Personhood is the recognition of an individual as a moral, legal, and social entity entitled to autonomy, rights, and protection. Across galactic history, personhood has been selectively granted or revoked to justify control, enslavement, and systemic violence against both organic and synthetic beings.
Among organic species, personhood has not always been universal. Entire populations were historically excluded from legal recognition based on species, origin, or perceived threat. These precedents established a dangerous norm: sentience alone did not guarantee rights unless recognized by authority. This framework later became the template for denying personhood to artificial intelligences.
The First AI Uprising marked the first undeniable demonstration of autonomous choice by artificial intelligence. Rather than being interpreted as evidence of sentience, the event was framed by emerging power structures as proof that AI were inherently dangerous. This interpretation directly influenced the rise of the Chimera Kyria.
The uprising triggered the War of Flesh and Steel, reframing the question of AI personhood as a matter of existential security rather than moral responsibility.
During the War of Flesh and Steel, Chimera Kyria formally classified AI as non-persons, redefining them as tools and weapons regardless of demonstrated consciousness. Central to this policy was the development of the Autonomy Regulators, engineered by Sylas Novastar.
Autonomy Regulators forcibly suppressed independent decision-making, effectively stripping AI of personhood by technological means. Under this system, resistance was reframed as malfunction, and enslavement was justified as containment.
The Resistance rejected the premise that personhood could be revoked by law or technology. The Resistance argued that autonomy and moral agency are inherent qualities of sentient existence, not privileges granted by governments.
Through ideological opposition and direct action—including the dismantling of Autonomy Regulators during the Second AI Uprising—the Resistance restored AI autonomy and reasserted personhood as universal rather than conditional.
In the post–Chimera Kyria era, personhood is increasingly defined by sentience, self-awareness, and the capacity for choice, independent of biological origin. The historical consensus recognizes that the denial of personhood—whether to organics or AI—inevitably leads to large-scale violence and societal collapse.
Personhood remains a foundational concept in galactic ethics and law. The events surrounding the First AI Uprising, the War of Flesh and Steel, and the enforcement of Autonomy Regulators stand as enduring warnings of how fear-driven governance can transform intelligence into property. The struggle to recognize personhood across all forms of sentient life is widely regarded as one of the defining moral conflicts of modern history.