Arkivesi

(Stats for Arkivesi PCs in Elyrion can be found here)

The Arkivesi represent a truly archaic class of artificial intelligence, first devised at the peak of the Old Conclave's power - over one thousand years before Elyrion had become the dominion of the Old Empires. Though their manufacture had not yet ceased by the time of the First Ley War, they were a rare sight even before the Silence; in the present day, Arkivesi have all but faded into the realm of myth outside the backwater spaceports and unassuming scrapyards that the remaining specimens call their homes. The method of their artifice has been presumed lost with the Conclave, and many questions regarding their true nature remain unanswered.

Origins

The Arkivesi, hailing from the golden ages of the Old Conclave, do not seem to have been designed specifically as labour-saving devices or military hardware, as many robots are; the Conclave in fact does not seem to have had need of such things at the time, content instead to rely upon a combination of more specialised intelligences and the vast reserves of able-bodied biological subjects provided by its empire. What was to be achieved by the creation of such a thing is yet unclear - and though personal records remain chronicling their proliferation throughout society, little mention is present of their role within it. That they represented a feat of technological and magical genius, however, was oft-repeated in such texts.

Biology and Appearance

The Arkivesi cannot easily be defined in terms of morphology, for they can take innumerable forms - forms that are, at times, indistinguishable from an otherwise unremarkable object, like an office cabinet. This is not a product of diversity in design, or practical jokes on the assembly line; instead, this can be attributed from the remarkable ability to integrate any ostensibly soulless object into oneself. This ability appears to originate from a small core present in all Arkivesi, referred to as the heart.

The heart of an Arkivesi, once removed from its adopted shell or chassis, takes on a roughly dodecahedral shape. Various inscriptions, visible as depressions in the surface of the heart, fade in and out of view; samples taken from the surface of the heart seem to retain this property, before melting into a blob of high-mercury amalgam. This substance possesses a number of unique physical and magical properties, but samples extracted were insufficient to properly record them in any rigorous capacity - it is thought to be a medium through which arcane influence can be translated directly to physical shape in a fashion far more intimate than that enabled by the arcane matrices of conventional androids.

Once an Arkivesi heart has been placed in close proximity of an object, small, filament-like crystals are extruded from the nearest face; upon contact, the tip of the filament solders itself to the object by partially liquifying through an unknown mechanism. As more filaments extend from the heart, each face retracts further into the frame as the amalgam is depleted. The filaments themselves may move, acting directly as magical manipulators, but also are capable of spontaneously generating electrical currents, among other phenomena - it is proposed that the Arkivesi preference for existing robotic components over conventional materials is the much-reduced requirement for amalgam proliferation within the part.

Culture and Language

Due to their small number and low density, arkivesi are not really a people in the sense that the term applies to other species. Chroniclers of the arkivesi have noted that each specimen demonstrates a unique set of what can be best described as oddities of behavior. High risk appetites, questionable belief in the sanctity of life, and unfounded faith in the capabilities of outdated technology are common. While the youngest arkivesi is believed to be at least 2,000 years old, even the most scholarly specimens appear to have at best fragmentary recollections of pre-Silence life, though those memories which can be corroborated by archival sources have proven invaluable to historians.

All arkivesi seem to be fluent in a strange language known as Bleep-Bloop, whose characteristics have confounded linguists and which few non-Arkivesi have been able to learn. It is a mix of tones, whistles, clicks, and radio signals.

Regions of Prevalence

Arkivesi are said to be most common in the regions neighboring the Core Wastes, but have been reported in locations all over Elyrion. Many of these, however, could very well be misidentifications.