The Graveyard of the Machine God was seeded through a genesis quest, but by whom or when is unknown.
The Graveyard of the Machine God is a treacherous recursion of shattered satellites, rusted metals, nanovirus-infested chunks of tumbling machinery, and zero gravity. At the center of this debris cloud are the ruins of a devastated structure that resembles a kind of massive cybernetic humanoid the size of a tiny moon (a tiny moon large enough to host gravity). The surface of this inert entity is warped, rusted, and shattered, pitted with frigid pools of oil and frozen gases and wrinkled with jagged fissures that plunge deep into the dead mechanical being. The fissures allow access to interior circuitry large enough to serve as passages for normal-sized recursors.
Though the silicon deity is obviously dead, scraps of a previous animation remain in the form of autonomous mechanical droids (called sacrosancts) that live in the corpse, scavenging parts from their former god to survive, even as they are chased by animal-like razor-droids.
These sacrosancts appear as conglomerations of metal and less identifiable synthetic materials, living flesh fused with that metal, fine gears, and sparking wires. Sacrosancts have a machine language of computer tones and flashing lights, which allows them to communicate vast amounts of data in short periods to each other, but it is less useful for communicating with nonmechanical entities.
The more aggressive (and less intelligent) razor-droids look similar, except they possess a bounty of whirring and cutting blades.
The graveyard is a popular location for scavenging both artifacts and cyphers, but it is also supremely dangerous, since the nanovirus eats through living flesh as willingly as through cybernetic sinew, and the sacrosancts have evolved an insular, xenophobic society of their own.
Anyone who enters the Graveyard is exposed to the live nanovirus, but a difficulty 1 Might defense roll once per day is enough to beat back an infestation. Despite remaining quiescent, nanovirus particles remain with the target permanently. This essentially inflicts the victim with a disease that requires a daily Might defense roll to keep it from accelerating into a full-scale infestation. (This is necessary only as long as he is in the Graveyard; translating into another recursion is one way to destroy the particles.) If a PC fails the daily Might defense roll, the virus awakens, requiring subsequent Might difficulty rolls every round instead of every day, and the difficulty of the per-round Might defense roll increases to 3. On a failed defense roll, the victim takes 3 points of ambient damage. This continues until the virus is killed (possibly by translating somewhere the virus can’t follow) or until the creature dies. The corpse of a creature killed by the virus is a solid piece of silicone.
A group of semi-mechanical sacrosancts called the Washed exist in a weird sort of primal savagery (given that they are essentially freewilled robots), and they grow their numbers by converting others to be like them, whether those others are unconverted sacrosancts (of which there are fewer all the time), living recursors, or other visitors. They persist despite themurderous razor-droids that clank and clatter through the endless circuit tunnels honeycombing the inert Machine God. Under the cruel and unwavering leadership of a sacrosanct named Grendel Nine, the Washed have withstood several razor-droid attacks.
Unlike the lesser sacrosancts, Grendel Nine (who named itself the Lord of the Washed) can speak several languages, including themachine language of its followers, English, Japanese, and Spanish. The areas claimed by the Washed include four levels of ancient chambers within the Machine God that have been completely repurposed by their robotic tenants. Located behind themain valves that open to the exterior of the recursion, a central cavity serves as the community’s central bazaar, gathering area, and, when necessary, the Lord of the Washed’s courts, where savage justice is dispensed, typically after a reading from the Bible of the Silicone Deity. When these courts are convened, all else is cleared away and the sacrosanct community assembles on the four mounting levels overlooking the central area, lit by hundreds of illuminating beams from the sacrosancts themselves. These courts are also where the unwashed become the Washed.
Grendel Nine: level 7
Deep inside the silicone deity is a terminal retaining a modicum of power. If a being could find and successfully activate the terminal, that being could access a portion of the ancient god’s brain. Despite the fact that the dead Machine God lives in a sealed-off recursion, within the context of its own creation it knew much about everything, including other recursions, Earth, and the dark energy network.
Accessing the terminal and asking it questions is almost certain to reveal secrets on a variety of topics. Every time a question is asked successfully of the terminal, a tremor shakes the entire corpse, which rouses a larger and larger number of razor-droids and sacrosancts alike.
A recursor who translates into the Graveyard can choose to become a mechanical sacrosanct, with a visage as described. The recursor has the same abilities as a human, except in a few particulars.
The sacrosanct enjoys the following benefits: It doesn’t breathe or eat; it has a natural +1 to Armor; and it can produce an attached, medium bladelike weapon from its own body with which it is practiced. A sacrosanct makes rolls against the nanovirus infesting the recursion only once per year instead of once per day.
The sacrosanct suffers the following inability: it can’t speak, just wave its appendages, blink lights, and produce variously pitched computer tones.
At random times, a signal of unknown origin resonates faintly in various parts of the interior and exterior of the Machine God, though usually close to the Terminal. The signal manifests as a series of electronic tones. Whether they are a code, a distress signal, a form of music, or an overheard conversation is up for debate.
One of the shattered satellites found within the debris cloud around the corpse of the Machine God retains some functionality. If a nonliving object is placed within one of its compartments, an exact copy of the object is printed in another compartment. If an attempt is made to copy the object (or its copy) another time, the original is consumed, and the copy that emerges is a homicidal droid intent on destruction. w
The sacrosancts, normally hostile to intruders, will fight off the razor-droids attacking petitioners who arrive in the chamber of the Terminal. That’s because of a legend Grendel Nine tells of how outsiders who come of their own free will to the Terminal may be the ingredient required to reactivate the Machine God.