Civilian Cylon

This article discusses the Cylons seen in the Caprica series finale, "Apotheosis". For the non-military Cylons seen in The Original Series, see Cylon civilians.

Cylon construction workers build a highrise in Caprica City.

Civilian Cylon models are a number of commercially available Cylons sold by Graystone Industries in the years before the Cylon War. They are built to make life easier on Caprica and the Twelve Worlds.

History

CEO and founder of Graystone Industries, Daniel Graystone conceives of a race of sentient machines to serve humanity in the Colonies during the testing and construction of the U-87 Cyber Combat Unit - a military robot commissioned by the Caprican Government and first Cylon to be introduced in the Twelve Worlds (CAP: "There Is Another Sky").

Conception

Caprican garbage collectors work with their Cylon counterparts.

Struggling to solve technical issues plaguing the line of U-87s, Graystone Industries most profitable product - the holoband - comes under scrutiny when Graystone's daughter, Zoe is implicated as the possible perpetrator of the Soldiers of the One attack on Caprica City's MLMT train. With many citizens of Caprica blaming the holoband for society's ills, Graystone Industries begins hemorrhaging cubits. In a desperate bid to retain control of his company, Daniel Graystone declares holobands dead and presents the U-87 to the company's board of directors as the future of Graystone Industries:

"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."

Securing the board's (temporary) support, Graystone returns to the process of honing his U-87 prototype, but it is not for several years that the dream of Cylons as part of Colonial society is fulfilled (CAP: "There Is Another Sky").

Introduction

A Cylon servant walks its owners pet dogs.

Following the event at Atlas Arena and the defeat of STO terrorists by Caprican Military Cylons, the Colonial public is galvanized. Having demonstrated the usefulness of Cylons as protectors against the monotheist threat, Graystone Industries quickly begins the design and manufacture of Cylons for use in every day Colonial society (CAP: "Apotheosis").

Based on Graystone Industries' prototypical robotic model, the U-87 Cyber Combat Unit, these civilian Cylons are smaller in stature and built for non-military applications. Used primarily as laborers, Cylon construction workers, garbage collectors and personal servants or butlers appear on the streets of Caprica and other colonies within four years of the initial breakthrough in Cylon technology (CAP: "Apotheosis").

Rebellion

Though Colonial society accepts Cylons as a positive addition to life in the Twelve Worlds, some questions about the speed and impact of their introduction are raised. In an interview with Cylon inventor Daniel Graystone, Baxter Sarno questions this new technology, saying, "I’m hearing talk about Cylon butlers, Cylon nurses. How long before my niece Candace comes home with her Cylon fiance to introduce to the family?" (CAP: "Apotheosis")

A congregation of Cylons assembles in the virtual world.

Others are less equivocal, taking to the virtual world, Sister Clarice Willow begins preaching to a flock of Cylons, speaking of their sentience:

"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")

Notes

• The butler/servant Cylon model was based on an early design by Richard Livingston, who also had a hand in the design of the U-87 Cylon. [1] A sketch dating back to 2006 featured a Cylon with a smaller frame, white armor and a blue-glowing eye - "The idea originally was that the Cylons were 'slaves' (butlers, gardeners, etc) and that they should look like Cylons but should also appear weak and vulnerable enough to be kicked around and abused." [2]

Caprica definition: a monotheistic terrorist organization in existence for more than a decade prior to 58 BCH ((CAP: "Pilot"), et al).