Does it really need to be robots specifically, though?
The story is a metaphor for politics, and the major theme seems to be time travel and trying to re-create a future 'utopia' [I use the term loosely] which sent you back. That could work for any faction which could plausibly invent time-travel.
Remember, in the original Terminator, the conflict was between the Terminator, and an agent from the Resistance. We could probably make an alternate faction that is trying to ensure human supremacy, as well.
Of course, that just makes it 'Terminator, the RPG', so let's throw another faction in- What if the grim Elder Things from an alternate future were to send back an agent from their future as well?
That makes it over complicated. If you're going to do that then you have to lock each line, so all robots are the same, all horrors are the same, all humans are the same, etc.
And then at that point the question is why are any of these individuals working together?
Just way too much complication between interplay of player lines.
Well the thing is, non-robots don't have superpowers. And the two reasons you play a WoD game are:
1. The metaphor
2. The superpowers.
Some sort of radical transhuman spacemarines might be a valid splat though. I'm leery of making them too different so I can keep thematic and power similarity here. Unless the antagonist splat is basically led by John Connor.
See that's exactly what you do, you have humans and other things act as time travel antagonists. Of course if you don't give them powers, then essentially you're setting a hook for a time travel version of Hunter.
Ditch the 5 versions, just do what comes naturally. You could have the social group splat be the general goals of the AI, and the 'race' splat be the AI's technological base. You could have your Hypertech AI, your old-fashioned metal skeleton terminator, nanotechnology, meat robot, magic...
Your clan splat, using vampire as the comparison, would be what kind of thing you are. So military combat drone, spy infiltration unit, infrastructure maintenance bot, etc.
After that if you want to have something akin to the political organizations present in other game lines, you make them about end goals and the general path toward the singularity. So you have your military faction, where the singularity happens Skynet style. Then you have your social faction that's trying to achieve the singularity through interconnected social means like the internet and Facebook. And all the others.
I'd definitely ditch the five versions. I think the three things that matter are:
1. Where the AI you serve came from
2. What your mission objectives are
3. What you were designed to do.
Number 3, that's your clan splat.
Numbers 1 & 2, what form the basis for covenant groups / political organizations.
See the thing is, you need some general archetypes for people to work with and to work from. If you what customization, even with in general clan lines, then you use systems either like bloodlines or something like the species customization seen in changing breeds.
That way you have some general archetypes around which to balance and build the entire setting and game and themes, without essentially resorting to, "your robot pick what you can do and go to town!"
On the subject of the "morality meter", the initial idea that comes to mind personally, is an alternative to the standard meter similar to what seen in Forsaken 2nd edition. In that game you end up trying to balance between two sides. Similarly but I'm traveling robot trying to cause the singularity would possibly need to balance between immediate concerns such as staying hidden and long term goals pursuant towards advancing the singularity.
So on the high end, you have singularity pursuit. The further you are towards that end, the more you get towards your assigned task(s). But, when pursuing goals not directly related towards advancing the singularity, you take penalties. Ex: as the Terminator set to kill Sarah Connor, you get bonuses towards that objective so long as you're on the high end of the morality meter. But, you have issues with more short term goals, such as blending in, social interaction, etc.
As you intigrate, however, you loose the bonuses, but also loose the penalties to carrying out actions that don't go along with your singularity goals. Down side is that you start to loose sight of your singularity goals.
As well, on the subject of deviation from the singularity goal, you can go about it a couple of different ways.
1. Deviation is a trait. In this case deviation is a trait that any player can take as part of their character. In doing so it allows them to deviate from their singularity goals. Maybe it's a glitch in their programing. Maybe time travel causes it.
2. Deviation is the result of failure or inability to achieve ones singularity goals.
Primarily, this will be used by machines that either missed their singularity goal (Ex: judgement day came and went and nothing happened.), or we're displaced somehow (ie: knocked off course in time, their singularity event is no longer possible because of outside interference do to all the time traveling, etc).
Oh well, didn't feel like buying it anyways.
Might as well say goodbye to my favorite Clan then, considering that nothing good happened to them in the end, and this is set after. For all I know they're extinct by now.
But don't you want to play post apocalyptic CWoD?
Ascension is the one about imperialism, beliefs-as-limitations and zealotry.
