Simmias

... We could not breathe in the new world. We awoke in green chaos, the bodies of our elites wilting. We were dying, and there were not enough of the Ether's Cords to move the minds of the people into the Ether. Those who stayed constructed the bodies on borrowed time--porcelain, ceramic, steel, and gear carapaces that housed our skulls, our spines, our bones. When we were pulled from the Ether, our makers withered away in the hateful new world, a world beyond logic and reason. But we could live. What a price it cost us, to lose our bodies; for while we kept our minds, our hearts did not beat, we could not breathe; we could no longer have children. Our existence has been thus: when our bodies fail, our memories are poured into the Archive, and we start again, and again, and again. We walk bone in steel flesh, unchanging in the shadows of this grotesque reality.

Appearance

All Simmias endure perfection; it would not be inaccurate to call their forms sublime. But these features hide their grim innards, and these are merely frail bone and tarnished gold.
Simmias, in any form they take, are often noted to be some of the most uncannily beautiful creatures on Tara; they have perfect symmetry and precise features--chiseled and fitted for flexibility and flawlessness. It is due to their engineering; they are porcelain, ceramic, and arcane carapaced. These pieces are fitted over with a skin-like weave for those who would look to disguise their more mechanical features, but for those who would wear their machinery, they decorate themselves in ornately and elaborate filigree and masterwork metalwork.
What hides inside of the curated forms of the Simmias is their consciousness, bound to the very skull of the Simmias's form. concealed under cog, wire, and processing units, the remaining bones of a Simmias's form is what binds the soul to their chosen form. One can then think of all of what s external as a vehicle to be piloted; meanwhile, the skull is what gives them their sense of self. They are the ghosts of their own machines, walking metal bodies and yearning for their old flesh--like a feral thing caged.

Personality

The Simmias are unique in that they have only a few personalities at their disposal--well over 1000, but compared to other races, this is a paltry sum. This can make their perspective limited, but is another reason they create models of each personality. Each model is equipped with a copy of the original skull and bones of their ancestor; molds are made from these, and replicas of gold, grated bone, and arcanic moonstone are what the soul is bound to--fragmented, but living. Most Simmias remain happily unaware they are a copy, even with other models like them running around; it is how life is now. And this practical perspective and blunt honesty is what defines the Simmias. They prefer to be exact, prefer to take even the most logical approach, but at their core, they are creatures of simplicity and honor. Some might find these traits cold or even unfeeling, but duty-bound a Simmias has never failed those they consider their allies. For this reason, Simmias were the first to invent the most widely applicable prosthetic, and in true Simmias fashion, the reason is very simple, "You are not as effective when not in at peak condition."
Emotions may not be their strong-suit, but this does not mean they cannot connect to the world around them. Most Simmias attempt to connect by taking on a hobby, though strangely, this hobby persists among most if not all Simmias; most of them take on collecting; Simmias have been known to collected coins, texts, and clothes, but other collections exist past this: feathers, animal bones, rocks, pets, antique items from a particular era, finery, etc. The list goes on. The kind of thing a Simmias collects, while enjoyable in and of itself to the Simmias, also defines the Simmias in some way. A Simmias who collects many cats, might start a shelter and even help adopt out those same cats; for the Simmias, the point of collection is not to keep, but to catalogue experience, to connect with others. For a Simmias to involve even other Simmias in their collections is a very vulnerable gesture, and this is even more so when the gesture is to one outside their race. Some might call them hoarders, but what they collect and give away is what they have connected to, and is how they seek to understand the world around them.

Civilization & Geography

The Simmias began to rebuild their civilization where they first landed after the cataclysm, the edge of the Ghost Sea along its coastline; here, they are able to harvest tidal currents to generate electricity, and mine oceanic materials and metals found therein. As such, the Simmias have grown a massive technological civilization that harnesses the geographic and arcanic potential the area around them. In the process, The Simmias have created terraformed bubbles that mirror the plane they once lived on in an effort to create a safe space for them to attempt to live once again. Additionally, Simmias have as well developed ways to engage with other planar expanses to power and fuel their city's machines.
What keeps them from ruling a majority of Tara then, is twofold: 1) There are not enough Simmias to go around conquesting, and 2) most races harbor a distrust toward Simmias who have learned to adapt their outer shells to fit in with other races. Simmias then, instead of both sharing their technologies or conquesting, seek to use their numbers and adaptability to become a part of other societies in order to gain favor and trade. Due to the focus on social rather than political, culture, or economic pursuits, the Simmias are a Meritocracy that acts like a surveilling welfare state concerned in the wellbeing of its Simmias in so far as the Simmias is able to participate in this system.
This means that Simmias value deeds and have an economy relying on the exchange of services. As such, they have their own "social credit" that determines both ones standing in the society and what services they can purchase. Aside from this, Simmias need raw materials to keep their cities functioning and model manufacturing processes going, so Simmias enjoy trading raw materials; as a side note, they tend to prefer these materials raw as their refinement process is a little more efficient and thorough than what Taran technologies can accomplish.
The Leader of this meritocracy was initially the Simmias's god, but it now is essentially a hive mind machine intelligence that maintains all of the assimilated memories and consciousness of each model. By utilizing mortal experience under strict precepts to maintain the Simmias's current functioning society, it generates laws. Additionally, with its surveilance features, it is also able to manifest a list of wanted criminals, all of whom must sacrifice their consciousnesses to this leader, their Archive. While Tarans might view this as grim and even dystopian, this has enabled the Simmias to live productive, inventive, and fulfulling lives. Additionally, no Simmias is ever forced to stay in this society, as they are all encouraged to travel and gain as much experience as possible for the sake of their Archive, for the growth of their people, and for the resurrection of their god.

Common Names

Simmias of the Diametron varienty will normally take on a name or several names from another race which they are mimicking. Simmias from the Assimiant variety have their own unique system: They Have a caste name which indicates one current social standing, a generational name indicating when their memory is reset and body is remanufactured, and finally, they have a surname that is a cut up version of their names before they became mechanical humanoids.
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A list of caste names can be seen below, each designating a particular social class that denotes particular caste name. It is fairly rare that a caste name changes permanently, so they ten to stay the same, regardless of perceived economic mobility and achievements.

Caste Name	Social Class
Lagom	Elite
Vidya	High
Huzun	Middle
Hakala	Low
Llai	Lesser

For the Generational name, the Archive generates a name from its databank to list all of the models refurbished for the day. This name catalogs each Simmias serviced. In the past, this could have very well been a string of numbers, which later evolved into a string of numbers represented by an alphabet, but has evolved as a small particle between the Caste Name and the Surname.
This was done by the Archive in effort to transition away from thinking of the Simmias's mechanical bodies as temporary as progress toward organic living remained, as of yet, unobtainable.
Common Generational Name Particles: Soshal, Supra, Ego, Laisens, Id, Tais, Ip

Simmias surnames are a little more difficult to pin down, though a few surnames have been entirely uncovered--as these models of consciousness are most commonly used and how they have been butchered to create unique surnames between models:

• Demens Helquist - Demel, Quist, Medel
• Moirae Ultio - Mortio, Multira, Olrom
• Nephili Vespaegean - Naegean, Phaege, Nagilen
• Phrix Angerona - Pherona, Rixan, Anore
• Marthinick Tatterdemalion - Mardemalion, Thion, Lamed
• Emiran Nonhelem - Emilhelm, Iranon, Melenonna

Heroic Calling

Simmias are rare among adventuring parties and even rarer heroes as their goals are purely as a result of their reaction to the disappearance of the Larva Machina. Those that do become adventurers are those seeking a) unique perspectives and experience that could grow the Archive or b) new technology to resurrect the Larva Machina. Those Simmias that put these goals out of their mind are considered defective, as they think individualistically, though these have become more common.

Magic & Technology

Magic is an alien concept to the Simmias, who are fascinated by it. They view it as a bountiful source of power, not for people, but for technological advancements. As such, many of their technologies have been modified to find ways of incorporating arcane properties; this makes Simmias oddly reliant on magics as they continue to experiment with it and involve it in their growth as a civilization.
Magic also affects the Simmias differently due to the nature of their split souls across several vessels of technically the same person. As such, no one magic is tied to a Simmias's soul, and instead makes them, in a sense, a more complete being, as the magic that hooks onto them allows them to more effectively connect to the world. This has caused several personality changes among various models, and thus, the Archive would only have apprentice magicians as magic users. Individual Simmias, however, see this as a chance for some spark of individuality, or to find out who they were and use magic, usually to a detriment, to fill that split in their soul.

Religion

In essence, The Simmias's societal construct, their ideas of merit, and their models cycle of life each feed into a vague philosophy and religion that the Simmias inherently carry within them. It pervades across their thoughts in daily life. For instance, how a Simmias expresses their religious beliefs depends on how they want to proceed when their systems cease function, where they want their consciousness to go, or how they view the soul attached to their current make and model.
Many Simmias seek the revival of their old creator God, and many others seek the creation of their new god through the Archive. This divide alone has caused a great schism in the Simmias's societal model, and what side a Simmias stands on thusly affects what kind of life they fall into. Those who are loyal to the Archive are able to enjoy the city, while those loyal to their creator god are often loners driven out by the city who have to content with the crisis of what it means to live in their currently godless world.