The Factotum ' s Secret Voice Content . Even in this shrine to knowledge and blasphemous inquiry , some subjects remain taboo . I spent all my long years as a Clockwork Apostle pushing against those boundaries — desperate to see our order truly live its creed : inquiry without limits . In most cases , I endured little more than sighs and grumbles from my superiors . But one topic in particular earns me forceful and genuine condemnation : my exploration of the factotum ' s inner voice . The order ' s relationship with fabricants and factotums has always been prickly . On one hand , we must understand some critical aspects of these creatures ' make - up . Their nature and materials informed the creation of our own enhancements . The synthesis of flesh and engineering remains one of our greatest achievements and most enduring traditions . However , delving too deep into the creatures ' subroutines and manufacture starts to look less and less like inquiry , and more and more like hubris . Lifting Sotha Sil ' s skirts , as it were . For my part , I have always been endlessly fascinated by the factotum ' s voice and behavior . While the factotums perform multitudinous different tasks , they remain linked by their appearance , voice , and confusing ( some would say " troubling " ) verbal artifacts . When exodromals meet a factotum for the first time , they often ask , " whose voice is that ? " Truthfully , no one knows ( aside for Lord Seht , of course . ) I ' ve spent countless days in the Archivox researching Lord Seht ' s past . I even got special dispensation to visit the Mnemonic Planisphere once . I ' m confident that the truth of the factotum ' s voice lies somewhere in Lord Seht ' s personal history . Most apostles avoid talking about it , with some notable exceptions , ( my friend , Associate Zanon , for example . ) If engaged privately , however , apostles will offer one of three major theories . Some believe the voice is that of Sotha Sil ' s mother . Others think it ' s the voice of a lost lover . Then , still others ( myself included ) believe it ' s the voice of Sotha Sil ' s sister . The first and most compelling piece of evidence can be found in the Elegiac Replication — a personal memorial of sorts that Lord Seht built in the Radius long ago . One of the memorial plaques refers to a " Sotha Nall . " It states that this Sotha Nall possessed a " soul that deserved transcendence " — implying a life beyond natural limitations . Nall ' s face bears a clear resemblance to that of the Clockwork God , indicating that she was a close family member . Her garb does not appear matronly , and her posture does not conform to any psycho - artistic trends that would indicate motherly affection . Additionally , I ' ve seen more than a few references to the fact that Sotha Sil was not an only child . Taken together , I think this makes a clear case for Sotha Nall as sister . Naturally , this leads to all kinds of uncomfortable questions about what a soul ' s " transcendence " means in this context . Does some aspect of Nall ' s animus exist inside the brass laborers we find all over the city ? I would say " no " if not for the verbal artifacts . When faced with a query that requires higher cognition , factotums often recite a non sequitur in two parts — brief statements that have a loose connection to one another but no discernible connection to the larger conversation . These non sequiturs ( also known as " verbal artifacts " ) tend to be simple recitations of household " scenes " They refer to overturned pots , rain on glass , boots by the fire , and so on . Occasionally they stray into more personal terrain , like the complexion of an old woman ' s hands , or the sound of someone weeping . Then , once in a very great while , they will say something genuinely troubling — statements like " burning beds … screaming " or " collapsed roof … crushed child . " Factotums that say things like that tend to be recalled to the Pneumatic Forge in short order and taken out of circulation indefinitely . But this of course begs the question : where are these verbal artifacts coming from ? Are they Sotha Nall ' s memories ? Or some vital sub - function that enhances empathic responses to the concerns of living residents ? Though it pains me to consider it , I believe the evidence points to the former rather than the latter . As everyone knows , the False Prince called Mehrunes Dagon , destroyed Sotha Sil ' s ancestral home of Ald Sotha when our lord was still a youth — leaving him as the sole survivor . Scenes of fire and death may well have been Sotha Nall ' s final and most traumatic memories . I hope it ' s not true . I hope all these various observations are the product of simple coincidence . But , as scholars , we must acknowledge the possibility that these machines have a deeper and more troubling history than we realize . As I said before , I take my role as an iconoclast seriously . But In this case , perhaps it ' s best if we never know the truth .