The Nexus began as basic automatons capable of menial labor deemed too redundant, unpleasant, or perilous for humans. The first automatons were only capable of simple automated actions, but the rapid development of artificial intelligence and their positronic brains evolved and diversified their abilities into a wide range of purpose-built service models. Designed to replace humans in the workplace, Replicants were increasingly built in the likeness of their fellow human coworkers, adopting their physical, mental, and even personality traits more with every model. By the third generation, Replicants were capable of complex tasks and independent thought.
By the fourth and fifth generations, Replicants were surpassing their masters with superior paraphysical strength and agility, becoming an expendable and inexhaustible army of slave laborers capable of enduring the most grueling and hazardous working conditions.
Off-world terraforming, construction, mining, colonial defense, even entertainment, sports, and the sex trade... all corners of commerce benefited from the ceaseless and selfless contributions of the Replicant workforce.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW ? Though these earlier Nexuses inspired an entire generation of bioengineers and built a vast and thriving industry of AI-powered technologies, the classic Nexuses are mere relics of the past now. Nexus technology radically advanced with each new model, resulting in most outdated models being returned or scrapped. Finding an N-4 or N-5 in working order today isn’t the rarest discovery, though they’d be considered antiques with charmingly limited capabilities.
Today, automatons are manufactured by a wide array of tech megacorps, and you can easily find them in plain sight throughout the city. Each culturally treated as little more than a complex appliance, purpose-built to support all facets of business and personal life. Even the most sophisticated automatons do not emulate the human mind and appearance as the Nexus once did, however. Society lost its taste for humanoids after the paranoia and tragedy of the Tyrell era.