Raktesai

The **Raktesai** are an army of metallic automatons built by the Ontemazei Empire to launch raids or exterminations. They were based on earlier machines constructed by the Konjor Supercorporation to entertain guests in game areas and restaurants; and also to kill guests for sport or fight raids by the Konjors' enemies.

Even after the Ontemazei were long gone, Raktesai still thrived in ancient ruins, killing whoever who trespasses them. Some later armies built newer Raktesai.

Some droids were built using similar Raktesai designs as companions, walking databases, or to train people in combat exercises.

## Physiology

Raktesai tend to attack with the long blades on their arms and their speed.

If a Raktesai is damaged, it can reassemble its broken parts. But if its head or chest were destroyed (where their central AI and crystal battery are located), the Raktesai will never reassemble again.

All Raktesai are controlled by a computer network. If it is destroyed, all the droids under its control will stop working and collapse.

Raktesai gain energy by exposure to sunlight, but it also disables most of their functions by putting them into a mode that reduces them to statues or servants. That is why Raktesai avoid sunlight, because it interferes with their command directives. However, the sunlight and its energy are stored in a crystal battery that functions as the droid's "heart", keeping it functioning for as long as several centuries.

## Locations

* Barandon Castle, Nevkreno
	+ Batches of Raktesai were hastily built by the Technocrats to defend their fortress from Tornarin besiegers, only to slaughter the defenders in the process. The Wannaenids later controlled the remaining droids after killing the surviving Technocrats to seize control of the castle, and built newer, expendable droids to guard their base of operations.
	+ Barandian Raktesai are either decayed, expendable droids designed after Vozonid mythological characters, or recently-built, dark-plated droids built by the Wannaenids to fight enemy armies.
* Northern Rabydos
	+ The southern slopes of the Jasper Mountains are dotted with tombs of ancient kings, some of which predate the founding of Rabydos after the Green Years. Many of these cursed tombs are guarded by skeletal Raktesai that kill anyone who approaches the tomb.
	+ Among them include the jackal/dragon-like mechanicals shaped like muskhussu and the fire-breathing basmu serpents. Most Rabydosian Raktesai are humanoid, with rusted armour of gold and silver.
* Southern Siangwaan
	+ In Siangwaan, another name used against them is "bing yong", comparing them to cursed statues that guard tombs and kill any trespasser.
	+ The ones encountered by Chang Gao and his son when they rescued Dok Saau were newer constructs, similar to those used in Bujan a century ago. They consisted of humanoid robots with long blades for arms, cleaner than their more haphazard counterparts in Barandon Castle. Their faces were simple, having either a horizontal curve or two red eyes to frighten intruders.
* Eastern Hothro
	+ Some of its ruins are crawling with Raktesai, built many years after the tombs' construction.
	+ Many of them are black-coloured and bald, resembling the automatons used by the Kyrvotins who supposedly built the tombs.
* Eastern Pinoguni
	+ The Isles of Pain were two former fortresses of the Ontemazei Empire, housing many prisoners killed by Raktesai and revived to be killed repeatedly. The nearby islands, also bygone Ontemazei fortresses, were purged and reclaimed by the Pinogunian government and army. After melting down the disassembled robots, they rescued hundreds of prisoners, all of which became immortals to be tortured by the robots.
* Makkadal
	+ The Raktesai of Makkadal were known as the Sleepless, or Jomglapau. They were used by a Konjor defector who wanted revenge on his own rulers, by using the robots to aid a native rebellion. Later, that Konjor defector designed armies of automatons to support regional rebellions against Konjor rule, before he himself taught generations of young boys and men as ancient Makkadal's legendary engineers.
	+ The Raktesai of Makkadal later became guards.

* Bujan
	+ Very few Raktesai remained in Bujan on the eve of the Wannaenid conquest of the island nation, mostly in museums and laboratories.
	+ The Wannaenids created newer droids. They were somewhat tougher than the ones found in Barandon Castle, being the original template, yet still easily destroyed by heavy firepower: a humanoid form taller than a human male adult, with either a single curve for an eye or two red eyes. Unlike the hastily-built ones taken to Siangwaan by Joparon, these ones were also built with hands to use rifles to shoot enemies.
	+ They were created to either murder and hunt civilians for their masters' amusement, or simply to challenge the Terran militants. Some clever "puppet masters" used them to lure unaware Terrans to brutal deaths.
	+ Some Raktesai droids were given to the authorities of the two Terran polities in Bujan: the Tyrskans named them "nozhoruky", and the Q Theocracy named them "knifemen". they were either bodyguards for leaders, target practice, or used by the authorities in conduct massacres and purges.
	+ Some found it hilarious that the Tyrskan and Qyuvian authorities would send raiding parties of nozorin droids at the same location, resulting in an accidental battle that allowed their targets to escape. This was later taken advantage of by rebel groups to trick robots into damaging each other, and eventually the revolution to distract the robots and eliminate their targets.

## List of Raktesai

* raktesai (Taktodai) - humanoid
* mirlut (Konjor Supercorporation) - humanoid. May appear either as ornate warriors clad in ceremonial armour, or cartoonish servants and animals in entertainment.
* *bing yong*, *grethladag* (Siangwaan) - humanoid, Thralondian armour.
* *muskhuskhu* (northern Rabydos) - jackal-like dragons.
* *tagrūmat*, *shardūdat*, *sardo* (northern Rabydos, "bones" or "skeletons") - skeleton humanoids designed like angry wraiths.
* *raxoņna* (Marnos) - humanoid, ornate, cartoonish.
	+ For example, some of them resemble clowns, fairies, witches, and unicorns.
* ? (Wannaenid) - humanoid, sleek dark armour.
	+ These were the ones encountered by Chang Gao and his son when they rescued their horse from a Wannaenid raid.
* *nozorin* (Wannaenid) - humanoid, taller than normal humans but average build.
	+ These were the ones continuously used by the Wannaenid Empire, either for terrorism against civilians for amusement, or for the Terrans as bodyguards and target practice. Or simply to lure Terrans and kill them, or kill Terrans in targeted purges.
	+ A few of them were organised into proper military regiments, but they were all defeated by the revolution.
	+ In records by survivors, they were known as *night terrors*.
	+ Revolutionaries called them *zhestjanky* (
* *ru*, "tin cans"), mocking their weak structure and gullible AI.*gimone* (Pinoguni) - humanoid animals
* *jomlap, jomglapau* (Makkadal) - sleepless, lacking sleep

## Trivia

* The Raktesai were inspired by the animatronics of Five Nights at Freddy's and the Necrons of Warhammer 40,000.
	+ In 2023, the Raktesai were also influenced by the B1 and B2 battle droids of Star Wars.
* Their Siangwaanian name, *bing yong*, was derived from the Chinese words "bing ma yong" (兵馬俑, "soldier and horse figurines"), the name for the Terracotta Army of China.
* Their Malendor equivalents were the Uru-tře.
* Their Tyrskan name, *nozhoruk*, was from the Russian words for "knife" (нож) and "hand" (рука). It became *nozorin* in Wannaenid.