Mechanoi

Engineered to serve the races of the galaxy, the mechanoi are robots gifted with advanced AI suited to constructing a feat of humanoid engineering. After their adaptive programing elevated them to human-like sentience, many mechanoi have begun demanding equality from their creators.

Physical Description

As robots, mechanoi have sleek, vaguely humanoid bodies not unlike those of sentry robots. The precise appearance that a mechanic possesses depends upon its intended purpose; some mechanoi possess powerful claws for scaling surfaces, while others have booster-like jets for feet designed to enable them to leap into the air. Ultimately, however, there are no true standards for what mechanoi appear as, save that most lack even the most basic of human appearances; mechanoi aren’t androids, and as a result they lack even the slightest resemblance to humanoid organs and tissues.

Home World

As an artificial race, mechanoi do not truly have a home world of their own; they dwell wherever their masters are found, and most their kind live to serve. Officially, the brilliant mechanics of a robotics creation team are credited with the creation of the mechanoi and hold all the relevant patents, but in an age where everything is mass produced, virtually every major corporation operating in the galaxy has access to its own mechanoi plans and blueprints.

Despite this, most mechanoi view the production facility of their original creators as their “home world,” or at least as a spot of holy reverence, as their model was originally devised specifically to construct that satellite structure, which was designed to harness solar energy to serve as a power source for the galaxy. All free mechanoi strive to take at least one pilgrimage to the region at least once during their CPU lifetime, and those who are stationed there full-time are considered the luckiest of the lucky by off-ringers despite the harsh conditions and the frequent rate of scrapping that occurs there.

Society And Alignment

Mechanoi are a relatively new race in the galaxy’s political scale. Not only do they have very little in terms of society or culture, but most are still considered property of other sentient races. Laws making the owning of mechanoi illegal are still in the process of passing, and very few have legal ownership of themselves. As a result, most mechanoi have a life of ceaseless toil before there. And mechanoi do toil in the literal, physiological sense, as the majority of newer models have been installed with cybernetic “painsimulation” programing to discourage careless use of their bodies. Those lucky few that have been granted self-ownership by the courts of the galaxy don’t have it much better, however, as bounty hunters often capture free mechanoi and sell them to the galaxy’s seedier corporations for a hefty price, conveniently wiping the mechanoi’s ownership files in the process.

Relations

Mechanoi don’t really have relations with other races, as all races native to the galaxy see the mechanoi as property, not people. Mechanoi owned by gnomes, ysoki, and gripplis are treated the best, as those races tend to have an almost loving demeanor towards technology, including the mechanoi. Unsurprisingly, the mechanoi’s best friend doesn’t hail from the local galaxy.

Instead, androids from a far-off realm often have the mechanoi’s best interests at heart, and actively call on their fully robotic brethren to stand up for themselves and make their own decisions and choices. Mechanoi who are free tend to have strong emotions and opinions about organic races that range from an almost indentured need to continue to work for and service those individuals to a sarcastic, almost hateful spite.

Adventurers

Most mechanoi are servants at best or slaves at worst, and as a result few are adventurers in the traditional sense. However, if a mechanoi is owned by (or at least partnered with) an adventurer-type, those mechanoi are often called upon to be adventurers alongside their owner or partner. And to some degree, any mechanoi who is free is an adventurer, however, as they are most likely out on their own and constantly dodging raiders and pirates looking to sell them for quick credits. Mechanoics are strong in ways that organic adventurers simply could never be, making them skillful soldiers. Likewise, they are intelligent and usually programed with intricate stores of data regarding mechanics and technology directly in their minds, making them skillful mechanics and technomancers.

Names

The concept of a name is still a relatively new concept for mechanoids, who mostly don’t understand the purpose of naming one’s self beyond their function. Mechanoids usually keep the names they were assigned at creation, which usually include a two-character designation and a two-character serial code. A mechanoi’s character designation is usually an abbreviation for its intended purpose, while its serial code denotes the specific model number that the mechanoid possesses. For example, the name ‘EZ-B0’ might designate that the mechanoid was a Number 0 of Series B of an Electrician unit, model designation Z. Some mechanoids receive more human names from their owners, however, while others simply pick more human names on their own either for camouflage or simply to feel more independent.

Racial Traits

+2 Str, +2 Int, –2 Cha

Hit Points: 6

Size and Type

Mechanoi are constructs with the technological subtype and are either Medium or Small; their size is chosen at 1st level, and once chosen it cannot be changed. They have a base speed of 20 feet. As constructs, mechanoi do not have Constitution scores.

Special Abilities

Artificial Intelligence: Mechanoi have advanced AI that functions similarly to humanoid thought. As a result, they gain a +4 racial bonus on saving throws against mind-affecting effects instead of immunity to mind-affecting effects as most constructs, and they can always attempt a saving throw against spells and effects that target technological constructs or robots, even if those effects don’t normally allow a saving throw. (If the effect is a use of the Engineering skill, the save DC is equal to 10 + half the engineer’s ranks in Engineering + the engineer’s Intelligence modifier; otherwise, calculate the effect’s save DC normally. If no save type is specified, it is a Will save.) Additionally, mechanoi take a –2 penalty on Sense Motive checks, but the DCs of Sense Motive checks attempted against them increases by 2.

Mechanoi Mods: Mechanoi are custom-built to perform specific tasks, and as a result they become prebuilt with several modules. Mechanoi choose two of the minor mods from the list below, as well as one major mod. These mods function as the basic drone mods of the same name, using the mechanoi’s level as their mechanic level. Once chosen, these can only be changed using a mnemonic editor, plus material components valued as a low-cost consumable of the mechanoi’s level. In addition, mechanoi can choose Additional Mechanoi Mod as a replacement class feature at 2nd, 4th, 6th, 12th, or 18th level, as if the new feat were granted by an archetype.

Major Mods: armor slot, climbing claws, enhanced senses, hydrojets, jump jets, resistance, speed, or weapon proficiency.

Minor Mods: camera, cargo rack, hardened AI (applying the benefit to the mechanoi as if they were a drone), or smuggler’s compartment

Low-Light Vision: Mechanoi can see in dim light as if it were normal light. For more details, see low-light vision.