Lost Souls & Midian

This is as much a communal thought-experiment as real game design. The idea here is that everyone can add statements to the device's new programming, and we'll see what it makes of the result. Edit this page with your own logic statements for the NOH.

"The NOH's were a series of "steampunk" humanoid automata created by a Dwarven technomancer rumoured to be insane. He's gone now, as are almost all of his wondrous creations. Most of the NOH's (I forget what that stood for) were rather simple, and fulfilled only one or two functions. An example here were the two who flanked--and formed part of--the door to his workshop. These were made to resemble a pair of Dwarven guardians armed with polearms. The technomancer on the inside was able to peer out through the guardian's eyes (by stepping into their backs on the other side of the door), speak to visitors (read: nuisances), and a pull of a lever uncrossed the polearms & opened the doors.

A tiny handful were more advanced and were able to move about, sense & interact with their environment, and even speak. For reasons yet unknown, all but one of these advanced NOH's shut down at the moment of their creator's death. This last one however, stayed operational & continued to carry out her duties. This was the most marvellous of all Eddy's creations, and was capable of remembering, and even learning new things. Whether by glitch or design, "she" thought she was a living Dwarf. This may have been why this automaton stayed operational even years later. She was aware that the NOH's shutdown, but being a Dwarf it would be foolish for her to do so no matter how much she missed the late technomancer. Unfortunately for this incredible machine, "she" was destroyed, or nearly so, while on an excursion in the Heldannic Confederation.

All that could be salvaged was part of the head and torso. It resembles a pile of scrap metal more than a Dwarf. One eye mostly works. One arm (with three remaining fingers) sort of works. The furnace is functional only on a technicality, and it's regulator was completely shot. It can still hear and speak (Bizzannite & Anglan, not Dwarven ironically). Miraculously, the logic discs are intact. Great heat has since wiped the wax plates clean, but the carved portion of the discs (think of it as the operating system) are undamaged. There is no means of locomotion nor protection from the elements.

Thus, we have the current state of the device. It is a quick learning, but tabula rasa mind, and the most basic of physique. Other than the ability to speak and understand, or its ability to learn, it has no other skills. The NOH can have statements (sentences) input into it, and it will form a new mind around those statements. Since it cannot move about or interact with its environment very much, and its original core program set is gone, it is reliant upon these statements for all of its guidance & knowledge. In a sense, it knows even less than a newborn infant.

What were going for here is a list of those statements. This isn't something broad like, "I'll teach it to fish," but rather the very basic stuff like, "put the worm on the hook, put the hook in the water, hold onto the pole."

Kinslayer & I will go through the statements, & post what the NOH thinks of all of it.