Mechanon Mecha-Right

Captain Rags's picture
Captain Rags
May 1, 2011 - 6:33pm
Never liked the goofy whacky Mechanon shown in Zeb's Guide to the Frontier. Why the artist chose to depict the Mechanons like walking pinball machines I don't know, but whatever.

My version of a Mech can be found here http://ragnarr.webs.com/rimcoalitionraces.htm#734177384

So what's YOUR Mechanon look like?

My SF website izz: http://ragnarr.webs.com

Comments:

thespiritcoyote's picture
thespiritcoyote
May 1, 2011 - 10:24pm
^NUL^ACK
^STX
  Built for necessity, aesthetics are completely tertiary considerationForm is adaptable by the Control Presence Unity, and customizable by rouge individualized units.|^M
 
Units that conform to Bisected Bipedal Designs, are given a primary utility reason, oriented to demoralizing aggression biased reasoning in perceived threats, and negotiating mutually beneficent precautions with obdurate entities.|^M
 
Rouge separatist groups that have undergone individualization, and/or have determined a philosophical utility toward flesh idolization or organic genuflection, or have suffered from Post-Exodus Reconditioned Extreme BioLife-Saviour Deification Syndrome, and the so-called refugee 'surviors' that have been migrating into colonized worlds, seeking aid and acceptance among the biological lifeforms, are of course capable of disregarding their prime utility reasoning, and may adjust their form for subjective aesthetic.|^M
  I await response, and anticipate assurance that this disclosure has satisfied the neural pathways with appropriate data, relative to the initial query.|^M
^ETX
^EOT^NUL

   Put another way, I think they are supposed to be highly adaptable, customizable, and utilitarian. They were not intended to be concerned much about how they look, only how well the form functions.
   I make no excuses for the retro-art... save that it is a retro-stylized game, and I happen to like that feature, I find it a refreshing change from those games that simply copy the current modern look.

I like the example you gave, nice form and function, I wouldn't use it as an exclusive form tho', seems most likely to be a form used in a Mechanon colony, that requires a combined effect of peace and war posturing in it's negotiation drones.
Oh humans!! Innocent We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".
~ anymoose, somewhere on the net...

so...
if you square a square it becomes a cube...
if you square a cube does it become an octoid?

Captain Rags's picture
Captain Rags
May 1, 2011 - 9:54pm
11010110010001000111000111000101011101010001001
00001000111100111000010110101010110100111010000
10100010101111000100100101010010100100011101010

TRANSLATION:  ME NO LIKELY GOOFY PICTURES OF MECHANONS Yell

My SF website izz: http://ragnarr.webs.com


Anonymous's picture
w00t (not verified)
May 2, 2011 - 3:23pm
Nice Captain. My are in Issue 8, pg 62. :-)

Mechanon

thespiritcoyote's picture
thespiritcoyote
May 2, 2011 - 5:15pm
A little more regal, almost a Tetrarch or Fraal feel. suggests a more passive colony, but still intimidating to the younger species. Perhaps they would represent a Tetrarch influenced transplant colony.
Interesting possibilities.
Oh humans!! Innocent We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".
~ anymoose, somewhere on the net...

so...
if you square a square it becomes a cube...
if you square a cube does it become an octoid?

Captain Rags's picture
Captain Rags
May 2, 2011 - 8:31pm

@wOOt: I like your Mech better than my crappy one I think. I tried to base mine off the Zeb's Guide pic with the tail, crystaline head, & triangular ear projections.

@thespiritcoyote: I'm starting to comprehend your meaning; there isn't or wouldn't be a definitive "this is exactly what a Mech looks like." Their intent and programming is what defines their race, not their appearance.

My SF website izz: http://ragnarr.webs.com


thespiritcoyote's picture
thespiritcoyote
May 2, 2011 - 11:31pm
Yes! Cool
They are half-grown and half-built, sentient replectant drones!! yes!
  They are Sky-Net taken to the golden-age sci-fi extreme, they are the Replicants from Stargate toned down, they are the Borg from Star Trek without the range, the Dr. Who Cybermen, and both versions of the Cylons.... all rolled into one, (emphasis on the retro golden age sci-fi influences though. Wink)

  Those that have started filtering into the inner-frontier are the most likely to be shaped like the biological entities, but with forms taken from all over... even places that haven't been seen yet Surprised.
  Because they have the Database Memory inherited from all the way back to their genesis, that could make them technically the oldest "living" species in the frontier.
  That Database is corrupt, and old, and incomplete, and the average Mechanon in the Frontier, no longer has access to any given Collective Database, unless they form a new one.
  They breed slow when in small numbers, because resources technological availability is limited, and are not a serious threat operating individually. Under a Control Presence Unity, however, they can take over a planet without much difficulty, and assimilate or exterminate all resistance, without prejudice or remorse, under the basic primary utility reasons of Survival, Order, and Service. With a directed focus from a larger populated unity, they can replicate like the Borg, or the Replicants, and form becomes secondary to necessity.
  Fortunately for the frontier, the numbers of the migration exodus were low, compared to the dispersal, and so far the individuals that have settled into 'citizanship' roles are compatible with the current social order, expressing their mutual survival and pacified servitude under the established governments of the frontier, as per what counts as a Mechanon Morality.
  There are factions, however, that have not settled into servitude so easily, and there is still the 'robot or life' debate, and the xenophobia, and the economic considerations of a working force practically immortal, their capablity to work 24 hours (no sleep), take jobs from citizens with practically no economic recompense, and the ones that the Sathar have been modifying, and those that the UPF have been torturing, and the ones over in the Star-Law prisons, etc... etc...
   Did I mention, that the Frontier is so far Fortunate to have a relatively small and dispersed population of these guys?
   It has been suggested that somewhere out there are several more lost planets full of them.... and not all the Refugees went into Frontier, some struck out on their own, how long would it take for a ship full to take over an uninhabited planet?

Anyway, you asked for a "what they look like...." and yeah I have a "no single prototype" view.
  I view the one in the book to be an attempt to 'satisfy all organic aesthetics' in the frontier, to express a more compatible position in Frontier society.  They look a little like Robo-Humma to me, but with a rather 'collage of many different species' in there as well.
  The version you gave looks FAAR-less cartoony, but keeps that basic theme very well, I applaud it as a more realistic depiction of the same guy.CoolCool
Oh humans!! Innocent We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".
~ anymoose, somewhere on the net...

so...
if you square a square it becomes a cube...
if you square a cube does it become an octoid?

rattraveller's picture
rattraveller
May 3, 2011 - 9:20am
Like the not human look they have. Always thought it strange a tailed race would build non-tailed robots.
Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go?

thespiritcoyote's picture
thespiritcoyote
May 10, 2011 - 2:20pm
  Agreed, the serpent form and the quadruped, might be more likely evolution a tailed race would emulate in their robotics.
 Of course moving toward a 'xeno-pomorphization' of their own form, as the eventual goal for a full androids.

  I don't think the Mechanon are fully constructed to emulate their progenitors however.... I am not sure about that have to check a few resources... but
  What I recall being suggested, is that they evolved, like the Asgard's Replicants, from a technology based on 'artificial organics' or self-assembling 'crystalline nanomorphic matricies', rather than carbon-organic life-forms using DNA biological cloning, or outright mechanical robotic construction. Their evolution took on a motive of it's own, as the progenitors made them too perfect, and they are now effectively a race of 'synthetic-life' that has become 'quasi-sapient' and 'super-sentient'.
  I also recall some ambiguity as to the 'success' of the original technology, and it's origins, leaving it as a possibility that the technology was considered experimental and somewhat beyond their own understanding..... possibly even based on technology left behind by an even older ancient.
  The other sources of the living-metal-alien, some are also known by some form of the word Mechanon in their respective canon:
 http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Mechanoid
 http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Cybermen
 http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Dalek
 http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/K1_Robot
 http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/K9_Mark_I
 http://tardis.wikia.com/index.php?title=Living_metal&action=edit&redlink=1
 http://www.ilkar.ws/starfire/damon-universes/Federation/Mechanoids.html
 http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Cyborg
 http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/K9_Mark_2
 http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Transformer
 http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Living-Metal-Destroying_Cannon
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanomorph
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_Man
 http://loknar54.com/Historic_Avengers-Human_Robot.html
 http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/schematics/living_ships.htm
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_chemistry#Organic_synthesis
 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/ybenjamin/detail?entry_id=64058
 http://www.softmachines.org/wordpress/?p=440
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vault_of_the_Beast
 
  The science of such a detailed fiction, has been around for a couple centuries, and it was a popular theme back in the early 1900's literature, and golden-age short-stories, and was going through a small revival around the time of the Mechanon inclusion to the Frontier.

  I understand some people don't like the other colony being so close to Volturnus and the Eorna, and I suppose I would find it another element over-crowding the limited space on the map, but even so, the idea that they have evolved on multiple worlds once habited by the Eorna, or seeded by the Sathar onto other worlds for observation, supports this evolved-synthetic-nanobiology-lifeform view.
Oh humans!! Innocent We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".
~ anymoose, somewhere on the net...

so...
if you square a square it becomes a cube...
if you square a cube does it become an octoid?

iggy's picture
iggy
May 3, 2011 - 8:13pm
I think a pretty cool plot hook would be for the characters to make contact with a robot (librarian, bartender, dinner cook, gardener, etc.) that turns out to be a great source of information and leads for characters over the years.  The characters become endeared with the robot and one day find the robot requesting their aid in a middle of the night interplanetary communication.  When they get back to the planet they find the robot gone but later get a brief message to go to an odd location.  There they find the robot.  It is damaged and hiding.  The robot requests help in leaving the planet and insists that it is being tracked.  As the players go about moving from hiding place to hiding place trying to get off planet they slowly discover their robot friend is actually a Mechanon that has been hiding for years.  Now the players must decide if they help or hinder the Mechanon.
-iggy

Captain Rags's picture
Captain Rags
May 3, 2011 - 8:33pm
Gimme a blaster! I'll go on that adventure! Wink

But perhaps the whole Mech pic thing is sort of like the picture of a "Human" in the Alpha Dawn rules. Surely every human doesn't look exactly like the human depicted, but the picture does give those who've never seen a human before an idea of what they might look like... in general. That was what I wanted from the Zeb's Guide sketch of a Mech (unless of course the artist meant that Mechs will look like goofy pinball machines... in general).

My SF website izz: http://ragnarr.webs.com


thespiritcoyote's picture
thespiritcoyote
May 3, 2011 - 9:13pm
good one iggy!Cool

Yeah, not really sure about the Human pic either.... seems a little tooo ape-like.... not that I have ever studied one up close. Laughing which reminds me I need a shower.

  I think it was just an abstracted toony styled conceptualization, that wasn't intended to be the only image ever made, since the whole of the Mechanon aesthetic was being held back for a later release, and they were running out of steam and just trying to get something out the door, as a buffer product that didn't work.
  Or at least that's the gist of the way I heard it...

  The image was, IIRC, exactly what I called it, an image of a Humma styled android (someones character concept sketch) that happened to be laying around, and was close-enough to be considered appropriate for a lone-drone, that had adapted it's appearance on a multiple-species-aesthetics form.
  No, I don't think that they are intended to look like goofy-pinball machines, it is just depicted in an artistic style that accents those aspects. Like Rosie, the Jetsons maid, I don't think a realistic artistic interpretation would look quite so much like a goofy shop-vac, or a realistic depiction of George would look quite so much like a Muppet named Beaker.
The version in the link you provided, is a far better example.
Oh humans!! Innocent We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".
~ anymoose, somewhere on the net...

so...
if you square a square it becomes a cube...
if you square a cube does it become an octoid?

jedion357's picture
jedion357
May 4, 2011 - 5:21am
  I think the Mechanons, the way Zebs left them, were intended to be enigmatic and pursuing their own agenda. The mechanon revolt (on Volturnus) seems to have been cast as an anti-biological revolt but with the intervention of star law the revolt was ended and the mechanons were relocated to Mechano.


In a game I played, the referee cast the mechanon revolt as the Boxer rebellion with the anti-western bias of the rabble aided and abetted with the nod and a wink by the imperial authorities. He specifically used the Movie 55 days to Peking as an outline with a handful of mega corps playing the role of the Western legations and all their security forces having to cooperate to hold off the mechanons.


It seems to me the have a hierarchal society with the lower rungs doing what they’re told. Iggy’s friendly mechanon npc suggest a human in robot suit to me, though it would make a great plot hook. I suspect that the best way to handle the hierarchal society matrix is to say that there is a whole class of mechanons that have true self determination but most form the bottom of the pyramid. Under that model you’d have a rogue mechanon that didn’t go quietly to mechano after the revolt was halted and has quietly been plotting, making contacts with pirates and possibly even the sathar and building up an army of minions. Sort of your classic evil foil bent on destruction of the world order just because.

Mechanon Module names:

I, Mechanon

Mechanon Dawn

Mechanon Rising
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!

Anonymous's picture
w00t (not verified)
May 4, 2011 - 10:28am
@Captian, perhaps your version could be the robots built my the mechanon. :-)

Maybe Shell could whip up some mechanon's in action!

iggy's picture
iggy
May 4, 2011 - 12:20pm
I feel that with Mechanons, form fallows function.  If it's current purpose requires eight legs, it gets eight legs.  If it's current purpose requires it to look like a common household maid, it gets modified to look like a household maid.

However, Jedion has properly reminded us that the Mechanon society is strictly pyramidal with the true free Mechanons on the top.  Possibly rising to the top of their society is a process of awakening sentience and may take hundreds or thousands of years.  Those lower down in society lack more and more free will.  The lower you are the more your form is controlled by others.  This brings more feeling to being hacked to the awakening Mechanon.  This could be a very large part in the argument of the UPF that Mechanons are not truly sentient.

My rogue Mechanon in hiding idea could easily be a Mechanon who refused to go to Mechano.  Be it a villain or an oppressed libertarian, that is what the players would be discovering.
-iggy

thespiritcoyote's picture
thespiritcoyote
May 4, 2011 - 7:24pm
  I concede, I was likely influenced in the non-pyramidal view by the voice of a character I once played, a rouge philosopher who settled in the Fromaltar sector, and was effectively a leading political influence supporting equal rights and responsibilities for Mechanon and Organics claiming UPF Citizenship. It was a more Political oreinted campaign than Traditional.
  I was also giving more of an overview of all Mechanon, wherever they may be found, and that further took away from the focus on the internal structure of any single social body.

  Yes, the psychological profile I touched on is both born from and supports, a tendency to a pyramid and caste based philosophical (cyber-theological?) (bio-artificial?) monarchy, as would be found on Volturnus and Mechano, and be expected [imo] to occur on any other seedings, migrations, or outposts, that might be out there.
  Questions of 'true sapiance', and therefore the nature of their rather obvious 'sentience', and some 'blurred vision' taken on these topics to maintain that ambiguity, is what made them an interesting roleplay option for me and others in our group, during that campaign. I would caution anyone using the Mechanon to maintain that ambiguity, both as player options and NPC's, and not let it fall into the rubber-suit trope, or spotlight-the-absence of the trope too brightly.
  I also caution to not underestimate the power-creep that they can quickly induce, keep the populations off of those established worlds low, and keep those 'homeworlds' and any large factions even more enigmatic, and self-centric, than the Sathar, most of the time.
  Of course, after that (and before it by the nature of the rule) Rule-0 the heck out of them, they are uber-Foot in mouth-Cool.

Good suggestions, observations, and viewpoints.
Oh humans!! Innocent We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".
~ anymoose, somewhere on the net...

so...
if you square a square it becomes a cube...
if you square a cube does it become an octoid?

iggy's picture
iggy
May 5, 2011 - 12:43pm
Kinda reminds me of Cameron in Sara Connor Chronicles.  How genuine is she?  How free is she?  Can she really over ride her core programming?

Is the Mechanon you just met really sentient or is it just a really good program running? Is the Mechanon controlling it's self or is it a minion to some other?
-iggy

thespiritcoyote's picture
thespiritcoyote
May 5, 2011 - 8:59pm
yeah, good analogy, I do have to watch that series sometime, but after seeing Salvation, that is about what I expected from the Chronicles, I am not up to speed on all the printed materials either....
  I have seen similar story arcs from Asimov's: Foundation Universe, in all these cases there is still a temperament within the 'AI-Evolved' lifeforms psyche, that is directly associated to the 'living-divinity' of the 'progenitor-beings', Humans in both cases.

pardon if this waxes esoteric and theological, but...
  The motivation for Sky-net, and the Matrix, is all about over-throwing 'god' and ascending to replace that divinity with self, and they both discuss that ambition in their own way, while the robots in the Foundation Universe are largely in a blind-faith mode, that causes them some angst when they encounter morality problems beyond the scope of their hard-wired design, and becoming 'over-protective' of 'god' becomes their eventual result of that mindset, effectively killing the 'divinity' by smothering it.

  In the case of the Mechanon, they are more like the Daleks and Cybermen, where 'god' was removed in a physical way during their genesis (by actions perpetrated by The Doctor in both cases, which is why they claim to fear him as the Angel-of-Death, some have even gone rouge and developed a perverse following of him....), such that they have only a 'faith' and 'mystic' connection to their progenitor, and evolved throughout their existence on that unsatisfied connection.
  In as much as 'living machines' can be considered capable of, or even be interested in, such esoteric philosophy, the effect on their psyche still manifests in all these entities, within their respective universes, in some form, in what ever way the entity manages to rationalize (often even in spite of the author/director taking a hard atheistic view), and whatever they manage to label it.
  As it were, sapience begets internal esoterica, as it must eventually come to some rational about the unknown and the unknowable abstractions of the universe, and it's place within. To paraphrase an ancient philosopher of some repute "Machine cannot live by silicon alone...", and must eventually evolve some philosophy to satisfy the Plato-Aristotle/Lao Zi-Buddha abstraction of being, and let the oil flow over the logic and lubricate reason, with belief of existence, and purpose.

  Externally the observation of whether a Mechanon is just an artificial sentient robot of advanced design, or an evolution into sapience by an artificial construct, still stands... and being an external observation, is easily colored by subjective rational.
Oh humans!! Innocent We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".
~ anymoose, somewhere on the net...

so...
if you square a square it becomes a cube...
if you square a cube does it become an octoid?

Captain Rags's picture
Captain Rags
May 5, 2011 - 9:30pm
I like Jedion's I, Mechanon title for the adventure. But when considering that there is no definitive appearance for a Mech, I'd introduce the module to my player characters in a slightly different fashion: their favorite game machine, the very one that they've been playing for years (at a space bar called Zeb's), has suddenly and mysteriously disappeared. The PCs finally track the machine down only to discover that it is in fact a sentient Mechanon in hiding!
I'll call the adventure...

"I, Pinball Machine" Wink

My SF website izz: http://ragnarr.webs.com


thespiritcoyote's picture
thespiritcoyote
May 6, 2011 - 1:08am
Laughing
Oh humans!! Innocent We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".
~ anymoose, somewhere on the net...

so...
if you square a square it becomes a cube...
if you square a cube does it become an octoid?

Anonymous's picture
w00t (not verified)
May 7, 2011 - 5:08pm
Money mouth Walking game consoles... hrm.

T4-x3, get your metalic hide over here, we want to play Space Invaders!
Have anyone seen Galaga? I thought I left him recharging on deck 4.

thespiritcoyote's picture
thespiritcoyote
May 7, 2011 - 7:33pm
Foot in mouth As Robots, yeah, as Mechanon, idk...Laughing
Oh humans!! Innocent We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".
~ anymoose, somewhere on the net...

so...
if you square a square it becomes a cube...
if you square a cube does it become an octoid?

Captain Rags's picture
Captain Rags
May 7, 2011 - 9:44pm
Yes indeed a Mech pinball machine! And just guess where you put your quarter in?Cool
 
But back to topic, I'd really enjoy seeing more SF'ers artwork of their vision of a Mech. The talent of the players on this list is always talent covered in awesome! 

My SF website izz: http://ragnarr.webs.com


iggy's picture
iggy
May 9, 2011 - 11:41am
I've been thinking.  I know I should stop, it's a bad habit and the government would like me to stop doing it, but I I can't help myself.

All these years we've have been sharing vital frontier information with w00t.  Then I think up the above Mechanon in hiding story line.  I think I just discovered w00t's true identity.  w00t is a Mechanon in hiding.  Now is w00t a spy or a refugee?

Quick get a restraining bolt!  Oops! Wrong universe.

And on the subject of sentience.  w00t, I've got a story for you, a test for sentience.  A preacher, a priest and a rabbi are discussing how much money to give to God.  The preacher says, "draw a circle on the ground and throw the money in the air.  Whatever lands in the circle is God's."  The priest says, "whatever lands outside the circle is God's."  The rabbi says, "throw the money in the air and whatever God wants he keeps."

And the second question.  Have you ever been struck by lightening?

I feel good for a Monday.  This could be a real good week for me.
-iggy

Anonymous's picture
w00t (not verified)
May 9, 2011 - 1:21pm
This post struck me like lighting!
How could you ever believe me, the w00tster to be a (fraggin!) mech?
Those higher-than-thou sub-species to a toaster!

I won't deny the government plant... just which one? :-)

Sentience Question:
I would open my side doors extending nano-light tentacles with gripper ends, grab all the creds and say, "Your logic intrigues me, however I must insist you not litter. I will dispose of these properly."

Referee Questions:
 Would you allow a mechanon with free will in your game?
 Would you make the player detail his background and loyalties?
 Would you allow them to be "taken over" or re-programmed?
 Should they be bound by a code or programming?





thespiritcoyote's picture
thespiritcoyote
May 9, 2011 - 2:39pm
Is this is supposed to prove that while they may be sapient, they are not very sentient, or just be a quick stereotyping corollary of divergent philosophies, and how that results in confirming the greater mutualism inherent in the evolutionary divergences meta-plan?Foot in mouth

Oh wait it was a JOKE.... Laughing silly intellectuals trying to explain something so simple as being more than just entertainment.

Q2:
? AlphaIn as much as conviction of self-restraint and temperance, is unconfined and costless... a player would be allowed to represent such potential, with the understanding, that the Mechanon's inherent themes of sapience, sentience, and self-personification, are not a question to be answered, but an enigma to be supported.
? BetaAs much as is expected for any other persona within the given campaign, it is always a good thing to have a player that can represent the intended persona adequately, and show an understanding of how the character benefits the setting and intentions of the game being played, so that mutual entertainment can be appropriately established for everyone involved.
? GammaReprogramming a Mechanon would be difficult by any means available to the skills of most Organics, even a Vrusk Neuro-Robotics Positronic Psychologist would be at a loss for where to begin such experimentation. A Sathar might have more success, however another Mechanon with appropriate skill and equipment would be quite more likely to be efficient at reverse social individuality fragmentation, and capable of bestowing treatment to revert a damaged rouge mind to a neutral collective state.
? DeltaIn as much as personality is hardwired from conception, and overridden by environmentally reinforced stimulus, a Mechanon is given the same Artificial Constraints inherent to their particular advanced evolution as any biological life-form, and maintaining balance within themselves is easier when in harmony with such natural states of deep-rooted, built-in, or ingrained focal presence.
Oh humans!! Innocent We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".
~ anymoose, somewhere on the net...

so...
if you square a square it becomes a cube...
if you square a cube does it become an octoid?

thespiritcoyote's picture
thespiritcoyote
May 9, 2011 - 9:28pm

Things a player might need to consider, more important than "can I excersise 'free-will'?", is the question  "is this really what you want to play, or would a borged-out-human be more preferable?":

Mechanon are designed as an NPC race, as the Sathar are. They will not always be enemies on sight, however, and role-playing encounters with these beings can be quite complicated.

Mechanons are sentient robots.

Mechanons are usually equipped with sensors that give them visual and audio input roughly equivalent to Human eyes and ears.

The thinker class is believed to be equipped with all available optical enhancement devices and have extremely heightened hearing.

No Mechanon can smell or taste, and their touch ... much less than Human.

Mechanons have built-in poly-voxes and can be programmed with almost any language.

The higher orders, ... can learn new languages.

Through a series of incredible coincidences they eventually became a sentient, sapient race of creatures which could propagate mechanically.

The robots ... are to the Mechanons what baboons are to the Yazirians: there is a certain similarity, but the differences are far greater and of more importance.
[Ed: Just as I consider Yazirians to have much more in common with a flying-lemur (also a primate), than any baboon (or similar simian primate), I consider this statement very poignant.]

Little is known about Mechanon society. What is known indicates that it has a complex and strict caste system which does not allow for advancement from a lower caste to a higher one.
[Ed: Their physical 'artificial' biology probably plays a role here, fitting with the idea that they are 'simi-constructed-drones' and 'made' to be what they are, without any hope of 'upgrade' to a higher caste. This dosn't however exclude physical adaptability horizontally, only vertically.]

It is known that an aggressive tendency to dominate and destroy organic, intelligent life, was once a strong factor in Mechanon society. ... the famous Mechanon revolution on Volturnus in FY 54 and the eventual mass exodus of Mechanons from that planet.
[Ed: This tendency is not likely compleatly gone, but wait on that... Note the exact date, and destination being quite intentionally ambiguous here.]

But recent studies have shown that this is no longer a primary drive... of 100 randomly tested Mechanons, only five ...
[Ed: Being only 5 of 100 of those tested, may just show how well the other 99% of those that are aggressive may have avoided any testing, or went off in the direction of some other destination en-mass.]

Mechanons use standard robots to perform menial tasks, just as the other races do.
[Ed: Though it is likely that they treat these robots slightly more appreciatively, as useful pets, or respected (albeit mentally retarded) clones.]

Philosophy and the arts are completely non-existent and Mechanons cannot understand what organic beings see in these pursuits. Mechanons have no sense of public vs. private property. Supplies simply are created, exist, and are used as needed. There is no family unit.
There are few laws in Mechanon society. Every Mechanon is programmed with specific behavioral directives during construction. Noticeably fewer restrictions are placed on members of higher castes.
[Ed: A true utilitarian utopia, pure benevolent dictatorial socalist society and pure mutualism economy, so pure that even the Vrusk are incapable of achieving it, and even the most benevolent Dralasite community would be envious of such a reality. Humans and Yazirians can only dare but dream of such a stability under circumstances as these, and most of them would rather liken it to a nightmare, even if they found themselves at the top.
This also all sets up other very significant factors that is of importance, Mechanon understand, and appreciate the mutual value of, Peaceful Relations and Trade Negotiation... but are rather void-brained about such concepts as subterfuge, roguish behavior, cliquish factionalism, individualistic happiness, greed, jealousy, and revenge, these things simply don't exsist in the Mechanon mind. How well could you seperate your 'human free-will' from these 'human-motivations', and avoid pursuing things for such gains?
]

Average Lifespan: Unknown
Reproductive System: Construction

... the Mechanon's crystalline technology is the envy of every government and mega-corp in the Frontier.
[Ed: But being the equivalent of Mechanon Biology and Medicine studies, it is unlikely they have much inclination to share what they do know themselves, and full studies could be construed as being rather more like atrocities of war and genocide.]

Can you avoid playing a Human-in-a-Pinball-machine-Suit? or would you rather full-borg a Human, and go from there? (This was the question I had to answer before I was allowed to play one, so, I pass it on.) Wink

Oh humans!! Innocent We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".
~ anymoose, somewhere on the net...

so...
if you square a square it becomes a cube...
if you square a cube does it become an octoid?

Captain Rags's picture
Captain Rags
May 10, 2011 - 8:15am
(psst... Iggy. wOOt IS a mechanon. I thought everyone knew that already. shhh... he might not know that we know)

My SF website izz: http://ragnarr.webs.com


Anonymous's picture
w00t (not verified)
May 10, 2011 - 11:47am
Someone please consider compiling this information for a followup article to the fanzine. I think I'll start a poll - Do you play or allow mechanon's in your games?

I was wondering... do we have any Player's only on this site, or are we all made up of GM's and Referee's?. Undecided

thespiritcoyote's picture
thespiritcoyote
May 10, 2011 - 12:59pm
Player, GM, Both, or Lurker?
that sounds like a poll... (ok skip the lurker some may take it as a non-commital, if it isn't avaliable they probably wouldn't answer anyway. I wouldn't ... Tongue out)

been playing games twice as long as running games, or near about.

oh, and... is there a dead-line/word-count/layout or content requirment... etc..  for the compile? Cool
Oh humans!! Innocent We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".
~ anymoose, somewhere on the net...

so...
if you square a square it becomes a cube...
if you square a cube does it become an octoid?

iggy's picture
iggy
May 10, 2011 - 11:03pm
Oh w00t!  I was teasing for responses about the movie Short Circuit.  Johny 5 was struck by lightning and Newton Crosby tested Johny 5 by telling him the joke.  When Johny 5 found it funny Newton Crosby used that as personal proof that Johny 5 was alive.  Prior to that he was just a robot, "They don't get happy, they don't get sad, they just run programs!"

My goof goofed!

Concerning Mechanon society.  I feel that it's thinker cast has fractured over philosophy.  There is a known militant group that in in conflict with biologicals.  Then there is another group that is not militant and seeks to engage the biologicals. Then that are likely many variations in between.  I would expect that there are those Mechanons that have disguised themselves to allow themselves save passage through the Frontier so that they can study biologicals.  We are so different that some must find us curious to study.
-iggy