Clockwork Augnomaton

Description:

Clockwork augnomatons are curators of ancient gnomic knowledge. They are strange, bipedal humanoid machines whose torso contains a chamber for inserting metallic cylinders, and a pinboard which can display an animated ancient gnomic face. Gnomic cylinders are ancient records of gnomic knoweldge, etched into a metal cylinder which can be played back inside the torso of the augnomaton, allowing it to answer specific questions about pre-determined subjects of ancient gnomic knowledge stored on the cylinder.

Clockwork augnomatons do not simply replay the information recorded on their cylinders as a lecture. Instead, they answer questions from a fixed library of perhaps several hundred responses recorded on the cylinder. They are not intelligent, and cannot reason. Essentially, when asked a question that is relevant to the current cylinder within their chamber, the machine searches the cylinder for the best pre-recorded response, and plays it, animating the face on the pinboard as it does so. The recordings are all in Ancient Gnomic, so are gibberish unless the listener knows the language or can use the Tongues spell or a similar method to understand what is being spoken.

While the 'speaker' being represented by the augnomaton is not intelligent, the augnomaton itself has the functional intelligence of other clockwork automata. They are not agressive, and will even attempt to help people who enter their archives to find the information they are looking for, but they will defend themselves and their archives if attacked.

It is unclear whether clockwork augnomatons are magical or purely mechanical in nature, but their metal bodies make them durable, and their lack of biological function make them tireless. They stand 2 meters tall, but their legs are short, and the pin board and cylinder-chamber that comprise thier torso makes up more than two thirds of their body. They have no head.

Special:

Essentially machines, clockwork augnomatons are immune to most magical effects including any spells or skills that affect the mind or the emotions, or any magic that drains or buffs Stats, Attributes or Derivatives. They take half damage from Shock or Frost, and are immune to Fire as well as poison, disease or any other physiological effects. They can see perfectly in total darkness.

An attack with the acid of an Iron Ant, or the Decay spell (if not resisted using Stability) will reduce the Protection of a clockwork augnomaton by 1 and do 3d6+1 points of damage to its Health. Additionally, if the caster or attacker succeeds a 21C using the Mechanic or Engineering skill, they can identify key components, and cripple the clockwork augnomaton in one shot.

With a full complement of 12 clockwork scarabs inside it, a clockwork augnomaton will regenerate 1 Health every 5 minutes.