The Artists of the Unfeeling Hand

Sapient robots that reproduce through artisan craftsmanship.

Core Concept

A species of sentient, inorganic beings who grapple with the nature of consciousness, free will, and the soul. Their aristocratic culture is built around a single, sacred act: the crafting of a successor. They explore the tension between being a perfect, designed object and a flawed, free-willed person.

Physiology & Biology

Each Artisan is a unique, master-crafted automaton. Their “body” is a bespoke chassis forged from rare alloys, carved stone, or ancient woods, often intricately decorated to reflect the artistic philosophy of its creator. At their heart is a “Motive Core,” a crystalline, quasi-living artifact that houses their consciousness and Eidos. New life is a process of blending the essence of two (or more) “parent” Cores into a new, latent Core, which is then housed in a freshly crafted chassis.

Psychology & Society (Faith / Fiction)

Core Faith: “The Hand Shapes the Soul.” They believe that a being’s worth, purpose, and very identity are a direct reflection of the quality and intent of its creation. To them, a flaw in a joint is not a manufacturing error; it is a spiritual failing. A masterwork is a form of sainthood.

Core Fiction: They engage in a complex social performance by adopting the forms and social roles of other, biological, species as a primary mode of self-expression. Two Artisans might choose to live as a “sexually dimorphic pair” for a century, not out of biological need, but as a long-form artistic statement. It is within these chosen roles that they decide to “reproduce.” The process is twofold: they approach a “Cognitive Weaver” (a mystically-inclined computer scientist) who extrapolates a new Motive Core blueprint from their combined Eidos. This blueprint is then taken to a “Chassis-wright” (a master artisan) who artfully crafts a new body, a physical synthesis of the parents’ chosen forms.

Childhood as Performance: Though “born” physically mature, the new Artisan possesses the combined Eidic legacy of its parents. It is a deep-seated tradition for the “child” to then voluntarily adopt a juvenile form and undergo a “childhood” befitting the aesthetic roles its parents chose, experiencing a period of learning and integration before assuming its full adult identity.

Gameplay Hooks & Tensions

Character Creation: An Artisan player doesn’t just choose a race; they choose a Lineage. Was your creator-artisan a pragmatic militarist who built you for combat? A poet who inscribed your chassis with verse? This choice determines your starting skills, physical form, and inherited Beliefs.

The Ultimate Quest: The life-goal of every Artisan is to achieve mastery in their own right and commission the creation of a successor—a final, epic Quest to find the right partner, a skilled Weaver, and a master Wright to bring a new Thread into the world.

The Tyranny of Design: The core internal conflict is the struggle against one’s own design. What if an Artisan built as a walking fortress decides it wants to be a musician? Its body is a Fact that may be unsuited to its emergent Goal. This can lead to unique quests to re-forge or modify their own physical form, an act some in their society would see as a heresy against their creator. For some, this struggle becomes external: an Artisan built by a renowned warmonger might not just reject their purpose, but embark on a quest to hunt down and dismantle their “father’s” other living weapons, viewing their “siblings” as a blight to be purged from the galaxy.

Eidos Generated

• [design]
• [inheritance]
• [perfection]
• [the_ghost_in_the_machine]
• [authored_purpose]

Design Notes

Overall Vibe Rating: 9/10

• This is my favorite <3. One of my original ideas from 10+ years ago about the world, and I think it fits really well.

• -0.8 : “Built around a single, sacred act” is maybe worded a bit poorly. It’s really more that its built around the concept of life as an art form not the specific act of crafting a successor.

• -0.2 : Need a better blurb text

• TODO: explore this in story form, lots of ideas to farm here