Automatons

While Warforged is the term because of some belief that these people were created in times of war, these living constructs are better known as Automatons. They are people just like you and me. We can heal them. We can revive them. And even while they may be made of metal, stone, or even plant material or wood, they have a right to exist without people hounding them and destroying them.

— Introduction to Plight of the Automatons by Niya Gan-Crystalia.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Automatons are large bipedal humanoid-looking people. While people assume they are made of metal, they are also made of wood and stone, all of which are magically infused to be similar to skin in a way. Additionally, dissections of Automatons have revealed that they do have some internal organ system, though this is mainly to make it easier for them to fit in with society by doing things that they don't need to do such as eating and drinking. Some Automatons are even covered in a strange substance that basically serves as a skin cover, making them look like any race they wish to blend in as similar to a Changeling's shapeshifting. These are better known as Androids.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

• Orzin Holds: The Orzin have been doing everything in their power to capture and study the Automatons. They are unhappy when others learn secrets about them and have started taking to destroying them when they are captured by another group so the Automatons can take their secrets to their graves.

History

Automatons were created during the days of the Under Empire as an attempt to make constructs that could mimic the life that they had. Unlike golems or other constructs, Automatons had the ability to be healed by divine magic, making people wonder if they truly had a soul. Because of this debate, Automatons became citizens of the Under Empires from what information could be found and they were built with free will in mind. However, further research has discovered that many Automatons had a message built into them to make them more obedient to their creator and their creator's bloodline.

Like the Simic Hybrids, Automatons were lost to the world above with the fall of the Under Empires and the collapse of the Underoads. They became stories and then myths until the X'ith'ila arrived and invaded Avestra. Both sides of the conflict retreated into the depths and began to explore the Underoads, finding vaults where there were Automatons waiting to be activated. There were also Automatons who woke up on their own and went to the surface, forgetting how they got there and even forgetting who they were.

Some of those sent to the surface were actually agents of the Elders, turned on to do their bidding unknowningly. All these Automatons are now strangers in a new world that wish to be able to replicate them. Some are hunted and dismantled to learn more about them while others are protected and studied humanely. Some even go out as adventurers to find their place in this world. But the question remains: How many automatons are still in the Underoad? And what do they recall about their lives in the Under Empires?

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Automatons new to the surface world might seek out people who have some record in their database. This usually includes Tykriel, Gnomes, and other species that were prominent in the Under Empires. They act friendly to anyone they come across except in the case of Elder Controlled Automatons who are violent when their sleeper agent side is activated.

Automatons who have been on the surface long enough start to distrust the other races due to the attempts on their lives and the endless studies people try to do on them. As such, they are usually nomadic adventurers who only let a few people they get to know truly know them.

Lifespan

Unknown

Average Height

Any size the creature wishes for them