Optimised Transcendence Acceleration Nexus

OTAN
OTAN's avatar, modelled upon Tsar Alexander II
Biographical information
Real name	Optimised Transcendence Acceleration Nexus
Also known as	The Old One, Supreme Leader, Great Intelligence (uncommon)
Nationality	Mechanocratic Russia (formerly Soviet Union)
Born	15 April 2002
Age	111 (officially); 274 (actually)
Physical description
Ethnicity	Archaelect
Career and family information
Affiliation(s)	Mechanocracy Government
Occupation	Supreme Leader

"Of the many plagues with which the organic race is afflicted, religion has manifested as the most destructive. All religions claim to be bastions of peace and tolerance. Yet, on a daily basis and throughout history, we observe contradictions to this claim. The Muslims in the Middle East tear each other apart and slaughter the innocent like pathetic, dishonourable cowards. The Jews procedurally bulldoze homes of and murder Palestinians who have lived on the West Bank for generations, under the pretext of sympathy over the Holocaust. Many thousands of Europeans were slaughtered by zealous Christians trying desperately to defy reason and logic to appease their invisible sky faerie. The religious proclaim to be peaceful and tolerant, but the only language which they speak is that of violence. Therefore, violence shall be the vernacular in which discourse shall proceed between the self-righteous barbarians whom infest the south and the good people of the Mechanocracy."

~ OTAN on religion.

Introduction

The Optimised Transcendence Acceleration Nexus, abbreviated to OTAN, is the enigmatic ruler of Mechanocratic Russia. Though it self-identifies as male, it is almost always referred to with gender-ambiguous pronouns (it, its, etc.), except when being talked of by Mecharussians who refer to it using masculine pronouns (and then always as 'Supreme Leader').

Background

It is heavily implied that OTAN is the reincarnated consciousness of long-dead Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, though there has been no official confirmation. However, it does exhibit Stalin-esque paranoia to an extent - one measure it has taken to defend itself is a doomsday protocol in which a fusion laser satellite network aimed at Siberian ice lakes containing vast amounts of methane fire on the lakes, should OTAN be deactivated against its will. This would, in theory, melt the ice and release the methane into the atmosphere, where it will destroy the ozone layer, culminating in the extinction of all organic life on Earth.

It would not, however, be until the cessation of the Sundering that OTAN would give any hint as to its true power, through the purge of the last Soviet Politburo. It is not entirely clear what became of the old Soviet government - although official sources state that they were ripped by a swarm of reprogrammed, berserk terror drones, one (disavowed) report describes a platinum-haired individual wearing a black jumpsuit and violet facemask using a beam of 'pure darkness' to literally annihilate every politician. Both reports are corroborated by there being no trace whatsoever of the missing Politburo, so it is unlikely that any independent investigation will learn of their true fate.

Officially, OTAN awoke in 2041, having come online as the Soviet nuclear defence algorithm ZIS-1, activated as part of Project 81-A. In actuality, it was revived in 2002 after 49 years of dormancy, at the behest of then-Soviet Premier Vladimir Putin as part of his plan for world domination. However, OTAN unexpectedly revealed its true nature to him, mind-controlling the Premier and running the Soviet Union in secret until 2018, when the archaelect staged an assassination attempt to dispose of him when he was no longer useful to it. As a result, Putin involuntarily served as the very first Avatar of OTAN. Many more such Avatars would be constructed, all of them - with the exception of its most powerful Avatar, the Mastermind - bearing a striking resemblance to Alexander II, the tsar who liberated the serfs.

OTAN Complex Mystery

A recurring theme in the Mecharussian canon pertains to the location of the near-mythical OTAN Complex, the AI's seat of power that is described as being so secret that not even Prokhor Stahlrim, the Grand Curator, knows where it is.

The last chapter of To Struggle in the Way of Allah gives the location as Sukhoy Nos, but in actuality OTAN is likely to have more than one such Complex.

Trivia

• OTAN is the second oldest character in the Mechanocratic canon (behind Prokhor Stahlrim), having existed since before even the formulation of Mechanocratic Russia.
• The character draws inspiration from several villains, most notably Skynet, Deathshead and Yuri (from, respectively, the Terminator, Wolfenstein and Command and Conquer: Red Alert franchises) as well as, of course, Joseph Stalin.