The Mannequin Men

[Kal]

"Herculean strength and lightning-quick reflexes in a supremely durable package that knows no fear, doubt, mercy, or hesitation. A killing machine, plain and simple. A loyal one at that."
- Chief Artificer Zahra Teph
​

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION​

• Intent: Force-imbued murder-constructs for Greystone and select clients.​
• Image Source: Head Sculpting by Worasak Suwannarach​
  • Edited by Ingrid L'lerim-Vandiir​
• Canon Link: N/A​
• Permissions: N/A​
• Primary Source: Silent Knights | Force Alchemy​

PRODUCTION INFORMATION​

• Manufacturer: Greystone Mercantile​
• Affiliation: Greystone Mercantile​
• Market Status: Closed-Market​
• Model: The Mannequin Men​
• Modularity: Malleable; come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and appearances.​
• Production: Limited​
• Material: Living Clay​

TECHNICAL INFORMATION​

• Classification: Class Four​
• Weight: Heavy​
• Height: Average​
• Movement: Bipedal (Majority)​
• Armaments: N/A; usually carry telescoping force pikes, Force-imbued blades, and/or various ranged weapons. Programmed to make use of a selection of martial arts in the absence of weaponry, notably Teräs Käsi and Stava, modified to make full use of their extreme strength.​
• Misc. Equipment: N/A; makes use of the equivalent of Force Sight, Precognition, Force Slow, and Force of Will.​
• Resistances:
  • Energy Weapons: Very High​
  • Kinetic Weapons: Very High​
  • Lightsabers: Very High​
  • Disruptors: None​

SPECIAL FEATURES​

• Golems painstakingly shaped from Living Clay by the Weavers and, on occasion, especially patient Alchemists, no two Mannequin Men are exactly the same, though all share the same basic properties and (usually) a vaguely humanoid shape. Depending on the purpose for which they are intended they may even be made to resemble living beings to cursory medical examinations, though most opt for obviously artificial looks or a skin-deep organic disguise for the simple reason that doing so is significantly easier - their creation is difficult enough already.​
• Mannequin Men may serve as hosts for Shadows and other spirits, though they are generally not as comfortable as organics.​

STRENGTHS​

• Better, Faster, Stronger: As strong as elite battle droids like the Dark Troopers and surprisingly agile to boot, Mannequin Men are fell foes.​
• Inhuman Endurance: Regenerative properties imbued into the Mannequin Men's clay-wrought forms render them difficult to destroy.​
• Enduring Binding: Drawing directly on the Force without the aid of midi-chlorians, Mannequin Men are unaffected by Ysalamiri.​

WEAKNESSES​

• Disruption Cascade: Living Clay is notoriously vulnerable to disruptors and the like, even a glancing hit will do significant damage.​
• Perfectly Loyal: The Mannequin Men cannot disobey orders, even thoughtless or counterproductive ones. Don't expect nuance.​
• Disruption: The Mannequin Men are particularly vulnerable to the Void Stone and those like it; direct contact will mess them up.​

DESCRIPTION​

Unlike the Silent Knights that preceded and outnumbered them, the Mannequin Men have their origins not in an external commission but internal need; recognising the chaotic, war-torn state of the galaxy as a threat to their valued associates, Greystone instructed its alchemists - headed by Zahra Teph, their Chief Artificer - to create a small number of unusually potent warriors to secure key personnel, locations, and equipment.​

Formed from Living Clay and imbued with a subservient form of sentience through time-consuming infusions of Force energies, these golems know no purpose but service, no desire but the furtherance of their masters' goals; when they kill it is with cold, unfeeling efficiency.​

Unlike organics, they do not blink or adjust their poses until the time comes to leap into action, earning them their name.

As is Greystone's way, small numbers are at times sold to external parties, though the client list is exclusive indeed.

 

[Listib Hibin]

One issue.

Force Sensitive materials/constructs are generally in the realm of Semi-Unique due to their alchemy structure. Please change your production to Semi-Unique.

Let me know when you do so.
Kal

 

[Kal]

Listib Hibin

I assume you are referring to the "Generally speaking the more powerful the submission becomes, the less of them there should be." section of the Restricted Materials rules, as pertains to Alchemy+? If so, I would prefer if you highlighted the sections you think is too powerful so that I can limit them, since the Limited production is more central to the concept than, e.g., the Force Abilities.

To be clear, these aren't Force Sensitive on par with a Knight or anything, the infusion simply bestows them with abilities comparable to a small selection of such abilities to spice them up a bit. I imagine I could find technological explanations for the lot of them, but that doesn't fit the sub.

• Force Sight - High-end sensors, 'nuff said.
• Precognition - Plenty of Limited battle droids have droid brains that are so advanced they are the equivalent of this. Makes no difference.
• Force Slow - A bit more obscure and I swear there's something that fits better, but a modification on density projector, gravitational field disruptor, and/or paralysis beam tech would probably do the trick. The latter's probably objectively stronger in most circumstances.
• Force of Will - This one's a bit harder at Limited (there's Void Stone at Semi-Unique; obviously wouldn't work for this submission, but a similar droid?), but it's really only meant to make fights with FUs more interesting if appropriate, i.e., if they're the primary threat in the fight.

If you think something like this at Limited is completely unacceptable, for whatever reason, then I'd honestly rather you Archive it. I should be able to make basically the same thing with droids - the Force is flavourful and supposedly infinite, but a hassle to use in submissions.​

 

[Listib Hibin]

Sorry on this long wait. I had a lot of thinking to do on this submission. I did not wish to deny it on the grounds unless required.

I do not mind the equivalents given back and forth, long as you explain each one in full but I will point to something in the rules that will hopefully, make it all the most understanding.

Intent: Force-imbued murder-constructs for Greystone and select clients.

Enduring Binding: Drawing directly on the Force without the aid of midi-chlorians, Mannequin Men are unaffected by Ysalamiri.​

Armaments: N/A; usually carry telescoping force pikes, Force-imbued blades, and/or various ranged weapons. Programmed to make use of a selection of martial arts in the absence of weaponry, notably Teräs Käsi and Stava, modified to make full use of their extreme strength.​

Misc. Equipment: N/A; makes use of the equivalent of Force Sight, Precognition, Force Slow, and Force of Will.​

Restricted materials may only be used in submissions where the quantity is Semi-Unique or below.

• Alchemized Artifacts/Items [Force Imbuement, Alkahest, Jal Shey, etc] * (Alchemized artifacts/items where the only effect is increased resilience are not considered to be restricted materials)

I will explain each one in turn in more detail and then let you decide. I had a few off and on conversations with others and letting this be my own final judgement on the matter unless you wish to second chance it later.

First one can be linked to the bottom one. While this is created as the intention of using like a droid body, made of living clay, it is still imbued with the Force without miniclorians, in a unique way unlike anything I seen in a long time. You are not the first but the key word given in your intent is "Force-Imbued". Another key note to say is that it can be discarded if the case of resilence which it is not based upon. This is also on the basis of fact that this is more of a species than a droid at this point which is highly unusual, having a somewhat middle ground. However my judgement still stands on this, they are listed as Force-Imbued and as such, needs to be listed as such with that.

Now before we move on, I will make note on Enduring Binding, which effectivelly denies that Ysalamiri feeding off them. That is not how the Force works and if it is as such, I refer back to the Alchemized Artifacts/Items section as that makes them slightly more powerful, even though they can be effected by a Void Stone.

Armaments is pretty simple, just the Force-Imbued Blades. I really have no say in stopping it, though I can say it acts like a semi-unique item and as such, would also need to be toned down as such unless...per say these Force-Imbued Blades are merely more resilient to damage.

Lastly, we both discussed on the Misc. Equipment section in full before. You provided your answers to it and I will use them in the end.

-----------------------------------------------

So, what can be done to actually keep these? Well, here is what I request/suggest to be done.

First off, make the mannquiens more resilient to damage versus with all this extra stuff. Explain more down later, but allowing someone force wise to control be also fine in my book.

Second, the Enduring Bind just simply cannot work. Maybe another weakness instead saying that are more..."resilient" to them instead? Perhaps due to the living clay it is much harder for them to actually "feed" off of.

Third, just remove mention of the Force-Imbued Blades unless you want them more "Resilient" (Which I would honestly recommend) or perhaps use someones factory submission in place that is like that?

Lastly,

• Force Sight - High-end sensors, 'nuff said.
• Precognition - Plenty of Limited battle droids have droid brains that are so advanced they are the equivalent of this. Makes no difference.
• Force Slow - A bit more obscure and I swear there's something that fits better, but a modification on density projector, gravitational field disruptor, and/or paralysis beam tech would probably do the trick. The latter's probably objectively stronger in most circumstances.
• Force of Will - This one's a bit harder at Limited (there's Void Stone at Semi-Unique; obviously wouldn't work for this submission, but a similar droid?), but it's really only meant to make fights with FUs more interesting if appropriate, i.e., if they're the primary threat in the fight.

These all work. Just explain that it is the equivalent of so and so in their abilities but NOT in the use of Force Powers but more so, acting like a droid. Perhaps Force Slow actually is just a paralysis beam, perhaps the Force Sight is a very high end sensor attached inside them...perhaps the Force of Will is really the Living Clay itself making it much harder for them to understand? The Shadows possibly inside? In the end, just go a bit more into detail and it will do just fine.


These...are what I suggest that can be changed, to let them be moved onward. I honestly like the submission and have seen a few others of yours over the last month...it is just this one seems to be hitting that roadblock of just imbuement. Perhaps a bit more explaining will go a long way and get this submission through. Plus, the more explained as it is worked on, the more people that read and understand it going down below, will also see how it is supposed to work in your own vision, versus theirs.


That is my judgement, the fate is in your hands. Again, I am sorry on how long this took, just needed some time to think.
Kal

 

[Kal]

Listib Hibin

First of all, think nothing of it - delays are to be expected, especially when more thought is required. Everything you do as a Judge is, after all, as an unpaid volunteer. As a general rule, I have no issues whatsoever waiting however long it takes for a review to continue.

That said, we do seem to be at a bit of a fundamental impasse. While I certainly appreciate the time you took to review this submission so with such thoroughness, we seem to read the Restricted Materials rules quite differently. For the record, my understanding is that Alchemy (and such) can be submitted from Unique to Minor*, if otherwise properly balanced, and that this includes Force-imbuement, which I consider a subcategory of sorts.

Alchemy is, after all, able to go above and beyond normal Force-imbuement, achieving remarkable feats in defiance of the "natural order".

I have no intention of arguing rules with you, however - if that is how you understand them then I will abide by that for the purposes of this review. Since these were meant more as strange golems than "droids with a bit of magic tacked on", your suggested changes doesn't fit my intent.

As such, I would prefer this be Archived. As always, thank you for your time.

P.S. I have no idea how Ysalamiri work, the Legends article isn't very enlightening - which is why it's so teeth-grindingly difficult to work with them. I will note that they don't seem to feed off the Force, rather they appear to generate some sort of interference that is less about blocking the Force and more about making it difficult to access. I assume this is linked to Midichlorians, since they appear to be how Force Users access the Force.

That's one of the reasons why I often try to make artefacts immune to Ysalamiri, for the record; not because I mind opponents being able to counter the Force but because I fundamentally disagree that some random lizard would be able to evolve to block out the Force in all its infinite forms.

*Mass-Produced if only used to improve resilience; "not considered to be restricted materials" = "can be Mass-Produced" in my book.

 

[Listib Hibin]

Ysalamari are very strange. Read up the books assosiated with them or just a few source books, will help out long run.

Archived due to OP decision. Remember this can be second chanced through the Submissions and Modifications table or simply redone.
Kal