Ghyll:EctoMechanauts

Yea, verily, this entry is dibbed, but I'm still gathering my thoughts. --Doctor Phineas Crank 13:25, 5 Oct 2004 (EDT)

History

Originally, Mechanauts were quite simple in both form and function, being primarily an upgrade in materials from the most basic of golems. The name of the golemist who first thought of adding a simple wooden skeleton to their animated clay is lost to history, but modern industry owes that fine experimenter a debt of gratitude. The next leap forward in egineering was somewhat less industrious and, quite literally, more mercenary: the armor-plated golem. Again, the engineer who originally concieved of this horror is not known, but their mark has been made upon history. These devilish devices first appear to have been used during the Conflict That Is Not Happening, though, due to the nature of the Conflict itself, it is unsure precisely when and where these engines of destruction were first employed. Unfortunately, their use has not completly been discontinued in modern times and it has been rumored that the so-called "mercenaries" employed by the Baron Smallwood were, in fact, these Articulated Retrograde Mechanaut Soldiers, or ARMS. Competing improvements on these unspeakable automatons between warring nations took on such terrible speed that the process was commonly referred to as a "race" by the year -68 EC.
Thankfully, in Kendrit of -45 EC, Carl Kapek discovered the process for instilling simple intelligence in Mechanauts, creating the first, true EctoMechanaut, which he named Jacques. Kapek reportedly developed Jacques to serve as a valet who could anticipate his master's needs and, therefore, requires more intelligence than previous Mechanauts. Though presumably still running, Jacques disappeared in Ikk of -25 EC shortly after the mysterious death of his creator. Luckily, the secret of alchemic intelligence was passed on to Kapek's apprentices who, along with several other prominant golemists, went on to form the Ghyll Mechanoworks.

EctoMechanauts in the Modern Age

Modern EctoMechanauts range in size from mouse-like to larger than an aelfant, with every size inbetween. Often, they are produced to specifically mimic an animal or person, but there is at least one mechanician, a member of Fraternity of Organized and Regulated Devices' competition, the Ghyll Mechanoworks, who specializes in combining animal forms to make mechanauts of versitile and frightening purpose. It is believed that he is a renegade from FORD who stole the secret of alchemical intelligence with which he started GM.

EctoMechanauts are the primary product line of Ghyll Mechanoworks, a Folktown consortium of local golemists, mechanicians and engineers. Gyhll Mechanoworks insists that the "souls of dead babies are NOT used in the manufacture of EctoMechanauts", despite what their competitors claim.