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The Ot

In the last days of the Second Age, an Autochthonian invasion force entered Creation. The nation of Yugash broke the Seal of Divinities, and stormed into the Southwest. A combination of bad luck and clever action on the part of their enemies led to the expedition becoming a disaster; thousands died of disease, and thousands more were felled in battle with the nations of Gem, An-Teng, and the Lap. Soulgems were gathered to return to Autochthon, as a handful of Alchemicals debated what to do with new vats already installed in the great camp founded at the mouth of Ot. The Patropolis was determined that without the resources of Creation, the Maker was doomed, and feared to close the seal.

Then the fae came.

Bereft of local manses, the people of Autochthon were easy prey for the rapidly shattering world. Ot lacked the power to keep them safe, and found itself torn free of Autochthon, set adrift on a tiny world with thousands of soulgems and no mortals to implant them into, with gathered magical materials but no Alchemicals to use them. After a century of careful deliberation and planning, he set to work.

Now, the great nation of Ot sits on the western edge of the Span. People of the Imperium have made tentative contacts with this strange new race, led by their Patropolis - a being of immense power, possibly one of the strongest in the Span, that has no direct influence outside of his city-world. The people of Ot are strange automatons, implanted with human souls - tiny children to the great Alchemicals, ready to serve the Maker in their new lives. A handful of Alchemicals also guide the people, protecting them from the forces of the Wyld, and their angular Wyldfarers travel the stars, searching endlessly for any signs that the Maker yet lives. Drawn into the politics of the Span, they are one more force that must be taken into account by a cunning traveller.

Society

Ot has done his best to preserve traditional Autochthonian society, with mixed results. His world is very orderly, but has little room for growth or joy. Instead, it tends towards the sterile, with the Ot striving to be more like one another, generally fearful of overstepping their duties and being singled out. Few of the Ot have much drive to excel on an individual level, and their society tends to function much like a great clockwork machine of its own. Individuality is not cheered; rather, those who excel are the Ot who can find ways to improve efficiency and boost productivity. Still, the Ot have human souls, and do seek recreation. Most Ot spend their free time engaged in simple entertainments, such as team sports, mass-market novels, and training protocols. Sports in particular are very popular, usually involving teams of eight Ot and a strictly defined set of rules that allow the Ot to endlessly debate proper functionality and composition. To an outside, the society frequently seems both familiar and strange, and most soon chafe at the endless regulations that Ot considers essential for a smoothly-running society.

Building The Ot

The people of Ot are unlike those anywhere else in Creation. Constructed in the great vats of the Patropolis, they are specialized machines, sentient, with human souls. This gives them great power, but also limits them in ways that Ot had not considered when he crafted his people.

Ot are different from humans in the following ways:

• The Ot do not eat or drink in the conventional sense. However, they do require minor maintenance and fuel sources, which can be hard to find outside of Ot space. Mechanically, this is identical to eating.
• The Ot require only two hours of offline status each day, in place of sleep. However, they double the penalties and difficulties of all rolls for failing to get enough rest.
• The Ot do not heal naturally. Instead, repairing a health level of Bashing damage requires an hour of maintenance and a difficulty 2 Crafts (Magitech) roll, and expends Resources x worth of materials. A health level of Lethal damage increases the difficulty of the roll to 3, and expends Resources o worth of material, and an aggravated level is difficulty 4, and expends Resources oo. Ot do feel pain, as it is the easiest way for them to register damage.
• Ot do not bleeed, nor do they lose Dying Health Levels without being further damaged. Instead, all Dying health levels are treated as Incapacitated. An Ot who is destroyed cannot be repaired, although their soulgem can be salvaged.
• All Ot have awakened Essences. The Ot have a Personal Essence pool of (Essence x3), and a Peripheral Essence pool of (Essence x7). The Ot naturally recover 1 mote per hour.
• All Ot soak lethal damage with their full Stamina.
• The Ot gain +1 Strength and Stamina, and can raise these traits to 6. However, they pay double Attribute points, bonus points, and experience points for all Social Attributes and cannot raise them above 3. The Ot may not have Willpower above 6, and start with only their highest Virtue in permanent Willpower.
• The Ot may purchase Alchemical Charms and Charm slots. However, they pay 10 XP per Charm and 16 XP per Charm slot. Essence 2 costs 20 XP, and Essence 3 costs 40 XP; the Ot may not have Essence past 3, and few have even that. Most Ot posssess only one or two Charm slots, and three or four Charms. Furthermore, the Ot must have all Charm prerequisites slotted in place to equip a Charm (unlike normal Alchemicals). They do not favour any Attributes, and do not gain anima abilities. Ot may purchase two special permanent Charms: the first allows them to attune to magical materials, although they will not be able to harmonize, and the second allows the same for Manses; Manse recovery rates are halved. The Ot may not Exalt.

Becoming Ot

Although the lives of the Ot are sterile, they are also safe and generally painless. Because of this, there are those who seek to immigrate to Ot. These people must, by law, be fitted with soulgems upon arrival. After spending two years proving themselves, they are retrofitted as Ot. The process takes a full day of careful surgery, which is painless. When it is finished, a mortal character adds 1 to their Strength and Stamina, halves their Social Attibutes and Willpower (rounding up), gains one free Charm slot and Charm, and gains all other advantages of being Ot. Characters who are Essence-users cannot be retrofitted; their Essence already has a pattern that denies the surgery, and Ot will not allow them to remain in his nation as citizens, although they may remain guest workers for any length of time.

The Alchemcial Exalted

In addition to the Ot, the Patropolis occasionally builds an Alchemical Exalt. Doing so takes not only materials, however, but power; the Patropolis does not have one of Autochthon's Divine Ministers to ease the process. Because of this, there are few Alchemicals in Ot; in all, there are roughly four to six of each Caste - a total of twenty-four Exalts. These Alchemicals frequently have high levels of Clarity, especially if they spend a great deal of time in Ot itself. Those that do not have Clarity are generally the Alchemicals most involved with the search for the Maker or engaged in diplomacy (one Alchemical of the Jade caste is employed as Ambassador to the Imperium, while one Orichalcum caste is employed as Ambassador to the New Realm; there are no other Alchemicals who are official ambassadors currently).

The relative scarcity of resources balances out the low number of champions. Alchemicals are built the same as in their corebook.