Android

Androids are artificial humans created through a combination of advanced alchemy and magic. Their bodies are grown in labs and imbued with living souls. They do not operate properly alone, however, and a residual magic remains within them to manage their organic processes. They have logical, inquiring natures but lack an inherent understanding of others and their emotions. The Android ancestry can be found in Pathfinder Lost Omens Ancestry Guide.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Androids tend to resemble humans, but can be made in the image of any humanoid species. Normally, the only visual distinction between an android and a human is their eyes, which lack irises, as the pupils expand and contract on their own. Some androids can change this to blend in more with humanoids, although it is still possible to distinguish them on further inspection. Androids that make use of their magic cause their arteries and veins to glow, which makes it immediately obvious that they are androids.

Genetics and Reproduction

When an android grows old, they release their soul to the afterlife, and the magic in their body slowly rebuilds it until it is in the same condition as when they first came out of the soul forge where they were born. The body then accepts a new soul and begins life anew. This process, called Renewal, is the only way androids can "reproduce", as they are infertile, and they greatly value it.

Growth Rate & Stages

Androids are created fully grown and fluent in Ospian, the language of the Cyrdian Empire, but otherwise lacking knowledge of the world. As they age, their bodies deteriorate slightly, though slower than a human ages. They lose function only slightly over time.

Additional Information

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Androids can all see in low-light conditions, and some are designed to see in complete darkness, or to have some other special sense such as an alertness to danger.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Androids living in the Cyrdian Empire were assigned names based on their roles, but androids born from soulf forges formed their own societies and therefore have their own names, usually in the style of Cyrdian names, as they are born knowing the empire's language.

History

The creation of the androids was what Emperor Cyrdin considered his penultimate accomplishment, just below the artificial titans that would lead to his downfall. They came after centuries of development of the art of building constructs, aided by the Cyrdian Empire's best scholars and alchemists. Their predecessors, automatons, gave artificial bodies to already-living souls, but the invention of androids allowed the empire to produce numerous workers and soldiers in a short time, and greatly boosted the nation's military and economic might.

Most android in the Cyrdian Empire were treated as slaves, forced to fulfill a role assigned to them by their creators. The occasional distinguished android could earn their freedom, but were still second-class citizens, devoid of some of the rights that other humanoids had. Being fully-sentient beings in their own right, the androids saw the unfairness in this, but the momentum required for a rebellion never materialized, as the Great Cataclysm soon brought the fall of the empire.

Like other humanoids, some androids surviced the direct events of the cataclysm, but the changes that its aftermath brought, left most species altered, and actually killed most androids. However, the cataclysm's aftermath did something else as well, transforming the underground labs that were used to grow androids into what came to be known as the soul forges. Soul forges are strange machines that grow androids completely autonomously, and at seemingly random times. Thanks to the soul forges, androids returned to Nerilia, replacing the nearly-absent humans as one of the major humanoid species, especially in Yiaroth.

Related Organizations

• Cyrdian Empire

Related Myths

• Mel's Survival