Runequest Thursday #86 - Forge-Knights of the Clanking Ruin!

The last post or two have been about the Clanking Ruin, which is the next stop for the Heroes of Brightwater. Unfortunately, everyday lives have gotten in the way and we have not been able to game. SO I just keep putting stuff together to make them sorry they have lives outside the game. Here is another denizen of the Clanking Ruin, and a wee bit of background about how they came to be and what creates them.

Forge-Knights:

Forge-Knights are the product of the Manuforges, automated forges that can churn out identical replicas of things they have learned the Routines to create. Manuforges are not well understood, but it is known that during the life of the Machine City, these devices were responsible for the creation of everything from every day items to mass-produced magical weapons to Forge-Knights.

In the Ruins of the Clanking City, Forge-Knights are the retainers of the Manuforges. Each manuforge controls a certain amount of territory, which it guards and exploits for raw resources. Forge-Knights are the warriors that act as sentries, and as guards of scavenger patrols. Some Manuforges have learned that non-machines can be advantageous as allies or servants, and employ or enslave them when possible. Often this can be very rewarding, and very dangerous work, for such servants.

If the GM allows, it might be possible to to play an awakened Forge-Knight, essentially one that has woken to its own existence and made the choice to leave or serve its Manuforge, thereby developing "Free Will". Rollable values for stats have been provided for such a case. Whether the Forge-Knight would get to learn spells beyond its routines is up to the GM, but it should be remembered that it cannot benefit from heal spells, etc, at the very least. it could be a lot of fun as a player character though, especially if it gets to remember much of its past life as it discovers its new one.

Note: For a playable Forge-Knight PC, the Mechanisms Skill is a Common Skill, and probably crucial to the character's viability.