Thykanopes Species in Dinorania

"Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou?" Isaiah 45:9

Thykanopes (from Old High Dinoranian: Thekanopri - 'mechanized flesh') were sentient, non-organic 'living machines' built by the Dinoraenes of Dinòra as subservient entities and substitutes for the organic life of Dinòra that had gone extinct following the domination of the continents.

Origins

The Thykanopes were 'created' by the Dinoraenes with the purpose of creating a race of subservient beings to perform their hard labor. The planet Dinòra, which had little in the means of organic life, offered no major work-generating force aside from its rivers, subterranean heat and fuels, and the energy from the sun Vôi. To harness such energies, much labor was required, and with the Dinoraenes so few, they had resorted to creating machines from Salvarid ('breathing metals'). Most life had gone extinct after an event known as the First Apotheosis, a cataclysmic mass extinction that 'laid the world bare' (Espa) for the Dinoraenes. The original purpose was simply to write the Dinoraenes' lengthy bureaucratic records, but this soon evolved to encompass the majority of manual and massive labors.

Slavery and subjugation

Though granted the gift of sentience, the Thykanopes, having been designed to be 'laboring engines,' were employed and treated almost exclusively as such.

Accounts of the Dinoraenes

The most detailed record of the Thykanopes comes from the writings of Deijen, whom developed a close relationship with a Thykanope born CI-0(||.|./-||)4, whom he had dubbed Ci or Cij, meaning 'close friend.'

“Do not concede to them your attachment. Do not dare, even. The Machine is man’s slave, not his equal, and ne’er still and beyond hell his father, or his superior.” Aujen II Haras, to Deijen, c. 4002 BCE

Basic Information

Anatomy

Thykanopes vary significantly in their morphologies, as each is designed for a specific function. The only Dinoraenic Thykanopes known to science are known through the Prophet Deijen's descriptions in Memoirs of an Old King. Protectors (Ci-1 Series) were large, bulky anthropoids equipped with shields and heavy armor. The Ci-1 series units were developed as to serve as police in the Aujenid Kingdom, and as bodyguards for Royalty. Deijen recounts his close friendship with a Ci-1 bred/programmed to protect him in Memoirs of an Old King. Sword-dancers (Zr-1 Series) had multiple, 360-degree swiveling appendages that culminated in one or more broad blades that could be rotated around the central body. Zr-1 individuals were born with ferocious combat protocols, and were highly prized by the Dinoranian Warlords for their dazzling prowess on the battlefield. In Memoirs of an Old King, Deijen recounts that the Sword-dancers' blades could spin so rapidly that they bent light itself, appearing as blurs of glistening steel to human eyes. 'Runners' or 'Chasers' (Zm-2 Series) consist of two or more rotary 'wheels' made up of three or more 'legs' that are capable of rotating at high speeds and at multiple angles, permitting the Runners to 'gallop' in pursuit of targets before capturing them with an extending grapple, or neutralizing them with twin bolt-guns. Deijen encountered two feral Chasers at the Navor Cataract, which he narrowly evaded in time for Ci to destroy them with sheer physical force.

EXTINCT

Genetic Ancestor(s)