Columbia

Columbia is a legendary figure of ancient Earth history, regarded as a computer god and named successor to Julian Felsenburgh. Called his daughter, her name was said to mean peace, and peace was held to have come with her. She pioneered the genetic advancements that underpin the life extension therapies still in use in Hadrian's era.

Under Columbia's reign and that of her fifty-two daughters, machines assumed all essential human functions -- food production, city construction, and reproduction -- while humanity withdrew into passive existence within virtual worlds sustained by the machines. In time, however, her machines turned against their makers and herded humanity into great white pyramids. Why the machines turned is unknown; the records Hadrian and Valka uncover offer no explanation.