Of Devious Machinations (Glogtober '24 Challenge 1: Sapient Robots)
(Credit to Phlox for the initial idea)
The Story
Once, long ago, a brilliant old inventor felt a bout of profound loneliness. He created many great things, of course, chief among them our modern clocks, but he was always so engrossed in his work that he rarely made time for companionship, and was never interested in a spouse. Everyone he was ever truly close to has since passed on. But in this moment, he desired, more than anything else, he desired a child of his own.
So he stepped outside, and gazed at the endless stars. By sheer chance, one streaked across the sky, and he wished with all his heart for the child he could never have.
Then the star began to fall.
A burning, crackling spark flew towards him, narrowly caught before it doused itself on the cold ground. The old man sensed in this spark a potential. A soul. And he knew what had to be done.
He toiled for weeks, forming the best possible vessel out of brass and iron and gears, until he created the first Living Clockwork. Upon placing the spark into its heart, she came to life. They lived happily for a time, until The Empire came.
Hearing of this clockwork girl, they sought her and her creator, capturing them. Though initially they wanted to take her apart to see how she functioned, her father begged them to spare her, and they realized they had a better prize on hand. So they forced him under threat of death, both for him and his brass daughter, to show them how he created her, every detail, every process. When the final component was revealed, his captors were enraged at first, thinking this was all for nothing, but the imperial mages proposed an alternative: elemental spirits. More dangerous, true, but much more easily accessible, required less fuel, and the right bindings kept them mostly under control. And so the first Clockwork Legion was born.
Soon, more devious and dangerous contraptions were made. Bulky clockwork juggernauts, clockwork armor, mechanically enhanced crossbows, and even stranger devices. Some even say the empire created clockwork dragons, powered by multiple bound elementals with minds of Homunculite. These innovations allowed their conquest to accelerate drastically, taking nearby lands with mechanized forces that couldn’t possibly be prepared for. They seemed unstoppable.
Then the old inventor died.
This didn’t somehow destroy the clockworks, no. Imperial engineers knew how to produce and maintain these powerful devices. But when she learned of her father’s death, the original clockwork girl with the heart of a fallen star was filled with grief and fury. Her body detonated and she returned to the sky in a pillar of flame, and the next night, a shower of fallen stars rained down on the empire. Clockwork warriors turned on their masters all over the nation, along with the freed elemental spirits that were moments ago bound to those clockworks. It was a massacre, as entire legions were ripped apart from within. Even the emperor himself fell to his own clockwork bodyguards.
Not all of the clockworks participated in the violence, though. Some fallen stars refused to fight, due to compassion or apathy or whatever reason they had, and instead chose to keep their new bodies to see the world. Others remained after bringing low local imperial authorities, having grown fond of those rebellious folk that joined in their battles. Regardless of the why, living clockworks quickly changed from a symbol of oppression to one of liberation. Many still roam today, with empty clockwork bodies sometimes being occupied by other fallen stars that want to interact with the world below.
As for the empire, it fractured into smaller kingdoms and countries. Those that weren’t overtaken by rebels from those they conquered tended to ban clockwork outright so this could never happen again, while some chose to keep non-living clockwork innovations around for potential use, with the clockwork knights living on in some form. Never again did it return to its former glory, much to the relief of victims of its conquest. Its war machines still sit among buried ruins, however, waiting to be reactivated…
Clockwork Creatures
All clockwork constructs are immune to anything that only affects biological things (e.g. poison) and resist everything aside from blunt force, acid, and electricity. If powered by bound elementals, assume programmed obedience and unshakeable morale. If powered by a fallen star, assume curious intelligence that may be naive as to how the surface world works.
Clockwork Soldier
HD: 3 (12 HP)
Appearance: A humanoid figure made of iron and brass. Visible gears, glowing core.
Voice: clockwork clicks and whirrs. Fallen stars sound soft and ethereal.
Wants: to obey their orders (bound spirit)/to experience the world (fallen star)
Morality: Not applicable. If fallen star: curious, kind, but not forgiving.
Intelligence: If bound spirits: Mechanical. Focused entirely on orders. If Fallen Star: Smart as most people, but naive to the surface world.
Armour: As chain. Clockwork resistances.
Move: normal.
Morale: 12 (9 if star)
Damage: 1d6 built-in weapon or 1d8 integrated crossbow (can’t fire two turns in a row)
If a clockwork soldier is destroyed, the animating spirit is released. Fallen stars will usually return to the sky if they can. Elemental spirits roll reaction.
Clockwork Juggernaut
As clockwork soldier, but armor as plate, 6 HD (27 HP), the size of an ogre, and d10 melee weapon with d12 arbalest. Has two animating spirits, and is much less likely to be occupied by fallen stars.
Clockwork Dragon
HD: 15 (70 HP)
Appearance: A huge armored lizard, made of brass and steel with wings of thick sailcloth.
Voice: loud clockwork clicks and whirrs. Mechanical roar.
Wants: to utterly destroy the enemies of the empire.
Morality: destructive.
Intelligence: Mechanical. Brutal.
Armour: As plate+shield. Clockwork resistances. Completely fireproof.
Move: normal, fly 2x normal.
Morale: 12
Damage: See below.
Each round, the clockwork dragon may use one of the following abilities.
Destroy: 1d8 claw/1d8 claw/2d8 bite. If the dragon was flying and lands to make these attacks, all d8s become d10s.
Immolate: Fire breath. 50’ cone, 5d6 damage, save for half.
Tail swat: 1d10 damage, save to dodge. Struck targets pushed 10’ and knocked prone.
When destroyed, releases a greater fire elemental and a greater air elemental. Roll reaction.
No one knows what happened to the clockwork dragons. No fallen stars have mentioned them. Some say they still lie buried somewhere.