Valok (Patreon)

There's not a lot of fun mechanical stuff to talk about right now, and probably won't be for a little while as we iterate on the core die mechanic and dial in something fun that we like.

So in the meantime, we thought you folks might enjoy some LORE! This was written for Flee, Mortals! the MCDM Monster Book for 5E, but it's not clear it will all FIT in that book? We only get about 400 words usually to describe a monster entry and this is much longer. So MCDM+ seemed like a good place to share the whole thing.

Work on the monster book required us to sit down and figure out "what is our version of this?" We didn't originally think we needed our own Golems but as we drilled down on them we felt like this was another one of those things from the 70s game that we should think about. Really think about "why are there these in our world?"

That's sort of a pain in the ass; you have to preserve a certain archetype so you don't end up with something unrelated to whatever you needed in the first place, but you also need to throw out all your old assumptions and start from scratch, start from first principles. It's a lot of work! But we think the results are worth it.

So this is what we know about the MCDM automatons. Their origin and functions. The design is still being iterated on, but eventually you will meet these...things...in the MCDM RPG!

[Our commentary is in brackets like this]

Valiar

The steel dwarves were the great artisans of the first ages of Orden. They were the first, and for millennia the only, people who knew the secret of working valiar, the Truemetal. In those days truemetal was abundant in the earth and the steel dwarves wrought great marvels with it.

[Valiar is our version of adamatine or mithril]

They could turn valiar into anything; weapons, buildings, gossamer fabrics, almost transparent, nearly indestructible. Its silvery-white beauty was irresistible, both elves and eventually men learned that just gazing upon valiar could cause a hypnotic fixation. The steel dwarves were not afraid to use this to their advantage.

In spite of their mastery over this great treasure, the Adamant Elementals sought deeper ores; questing after a mineral their loremasters heard whispers of in the rock. Iridoss [from which the common word 'iridescent' comes], also known as prismacore. A rare gemstone infused with the power of other worlds. What sages refer to as “higher manifolds,” where great ships ply the stars using pure energy, and weapons hurl blasts of light, rather than bolts of wood and metal.

The steel dwarves eventually found their iridoss and used it to power their greatest creations, the valok. Valok could move under their own power, without resort to spell or prayer. First, the steel dwarves built great machines, machines to dig, to smelt, and then to build. Giant walking machines that could build other machines. Legends tell of walkers that could build entire cities in a matter of days.

As the steel dwarves learned the deep secrets of Prismacore, they made machines that could speak and hear and, eventually, machines that could think. Machines indistinguishable from living, thinking beings.

It was said–by the Sun Elves who also quested after the Lifegem, as they called it–that the adamant elementals had an endless well of prismacore they dipped into “whenever they needed a miracle.” The other peoples of Orden believed the steel dwarves had developed their own sorceries for divining the location of veins of iridoss.

The steel dwarves are gone. None now remain in this or any World who might know the truth, but modern sages reconstructing the writing of the first dwarves suspect there might only, ever, have been one source of iridoss. One great motherlode, possibly a giant meteor of prismacore that fell from a higher manifold and smashed into Orden during its creation.

Valok

[We wanted a word that was short and punchy like Golem. But we wanted it to seem like it came from "valiar" so you feel like you're learning how the steel dwarf language worked. 

We also wanted something that ended in a "vowel-k" sound, evoking Eniac and Multivac. Hence, Valok.]

Valok were made of metal. Brass or bronze valok have been found but sages suspect these were made by ancient elves or men who lacked the power to smelt and work valiar, but who had recovered a core of iridoss and tried to emulate the great steel dwarf artisans.

All valok contain a core of iridoss powering them. Iridoss, also known as prismacore, allows the valok to work ceaselessly, without rest or respite. When a valok fails, it is because their parts disintegrate after years of operating without maintenance. But the core of iridoss never loses power.

Ruined valok still litter the deepest ruins of the steel dwarves or ancient dungeons of powerful kings who salvaged a valok from some other ruin. Valok in the modern age are usually found missing their prismacore. It was looted either by later peoples who did not know its purpose, or used to power some other machine. But some ruined valok still possess their prismacore, and failed from lack of maintenance of their other parts.

Even without its prismacore, a valok is still a marvel of engineering. No modern smiths can replicate the intricate work of the steel dwarves. The art and skill of making Valok was lost along with the adamant elementals.

Servok

The labor-class of the Valok, Servok are huge, usually slow, and built to a specific purpose. They were never humaniform and never smaller than a wagon.

They can be commanded, but only by someone who knows the dead language of the steel dwarves. And they cannot be commanded to act outside their design parameters. A servok designed to mine ore cannot be commanded to make a vase. A servok built to create walls, cannot be commanded to dig a well.

Of course the steel dwarves deployed servok in war, and these warvok are mighty indeed. Massive engines against whom no army could stand. Only treachery could defeat the armies of adamant.

Multivok

Smaller than their Servok ancestors, the Multivok series could speak as well as listen and carry out simple commands. They were made humaniform but they were more obviously primitive and lacked the expression or fine articulation of the more advanced Omnivok models.

Multivok could speak, understand simple instructions, and each possessed a wide array of adaptive behaviors fit to a broad task. Multivok ran and maintained ships or ore harvesters. Multivoks were sent to survey dangerous or distant locations, they could oversee other servoks and together build great fortifications.

But even these more versatile, multi-purpose valok were severely limited by their role. Complex commands confused them and they would revert to their programmed behavior.

Omnivok

[You probably won't meet an Omnivok in Flee, Mortals, we only had so much space and we thought it'd be fun meeting them in some other product. Like the MCDM RPG! :D]

The omnivok represent the pinnacle of the steel dwarves' art and technology. They are small, typically 2 meters tall, and perfectly humaniform. When new, they were indistinguishable from a living thing.

The omnivok were created with no special purpose, only to serve. They were intended to be the willing tools of the steel dwarf artisans, but the adamant elementals made their servants too well. The omnivok did something no other valok had yet done: they refused orders.

The steel dwarves found the omnivok, their greatest creation, could not be commanded. They could be negotiated with, but the same programming that granted them self-awareness granted them will, and the desire to preserve themselves. And the need to be self-governed.

This may be why so few omnivok were made, but all records indicate the steel dwarves were enormously proud of their creation, and welcomed them as partners. Debate among scholars rages; did the steel dwarves stop making omnivok for fear of what their creation could do? Or were they simply too complex to produce in great numbers?

Like the other valok, the omnivok do not require sleep, rest, or sustenance. As far as history records, no omnivok survived the Fall of Kalas Valiar [The Capital City of the Steel Dwarves]. The Star Elves took great affront at the steel dwarves’ creations and took special care to dismantle them wherever they were found.

But the omnivok could pass as human, so well made were they. It’s possible some have survived the countless millennia since the extinction of their creators. If so, they would likely guard their true nature zealously, so as not to risk being dismantled by creatures motivated primarily by fear.