Heart of Artifice: Part I--Engineered Enigma

Rystil Arden

First Post
"Ah, I see. Well, at least they never made you fight then, or kill other sentient beings..."

"It is a fascinating path that you follow, and it is good that you use your skills to help others, like Lucy. If there's anything Diggy or I can do to help with this, please don't hesitate to ask."


(OOC: At any time, feel free to have me skip to when the Professor finishes his analysis)
 

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Erekose13

Explorer
Velmont said:
"Just wondering. I met a few of his goon these last days and each time, it was a warforged. I almost got killed by one of them. But as you tell, it might be his kind to use construct, but I didn't see any motive... it's like the house Cannith. They are marvelous buidler of construct, but the house itself doesn't seem to have a motive in that. Maybe a member, but it would seem to be a personal goal." answers Kahras


"I can't imagine my House would be involved in a kidnapping for any reason. Once we have an indication of the material used, I can try to draw on the resources of the Fabricator's Guild to see if any of my guildmates have seen or used anything like it. I'll not discount that a rogue member of the House may still have some involvement though. But it'd not be something that the House would support or engage in." replies Aethelus d'Cannith.
 

Velmont

First Post
"And I never thought the opposite..." replies Kharas. He then take the small piece he had put in his pocket and stare at it for a moment, looking at the starnge alloy that was used. "I think that will be our best lead for that. I am curious to know what alloy that is."
 

Patlin

Explorer
Anvuss considers Elizabeth's words carefully, sensing in them an idea he has not explored.

"You evidence a strong distaste for killing sentient beings. Do I understand you correctly that you feel doing such is to be avoided even if it allows one to meet ones goals? Why do you believe this is the case, and how high a priority should this value be given? If, for example, we should determine it necessary to kill a sentient in order to save Lucy, should we therefore desist in our efforts to aid the little girl? Warforged as a whole have been created to pursue the goals of nations with violence, to wit we are created specifically for warfare. Warfare often results in the death of very many sentients. Is war itself a wrong? An explanation would be apreciated."
 


Patlin

Explorer
Rystil Arden said:
"Anvuss...how much do you know of the Last War? The actual fighting?" Elizabeth asks curiously, with a hint of sadness.

"Almost nothing, I suppose. I was trained in the operation of the creation forges, helped create and prepared my fellow warforged for battle, and very occasionally repaired damage done to warforged who were actually engaged in battle. I did not take up arms myself until the creation forges were deactivated."
 

Rystil Arden

First Post
"I see...you may not have heard, then, the tale of Eliminator, a cold-blooded Warforged killer in the Last War? I shall tell it briefly--the moral of the tale may explain my views of killing."

[SBLOCK=Knowledge History DC 10]Eliminator is one of the most notorious Warforged from the Last War--although the Karrnathi did not have a large number of Warforged overall, they used the ones they had efficiently. Eliminator was trained as a commando, assassin, and killer, single-handedly slaying thousands of people, many of them defenseless women and children.

(OOC: None of you has ranks, so I won't bother with a higher DC check result)[/SBLOCK]
 


Rystil Arden

First Post
"Let's see...I figured at least one of you might have at least heard the name--Eliminator is one of the most notorious Warforged from the Last War, and it fought on the side of the Karrnathi. The Karrnathi did not have too many Warforged in total, but they used the ones they had efficiently, training them for tasks that synergised well with their construct nature. Eliminator was trained as a commando, assassin, and cold-blooded killer. It was without a doubt the best at those jobs of any Warforged in the Last War--It remorselessly slaughtered thousands of people, many of them defenseless women and children. That was what it was built to do. There may have been other Warforged that were better fighters in a straight-up battle of champions, but in reaping the weak and defenseless or plotting an assassination, Eliminator was the best."

"But one day, as Eliminator was performing its task and exterminating a small village, with nary a thought for the people it was killing--their lives, their loves, their hopes, all dashed--it skewered a desperate woman who actually tried to fight back with an impotent rolling pin where the others had tried to flee and wondered--Why?"

"Eliminator found the answer--a little girl who was in hiding came crying out to hug the ended human--why show such a display for a worthless corpse?--and then, oddly and highly irrationally, considering Eliminator was just going to kill the girl too, the girl ran up to Eliminator and hugged its metal leg, gazing soulfully and sorrowfully into those heartless and calculating red eyes...until the gaze slackened and became dull as Eliminator pulled its blade from the girl's chest and wiped it on the mother's dress."

"But slowly, as Eliminator continued in other tasks, it found itself haunted by those images, those thoughts, and with the picture of those soulful blue eyes full of fear, love, and sorrow glazing over unto death, the Warforged assassin began to second-guess itself and think about what it was doing...to realise that those it was killing were people with hopes, dreams, wishes, and love, not merely the next mission."

"Shortly thereafter, after thousands of successful missions, Eliminator was lost on a routine scouting mission, apparently eliminated itself by the enemy...or perhaps having engineered its own apparent demise to escape from a life that it could no longer bear."

"If a Warforged assassin built and ingrained from its very birth with nothing but instinct to kill and obey could come to this realisation, well then, can you see why, after learning of that story, I feel that no living creature should ever be killed, including Warforged?"
 

Patlin

Explorer
Anvuss considers the statement.

At first, he considers the possibility that Elizabeth might be suggesting some sort of curse associated with killing sentients, having something to do with "soulfull eyes." He concludes that Elizabeth is attempting to express something more fundamental. It takes him a solid 30 seconds before he believes he has grasped it.

"Clearly Eliminator concluded he had destroyed something of intrinsic value, and the waste of that value was disturbing to him. Was it the love between the child and the adult that he considered of value, or was it something more fundamental? Is it wrong to destroy sentients that are loving, or is it sentience itself that has value? Does the value lie in the capacity for thought, the potential for worthwhile acts, or in the capacity to 'hope and dream?' Is this value limited to sentients, or does it also exist in non-sentient animals, such as dogs, cats, horses or cattle?"
 

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