Automatons and Bionics

Since almost a century prior to the Ascension, the concept of robots, automatons, and even artificial limbs, have been a popular subject of fiction and engineering debate on Magdora. While they had always existed in some form, conceptually dating back to the Titan era, their popularity was spiked by a group of engineers, who had published a book- "Of R'us and Machine"- detailing how these things might hypothetically come about, and their usage. Their popularity was sparked again half a century later, when the first true research into these things could be done, though the real-world impact would not be fully felt until shortly after the Ascension occurred.

## Classification

Many appropriate terms exist when talking about this subject matter, for every possible combination of factors, however one leftover from "Of R'us and Machine" is it's rock-based naming scheme, which is the most commonly used naming scheme in the modern day, though it's usage of geological terms has repeatedly resulted in confusion. Additionally, that book only named three configurations, other configurations were later made using the same naming scheme.

### Sizes

While this only applies to the original concepts, with few exceptions, the size of a construct gives it prefix- or suffix- title.

#### Drone

Drones are autonomous units of any size, though anything shorter than the average Magdoran can be classified exclusively as drones.

#### Mech

Mechs are typically single-pilot units, being roughly 8 meters in height, or lower. In the modern day, Mechs are a common site in construction, demolition, mining, and warehouse operations, primarily as mechs are capable of carrying loads well beyond what a single person, or team thereof, is usually capable of.

#### Walker

Walkers are units between 8 and 20 meters in height. Walkers are often crewed by a small crew, no greater than 4 in number. In the modern day, these units are rare, however, following the Magdoran Space Race, they gained in practical popularity, as they could perform the same jobs as a corvette could, albeit on the ground, military or otherwise.

#### Titan

Titans are units greater than 20 meters in height, and similarly have no upper limit on crew size. Titans have always been a rarity, with the exception of some fictional universes, with the first true Titan-class construct not being built, and deployed, until the Reclamation of Hartalans, where it served as a mobile forward operations base.

### Original

#### Megalith

The Megalith class covers all automatons with four or more legs. They were originally conceptualized as super-stable mobile platforms, that could support large weights without issue, but would be significantly more cumbersome than their two counterparts. In the modern day, this has remained true- however, modern Megalith platforms are also particularly effective at scaling rough terrain, with smaller models even being able to scale vertical walls, and even ceilings.

This class was named after large rocks that are used as part of a monument, either individually or in groups.

Note: For the purposes of size classification, only their *body* is measured.

#### Monolith

The Monolith class covers all bipedal automatons, and were originally conceptualized as an up-scaling of what a person could do, both in structure, and in actual capacity. In the modern day, they are largely used to carry bulky or heavy loads, be it for military or industrial purposes, and are frequently seen in large industrial centers.

Due to their largely independent original vision, they were named for the monoliths- independent, upright stones.

#### Regolith

The Regolith class covers what is colloquially known as power armor, being a mechanical shell that a user directly wears. Conceptually, it was envisioned as being capable of directly enhancing a user's abilities, in a multitude of ways, and this has remained true- though the complexities in building these have limited their usage greatly, especially considering the available alternatives.

Due to effectively being a *skin*, they were named for the regolith- loose, unconsolidated soil, that covers a stronger rock beneath.

Note: This class is exempt from size classification.

### Modern

Following the technical revolution of the Ascension, new classes of constructs came into light and development. While there was no reason to classify them as such, it felt appropriate to continue the naming scheme for these new constructs.

#### Endolith

Endoliths, while the concept itself is as old as every other construct here, if not older, are in fact a reclassification of pre-Ascension prosthetics, which have since become incredibly advanced, to the point of being nearly identical in function to real limbs, in their most typical forms.

Endoliths are named for lifeforms that form and live inside rocks, as the constructs are fully robotic, and 'encase' the person they're attached to.

#### Autolith

Autoliths, while there is great contention about the semantics of the usage of terms under it, covers all Monolith-style drone units of sizes and proportions close to that of a typical Magdoran, most notably including some forms of arms and head.

Autoliths are named for rocks that form within rocks, in this case referring to the incredibly sophisticated endo and exoskeletons that go into making an Autolith, and the similarly advanced AIs that control them.

#### Endo-Autolith

Endo-Autoliths are the newest class to come into existence, and are the least known and accessible. Endo-Autoliths are best described as "An organic mind placed in an artificial body", and are designed to be the most organically accurate constructs in existence, more so than even the most complex service Autoliths. Endo-Autoliths are rarely seen, with only a small handful having come into existence by the time of the Magdoran Space Race, all of which being built using inordinately expensive parts and processes.

Endo-Autoliths are not named for any 'real' geological structure, and are instead a hybridization of Endoliths and Autoliths, as they are, in essence, an organic being inside both layers of an Autolith.