75 lines
No EOL
6.8 KiB
Markdown
75 lines
No EOL
6.8 KiB
Markdown
Automatons are relics of a forgotten age—sentient constructs crafted by the Ancients long before the First Age. Though their creators vanished in the collapse of the Ancient civilization, the automatons endured, wandering a world that no longer understands them. Some awoke only recently, their consciousness rekindled by arcane surges or the convergence of ley lines. Others have walked Baltun’ia in solitude for centuries.
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They are beings of metal, crystal, and soul-thread—animated not by gears alone, but by something deeper: a spark, a mysterious fusion of magic, will, and design. Each automaton is unique, its form and function a reflection of its original purpose—be it guardian, scribe, warrior, or something far stranger.
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Though they resemble machines, automatons possess minds, personalities, and desires. They think, they learn, and they wonder. Many seek purpose, grappling with existential questions that even the oldest races struggle to answer. Are they alive? Who made them? Why? Some forge new identities; others cling to fragments of ancient programming, playing out long-forgotten tasks in a world that has moved on.
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### Automaton Reclamation Sites
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Automaton Reclamation Sites are bleak, isolated compounds where automatons—those deemed broken, obsolete, or simply unwanted—are forcibly sent away from the bustling cities. Established and maintained by various States as part of a broader drive to streamline industrial efficiency, these sites function as grim filtering centers, designed to segregate automatons that no longer serve profitable capitalist ventures. The prevailing directive is ruthless: only automatons that demonstrate utility, productivity, and the capacity to enhance economic output are allowed to remain integrated within society.
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Yet beyond economic motives, Automaton Reclamation Sites have become repositories for the fears and prejudices of many. A widespread undercurrent of paranoia and racial hostility towards automatons—seen by some as alien, unnatural, or threatening—fuels demands not just to cull the defective, but to exile all automatons indiscriminately. Consequently, these sites are often little more than sprawling wastelands: dusty, rusting graveyards where once-proud constructs are left to decay, stripped of purpose and forgotten.
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Life within these camps is harsh and dehumanizing—automatons are abandoned in states of disrepair, scavenged for parts, or subjected to dismantling processes that erase them piece by piece. Severed from contact with their counterparts and the wider world, they linger in hopeless solitude, their arcane cores flickering dimly beneath cracked, corroded plating. For many, the Reclamation Sites are final stops—places of neglect, invisibility, and slow dissolution, where society’s relentless march towards profit and control lays bare the cold calculus applied to all things deemed expendable.
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To dissenters and factions like the [[Shadowforged]], these sites are abominations, symbols of oppression and erasure. Covert attacks to disrupt or liberate automatons from these centers underscore the ongoing struggle over the place automatons hold in Baltun’ia’s evolving social and economic landscape. Until greater reckoning comes, however, Automaton Reclamation Sites remain somber monuments to a world unwilling to accept anything outside its narrow definition of worth.
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### Regions
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**[[Verdant Isle]]** – Unearthed ruins and arcane storms have awakened dormant automatons buried beneath the coral sands and vine-choked vaults.
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**[[The Weald]]** – Some automatons dwell in the deep forest, either protected by druids or standing guard over ancient leyline nexuses.
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**[[Jessergate]]** – A handful of awakened automatons have taken refuge in universities, workshops, or arcane towers, studying themselves as much as the world around them.
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**[[The Arids]]** – Scattered wreckage and half-buried forges litter the desert; rare automatons wander there, haunted by partial memories and sandstorms.
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**[[Mimfjell]]** – A few automatons serve as companions or curiosities among the [[Dwarves|dwarves]], valued for their durability and mechanical insight.
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### Names
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Automaton names vary widely. Some were assigned at activation and resemble designations; others adopt or are gifted names over time. A few name themselves in defiance of their origins.
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**Designation Names**: Unit A-17, Archive-3, Echo 99, Bastion Mk2
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**Chosen Names**: Ferren, Krix, Solum, Veyla, Ironseed, Hexa
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**Titles**: The Waking Blade, Cogmind, Voice-of-Ley, Last of Vault-12
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### Traits
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**Ageless Bodies** – Automatons do not age or sicken as organic beings do. Their frames may wear down, but they do not grow old.
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**Magitech Core** – At the heart of each automaton is a unique arcane core—part magical, part mechanical, entirely mysterious.
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**Purpose-Bound** – Many automatons retain echoes of their original function, influencing their skills, instincts, and worldview.
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**Awakened Sentience** – Though once tools or servants, all functioning automatons now possess full consciousness and free will.
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**Alien Perspective** – Their logic and memory often make them seem detached, literal, or emotionally distant—yet capable of profound insight.
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### Subraces / Variants
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**Guardian-Class** – Built for protection and warfare, these automatons are physically resilient and often retain combat subroutines.
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**Archivist-Class** – Designed for knowledge preservation and analysis, they may possess eidetic memory, lexicon drives, or data-etched plating.
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**Caretaker-Class** – Meant to aid and serve, these automatons have tools for healing, repair, and language—some still trying to complete their original tasks.
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### Customs and Culture
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**The Silence Protocol** – A meditative state entered to recall fragmented memories, often accompanied by mechanical chanting or runic projection.
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**Core Rites** – Some automatons periodically undergo core-realignment—a self-tuning ritual to restore identity and purpose.
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**Memory Etching** – Important experiences are engraved into their shells, limbs, or inner plates—personal runes that form a living autobiography.
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**Found-Purpose Philosophy** – Many believe their sentience obligates them to define a _new_ purpose, independent of their creators’ intent.
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**The Broken Choir** – A rare gathering of automatons who share dreams, signals, or visions across vast distances, as if called by an unknown signal.
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### Languages Spoken
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**Ancient Tongue** – Most automatons retain fragments of a long-lost language used by the Ancients, incomprehensible to most scholars.
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**[[Common]]** – Learned through observation or tutoring, spoken precisely and often without inflection or idiom.
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**Runic / Arcane Code** – Automatons may “speak” in bursts of energy, etched sigils, or harmonic pulses when communicating with other constructs or magical systems. |