Life In Autochthonia

Autochthonia in General

• Autochthonia is a spheroid, larger on the inside than the outside, and larger than Creation.
• It is a world of “brass, steam, and darkness. There is no sun, nor any central source of artificial light to replace it. Where the Machine God’s body is not lightless, it is lit by vast coruscating arcs of electricity, or the roaring flames of the God Furnaces, or the weird glow of luminous minerals. The flesh of the Machine God is brass and steel and raw iron, hard-edged and unforgiving.”
• Silence is rare in Autochthonia; . . . If the leaking hiss of steam cannot be heard, it’s drowned out by the banging of pistons. Where lightning does not leap and crackle, there is the clanking cacophony of turning gears. And on the rare occasions when all of these sounds are absent, there is the ever-present creak-and-pop of Autochthon’s body settling on its great hinges and flexors.”
• “Autochthonians divide their 25-hour days into five shifts, each lasting five hours. Shifts are named after the elements of lost Creation—Earth Shift starts the day, followed by Wood, Fire, Water, and finally Air Shift.
• Autochthonia uses the same calendar as that of the Old Realm, but counts its years off from Year 0, the Dawn of Autochthonia. The current year is 4878 DA.”

Social Caste

• “Each soul in Autochthonia is tracked and tagged through the use of artifacts known as soulgems . . . Upon birth, each infant of the Eight Nations is subjected to a soul examination. This allows Luminor technicians to examine the service record of that soul, stretching back for hundreds or even thousands of years. . . . [E]xcellence in one life may bring rewards in the next, while failure threatens demotion of later incarnations.”
• “Autochthonians are assigned a social caste shortly after birth, once their soul-record examination is complete. With only one exception, caste assignment is permanent; though there is substantial mobility within the ranks of a caste, only death and reincarnation may permit an Autochthonian to change castes.”

Lumpen and Slaves

• The Lumpen are the lowest caste, the only caste one is not born into. Instead, it is a punishment, for multiple infractions or minor heresies, or for excessive and dangerous failure in the Tripartite. Three rings are tattooed around the soulgem of the outcast to indicate the offense.
  • “Lumpen are used for unpleasant, unskilled labor in Autochthonia, and work three shifts most days. They are housed in a nation’s worst barracks, forbidden to own personal possessions or attend most public gatherings. They are not allowed to eat with members of other social castes. Autochthonians are rarely prosecuted for harassing the Lumpen in a variety of minor ways, though impairing a Lumpen’s ability to work is a good way to join their ranks. Still, few will inform on an individual for beating a Lumpen in a dark alley, and so Lumpen tend to travel in groups for protection.”
• Slaves are a sub-class of Lumpen, in which their soulgem is removed, leaving a result akin to the dream-eaten of the Fair Folk. This is a fate only for the worst criminals.
  • Even more so than Lumpen, unlikely to exist in such a state in Gunstar, the Deliberative might have other ideas that are more productive but no less shocking.
  • “Slaves are used for the most dangerous work in Autochthonia; they rarely survive longer than five years. They are quartered in their own pens, separate from other Lumpen—one of the few mercies Autochthonia extends to its outcasts. As slaves are incapable of speech, bells are tied to their necks and hands, that they may be heard moving in the dark.”

The Populat

• The Populat make up 90 percent of the Octet's population, keeping Autochthonia alive through their work and prayer.
  • “Standard dress for the Populat consists of color-coded tops, slacks and sometimes caps made of artificial textiles; the color arrangement indicates an individual’s job and rank. Clothing is mass-produced and generally discarded to be cleaned and reused; individuals rarely own personal clothing. More specialized gear is distributed and collected as needed.”
• Most are laborers, working factories and furnaces or creating the tools for such, the industrial output of Autochthonia.
• Aides are those incapable of the strenuous work, instead handing out and collecting tools at the beginning and end of shifts, and taking stock, cleaning, and carrying messages, as well as working in the crèches, helping raise and educate the young. A Populat is usually made an aide to due to age, injury or pregnancy, so there is no stigma for the position.
• Laborers who stand out among peers become shift chiefs, tasked with overseeing and harnessing an entire shift. Managing between 20 and 200 workers (possibly more in Gunstar), their job is to make sure their shift performs adequately, so many get to know their workers personally to ensure their productivity and morale are high.
• The foreman stands about that, managing the entire factory. They tend to leave the personnel issues to shift chiefs, and focus on making sure the big picture of the factory is working out, particularly making sure they are producing no more or less than is needed (less concerning in Gunstar), and communicating what they themselves need.
• Supervisors work with foremen of multiple factories in the same broad fields (i.e. 'tool production' or 'construction'). Small towns have only three, Thutot has 42, on average it's about eight per city.
• Every city and town has a single director, responsible for all industry in the city. They live lives of luxury but have little free time to enjoy it, working three shifts almost every day.
• The sub-director works the two shifts the director doesn't, and summons the director in case of emergency.
  • “Directors are given a certain number of weeks of vacation time each year; while on vacation, a director is only obligated to work two shifts a day, ceding his usual third shift to the sub-director. These are often nervous times, as criminal elements attempt to take advantage of the perceived relaxation of national vigilance.”

The Tripartite

• “ . . . the Olgotary oversees the governmental and bureaucratic necessities of each of the Eight Nations; the Theomachracy tends to the spiritual needs of the people; and the five Sodalities ensure that the sacred machinery of Autochthonia continues functioning as it should.”
• “Each Autochthonian town and city is overseen by a seven-member Tripartite Assembly consisting of one autocrat representing the Olgotary, one celebrant representing the Theomachracy, and a five-man Sodality Council formed up of the highest-ranking members of each of the five Sodalities. Tripartite Assemblies establish policy for their local municipality, settling issues by group vote. Each branch of the Tripartite has one vote, with the Sodality Council jointly deciding how to cast its vote through a separate internal vote.
• At the apex of Autochthonian society, there exists in each nation a single National Tripartite Assembly, based in the national capital and consisting of a grand autocrat, high celebrant, and Great Sodality Council. These powerful men and women set the course of their entire nation, deciding matters of national policy, diplomacy, trade, and war.”

The Olgotary

• “The Olgotary is the ultimate secular authority of Autochthonia, drafting and enforcing the laws of the Eight Nations. It is also the primary bureaucratic wing of the Tripartite, setting national policy in all matters of industry. Its authority is absolute save in matters of religion or the responsibilities of the Sodalities.”
• Believing themselves to be the most important, “Plutarchs are the city planners, legislators, and clerks of Autochthonia. Senior plutarchs and their staff of juniors draft new laws and revise old ones when necessary, set local and national production schedules and timetables to be handed down to directors and supervisors, and travel to other nations to act as diplomats.
  • Plutarchs dress in ornate, multilayered togas of artificial leather when on the job and during formal occasions; the combination of color and trim describes a plutarch’s function and rank.”
• Regulators are like cops - They may arrest and detain anyone of any rank at any time, making them somewhat feared. Junior members patrol and respond with their presence, whereas older regulators might become detectives or covert intelligence operatives, using disguise and stealth as tools, even allow to disguise their soulgem. Some are assigned to Division of Inward Justice, to investigate other regulators. Though necessary, these are unpopular even among other regulators.
  • “Regulator uniforms consist of long coats of reinforced artificial leather with brass pins affixed to the left shoulder, and protective caps and visors. Inexperienced regulators carry some combination of a truncheon, short sword, and hand-held crossbow, while their more senior brethren earn the right to carry and use peacekeeping tools of their choice, such as the braided cables favored by members of the Flashing Wire Collective.”
• “Adjudicators are not simply the judges of Autochthonia; they are also its juries and its executioners.” Minor cases stand in front of a single adjudicators, while an entire panel might be called for more extreme crimes. They also act as the Supreme Court, responsible for validating or rejecting new laws, only passing those that are fair, clear, and concise.
  • “Adjudicators dress in simple, severe togas of artificial leather, with no decoration to indicate rank. White togas are worn for most business, with black being reserved for executions and the formal return of rejected laws.”
• Elected by a secret ballot in each town and city, “An autocrat’s job is generally to resolve disputes between branches of the Olgotary, provide leadership in times of crisis, and present the Olgotary’s needs to the leadership of the other branches of the Tripartite.”
• Similarly, each nation elects a single grand autocrat, who handles similar duties on a national level as well as handling wars and truces.

The Theomachracy

• “So speaks the Tome of the Great Maker: “Doubt begets apathy, apathy begets sloth, sloth begets chaos, and chaos begets death.”
  • A really good quote to keep in mind for the war effort in Gunstar.
• The Theomachracy fights a constant battle against indifference, heterodoxy, and existential malaise. Those who do not believe in or understand the self-evident divinity around them may refuse to work, and should such attitudes become widespread, they would quickly lead to the Great Maker’s body purging humanity as a malfunctioning system. As Autochthonia’s clergy, it is the responsibility of the Theomachracy to tend to the spiritual needs of their people and the Machine God.”
• “Lectors are charged with maintaining the morale and devotion of Autochthonia. Most lectors are assigned a specific ward or district of a town or city, which they come to know with an unsurpassed intimacy, while a few are instead charged with the spiritual well-being of departments of the Tripartite itself.
• Being a lector is a demanding job; the best act as a combination of preacher, psychologist, dramatist and comedian. It is not enough to simply thunder down reminders of impending doom from the pulpit should work cease; miserable individuals perform poor work, and so lectors are responsible for counseling individuals suffering from depression, loss, exhaustion, or who crises of faith, as well as promoting the morale and happiness of their congregation in general.
• Lectors coordinate with talented members of their parish and with each other to stage talent shows, sporting events, circuses, and other forms of public entertainment, especially as rewards for shifts or districts that exceed quota. Many lectors are accomplished dramatists, musicians, or poets; creativity and talent for public performance are highly-valued skills, screened for and nurtured during a lector’s early training. Lectors are generally the best-loved members of the Tripartite, and the most trusted.
  • Lectors wear thick, voluminous robes with wide, padded shoulders. They are given great latitude to personalize their clothing, and often affix numerous gear icons as patches or pins; some attempt to use this customization to grant themselves an elegance that demands respect, while other lectors adopt a clownish appearance to set people at ease.”
• “Junior preceptors are attached to seniors as apprentices for a period lasting from five to fifteen years, after which time they become senior inquisitors themselves. A senior preceptor normally has between one and three junior apprentices at any given time. Apprentices carry only what authority their senior delegates to them, but the authority of senior preceptors is checked only by a city’s Tripartite Assembly. Senior preceptors may venture anywhere within a municipality and question anyone they feel they have cause to; no doors are barred to them, no individual too lofty to be interrogated.
• They learn . . . to work closely with local lectors, focusing on the most troubled and disturbed souls among a parish. [I]f a good-lector bad-preceptor interview can nudge a member of the Populat back onto the path of truth, that is well and good; if not, they can be turned over to the regulators and adjudicators for judgment. [Instead, p]receptors are more focused on rooting out networks of entrenched heresy, especially Voidbringers.
  • When not working undercover, preceptors dress in spotlessly white outfits similar to those of the regulators, adorned by a single interlocking gear icon worn over the heart.”
• “Clerics are the religious administrators of the Theomachracy, with three general areas of responsibility. First and foremost, they are clerks, overseeing the assignment and training of lectors and preceptors, scheduling feasts and celebrations, and otherwise seeing to the smooth running of the Theomachracy. They also act as the historians of Autochthonia in this capacity, maintaining extensive records of happenings within their municipality and Autochthonia in general.”
• Clerics can be sent in to placate angry exmachina or ask aid of Autochthon's devas. Generally only specialists are sent in, but all clerics should know how and have some thaumaturgy under their belt.
• “Finally, clerics work together with their celebrant to establish matters of local and national doctrine, when new doctrinal decisions must be handed down. They also identify and catalogue new heresies brought to light by the preceptors, determining whether a particular heresy is minor, severe, or Voidbringer in nature. Their findings are passed on to the adjudicators for enforcement.
  • Clerics wear simple white robes beneath elaborate coats adorned with intricate patterns of interlocking gears.”
• “Each town and city has a single celebrant who acts as the representative and mouth of the Theomachracy in general. Whereas autocrats tend to focus on advancing the aims of their municipality, celebrants tend to spend more of their time working with other celebrants within the same nation to ensure that the Theomachracy operates in a unified matter. Celebrants are selected from among a pool of nominated candidates by divine omen.
• Similarly, a high celebrant for each nation discusses the orthodoxy with others of other nations.

The Five Magnificent Sodalities of Penultimate Truth and Intransient Gospel

(member: Sodalt)

• “The Sodalities are much, much older than the current caste system of Autochthonia; their history goes back to the days before the Machine God’s slumber, when Autochthon selected the greatest savants among his people and taught them the secret of Alchemical Exaltation. Those early savants formed the five Mechanicians’ Guilds around themselves, and those Guilds were later redefined as the Sodalities.
• The holy technicians and machinists of the Sodalities are known for being fractious, arrogant, intractable, and brilliant. . . .
• The Sodalities are known for their lack of cooperation with the regulators and preceptors, preferring to police and punish their own in baroque and inhumane ways.
  • Sodalts conserve resources by dressing in the same clothes as the Populat, affixing pins and insignias in their signature color to transform the garb into Sodality uniforms.”
• “The Glorious Luminors of the Brilliant Rapture are responsible for the creation of illumination.” They maintain city's Essence grids and even light street lamps, and in most cities it's a serious crime for any individual to create light without permission from a Luminor. Luminors are also responsible for tracking souls between lives and assigning a soul to a social caste. Finally, Luminors are the firefighters of Autochthonia, ensuring that flames remain in the God Furnaces and factories where they belong.
  • Luminors punish their own with the loss of sight, temporarily or permanently. “Their signature color is gold, and their magical material is orichalcum.”
• “The Illustrious Conductors of the Consecrated Veins gather nutrients and other raw materials from the conduits that run throughout Autochthonia.” They are also responsible for maintaining the pneumatic tram networks that connect Autochthonian towns and cities.
  • Conductors punish by removing the sensation of touch. “Their signature color is blue, and their magical material is starmetal.”
• “The Pious Harvesters of the Hallowed Flesh collect and recycle that which has failed—from broken machinery, to trash, to the bodies of the dead. They are also responsible for removing the soulgems of the dead and returning their souls to the Ewer.” They also prepare the nutrient slurry, adding flavor and texture, which generally makes them the most favored Sodalts among the Populat so long as it's good.
  • Harvesters punish infractions against their order with the loss of speech. “Their color is green, and their magical material is jade.”
• “The Profilic Scholars of the Furnace Transcendent . . . take the many raw products of the Populat and assemble them into complex items. . . . Those who have managed to awaken their Essence also create simple industrial artifacts, and the most talented Scholars craft the wondrous Charms of the Alchemical Exalted.
  • Scholars inflict punishments by removing the offender’s hearing. Their color is black, and their magical material is soulsteel.”
• “The Meticulous Surgeons of the Body Electric act as physicians, treating the sick and mending the wounded and administering euthanasia via the Elixir of Rest to those who cannot be saved, or who become too frail with age to contribute to society in any manner.
• [They] also constantly roam about the cities and the Reaches examining the Maker’s body for signs of defect or imminent breakdown, and then send their findings to the appropriate Sodality to be seen to. They are also responsible for the distribution of fluids within the Eight Nations, from oils to factories to clean water to the Populat.”
  • Crimes against Surgeons are punished by the loss of smell. “Their color is silver, and their magical material is moonsilver.”

Life in Autochthonia

• Alchemicals: “The mortals of Autochthonia enjoy a level of technological comfort and sophistication that has not been seen since the fall of the Dragon-Blooded Shogunate. Their every need is attended to in some fashion by machinery, but not necessarily their comforts, as opulence is an inefficient use of resources. In specific, items and artifacts such as synthetic leather, crossbows and transformative clothing and armor are commonly used by Autochthonians.
  • When designing custom artifacts and industrial wonders, keep in mind that these goods are still magitech, not the common technological devices that most players are familiar with in their own lives. These wonders are designed around the concept that Essence, not electricity, powers their functions, and many of these devices use clockwork gears and steam-driven pistons appropriate to the steampunk aesthetic of the Autochthonian setting. Being primarily composed of an abundance of certain minerals and metals, with various explosive and exotic chemicals running through the Great Maker’s veins, the Realm of Brass and Shadow lacks the proper elements to create gunpowder, nor is there any substitute for it.
  • Autochthonia offers a wealth of energy weapons, complex machinery that simulates the effects of certain magics found in Creation and technology that would seem crude and primitive by the standards of the First Age but is constructed for function over form and remains frighteningly effective. Alchemical Charms represent the pinnacle of scientific achievement, and thusly, the Alchemicals pioneer the limits of their society’s technology.”
• Alchemicals: Technologies are detailed on p. 205.
• “The average member of the Populat eats, sleeps, and relaxes in the company of his co-workers. In most nations, members of the Populat live in large communal barracks—depending on the affluence of the municipality and the rank of the workers, this ranges from open rooms full of crowded bunks which are shared between different individuals from shift-to-shift (a practice known as hot-bunking), to dormitory halls with movable partitioning to create a small degree of visual and auditory filtering. Privacy is a scarce commodity for members of the Populat, and few own more than a single box or chest of belongings—merit badges, customized tools, handkerchiefs, bits of art or mementos of loved ones. They share communal showers and bath houses, and eat together in huge cafeterias where individuals line up in shift-queues for water and processed nutrient paste dispensed from brass nozzles. Work shifts often form up ad-hoc teams for competitive sports, while individuals from different shifts within the same sector of industry might join together to form musical groups, poetry circles, or other recreational organizations.
• Members of the Tripartite, by contrast, tend to work alone or in small task groups, and live in shared apartments or, for higher-ranking individuals, may even have their own living quarters. They eat alone or with friends in Tripartite-exclusive dining halls. Some own enough personal items to fill an apartment, including luxury clothing for their own use, beautiful artwork and curios, or even personal libraries.”
• Most nations have no institution of marriage, and children are raised in crèches. Lovers separated by shifts are common figures in plays and history. Few nations have stigmas against homosexuality (most are related to the problems in Vanilla!) and polygamous relationships are common but considered 'unlucky.'(???)
  • “Industrial labor in Autochthonia is heavily ritualized; machines are not simply oiled between shifts, they are anointed. Lever-pullers and stamp-press operators time their labor to ringing hymns sung out across the factory floor. Even the simple lighting of a street globe by the Luminors is prefaced with lengthy and ostentatious prayer, giving thanks to the Maker for providing light in the darkness.”
• The Divine Ministers are venerated after Autochthon himself. “They are normally instructed in such worship by the lectors, and each nation features a different array of holy days dedicated to various Ministers in their different aspects; the Populat has also developed a number of ad-hoc prayers that pass in and out of fashion when dealing with circumstances within the direct domain of certain Ministers. Debok Moom is much praised by soldiers about to risk their lives, for example, while Kek’Tungsssha is constantly wreathed in a fluttering shroud of prayers from pregnant women.”
• Subgods and divine subroutines typically aren't worshiped due to being too numerous, though lectors will occasionally instruct for specific ones. “There are some exceptions—Espinoquae, for example, is popular among the Luminors, while Tinavak, the ministerial subroutine of freezing cold, is widely venerated in Kamak.”
  • “One of the major staple products of Autochthonian society is linen. But because Autochthonia has no plants, the harvesting of naturally-occurring “flax” is quite different in Autochthonia than it is in Creation. Nations that are particularly strident in their pursuit of values which please Domadamod often receive visions of places within the Reaches where this material can be harvested. The process involves locating a special type of cable in the Maker’s body which is coated in a myelin sheath. When this is opened and stripped, the fibers harvested are identical to flax. The cables are then gummed up and eventually the sheathe regenerates, allowing for seasonal gathering.
  • Linen in Autochthonia is used, among other things, to make handkerchiefs. The average Claslati Populat worker has as many as eight of her own handkerchiefs, for wiping oil off her hands and off dipsticks, as well as for the more conventional uses. Linen goods are a sign of status throughout Autochthonia. High-ranking members of the Tripartite sleep on linen sheets and deck their tables with linen cloth. Particularly heroic and prized workers of the Populat are often presented with neckerchiefs and bandannas of linen, often designed and embroidered with their initials. Shift captains in any manufactory also have a plain white linen cloth with a hole in it called a mukshi. This cloth is used in case of a fatal accident on the work-site: the shift boss places the mukshi over the deceased’s face, with the hole poised over her soulgem, leaving it exposed. This act is considered to give the dead some form of dignity, as many Autochthonians believe that the spirit within the soulgem may be able to see out from her corpse, and would otherwise be traumatized by seeing her friends and co-workers staring down on her dead face.
  • Artificial silk is also extremely important to Autochthonians. Unlike Creation-born, the people of Autochthonia do not have silk-worms. Instead they must rely on maintenance spirits found in air ducts and exhaust vents in the deep Reaches. Called dwaries, these simple gods come in several different forms. Some are simply mindless puffballs that go up and down ducts and through gears, clearing grit and sediment from the Great Maker’s tracts, while others are crab-like, with magnetic legs and brush appendages. To avoid creating complications in the Machine God’s internal systems, the Autochtonians are careful only to shave half the bristles from any one dwary, allowing it to continue its maintenance functions. Dwaries regenerate half their silk in just under one month. Accordingly, the Autochthonians harvest silk in different sectors of the Reaches each month. In a similar way, “cotton” is harvested from the manes of distinctly dangerous lion-like elementals of metal called romaju.
  • Silk is used in Autochthonia for many of the same things it is used for in Creation. High-ranking Tripartite women sometimes have elaborate gowns made of silk, while many of Claslat’s famous signs are woven from silk and hung in frames on the walls of buildings, and on posts along the streets of her towns. Cotton is used for more rugged clothing, typically for Populat laborers and Sodalt mechanics. The Autochthonians have mastered the weaving of twill, and denim is a major feature in the Autochthonian work-apparel.”
• “To the eyes of the Creation-born, Autochthonian towns and cities are hellish death-traps. Burning gases vent through grates alongside busy streets; narrow alleys run between walls of bone-chewing gears; flesh-melting jets of steam shriek overhead. Autochthonians are accustomed to navigating the deadly industrial environment that is their world, and clearly mark urban hazards with a series of simple, easily-visible glyphs that all citizens are taught as children; as a result, only the foolish and unwary risk injury.
• Botched Athletics actions in Octet cities tend to have dire consequences: at best, an individual is looking at a nasty tumble onto a metal street,” possibly worse.
• Plot hooks are listed from p. 20-21, some are a bit of interest but I think Gunstar and our ideas are stronger overall. The nihilist soulsteel one is probably of most interest to me personally, and it also ties in with one of the hooks mentioned in the Reaches.
• “When an Autochthonian dies, his soulgem is removed and taken to the Psychopomp Gears of the Transmodal Essence Recombinator, so that his soul may rejoin Autochthon and be reborn one day. The Recombinator is a gigantic compactor-like bulkhead of soulsteel and jade at the center of a network of ‘dead gears’—clusters of gears that do not naturally turn as others do, but sit silently, awaiting the coming of new dead. These gears can be found throughout the Realm of Brass and Shadow, woven even into the fabric of Autochthonian cities. Workers do not speak or act idly around them.”
• During the ritual Winding the Amphora, the death gates respond, opening up as the ghost rises from its soulgem and is dragged in, the only time the gears turn.
• “While the Psychopomp Gears handle the souls of the dead, the Pious Harvesters of the Hallowed Flesh deal with the mortal husk left by the deceased. The Harvesters take the dead to processing stations adjacent to great aqueducts found throughout Autochthonia, where the bodies are carefully treated, their liquids drained and converted to water that flows into the pumps and water mains of Octet towns and cities. What remains is then placed on a conveyer belt and sprayed with a number of enzymes tapped from veins near the aqueducts by the Conductors. This treatment dissolves the corpse into a substance which is then fed into an open artery that connects to the nutrient veins that feed Autochthonia.
• The people of Autochthonia are fully aware that their flesh and blood will one day be broken down into the food and water that will nourish the living bodies of other workers. Lectors describe this as the final service, and speak glowingly of how each Autochthonian supports his people in death as in life. Most Autochthonians take pride and comfort from such notions…but not all.”