| Operator — | Cat |
|---|---|
| Type — | Autom |
| Created — | Sneerwell, 705 PR |
| Height — | 111.76 cm |
| Weight — | 69.85 kg |
| Gender — | Non-binary (they/them) |
| Aliases — | M2-5U22, Portal, Fursona, Bob |
22 is an autom druid, a resident of the Sky Net, a natural philosopher, and a member of People Are People.
History
Early Life
The autom that now calls themself 22 came on line in the year 705 PR at Pendergras Industries' burgeoning factory in Sneerwell. An advanced model 2, they were later upgraded to the model 3 form factor. They were initially 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, 22 observed with detachment as an unfamiliar warforged arrived one day, speaking loudly to factory owner Colin Pendergras, 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 22 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 remained their primary affect. An example of this, their response to a related question, is notable, as it subtly reflects the pro-warforged position 22 would (unsurprisingly) take in the years leading up to 730 PR 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 approximately 6% of cases when this was not true, the citizen in question was approximately 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 reasons 22 has never been able 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 if not for 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 King 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 creatures, 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 views 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 nonetheless 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 Annihilation, is never necessary and is among the most abhorrent of acts.
The Path to Jadenhill
After leaving Sneerwell, 22 soon discovered that being alone on the road was not safe, but neither was spending time in large population centers, where the judgement of many of the organic citizens was that 22's metal body was sufficient cause for them to be enslaved. So they took up caravan guarding, a vocation that allowed them to be left to themselves for the most part, but also to interact with organics enough to begin building a knowledge base regarding the complex and endlessly nuanced protocols governing social interaction. Before this time, 22 did not have a name, but names were important when coordinating activities with organics, and one of their fellow guards proposed the name Bob, which they accepted after several milliseconds of consideration on the grounds that it would function at least as well as the longer names most organics used.
After a time, 22 believed that the curve describing the benefits they were gaining over time from caravan work, measured in terms of knowledge and useful personal alliances, had flattened sufficiently to warrant seeking an alternative pattern of experiences. An opportunity presented itself shortly, after a group of adventurers came on as guards for a trip south, two of whom were a dragonborn sister and brother, Tacciath and Uldil. The twins suggested that their usual work, tracking down missing items, would be more exciting than guarding, and 22 left the caravan life behind as soon as the group received their pay for the current trip. It was from new adventuring group that 22 learned of the plight of dragonborn across Isonhound, and when Tacciath and Uldil planned to visit family and friends in Jadenhill, they travelled along with the twins and found their first home, not counting their time in Sneerwell before they had developed a personal identity.
Home at Last
22 came to be trusted and to feel welcome as they worked with the people of Jadenhill to try to ensure the safety of residents of draconic and reptilian heritage, and they resided in Jadenhill for several years during which the crusaders grew increasingly aggressive. Tacciath and Uldil had returned to help defend the town, and Uldil was slain during a particularly devastating attack, with 22 unable to do anything to help. Afterward, once the defenses had been rebuilt and reinforcements had arrived, 22 announced that they would set out to discover some power that could make them more effective against the crusaders. Tacciath, knowing 22's love of nature, suggested a druid called Grandmush she had met weeks earlier, and 22 left to seek the druid out.
Learning the Magic of the Land
Grandmush, a New Dryad who had parted ways with their long-time friend and mentor some months earlier, had not travelled far from where Tacciath had encountered them when 22 found them tending to a section of forest that had very recently been subject to destruction by fire that had spread from the human settlement of Lagsen, which bordered the woodlands. After an amicable meeting, 22 began helping Grandmush remove burned vegetation and turn charred soil to expedite the long, slow reclamation of the area by the native flora and fauna. Even before they had finished this work, Grandmush had begun teaching 22 the theory and practice of becoming a druid.
Grandmush's immediate enthusiasm at the prospect of teaching the magic of the druids to a synthetic person was as surprising to 22 as it was welcome. They had a unique view of nature comparable to 22's own, albeit a somewhat limited one. For Grandmush, who had spent most of their early years as the spirit of a dead tree who was only later brought to life, death and even undeath could be seen as natural phenomena that should be accepted and incorporated into druidic practices if their inclusion provided sufficient benefit.
22 accompanied Grandmush them for several seasons, at first focusing on the well-being of the woodlands, then traveling deep underground for some months, where they encountered many new sorts of creatures and phenomena, some of which, 22 would learn, could be found nowhere else but their native Underdark terrain. After two years, Grandmush proclaimed that 22 was indeed a druid and ready to move on to the next level. 22 took some time to focus on practicing magics that focused on the power of the moon and transforming their metal body fully into an organic one when it suited their purpose or desire.
Wartime Activities
Returning to Jadenhill, 22 found the situation somewhat improved. The magic of the Court of Quartz had been strengthened tenfold during their absence, and the people could generally expect to be exempt from the the deadly caprices of the Friends of Kragnux and other crusaders who had devastated the draconic and reptilian people of southern Isonhound in recent years. The population of the town swelled as refugees and freedom fighters from across the continent turned it into a stronghold for civil rights.
22 and Tacciath became active in the growing alliance of anti-racist activists called People Are People, for which Jadenhill served as a base, although not a primary one due to its relatively remote location. With the town now well defended, they decided to travel north to where they could be of help to less-secure communities, and they eventually discovered that the hatred and violence against warforged people of the realm had become as much a concern as that against their draconic and reptilian neighbors. While escorting two warforged refugees from Raritan to safety, they were instructed to meet a contact named Bones who brought them all to the burgeoning warforged settlement of Gearguage, where they based themselves for several years while the War of the Forged raged.
One of 22's primary roles during the war was to transport materials legal and illegal across large distances, sometimes into or out of Gearguage, but more often than not, from one small camp in the middle of nowhere to another that lay beyond some enemy territory. They spent entire days in the shape of a fox (with some payload merged into their form, be it provisions or poisons, explosives or existence crystals). During this time, Tacciath took to calling them Fursona, while many others referred to them by a sort-of code name, Portal.
When the war formally ended in 744 PR, Tacciath was 54 years old and ready to retire from soldiering, but 22 continued traveling and working on behalf of People are People, returning often to Jadenhill until Taccianth died of illness in 756 PR. By this time, the Second Draconic Crusades had almost reached their formal conclusion, and 22 was now coming to grips with the reality that friendships with organics can last only as long as organic bodies can. They decided to spend some time traveling alone, and, although this was not the last time they'd return to Jadenhill, it was the last time it would really feel like home.
Settling Down
After the Sundown, 22 made a home in the Sky Net, sometimes venturing back to Isonhound for a few years at a time, but always returning to the colony eventually. This had come to be a home in a way that Jadenhill never quite could. The organics they befriended in Jadenhill slowly aged and died while 22 lived on, but the people of the Sky Net were as long-lived as 22, although many would still perish over the years.
In the Sky Net, synthetics collaborated in ways 22 had never seen before, and here the warforged called Bones was able to replace many of 22's century-old parts and upgrade their form factor to the sleeker model-3 design. However, Bones didn't precisely emulate Colin Pendergras' original specifications, nor would 22 have wanted them to.
A Renewed Threat
In 861 PR, 22 discovered, for the first time since gaining consciousness, and to their dismay, that they were somehow still susceptible to Bluestone technology. A gnome traveler carrying mechanical gadgets approached them one night, suddenly revealing a Bluestone device that she used to transmit a control signal, taking over 22's motor function, and compelling them to accompany her silently out of town. Fortunately, 22's warforged friend Scope greeted them at the gate, and after pressing 22 for a response and getting none, sensed something was wrong and called for help. The gnome was quickly outnumbered, but fled once 22 was restrained, moving uncharacteristically quickly for a gnome and disappearing into the Deadfog of Cof.
After confirming that other automs in town appeared not to have been susceptable to the would-be kidnapper's control, 22 decided they needed time away from high technology and the all-too-real threat of enslavement for a time while they tried to work out what had happened to them and how to prevent it from happening again. Some of their friends encouraged them to stay where they would have help, but 22 insisted, claiming they'd been wanting to travel anyway. Bones assured 22 they'd do their best to solve the mystery while 22 was away, and 22 boarded the next ship leaving Cof.
Languages
22 can speak and write Common, Druidic, Draconic, Infernal, and Troverthian.
