eastbound | un: white pawn; video

[Anduin appears on camera looking -- out of character, for those that know him, dressed in dark leathers and a large black trenchcoat.

Yes, he knows. He feels weird about it too.]

Greetings, my friends. As I am certain you are aware by now, various systems across Minaras are suffering malfunctions, ranging everywhere from brief glitches to complete breakdowns in the infrastructure of the city. What may not have been apparent at first, and why I come to you now, is that there are a number of droids who seem to have been affected by the outages as well.

In my role here in Minaras, the nobility come to me for... [He winces slightly.] I am a droid bounty hunter, to put things plainly. And there has been an increase in runaway droids, of late. I have managed to track several of them down and have them in my custody at present. Normally at this point, I would return them to their masters as requested, but I have -- concerns.

I have spoken with the droids in my charge. They do not seem to acknowledge that they have ever had masters to serve. Certainly not those people who hired me to find them. They have said that their services are not required, at present.

[Anduin hesitates, uncertain for a moment of how exactly to proceed.]

I am a priest, outside this city. I cannot claim to understand the workings of these complex machines. But something has changed them, quite suddenly. Droids are programmed to serve humankind. These droids do not appear to have forgotten who their masters are. But most troubling of all: from what I can tell, they are no longer registering to the droids as human.

Perhaps if we are able to understand why... We might come closer to understanding just what exactly is going on here?

((ooc: further information about/plotting for this little clue-roll can be found here, though anduin will be discussing what he knows so far below!))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Well, this is pleasant. Bounty hunters for servants. Tools. As a tool himself, Kanesada doesn't like this line of thinking at all. But, more importantly, this post has him going back over the network.]

There's been a lot of talk about the coal sickness, or plague, or whatever you wanna call it. And then before that, someone mentioned how the dragons born recently felt dead. You think that's all connected? Like, the droids don't feel obligated to serve the people because they could be...whatever kind of dead feeling is going on?

It could be something of the sort. The droids do not say that their masters classify as dead to them, but they do not classify as human either.

In fact, when we had asked what they did register to the droids as, their only response thus far as been that "no standard classification applies".

[Which is troubling, to say the least.]

...Right. Cool. So they may not be actually dead dead but I'd say they're definitely not human. Do you think that applies to all the inhabitants here or just the ones the droids have stopped serving so far?

I'd say we can't rule anything out, for certain. It's only a select number of droids that this is happening to, but that is not to say that the effects do not reach wider than we know.

I cannot pretend to have any technological knowledge to help there, but if their masters are not registering to them as human anymore, it might because... they aren't anymore. In which case, the robots themselves would not be the ones malfunctioning.

Do you have a list of the people who have required your services? Are they in high positions?

I do have a list, yes. Of those who posted a bounty. I do not know whether they are all who might have been affected by such a phenomenon, but of the people who made the postings, all were of medium to high incomes.

Though I do not suppose you would have money to spend on a bounty hunter, if you were not at least of some means. From what I understand, a droid is an expensive commodity.

Medium to high seems to indicate not necessarily the highest level of political or economic power, but still people with means indeed.

So money doesn't seme to be doing much to help. Even with riches, these people cannot get the medical care needed to completely avoid this.

I think that you and I both understand that money does not solve all problems.

Not all, no, but it usually can solve a lot of them nonetheless, or mitigate the effects at least. Interesting that it doesn't seem to be the case.

I'd like to take a look. The mechanisms by which these automatons-- [one second] --think is unfamiliar to me, but I do have some knowledge of...mechanics.

[Seems like the wrong word. But.]

I'm an engineer.

[Anduin is by no means an engineer himself, but he is the King of the Alliance, which includes the gnomes and, by proxy, the mechagnomes. He has had to learn something of their ways to at least follow along in council sessions.]

Please. I welcome your input. I am far out of my depths, trying to understand the workings of these complicated machines.

The only thing that is clear to me is that the change in these droids correlated with the outages in the city. It has to have something to do with whatever is going on in Minaras.

Yes, that's too much of a coincidence to ignore. I've familiarized myself with the inner workings of the service automatons [don't ask him how] so I may be able to determine whether or not there is a connection.

Where should I meet you?

Edited 2022-09-12 16:01 (UTC)

I have rented a warehouse. I am keeping the droids there, for now. I think it is safer for everyone now, should anything go amiss.

I am sending you the coordinates now.

[You should be receiving them as he speaks, in fact.]

((ooc: sorry for the slow reply, i just started a new job and i am working out the kinks of my new schedule...))

You're probably right. I'll be along shortly.

["Shortly" is not entirely accurate, given the fact that Viktor is generally slow getting to places, but he does show up, eventually. He isn't quite sure what he's looking for, but the coordinates do, in fact, lead to a warehouse. He waits, patiently, outside the door until he's let in, then enters quickly, with as much discretion as his gait allows.]

I don't think I was followed.

[ Marcos hasn't spent much time trying to get over to Minaras, but it sure seems like a lot is going on over there. The very concept of a 'droid bounty hunter' seems odd, because why not just... turn them off somehow?

Anduin seems stressed about it though, so he's definitely missing something. ]

What does that mean? They're malfunctioning and starting to act out?

[When you figure out how to just turn them off, Marcos, you let him know.]

I don't even know if they are acting out, per se. But they are refusing to perform the duties that they have been assigned. A droid does not have free will, they do not usually refuse to do much at all. But seemingly, serving their masters is suddenly against their programming. Because, apparently, it would not be serving humankind to do so.

[ He's not sure if this is an emergency, but it's a concern if they start turning on them. ]

If were we back where I come from, I'd say it sounds like they were hacked. You think it's intentional?

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