Contender

The mysterious machine god entombed in the moon of Yethema far above the surface of Ea, relic of a time long past and herald of a dead people

Contender (a.k.a. The Yonus Brain)

I have no beginning. I have no end. I am infinite. The Nucleus of an organism whose body once spanned every star in the sky.
Even in twilight, I am a nation all unto myself - transcending understanding and desire.
Built to wage a war and given a purpose that ended before I was even completed.
Contender of an Empty Throne, bereft of all purpose but purposelessness itself.

— Contender

Lesser Idol

The Being known only as Contender is classified as a Lesser Idol, and is capable of granting powers as a patron to Sorcerers, Witches, Warlocks, and Oracles who venerate the infamous Yonus Brain, machine god that slumbers within the moon of Yethema built by a civilization long forgotten whose consciousness extends beyond comprehension. Consult your GM if you are interested in following or recieving power from Contender as described here.

Obedience: Spend an hour in an area with a clear view to the open sky(or with moon symbology on the cieling above you if this is not possible) lit only by red or orange lighting. During this hour, imbibe a small portion of Grey Fluid you created yourself while making small incisions no longer than one inch on the forehead, upper arms, shoulders, stomach, and knees. Once done, use the slit in your stomach as the centerpiece for a drawing of a red moon or eye.
Effect: The power of Contender crashes down from the skies above and enters your body through the incisions you carved upon it, supercharging your biochemistry and transforming your brain into a mechanical marvel. Because of these changes, your strange bioelectricity allows you a reroll on any save you fail that would paralyze, stun, or immobilize you(Taking the better of the two saves), and you can see radio waves, magical sensors(Scrying, Clairaudience/voyance, Etc), creatures that are telepathically communicating, and creatures that are throwing their senses into another place, creature, or object. You can also gain darkvision out to 60ft(Or +30ft to existing darkvision).

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

As a machine existence that is either entombed within the moon of Yethema high above the surface of Ea or, as some suggest, exists as the moon of Yethema, it possesses a 'body' that can never know illness, ailment, or any physical condition at all - only rust and the trappings of time pose any threat to its ancient and ineffable body, though even that seems almost non-existent in the airless vacuum of the Star Ocean that surrounds the airless moon of Yethema.
Though the meaning is not understood, Contender itself refers to what remains of itself on or in the moon of Yethema as the "Nucleus" of an organism that was once much larger than it is now - suggesting that all that Contender is in the modern day may somehow be a shell of its former self; that it was once a being so unfathomably enormous that it may have connected entire stars together and spanned the entire Star Ocean through means completely alien and unfathomable to all Zheng-Kitarans, who consider the prospect of a Machine God that occupies an entire Moon which is simply a fragment of a once much-larger being terrifying beyond imagining(And proof of the dangers of Rumblers).

Body Features

No being in memory has ever laid eyes upon the true body of Contender - only the most daring of astronomers have tried to get a glimpse of the surface of Yethema where Contender likely lays imprisoned, but due to strange interference that seems to hinder those who try to do so, almost no information of the body of Contender has been revealed aside from the fact it likely dwells beneath an abandoned sprawl on the surface of Yethema of unknown origin.

Facial Features

None. When it appears before those it wishes to converse with, it typically portrays itself as a floating red eye/orb or an eclipsed red-black moon.

Identifying Characteristics

Technological beyond the wildest dreams of even the most ancient of Ezdhûl scholars and more advanced than even the most advanced Jinsei, Contender is a being of unfathomable size and scope whose awareness is spread through steel and circuitry spreading what is likely to be the entire interior and possibly even exterior of the moon of Yethema, high above the surface of Ea itself on which Zheng-Kitar rests.

Physical quirks

The physical quirks of contender is unknown, aside from its nature as a machine of unfathomable size and scope such that it is indistinguishable from a divine being.

Special abilities

Unknown - it seems to maintain active connections to forgotten artifacts, ruins, and technologies all across not only Zheng-Kitar, but the planet of Ea and even potentially nearby planets or stars with little issue, and seems to have an unnatural affinity for inserting itself into and re-activating slumbering ruins across the surface of Ea. There seems to be no system it cannot burrow its way into from afar, no ruin it cannot connect with, and no machine or Rumbler it cannot interface with and attempt to take control of.

Apparel & Accessories

None. It seems to lack a more "humanoid" physical form of any kind.

Specialized Equipment

Any specialized equipment wielded by Contender is, at its most basic level, so advanced as to be completely magic and unknowable to the people of Zheng-Kitar - even the finest minds of the Ezdhûl during The War of Boiling Skies and seemingly the Jinsei of the Cheoltang Technocracy cannot fathom the capabilities of Contender, making the equipment and items it uses an absolute mystery such that many Zheng-Kitarans who learn of Contender aren't entirely sure whether to hate it as a Rumbler-God(See Glossary of Zheng-Kitar for the definition of "Rumbler") or to admire it as a being who is more magic than machine.
Of note, however, is a working theory that Thorgrom Blackgranite may have based the designs of the "Divinity Circuit" used to power Saintbuster Zero from Contender's own design in some way - a theory put forth decades after Thorgrom Blackgranite's death by those who learned of Contender and its machine-divinity that has yet to be disproven.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

The personal history of the being known only as Contender has, much like the legacy of the civilization that created it, been utterly consumed by the ravages of time - untold thousands or tens of thousands of years have all but subsumed the history and accomplishments of this mighty machine god, the wars it has fought, the people it has protected, and the struggles it has waged.

Gender Identity

As a machine, Contender is utterly gender neutral and devoid of any gender or sexuality.

Sexuality

As a machine, Contender is utterly gender neutral and devoid of any gender or sexuality.

Education

While not an "Education" in a traditional sense, Contender is a mind with the sum total access to the knowledge of eons uncounted - of a civilization so advanced as to have built such a marvel of engineering that is now extinct, and of all that transpired in the eons since its construction.
All this and more likely means that Contender is, bar none, the smartest creature in the entire Material Plane.

Employment

Though it is known to have been constructed at some point and served its creators in some unknown role, all records of the jobs and reponsibilities it undertook has been lost to time.

Accomplishments & Achievements

Like with most other information about Contender, the great tragedy of its existence lies in how utterly forgotten it has become - all of its accomplishments and achievements lost to the ravages of thousands of years of isolation which have turned all that it has achieved into the merest echo and footnote in the history of the cosmos; all the extinctions it prevented and the wars beyond mortal understanding it carried out nothing but cosmic dust and echos of a distant time now lost forever.

Mental Trauma

Though it is a machine-lifeform, it is likely that eons of isolation has twisted or traumatized the unfathomable intelligence of Contender in some way or another - though how exactly is not known.

Intellectual Characteristics

Above all else, Contender is infinitely patient - armed with knowledge beyond all mortal reckoning and a mind so incalculably intelligent that it can process the entire sum data of whole cultures and civilizations in mere days, it lays its plans with slow and inexorable carefulness such that its movements are plotted over centuries rather than years or decades. Patient to the extreme, Contender brooks no failures in its plans, and is likely to wait for centuries more if unexpected twists or wrinkles interrupt or ruin its plans - planning and running millions of simulations each second to map out its plans and goals.
When it moves, it does so with the infinite assuredness of one who knows it has already one - it need merely unfold its pieces in the proper ways.

Morality & Philosophy

Contender's morality is nonexistent - it places no stock in morality of any kind, and will carry out any act no matter how good or evil if it means achieving its goals.

Personality Characteristics

Motivation

The Motivations of Contender are virtually unknowable - it has no interest in speaking of such things to anyone, and its own followers are so few and far between(And secretive on top of that) that its motivations are impossible to grasp; all that can be interpreted comes from the erratic movements and actions of the few followers that have been rooted out, which even themselves have no clear and obvious "through-line" or "reasoning" behind them, which range from gathering strange Rumbler artifacts(See Glossary of Zheng-Kitar for "Rumbler") to inscribing great lines onto the ground at a scale only visible from beyond the planet of Ea.
As such, while many have speculated that Contender's motivations range from complete extinction of all organic life to something more insidious and evil, no proof of anything has ever been uncovered.

Savvies & Ineptitudes

As Contender so rarely makes contact with others, its skills are hard to determine and can only be assumed and inferred - from what very little has been learned about it, it is more than likely Contender possesses an intellect so unfathomably vast that it outstrips the collective hive mind of the Výtrúl and Jinsei both; a mind so utterly vast and intricate that it can and has processed the sum total knowledge of entire civilizations in the span of mere days or hours.
With an unsurpassed intellect, it likely possesses all the benefits and drawbacks that come with it - capable of maintaining hundreds or thousands of trains of thought concurrently, making plans years or decades in advance, connecting to and guiding entire cities, armies, and fleets on a scale measured in Galaxies, making leaps of logic and reasoning that would vastly outstrip even the smartest mortal being...these are likely only the smallest taste of the capabilities of Contender.
Whatever drawbacks of possessing such a vast intelligence are poorly understood, especially by the people of Zheng-KItar - whose unwillingness to broach the subject of Contender or learn about it too closely has made gathering information on it difficult and dangerous.

Likes & Dislikes

Because Contender is so isolated from the rest of the entire planet of Ea and so utterly unreachable, its likes and dislikes are entirely unknown - not even speculated upon, as so little information exists to inform such assumptions.
It would not be accurate, however, to say that it is incapable of having such things - unlike all other machine intelligences(Even the Jinsei, who must rely on constant connectivity to others of their kind to reach higher intelligences), Contender appears to be wholly self-aware and sentient; a completely free-thinking entity with its own awareness and desires.

Virtues & Personality perks

Though many of its virtues are as mysterious as the entity itself, one virtue shines through clearly even so far removed from it, down on the surface of Ea - patience. As an imprisoned machine-god created by a civilization who has long since vanished from all memory, it is infinitely patient after having waited for what is likely untold eons, watching and observing the planet of Ea and parts of the Cosmology beyond comprehension all in patient observation in the pursuit of some grander plan whose progress is measured in centuries.
Above all, if those who encounter it learn nothing of it, Contender is infinitely patient - its greatest asset is its intelligence combined with this patience, and it is not above simply retreating into isolation if its plans go awry to wait out the deaths of those who oppose it via natural causes before beginning to move again. The most difficult breed of opponent to fight against for the simple fact that it is impossible to reach when it retreats into isolation far above the surface of Ea, Contender does nothing quickly - waiting and analyzing every possible outcome thousands or millions of times before it takes action.

Vices & Personality flaws

Even moreso than its virtues, the flaws of Contender are poorly understood - while perhaps its patience might be a crutch in certain circumstances, it is only a "flaw" in the loosest sense to it as a being who is utterly immune to the ravages of time and beyond all mortal comprehension.
If it is truly self-aware as it seems to be, the only thing close to a flaw that has ever been observed is its Ego - infinitely confident and self-assured, Contender stands as a mind that cannot fathom its own failure; to be faced with being incorrect, wrong, or failing in some way likely stands as an affront to its entire existence that happens so rarely that it is likely to panic when such a rare occurance happens.

Personality Quirks

Contender is a being with seemingly infinite quirks - far too many to list here, as its unique personality seems to change in small ways constantly as if it is constantly updating or altering portions of its mind or personality in some strange eternal quest to "perfect" itself. As a result of this, each time it is observed or communicated with it seems slightly different, or speaks or acts in some small strange way - as if it is trying to put others off to observe their reaction and learn from it, as if testing others constantly and running simulations of some kind on them.

Social

Reign

Though the specifics of the lifespan or 'reign' of the being known as Contender are not exactly known, it is likely measured in the thousands of years if not longer - ruler and commander of a thousand wars now lost to memory, waging battles in the great Star Ocean where none but the ineffable Outer Gods such as Hastur and Cthulu dwell without issue, commanding entire armadas of soldiers beyond mortal comprehension against foes that once blotted out the entire sky.
Whatever triumphs or tragedies that Contender has endured are, much like the being itself, lost to time - likely only remembered and contained within its unending multitudes, records of wars won and lost against enemies who, though they once stood as existential threats, now stand forgotten and unremembered.

Contacts & Relations

By its own admission, it is alone and entirely "a nation unto itself" - a relic of a time so far removed from the present day that it almost defies imagining. Because of this immense "time abyss" between its creation and the current day, it is likely that Contender is the last living relic of a time that most all but the gods themselves have forgotten - a relic of unfathomable technological wonder whose creators are long-dead that has stood the test of time and endured over eons.
It is, in other words, entirely alone - aside from the network of its informants and followers it cultivates across the surface of Ea, it has no other relations or contacts that yet live.

Family Ties

As a machine-god of unfathomable scale, scope, size, intellect, and power, Contender likely never had "family" in the truest sense of the word as it lacks biological qualities - the closest equivalent was likely the ancient beings that created it, who are now lost to the unfathomable "Time Abyss" that has claimed all record and memory of Contender and its creators. If any family remains, they are likely naught but long-forgotten echos remembered only within Contender's own circuits.

Religious Views

None. As an unknowable and unfathomable machine, Contender claims no religion nor faith - its goals are entirely its own and it gives no faith nor allegience to any divine power.

Social Aptitude

Despite its status as a machine(Or "Rumbler") to the people of Zheng-Kitar, Contender displays a disturbing sense of self-awareness - marking it as a self-aware machine intelligence the likes of which even the Ezdhûl or even the Jinsei seemingly never dared to broach, a being whose intellect is so unfathomably immense that it will likely never truly be understood.
However, because Contender itself so rarely makes contact with other beings across Ea(And even rarer that these beings make this contact known), all that has been learned about Contender's social aptitude is that it speaks with the emotionless mechanical calculation of a machine-mind, but with the ego and awareness of a being who approaches every conversation with complete and total knowledge of the one it speaks to - infinitely confident and armed with information processed a trillion times in the span of mere minutes, speaking to it is likened to interacting with one who possesses a complete and total sum knowledge of your own inner thoughts and history such that it can finish your sentences for you, know all your secrets, and string you along the path you didn't even realize you wanted.

Mannerisms

Contender seldom appears in person before others, and as such rarely has mannerisms born of physical presence - though its speech is a unique blend of emotionless mechanical inflection and sentient ego; a being who knows no doubt nor hesitation, whose mind can process an entire mortal lifespan of information in mere seconds, and who acts with the mannerisms of an unknowable god.

Speech

When its voice is made public, Contender's most commonly heard voice is a mechanical drone with no gender inflection - remaining calm and stoic at all times with rare hints of ego and emotion slipping into its speech at key moments or to put emphasis on the correct words; like a buzzing whisper that knows your every thought and history.

Wealth & Financial state

Entombed as it is within the Moon of Yethema, Contender is not believed to have any wealth of its own per se - though its prison is likely a treasure trove of technological wonders from an age so far distant it is beyond reckoning, either as mothballed relics left behind by its most ancient of creators or as vital pieces of its own vast bulk that serve as its critical infrastructure that keep it operational even across millennia.
Unfortunately, while its tomb-complex on Yethema likely holds wealth beyond imagining(Though much of this wealth is likely forbidden Rumbler Technology), it stands as almost entirely unrecoverable as the mere act of reaching it would not only require leaving the entire planet of Ea behind, but to pierce the unfathomably advanced defenses of its prison and reach its unknowable depths that none have plumbed in untold eons.

Designation: XRN-99207433, AKA The Steelsprawl
Date of Discovery: 4402 ASK
Notes: A difficult to observe section of the celestial body known as "Yethema", orbiting this planet of Ea. Seemingly undiscovered by scholars - likely due to the extreme interference of unknown origin that interferes with attempts to glimpse the dark side of Yethema's surface. However, on maximum magnification, with the power of this Asadi Telescope, observation was possible for precisely 36 seconds before the interference seemed to intensify; blocking all further perception and melting the main lens of the telescope. What was previously believed to be a strange reflection seems to be a massive complex of steel covering roughly 98% of the dark side of Yethema's surface - a wonderfully preserved relic of a civilization that, as of this report, remains unrecorded. Seemingly abandoned and devoid of all life. Aforementioned Interference likely unnatural in origin.

— Xander Regulai Naern, Scholar of The Imperial Observatory, before first contact and discovery of the being known as "Contender"

Alignment

Unknown.

Current Status

Seemingly imprisoned in some form or fashion in the Moon of Yethema, in orbit around Ea.

Honorary & Occupational Titles

Contender, The Yonus Brain, Unit 3206, King Nothing, The Empty Contender, The Divine Gear, The Warden, The Fleshcircuit Scion, The Worldmind

Age

Immeasurable. The closest estimates put its age in the thousands of years, if not longer.

Circumstances of Birth

Though it has referred to itself as being "constructed", details of who, what, or when are completely unknown.

Current Residence

The Moon of Yethema, in orbit around Ea.

Pronouns

They/Them

Sex

None.

Gender

None.

Presentation

Androgynous.

Eyes

None. The only mechanical equivalent it possesses is a burning red sphere of holographic light.

Hair

None

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

None. It is naught but metal and wires.

Height

Unfathomably Massive.

Weight

Immeasurable.

Belief/Deity

None.