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Description
The Second Empire enjoyed supreme power on a scale unmatched since, and it crushed any external opposition to its rule with ease. However, the Second Empire's leaders remained ever-fearful of an internal revolt, which would topple them from power. Despite the universal surveillance technology, artificial intelligence monitoring, imprinters, and total force supremacy in the material realm, trillions of humans could still slip through the cracks, and these could become the core of a successful rebellion, however unlikely the possibility. As cautious as they were brutal, the Second Empire's leaders augmented their existing tools of control with what they believed was the ultimate deterrent: the torment engine.

The technology that makes the hedonic engine possible could replicate more than just a paradise. The original engines were used for training and rehabilitation purposes, and it was only later that they were widely used to bring unending bliss to the loyal citizens of the Second Empire. However, for enemies of the Second Empire, a worse fate awaited them. Enter the torment engine, the much-feared counterpart of the hedonic engine, which was widely used by the Second Empire to punish any who opposed them. The technology behind the torment engine is nearly identical to that behind the hedonic engine, except that it is intended to devise countless scenarios designed to torment the individual attached to it. Like the hedonic engine, these scenarios are created by actively interfacing with the mind of the user, so no two torment engines generate the same scenarios for different users. Each scenario is uniquely tailored toward subject the user to the most amount of pain possible, to place them in their worst fears, and to make them experience every negative emotion, endlessly, until the torment engine is deactivated or destroyed; this can only happen from outside.

The torment engine was first introduced to punish the worst criminals in the Second Empire: rebels. Later on, the torment engine was extended to gradually less serious crimes, such as murder, rape, and egregious property damage. Lesser offenders were given a few minutes in a torment engine, an experience powerful enough to ward off almost every offender from ever committing an offense against the Imperial regime ever again. Non-immersive holos of torment engine sessions were broadcast around the Second Empire, to show the general public the price of crime. The first tests of the torment engine proved effective, but after several centuries of use, Imperial prison authorities noticed that prisoners either broke down psychologically, or grew bored of the scenarios, as they had been repeated multiple times. Torment engines were thus improved with a more dynamic scenario generating algorithm, and the prisoners' minds were modified so they would never grow bored, had psychological coping mechanisms deactivated, and would never grow to enjoy the torment engine. Thus, every moment of suffering would be as bad as the first, while the prisoner remained aware that they were stuck in this state for all eternity.

The Second Empire's widespread use of torment engines was seen as a step too far by foreign cultures that had ignored the Second Empire. Uniting under the creatively-named Alliance, these cultures - human and alien both - declared that the Second Empire was violating the most essential ethical norms. While determined, the Alliance forgot that being in the moral right does not confer any material advantage, and the much larger, more well-equipped Second Empire defeated them decisively. However, the Alliance's war effort resulted in the loss of thousands of Imperial worlds, which annoyed the Imperial leadership enough that the entire surviving population of the Alliance's member states were imprisoned in torment engines.

During the War of the Cog Lords, the torment engines were consumed by the Grand Cogitator and the Cog Lords that followed. To the Cog Lords, torment engines were just more hedonic engines to utilize for their grand purpose, and they gave little thought to the suffering they were ending. Most torment engines were destroyed by the War of the Cog Lords, or by technophobic human societies that followed afterward, but it is rumored that some have survived and are known to the major galactic governments. Theories abound that a few torment engines are under the control of the major galactic governments, and are reserved for its worst criminals. Others insist that the Imperial Remnant has access to torment engines, and uses them on unfortunate victims because they think it is entertaining. The major governments deny that any torment engines have survived to the modern day, and the Protectorate of Mankind has proclaimed that any torment engines found must be turned over to them for immediate destruction.

Description
The Second Empire enjoyed supreme power on a scale unmatched since, and it crushed any external opposition to its rule with ease. However, the Second Empire's leaders remained ever-fearful of an internal revolt, which would topple them from power. Despite the universal surveillance technology, artificial intelligence monitoring, imprinters, and total force supremacy in the material realm, trillions of humans could still slip through the cracks, and these could become the core of a successful rebellion, however unlikely the possibility. As cautious as they were brutal, the Second Empire's leaders augmented their existing tools of control with what they believed was the ultimate deterrent: the torment engine.

The technology that makes the hedonic engine possible could replicate more than just a paradise. The original engines were used for training and rehabilitation purposes, and it was only later that they were widely used to bring unending bliss to the loyal citizens of the Second Empire. However, for enemies of the Second Empire, a worse fate awaited them. Enter the torment engine, the much-feared counterpart of the hedonic engine, which was widely used by the Second Empire to punish any who opposed them. The technology behind the torment engine is nearly identical to that behind the hedonic engine, except that it is intended to devise countless scenarios designed to torment the individual attached to it. Like the hedonic engine, these scenarios are created by actively interfacing with the mind of the user, so no two torment engines generate the same scenarios for different users. Each scenario is uniquely tailored toward subject the user to the most amount of pain possible, to place them in their worst fears, and to make them experience every negative emotion, endlessly, until the torment engine is deactivated or destroyed; this can only happen from outside.

The torment engine was first introduced to punish the worst criminals in the Second Empire: rebels. Later on, the torment engine was extended to gradually less serious crimes, such as murder, rape, and egregious property damage. Lesser offenders were given a few minutes in a torment engine, an experience powerful enough to ward off almost every offender from ever committing an offense against the Imperial regime ever again. Non-immersive holos of torment engine sessions were broadcast around the Second Empire, to show the general public the price of crime. The first tests of the torment engine proved effective, but after several centuries of use, Imperial prison authorities noticed that prisoners either broke down psychologically, or grew bored of the scenarios, as they had been repeated multiple times. Torment engines were thus improved with a more dynamic scenario generating algorithm, and the prisoners' minds were modified so they would never grow bored, had psychological coping mechanisms deactivated, and would never grow to enjoy the torment engine. Thus, every moment of suffering would be as bad as the first, while the prisoner remained aware that they were stuck in this state for all eternity.

The Second Empire's widespread use of torment engines was seen as a step too far by foreign cultures that had ignored the Second Empire. Uniting under the creatively-named Alliance, these cultures - human and alien both - declared that the Second Empire was violating the most essential ethical norms. While determined, the Alliance forgot that being in the moral right does not confer any material advantage, and the much larger, more well-equipped Second Empire defeated them decisively. However, the Alliance's war effort resulted in the loss of thousands of Imperial worlds, which annoyed the Imperial leadership enough that the entire surviving population of the Alliance's member states were imprisoned in torment engines.

During the War of the Cog Lords, the torment engines were consumed by the Grand Cogitator and the Cog Lords that followed. To the Cog Lords, torment engines were just more hedonic engines to utilize for their grand purpose, and they gave little thought to the suffering they were ending. Most torment engines were destroyed by the War of the Cog Lords, or by technophobic human societies that followed afterward, but it is rumored that some have survived and are known to the major galactic governments. Theories abound that a few torment engines are under the control of the major galactic governments, and are reserved for its worst criminals. Others insist that the Imperial Remnant has access to torment engines, and uses them on unfortunate victims because they think it is entertaining. The major governments deny that any torment engines have survived to the modern day, and the Protectorate of Mankind has proclaimed that any torment engines found must be turned over to them for immediate destruction.