TARJETAS DE SEGURIDAD

Body: Strength 6, Dexterity 6, Endurance 8 mind: Wits 3, Perception 6, Tech 4

natural Skills: Charm 3, Dodge 6, Vigor 8

Learned Skills: Academia 2, Acrobatics 4, Performance 6 Blessings/Curses: Monstrous (–3 Charm), Loyal

Benefices/Afflictions: Obligation/Stigma (mild or severe) Weapons: None

Armor: 10d

vitality: –8|–6|–4|–2||||||||

The HHJJ–46 is every peasant’s nightmare of an inhu- man golem, with four clattering legs, bug-like body and constantly whirring extensions and appendages. Angry mobs that tried to destroy Hajji have found them almost

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impossible to break, because they were made for that most lethal of environments — the children’s playroom.

The Hajji, a popular children’s companion of the late First Republic, plays games, music, videos, and holoshows, as well as acting as a companion. It has numerous retract- able screens, projectors and speakers, allowing it to act as a glorified entertainment center. Its four legs have numer- ous articulating joints, allowing it to go anywhere a child would. Its armored shell can protect all of these from the worst damage a child can inflict.

History: While few golems of any type survived to modern times, the Hajji is one of the more common. Designed to both entertain and protect children, Engineers find Hajjis some of the most durable golems as well as some of the most easily repaired. They are also excellent repositories of ancient stories and legends (though in children’s form), making them quickly marked for destruction by the Inquisition.

Their salvagers often do not know what to make of them, however. Designed to adapt quickly to the wants and needs of each individual owner, no two Hajji act the same. Some prefer physical activities while others play constant, mindless drivel. Some act like especially rambunctious children themselves, while others have all the

strictness of a Li Halan governess. In other cases, parents overrode their children’s preferences to ensure a constant stream of educational materials, ranging from the technical to the philosophic to the moral. Most common, however, are those that were either hijacked by or turned over to corporations. These engaged in a constant effort to turn the user into life-long customers for that business, whether it was athletic supplies, media, foodstuffs, or any thing else. T heir propaganda ranged from the subtlest to most obvious, but it tends to be extremely confusing to anyone from the Known Worlds.

modern use: Due to the high cost and risk associated with golems, Hajji’s rarely end up entertaining children any more. Most continue to serve as enter- tainment devices, but more than a few were used for bodyguards and military missions, though their inherent programming makes them very unreliable in those roles. Engineers tell of Hajjis used to create diversions through their holograms and other projections, and at least one Hajji showed up as an advisor to a minor noble on Leminkainen.

Widgets

TL 6 Technical Golem

Body: Strength 10, Dexterity 7, Endurance 10 mind: Wits 3, Perception 7, Tech 5

natural Skills: Dodge 5, Fight 3, Impress 3, Shoot 3, Vigor 8 Learned Skills: Drive Landcraft 5, Remedy 3

Blessings/Curses: Grease Monkey/Dwarf Benefices/Afflictions: None

Cybertraits: Cybersenses, Shoulder Mount, Lights, Tool Implant

Weapons: Any modern ranged weapon can be adapted to a Widget, given enough time and resources.

Armor: 8d

vitality: –8|–6|–4|–2||||||||||

The Widget is a model of all-purpose robot designed to conform to all expectations of robotic design. It is obviously inhuman and archetypically mechanical. Technologically savvy citizens of the First Republic did not care if their

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machines appeared harmless, or even human, as long as they possessed high levels of technical proficiency. A typi- cal Widget carries as many gadgets and tools as possible mounted on a metal skeleton that was made to last. Stable treads or tires are more practical than legs, and numerous audio-visual sensors allow the unit to gather data. Most varieties have multiple arms for different tasks, and all parts of the machine are easily accessible for upgrades and modifications. Some are even modular, allowing owners to reconfigure different attachments for different tasks.

Wealthy citizens and private corporations could afford the state-of-the-art in artificial humanoids, but techno- logically proficient citizens were content to kit-bash and trade intelligent machines that could aid them in techni- cal tasks. In an era when colonists scattered on dozens of worlds repaired their own starships and vehicles, it was only a matter of time before hobbyists began scavenging leftover parts for their own creations. The best machines could handle routine tasks while assisting mechanics, pilots, and scientists who put in long hours. A more elite group of techies prided themselves on writing computer programs to optimize these machines. Sadly, much of their share- ware code was lost, but many modular components of their Widgets were recovered.

Scravers, Engineers, and other guild members have learned much about basic robotics by studying Widgets that survived the last millennium. Salvaging enough of one to get it working is a major exercise in modern robotics. Such machines lack intelligence, as well as any memory of their previous existence, but think- machine masters wrote enough code to program these units for a staggering variety of simple tasks. More important, techies justify these experiments as exercises in mechanics, carefully avoiding Inquisition strictures against artificial intelligence. Anyone dabbling in these lost arts will still attract the attention of Avestites and other Inquisitors, however, since many Widget coders and hackers go on to apply what they learn to more advanced golem redemption.