Mekhanikos | Worldbuilding | Start!!!

[hazilnut]

xxxxThe village of Mekhanikos, reluctant sanctuary for the lost and curious, was never intended to be what it was. The founder was a lonely inventor, little more than a child themselves, who simply sought to build themselves a friend. But when it comes to robots, much like certain chips, it is impossible to have just one, especially when the woods surrounding your village are filled with deactivated golems from an ancient civilization who begrudgingly aid whoever activates them. Mekhanikos would grow and grow into a safe haven for robots, golems, and their token human mechanic. After all, they say it takes a mechanical village to raise an inventor.

xxxxMekhanos is home to three types of beings; humans, or rather human- the founder, robots, beings of metal and gears crafted by the founder, and golems, remnants of an ancient civilization that were reactivated by the founder. These beings live together in a bit of a tense trust, their conflicting innate natures leading to frequent social clashes. While he robots tend to be fond of the founder for it was the founder who created them, golems regard the founder with a mixture of fear and respect which empresses itself as a distant caution. Not only are the golems reclusive by nature but they have a special reason for distrusting the founder; they know the golem's activation word and thus hold great power over them. Even if the founder has no intention of using this power the golems still regard them with suspicion. Perhaps the most obvious culteral clash is between the carefree robots and stoic golems. While golems value the power of both words and nature, speaketh in olde English, and are equal parts stuffy and noble, robots take after humans more with flexible and creative natures. They also speak in anything from dial tones to text talk depending on their make, a quality that annoys the word-loving golems.

xxxxIn terms of game mechanics robots and golems work the same as humans. They both require food products, though neither eats, instead using various parts of plants and animals as fuel as a robot or simply absorbing the essence as a golem. Robots and golems can get injured either with minor cosmetic damage or devastating destruction to their core parts or essences; these injuries are fixed by the village's mechanic (who replaces the shaman). Both can die either through accrued injury, lack of fuel, or simple old age. The internal processors of robots tend to last around the length of a human lifespan and cannot be replaced like other worn down part, and while the fixes and fuel the mechanic provides do a good enough job for golems in the long term they simply cannot last on them as long as they could with the resources of the ancient civilization. Visually both robots and golems are humanoid though some can stretch that description rather far. Both golems and robots can possess hair and eyes of any color, and robots can possess any skin color while golems are limited to column 11 and all of row G. Humans are, of course, restricted to natural coloration.

xxxxThe mechanics of accumulating new members is a bit different for Mekhanikos. Rather than the Head Chief requesting a new member the resident mechanic spends a year building a robot; instead of finding nomads, patrols find inactivated golems scattered through the forest and bring them home. The mechanic then spends time over the next year testing out activation words and trying to reanimate the golem. On a very, very rare occasion a patrol may find a human instead of a golem but these nomads are largely distrusted by the citizens of Mekhanikos. When it comes to having children, robots and golems can in fact reproduce, each in their unique ways. Robot couples spend the next two years working with the mechanic to build a robot "child" who combines the traits of both parents. This process takes twice as long as the development of a normal adult robot because as it turns out, developing an AI that learns and develops the same as a human child is a far more complicated task; creating a body that develops similarly was judged impossible. Golem couples spend two years laboring over a ballad intended to be sung to nature and activate a child golem. This process only takes as long as it does as golems are very insistent on correct word choice, which is at least partially justified by the percentage that this process fails when words fail to take hold and bind magical essence to a solid stone form. Golems and robots can reproduce in this way with a partner of any species but golem and robot partnerships tend to form children through a unique blend of the two processes. The couple works with the mechanic to create a metal body as in robot reproduction, and then animate it with a ballad like in golem reproduction. These golem-robot hybrids tend to appear similar to robots, if with more nature-inspired elements, but their life force is purely magical like golems.

xxxxThe citizens of Mekhanikos are extreme omnivores as robots, golems, and humans all need a variety of different foods to survive. Due to dwelling in a temperate forest available include wild greens and vegetables such as dandelion greens, wild asparagus, and hopniss. Also plentiful are fruits such as blackberries, apples, and blueberries. Hunting wild animals such as deer, beaver, rabbits, and trout rounds out the diet. The production of Mekhanikos is just as varied as the food they eat, though the village largely specializes in refining and producing goods. Metal working and stone cutting is a must for a village composed primarily of beings made from the stuff and in their spare time most residents enjoy tinkering and building. Due to the small and intimate nature of the village there really isn't an economy, rather a sharing of basic resources and a trade and barter system for luxury goods.

[hazilnut]

xxxxThe spiritual beliefs of Ackerley's old culture centered around the notion that after you die, your true self/perceived self/ideal self split off and need to reunite in order for you to reach the afterlife. Any cruel actions or thoughts weigh down the related self (i.e. if you’re perceived as cruel that weighs down your perceived self, if you are truly cruel that weighs down your true self, and if you fantasize cruel acts that weighs down your ideal self) making it harder & slower to reunite. Too many cruel behaviors and you will be too heavy to ascend to the afterlife. Due to this bodies tend to be buried with lists of the person's accomplishments and family to aid the true self (which may or may not remember such details depending on how much they cared) in finding the other selves. The highest mountain in the region is regarded as a spiritual gate, it's height intended to help spirits ascend.

xxxxThere are as many schools of thought as there are people on the afterlife in Curly's culture. These differences in philosophy usually boil down to different opinions on the weight of actions on each 'self'. Do good actions buoy your spirit or can it only be dragged down by bad actions? Are cruel acts across all selves considered to be of equal weight or is the true self weighed the heaviest? Is the true self the only self that counts? The ideal self? Perceived self? Do those who do not make it to the good afterlife get trapped in limbo on earth forever or can they redeem themselves? Though individual beliefs vary widely, the most generally accepted philosophy is that of equal, negative, weight which tended to foster a society heavily concerned with both other's perceptions and not rocking the boat.

xxxxIn Caling, the winter and summer solstices were the most important holidays. Given the golem’s iffy relationships with dates, the longest and shortest days of the years were some of the few which they could tell with certainty, and that in of itself was worth celebrating. In Ackerley’s (still unnamed) culture, three important religious holidays happen in the winter months. The Festival of the Perceived Self occurs just after the first snowfall, and it is an event of massive feasting and togetherness to serve as a reminder of community in the beginning of the cold days. The Observance of the True Self is a ten day long event of quiet penance and reflection in the heights of winter. Finally, as the new year turns over, comes The Celebration of the Ideal Self which combines the self-oriented promises and reflections of The Observation and festivities of The Festival.

[hazilnut]

xxxxGolems do not abide by any recognizable gender binary. They are chunks of metal and stone, animated by the pure magical energy of a long lost civilization after all. Instead golems have individual pronouns that are derived from their names (which are usually celtic inspired). For example, a golem named Aengus would use ae as a subject, aem as an object, and aeir as a possessive. (Ae has a necklace that is very important to aem. Ae like how it matches aeir eyes.)

xxxxIt’s considered a terrible breach of privacy for a golem to attempt to guess or otherwise learn another’s activation word. Even partners remain ignorant to one another’s words as to learn them would be to introduce a power structure, even if it were an even one. Due to this, awoken golems are unable to activate their old friends and family. It takes a very desperate golem to encourage, or at least not discourage the guessing of activation codes by Ackerley. The first awoken golem was suitably desperate, though the others that followed had varying opinions that amplified interspecies tension.

xxxxGolems are composed of boulders animated by magical energy. Typically the older the golem the more rounded the boulders from years of grinding against one another as well as the more well-connected. Younger golems have an abundance of magical energy and as such can have very separated joints. Beyond varying types of sediment golems possess “antlers” of crystallized magical energy that get longer as the golem grows. Golems can also be marked by crystals, vines, weeds, large flowers, small flowers, and moss (mechanically replacing hair type from straight to afro curl respectively).

xxxxBefore their mass deactivation it was hypothesized that a golem might live forever barring outside influence. The species did not survive long enough for any to die of old age, the only deaths being from injury, being isolated from magical sources, and a process known as “letting go”. Older golems would occasionally “let go” and pass on when they felt their time was done but this was an uncommon occurrence. Golems matured at a rate comparable to ten years equaling one human year of development. Awoken golems do not have such long lifespans due to the instability in natural magic caused by human involvement. Natural magic is at once more erratic and more out of reach, leaving golems maturing at a faster rate (essentially one to one with humans) with a natural death waiting for them when they reach about 100. (Eg; a golem awoken at 130 is about 13 maturity-wise. This golem would likely die at 217, after 87 years elapsed bringing them maturity-wise up to 100).

xxxxGolems ‘speak’ by rumbling their stones against one another. While this may seem like an imprecise manner of communication golems are surprisingly skilled at creating a plethora of various different sounds using only their body. Younger golems tend to have raspier and more grating “voices” due to the roughness of their stones while older golems “speak” more smoothly. Golems studded with crystals are capable of high pitched notes and tend to enjoy “humming” by letting their crystals vibrate. Plant-studded golems have notably softer or more muffled “voices” due to their squishy plants, but other than that golems do not have much in the way of volume control.

xxxxGolems in Caling had no need for food, rather they were nourished by the magic of the land itself. As such gardening was done for pleasure and aesthetic while hunting, as it was all for sport, was viewed as a horrible waste. Given awoken golem's new need for food, previous craftsmen become reluctant farmers, but most still balk at the notion of hunting. To kill other beings, even because they must to survive, is still seen as wrong and warriors and hunters are often ostracized.

xxxxWhile robots celebrate activation days the same as humans celebrate birthdays, with varying degrees of elaborateness depending on the being, golem’s traditionally do not. Astronomy was not part of Caling’s wheelhouse and as such dates and years were fairly arbitrary, especially given how long golem lifespans are. Friends of golems quickly learned that celebrating their reactivation day was not appreciated, as by golem customs reactivation is shameful and unnatural. Most can get around the issue by ignoring it, but some have refused reactivation- letting go rather than living with another knowing their activation word.

[hazilnut]

xxxxGolem and robotic infertility are, understandably given their means of reproduction and make, unrelated to any physical difference from their fertile counterparts. The concept of infertility as humans know it is foreign to golems and robots with no medical tests or conclusions leading to the distinction. Rather infertile golems are those whose poems awaken no children consistently. Often this results from a speech impediment or a complete lack of poetic understanding, other times it simply seems to be bad luck. Infertile robots are typically bad at 3D visualizing or physical construction. Whether the inability to construct a child is an unfortunate fluke or a consistent problem, it is hardly seen as a stigmatizing event.

[hazilnut]

xxxxWhile golems and robots hardly need to wear clothes, some do- especially the more advanced robots who posses fine senses of touch. Smooth and flowy fabrics like silk are quite prized but also common are amalgamations of different fabric so the wearer can experience multiple textural sensations at once. Robots and some golems also enjoy engravings, the equivalent of human tattoos. Sometimes these engravings have great meaning but often the wearer just thinks they look cool.

xxxxNavigating different weather can be a bit tricky for synthetics. Rain rusts metal and softens stone and various other environmental aspects can clog up joints. Ackerley eventually developed a somewhat weather proof material that coats more delicate machinery, though some beings find it to feel off and prefer simple umbrellas. They also developed various joint guards to help keep out dirt and debris.

[hazilnut]

xxxxWhile Mekhanikos is far from an architectural masterpiece, the ancient golem city of Caling was. Caling was a marvel of engineering and magic, stretching far beyond the forest where the remainder of the ruins lie. Think a steampunk cross between Babylon and Machu Picchu and you have a good sense of the aesthetics and impact of Caling. Unfortunately all great empires fall, and all that remains of the metropolis are the ruins in the forest. Buildings and bodies either crumbled in the exposed plains or were ravaged by other societies for parts, leaving only what was hidden in the forest to stand the test of time.

xxxxAt the height of its power, Caling was well known for its technological prowess and knowledge of the natural. They were especially well renowned for architecture and pottery, using their ability to shape the earth with their words to great effect. Currently the only remnants of this great technological power lies in the kiddish trinkets Ackerley makes for fun; wind up toys and clockwork birds pale next to monoliths of stone.

xxxxThe buildings of Caling were notable for appearing as if they had emerged from the ground whole. This is because they did, sung from the earth by powerful golems into the shapes of their choosing. However, in the hundreds of years after their height of power, the golems' mastery of earthen magic began to fail them and such structures not meticulously attended to retreated into the ground from whence they came. Towards the fall of Caling buildings were constructed out of carefully hewn blocks of stone which stuck together without mortar. The remnants of these buildings are what largely remain, though if one is lucky they might find the remainders of a chapel pulled from the earth. These holy structures were the last to retreat when magic began to act erratic.