Mechanons
From Star Frontiers Network
Contents |
Physcial Description
Based upon limited intelligence reports, the Mechanons appear to be highly advanced robots. It is not known how many varieties of Mechanons exist.
Their form is roughly humanoid, though many have a large metallic tail which is apparently used for balance and other functions. A Mechanon's head is a cluster of various colored crystals. These crystals are in some way connected with the electronic circuitry of the machine. Although unverified, it is widely believed that the coloration of the crystals which form a Mechanon's head are also an indication of the Mechanon's exact position in its society.
Culture
The Mechanons evolved from Eorna robots. A large number of robots, including robot brains, survived the first Sathar attack. Some were linked to self-programming computers. Without Eorna guidance, groups of these robot brain / computer teams began building new robots. Improvements were added bit by bit, and eventually a group of self-programming super robots evolved. Over a long period of time, and with more and more refinements, these became the Mechanons. The robots used every day on the Frontier worlds are to the Mechanons what opossums and tree shrews are to humans: there is a certain similarity between them, but the differences are far more important.
The Mechanons are loosely classified as an intelligent race, even though they are, as far as it is known, actually machines. Nonetheless, they meet several of the major qualifications for intelligence: organizing and controlling their environment, utilization and transformation of energy, and purposeful behavior.
The society seems to be organized into a strict caste system that does not allow for advancement from a lower status to a higher one. The lower classes are assumed to be workers, but the exact details of the Mechanons society are unknown.
What is known of the Mechanon culture is unified by one dominant theme: machine life is superior to biological life and must eventually replace it. Biological life must be tolerated for the time being, but the day will come when it can be exterminated and the world made safe for rational machines.
This drive toward aggression supports the hierarchy of Mechanon culture, which includes a reverence for both brains and brawn. Extremely intelligent Mechanons are regarded with something approaching awe by more standard models, just as Humans feel that there is something awesome and mysterious about a genius of their own kind. The top leaders of the Mechanon society are referred to simply as "the brains."
Only slightly lower in status than the brains are the warriors. These are special Mechanons built for combat. They are considered an elite group, by themselves and the other Mechanons.
Mechanons use standard types of robots to perform a variety of tasks, just as Humans and others do. It is not known whether this practice is, in their view, a form of slavery or domestication. One must always distinguish carefully between Mechanons and ordinary robots.
Mechanon society does contain a number of oddities due to the Mechanons' limited basic knowledge of the universe. Their high technology is based upon crystals and electronics; they obtained this through the early computers and their own experimentation. However, their understanding of the nature of the solar system was gained only by direct observation, and is rather crude. They do not have any concept of the vastness of the universe, and are inclined to think that Volturnus is the center of all things, that the rest of the universe is simply there to provide a setting for their own activities.
Beliefs such as these have led the Mechanons to a religion of sorts. Here, too, the Mechanons are somewhat limited. They have lost all memory or record of their own creation and the creation of the robots and computers that preceded them. They believe that a machine god has created them to do its will. Its will is to exterminate
biological life and replace it with Mechanons. Mechanons have no sense of private or public property; supplies simply exist and are used as needed. The Mechanons have no families; new Mechanons, like new robots, are created fully functional, and with complete memories.
There are no laws as such in Mechanon society; every Mechanon is given certain behavioral directives by its programmers during construction. There are many fewer limitations upon the warrior and brain Mechanons than there are imposed upon other Mechanons. These elite Mechanons are programmed to do anything that will further the cause of mechanical life, keeping in mind the need for curtailing some short term actions in order to maximize gains in the long run.
It is entirely possible that at some time in the future the Mechanons could present a tremendous threat to the Frontier Worlds.
Reaction to Player Characters
The Mechanons will react to the player characters as they react to all specimens of biological life: the same way a scientist working on a new insecticide reacts to the insects he is trying to kill. Some player characters will be taken alive and used as objects of study, while those deemed useless will be disposed of.
If the player characters manage to communicate with them, the Mechanons will understand that the Sathar could pose a major threat to their own plans, which are to begin with the take-over of Volturnus.
Sources
- SF-02: Starspawn of Volturnus
