Mechanus (Dwarf)

**Mechanus** (born **Sori Mekkane**) was a dwarven inventor, philosopher, religious reformist, father-figure to the Cult of Mechanus, and founder of the Mechanist Revolution. He rose from a relatively unknown mechanic in Hammerfast to prominence in the war council of Emperor Meched VII during the Fifth Peak War. There Mechanus led a cabal of dwarven inventors who devised the Gloriketh Tunnel and reverse-engineered the Sacred Technologies among other feats which helped the Sephariian Empire win the war. For his service, Meched VIII granted Mechanus a workshop and access to the Sacred Technologies.

His work on understanding and innovating upon these technologies was viewed as sacrilege at the time and Mechanus was excommunicated from the dwarven church. As a result Mechanus was thrust to the forefront of the dwarven religious debates of the time and eventually coalesced a reformist movement around himself. His followers believe that that it is their sacred duty to use the gifts of ingenuity granted by Moradin to ever perfect the mechanical crafts. The Mechanist movement started a golden age of dwarven technological innovation which greatly benefitted the early Nerathian Empire. In modern times the Cult of Mechanus holds their name-sake as a holy figure who resides as an honored ancestor in Shom for his faith. As an inventor Mechanus known primarily for his work in robotics.

## Biography

### Early Life

Sori Mekkane, the dwarf who would become Mechanus, was born in the Hammerfast suburb of Dunmer-Home in 241 BA. His family served as the brewmasters for Dunmer-Home and Sori initially apprenticed as brewmaster in family tradition. However Sori developed a knack for the mechanical arts and started inventing on the side from a young age. As he lacked any master mechanic, much of Sori's knowledge was self-taught. At age 62 the quartermaster of Hammerfast visited Dunmer-Home and stayed on the Mekkane residence. While there his ornithoper, and primary route back to Hammerfast, broke down. Sori, hearing of this, repaired the ornithoper. This suitably impressed the quartermaster, as very few mechanics would even dare touch the inner workings of an ornithoper and only the eldest of experts would usually be called to repair one. The quartermaster offered to take Sori to Hammerfgast for mechanic's training.

### Work in Hammerfast

In Hammerfast, Sori began an apprenticeship under the master mechanics that operated there. However, his self-taught style of experimentation clashed with the very traditionalist textbook methods of the masters, who viewed such experimentation as an insult to the honored ancestors who first developed the technologies. Although Sori progressed through his studies at a rapid pace, this was sometimes seen as carelessness. Even after achieving the rank of Adept Mechanic the contentious relationship between Sori and his mentors continued. He had a particular interest in robotics, a subject barred by the masters for its sacred status for anyone to investigate below their rank. Sori nonetheless did so, leading his either his expulsion from the guild.

### Fifth Peak War

After leaving Hammerfast, Sori took up residence on the Archae border where he continued work as a mechanic. Although shunned by many for his disgraceful expulsion from the guild, Sori's natural talents still drew a number of followers and the locals grew to trust him. He continued exploring various inventions from his guild days and secretly worked on robotics- something known only to his closest allies. It was during this time that Sori acquired the nickname of Mechanus after the clockwork realm.

In 68 BA Emperor Meched VII visited Hammerfast in search of master engineers who could help him in circumnavigating the Gloriketh Wall in preparation for the Fifth Peak War. Most of the engineers refused to help Meched, but he accrued a few more eccentric dwarves to the cause. They directed Meched to Sori, likely the most eccentric of them all. Meched offered Sori a position on his council as head engineer and Sori accepted.

In working with Meched VII, Sori directly aligned himself against the Dwarves of Norstae. This was no small action to take, them being kin, but for many dwarves of Sori's ilk there was a major justification. The Dwarves of Norstae were by far the most isolationist in all the Dawnforge Mountains and possessed The Vault which contained many of the Sacred Technologies. The highly conservative Norstaens refused to allow any other dwarf so much as see these treasures and guarded them jealously. Such deprivation from their collective heritage irked even the traditionalist mechanics throughout the rest of the dwarven realms. Among Meched's promises to his dwarven subjects was that the technologies would not be harmed but instead moved to a safe location to be taken under care of the master engineers.

### The Gloriketh Tunnel

Sori and his fellow engineers first task for Meched was what he initially sought them for: path through the Gloriketh Wall. Meched needed to transport his entire army through the mountains in a timely manner, and could not try to force through the narrow passes where his forefathers had met their doom. Sori eventually spearheaded a solution, the creation of an automatic boring machine which would carve a tunnel through the mountain itself. This was based on old mining automatons which Sori had uncovered, though none had been attempted on such a scale of complexity.

This machine, known as the Gloriketh Worm, was set to work upon the mountain in 55 BA. By the next summer the tunnel was complete. It was an unprecedented feat, which caught the slow to change Norstaens off guard. Sori's machine ruptured the side of the mountain, forming a pass through which the Sephariian Army poured and defeated the Norstaens in Burdur Valcola.

## Attributed Inventions

The full list of Mechanus' inventions are unknown. Well over a thousand are claimed to have him as an origin or inspiration. Beyond the most famous creations which spread throughout the Nerathian Empire, and the many personal projects developed by Mechanus but never disseminated, are an even vaster array of inventions developed by Mechanus' students. Many of these were based on his designs or even directly drawn from his notes. All in all nearly the entire dwarven technological renaissance can be traced to a Mechanus project in some capacity. Some of his inventions, however, are more famous than others.

### Mechanus' Pocketwatch

In addition to his other studies, Mechanus was a noted astrologer. He in particular focused on the Dominion of Shom, home of the dwarven pantheon, and its methodical astrological signs. Through this study he developed a pocketwatch which could be set to tell time in both Tasyurai and Shom. Mechanus would later incorporate a number of other dominions into his watch, which for a long time was merely a personal item. Later students of Mechanus uncovered the watch and continued to improve upon the design, eventually creating variants capable to telling accurate time in all dominions. Variants developed for the Underdark became the first non-magical means to telling consistent time in that realm. Although intended as personal project, Mechanus' Pocketwatches are now a staple among planar travelers.

### Gloriketh Worm

Perhaps Mechanus' most famous single invention, the Gloriketh Worm was an autonomous mining machine developed to bore a tunnel through the Gloriketh Wall. Although relatively simplistic in purpose, the Worm was the first new automaton developed in an age, and the largest since the time of the ancient Dvergr. Although developed in conjunction with many other highly skilled engineers' credit for the overall design is usually given to Mechanus, who himself based it on old mining machines. The Worm was incredibly effective and succeeded in carving the tunnel in a mere year.

### Mechanist Automatons

The primary focus of the majority of Mechanus' work was on automata. The arts of automata creation had long been either lost or willfully ignored by Mechanus' time and he almost single-handedly revitalized the field. The Holy Scripture of Mechanus is still considered one of the foremost works on robotics to this day. The range and variety of automata developed by Mechanus is too long to recount, but his methods streamlined and improved the process of their development so such a degree that they became mainstays for the following centuries. Almost all modern automata are designed using Mechanus' principles.

### Mechanist Crossbow

A type of repeating crossbow developed by Mechanus for Meched VII during the Fifth Peak War. Although it went largely unused by the Sephari, the crossbow would later be picked up by the Nerathian Empire and utilized in their military. The Mechanist Crossbow was the first repeating crossbow capable of both high accuracy and large bursts, but it's size was unwieldly.

### Tri-Rotor Ornithopter

During his time in Hammerfast, Mechanus had primarily been given work on ornithopters (a result of his initial recommendation being ornithopter related. Mechanus developed a number of innovations to the ornithopter through the course of his study, but these were all rejected by the masters. Upon leaving the guild Mechanus slowly realized these inventions into what is now known as a Tri-Rotor Ornithopter, named for it's distinct three rotors. Although the specific design is relatively uncommon, a number of Mechanus' improvements ended up being used in other ornithopter models. Notably his engine designs and control scheme became commonplace.

### Axle of Mechanus

Within the realm of robotics there is one invention of Mechanus' which stands above all others. It was one of his final creations, a culmination of both his mechanical and spiritual knowledge. This incredibly complex device is known as an Axle of Mechanus and is capable of tethering a spirit to a machine to give it life.