Android

Referred to as Warforged in ancient Edras and recognized as children of the great machine primordial, Androids are Complex technological creations crafted to resemble humanoids. Its unclear why, but records show that Androids were treated as a servitor race in the early millennia of the Pre-Gap expansion, but they have since broken free to form their own society. Unlike ordinary robots or ship AIs, androids do not simply respond according to their programming; rather, they have independent consciousnesses and are animated by souls—a distinction crucial to their generally accepted status as people rather than property.
Androids are biomechanical constructs created in technological crèches called foundries. While the first androids (aka Warforged) are believed to have been mostly biological, difficult to distinguish from the people they lived among, modern designs are more varied, and many favor metal skeletons and processors that support synthetic organs and living flesh. Nearly all androids feature a humanoid body shape and tattoo-like circuits that glow through their skin when operating at full power, but beyond this commonality, variations in physical appearance reflect an android’s design, role, and personality. Some take pains to blend into society, while others deliberately display their mechanical nature. Though some androids are constructed or customize themselves to look like other races, such models are relatively rare. Due to their biological components, androids need to eat and sleep, but as constructed beings they do not reproduce in the human fashion and have no biological need for gender—some identify strongly as male or female, while others shift fluidly or ignore it altogether, and still others actively reject it on philosophical grounds as a relic of their former slavery.
Though android bodies are assembled using tiny machines called nanites, their complex nervous systems attract and integrate souls in the same way organic creatures do. Most androids are fully grown at the time of their birth, and can technically live forever through constant repair, though most androids voluntarily release their bodies after a century or so to allow new souls to inhabit them—a process called renewal that’s viewed more as procreation than suicide.
Android society tends to be insular. While androids are treated equitably in most settlements, especially Edras Station, many androids have not forgotten their people’s bondage and remain keenly aware of prejudice from other races based on their “unnatural” origin or jealousy over the androids’ freedom from aging. This leads most androids to feel a sense of kinship with others of their kind and to go out of their way to help each other, though they may also bond with members of other races who treat them well. Despite popular belief, androids’ impressive deductive reasoning abilities do not preclude sentiment, and most androids feel emotions keenly—they simply don’t always express them well, and different individuals may have trouble processing and communicating particular feelings. The average android alignment is a practical neutrality; they are focused on their own welfare and that of their friends.

Origin/Ancestry

Heir of Edras

Lifespan

Technically Infinite

Average Height

5-7 ft.

Average Weight

100-200 lbs.

Related Organizations

• Vaprak