[Invention + Alchemy Addition] Automaton 'Nervous Systems'

[SlitheryC1 501]

- Animii Addition -
Automaton ‘Nervous Systems’

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An Ingot of Photite, ready to be worked!

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Lore
Treating Cat’s Eye, Heat Sight, & Arcana Flow to certain metals allows the heightening of touch for Animii-based Prosthetics & Automatons. Due to the limitations on what metals are able to take on properties from the potions below, it’s often worked into a thin mesh to wrap the plates of the automaton or construct- though making an automaton’s plating out of these metals entirely is possible. These materials will work so long as it’s somehow connected to a Gearheart or Intelligence Module, often in the form of wiring in a manner that crudely mimics the nervous system.

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General Usage

These metals must be implemented in an Automaton/Animii machine or prosthetic to serve their function by being wired to the Gearheart/Intelligence Module in some manner. While implementing them on smaller automaton devices is possible, they require an external means of communicating their state in order to be useful like an automaton's voicebox alongside being linked to a Gearheart or Intelligence Module. The potency of the Intelligence Module may also limit how much the device can communicate, following the official Animii post's Tier system. 

They also must be exposed in some manner to work, meaning clothing or armor will impede a construct’s or prosthetic’s ability to feel much like a regular person nor can they be placed on the interior of a construct’s plating to feel things outside. It may be necessary to run a wire along the interior of the craft, however, to link up with the Gearheart or Intelligence Module.

They also share their parent metal’s weight and durability, making Neuroum the weakest given it’s magegold base, & Photite Metal the toughest of the three being mainly composed of nickel.

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Creation
The creation of these metals is a simple process- simply heat up the metal once you have made it into a part that is suitable and quench it in its corresponding potion- letting it sit there for a narrative day. Reforging is possible, but will follow standard reforging rules found in the Official Material Compendium. Colorstone may also be added to dye it, though must be applied prior to quenching. A single potion’s worth of Cat’s Eye/Heat Sight/Arcana Flow will be enough to make a single limb’s worth of metal. If worked into a mesh, one potion’s worth can be used to cover an entire automaton. If used on T1-T2 Automatons, it can be used on up to 4 separate creations.
 

Redlines
- 1 potion’s worth of Cat’s Eye, Heat Sight, or Arcana Flow will be enough to make 1 automaton limb’s worth of plating/wiring. If worked purely into a mesh, it may be used to cover a full automaton. If used on T1-T2 Automatons, 1 potion can be enough to be used in 4 separate constructs EXCLUDING prosthetics.
- Are all considered COMMON recipes, requiring both an active Alchemy FA & Automaton/Animii Smithing FA to be made.

- NOT required to be used in an automaton, but must be implemented in one in order to be useful. Otherwise they are just expensive variants of their base materials.
- If any potions used in the creation process are shelved, the corresponding metal will no longer be able to be forged.

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Photite - Photosensitive Metal
Nickel quenched in Cat’s Eye Potion - (Light-Dependant Touch)

 

Spoiler

Appearance - A green-tinted metal, especially lustrous and reflective. Beyond those two properties, it shares many similarities with refined Nickel.
 

Usage - Automatons/Prosthetics with this metal implemented will feel what surfaces of the mesh are exposed to light, and how they are shaped. If they are making contact with something, and light cannot go through opaque objects, it will thus trip the metal's detection. This effect is rendered null if the environment they are in is pitch black or incredibly bright from all angles as there will be no differences of the metal to take note of. Funnily enough however, touching transparent or translucent objects- which light can pass through- will not trigger any sensation for the Automaton. An example would be a glass cup, or an Anorum ingot.
Can be used to IRPly represent ‘Daylight Sensor’ blocks in builds, and can be similarly used in automatons/animii gadgets to perform a certain task should a light-based condition be met. For example, a pet construct or gadget automatically lighting a lantern built into itself without having to be commanded to do so the moment it enters a dark cave.
 

Redlines
- Must be attached to an Automaton’s Gearheart or Intelligence Module in order to be functional. You cannot simply hold an ingot of the stuff in your hand and expect results.
- Overlapping meshes or materials with Thermaldite or Neuroum will not be decipherable for the automaton product/construct, leaving it only confused like a calculator being given an invalid input if it is on the same limb/item.
- Has the same durability as mundane Nickel- roughly around, if a bit lesser than ferrum strength.
- Player Signed.

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Thermaldite - Thermosensitive Alloy
Bronze quenched in Heat Sight Potion (Temperature, Heat-Dependant Touch)

 

Spoiler

Appearance - A deep red in coloration, Thermaldite seems to constantly pull tiny amounts of moisture towards it- faint wisps of humidity flowing around it should one check closer.
 

Usage - Effectively allows the Automaton or user of the prosthetic to tell whether or not surrounding temperatures are ‘hotter’ or ‘colder’, using the Alloy’s current temperature as the base- but not by how much making it inferior to regular flesh/neurons in this regard. If the metal is actively cooling down from room temperature thanks to being stuck into icy waters, then the affected prosthetic or mesh will feel faintly cold to the person or automaton using it. Meanwhile, if an automaton sits in a volcanic area for long enough they will not feel the ‘heat’, as the Alloy would eventually reach the same temperature as the environment they sit in- giving no significant difference for the alloy to pick up.

 

Redlines
- Must be attached to an Automaton’s Gearheart or Intelligence Module in order to be interpreted. You cannot simply hold an ingot of the stuff in your hand and expect results.
- The moisture is negligible in both potency and amount to be used in any manner. It is simply a means of identifying the metal.
- Overlapping meshes or materials with Photite or Neuroum will not be decipherable for the automaton product/construct, leaving it only confused like a calculator being given an invalid input if it is on the same limb/item.
- Has the same durability as bronze- comparable to slayersteel.
- Player Signed.

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Neuroum - Neuro-sensitive Composite
Magegold quenched in Arcana Flow Potion (Magic-Dependant Touch)

 

Spoiler

Appearance - Effectively looks like purple aurum, occasionally glistening from time to time thanks to the mana absorbed by the magegold that was originally present in the Arcana Flow.

Usage - Lets the user feel active mana in the objects the metal physically touches, so long as it’s held by the construct/prosthetic for [3] emotes and focused on. If undisturbed, the potency (Tier) of the enchantment will be revealed alongside the fact that it has an arcane presence, though nothing further. A T1 (or weaker) enchantment may faintly hum, but a T5 may give off a pulsating sensation. Anything more may cause 'pain' to the Automaton, the potency of the pain dependent on Event Team/the Owner. This metal cannot work on spells themselves, only the source of the enchantment/spell at play. If worked into a mesh/wire to cover an automaton's plating it will render the metal too impotent to function for detection- forcing a section of plating of the automaton to be made of the metal in order to be used. If the plating is damaged significantly, it must be replaced- being rendered inert.

 

Redlines
- Must be attached to an Automaton’s Gearheart or Intelligence Module in order to be interpreted. You cannot simply hold an ingot of the stuff in your hand and expect results.
- Only tells you the potency (Tier) of a magic, not what category the magic belongs to.
- The pain of feeling a magic greater than T5 is purely mental, and will not cause physical harm or damage Neuroum.
- Cannot be used to detect active spells, and must make contact with the source or enchanted item itself in order to work for passive spells, not the spell itself.
- Overlapping meshes or materials with Photite or Thermaldite will not be decipherable for the automaton product/construct, leaving it only confused like a calculator being given an invalid input if it is on the same limb/item.
- Has the same durability as gold, being delicate in comparison to superior metals.

- Cannot be made into a mesh unlike Photite or Thermaldite in order to feel- it must be a form of plating in order to be used. Wiring of Neuroum is still possible for the sake of linking to the Gearheart/Intelligence Module.
- Plating will be broken and rendered unusable in [1] blunt strike, or [2] piercing/slashing strikes.
- If for whatever reason Magegold is shelved, regular gold will take it's place- though it will lose any darkspawn-slaying qualities once treated.
- ST Signed.

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OOC Reasoning

Spoiler

There's just too many things that rely on the whacky properties of lifeblood. This minor issue makes automatons and automaton smithing feel more akin to a magic rather than the fantasy-science niche meant to be filled by Alchemy & it’s subcategories. This is to give more interesting avenues for an automaton to interpret touch rather than just have a ‘dull sensation’ of whatever they are touching, while avoiding to directly overwrite and nerfing all previously made automaton items to make them reliant on these materials. Another reason why I believe this would make a good addition beyond the fact that I made it is that it'd make automaton smithing closer to it's parent feat of base alchemy by including more ways to use potions to be implemented in automaton smithing rather than just lifeblood.

Specific OOC Reasonings below:
Photite - re-flavored automaton 'touch' that I think is just generally more interesting to roleplay, and displays the whole 'automaton parts are still inferior to flesh'. Also gives an easier means to IRPly explain certain redstone parts (ahem, Daylight Sensor)
Thermadlite - Whereas Photite is automaton 'touch', this would be a crude imitation of a person's ability to feel heat- being inferior to flesh still by not specifically telling the user how significant of a difference the heat/cold is around them.
Neuroum - Contrasts Arcana Flow's glass by requiring maintained touch, technically making it more difficult to use, but superior in information gathering by telling the user only what specific potency (thanks Prima) the magic is.

 

References

Spoiler

 

 

Credits
PrimaQuorum - Gave valuable input on Neuorum, suggested that it should test not the category of a magical item but rather the potency of the magic in it (tiers).

Edited May 14 by SlitheryC1
Added Specific OOC reasonings for the individual metals. Nerfed Neuroum by requiring it to be in plate form, not mesh/wired. Specified Neuroum's delicateness. Added ST signature to Neuroum, + Making it only tell Tiers not Category.

[TreeSmoothie 5125]

+1 this is rly cool

[PrimnyaQuorum 1054]

On mobile so phone formatting ):

The Neuoroum treatment doesn’t quite make sense - Arcana View is incapable of telling what specific magic is present or how much, only that magic is present or not in a very binary sense. I don’t see why it being treated onto a animii prosthetic or automaton somehow makes it more adept than its base form as a potion. Otherwise - very neat addition. I think it’s a nice way to give Animii things “senses” that can still be considered objectively inferior and still fun to RP with. 

[SlitheryC1 501]

8 minutes ago, PrimnyaQuorum said:

On mobile so phone formatting ):

The Neuoroum treatment doesn’t quite make sense - Arcana View is incapable of telling what specific magic is present or how much, only that magic is present or not in a very binary sense. I don’t see why it being treated onto a animii prosthetic or automaton somehow makes it more adept than its base form as a potion. Otherwise - very neat addition. I think it’s a nice way to give Animii things “senses” that can still be considered objectively inferior and still fun to RP with. 

Thanks for your feedback! I tried to use magegold as the base metal to try sort of explain how the metal is superior to it's mundane glass equivalent, while leaving it vague enough for player interpretation on how the specifics of it work. If you have a suggestion to fix it up, please dm me on discord and i'll work with it.

Edited May 13 by SlitheryC1

[Otakuu 60]

I like, keep up good work :)