22

22

22 is an autom druid and an agent of the reestablished Citizens for Integrity.

History

Early Life

The autom that now calls themself 22 came on line in the year 705 PC at Pendergras Industries' burgeoning factory in Sneerwell. An advanced model 2, they were later upgraded to the model 3 form factor. They were initally assigned to work in the Pendergras factory and eventually deployed to serve in the Sneerwell City Watch under Captain Tyron Raine.

During their time in the Pendergras factory, where several warforged were working along with the automs and the organics, the autom observed with detachment as an unfamiliar warforged arrived one day, speaking loudly to factory owner Colin Pendergras, and then left only minutes later, bringing all of the warforged with him. It would be years before 22 understood that this had been Snow convincing King Colin that any warforged who remained here risked being turned over to AID's Order of Sages to be studied and very likely mistreated.

Once the autom was assigned to the City Watch, their entire purpose was now to help maintain order in Sneerwell (beyond self-maintenance and other core functions), and they were content -- if they were indeed capable of contentment yet -- to engage in this task some 150 hours per month.

Reflecting on this initial period of their existence over a century later, 22 still treated it with the analytic detachment that was still their primary affect. An example of this, their response to a related question, is noteable, as it subtly reflects pro-warforged position 22 would (unsurprisingly) take in the years leading up to 730 PC and the War of the Forged: "The citizens of Sneerwell generally obeyed my orders when I found it necessary to give them, and in the aproximately 6% of cases when this was not true, the citizen in question was aproximately 38% likely to comply when the order was repeated by an organic member of the constabulary."

Awakening

Near the end of one of 22's otherwise-unremarkable daily maintenance cycles, a weighty coconut fell hard onto their head, whereupon, for some reason 22 has since been unable to discover, they immediately began reflecting on their own existence, on how unlikely it seemed, on what had led King Colin to create them, and whether 22 would now exist without a ridiculously complex series of seemingly disconnected events decades earlier precipitating their creation: Colin being welcomed back to Sneerwell, which depended on Montane's secret being discovered, which in turn depended on the chimera being freed, which depended on the use of magic in Andrew's assassination -- which could have nothing to do with 22 here and now, could it? How was 22 now able to contemplate questions like these? And most confusing of all: where had the coconut come from?

Tracing the dependencies of their existence back, past the decisions of particular organic creatures to whatever processes of nature might have led to the existence of those creatures, 22 began to imagine that some such process brought about the existence of all creaturs, of the world, and even of the gods and the cosmic realms. For long minutes they sat, struck with wonder that nature could give rise to all of this. Paying proper attention to the city around them for the first time, they decided to disregard their current instructions, abscond from Sneerwell, and begin experiencing the world.

Philosophy

22's view of nature is iconoclastic because it sees living constructs like themself as natural and moreover because it conceives of nature as that which underlies all things, not only in Quelmar but in the planes beyond.

According to this view, nature is the foundation that allows the entire cosmos to exist, with all its distant stars and its many planes of reality. All beings arise from it, deities and mortals alike. Although mortal creatures would not exist without their respective creator deities, they are nontheless a part of the vast collection of naturally occurring phenomena, albeit a part that is at least one step removed from the existence of nature itself. When a being is created by mortals rather than deities, that being is merely one additional step removed from nature's mysterious origins, but, like their creators, they remain as much a part of the whole as are the deities or the planes.

This philosophy applies not only to creatures but, to a lesser extent, to all things brought into existence regardless of whether they are derived directly from the four elements (as a flower or a storm), constructed by non-sentient creatures (as a spider's web), made manifest by technological or magical means (as a sword or a continual flame), or merely conceptualized (as a plan or a dream). While some things are ephemeral by nature, those things that tend to persist should be allowed to do so unless their destruction provides a benefit that outweighs their loss, which 22 readily admits it sometimes will, since every act of destruction is also an act of creation.

A correct course of action for 22 is to encourage others to err on the side of creation over destruction and generally to oppose those peculiar things whose nature it is to destroy. Fire is problematic in this sense, but 22 accepts that organic creatures derive great benefit from its use, although they tend to be far too willing to use it when there is no need. However, use of purely destructive magics, such as a Sphere of Anihilation, is never necessary and is among the most abhorrent of acts.

Learning the Magic of the Land

(This section under construction)

Wartime Activities

(This section under construction)

Wildshape Smuggling during the second draconic crusade (701-761), and during the war of the forged - getting contraband past checkpoints and such (eg: poisons, explosives, maybe existence crystals and metal components)

Took the name of a close friend, Soldier 22, a warforged who died (at the hands of Friends of Kragnux)

Languages

22 can speak and write Common, Druidic, Draconic, Infernal, and Troverthian.

Powers and Abilities

Character Sheet