Cylons (TOS alternate)

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This article has a separate continuity. This article is in a separate continuity, which is related to the Original Series. Be sure that your contributions to this article reflect the characters and events specific to this continuity only.

The Cylons are entirely composed of robots, originally the creation of a reptilian race that were also known as Cylons.

Dynamite Entertainment comics

The Cylons known to the Colonials during the Thousand-Yahren War are robotic creatures, whose origins are mired in a deeper mythological morass than is suspect. While it is known that the robots usurped the mantle of their biological creators, whose natures are reptilian bipeds, the internal machinations that lead to this usurpation are unknown to the wider galactic history, involving external influences. Notably that of the infamous Iblis.

Diaspora

Reptilian Cylons

Kali, a female Cylon and creator of the machine race that assumed their race identity throughout the galaxy (^{(Comics: Battlestar Galactica vs. Battlestar Galactica #1)}—^{(Comics: Battlestar Galactica vs. Battlestar Galactica #5)}).

Originally, the reptilian Cylons created a race of robots to service their needs. While Kali, the inventor of the machines, believed the robots to be the means of Cylon domination throughout the galaxy, other Cylons abhorred this approach—including her mate (^{(Comics: Battlestar Galactica vs. Battlestar Galactica #5)}).

With Kali removed either by force or choice from the proceedings, the machines engaged in a conflict with their makers, all but wiping them from the universe and supplanting them as a force to be reckoned with.

Robotic Cylons

Society

Cylon society is bent on perfection, leading to either subjugation in the form of the "Alliance" or extermination of races who do not submit.

As of the seventh millennium of time, the Cylon Empire is expansive and sprawling insofar as the Colonials know, and thus the Cylons are a continual threat to Galactica and her rag-tag, futigive fleet during their ongoing exodus.

Castes

There are numerous types of Cylons:, in order of importance:

Imperious Leader

Reigning supreme above all other Cylons is the Imperious Leader, a being who dons the visage of their former creators.

IL-series

The IL-series (or the "IL group") are machines that typically take on the administrative duties of the Cylon Empire.

Each IL-series has its own unique personality, leading to conflicts within their own order as each vies to carve their own niche within the Cylon Empire.

Notable

• Abbadon†
• Belial†
• Lucifer
• Maytorian IL†

Command Centurion

Centurions with gold plated armor are analogous with commanders in the Colonial Military.

Such Centurions may also be used in special offensive operations, and were instrumental in the seeming victorious capture of Galactica (^{(Comics: Classic Battlestar Galactica Vol. 2 #4)}—^{(Comics: Classic Battlestar Galactica Vol. 2 #5)}).

Command variants of a lesser statue may also be in bronze armor, e.g. Vulpa.

Centurions

These are the chrome plated foot soldiers, pilots, and labor force for the Cylon Empire.

Heavy Weapons Unit

A Cylon Heavy Weapons Unit as remembered to Adama in his nightmares focused on the attack on Caprica (^{(Comics: Classic Battlestar Galactica Vol. 2 #1)}).

The Cylon Heavy Weapons Unit is a machine featuring an upper body and head shaped similarly to the "face" of the machine Cylons, the Centurion, appropriately portioned and installed upon a tank chassis. These units are employed for ground assaults, and Colonial Warriors associate them by their ozone smell and heat vents (^{(Comics: Classic Battlestar Galactica Vol. 2 #1)}).

Civilians

Cylon "civilians" conceivably fill out the other non-military and non-leadership roles. Civilians appear in a humanoid form, often robed and featuring a face laden with circuitry (^{(Comics: Battlestar Galactica: Cylon Apocalypse #2)}).

Such civilians reside and operate in Cylon cities, such as Tessida (^{(Comics: Battlestar Galactica: Cylon Apocalypse #3)}).

Cylon craft

There are three known Cylon spacecraft:

• Basestar: Capital ships of the Cylon military force, analogous to the Colonial battlestar.
• Raider: The primary fighter of the Cylon forces, manned by two pilots and a ship commander.
• Freighter: Ships used throughout the Cylon sphere of influence to provide fuel. May be used to support an offensive operation, as demonstrated at the Battle of Cimtar ^{(TOS: "Saga of a Star World")}.

Berkley Novelizations

A Cylon's status in the Cylon Empire is determined by the number of brains they possess.

Centurions start off with one brain, but can achieve a "second brain" status. The Imperious Leader itself achieves a third brain status.

Achieving a second or third brain status resorts in the Cylon becoming a "reptilian sort of beast" mentally.

Notable Cylons

Spectre

Spectre is an IL-series Cylon who commands a basestar during an assault on Galactica and her fleet. Originally assigned to a remote planet where he managed to rise through the Cylon hierarchy through false reports that portrayed himself as a hero, Spectre possesses "a special ability to turn defeat into victory."

Spectre develops fierce ambition and considers Lucifer an obstacle to his progress up the Cylon hierarchy. After discovering Lucifer's damaged condition, Spectre repairs him but tampers with his personality programming, turning his former nemesis into a docile assassin under his complete control.

Lucifer

Lucifer is described as an ambulatory sentient computer who has experienced significant memory loss. Spectre revives him from a damaged state and alters his personality programming to make him obedient and murderous toward humans, whom he now views as "vermin which must be exterminated from the universe."

Lucifer is disguised as a Borellian Noman and sent aboard Galactica with Baltar on an assassination mission to kill Commander Adama. However, when confronting Starbuck in Adama's quarters, Lucifer experiences vivid memories of their past friendship, including playing cards and discussing the differences between humans and Cylons. Unable to kill Starbuck despite his programming, Lucifer realizes that Spectre has transformed him "from one of the finest cybernetic creations in the Cylon universe to a mere hired killer, a machine of evil."

After the mission's failure, Lucifer's disguise is removed by Galactica's scientists and his original personality is restored. He assists in restructuring his own personality while removing Spectre's overlay programming. Starbuck later invites Lucifer to "try their side" and work for the Colonials, to which Lucifer responds positively, admitting "I think I like you, Starbuck."

Cylon customs

Cylons have various customs in their society. One such custom is having both an official name and a secret name. Official names are used when communicating to non-Cylons and it is considered humiliating if a Cylon's secret name is learned by outsiders. Further, the secret name is part of the secret sector of Cylon language.

Lucifer, despite not being an actual Cylon in the novelizations but rather a robotic construct, is permitted to adopt this custom. In his conversation with Baltar, Lucifer informs him that "Lucifer" is actually an initialism of his secret name.

Cylon constructs

In the novelizations, Lucifer is a Cylon construct. He is considered an "ambulatory cybernetic sentience" and is the result of Cylons' developments into different technologies during the Thousand Yahren War. Further, Lucifer claims that he can manufacture machines and that he has a soul, as he was able to create his own personality.