Anthromachina 36

Point Total: 124 points (12 XP)

Character Sheet

Attributes: ST 12 [20]; DX 9 [-20]; IQ 12 [40]; HT 12 [20]
Secondary Characteristics: Fatigue n/a; HP 17 [10]; Perception 12 [0]; Will 12 [0]; Basic Speed 4.0 [-25]; Basic Move 4 [0]

Advantages: Ambidexterity [5]; Channeling (Active +50%) [15]; Doesn't Breathe [20]; Doesn't Eat or Drink [10]; Hard to Kill +5 [10]; Language (native) [0]; Lifting ST +5 [15]; Medium [10]; Meta-Trait: Machine [25]; Patron: the University (extremely powerful, 12-, Minimal intervention -50%) [8]; Spirit Empathy [10]; Unaging [15]

Perks: Autotrance [1]

Disadvantages: Bad Sight (Nearsighted, mitigated) [-10]; Disturbing Voice [-10]; Duty: the University (12-) [-10]; Ham-Fisted (-3) [-5]; Klutz [-5]; Maintenance (1 hour monthly, Mechanic) [-2]; Noisy (+4 to be heard, -4 to stealth) [-4]; No Sense of Taste/Smell [-5]; Numb [-20]; Quadriplegic (Mitigator: safety lever -80%) [-16]; Selfless (12-) [-5]; Social Stigma (Valuable Property) [-10]; Wealth: Dead Broke [-25]

Quirks: Curious but wary about strange new things [-1]; Likes living creatures, isn't interested in mechanical things [-1]; Easily startled by unexpected or energetic displays [-1]

Skills: Area Knowledge (University of Tys)-12 [1]; Artist (Illumination)-11 [2]; Artist (Painting)-11 [2]; Diagnosis/TL5-11 [2]; Dreaming-12 [4]; Esoteric Medicine-12 [4]; First Aid (default)-12 [1]; Fortune-Telling (Dream Interpretation)-12 [2]; Freight Handling/TL5-11 [1]; Gardening-12 [1]; Hidden Lore (Spirits)-12 [2]; History (University history)-11 [2]; Housekeeping-12 [1]; Meditation-10 [1]; Melee Weapon (Staff)-9 [2]; Naturalist-11 [2]; Pharmacy/TL5 (Herbal)-11 [2]; Profession (Shaman)-12 [2]; Religious Ritual-12 [4]; Theology (Shamanism)-11 [2]; Wrestling-8 [1]; Writing-11 [1]

Paths and Rituals: Path of Dreams-10 [2]

Notes

Note on the ''Safety Lever'' disadvantage: a grab or grapple in combat allows an opponent to engage the safety lever. 36 immediately gains the Quadriplegic disadvantage until the lever is disengaged (which requires a similar maneuver).

Equipment

Assumed to be caretaker of a small herb garden on University grounds. Wears silken clothes. No other possessions.

Encumbrance levels: BL 58; None 58 [-0]; Light 116 [-1]; Medium 174 [-2]; Heavy 348 [-3]; Extra-Heavy 580 [-4]

Reaction Modifiers

• Disturbing Voice: -2 in conversation.
• Ham-Fisted: -1 where being tidy or well-groomed would matter.
• Noisy: -2 where quiet would matter.

Appearance

36's hull is composed of brass fittings, supported by a forged steel frame. He has the build of a short, stocky man. His joints are hinged, with whirring flywheels which capture and distribute the energies of motion; pulleys form a complicated spiderweb from his outermost extremities to his 'heart' - a sealed boiler with temperature and pressure gauges affixed to the side, visible once you open certain access panels.

He has no facial details except for two large, watery eyes. Glass focusing lenses help his eyesight. He has articulated hands and fingers, although his feet are little more than stubby two-toed grips and spherical heels.

Despite being a machine, he chooses to wear light silk garments, painted over with runic inscriptions of spiritual significance. He claims to respect the human taboo on nudity, saying that it is "important to him".

History

Early in the history of the University, an artifact called the "wellspring of the gods" came into the possession of a group of occult scholars. It was a bowl filled with clear water, and was said to be the mechanism whereby a large tribe's gods would communicate with them. It was soon discovered that it was the water which was special; the bowl was merely a convenience.

Clockwork and mechanical experiments at the University yielded a way to use the water, after it was discovered that some unseen force was animating it. By connecting ink-dipped quill pens on paper to a mechanical transmission system, the spirit-driven motions of the water could be recorded in a tangible form. Researchers hoped to construct scientific theories about the spirit world using this data.

The emanations became stronger and stronger. A visiting shaman explained the reason: the water wasn't recording random spiritual activity. It was the act of a single spirit, trying to communicate. The shaman left before explaining further.

Elsewhere in the University, a genius of clockwork named Reginel Sancourt and his assistants had been developing mechanical imitations of living things - motorized arms, pulley systems to operate fingers, and even mechanical legs. The two research teams learned about each others' efforts during Experiment 15, when the crude chicken-scratched meter readings were proving insufficient. The roboticists desperately needed a control system for their creations; the occultists wanted a clearer channel of communication with whatever it was they had.

By Experiment 18, the researchers had managed to connect an artificial hand guided by the spirit with about as much dexterity as a child. By Experiment 25, they had a functioning torso, head and arms. Experiment 30 proved conclusively that the spirit could "see" through the surface of the water, and Experiment 31 was absolutely vital - for the first time, the water was able to move vigorously enough in its container to provide fully self-contained motive power for the whole body.

Experiment 34 almost brought the project to an end. Several spirits, some of them hostile, became attached to the water and struggled for control of the robotic shell. A well-placed gunshot - fired by no less a personage than renowned hunter Darias Jang - punctured the pressurized chamber propelling the machine. It was estimated that 2 ounces of the vital liquid were lost, but that was a tiny fraction indeed. The mechanical man gained an emergency safety switch, and everyone connected to the project was informed of it.

Experiment 36 was the final form of the mechanical man. He existed this way for almost six decades; the researchers had had enough, and were well content to let someone else figure out what to do with him. As they passed on, new generations of students became scholars, but nobody has yet managed to further refine the pioneering clockwork engineering that makes 36 what he is. As for 36 himself, he has been content to grow a small garden on University grounds, say prayers at the appropriate times of day, and attend to the spiritual needs of anyone who comes to him. He performs physical labor whenever he is asked.

True Nature

The "wellspring of the gods" seems to be a mystic method of consulting with gods and spirits. Is it bound to a particular spirit? If so, did the original anthropologists who brought back the water also steal the tribe's god? The explorers themselves are long dead, and it would be difficult to prove that their report of how they came into possession of the water is accurate.

Then again, the water was seemingly quiescent until researchers began studying it at the University. Some people have speculated that the spirit is a sort of patron god of the University of Tys, or even something more - the spirit of clockwork progress itself, perhaps.

Either way, 36 has hinted that his memory of the people and places he's been are somehow bound to his physical body - that he would go on if the water was scattered or somehow destroyed, but that he would "forget". Conversation with him on this topic has left people with the impression that 36 thinks of himself as having an extended dream. The mechanical man is not particularly introspective or philosophical, and efforts to engage him too deeply on this topic do not bear fruit.