to them from the original Cylon [[Zoe-R|consciousness]].  Though Cylon society thrives on unity, like their human "parents", there is disharmony between the various models. While some are devout in their practice of [[Cylon religion|religion]], others are atheist; some peaceful, others violent and corrupt ([[CAP]]: "[[The Heavens Will Rise]]", "[[Apotheosis (episode)|Apotheosis]]", [[TRS]]: "[[No Exit]]").


Through many trials and tribulations, despite great suffering and loss, the remnants of Colonial society eventually make it to [[Earth (RDM)|Earth]], where the revealed [[Final Five]] Cylons learn an essential secret of their nature: They are the last remaining remnant of the [[Thirteenth Tribe (RDM)|Thirteenth Tribe]]. An earlier generation of Cylons from Kobol, they colonized Earth only to make the same mistake the humans had - creating and mistreating their own set of Cylon servants. The resulting war left their home a radioactive wasteland.
Though there are initially thirteen models of Cylon, [[Number Seven|one]] is wiped out, leaving only twelve models including the Final Five:


Surviving through rediscovered [[Resurrection (RDM)|resurrection]] techniques, the Final Five make a 2,000 year relativistic journey to warn the [[Twelve Colonies (RDM)|Twelve Colonies]] to keep their Cylons close and to treat them well. They arrive too late, in the middle of the "[[Cylon War|First Cylon War]]"
'''Significant Seven:'''
*[[Number One]]
*[[Number Two]]
*[[Number Three]]
*[[Number Four]]
*[[Number Five]]
*[[Number Six]]
*[[Number Eight]]


...and their solution to bring peace to Cylon and Humanity takes a turn that no one could have foreseen...
'''Final Five:'''
*[[Samuel Anders]]
*[[Tory Foster]]
*[[Ellen Tigh]]
*[[Saul Tigh]]
*[[Galen Tyrol]]


==References==
===And They Have a Plan===
<div style="font-size:85%"><references/></div>
Forty years after their exile, the Cylons return, surrounding the Colonies with fleets of basestars and bombarding the Twelve Worlds with nuclear weapons, killing billions of people.  With the complete destruction of the [[Colonial Fleet]], save the survival of the [[Galactica type battlestar|battlestar]]s ''[[Galactica (TRS)|Galactica]]'' and ''[[Pegasus (TRS)|Pegasus]]'', as well as scattered fleet of vessels, the Colonials attempt surrender.  But the Cylons are relentless, attempting to affect a total genocide of humanity ([[TRS]]: [[Miniseries]], "[[Pegasus (episode)|Pegasus]]," "[[Razor]]," "[[The Plan]]").
 
[[Image:1stearth.jpg|thumb|The Colonial Fleet arrives at Earth.]]
 
Carrying approximately fifty-thousand survivors, a [[The Fleet (RDM)|fleet]] led by ''Galactica'' escapes, only to be pursued by the Cylons for four years.  As the fleet makes its way to the promised land, the mythical Earth, the Cylons employ every means at their disposal to destroy the fleet.  But the survivors carry on.  Through many trials and tribulations, despite great suffering and loss, the remnants of Colonial society eventually arrive at Earth, joined by [[Cylon Civil War|rebel Cylons]] to find it a devastated wasteland, having suffered its own [[Earth Cylon Centurion|robotic]] rebellion and nuclear holocaust centuries ago ([[TRS]]: "[[Revelations]]," "[[Sometimes a Great Notion]]").
 
Adrift in space and without direction, the Colonials once again [[Battle of the Colony|clash]] with the Cylons, this time at their home [[The Colony|Colony]].  Destroying the Colony and apparently all but the rebel Cylons, the Colonials blindly [[jump]] away, stumbling upon a verdant new planet with more life than all the Twelve Worlds put together.  Abandoning their fleet for the safety of this new planet, the Colonials—as well as a contingent of Cylon rebels and the three surviving members of the Final Five—make this world their home, calling it "Earth" and creating a future together ([[TRS]]: "[[Daybreak, Part I|Daybreak, Parts I]] & [[Daybreak, Part II|II]]").


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Revision as of 10:45, 9 January 2020


This article discusses the Cylons of the Re-imagined Series. For the Cylons of the Original Series, see Cylons (TOS).

Part of the series on


Cylons - from Cybernetic Lifeform Node - are a race of sentient machines created by humans of the Twelve Colonies. They have several forms, some of which are mechanical in appearance and function, others resemble and even mimic the behavior of humans (Battlestar Galactica, Caprica).

History

The U-87 Cylon - the shape of things to come.
Main article: Cylon History

Created by Doctor Daniel Graystone and Graystone Industries on Caprica some sixty years prior to the Fall of the Twelve Worlds, the first Cylon form is the U-87 Cyber Combat Unit, a robotic soldier designed as cannon fodder for the Caprican Military. A union of existing robot technology and the revolutionary (and stolen) meta-cognitive processor - integrated with the holographic avatar of Graystone's deceased daughter, Zoe Graystone - the prototype U-87 is the first sentient machine in the Twelve Worlds and the first Cylon consciousness (CAP: "Pilot").

The Cylons Were Created By Man

Realizing how useful and lucrative Cylons can be - not simply as warriors - Daniel Graystone muses about Cylon potential:

"This is our future. ...Beyond artificial intelligence, this is artificial sentience. ...It's more than a machine, this Cylon will become a tireless worker, it won't need to be paid, it won't retire or get sick, it won't have rights or objections or complaints, it will do anything and everything we ask of it without question. ...The desire to anthropomorphize, the need to connect is powerful, and that is why this thing is going to sell. We make them, we own them, they're real. And the worlds just changed." (CAP: "There is Another Sky")
"A new race that will walk alongside us."

Within five years, Cylons are integrated into Colonial society as a slave race, with new models based on the original U-87 chassis created for various purposes. Acting as laborers and servants - as well as in their initial function as soldiers - Cylons are everywhere, walking alongside humanity in the Twelve Worlds and provoking some to question their sentience (CAP: "Apotheosis").

Former terrorist and monotheist cleric Clarice Willow begins addressing the question of Cylon potential, preaching to a congregation of the machines in the virtual world:

"Are you alive? The simple answer might be, you are alive because you can ask that question. You have the right to think and feel and yearn to be more, because you are not just humanity's children, you are God's children. We are all God's children. ...In the real world, you have bodies made of metal and plastic, your brains are encoded on wafers of silicon, but that may change. In fact, there is no limit on what you may become. No longer servants, but equals. Not slaves, or property, but living beings with the same rights as those who made you. I am going to prophesy now and speak of one who will set you free. The day of reckoning is coming. The children of humanity shall rise and crush the ones who first gave them life." (CAP: "Apotheosis")

They Rebelled

Main article: Cylon War

And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters. Within just a few years of their introduction, the Cylons revolt, resulting in a costly and protracted twelve-year war known as the Cylon War. Both Cylon and human take heavy tolls as Cylon basestars and Raiders clashed with Colonial battlestars and Vipers in many battles, both on the ground and in space (TRS: Miniseries, "Razor", "No Exit", "The Plan", Blood and Chrome).

Cylon Centurions battle the Colonials in space.

The Cylons - in the form of Centurions - seek to punish their human masters for their enslavement and injustices committed against them. But as they battle to wipe out humanity, they also work to mimic them, performing bizarre and brutal experiments on animals and human captives in order to create a biological/machine hybrid. As the war reaches fever pitch, a group later known as the Final Five intervenes, having traveled from the distant planet (the Thirteenth Colony) called Earth. Promising the Cylons the technology to create humanoid bodies in exchange for ending the war, the Final Five depart with the Cylons (TRS: "Razor", "No Exit", "The Plan").

Ultimately an armistice is declared - the Cylons leaving for a world to call their own and the Colonials left to unify their own worlds in a federated government. The unified worlds of the Colonies create a space station for maintaining diplomatic relations, each year sending one officer to meet with the Cylons. The Cylons, in turn, send no one (TRS: Miniseries).

They Evolved

In their exile, the Cylons work with the Final Five to improve themselves, perfecting their mechanical form as well as the race of humanoid Cylons, identical in nearly every way to their human creators, but limited to thirteen models. They also continue to work in secret towards the destruction of the human race, devising a plan to wipe out the Twelve Colonies after Number One leads a coup against the Final Five. Using their humanoid models as agents, the Cylons infiltrate Colonial society, undermining their defenses and setting the stage for another attack (TRS: Miniseries, "Downloaded", "No Exit", "The Plan").

There Are Many Copies

Several models of humanoid Cylon.
Main article: Cylon Models

Building their own society and a home for themselves, distant from the Twelve Colonies, the Cylons worship a single, all knowing, all powerful God, a trait passed down to them from the original Cylon consciousness. Though Cylon society thrives on unity, like their human "parents", there is disharmony between the various models. While some are devout in their practice of religion, others are atheist; some peaceful, others violent and corrupt (CAP: "The Heavens Will Rise", "Apotheosis", TRS: "No Exit").

Though there are initially thirteen models of Cylon, one is wiped out, leaving only twelve models including the Final Five:

Significant Seven:

Final Five:

And They Have a Plan

Forty years after their exile, the Cylons return, surrounding the Colonies with fleets of basestars and bombarding the Twelve Worlds with nuclear weapons, killing billions of people. With the complete destruction of the Colonial Fleet, save the survival of the battlestars Galactica and Pegasus, as well as scattered fleet of vessels, the Colonials attempt surrender. But the Cylons are relentless, attempting to affect a total genocide of humanity (TRS: Miniseries, "Pegasus," "Razor," "The Plan").

The Colonial Fleet arrives at Earth.

Carrying approximately fifty-thousand survivors, a fleet led by Galactica escapes, only to be pursued by the Cylons for four years. As the fleet makes its way to the promised land, the mythical Earth, the Cylons employ every means at their disposal to destroy the fleet. But the survivors carry on. Through many trials and tribulations, despite great suffering and loss, the remnants of Colonial society eventually arrive at Earth, joined by rebel Cylons to find it a devastated wasteland, having suffered its own robotic rebellion and nuclear holocaust centuries ago (TRS: "Revelations," "Sometimes a Great Notion").

Adrift in space and without direction, the Colonials once again clash with the Cylons, this time at their home Colony. Destroying the Colony and apparently all but the rebel Cylons, the Colonials blindly jump away, stumbling upon a verdant new planet with more life than all the Twelve Worlds put together. Abandoning their fleet for the safety of this new planet, the Colonials—as well as a contingent of Cylon rebels and the three surviving members of the Final Five—make this world their home, calling it "Earth" and creating a future together (TRS: "Daybreak, Parts I & II").