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40: Like Clockwork · Dungeonpedia

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: You the adventurer.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, you.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Do you desire knowledge of immense worlds and arcane power?
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: A codex of untold stories and lore?
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Or perhaps simply easy listening for your daily commute?
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Then feast your eyes, or more accurately, yes, upon Dungeon Pedia.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Shit's about to get nerdy in here.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_05: And I'm Travis Beasley.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_02: And I just want to apologize to you, the listener, for oh, maybe the next like two or three weeks.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_02: Because I'm sick.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm gonna sound like shit.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_02: And also, this is my episode today.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm gonna, you know, sound like extra shit while I dictate things to you.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_03: You picked a great time to get sick.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_03: Oh yeah.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_03: It couldn't be over maybe a week or two-week period where Travis and I were doing something.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_05: And I just wanted to also be noted that before we started recording, she was like, no, I can totally fake it.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_05: You we can all tell that you're sick.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_05: We get it.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_05: Sickness happens.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_05: It's the winter.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_02: Well I have my nice close to.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's basically winter.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_02: Like, even if it's not winter, it's winter.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_03: The second it hits 32 degrees outside, it's winter.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_05: It's been winter here forever.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_02: But I've got my nice little cup of tea, just chilling.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm gonna get through this.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_02: And I might make Travis run to the store and get me some more broth.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_05: I need to get some other things for tomorrow anyway, so.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_03: I always need to go to the store.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_03: I always need to go to the store.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_03: And that's just adulthood.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_05: It is.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_02: Anyway, sickness aside, for this week's episode, it was kind it was suggested by Willkart, thank you.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_02: And he wanted us to do an episode on Modrins.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_02: And technically, I am that is what this episode is.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_02: But I also kind of wanted to turn this into my first like deep dive into a single plane.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_02: Although, I guess technically most of our regular episodes are a deep dive into the primaterial plane.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_03: But regardless, interesting way to think about it.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_03: I never thought about that.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_05: I didn't either, but now I'm having a conundrum.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_02: This week I'm gonna talk in depth about the lawful neutral plane, Mechanis, and its most well-known inhabitants, the Modrins.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, yeah, because you see, you said those words and they meant nothing to me.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, what the fuck is that?
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_02: Well, as you'll recall, I discussed Mechanis very, very briefly during our planes episode.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_02: It's one of the outer planes.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, it was touched on like just like a skip and then done.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it was touched on briefly.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_03: And it was this what the lawful neutral one?
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_03: So that means I wasn't really listening.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_02: It was also pretty close to the end of it, and I was like rushing through just to finish up on time.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_02: But, anyways, Mechanis was first conceived of in July 1977 in Dragon Magazine number eight, Planes, the concepts of spatial, temporal, and physical relationships in DD.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_02: Jesus, that is the title.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_02: That's heavy.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_02: It was the same article where Gary Gygax introduced the concept of a planar system to Dungeons and Dragons.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_02: Nice.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_02: Uh back then it was called Nirvana, the ultimate plane of law.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he like it was straight up ripped from Hinduism.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_03: Nirvana, and for for me, Nirvana just I think of like bliss.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_03: Evokes, yeah, evokes a very different mental image for me.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_03: Not lawful, not just a gigantic like high school entirely by hall monitors.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_03: That's not what I no, no, I'm kidding.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_03: That's lawful good.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_03: Sorry.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_02: So the name Nirvana persisted in the plane's official publication in DD Source Books in 1978, which it was first introduced into source books with Advanced DD, uh the sorry, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_03: And this was the you said it was the pure law plane, right?
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_03: Uh oh lawful neutral.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_03: So well, yeah, yeah, but back then it would have just been law, right?
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_02: No.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_02: By the time Advanced Dungeons and Dragons came along, that's it was lawful neutral.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_03: It was lawful.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_03: I was going back even further.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_02: The plane, now known as Mechanist, did not actually receive that distinction until 1994 with the release of the Planescape campaign setting.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_05: Oh geez, so it lasted as Nirvana for Like almost 20 years.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_05: Almost 20 years, yeah.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_05: Wow.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_02: Which in early DD there weren't a ton of changes.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_02: Like early on, it would be like, all right, we released this, now we're sticking with this for like five years.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_05: They would like continue to update it here and there, like sporadically, but the name change didn't really happen until like 90s, 2000s.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um, Planescape actually gave an in-universe explanation for this new distinction.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_02: It's the damn prime's fault.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_05: I mean it's the damn prime's fault.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_03: I can imagine that it is, but also I love when they do that.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_03: I know.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_03: Like give an in-universe explanation instead of just being like, oh yeah, we're doing something different now.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_03: Like they actually give an explanation in Kfabe.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_02: So basically, the people of the prime plane started calling it Nirvana and never bothered to learn what the people who actually lived there called it.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_06: Hmm.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_02: After that, it was called Mechanist consistently, and occasionally the clockwork nirvana of Mechanist, which is a pretty dope name.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_05: The clockwork nirvana.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_05: Of Mechanist.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_05: Of Mechanist.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_05: I do like that.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_05: That is actually pretty cool.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_03: Really dope.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_03: But also, that's such a resident of the prime material plane thing to do is just call it something completely different than the people who actually live there call it.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I'm sure if Planescape released an update for fifth edition, they'd say the reason why the plane the Fay Wilds were called the Plane of Fairy for a long time was because no one bothered to ask the Faye that lived there why.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_02: Which, by the way, Wizards of the Coast, if you're listening, Planescape campaign setting for fifth edition, do it.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, no, I say go for it.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_02: Also, if you're hiring.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_02: Also, that's Taylor would like a job.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but for ease, I'll be calling it Mechanis from here on out, even when the source material calls it Nirvana.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_03: Does it look like the clock tower from Mario 64?
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_03: Actually, I'm about to describe exactly what it looks like.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, because if so, that's hell.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_03: That's just hell.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_02: So going back to Advanced Dungeons and Dragons for a bit, in 1987, the Manual of the Plains was written by Jeff Grubb, and it gave a pretty detailed description of the plane as a plane of perfectly regimented order, equal light and dark, heat and cold, and equal parts of the four elements.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_02: All matter has its place and knows its place in Mechanis.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_02: It contains no passions, no illusions, or pain.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_02: Even individual consciousness only exists in Mechanis's perfect order in the name of perfection.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_05: Dang.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_05: So I'm I'm sorry.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_05: The thing that stuck out the most there to me is no pain.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_03: No pain.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_05: So you just feel no pain on this plane.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_03: Pretty much, yeah.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_03: There is no passion, there is serenity.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_02: It's a little bit like the fucking Jedi code.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_05: Just like out of all those, that one in particular stuck out because I was like, wait a minute.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_05: See the passion.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_05: Don't feel pain.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_03: See, the passion stuck out to me because it reminded me of the Jedi.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_02: Well, because pain, I mean, I guess technically be you could consider it the option, the opposite of like passion and bliss.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_02: This actually stuck out to me, and I actually looked into it a little bit.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_02: Because it says no illusions, illusion magic does not work in Mechanism.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_02: It just doesn't work.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_02: Dang.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_02: It's described as looking more like a flimsy outline, and you wasted your spell slot.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_05: A flimsy outline.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_03: You're like, oh yeah, this is totally something else.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_03: And everyone's like, no.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_05: We can, you know, we can no at that point you're just like, look, I'm an impressionist painting.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_02: That's really funny, actually.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so mechanists is a single infinite plane with planar layers, technically, that extend in all directions without a true floor or ceiling.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_03: Oh god.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_03: It's like an escher painting.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_02: It's not actually planar layers, it's literally just think of it like space.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_02: So you have like planets that are like different distances from each other, but there's no like layering.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_03: So it's not an Azure painting.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_02: No.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_02: This actually makes mechanists different from almost every single other outer plane, which are almost universally defined by their layers.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_02: The nine hells, the Bitopia tube thing.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um Mount Celestia is literally a mountain.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_03: That sounds like terrible.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_03: Like something about that just bothers me.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it is a vast, empty void.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_02: Except what?
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, except, except.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_02: Mechanism is filled with huge interlocking wheels like cogs in a clock.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_02: They're massive, 500 or more miles in radius.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_02: Jesus.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_02: The uh these clockwork gears are infinite, stretching on throughout this endless void.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_02: They interlock around their edges and spin the entire plane in unison.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_03: So it is the clock tower from ours.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, sorry about that.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_02: It's hell for Lewin specifically.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_03: There's something about that that bothers me.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_05: So this whole plane basically works as a clock?
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_03: Kind of.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_05: Kind of, like just because like the gears are basically what's turning this plane?
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_02: Pretty much, yeah.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_02: Each cog has its own gravity.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_02: So discs meet at right angles without disturbing the inhabitants on another one.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_02: So like people live on these cogs.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_02: They build their structures, some of them terraform them.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_05: What the hell?
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_02: The gravity extends above and below each disc, even though usually only one side is inhabited.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_02: Insert flat earth jokes here.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_05: I I was thinking.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_05: I was like, that sounds oddly familiar.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_02: So the void is actually filled with air, making flight between the disks possible.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_02: It's not like actually space, it just looks like space.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_03: Huh.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_03: If what?
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_03: Nothing.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_05: I Are you trying to figure out how they actually like move?
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_05: No, no, no, no, no.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_03: I I just I have I have I have qualms.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_03: Oh I'll let you finish first.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_02: If a being is beyond the gravitational pull of a disc, they float as though in the astral plane, but are naturally pulled down towards the closest disc.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_05: See, I was gonna say, I remember reading physics.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_05: Uh researching for our campaign.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_05: You can kind of just like will yourself to move.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_05: So that's kind of what I was thinking that this would function as, except in this case, when they get closer to a cog, that gravity will unless they have a flight speed.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_02: If they have a flight speed, they will they can they can choose to just fly past it.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_05: Certainly.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_05: Which I'm gonna guess that most, at least inhabitants of this plane, have flight.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_02: Some.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_02: Oh.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_02: More on that in a moment.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_02: Actually, in a while.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_02: More on that towards the end.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_03: More on that later.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_02: So in 2001, Jeff Grubb, Bruce R.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_02: Cordell, and David Noonan re-released the Manual of the Planes for third edition under Wizards of the Coast.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_02: Cool.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_02: This, alongside the previously mentioned Planescape campaign setting, specifically the Plane of Law edition, fully fleshed or the Planes of Law edition, my bad.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_02: It fully fleshed out each of the planes, including Mechanis.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_05: Sweet.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_02: As Mechanis is an outer plane, it exists as a plane that the spirits of dead mortals reside in or simply pass through after death.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_02: In previous editions, though, it wasn't always intended to be a final stop.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_02: Several alternatives are described, including judgment.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_03: Judgment is capitalized.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_05: So does that mean the judgment is assigned to a being?
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_02: Dead characters pass through the outer planes where they are judged by their deities.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_02: Those who fail are retained on the outer planes, in which case they are called petitioners, or return to the material plane for reincarnation.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_02: Those who are judged worthy join with the essence of the plane itself, transform into servants of their deity, or pass on to a new level of reality unknown to even the deities themselves.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_02: The reason I mention this is because mechanist petitioners are described as being notoriously honest and literal.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_02: They don't interpret instructions or requests, but do exactly what is asked of them.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_05: Oh my god, it's crap.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_05: What's his name?
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_05: Guardians of the Galaxy.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, um Drax.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_05: Drax.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_05: It's his entire people.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_05: Also everything is literal.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_03: That awkward moment when you tell one of your friends on Mechanist to go fuck themselves.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_03: Oh.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_03: Oh.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_05: Oh.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_05: Or to go dig a hole.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_03: Or go die in a fire.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_03: Oh.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_02: So this can be true even if the action leads to death.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_02: Oh shit.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_02: Repetitioners of Mechanist believe they are constantly being tested in their devotion to order and law.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_02: Oh no.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, they would walk into a fire.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_03: They would go play in traffic.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_05: Oh my god.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_05: That's sad.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_05: Hilarious.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_05: Sad, but also hilarious.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_05: I I can't help but just be like, yeah, I can see my players looking at you two here.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_05: Just being like one of them pisses you off, just like, yeah, go kill yourself.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_05: They just Aw.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_03: See, I love how like I know it's because we're the ones that are here, but I feel like Jacoby was excluded from that statement and he shouldn't be excluded.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_03: Oh no, he's a part of that too.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_03: Just wanted to put that out there.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_02: Jacoby should be at the forefront of that statement.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_05: Probably.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_02: So, anyways, petitioners for each of the plans have kind of different ways that they present after death, you know, like their spirit.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_02: So the petitioners of Mechanists often adopt a stylized version of their mortal bodies.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_02: Despite outward differences, all petitioners on Mechanis are alike in their frightening honesty and submersion of individuality.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, hmm.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_03: My favorite type of person.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_02: Which honestly, I really enjoy like the beginning part of a stylized version of their mortal bodies because Mechanis is very clockworky, so I'm just picturing clockwork versions.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_03: That's kind of what I was picturing.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_02: We're getting there.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_03: Also, uh alternative interpretation is that they're the pixies from Fairly Odd Parents.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_02: So, yeah.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_02: So also, I should know, y'all.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_02: I tried to give fourth edition its fair shake, but I really couldn't.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_02: I really couldn't.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_02: Uh-oh.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_02: Mostly because Mechanism does not exist in fourth edition.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_02: Oh no.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_02: I remember on the planes episode, I briefly mentioned that fourth edition fucked the planes and the alignment.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_02: Uh-huh.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_02: Mechanism doesn't exist.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_02: Because lawful neutral doesn't exist.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_02: It's unaligned.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_02: Wait, what?
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_02: Lawful neutral.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_02: Lawful neutral.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_05: It falls under unaligned.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_05: So they just decided that they were just gonna get rid of this entire planar system.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_02: Pretty much, yeah.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_05: Because they're idiots who decided to go with unaligned instead of just lawful neutral because it makes any fucking difference at all.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_03: Or that unaligned couldn't be something else.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_03: In addition to that.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_05: Because you know, they couldn't have interesting.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_05: They couldn't have, you know, just left this plane there and just be like, I mean it's unaligned.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_05: No, we're gonna fucking remove it because we changed everything else.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_05: Why not?
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_02: We don't need that.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_05: I'm done.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_02: So they they kind of just put the onus on other planes of existence to pick up the what was missing from Mechanis.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_02: They're like, you can have these robots.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_05: Again, would have been easier for them to just ride in, just be like, unaligned plane.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_05: Done.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_05: Instead, it's like, nope, we're gonna put you here and here and here.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_02: I thought you said you were done.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_02: I believe the dungeon master's guide for fourth edition, it does mention that if you want to keep Mechanis in, you would just make it an unaligned plane.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_02: But it is not part of the uh core pack for fourth edition.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, at least they at least somebody tried.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_05: So yet again, fourth edition is just, you know, like Mechanist and doesn't exist.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_03: Can we be done?
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um because I want to discuss the other inhabitants on Mechanis.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_03: So before you do, the qualms that I had earlier, which I know that it's like more complicated than this, because not necessarily everyone is totally the same.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_03: Like every person who inhabits these outer planes is totally the same.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_03: But how do they build things or, you know, discover these facts about the planet's gravity and planet, planes gravity, and all this other stuff if they're if they have no passion.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_03: Those are pursuits.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_02: Mostly from people exploring who are not inhabitants.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, because like those are those are pursuits.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_03: You have to care about them in order to do them.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_03: And if you have no passion, you don't care about anything.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_02: Like I I really don't like lawful neutral.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_02: At least, like, I'm sure like as a alignment for a character, it's gr it's it can be.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, hell, in our in our last campaign, our monk was lawful neutral, and he was one of the most interesting characters we have.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_03: Like it it, you know, I'm not saying that it can't be entertaining for like characters or things like that.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_02: It's just as an extreme.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_03: Like a very extreme examples of it are just like snore.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_02: It's unnerving in a way that the Kenku actually kind of were about the idea of not having creativity and originality.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_03: It's very unnerving.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I just I don't like the idea of not being able to be passionate about something.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I'm passionate about Dungeons and Dragons.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_05: Clearly.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_03: And Travis is passionate about his A Fourth edition.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_03: Clearly.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm passionate about something, I'm sure.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_03: That's true.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_03: Anyway, I and I mean, and like I said, I know that that's not everyone who crosses into that plane and thinks it's more complicated than that.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_03: Well, and that's the thing, is that but that to me just, you know.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_02: I will say, for its part, almost every source kind of makes a point of saying, like, the people on Mechanists, like it's not outright stated, but it's very implied that the people on Mechanists don't care about like how everything works and what what else doing, they just care about making it work.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_02: Making it work and maintaining it.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_02: And it's all about maintenance and order and law for them.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_02: Everyone else who ventures through is like, this is weird, but I also want to figure out what's going on.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like, yeah, exactly.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_02: So of the other inhabitants of Mechanists that also don't give a shit about how stuff works, um, are Merits or Marots.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna call them Marots, just be and I'll you'll figure out why in in a minute.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_02: So Meruts are red-eyed, unliving giants, seemingly carved from a single piece of onyx.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_02: They were gold wear golden armor, but it appears that they have no joints or seams, which is why it says so that they look like they're carved from a single piece of onyx.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, dang.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_02: Marots are constructs of Rudra, the god of disease, imbued with in with intelligence and sentience by him.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_02: He created all of them, but they've since changed hands quite a bit.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_02: Some of them are still in service to him.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_02: They exist only to spread the will of their master or serve those their master has chosen.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_02: Marots typically spread disease and harm their environments by nature when under the will of Rudra, but they can occasionally serve good deities as gifts from Rudra, which is why they've changed hands quite a bit, because he gifts them.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_02: And they spread things revered by those gods instead, like love, magic, passion, loyalty, life.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_02: So like they just spread things.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_05: Hmm.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_05: So they're that's kind of like an odd kind of dope though.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, it's kind of cool.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_05: It's just like kind of an odd thing.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_05: I feel like even for a deity to make and be like, yeah, I'm gonna create this thing that kind of does nothing but spread disease if I have the or someone else uses it for a different thing.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well, he's the god of disease.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_02: He's interested in spreading disease.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_02: But he's also hear friends now have a giant.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_02: Pretty much.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_02: He keeps his bargains and his promises, and he is very giving when he has received, basically.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_03: So you would say they're not without their merits.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_02: So Marots and Rudra both exist in Hinduism, which now you understand why I decided to go back and say Marots.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, okay.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_02: And I did look up Rudra because I was very curious about that.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_02: I couldn't find a very good source for Marut's pronunciation, but I'm going to go with that.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_02: But But much like a lot of things in Dungeons and Dragons that take their inspiration from outside sources, they basically have very little to do with their roots.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_02: They're my roots.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_05: I knew that was coming.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_05: You should have known.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_03: I should have, but I didn't somehow.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you should have you should have figured out a different word.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_03: I got you with both pronunciations.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_02: You're not safe.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_02: No, I'm not.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_02: Merots got a relative in third edition through constructs called inevitables.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_02: Inevitables?
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_02: Inevitables.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_02: Ine.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_03: Oh okay.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_03: I thought you were trying to say like inept, like inept something that is inept, and I'm just gonna be like, that's me.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_03: No construct.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_05: Inevitables.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_02: Inevitables.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_02: They exist simply to enforce the natural laws of the universe.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_02: They hunt down and punish those who violate the order, like fugitives, those who cheat death, and those who break contracts.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_05: Okay, so is this just for Mechanist or is this They exist everywhere.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_02: Or they can exist everywhere.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_02: They're like from Mechanists.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_05: They're basically like bounty hunters for people that break the law of whatever pretty much inside the law is.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_02: It's a pretty big like in order to get a mech an inevitable scent after you, you have to do a pretty big thing.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_02: But after it completes its first mission, it kind of just travels around um maintaining order where it sees that order needs to be maintained, basically.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, so it's my least favorite type of person.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_05: All I picture is the Raven Queen using these for the ones that cheat death.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah, I could totally see that.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_02: So a um an inevitable receives its first mission upon creation, hunts it down, and doles out appropriate punishment, typically death.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, naturally.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_03: So so their their sense of like if they just happened upon somewhere, like their sense of what is is right or lawful is the perspective of the lawful neutral secondness.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_03: So they could easily end up somewhere, like they could end up in the chaotic good outer plane.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_03: Just killing a bunch of people.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_03: Just killing a bunch of people because it's it's different, you know what I mean?
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_02: So despite being single-minded in an attempt to complete their tasks, they are under strict orders and strict programming to leave innocence alone.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_02: So unless someone is actively doing something that would require this type of punishment, they'd usually probably go ignore it or do a smaller punishment.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_03: Like just knock them out.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_05: Instead of killing you, it's just gonna like break your arm.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, just like maim you.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_03: Like I I I mean, I just want to know what the rules are.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_02: Right, no, like they are under strict orders to leave innocence alone.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_02: So it it's very much like don't don't just be cruel.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_02: It's not like it's lawful evil.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_02: Here it's lawful neutral.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_02: So inevitables are made from gold and silver clockwork.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_02: And they look like golden armored 12-foot-tall giants.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_05: Jesus.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_05: They're probably a pain in the ass to fight.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sure, yeah.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_02: Unlike most constructs, inevitables, as an extension of Marots, can think, learn, and remember.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_02: In between missions, an inevitable wanders around passively observing life, which absolutely resonates with me.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_02: Like the idea of this thing that has never known life and has only ever known its job just going around and observing life.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_03: See, I made a joke about them being my least favorite type of person who goes and enforces their ideology on other people, but now I feel kind of bad for them.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_02: Well, no one knows who created the inevitables, even the inevitables.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_02: Oh shoot.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_05: So, like they don't even know who created them.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_02: They just know that they have a job and they need to carry it out.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_02: I will say, it was probably a dickhead.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_02: Probably.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_05: Just saying, yeah.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_05: More than likely.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_02: So I mentioned at the beginning of this episode that I'm gonna cover the modrins.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_02: Before we get to the modrins, there's one more thing.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_02: Formions.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_02: What?
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_02: Could you say that again?
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_02: Formiens.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_02: Formions.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_02: Formions.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_02: Did I say that right?
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_02: Let me just double check, actually.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, no, you're good.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_03: I just making sure that we heard it right.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_03: You said it and my brain went to space.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_03: Formions.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_03: Duration of you saying it, so I had to come back.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_02: So formions are only known to come from planes devoted to law.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_02: They resemble upright ants, kind of like an ant centaur thing.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_03: What the hell?
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_03: What?
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_03: They ha yeah, straight up.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_03: Like so, like four of their legs are on the ground and two of them are are like are Yeah, like holding weaponry and like usable like hands.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_02: That's a little frightening.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_03: And more sent to no.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_02: I can't make a point.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_02: Keep work shopping it.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_02: I'll think about it.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_02: So they have these hive cities and operate to serve their queens and constantly colonize.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_02: Their goal is to colonize and expand to all worlds, bringing everything into formion law and order, or stamp it out.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_01: Great.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_02: So they're featured prominently on Mechanist because they have quite a few colonies on their cogs.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_02: And uh yeah, they've yet to large scale clash with Modrons, but people guess it would be epic and disastrous.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, yeah, I would assume so.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_02: Pretty much.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_02: How big are they?
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_02: Oh god.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um, let me double check.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_02: Oh god.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_05: Because like I feel like that would be a deciding factor too.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_05: But they have to be pretty.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I guess they don't have to be.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_02: They could just be like human-sized and just Well, so the workers are about three feet long and two and a half feet tall.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_02: And then the taskmaster, you know, it's like regular ant rankings, basically.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_02: They get bigger.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_02: Five feet long and four and a half feet tall.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_02: And then warriors, five feet long, four and a half feet tall as well.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_02: What about the queens?
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_02: That's uh yeah.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_02: Ten feet long, four feet tall.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, that's so they kind they they stay below five feet tall, but they're fucking long.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, I like the idea, but I like the concept of it all.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_02: They're scary and they absolutely stamp out chaos wherever they go, and they everything just it should be under them, basically.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's interesting their use of ants though for that.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_03: Because it's very ant-like.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_03: Because it's very like the the way that ants like behave.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_03: That's like actually really, really good.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_02: So to be used in that way.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_02: Then there are the Modrins.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_02: Then there are the Modrins.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_02: And then there were the Modrins.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_02: Which I will be happy to tell you guys about after a quick break.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_05: Damn it, I knew it.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_05: Uh fine.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_02: Hey everybody, thank you guys so much for listening to our Mechanist episode.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_02: I know it's a lot.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_02: But if you are if you like this episode and you like the podcast, please consider contributing to our Patreon, which is just the regular at Dungeonpedia.
• 29:23
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• 29:36
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• 29:38
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• 29:40
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• 29:41
  SPEAKER_02: Just again, thank you guys so much.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_02: And with that, we're just gonna go on through to the rest of the little ad break real quick.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 29:50
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• 30:02
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• 30:03
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• 30:04
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• 30:06
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• 30:07
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• 30:07
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• 30:10
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• 30:11
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• 30:15
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• 30:17
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• 30:30
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• 30:31
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• 30:38
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• 30:46
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• 30:47
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• 30:56
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• 30:56
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• 31:32
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• 31:39
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• 31:42
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• 31:46
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• 31:48
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• 31:53
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• 31:54
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• 31:56
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• 31:58
  SPEAKER_02: Every time we post a new episode, I'm just amazed the fact that, first of all, any of anyone is listening, and second of all, how many people are listening?
• 32:07
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• 32:07
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• 32:08
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• 32:09
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• 32:10
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• 32:11
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• 32:13
  SPEAKER_05: Continue listening in, and hopefully we uh never disappoint you.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_03: And if we do, I'm sorry.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_03: You know who doesn't disappoint us though, is Alexander Notcarata with our theme song Blacksmith.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 32:26
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• 32:27
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• 32:28
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• 32:29
  SPEAKER_05: And uh with that, I believe we have taken enough time to do our little ad break, maybe given some people enough time to calm their minds to get back to Mechanis and throw more numbers.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_03: Number theory, kind of.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_03: Modrons.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_02: Alright, alright.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_02: So let me uh read this this part from Planescape Campaign Setting real quick to set the stage.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_02: The greatest of Mechanis' layers is Regulus, the realm of the Modrins.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_02: These bizarre creatures live absolutely regimented existences, following a strict hierarchy all up to the Primus, the one in Prime, a greater power on this plane.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_02: There are few petitioners found in Regulus, for there are no organized cults of Primus, at least not on any known primaterial world.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_02: Those few petitioners that are here were once devoted to the cause of utter and absolute order.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_02: Primus seems to exist just to supervise the Modrins, which maintain the existence of the plane.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_02: Modrons are often found in other realms of the plane, polishing cog teeth and generally fussing over the great wheels.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_02: Nice.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_02: So basically, Modrins exist just to maintain the plane and themselves and serve.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_02: And then Primus exists only to make sure that the Modrins maintain their jobs and maintain to supervise them.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_05: So Modrins are kind of like soldier-esque?
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_02: They are soldiers and workers, and basically they just they're just whatever they need to do to keep the plane going, basically.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_02: They are beings of absolute law that adhere to a high like hierarchy.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_02: And they constantly are tending to mechanists and gears and they the best way I can think of it of just at least in my head is like gearwork that exists only to maintain itself.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_03: The uh keepers.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_03: Keepers, the little guys that maintain the Citadel.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_05: They're kind of like, I can't remember the word for it now, but it's theoretical.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_05: The machines that basically constantly keep themselves going that don't break down.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_02: Right, yeah.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_05: Uh I don't remember what the hell it's called now, but theoretical like in real life.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_05: Obviously, Dan Dean, they're just existing.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_03: I enjoy the the concept of like well, I say like redundancy, but not like they they kind of exist, you know.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_03: To they exist to feel their existence.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_03: They exist to exist.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_03: I yeah.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_03: I can't think of a good way to really put into words like why I think that's cool, but it it just is.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_03: I think it just kind of is.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_03: Especially in the in this, like, and I'm not saying that this is necessarily contradictory, but especially in in this kind of setting where it seems like things exist based on their functionality.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_03: So something that exists, that existence justifies its purpose kind of is is neat to me.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_02: It it's somewhat beautiful.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_02: I can't words.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_02: So Modrins are I mentioned that they're a hive-like hierarchical pyramid.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_02: So each Modrin receives commands from superiors and delegates orders to underlings, and it carries out commands with total obedience, utmost efficiency, and absence of morality or ego.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_02: The way I think of Modrins and mechanists by existence is they're like morality should have absolutely no say in things when it comes to law and order.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_02: And I think of that in a little bit of an extension towards the other like neutral alignment, like the the horizontal line on the alignment chart.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_02: With true neutral being like morality and laws should have no bearing over absolute balance.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_02: And then for chaotic neutral, you have morality and laws should have absolutely no bearing when it comes to me doing whatever the fuck I want.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_05: I do whatever I want.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_02: So um Modrins have no sense of self, pretty much.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_02: There's no I, but only we or us.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_02: Same.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_02: Just kidding.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_03: Just kidding.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_03: I'm a very selfish person.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know why I said that.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, Modrins adhere to their hierarchy and their ranks.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_02: There's no j like, there's no like going around your boss to talk to your boss's boss.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_02: You talk to your boss and your boss talks to his boss.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_02: You don't break your chain of command.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_02: Nope.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_05: Ever.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_02: Modrins more than one rank away from like up or down are either too advanced or too simple to understand.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_02: You can't even talk to them.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_03: Oh.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, I feel that way about never mind.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_03: Nope.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_02: So if a Modrin is destroyed, its remains disintegrate.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_02: Oh.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, a replacement from the next lowest rank then transforms in a flash of light and gains the physical form of its new rank.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_02: That's amazing.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_05: The only way to advance is to hope that a higher ranker dies.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_02: But they don't hope for this.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_02: They don't have any passion.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_02: Shit, you're right.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_03: They don't care to get promoted.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_02: They just know that.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_02: How big are these guys?
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_02: I'll get to that because it varies.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_05: They just know that their purpose is this, and when this transformation happens, they go to the next rank and then continue whatever that job is.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_03: Because yeah.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_03: For some reason, I'm imagining like what would be like a funny scene in a movie where like your adventuring party is just like watching a bunch of them work, and then like one of them accidentally gets like blasted by something, like a hot steam vent or something like that, and just like dies.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_03: And then another one just like a flash of light, and then it like runs over and starts doing the other one's job, and the whole party's like looking at each other like, what the fuck?
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_03: What just happened?
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_05: And then all of them just like, you know, we probably shouldn't be here.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_03: Or like um, like a spirited away where they're all like carrying coal.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know why I thought of that.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_03: Anyway.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so the promoted Modrin is replaced by one of the underlings in the same manner, all the way to the lowest levels of the hierarchy, and there a new Modrin is created by the Primus.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_02: So the steady stream of Modrins just keeps on going.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_05: It's just endless.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_05: So they're never like their numbers are never one short.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_05: They always just or one head.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_03: It's always the same.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_05: They always stay the same.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_05: They just replace, and then the Primus makes a new lower rank, lowest rank.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_05: What?
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_05: That's actually pretty cool though.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_02: It is.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_02: I I I'm a big fan of it, honestly.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_05: It's like all these flashes of light just keep happening until Yeah, there's just like an assembly line of them.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_02: So there are five types of base modrons, and then nine types of hierarchical modrins.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_04: Good lord.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_02: Base is lower than hierarchical, plus the one and only Primus.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, most of these descriptions come from the Planescape Montrous Compendium, but really not much has changed.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_02: So mono drones make up the bulk of mechanists.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_02: They are small spheres with a single eye, wings, oh my god, and two arms and legs.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_02: They are Mike Wazowski.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_05: I'm just saying, they're Mike Vazowski with wings.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_05: Instead of arms, it's wings.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_02: They're made out of clockwork.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_02: Also, if you guys, if you guys listening at home have never seen a Modrin, go look them up.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_02: They are kind of adorable.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I was like, I actually don't think I've seen a Modrin.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_03: Neither have I.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_03: See, I keep wanting to put the E at the end of their name because I think like drone.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my god! Well they're so cute.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, I take it back.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_05: I have actually seen some of them.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think I've shown them to you before.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_05: Oh god, those are cute, and then they start to get terrifying.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, they they're very uncanny valley, especially the bigger ones.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_02: I like the art on in fifth edition for the monodrone because it's like doing a little thing where it's like biting its lower lip.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_02: Oh it is.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_05: It is.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_03: I like they're kind of uncanny valley.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_03: Some people with some types of sensibilities probably find them kind of creepy, but I think they're cute.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_02: So I will say, I think monodrones might be my favorite just because of how stupid they are.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_02: Monodrones are single function Modrones assigned to simple labor or service in the regiments of the Modron army.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_02: Thousands, thousands of them exist.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_02: Armed with spears and crossbows, and they are impressive when marshaled against the foe.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_02: That's from the uh the book.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_02: I will mention they are a one-eighth challenge rating.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I was gonna say, I'm looking at it, I'm like, mmm, I mean You'd probably be looking at like thousands of them at a time.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_03: Well, yeah.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_02: That's true.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_02: They don't that that's the thing, is you would probably encounter multiple.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, you won't encounter one or two at a time.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_05: You would be encountering probably like 10, 15, 20.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_03: I believe twelve is usually what they're in segments of.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_03: So like that would be impressive.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_03: An an army of a thousand of those.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_02: So they exist only for their work.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_02: They are unswerving and single-minded.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_05: So they can't even like talk.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_02: They're barely intelligent.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_02: They are unable to speak or read.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_02: Oh.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_02: But can understand commands spoken in the tongue of their race, although they will only heed a duodrone.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_02: Which is gonna be the next one up, I guess.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_02: They are capable of only one action at a time.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_02: If you tell them to attack, they will do so until slain, even if that means attacking each other after the enemy has been obliterated.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, they're so stupid.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_02: They are.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my god.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_05: So you have to tell them to stop?
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_05: Like, okay, we won stop killing each other.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_02: Pretty much.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_02: That's why they require a duo drone to supervise them.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_03: One forest run and then stop.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_02: It's like that season.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_02: Uh there's this line in there that says, It is fortunate that they feed on the very substance of air around them.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_02: Otherwise, it would be necessary to order them to eat every day.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my god.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_03: God.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_02: So it's a good thing that you don't have to tell them to breathe.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_02: So duo drones are the next one up.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_02: They're capable of two functions.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_02: Oh.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_02: And they supervise 12 units of monodrone.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, cool.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_02: They also perform complex tasks beyond the ability of monodrones.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_02: They are blocky and rectangular with a lot of strength.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we're still looking at the one-fourth challenge rating.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, they're moving up.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_05: Their lips are like they're a little pretty uh uncanny.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_05: They're actually kind of like big.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_03: For and they're especially big for what you would imagine exists on a weird blocky robot.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, their strength is pretty decent.
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_05: They're still not terribly intelligent.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, they're twice as strong as monodrones.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_03: True.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_03: You know.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_02: They serve as corporals and sergeants or as special shock troops.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, they have a thrusting and crushing weapon.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_02: Typically they are only given a single command at one time so that they have ability to react.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_02: Because m monodrones don't have an ability to react.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_03: They just do what so you could tell a duodrone duodrone to attack, but it could also defend itself.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_02: Actually, yes, actually, the example is if ordered to attack, for example, they will do so until the enemy is slain and then seek out a new enemy rather than attacking each other.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_03: Sitting there stabbing the air.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_02: The duodrones actually have limited conversational ability, but they can report their operations and observations clearly and completely.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_02: Cool.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_05: Okay, so they can at least talk, if only barely.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_02: They can talk to monodrones and tridrones.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_02: Which tridrones are the next one up.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_05: Should have called them trio drones.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_05: Trio drones.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_03: Opportunity.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_05: You said tridrone?
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, I see the naming scheme on these now.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_02: That took me longer to And those are a challenge rating of one half, and now you see how the challenge rating scheme is going up as well.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_02: They appear as three-sided pyramids with spidery arms and legs.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_04: I fucking love it.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_04: They look so cool.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_02: They supervise squads of, you guessed it, 12 duodrones.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_02: Dang.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_02: Which means that they technically supervise squads of 12 times 12 is 124.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_02: 124?
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, 144.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_02: I can't map.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_05: 144 monodrones.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_02: So, and the duodrones pass the orders to the monodrones.
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_02: Because the monodrones can't understand tridrones.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_02: They're too complex.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_06: Oh my god.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_02: They use too big of words.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_02: Tridrones can carry out multiple tasks on their own.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_02: I think probably three.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_02: Probably.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_03: I would assume.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_02: Typically they receive a general order, which they divide into smaller tasks to be fulfilled by the duodrones.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_02: In a modern army, tridrones serve in special companies equipped with three javelins per being, which they hurl before entering Melee.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_04: Beautiful.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_02: They are capable of reporting options and observations and actually planning limited objectives on the battlefield.
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_02: They also speak their own language and common.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_03: Huh, nice.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_02: So they're the first one in the hierarchy capable of common.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_02: They also have beautiful, luscious beauty guru lips.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_02: They do.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_05: They yeah.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_05: Their lips are nice and plump.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_02: So quadrons are the next one up, and they have a challenge rating of one.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_02: Quadrons comprise the upper li the upper level of worker modrons.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_02: They serve as field officers, and each battalion has a special dozen unit, more of the 12, which contains nothing but quadron warriors.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_02: They're shaped like cubes and have four arms, and they're capable of wielding two bows at the same time.
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_03: Nice.
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_03: And they have wings also.
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, some of them are winged.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_05: I will say that at least the picture that is shown on DD Beyond doesn't show them with four arms.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_02: Well, actually, I was getting to that.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_02: Oh.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_02: Some of them are winged, but if they don't have wings, they're replaced with a second set of arms.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, okay.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_05: Oh.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_05: See, I was thinking that maybe they would just use their they could use their legs as arms in that case.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_05: That's That's pretty cool.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_05: Cool.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_05: It's a squared goro.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_02: So um they're four-function creatures, and they can report actions and observations, make plans, react to unexpected occurrences, and act to remedy them.
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_02: Cool.
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_02: They have senses equal to a hundred for 150% of a normal human, which I don't totally know what means, but like was a cool thing to include.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, wait, say that again?
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_02: All quadrants have senses equal to 150% of normal human senses.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_03: So whatever senses a human has, they have time and a half of that.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_03: Basically.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_03: A certain distance that a human can see, they can see 150% further.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_03: That makes sense.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_05: Which is like three miles, I think.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so they could see four and a half miles.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 48:05
  SPEAKER_02: Part of this is because they're equipped with sensory organs on all six sides of their cubic bodies and are never surprised under normal circumstances.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_02: You cannot surprise them.
• 48:15
  SPEAKER_05: Nice.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_05: I like these things actually.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_05: I like all of the Modrones.
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_02: They are.
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_02: I'm a big fan of them.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_02: So pentadrones are the highest base moadrones.
• 48:27
  SPEAKER_02: So after this, we're gonna start getting into the hierarchical.
• 48:30
  SPEAKER_02: And Travis is making a face, I'm assuming, because he looked at the picture.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_02: Uh-huh.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_02: Don't worry, I'll I'll describe it for those of you at home if you're not already looking at it.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_02: First, I want to mention that their challenge rating is two.
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, they serve as the police of their the base population and as intermittaries between base modrons and what they view as godlike hierarchical Modrons.
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_02: So pentadrones receive instructions pass down by the rules of Mechanis, and see that they are implemented by the quadrons and then all the way down.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_02: Further down.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_02: And they act, like I said, they act as police if necessary, but there's not-I mean, there's not that much like rogue stuff going on.
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_05: I feel like the only time something like rogue would happen would be outsiders.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_02: Pretty much, and tampering.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, maybe if like some drone ends up malfunctioning somehow.
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_02: So um, as five-functioned beings, the they can communicate, operate, monitor, plan, and manage.
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_02: Can also react to unplanned situations.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_02: They a dozen of them are always assigned to each regimental headquarters as an elite unit, while others actually command the regiment.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_02: So now getting to the description.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_02: They look wild.
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_02: Like I'm into it, but they're five-armed creatures that resemble starfish on thin, stilt-like legs.
• 49:59
  SPEAKER_02: They have powerful arm attacks and a paralysis gas, which they emit in a stream two feet in diameter and five feet in length.
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_05: See, I didn't think that those were arms, but okay, yeah, no.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the faces, the arms have faces on them.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, they do.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_02: And they're angry faces.
• 50:21
  SPEAKER_03: All angry.
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_03: They're angry faces.
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_03: The legs are actually what kill me.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it has five legs as well.
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_02: And they're like so skinny and tiny components.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_03: They're like little still.
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_05: I like the paralyzing gas effect, though.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_05: That's pretty cool.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_05: That I'm guessing that shoots from their central starfish.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_03: Where the mouth is on a real starfish.
• 50:42
  SPEAKER_02: So even outside of Mechanis, if for some reason they're ever outside of Mechanis, they are still immune to illusion and mind-affecting magic.
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_02: They also have double human senses.
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_05: So they can hear a lot better, they can see a lot better, they can pretty um they're just better all around, really.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_02: Because they're machines.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 51:01
  SPEAKER_02: So now for the hierarchical Modrins.
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_02: So first the hierarchical Modrons all have like cleric spell abilities or wizard spell abilities, some type of spell ability.
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_02: Some of them even have psionics.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_02: Oh.
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_02: Hell yeah.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_02: They're also complete all completely immune to psionics.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because they're machines, you know.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_02: Secondly, there is always a set amount of hierarchical Modrons.
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_02: Like, even more so than like the lower ones.
• 51:29
  SPEAKER_02: Like, obviously, there's a certain amount for the amount underneath them, but there is always a set amount.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_03: But hypothetically, if if like they were needed for like army purposes, like Primus could create maybe another 48 monodrones.
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_03: Or whatever.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_03: You know, and then the number would just be 48 more than it was.
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_05: But in this case, they're always the same.
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_02: For instance, there are exactly 100 decatons decatons.
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_03: You're about to say there are always one decaton.
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_02: Decatan.
• 52:01
  SPEAKER_02: Uh they appear as ten tentacled spears on stumpy legs.
• 52:08
  SPEAKER_02: They oversee the physical welfare of all of the base modrons, and they are basically the voice speaking to the base modrons.
• 52:17
  SPEAKER_02: One decaton is assigned to each sector of the realm, while the remaining serve on the staffs of the legions of the Modron army.
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_02: The spherical decatons fly by generating a light gas within their body, rendering them lighter than air.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_05: Nice.
• 52:33
  SPEAKER_02: I think of them as like little hot air balloons with tentacles.
• 52:36
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, they look disturbing, honestly.
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_05: You know, they look kind of uh bad.
• 52:42
  SPEAKER_05: Well, like mechanical beholders.
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_05: A little bit, yeah.
• 52:47
  SPEAKER_05: A little bit, like not a lot, but there is a slight resemblance I can see.
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_03: Oh.
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_05: I like it though.
• 52:54
  SPEAKER_02: I hate it.
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_02: Well, let's move on then.
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_02: I hate it, actually.
• 52:58
  SPEAKER_02: Nonatons have 81 in number and are the principal overseers of Law and Order.
• 53:04
  SPEAKER_02: Now that's a little bit what's the word I'm looking for here?
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um, everything in Mechanis, but moving on.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_02: These cylindrical modrones act as captains and chief inspectors of the Pentadrone police force.
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_02: Well one Nonoton serves each sector, nine serve detertians, and the eight remaining report directly to Primus.
• 53:27
  SPEAKER_02: Each Nonoton has 10, or sorry, 12 Pentadrone lieutenants, each lieutenant sh commands 12 quadrone sergeants, and each sergeant commands 12 Tridrone police.
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_02: They like the number 12.
• 53:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_05: 12 seems to be the magic number here.
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_05: The cylindrical aspect of it is like weird.
• 53:46
  SPEAKER_05: Nasty.
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_05: Like water heater?
• 53:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_02: It looks like a water heater came to life.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_05: A mechanical living water heater.
• 53:55
  SPEAKER_05: They're crazy water heater.
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_05: I like it though.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_02: So they usually head investigations for rogue modern units in the event of compromise or a rogue party causing a malfunction.
• 54:07
  SPEAKER_02: And they also handle small invasions from other planes on their own.
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_05: Oh.
• 54:14
  SPEAKER_05: So oh.
• 54:15
  SPEAKER_05: So another plane comes in and they're like, you're not probably gonna fight the army of like the mono drones or whatever initially.
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_05: It's just gonna be the I'm sorry, how did you say it?
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_02: Nonotones.
• 54:27
  SPEAKER_02: Nonaton nonoton nonotone.
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_02: Nonatons.
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_02: Nonotans.
• 54:32
  SPEAKER_05: The nonatons will be the defenders at that point.
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 54:36
  SPEAKER_02: In which case they usually attempt to figure out the motives and then act accordingly.
• 54:42
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, they're lawful and they like want to maintain their law, but if they're not getting in the way of Mechanis' laws, they're not gonna like just immediately like kill you.
• 54:52
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_05: They're gonna go out, try to figure out, okay, what's the plan?
• 54:56
  SPEAKER_05: What's going on?
• 54:57
  SPEAKER_05: And if I guess they sense that it's hostility.
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_05: Or chaos.
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_05: Or chaos, they'll unbridled chaos.
• 55:04
  SPEAKER_05: Take care of it.
• 55:05
  SPEAKER_05: But otherwise, if they're like, yeah, this isn't gonna really harm us, yeah.
• 55:10
  SPEAKER_05: Just at that point, they just kind of float off and like, don't fuck up.
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_02: So there are 64 octons, each one in charge of each sector of the plane in the modron realm.
• 55:24
  SPEAKER_05: Oh man, there's a lot of numbers being thrown out here.
• 55:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 55:28
  SPEAKER_02: So they govern the wheels and can command any army stationed there.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_02: Uh the lesser modrons of each cog wheel are considered wards of the octons, who guard their sectors quite rigidly and see that regulations are obeyed.
• 55:42
  SPEAKER_02: Routine is observed, and reports are unvariably correct.
• 55:47
  SPEAKER_02: Now, Lewin, these are the things that you hate.
• 55:49
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 55:50
  SPEAKER_05: These are the Oh, I don't know.
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_02: So it has like the circular collar at its like shoulder with like it moves air and water through it to help it float.
• 56:04
  SPEAKER_02: God, they look wild.
• 56:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 56:07
  SPEAKER_02: I kind of hate them less than it also has eight tentacled arms attached to the collar.
• 56:12
  SPEAKER_03: The rest of them, but still.
• 56:14
  SPEAKER_02: Each octon has a personal staff consisting of one decaton, one nonoton, five penta drones, sixteen quadrons, eighty-one tri drones, two hundred and fifty-six duodrones, and one thousand seven hundred and twenty-eight monodromes.
• 56:28
  SPEAKER_05: Holy shit.
• 56:30
  SPEAKER_02: They maintain small towers, which are smaller versions of the towers of the quatrons, the second eye, and the primus, although they don't understand who built these structures and why.
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh.
• 56:42
  SPEAKER_02: They don't understand anything.
• 56:43
  SPEAKER_02: They have no passion.
• 56:44
  SPEAKER_05: Mystery structure.
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_03: See, I think it's funny that for the um the base monodrones, or not monodrones, excuse me, modrons, as the numbers increased, they got better and more advanced.
• 56:57
  SPEAKER_03: And now it seems like it hit uh the largest portion in the middle, and now as the numbers are decreasing, yeah.
• 57:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 57:05
  SPEAKER_03: And eventually we're gonna probably.
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_03: Here's a prediction, we're gonna end up at the top with primus because prime means one.
• 57:12
  SPEAKER_03: Boom.
• 57:13
  SPEAKER_03: Good job.
• 57:14
  SPEAKER_03: Hashtag rest of this episode, spoilers.
• 57:17
  SPEAKER_02: So there are 49 septins.
• 57:20
  SPEAKER_02: Septons are officials who maintain order and see that all regulations have been obeyed.
• 57:25
  SPEAKER_02: Basically, these are all multiple levels of police.
• 57:28
  SPEAKER_05: Um, I don't like that.
• 57:32
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sorry.
• 57:33
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 57:34
  SPEAKER_02: Well it should be.
• 57:37
  SPEAKER_02: Seven of them serve each hexton assigned to the Quintins, and then everything else is uh divvied up too.
• 57:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 57:46
  SPEAKER_02: It's Modrons all the way down.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_05: It just kind of keeps keeps going.
• 57:50
  SPEAKER_02: Uh too many numbers, but uh they appear as humanoids with large bald heads, and they have shoulder collars similar to those of octons, although they are smaller and uh are mostly used for underwater stuff.
• 58:04
  SPEAKER_05: Underwater stuff?
• 58:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 58:06
  SPEAKER_02: They have seven senses which operate continuously.
• 58:10
  SPEAKER_02: Hearing, sight, smell, taste, touch, ESP, and detect magic.
• 58:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 58:14
  SPEAKER_03: ESP.
• 58:16
  SPEAKER_03: Detect magic is my personal favorite.
• 58:19
  SPEAKER_02: So then you have the Hextons, which number exactly 36.
• 58:23
  SPEAKER_02: They fulfill multiple roles in Modron Society.
• 58:26
  SPEAKER_02: Each is a general in charge of one of the 36 armies of Modrin.
• 58:30
  SPEAKER_02: And then six of those, like but all of them are generals, but six of those generals are attached to each of the wheels of the realm where they maintain the chain of command in Modron life.
• 58:39
  SPEAKER_02: Another six serve at the Tower of Primus, although they are not really aware of his existence.
• 58:46
  SPEAKER_02: Because he's several steps above them.
• 58:48
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 58:48
  SPEAKER_03: It's not like they communicate with him.
• 58:50
  SPEAKER_02: Hexans appear as humanoids with six arms, two large human arms with six fingers, and four tentacles tipped with sharp claws below.
• 59:01
  SPEAKER_02: Nice.
• 59:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, they look horrifying.
• 59:05
  SPEAKER_05: Like Machamp in like body.
• 59:09
  SPEAKER_05: Like just like the like muscular part.
• 59:11
  SPEAKER_05: And then everything else is just like they clipped from 20 million different creatures, and we're just like, yep, we're gonna glue them here.
• 59:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 59:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um, they also have fan-like wings that are folded and joined at the shoulders.
• 59:24
  SPEAKER_02: Its personal guard consists of one septon, two octuns, three nanotons, five decatons, twenty-five pentadrons, all fanatic in their dedication to their orders.
• 59:36
  SPEAKER_05: Jesus.
• 59:37
  SPEAKER_02: So, Quintons have 25 among them.
• 59:39
  SPEAKER_02: Quintons are the major chief bur the major bureau chiefs and record keepers of Mechanis.
• 59:45
  SPEAKER_02: Finally, something other than a police officer.
• 59:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 59:48
  SPEAKER_02: Uh each has a sextant assistant, seven septons, and one octon on its staff.
• 59:55
  SPEAKER_02: There are bureaus in each of the sectors and quarter towers, five main bureaus in Primises Tower at the Capitol, and each of these bureaus is headed by a Quintin.
• 1:00:04
  SPEAKER_02: They look like tall, stocky humanoids with four flexible arm joints jutting out from the shoulders.
• 1:00:10
  SPEAKER_02: They also have prehensile tails and fan-like wings similar to the Hextons.
• 1:00:16
  SPEAKER_02: As a symbol of rank, which is kind of strange to me because they don't they don't typically like rank is important to them, but they don't typically have like the ego for these symbols.
• 1:00:26
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:00:26
  SPEAKER_02: But that as a symbol of rank, Quintins have a diamond inscribed in their foreheads.
• 1:00:31
  SPEAKER_03: Hmm.
• 1:00:32
  SPEAKER_03: Interesting.
• 1:00:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:00:33
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, I guess they have to have some way of showing it.
• 1:00:37
  SPEAKER_03: Also, I don't I I don't want to actually go back and really look at these, but I feel like these numbers aren't lining up.
• 1:00:45
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, that's not that's nothing against you.
• 1:00:47
  SPEAKER_02: I'm just saying, I feel like that I I tried to do as much as possible, but by the time I got here, I was like, I'm just gonna have to trust that this is correct.
• 1:00:54
  SPEAKER_03: Because that that sounds like there's there needs to be way more of some of the lower hierarchical than there actually are.
• 1:01:04
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Quartons are 16 in number.
• 1:01:07
  SPEAKER_02: Quartons administer the 16 sectors of the Modern Realm and oversee the operation of the Bureau, sector governors, and army units attached to their regions.
• 1:01:17
  SPEAKER_02: Each Cortan has a personal staff of those hierarchs assigned to his command, plus 36 penta drones that act as a guard unit.
• 1:01:25
  SPEAKER_02: Sh.
• 1:01:28
  SPEAKER_02: These penta drones can only be told to guard the object resembling the Quartan without ever understanding its role or purpose in their lives.
• 1:01:36
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my god.
• 1:01:38
  SPEAKER_05: So they they're not even aware of what this thing is.
• 1:01:41
  SPEAKER_05: They're just like, we have to guard this object.
• 1:01:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and it's moving and it's making weird noises, but we gotta keep doing it.
• 1:01:48
  SPEAKER_02: They are 12-foot-tall humanoids with four jointed arms and fan-like wings, and the face just keeps getting creepier and more mask-like.
• 1:01:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'm kind of into that though.
• 1:01:59
  SPEAKER_02: And uh we are almost done, I promise.
• 1:02:03
  SPEAKER_02: So, tertians have nine among them.
• 1:02:07
  SPEAKER_05: Tertian?
• 1:02:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 1:02:09
  SPEAKER_02: Night tertiary.
• 1:02:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:02:11
  SPEAKER_02: They are committed to trial, judgment, and sentencing of all creatures in the Modron realm.
• 1:02:15
  SPEAKER_02: So they are the judges.
• 1:02:17
  SPEAKER_02: They supervise the courtions and hear all crimes brought against the rigid orthodoxy of the realm.
• 1:02:22
  SPEAKER_02: For the bulk of Modron population, the tertians are alien and unfamiliar.
• 1:02:26
  SPEAKER_02: But if presented with a case against a duodrone, the base Modron can only imagine that the Tertian, if it can imagine at all, that the Tertian to be some incomprehensible manifestation of supreme logic.
• 1:02:43
  SPEAKER_02: Can you imagine?
• 1:02:44
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my god, it must suck to be a lower tier Modron.
• 1:02:48
  SPEAKER_05: Uh so yeah, for so many reasons.
• 1:02:50
  SPEAKER_02: Oh no.
• 1:02:51
  SPEAKER_02: So as with all other Modrons, they just pass on the orders for coming from the top.
• 1:02:57
  SPEAKER_02: Tertians look fairly human except for their 12-foot height, the horns jutting from the sides of their bald head, and their long prehensile tails that extend in a mace-like ball.
• 1:03:07
  SPEAKER_05: Yep, I was gonna say their tail has a ball like a crushing.
• 1:03:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:03:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:03:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and it can paralyze people.
• 1:03:15
  SPEAKER_02: Oh.
• 1:03:15
  SPEAKER_05: Oh.
• 1:03:16
  SPEAKER_02: So there are four secundi.
• 1:03:20
  SPEAKER_02: Secundus is the singular for that.
• 1:03:22
  SPEAKER_02: And they are viceroys of the quarters of the four quarters of Mech of um Modron space.
• 1:03:29
  SPEAKER_02: And they are the virtual rulers of Meganus, reporting only to the Primus.
• 1:03:33
  SPEAKER_02: Cool.
• 1:03:33
  SPEAKER_02: So I mean Primus is technically the ruler, but like they're the ones who really enforce everything.
• 1:03:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:03:38
  SPEAKER_03: They're the ones who are actually doing stuff.
• 1:03:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:03:41
  SPEAKER_03: Pretty much.
• 1:03:42
  SPEAKER_02: Each Secondus has a staff of two tertians and they command down the hierarchy.
• 1:03:48
  SPEAKER_02: Which that's eight.
• 1:03:50
  SPEAKER_02: Where does the other one go?
• 1:03:52
  SPEAKER_03: Right?
• 1:03:53
  SPEAKER_03: That's what I'm saying.
• 1:03:56
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I'm not criticizing anyone because math is hard.
• 1:04:00
  SPEAKER_03: But that doesn't line up.
• 1:04:01
  SPEAKER_03: That doesn't add up.
• 1:04:02
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, there's probably something I'm missing.
• 1:04:04
  SPEAKER_02: I'm probably I'm sure I probably described something somewhere.
• 1:04:07
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 1:04:08
  SPEAKER_03: But something doesn't add up.
• 1:04:10
  SPEAKER_02: They appear as incredibly thin and tall humanoids with long, narrow faces and deep set eyes.
• 1:04:16
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know why, but I picture um from Courage the Cowardly Dog, the um the guy that comes after uh courage.
• 1:04:26
  SPEAKER_02: No, okay.
• 1:04:26
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't watch it.
• 1:04:27
  SPEAKER_03: I watched one episode of Courage the Cowardly Dog, and it scared me so much I never watched it.
• 1:04:31
  SPEAKER_02: If you guys know what I'm talking about, tweet at us, please.
• 1:04:34
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so uh the second eye all live together in uh the great towered city near the center of their quarters, and they live in harmony with one another, except during those extremely rare times when a new primus must be chosen.
• 1:04:50
  SPEAKER_03: Ooh, then they're in competition with each other.
• 1:04:53
  SPEAKER_02: So let me make sure that you guys have been paying attention.
• 1:04:56
  SPEAKER_02: How many primises are there?
• 1:04:58
  SPEAKER_03: Two.
• 1:04:59
  SPEAKER_03: One.
• 1:05:00
  SPEAKER_02: Aw.
• 1:05:01
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, there's one.
• 1:05:02
  SPEAKER_02: It's the ruler of all the Modron realm.
• 1:05:05
  SPEAKER_02: It and it alone understands the whole structure.
• 1:05:09
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know how, but okay.
• 1:05:12
  SPEAKER_02: Uh it decrees orders, writes the laws, establishes the rules from regulation.
• 1:05:16
  SPEAKER_02: All other Modrins exist to carry out the plans and obey the rules of the Primus.
• 1:05:21
  SPEAKER_02: And the Primus exists to take care of and give orders to the Modrins.
• 1:05:25
  SPEAKER_02: It's just a big cycle of maintaining itself.
• 1:05:29
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 1:05:29
  SPEAKER_02: Like a wheel.
• 1:05:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:05:31
  SPEAKER_02: Clock.
• 1:05:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 1:05:32
  SPEAKER_02: Clockwork.
• 1:05:35
  SPEAKER_05: Perpetual motion machine.
• 1:05:37
  SPEAKER_02: Failure to meet this powerful creature standards will result in a Modron being declared rogue and sentenced accordingly.
• 1:05:45
  SPEAKER_05: Probably death, I would assume.
• 1:05:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:05:48
  SPEAKER_05: Or not that death matters to things that can't feel, so Yeah.
• 1:05:53
  SPEAKER_02: So Primus is a huge being who rises from an energy pool in the central part of its grave.
• 1:06:00
  SPEAKER_02: Great tower at the center of the plane.
• 1:06:02
  SPEAKER_02: Although Primus may also appear as a normal androgynous human, but let's talk about the giant form.
• 1:06:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's not as exciting.
• 1:06:09
  SPEAKER_02: The giant the form Primus's hands are unseen.
• 1:06:13
  SPEAKER_02: For the right one is swathed in bright rainbow hues, and the left is covered in inky dark clouds.
• 1:06:19
  SPEAKER_02: All in perfect balance.
• 1:06:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:06:25
  SPEAKER_02: So Primus has the status of a greater power like a lower deity does.
• 1:06:31
  SPEAKER_02: Except it is possible for Primus to die, albeit under near impossible conditions.
• 1:06:36
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, gods die all the time.
• 1:06:38
  SPEAKER_02: It's fine.
• 1:06:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um it still concerns for the Modron, so it doesn't send avatars to other planes or even take part in normal bakering at all.
• 1:06:46
  SPEAKER_03: Hey, at least at least it minds its own business.
• 1:06:49
  SPEAKER_05: It exists solely for the Modrins.
• 1:06:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um all Modrins with the spells, with like cleric-like spells, gain their power directly from Primus.
• 1:06:58
  SPEAKER_02: So it's not like they have to pray to a god like regular cleric spells.
• 1:07:02
  SPEAKER_05: Their god is actually just their pretty much.
• 1:07:05
  SPEAKER_03: Ooh.
• 1:07:06
  SPEAKER_03: Oof.
• 1:07:06
  SPEAKER_03: That's there's too much there.
• 1:07:08
  SPEAKER_03: We can't.
• 1:07:08
  SPEAKER_02: The death of Primus does not break the link in Modrin society because it's filled by the promotion of a second eye.
• 1:07:16
  SPEAKER_02: However, this process creates a lot of turmoil since without a Primus, chaos is allowed to enter the equation.
• 1:07:23
  SPEAKER_04: Oh.
• 1:07:25
  SPEAKER_02: Some scholars have mistakenly interpreted this chaos as civil war, but the first act of the new Primus is to restore order to its race.
• 1:07:32
  SPEAKER_02: And I actually want to describe one of the scenarios in which a new Primus was chosen.
• 1:07:39
  SPEAKER_02: So Orcus, the demon lord of the undead.
• 1:07:42
  SPEAKER_03: That bitch.
• 1:07:43
  SPEAKER_02: That bitch.
• 1:07:44
  SPEAKER_02: Killed Primus and accidentally triggered a Great Modron march, which is basically what happens when all of the Modruns go crazy and go around to the far reaches of the realm checking to maintain order.
• 1:07:58
  SPEAKER_02: Where they're not normally supposed to be.
• 1:08:00
  SPEAKER_02: Pretty much, yeah.
• 1:08:02
  SPEAKER_02: It's a big thing.
• 1:08:03
  SPEAKER_02: Mess.
• 1:08:03
  SPEAKER_02: It typically happens every like 286 years, I believe.
• 1:08:07
  SPEAKER_02: I actually didn't write that down.
• 1:08:08
  SPEAKER_02: Don't quote me on that.
• 1:08:09
  SPEAKER_03: You know what?
• 1:08:10
  SPEAKER_03: That number sounds specific enough.
• 1:08:12
  SPEAKER_03: That's probably right.
• 1:08:12
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, yeah.
• 1:08:13
  SPEAKER_03: And probably true.
• 1:08:14
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, sorry.
• 1:08:15
  SPEAKER_02: 289 years.
• 1:08:16
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, okay.
• 1:08:17
  SPEAKER_03: Just flip a number of things.
• 1:08:18
  SPEAKER_02: Because the march occurs in every 17th grand cycle of mechanists.
• 1:08:24
  SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of very numbers.
• 1:08:27
  SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of very important numbers here.
• 1:08:28
  SPEAKER_03: This this is.
• 1:08:30
  SPEAKER_02: I I wonder is 218 uh sorry, is 289 a prime number?
• 1:08:34
  SPEAKER_02: It might be.
• 1:08:36
  SPEAKER_02: Because this might specifically be prime numbers, because 17 is a prime number.
• 1:08:40
  SPEAKER_03: And 49 is a prime no, 49 is not a prime number, excuse me.
• 1:08:43
  SPEAKER_03: Don't quote.
• 1:08:44
  SPEAKER_03: That's wrong.
• 1:08:45
  SPEAKER_03: Sorry.
• 1:08:45
  SPEAKER_05: Don't tweet me.
• 1:08:46
  SPEAKER_05: I think it is a prime number.
• 1:08:48
  SPEAKER_02: It is.
• 1:08:48
  SPEAKER_02: Oh no, it's not.
• 1:08:50
  SPEAKER_05: It's not?
• 1:08:50
  SPEAKER_02: It's a multiple of 17.
• 1:08:53
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, that makes sense.
• 1:08:55
  SPEAKER_02: Cause every 17 cycles.
• 1:08:58
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, it's seven.
• 1:08:59
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 1:08:59
  SPEAKER_02: Which took 17.
• 1:09:01
  SPEAKER_02: It's 17.
• 1:09:02
  SPEAKER_02: It's and the each cycle takes 17 years.
• 1:09:06
  SPEAKER_02: So every 289 years.
• 1:09:08
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, dope.
• 1:09:09
  SPEAKER_02: I love numbers, actually.
• 1:09:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, this should be your favorite episode, Lewin.
• 1:09:14
  SPEAKER_03: Unfortunately, you added lawful neutral to the concoction, so that made me like it less.
• 1:09:18
  SPEAKER_03: Sorry.
• 1:09:19
  SPEAKER_03: That's fine.
• 1:09:20
  SPEAKER_05: Numbers are not my friend.
• 1:09:21
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, they just they follow this pattern of checking, crossing portals and checking gates and everything.
• 1:09:30
  SPEAKER_02: Just it's unclear what its purpose was, but it's almost like a periodic reconnaissance mission.
• 1:09:38
  SPEAKER_02: And I guess when Orcus like killed the Primus, it like it triggered it because it's like, oh shit, we better make make sure that we everything's okay.
• 1:09:49
  SPEAKER_02: Because they're in panic mode basically because Primus is dead.
• 1:09:54
  SPEAKER_02: And it went 200 years ahead of schedule.
• 1:09:57
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, okay.
• 1:09:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:09:59
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so after Orcus killed Primus, he was like, whatever.
• 1:10:05
  SPEAKER_02: And he left the energy pool where Primus is to go search for his wand.
• 1:10:10
  SPEAKER_02: And the second guy came came forward to try and claim it.
• 1:10:14
  SPEAKER_02: They argued so much and rebelled against each other, and they actually cre like decided to do this um, this like challenge to each other to see who could kill the most chaotic creatures.
• 1:10:27
  SPEAKER_02: Oh dang.
• 1:10:28
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, to, and that would be the one who uh who uh became the new Primus.
• 1:10:34
  SPEAKER_02: But I'm sorry, this is actually kind of interesting to me.
• 1:10:38
  SPEAKER_02: One of the Second Eye was actually tainted by Orcas' evil influence in the energy pool.
• 1:10:44
  SPEAKER_02: And he went to Archeron and murdered a group of petitioners there.
• 1:10:50
  SPEAKER_02: Oh shit.
• 1:10:51
  SPEAKER_02: And the rest of the second eye were like, that's not okay.
• 1:10:56
  SPEAKER_02: They're they weren't doing anything wrong.
• 1:10:58
  SPEAKER_02: Like, yeah, we talked about killing chaotic creatures, but we meant chaotic creatures who were instilling chaos.
• 1:11:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:11:05
  SPEAKER_02: Not a group of petitioners.
• 1:11:07
  SPEAKER_02: So they exiled him.
• 1:11:09
  SPEAKER_02: Boom.
• 1:11:10
  SPEAKER_02: Then he fled with his with almost a million Modrins.
• 1:11:14
  SPEAKER_05: Jesus.
• 1:11:15
  SPEAKER_02: Which is actually what opened the door for the Formian invasion.
• 1:11:18
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, damn.
• 1:11:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:11:20
  SPEAKER_02: But then the sec the next Primus the sorry, the secundus elevated to the new Primus, and there were two secundi that needed to be replaced.
• 1:11:28
  SPEAKER_03: Oh yeah.
• 1:11:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:11:30
  SPEAKER_03: I feel like after after that, all of the Secundi were just like, okay, somebody just needs to just do this so that way that doesn't happen again.
• 1:11:38
  SPEAKER_02: Pretty much.
• 1:11:39
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Jerry, do you wanna Jerry the Secundai.
• 1:11:42
  SPEAKER_05: Jerry, please.
• 1:11:43
  SPEAKER_05: We're we need something.
• 1:11:44
  SPEAKER_05: Just just just go.
• 1:11:45
  SPEAKER_02: Jerry the secondus.
• 1:11:46
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 1:11:47
  SPEAKER_02: Jerry and Jerry's now Jerry the Primus.
• 1:11:50
  SPEAKER_03: Jerry for Primus 2020.
• 1:11:52
  SPEAKER_02: Jerry the one in Prime.
• 1:11:54
  SPEAKER_02: But that is all I have.
• 1:11:56
  SPEAKER_02: I realize it's a lot, but that's all I have for you guys.
• 1:11:59
  SPEAKER_02: It was a lot, and I know it was a ton of numbers, but at the at the very least, the Modrits are cute.
• 1:12:04
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, the Modrits are cute.
• 1:12:06
  SPEAKER_05: Some of them.
• 1:12:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, fair.
• 1:12:08
  SPEAKER_03: Well, some of them.
• 1:12:08
  SPEAKER_03: Some of them are deeply horrifying.
• 1:12:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, some of the ones, especially in the middle, are deeply horrifying.
• 1:12:14
  SPEAKER_03: Because they exist in such an uncanny valley in the when they're in the middle, like there's just enough elements of like a mechanical, a natural creature, and just enough elements of like an actual humanoid for it to freak me out.
• 1:12:26
  SPEAKER_03: But then like as you get closer to the primus, they look more humanoid.
• 1:12:30
  SPEAKER_03: And then as you get further down, they look more mechanical.
• 1:12:33
  SPEAKER_03: So it's like okay.
• 1:12:34
  SPEAKER_02: It's a lot.
• 1:12:36
  SPEAKER_02: It's a lot.
• 1:12:37
  SPEAKER_05: So much.
• 1:12:38
  SPEAKER_05: So many.
• 1:12:39
  SPEAKER_05: That being said, uh Willem, I hope that this satisfied you.
• 1:12:46
  SPEAKER_05: This was a lot of information.
• 1:12:48
  SPEAKER_02: It was, but it was I blame that on the way that Modrins and Mechanis are run.
• 1:12:53
  SPEAKER_02: They have so much information.
• 1:12:56
  SPEAKER_05: They have a lot of information to them, a lot of like hierarchies and numbers and Which is like dope, but also.
• 1:13:03
  SPEAKER_02: If you would like to send in an episode request like Willem did, you can do so at any of our social media, but also at dungeonpedia.podcast at gmail.com.
• 1:13:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and if you uh have any friends or anybody that you think would be interested in this, because like especially for people who like a lot of, I feel like, denser data, this would probably be really interesting.
• 1:13:26
  SPEAKER_03: But tell them about our podcast.
• 1:13:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:13:29
  SPEAKER_03: And hopefully they will enjoy it.
• 1:13:31
  SPEAKER_05: Um I'm sure that they will.
• 1:13:33
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I I enjoyed it.
• 1:13:34
  SPEAKER_03: I'm just also like still trying to.
• 1:13:36
  SPEAKER_03: I'm that gif of that lady trying to like parse it all.
• 1:13:40
  SPEAKER_03: Trying to parse it all.
• 1:13:41
  SPEAKER_03: I'm the gif of that blonde lady.
• 1:13:42
  SPEAKER_03: I'm just like and there's like numbers.
• 1:13:44
  SPEAKER_05: Just numbers everywhere.
• 1:13:47
  SPEAKER_02: There were so many numbers, you guys.
• 1:13:49
  SPEAKER_02: You don't understand how much I had to look for all of this.
• 1:13:53
  SPEAKER_02: It's okay.
• 1:13:54
  SPEAKER_02: I'm broken.
• 1:13:55
  SPEAKER_03: Well, Taylor needs to go lie down.
• 1:13:57
  SPEAKER_03: I do, and I need soup.
• 1:13:59
  SPEAKER_03: I think, I think with that, we're gonna end it off here.
• 1:14:02
  SPEAKER_03: So.
• 1:14:03
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 1:14:04
  SPEAKER_05: Thank you all so much for listening and sticking through the hierarchy and the numbers of Mechanis and Modrons, and uh, we'll catch you here next week with hopefully a little less numbers so we can all follow along on Dungeon Pedia.
• 1:14:20
  SPEAKER_03: Why 12?
• 1:14:21
  SPEAKER_03: Why were there so many 12s?
• 1:14:23
  SPEAKER_03: 12 is a really good number, in my opinion.
• 1:14:26
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, but then where did 17 come from?
• 1:14:29
  SPEAKER_03: 17 is also a good number.
• 1:14:30
  SPEAKER_02: Are all numbers good to you, Louin?
• 1:14:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, you wanna know what the best ones are?
• 1:14:35
  SPEAKER_03: 69 and 420.