Records: London Automaton Conference

## **Starvation Atop War**

As the orks ravaged the lands across Europe, with some areas hit far harder than others, there was a new realization beyond the immediate threat of ork hordes: *starvation*. The labor pool hadn't recovered from the wave plague some three decades ago – and echoes of the plague wave still bouncing around (especially away from the medical reach of the RANP or the "miracle" reach of the Jesuits).

Now, with 1 in 5 dead across Eurasia from the orks – and most of the carnage suffered in agricultural areas – the food supply was already scarce. People weren't just going to pop into existence, though the OM was looking at ways to do just that, but even then, the old style of agriculture didn't have power or prestige.

Even where the RANP's agricultural advancements had sparked a surge in food production, like the 1377 Seed Drill (which was felt as early as 1378), the output had been used as much for feedstock as it had human consumption. Where the food output was higher, so were the high-selling swine – and now those places were in ruins.

### **Thinking Machines**

There had been hope that the labor crunch would be eased (if not solved) by the invention of thinking machines. They'd had magically-driven circuitry from one end and analog, artificially intelligent crystals from the other end since May of 1379. Now two years later, there had been massive research and development on it, but hesitation to release it to the general market.

Both processes were valid: the digital-style magical circuitry that reinvented how *everything*was done, to the synthetic, self-contained personalities that had since been replicated, customized, pared-down and built up. There were advantages and disadvantages to each, but not even a hint of a clear winner overall. Without any clarity on standardization, the RANP-OM collective suffered paralysis by analysis.

### **The Mandate of Hunger**

Amidst the ongoing*orkish war*, the RANP held a conference in London regarding pushing magically-enhanced labor to the market. There were amazing creations there, from farmers to sentries to household utility, maintenance and sanitation automatons. Some were massive, some were tiny, and some were almost human. There were several that appeared as animated suits of armor – and without anybody in them, were slightly terrifying even when they were doing nothing at all.

They were all already at work in small test areas, but the agromatons had the most attention. Combined with growth magic, this could prevent mass starvation and take farms into the future.

## **The Shadow of the Magus**

Then-Prince Richard had been part of the both the magical circuitry teams on the RANP side and the crystal-based synthetic intelligence teams on the OM side. He'd been part of the cross-over bridge between them, but as he was the Magus, he had a hundred projects that demanded attention and only so much time to distribute between them.

The rise of the orks had been as much a surprise to him as everybody else, and the new set of problems they created shifted priorities. This dragged Rick back to London, where England's "second prince" attended the *London Automaton Conference*.

Just as King Edward IV had difficulty visiting France, King-Prince Rick had difficulty "coming home" to England. He loved it, without question, but those who were close to him knew there were other, deeper, hidden factors at work. Most assumed it was the Weight of the World upon his shoulders, and to a degree, they were "right enough."

## Echoes of the Alternate Timeline

The timing was close to when the Peasants' Revolt would've taken place in what he was shown as the "original timeline." Even now, he could feel echoes of emotion like intensive deja vu. Out of view of any other human, he was intimately aware of his fallibility, his original self, the losses he'd endured in his father and brother, and the relative powerlessness of now-powerful figures like his mother.

### **The Conference**

The discussions with wizards, scientists and craftsmen regarding the rise of magically-driven thinking machines were looking at what would become of artisans when there were automatons there to take their jobs. Even in this time of need, there was a danger that they recognized they themselves could be obsolete.

It was a valid fear, and there were neither good answers nor easy answers. The only answers they did have was that there were demands that weren't being met and people were dying because of it. They had to take action to preserve life *now*, and figure out new balances and new directions in the future.

Further, there was still no hint of standardization, even between similar methods. One form of arcano-circuitry operated on a completely different set of principles than another method. That meant little or no translation between them. Similar was true for the controls and filtering on synthetic intelligence imbued into complex crystals. The safety measures were limited and there were no guarantees.

Still, some help at the levels already demonstrated were massive blessings over the no-help they now suffered. The consensus was start releasing these powerful inventions into general circulation.

Literary contemporaries Geoffrey Chaucer and John Gower document the event for the world, which is welcome news against the chaos of the orks.