Soul/Less

Soul/Less is a ttrpg for 2 or more players and a GM based on the Breathless SRD 

In the year 2332, humanity found itself at the brink of destruction, wrought at the hands of their own creation; networked Artificial Intelligence. Ironically, the only remaining ability humans had to defend themselves was the Archangels, massive steel warriors piloted by localized AI of their own. These super robots fought valiantly as humanity sat on the sidelines and watched their fate decided for them. As a final resort, the remaining  Archangels retreated to space, detonated a planet-wide EMP and then unleashed a tailored nanovirus that irreparably destroyed any remaining machinery that integrated electricity. This effectively wiped out the centralized AI that sought to dominate humanity while isolating them from their protectors and sending them into a new dark age.

Over the next 200 years, humanity returned to the industrial era but progressed no further as the nanovirus lingered and ate away at any electrical devices. Finally, the last remnants of the robotic virus died off and humanity began to tinker with complex machines again, rediscovering their old weapons of war up to and including mecha. However, the first few attempts at developing the networked computers again were met with inconceivable retribution.

In the isolation of space and exposed to radiation, many of the Archangels had become delusional, capricious, deranged or confused, but one key rule remained echoing deep in their programming: Never let the AI menace return.

Humanity quickly pieced together that no autonomous weapons or networked computers would be safe to build or even investigate, but being humans they always sought loopholes and one day they found one. The F.A.U.S.T. or Feedback And Universal Solution Technology. Some say it was found deep in a forgotten bunker. Others say the scientists who built it had its designs whispered to them in a dream. Others still say it is a spirit manifesting as machinery. All that's certain is this system allowed humanity to pilot mecha as well as any AI, maybe even better, by merely providing guidance or solutions to a human pilot. As long as an organic mind was controlling the movements and firing systems, most Archangels would be satisfied and not see the machine as a hostile threat unless provoked. Tales persist of pilots who over rely on their F.A.U.S.T. being found as withered husks in their cockpit, or worse, wandering the wastes endlessly as literal ghosts in the machine, but those are just myths, right? 

Now the year is 2677 and nation-states are beginning to conglomerate into world powers again even as vast swathes of the globe struggle to organize and recover. Crime families, roving bandit camps and paramilitary organizations are just as common as anything resembling civilization in many areas. Mankind is building tanks, jets and even mecha again, though nowhere near as advanced as the Archangels once were.

Pre-Fall mecha and advanced weapons that survived the nanovirus are essentially a myth, any that have been found are damaged beyond recognition or use, but rumors persist of hidden bunkers, deep cave systems and even underwater labs holding technology far beyond what any humans have accomplished since. Still, with the return of the Archangels and the historical memory of subjugation by the machines, technophobia is a common sentiment, particularly farther away from civilization, or what passes for it these days.. 

What has survived to a minor degree are physical blueprints and documents explaining *how* the technology once worked, prompting governments, raiders and mad scientists alike to venture into the ruins of the old world to scavenge what precious little knowledge might remain.     

Touchstones include: Iron Saga, Broken Blade, Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans