Automatons
The first robots to arrive on Ymir were those sent by Empyrean. They had no intelligence of their own, and operated merely as they were programmed. However, contact with raw, unrefined adonium caused them to gain sentience, and they tried to claim the planet as their own. Admiral Montu wiped them out, leading to the Genesis II Project, as headed by Dr. Nebo.
Some time during the Second Age, humans living on Ymir figured out how to use adonium to create their own automatons to assist in mining adonium. Rather than running on electricity, these automatons ran on the magic of adonium itself. Every automaton has an adonium core, which acts as the seat of its consciousness. However, not every automaton has free will or total consciousness. Many simply behave as their makers programmed them to behave.
Automatons are considered a servant class in human society. Most of them work in the mines, but some assist in day-to-day tasks. Some automatons might be bartenders, lift operators, woodcutters, or even soldiers on occasion.
The lifespans of automatons vary greatly. Some only last a few years before they break down and can no longer function. Others run for hundreds of years. There are even rumors of some who have survived thousands of years. Generally, as long as an automaton’s adonium core is still intact, they are still “alive,” though sometimes the damage to their bodies is so great that new frames need to be built for them.
Since automatons do not need some of the basic creature comforts, such as food and water, those that are paid are usually paid far less than humans. Even so, automatons often seek work because it makes them feel like their lives have purpose.
Sadly, in recent times there are some humans who have grown to resent and even hate automatons. The Skin and Bones society was formed around the basic idea that only beings made of flesh should be considered truly “alive.” Members of the Skin and Bones Society have been known to destroy automatons for the slightest offenses, or simply because of baseless hatred. They often wear parts of automatons they’ve killed as armor, intended to frighten any other automatons they might come across.
Since justice for these murders is hard to come by, some automatons have formed gangs, posses, or militias. This, in turn, has made many of their human neighbors nervous that automatons are about to rise up against them, and driven several right into the arms of the Skin and Bones Society.
Those automatons loyal to Empyrean usually pray to Shun as their patron deity. Since he is believed to be the god of stone and hard labor, their mythology says that he was the first one to create automatons, and has a special interest in their survival.
Just like with humans, there are some automatons who also serve in the Rebellion. There are also some automatons crafted by archons, designed to help them with day to day life in the heavenly cities.
