Racial Notes – The Machina

History in Brief

The Machina were created by Meyneth, and of all races are closest to the divine act of creation that created the Mechonis.  We wished them to be servitors for her, making them peaceful, creative, and ordered.   After the Age of Binding, the Machina are struggling survivors, their capital overrun with wild Telethia or malfunctioning Mechon.

Requirements to Live

Machina do not require food, and are technically outside of any food chain.  They require fresh water and process it normally.  They require some kind of social contact to remain sane; they are not machines themselves.  Some develop abnormalities that stop them from growing normally.  They can be treated when resources are plentiful.

Life Span

Machina are either completely infertile or they breed on a scale of centuries, with maybe one child born to a community each century.  Either way, they organize into family units that Homs recognize.  They live to be millennia old, and many remember monumental events, if imperfectly.  Mechanical assistance extends their memories, mobility, and any other defect that age introduces, and these machines become part of the whole.

Attitude towards Life

Machina see life as a constant struggle to preserve.  The dead can walk again, as long as the damage can be repaired.  They live for millennia, but not without suffering mechanical failures, which they seek to repair or augment with replacement parts and machines.  Losing friends is a big deal to Machina, and they don’t go to war unless they have considered the matter very thoroughly.  In all things, artifice and stealth are their guiding lights; they appreciate those who take risks on their behalf, and recklessness earns only frowns.  After the Age of the Fall, the Machina warm to the peoples of the Bionis, but before that they keep to themselves, their survival a well kept secret.

Suggested Racial Favored Classes

Artificer – specialist in machines and machine maintenance.

Rogue – specialist in choosing when and how to fight, and in using different tactics effectively, including running away and hiding.

Stat Biases

Intelligence, with a focus on machines or medical knowledge.  It also helps for outsmarting drones and spying on outsiders.

Charisma, as their god Meyneth created them as artists and servants to her.  I’m also thinking of Eberron, where an artificers’ number of infusions is determined by charisma.