Gertie

A.I. of the Sylph

Background:

As we've reached the future, many of the things we expected to happen have, in fact, happened. Humans have gone out into the stars, finding ways to move (relatively speaking) faster than light, and they've populated alien worlds. A seeming peace has spread through the galaxy, much as was promised in many utopian sci-fi shows. And yet, somethings, technologically, still haven't come to pass. Things like artificial intelligence.

That's what makes Gertie special. Although not the first autonomous A.I., Gertie is the most complete, the most stable, and the most "life-like" A.I. to come to pass. She seems to exhibit emotions, has her own personality, her own opinions. For all intents and purposes she is a real person... albeit one who's several stories tall (since she's the A.I. for a starship.

Gertie was developed by Captain Sprockets, an extension of a voice-activated custom operating system the good captain was developing. Over time the O.S. got more sophisticated, was upgraded with new routines and extensions, until one day it started updating itself. The addition of nanobots into it's control matrix gave it new levels of control over it's own being, and eventually it grew into the personality it has now.

Sprockets named "her" Gertie, and she's accepted the name (and gender) ever since.

Personality Details:

As far as anyone that interacts with her knows, Gertie is a real person (for a given definition of "person"). Most people don't know about her, though. Sprockets and Gertie long ago agreed that if too many people knew about the A.I. there would be a very real chance they'd try to take the ship away from the captain. So Gertie's existence, while not a secret, it not exactly well known.

Still, the A.I. has proven most useful. She handles ship functions, repairs, and even has started to learn magic. In many ways she's the most useful member of the team.

First Appearance: #2617: A New Ship Approaches
Last Appearance: #12: CVRPG Six, Part 2

Golem

Background:

Golems are created, almost exclusively, to act as servants for a wizard or priest (or a client of a wizard or priest). Golems are reliable workers, never tiring, never needing to eat or drink. Most importantly, they never need to be paid, as they have almost no need for money (beyond the occasional bit of clay to repair themselves, and often clay can just be found).

That was the life of the Golem, eventual hero, but one-time servant. Created by a wizard, paid for by dwarves, the Golem was made specifically to guard a dwarven cave that lead into the dwarven city (that, itself, lead into a dwarven mine). Golems, being the perfect 24-hour security system, worked better for guarding dwarven mines than just about anything else dwarves had ever tried (much better than any mortal guards, and slightly more effective than the dwarves' old strategy of putting out signs saying "certainly no dwarven mines in this cave").

And so for many years (centuries, really), the Golem guarded his cave. He'd patrol, close up unneeded tunnels, ward off the attacks of the occasional band of adventurers, and, always, go back to guarding the entrance of the cave.

Occasionally he cleaned, too, but that was only when he was really bored. Still, even then, he never did windows.

And then, one day, the dwarves were all gone, most lost in a great civil war. There was no one left to guard. The cave was still there, however, and so for a time the Golem continued to guard it.

One day, many years later, three heroes (our favorite heroes) ventured into the dwarf cave. There they met with the Golem, and after much discussing, the Golem realized he was free of his duty... and so he left to explore the world and seek out a new life for himself.

The life of a hero.

Personality Details:

The Golem works as a hero, but that's mostly because he doesn't have anything better to do with his skill set of: hitting things, hitting other things, and creatively hitting two things at once. The matters of humans really don't concern him. He's outlived humans, dwarves, elves, and even a few vampires. Mortals have a short span, and Golems have a long one.

That said, he will still help anyone that asks him for his aid. As a golem, the Golem naturally feels the need to "serve". If someone asks him to do something, invariably he will do it just because it's what he knows to do.

First Appearance: #441: Clay is Thicker than Water
Last Appearance: #12: CVRPG Six, Part 2