Sita

Origins
Sita were created by Dr. Shea Rogamma during the first manned mission to Arkos. Upon arrival, it was quickly discovered that the landing team had been stranded. While studying the local wildlife, Dr. Rogamma found that the organisms (called Botah) all seemed to contain an organ that closely resembled a Gupta-Troxel cybernetic supercomputer. Although she was unaware at the time, the Botah collective was directly descended from extremophiles that had hitchhiked with the first probes sent to the planet and had subsequently hijacked the GTCSs. Knowing that the exploration team would eventually run out of resources, Dr. Rogamma repurposed the wild Sita organ, allowing it to protect the crew from exposure to the wild Botah collective. Although her original intentions were to create a buffer to allow a human to survive in the wild on Arkos, the subsequent short term and long term effects were drastic and would completely alter future of life on the planet.

Dr. Rogamma originally discovered the existence of Sita while studying the amputated arm of her Chief Security Officer, Commander Ares Voight. Commander Voight had become infected with Botah while trying to rescue one of the researchers, Dr. Dasmin Armet. Dr. Armet was completely consumed by the infection along with CDR Voight's arm. It was with this sample that she created the first incarnation of Sita. Although it would pale in comparison to her later variations, it was successful in creating a barrier to the infectious species of Botah that lingered in the wild outside of their protective perimeter. Later incarnations would eventually include the use of open access pocket dimensional energy depots, or Taschuchu, which would become the most ubiquitous type of Sita found in most Arkosians.

One of the first side effects of using Sita is sterility. Dr. Rogamma predicted this and was hesitant to use the technology on her crew. However, knowing that they were likely to never survive the mission, her team eventually agreed to the procedure. Eventually, developments in creating new variations of Sita would allow for a workaround this problem in the form of cloning and Tukusa manipulation.

Gupta-Troxel Cybernetic Supercomputer
Sita are incredibly complex and depend on a number of sophisticated systems to function. The most basic and essential part of Sita is its completely biological GTCS. It is this system that allows for a host body to communicate both with the Sita itself, but then also to allow the Sita to communicate and manipulate Botah. Without any conscious direction, this system acts as an immune system to the most common varieties of infectious Botah that linger in the open environments of Arkos. With training, the GTCS within the Sita also allows its user to actively command Botah that it has successfully integrated with.

One of the most common and perhaps most practical uses of manipulating Botah is harnessing Tukusa. Tukusa refers to any number of mold like Botah organisms that cover the landscape much like mosses or grasses. A covering of Tukusa provides an even greater barrier against infectious Botah, including other species of Tukusa that can be harmful or deadly. Wearers are able to apply various Tukusa to create massive variation in appearance, changing color, texture, and in its most extreme properties, even manipulating body mass distribution.

This latter ability is used to create new limbs and external organs which in turn is used to generate all manner of observable sexes, races, and body structures. Being able to produce such variation becomes a necessity as Sita effectively makes most humans completely sterile. Dr. Rogamma would eventually develop a work around this problem by using Tukusa to simulate sexual reproduction. Instead of normal human reproduction, the Sita clones its user and mimics sex in their Tukusa instead. Because the Tukusa has such a drastic effect on the wearer and their interaction with both their environment and their own consciousness, the interplay allows for a nearly analogous form of sexual selection and evolution. In doing so, the host's original human clone acts as a core and baseline while the Tukusa performs all other functions of sex.

* IDEA? perhaps not everyone became sterile, and those who didn't created their own culture.

Most Arkosians choose to retain the Tukusa they inherit from their family. Even so, individuals almost always choose some other forms of Tukusa to decorate and individualize themselves. These modifications are traditionally added to the existing Tukusa. Societies with a strong cultural foundation and long lineages tend to lean more towards Tukusa that is either inherited or passed down by their families. More independent societies or individualistic people lean more towards heavy modification of their inherited Tukusa. In some extreme examples, their entire Tukusa exterior, known as a Stoffhada, is replaced.

A form of capital punishment on Arkos consists of disabling a person's Stoffhada while simultaneously exposing them to any number of various Tukusa species of ill rapport. Which species are chosen depends the crimes committed, the judgment, the culture, and the organisms available. In most cases, the victim is taken over by a Tukusa that causes them to be converted completely into its mass, usually resembling its wearer, effectively turning them into a statue. These effigies, known a Tukchozo, stand as reminders to others of the crimes they committed and the laws enforced in that society.

Taschuchu
Taschuchu, also known as open access pocket dimensional energy depots, are perhaps the most powerful system within a Sita. In essence, these pocket dimensions allow for a Sita to store and expend vast amounts of energy with little cost to its own energy reserves. Although there are many ways this energy can be used, the most common practice is the advance manipulation of Botah.

Taschuchu are not actually very common in the various wild Botah species. Instead, it mostly exists in a select few of the vegetative families. Since these plantlike species are mostly immobile, they depend on the ability to store energy whenever it is available, and in some cases to use this energy to manipulate other species around them to serve them. Dr. Rogamma discovered that the most efficient of all Taschuchu were possessed by a common family called Lichtruto. a group of Botah that release excess energy they absorb from the local star and quasar as white light.

By meshing Taschuchu into Sita, a user is able to connect with and potentially hijack far more complex Botah than relatively simple Tukusa. Initially, those species commandeered were completely wild and took great amounts of energy and effort to reign in. As time progress and mastery of Sita developed, more species were selected for their aptitude for their usefulness and ability to be controlled. Eventually an entire craft, called Tiersagyo would be dedicated to creating enslaved Botah for various ends.

With the advent of advanced Botah manipulation and the spread of Tiersagyo, a bio-technological revolution occurred. Transportation, manufacturing, recycling, municipal works, and weaponry exploded, granting the Arkosians with power and freedom they had never experienced before. Combining Sita with Taschuchu became a cornerstone of almost all subsequent technological advancements.

* outdated
Sita were originally created as a series of Gupta-Troxel cybernetic supercomputers built into the probe called Santa Maria sent to the moon of Arkos in the Liuhath dimension. The probe was designed to gather information and produce useful information in the final automated stage before humans would be sent.

When the probe arrived, the Botah Overmind attempted to hijack its systems just as it had to the previous probes. However, the new probe was much more sophisticated than its predecessors and resisted. When the human explorers arrived, the supercomputers symbiotically linked to their brains allowing them to resist and manipulate the botah. These first explorers subsequently became what would be known as the Ancestors. The supercomputers would be the first generation of organisms that would later be called sita.

They now exist primarily as part of the colonial organisms known as Arkons and Kiasans, the central overminds of "Mega Cities", or as independent slave units to power certain botah technology.