Prepare for the #LodanRespawn2024 Existing characters may choose to be displace from/have memories of different timelines, thereby allowing returning members the option to retcon their whole character. These changes are the result of the "Unnatural Fog" plot device that is running between now and the Respawn. The plot is simple: no matter where your character is, that place is shrouded in a thick fog that suspends time, but not thoughts or memories, so even if they're repeating the same day over and over again, they continue to remember, so each time feels like a new day. For those retconning OCs; this is where new versions of themselves have the opportunity to replace the old versions. Official lore and tree updates will be announced asap
A (Somewhat) Comprehensive Guide to Clockwork Dolls, 1st Ed.
Written By Amon
Chapter 1: Intro Clockwork dolls. Not much is known about these technological wonders; well, not anymore, at least. Prior to the Civil War (that is, before the old guilds combined into the five we know today), Clockwork Dolls were more prevalent, mostly around the wealthy and occasionally around the engineers who made them. However, thanks to a certain incident, followed by the Civil War, nearly all information on the Dolls has been lost. Thankfully, much of that information has been recovered and is now being presented in the tome you now read.
"I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible! And when I leave, you will finally understand why storms are named after people!" - Taryn, Nerf This
Chapter 2: Dolls, not dolls Now, one must keep in mind the difference between a Clockwork Doll and a doll with clockwork mechanisms. A doll with clockwork mechanisms is nothing more than a toy, a small robot given special limbs and dressed to one’s desire. While they can move of their own accord, they have limited programing, and can only be given a certain number of commands to remember, depending on complexity (See Robotics II).
On the other hand, Clockwork Dolls are much more complex. Depending on the designer, Dolls can be as tall as your average man, and be given different body types, depending on the preference of the customer, be it male or female. They can perform a number of tasks, from cleaning, to valet driving, even cooking (be warned, results may vary). Some of the savviest engineers were able to program personalities into these machines, so as to be companions for their rich owner’s children and elderly.
However, due to the complexity, the dolls were more prone to breaking down compared to any other technology at the time. Furthermore, fixing one was as expensive as building one, as engineers were pretty much tasked with making metal humans, which in and of themselves are complex if you think about it. Plus, like all technology, Dolls can’t be anywhere near Andersweltlers; especially so, due to their delicate inner workings. There were even more complications when it came to personality, as the Dolls could not truly show empathy, as they had no emotions. Nonetheless, solutions were found, though they ended up producing more problems than solving them.
"I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible! And when I leave, you will finally understand why storms are named after people!" - Taryn, Nerf This
Chapter 3: Cores Now I hope you’ll forgive me for this minor slip-up my dear readers. During my search for answers on the Clockwork Dolls, I found a rather interesting piece of information: according to old blueprints (recovered from various sites), the Dolls seemed to have some sort of empty space in their chest cavity. Initially, I thought that it was some sort of power source, and it was only after many failures that I realized that the Dolls could complete their daily tasks on nothing but the power of their winding mechanisms (albeit with near daily windings of course). So what was the space in the chest cavity for? Well, after careful research, I found out that there were upgrades for dolls to overcome two of their greatest shortcomings. Thinking that they must be some sort of core, I continued my search, only to be brought up against a wall. You see, these weren’t merely cores: they were crystals.
One crystal, highly prized above the rest, was a magic resist crystal. In the shape of a tear drop and sharing the color of the deep sea, this crystal prevented any and all magic damage to technology, even in the presence of magical entities namely the Andersweltlers. Now I say technology, as the crystal was used on more than the Dolls; sure, it was for their primary use, but many used it on their guns, vehicles, and other technology, to either get the upper hand or to avoid the expensive inconvenience of their tech breaking down on them near the Andersweltlers. However, these crystals were highly contested, and being rare to begin with didn’t help the skyrocketing demand.
The other crystal was a little more interesting. In the shape of a heart and sharing the color of a rose, this crystal granted the Dolls something only living beings have: emotion. It is unknown how it does this; the best analyzers at the time simply said it was “magic,” which, of course, completely conflicts with the natural order that the Andersweltlers brought when they entered our world (that is, that magic and tech don’t mix). Regardless, these crystals made the Dolls more human, and therefore easier to confide in and become companions with. Unfortunately, that also meant that the Dolls were now susceptible to the darkest of human emotions.
"I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible! And when I leave, you will finally understand why storms are named after people!" - Taryn, Nerf This
Chapter 4: Technology Lost Though many records were lost during the Civil War, I have been able to piece together some information on why production of the Dolls was discontinued. There had been an incident, in which an elderly (but apparently rich) man was using two of his dolls as walking guides. After a slew of insults and quite a number of swats to their heads, the Dolls seemed to have had enough and killed the man, snapping his neck. Continuing their fit of rage, they proceeded to attack a couple of soldiers, and were only stopped when an Andersweltler used magic to put a stop to the assault.
Now, it makes perfect sense why emotion crystals were no longer desired; as saddening as it is, the dolls could combine their programed personality with their newfound emotions and could wreak havoc while being led by their desires. Stopping them might be difficult, depending on who built them. However, this becomes especially so if the Doll was protected from magic; it was rather uncommon, but there were individuals who possessed both crystals at the time. Who knows how much damage a raging, magic resistant would do before it was stopped.
Fortunately, another incident never occurred again, as a short time later, the Civil War started, during which many Dolls were destroyed, many blueprints burned, and all available crystals were incinerated (the only weakness both crystals had were extreme heat from a non-magic source). Regrettably, information on the location of the mines was also erased; not that it would do any good if the locations were found, for the mines were probably caved in and sealed off for good riddance.
And now you know why Clockwork Dolls don’t exist except as relics of a war torn past.
"I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible! And when I leave, you will finally understand why storms are named after people!" - Taryn, Nerf This
Chapter 5: Recovery and Advances Well, I guess Clockwork Dolls weren’t entirely extinct. My father was able to use his knowledge to make a replacement arm for me, and one of my guild member’s father actually built him a Doll, though it was built using the techniques from before the Civil War. At first, I merely speculated on how a Doll was built; using anatomy drawings and my arm’s blueprints, I was able to build many Doll limbs, but I had trouble figuring out how the body and head were made. From observing the inner workings of my guild mate’s Doll (and after obtaining further blueprints from the Doll himself), I was finally able to piece together this puzzle.
Over the years, the quality of metals has improved, and thus I am happy to announce that the new Clockwork Dolls are much more durable and stronger than their older companions. This means that they are less prone to breaking down, can perform more rigorous tasks for much longer, and can take quite the beating (that being said, please do not beat them…that’s not nice).
However, with a new generation of Dolls, comes both an old and new problem. Despite their increased durability, they still will break down near Andersweltlers; they take longer to break down near the magical entities compared to older models, but they still break down nonetheless. Furthermore, while the newer models have increased strength and durability, they take more energy to use; the older models can be rewound once a month (or longer, depending on usage), whereas these newer dolls may need to be rewound as often as once every three days, the price for their newfound power.
Luckily, a new set of upgrades have been developed to combat these shortcomings.
"I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible! And when I leave, you will finally understand why storms are named after people!" - Taryn, Nerf This
Chapter 6: New Cores As stated in Chapter 4, the original crystals used to upgrade the Dolls are lost forever. While there isn’t much of a loss concerning the emotion crystal (I have personally found the Dolls quite enjoyable to converse with despite their lack of emotions), the problem of magic is still quite prevalent. That being said, a solution has been found, and it is one that might surprise you.
It is not widely known, but the opening and subsequent closing of the portal that brought the Andersweltlers to our world released a large amount of energy. This energy, in turn, caused the rare earth elements in the surrounding area to become magnetized...in a sense. When carefully refined, these rare earth magnets can offer a resistance against magic (a similar, albeit smaller, effect can also be observed if one is successful in building parts of a Doll at an appropriate distance away from an Andersweltler). Of course, unless they are properly refined, these magnets can destroy technology within seconds; plus, the refined magnets only offer a small protection against magic. To make matters more difficult, if not refined within a certain time frame, the raw magnets slowly lose their unique properties, eventually returning back to their non-magical state, thus becoming unable to provide the desired properties. Nonetheless, this new core (with the special rare earth magnets) allows a Clockwork Doll to stand near Andersweltlers with very little to no adverse effects. However, taking magic damage will destroy the core, thereby rendering the Dolls vulnerable to the adverse effects associated with standing near Andersweltlers. Even so, the number of magic attacks that the Dolls can be increased with further upgrades to this particular core. Keep in mind though, that mining and refining these magnets are bloody difficult, thereby keeping their price high despite being quite plentiful. Thankfully, experiments have shown that only small amounts are required to provide optimal resistance, and that only a chunk the size of an average fist (proportional to the Doll of course) is required to offer the maximum protection, so a second solution may be found long before this new supply runs out. Furthermore, these cores are relatively easy to repair in the event they break. Adding to that, surrounding the raw magnets with treated magnets help to not only slow the decaying process, but also act as a container to prevent the anti-tech properties from destroying any and all tech around it.
Now that the problem of magic resist has been addressed, there is still the issue of the Dolls using too much power, and for that there is the Perpetual Motion core. Now this isn’t true perpetual motion, but somewhat close. This core is effectively a secondary winding mechanism that would be used as a secondary power source. As the original unwinds, it would wind the second winding mechanism, which would then be used to wind the first mechanism while acting as a secondary power source. Now the power exchange between the two winding mechanisms would eventually run out, but it helps to extend the duration that a Doll can operate without being wound. However, that is not all: should the Doll choose to, instead of extending the time between rewinds, it can use this core to give it a temporary boost of power, effectively doubling their speed and power. This would use up the energy it would have used to extend their working time, but with this temporary boost, Dolls can become true guardians for their masters, helping to protect them from harm. As with the Magic Resist core, the Perpetual Motion core can be further upgraded to improve the extended duration and power boost; it is a little more difficult to fix compared to the Magic Resist core, but it can be repaired with relative ease once built.
(OOC: Effectively, the Magic Resist core acts like an electromagnetic shield, but against magic instead of electromagnetic fields, and the Perpetual Motion core acts like old fashion cassette tapes, in that to wind side A, you have to unwind side B.)
"I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible! And when I leave, you will finally understand why storms are named after people!" - Taryn, Nerf This
Chapter 7: Conclusion Well, I hope you have enjoyed this journey through history and innovation as I have. Needless to say, I am not done yet: as technology grows, so shall this compendium, as I shall continue to update this tome as new and innovative Dolls arrive.
"I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible! And when I leave, you will finally understand why storms are named after people!" - Taryn, Nerf This
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