RE: Quest for the Gemgark
03-12-2012, 01:02 AM
Name: Simple Learner Prototype BS-1
Race: Golem
Gender: None
Text Color: #C73F17
Description: SLPBS1 is a very vaguely humanoid creature made of ceramic. It is, in every sense of the word, crudely made-- from its misshapen, four-fingered left hand, to the rusted and battered musket replacing its right, to the uneven legs leaving it with a constant limp, to the cartoonish face imprinted in its head. This is capped off with the word "LEARN" written in a barely-legible scrawl above its eyes, a horrendously uneven and clashing paint job of red and teal, and various bits of bizarrely-shaped metal jutting out, apparently at random.
SLPBS1 understands enough of culture and language to hold a very basic conversation, perform business transactions, and not commit major crimes, but aside from that is rather unclear on most things (with the exception of a smattering of trivia acquired from the occasional book or song). It seeks primarily to learn, and is willing to do whatever it takes to reach that end; through what little experience it has, it realizes that helping others can often aid one in reaching a goal, but it hasn't yet gotten in a situation where it comprehends things such as loyalty or personal ideas. It has no name, no sense of gender, and only a small sense of relationships and obligation, the latter consisting mostly of "I will help them and they will help me back"; it does not quite understand the need for these yet. That said, it is exceptionally receptive to new ideas, and has little bias regarding them.
Inventory and Abilities: SLPBS1 carries around a large sack on its back, and not much else. In this sack, it places almost anything it comes across-- rocks and flowers picked seemingly at random, shiny objects, dead animals, books, discarded bottles. When it runs out of room in the sack, it typically discards all the contents on the ground, examines them for a few minutes, and then leaves.
In addition, an old musket is embedded in SLPBS1's right arm. It functions, albeit very poorly.
Biography: Deep within a dwarven labyrinth, in the ancient onyx halls of Burvon Steelsmash University, a student paced back and forth. He had four hours to complete a prototype for a proposed project, and he had roughly zero percent of the assignment done. Oh, concepts were rebounding in his head, certainly, but all of them half-baked, and none of them had been committed to paper yet. The constant ticking of the Deep Clock echoing through the halls only made him more and more aware of how if he didn't pull at least a Brass, he would certainly fail the course.
One idea, eventually, stuck out in his mind. He had always been interested in the concept of a Learning Machine, some sort of artificially-constructed being that could gain and apply knowledge and (in certain cases) even a personality. But he had never done much reading on the subject, preferring ale and womanizing to actually following up on things. He silently cursed himself for going into engineering at all, before being struck by a bolt of inspiration. If he were to create a brand new type of Learning Machine-- a simple one, to be sure, but one that could be used for simple tasks, or to teach children how to construct and operate their own-- then he would certainly succeed!
There was no time to acquire complex gears and sprockets and such, so instead, he made do with a supply of unused clay, an old musket, and the occasional bit of scrap thrown into the mixture to make it more rigid. Where one would normally place an elegantly-constructed magical computer, containing a core of pure diamond and with tiny runes carved into every circuit, he instead threw a clunky device together and stapled several pages from an encyclopedia into it. Finally, with only three hours left, he hastily assembled the creature, wrote the word "LEARN" in the still-wet clay, and shoved it into a forge to bake overnight. He inevitably failed the project, and disheartened, ordered his creation to leave him.
And with nothing to do but what its creator told him and what it had emblazoned on its forehead, the creature limped off into the mountains.
SLPBS1 first read of the Gemgark in the first book it found. As it learned more, the Gemgark's mysterious powers became a focus of obsession. Learning the powers and state of a completely enigmatic artifact would be the apex of learning-- and therefore, it must be pursued.
Race: Golem
Gender: None
Text Color: #C73F17
Description: SLPBS1 is a very vaguely humanoid creature made of ceramic. It is, in every sense of the word, crudely made-- from its misshapen, four-fingered left hand, to the rusted and battered musket replacing its right, to the uneven legs leaving it with a constant limp, to the cartoonish face imprinted in its head. This is capped off with the word "LEARN" written in a barely-legible scrawl above its eyes, a horrendously uneven and clashing paint job of red and teal, and various bits of bizarrely-shaped metal jutting out, apparently at random.
SLPBS1 understands enough of culture and language to hold a very basic conversation, perform business transactions, and not commit major crimes, but aside from that is rather unclear on most things (with the exception of a smattering of trivia acquired from the occasional book or song). It seeks primarily to learn, and is willing to do whatever it takes to reach that end; through what little experience it has, it realizes that helping others can often aid one in reaching a goal, but it hasn't yet gotten in a situation where it comprehends things such as loyalty or personal ideas. It has no name, no sense of gender, and only a small sense of relationships and obligation, the latter consisting mostly of "I will help them and they will help me back"; it does not quite understand the need for these yet. That said, it is exceptionally receptive to new ideas, and has little bias regarding them.
Inventory and Abilities: SLPBS1 carries around a large sack on its back, and not much else. In this sack, it places almost anything it comes across-- rocks and flowers picked seemingly at random, shiny objects, dead animals, books, discarded bottles. When it runs out of room in the sack, it typically discards all the contents on the ground, examines them for a few minutes, and then leaves.
In addition, an old musket is embedded in SLPBS1's right arm. It functions, albeit very poorly.
Biography: Deep within a dwarven labyrinth, in the ancient onyx halls of Burvon Steelsmash University, a student paced back and forth. He had four hours to complete a prototype for a proposed project, and he had roughly zero percent of the assignment done. Oh, concepts were rebounding in his head, certainly, but all of them half-baked, and none of them had been committed to paper yet. The constant ticking of the Deep Clock echoing through the halls only made him more and more aware of how if he didn't pull at least a Brass, he would certainly fail the course.
One idea, eventually, stuck out in his mind. He had always been interested in the concept of a Learning Machine, some sort of artificially-constructed being that could gain and apply knowledge and (in certain cases) even a personality. But he had never done much reading on the subject, preferring ale and womanizing to actually following up on things. He silently cursed himself for going into engineering at all, before being struck by a bolt of inspiration. If he were to create a brand new type of Learning Machine-- a simple one, to be sure, but one that could be used for simple tasks, or to teach children how to construct and operate their own-- then he would certainly succeed!
There was no time to acquire complex gears and sprockets and such, so instead, he made do with a supply of unused clay, an old musket, and the occasional bit of scrap thrown into the mixture to make it more rigid. Where one would normally place an elegantly-constructed magical computer, containing a core of pure diamond and with tiny runes carved into every circuit, he instead threw a clunky device together and stapled several pages from an encyclopedia into it. Finally, with only three hours left, he hastily assembled the creature, wrote the word "LEARN" in the still-wet clay, and shoved it into a forge to bake overnight. He inevitably failed the project, and disheartened, ordered his creation to leave him.
And with nothing to do but what its creator told him and what it had emblazoned on its forehead, the creature limped off into the mountains.
SLPBS1 first read of the Gemgark in the first book it found. As it learned more, the Gemgark's mysterious powers became a focus of obsession. Learning the powers and state of a completely enigmatic artifact would be the apex of learning-- and therefore, it must be pursued.