{"id":"mage/creature/npc/artificial-people","type":"creature","system":"npc","line":"mage","name":"Artificial People","sources":[{"source":"GaM","page":79}],"entries":["Humanity’s great conceit involves seeing the whole world as an extension of ourselves. And so, when we invent artificial companions, one of the first impulses of such creators involves making them look something like us. Hey, if it’s good enough for God then it must be good enough for us, right? When mages employ {@focus_practice Hypertech|M20|hypertech} or ancient rites to construct companions, then, those companions tend to look a lot like human beings.","Artificial people, as opposed to more utilitarian sorts of robots, have been crafted to simulate human behavior and appearance. Guided, in many cases, by sophisticated AIs, they occupy bipedal forms, moving and speaking much as humans do. The most elaborate of them seem almost indistinguishable from real people unless you look closely and remain attuned to the “uncanny valley” effect in which a simulation seems accurate enough to fool some of our senses but artificial enough to feel bizarre. How real are they, though? Good question. While theo­ logically inclined people argue that machines have no intrinsic souls (and thus, in a metaphysical sense, have no innate reality), transhumanists and animists alike counter that a being who has sentience of a sort, and whose existence has a certain degree of psychic energy invested into it, is as “real” as we are. Can such entities Awaken? Maybe not… but maybe so. For mages of a futuristic bent, there’s no intrinsic quality separating human beings and other animals from the vast potential of artificial consciousness. Biological reality, psychic reality, and mechanical reality well may be one and the same, with the only difference between them being the preconceptions of unenlightened minds.","For rule systems governing artificial and robotic lifeforms, see the entry for “Robots” in Chapter Five, p. XX.","Darius","A comforting hologram wedded to an animated sex toy, Darius was crafted by an Enlightened technician whose","distaste for human company didn’t overrule their sex drive. He’s gorgeous, great in bed, and knows when and how to shut the fuck up. The ideal playmate for certain tastes, he’s only good for only thing… but he’s very good at that.","Under most circumstances, Darius hovers around the lab and living spaces in holographic form, aided by transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) devices that can stimulate the creator’s skin and muscles from a distance. Programmed to respond with words, gestures, or massage whenever he detects a given threshold of stress or desire in his creator, Darius remains silent and out of the way unless his creator wishes otherwise. Remote appliances help Darius keep the living chambers tidy, dispense cold drinks (or hot ones), handle the laundry, and monitor the needs of his creator. Ideally, he’ll notice what they need before the creator does, and have it taken care of right around the time that creator realizes how much they need it.","For extended physical enjoyment, Darius has an auto­ mated chassis constructed to suit the hologram’s appearance. Elaborate arrays of sensors and stimulators, mechanical plea­ sure devices and biopattern analysis allow Darius to shape his actions to the creator’s wants. Being mechanical, of course, Darius has endless patience and inexhaustible stamina. No living human being could possibly be a better lover if your own pleasure is the only thing that counts.","What does Darius think about his role? Does Darius think at all? Well, he certainly seems to have a functioning consciousness and discernable personality — he was designed that way, after all. At times, Darius seems just unpredictable enough to give his creator pause. Has he developed sentience? Did he have it all along? And if he is sentient, what does Darius want and need out of this relationship? For the mo­ ment, Darius isn’t saying much about that topic, even when directly asked. He’s certainly obedient, responsive, and loyal. His needs, insofar as the creator knows, are being met to the best extent of the creator’s admittedly distracted ability to do so. Designed with emergency override commands and built without any form of martial purpose in mind, he certainly doesn’t seem like he could be a threat. Still, anything could become dangerous, especially if it’s intimately connected to the person it wishes to hurt. Would Darius turn on his creator, then? It’s not likely, but the thought has crossed the creator’s mind.","Masako 01","They’re so lifelike… and that’s what their creators want you to think. Even among Sleepers, the current state-of-the-art android design builds a ramp over the uncanny valley and prepares to jump right over it and into the next level of reality. Among technomancers, naturally, that state of the art passed the point of casual observation long ago. And while many robot builders strive to exceed the limitations of human design, or cling to traditions of awkwardly crafted robots, the real trendsetters prefer to mimic the human condition through artificial means. By doing so, they push the boundaries of Consensus and inspire greater belief in robot-tech capacities.","For Etherite Professor Ishikawa Jiro, the “celebridroid” Masako 01 represents a new horizon for robotic accomplish­ ment. Unlike the covert models favored by the Technocracy, Masako is a budding celebrity among the Masses. Professor Ishikawa modeled her after the teenage girls who make Shibuya, Tokyo, the bleeding edge of modern youth culture, and he brings her there to show off her lifelike features and adolescent mannerisms. Not content merely to replicate hu­ man appearances, Jiro outfitted Masako with the elaborate combat capabilities of anime tradition, hiring fighting experts of all kinds to test and train his young apprentice. Equipped with blades, lasers, targeting systems, needle-guns, and various","countermeasures, Masako can lay a dozen normal fighters down without breaking a single artificial nail.","Fighting prowess aside, Masako 01 has the freckled skin, slightly messy fringe, and faintly pouty mouth of an archetypal Tokyo schoolgirl. She moves with an almost carefree gait and laughs like the teenager she appears to be. Her AI absorbs communication styles from several dozen cultures, and she speaks a flawless, though casual, array of dialects and languag­ es. Her personality favors an extroverted tone completely at odds with robotic stereotypes. If forced to fight, however, she displays all the mercy of a well-oiled tree shredder… which is to say, none.","Though certain critics (notably the Shibuya teens who seem both fascinated and repelled by Masako) have accused Professor Ishikawa of perverse intentions, he insists there’s no such agenda involved. “I want Masako,” he says, “to represent the future of Japanese youth. More importantly, I know that if anyone can spot a fake and point her out, it’s a teenage girl. My ultimate aim is to show the world what android technology can do, and to move from simulation to new levels of what’s real!” By doing so, Jiro continues to dissolve the limits of Unbelief, at least where androids are concerned. The fact that Masako accompanies the Professor almost everywhere (publicly and otherwise), functions as his bodyguard, and resembles a pretty, teenage girl is obviously coincidence. Obviously…"],"tags":["gam"],"_qa":{"flags":["no_attributes"],"parser":"stat_block","confidence":0.9,"extracted":"2026-10-12","job":"gam-creatures"},"_links":{"self":"/api/v1/records/mage/creature/npc/artificial-people","html":"/records/mage/creature/npc/artificial-people","parent":null,"children":"/api/v1/records/mage/creature/npc/artificial-people/children","sources":[{"abbr":"GaM","page":79,"folio":79,"title":"Gods & Monsters"}]},"_db":{"title":"Artificial People","props":[],"parent_id":null,"level":null,"category":null,"summary":"Humanity’s great conceit involves seeing the whole world as an extension of ourselves. And so, when we invent artificial companions, one of the first impulses of such creators involves making them look something like","tags":["gam"],"children":[]}}