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Modron

2021-02-14T23:05:16Z

2603:7081:7500:A9C:5D9:FD9A:9571:8D61: /* Gallery */

[[File:Monodrone planscape supplement pg008.jpg|right|thumb|Ceiling monodrone is watching you orchestrate]]
Modrons are a race of Lawful Neutral Outsiders introduced into [[Dungeons & Dragons]] in 1st edition (MM2, pg 86), native to the plane of Nirvana, AKA [[Mechanus]]. In AD&D 2nd edition, thanks to the [[Planescape]] setting, they were the primary inhabitants of the extreme lawful-neutral plane of Mechanus. In D&D 3rd edition's Manual of the Planes, they share Mechanus with the Formians (giant ant-people) when their lawful good / lawful neutral plane went too lawful (thanks a lot, [[Lawful Stupid|Harmonium]]!) and was annexed by Mechanus.

Modrons first appeared as living geometric shapes - spheres, cubes, pyramids, etcetera. In 2nd edition, to try and make them look less goofy, they were redesigned with a more clockwork cyborg motif. They are perhaps one of the most iconic races invented for Planescape.

Modrons divide their territory in Mechanus into four areas, called Quarters. Each Quarter is then divided into another four sub-areas, called Regions. And Regions are divided again into another four sub-sub-areas called Sectors.

== Modron Mentality==
Modrons are what D&D sometimes calls "Exemplars", extraplanar beings that exist as living embodiments of a particular [[Alignment]]. Naturally, Modrons are associated with Lawful Neutral, though as was common for the edition, the precise method by which they exhibit this bumps them pretty firmly into [[Lawful Stupid]] territory.

The Modron mindset can be likened to that of a computer. And not a fancy AI, either; your basic cheap "garbage in, garbage out" 80s-esque piece of junk. Modrons have no real individual personalities, no capacity to understand anything besides basic logic, and are driven by an insatiable need to try and bring order from chaos, sense from nonsense-- even if it only makes sense to themselves. So integral is the idea of logic and order to them that Modrons actually cannot understand the existence of any Modron that doesn't belong to either the same caste, the cast directly below them, or the caste directly above them - a tridrone, for example, would understand other tridrones, duodrones and quadrones, but would not recognize the "Modronity" or even the very existence of a pentadrone (seeing only a strange, incomprehensible shape when looking at one); a monodrone would be too simple to communicate with.

All that is right happens because it must inescapably ''be'', and all that which is wrong must ''not'' be. This is the closest thing Modrons have to a philosophy, based on their concept that all life and direction springs from a single great pool of logical action.

Needless to say, they are a nightmare to deal with. Imagine trying to deal with a city-spanning bureaucracy where every single bureaucrat is socially interchangeable with all the others, has no individual personality, and makes no effort to share information between them. A single barmy could spend centuries trying to get a simple matter resolved, because they keep inadvertently restarting their applications. Clever berks have a slightly easier time with this, using paint or ink or some such to apply unique marks to individual Modrons so as to be able to tell them apart, which works because a Modron will not even acknowledge these markings unless instructed by a superior to remove them.

Perhaps one of the greatest examples of this is the adventure path called The Great Modron March. The titular March is noted for being as destructive as a rampaging horde of demons at the best of times, and is even worse when it suddenly occurs several centuries before it should. One of the earliest adventures involves a town that is trying to plead with the Modrons to at least give them time to evacuate: they worked out a diplomatic bargain with the Modrons before the last march, creating designated routes for the Modrons to use so they wouldn't hurt anyone as they passed through the town to the portal they were after. Thing is, the Modrons won't, indeed cannot, accept that the town's layout has changed in the three centuries since it was last used, and so they refuse to deviate from those established routes. Thusly, the party's goal in this adventure is to try and do damage control as a veritable sea of crazed clockwork cyber-angels march through the city, destroying and killing anything that falls in their way.

Their rigid psychology is proof against any attempt at tampering, even for modrons not on Mechanus and part of the hivemind. All modrons are immune to mind-affecting enchantments, charms, illusions or beguilements. Spells or effects that induce emotions are also completely impotent even to the lowest monodrone. Even their physiology is so bloody-minded stubborn about staying alive that all damage rolls made against modrons are at -1 for each die rolled.

== Modron Hierarchy ==
[[File:Base_modrons_by_Dillon.jpg|thumb|right|One, Two, Three,<br> Four, Five... point-one]]
Modrons exist in hierarchy, their very social structure based on the idea of delegation of authority; command decisions emanate from Primus itself, slowly going down the racial line until it is complete. Caste determines physical shape, abilities, social role and mental capacity. In ascending order, they go as follows; the first five castes form the "Base Modrons", whilst the other nine castes form the "Hierarch Modrons".

If a Modron is slain or otherwise rendered invalid to fulfill its purpose, a random Modron from the next lowest caste is promoted up to fill the void. The position they vacate is filled by a lower-caste modron with another promotion, and another, until the lack trickles down to the monodrone level; what happens here depends on edition. In some editions one Monodrone actually splits in two like a unicellular organism (in 4e any modron higher in rank than a monodrone would actually split into four monodrones on death), but in other editions a new monodrone simply walks out of this thing called the Creation Pool that Primus sits in. Because Mechanus is infinite in size like all planes, this happens so often that a constant stream of monodrones is perpetually marching out of the pool 24/7.

The lowest five castes are the "base" modrons, with animal up to moron intelligence.

'''Monodrones''' are responsible for general labor. Appearing as small metal spheres with a single eye, a pair of spindly metal legs, and either a pair of arms or a pair of wings, these single-task Modrons are virtually mindless, capable of undertaking only a single task at a time. Order them to fight, and they mechanically attack whatever they see, even one another if they are not ordered to stop first. These form the vast bulk of the Modrons numbers. They cannot speak, though they can understand orders. These are the type of Modron that would be the janitors at a fast food restaurant.

'''Duodrones''' are charged with performing complex tasks that a monodrone is too stupid to handle, up to and including directing monodrones. Appearing as rectangular shapes with four spindly metal limbs, duodrones are bi-functional, capable of handling two tasks simultaneously. This gives them slightly greater intelligence than monodrones; for example, a duodrone who was ordered to fight would kill all enemies in sight and then go in search of new enemies, rather than simply attack other nearby Modrons. Duodrones can speak, but only in a limited fashion; about all they're capable of is clearly reporting their operations and observations. These are the type of Modron that would prepare the food at a fast food restaurant.

'''Tridrones''' are capable of performing multiple tasks simultaneously and are also minor supervisors; these are the Modrons who command the duodrones. They resemble walking pyramids, pointy side down, with a single-eyed face on each side of their body, three legs and three arms. They are usually given a single general directive, which they then subdivide into simpler tasks and assign to their duodrone underlings. They are even capable of planning limited objectives on their own. These are the type of Modron that would run the drive-through a fast food restaurant.

'''Quadrones''' are capable of performing multiple complex tasks simultaneously, which also makes them the supervisors of Base Modronkind. Appearing as mechanical cubes with a face on one side, two legs, two arms and either a pair of wings or a second pair of arms, they are the first caste to approach human-grade sapience, being "four-function" creatures that can report actions and observations, make plans, react to unexpected occurrences and act to remedy them. This type of Modron would run the tills of a fast food restaurant.

'''Pentadrones''' form the lesser police officers of the Modron race, being charged with law enforcement. Their primary task is the prevention of Modrons going rogue. As the borderline between Base and Hierarch Modrons, these outsiders are five-function beings that can communicate, operate, monitor, plan and manage. They resemble mechanical five-legged starfish with a face on each "arm" and five spindly mechanical legs growing underneath them, which are used to walk. These modrons would be the manager at a fast-food restaurant.
[[File:Hierarch Modrons from MM2.png|thumb|right]]
The castes above this level are "hierarch" modrons of average up to godlike intelligence, and each caste requires a strictly regimented number that should exist at each caste level at any time -- no more ''and'' no less. They each have telepathy for communication at increasingly crazy distances, for the purpose of the hivemind mesh. They are so hyper-OCD organized that they never roll for initiative but choose their place in turn order. Every hierarch modron has the following at-will abilities: clairaudience, clairvoyance, command word, dimension hop, teleport (with 0% mis-jump), and forcewall. Hierarch modrons slain in Mechanus will self-resurrect in a few days; slain elsewhere, their souls return to their god, and a promotion chain is automatically triggered to fill the absent position. Hierarch modrons will never willingly leave Mechanus unless commanded by Primus.

'''Decatons''' are charged with overseeing the physical welfare of the base Modrons. There are one-hundred in existence at any given time; one for each Sector and one for each army. They resemble metal spheres with ten tentacles around their bodies standing on stumpy legs. They have access to a variety of curative spells that only affect Modrons, and can also levitate at will. This modron would be the area manager at a fast-food business.

'''Nonatons''' make up the police supervision of the Modrons. Their numbers are kept at eighty-one. Nine serve the octons by carrying their orders, sixty-four monitor the decatons of the realm, and the remaining eight monitor the decatons of the armies. They appear as, depending on edition, one-eyed cylinders with a ring of tentacles or giant caterpillar things with a monodrone-like face.

'''Octons''' are the governors of the Sectors, meaning there are only sixty-four octons in all of Mechanus. Octons are distinguished by the metallic collar that grows around their neck, from which sprouts eight tentacle arms. They are provided levitation by these collars, which enables them to move through air and water with equal ease and grace.

'''Septons''' are governmental inspectors, forty-nine in number, responsible for ensuring that each octon is performing its duties satisfactorily. They resemble humanoids with large, bald heads, and smaller versions of the same collars that grow from an octon's shoulders; septons cannot fly like octons, but they can move perfectly through water.

'''Hextons''' are the generals of the Modron armies. There are thirty-six of them. Hextons resemble six-armed humanoids, having two large human-like arms, each of which ends in a six-fingered hand, and four claw-tipped tentacles, as well as a pair of fan-like wings that join at their shoulders.

'''Quintons''' are bureau chiefs and record keepers for Modron territory. They number twenty-five. These Modrons have the appearance of tall, stockily built humanoids with two pairs of arms, a prehensile tail, and fanlike wings similar to those of a Hexton.

'''Quartons''' are the governors of the Regions, meaning there are only sixteen of these Modrons in existence at any one time. They have the appearance of 12ft-tall humanoids with four jointed arms and the same fan-like wings as the Hextons and Quintons.

'''Tertions''' are the judges of the Modron race. There are only nine, with two assigned to each Secundi and one reporting directly to Primus. They resemble 12ft tall, bald humans with long horns jutting from the sides of their head and long, prehensile-tails that end in a ball like a mace's head.

'''Secundi''' are the governors of the four Quarters, meaning there are only four of them. They answer directly to Primus. They appear as incredibly tall and thin humanoids with deep-set eyes. These modrons would be the board of directors in a fast food company.
[[File:Primus Dragon 341.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Primus, the One and the Prime, as portrayed in [[3.5e]]. Note that he looks different than what he is described like - this is because this is a picture of him after being reintroduced in Dragon Magazine as a [[Vestige]].]]
The highest caste has only one occupant, and it is the only god-type modron. It has telepathy that extends to all modrons in the same plane, along with the usual benefits of immortality and divine power. All modron clerics pray to the occupant of the highest caste, who responds efficiently and grants their divine spells for the day.

'''Primus''' is the One and the Prime, the god-like entity that is the ultimate source of the Modron race. He is their overarching will, their mind, their soul. All that they do ultimately stems from him. If seen in person, this entity manifests as the upper torso of an enormous androgynous humanoid rising from a pool of incandescent energy - the life essence of the Modron race - with its right hand obscured by rainbow-hued light and its left hand obscured by ink-black shadows. Primus does not create avatars, and Primus never leaves Mechanus. Primus's first concern is always the well-being of the modron species as a whole. Unlike other gods who will resurrect from the plane's quintessence if slain, Primus is "resurrected" by the immediate promotion of a Secundus, which triggers a highly organized civil war to determine which secudus is ascended, and which will in turn trigger a chain of promotions. Since modrons are a hive-mind, this new Primus will know everything the previous Primus knew. This Modron would be the almighty God-CEO of a fast food company.

In canon, Primus got killed before the start of the AD&D adventure-line "The Great Modron March", when Orcus (in his undead incarnation as Tenebrous) snuck into Mechanus and killed him, then stole his identity and set the March off early to look for his precious Wand so he could use it to restore himself to life. Though Orcus canonically got his Wand back, revived himself and left, allowing the Modrons to generate a new Primus, Dragon Magazine #341 states that the Primus that Tenebrous killed ended up becoming a Vestige. As a Vestige, Primus will not manifest to a [[Binder]] already binding Tenebrous, and grants bonuses for acting in a mechanical manner (that is, doing the same set of actions in multiple rounds), Lawful aligned attacks, and the ability to issue a Command spell once every 6 rounds.

== Rogue Modrons ==
It happens rarely, but sometimes, Modrons go rogue (this can happen with other outsiders as well, but for some reason Modrons are the only ones where it happens enough for said exceptions to be notable). They start to develop a personality and a mind of their own, becoming distinctive beings rather than interchangeable cogs. Only Modrons of at least quadrone rank seem to be capable of going rogue; the lower three castes are simply too mindless to develop that level of a sense of self. Modrons typically seek to destroy these rogues whenever they appear in order to return their essence to the logic-pool for recycling, fearing either their contamination of the Modron race or their depletion of the Modron logic-pool.

The most awesome modron ever is probably Nordom, the "backwards Modron", from [[Planescape: Torment]], who is an iconic example of a rogue. Rogue modrons are the most frequent source of modron PCs, being capable of self-interest and a certain amount of free will. They ''must'' be of lawful alignment (being only "chaotic" in relation to other modrons), and their brains tend to melt when they attempt to interact with chaotic people.

==Modrons in the World Axis==
Modrons made their way into the [[World Axis]] in [[Dragon Magazine]] #414 and [[Dungeon Magazine]] #186. Here, they are stated to be a result of a [[Archomental|primordial]] called the Prime Architect, which discovered the plane of the Accordant Expanse, a kind of polar opposite to the [[Far Realm]] as a plane of pure logic, order and stasis. This inspired him to undertake a project of massive proportions, which accidentally caused a multitude of breaches to the Far Realm to form as well as attracting the attention of Mak Thuum Ngatha, the Nine-Tongued Worm. The Prime Architect managed to repel the aberrant god, but was mortally wounded; the Primordial then bathed itself in the pure energies of cosmic Order emanating from the Accordant Expanse and was transformed into the entire modron race, which sealed up most of the Far Realm breaches and then built [[Mechanus]] as a demiplane within the Accordant Expanse before migrating there and creating Primus to rule themselves.

4e modrons have a distinct hierarchy, which goes as follows. Additionally, modrons have a more clockwork appearance in this cosmology, and a more [[Transformers]] like aesthetic; higher ranks of modrons are literally made by lower-ranked modrons physically meshing together and pooling their minds and "flesh" into a single higher being.

Base Modrons:
* Monodrone: General Laborer
* Duodrone: Skilled Laborer
* Tridrone: Supervisor
* Quadrone: Manager
* Pentadrone: Law Enforcer

Hierarchs:
* Decaton: Administrator
* Nonaton: Arbiter
* Octon: Mayor
* Septon: Inspector
* Hexton: General
* Quinton: Councilor
* Quarton: Governor
* Tertian: Judge
* Secundus: Viceroy
* Primus: Absolute Ruler

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
Modron-monodrone-MM2 page87.jpg|From Monster Manual II
Duodrone 1e.png
Tridrone 1e.png
Quadrone 1e.png
Pentadrone 1e.png
Monodrones march by Adam Rex.jpg|[[/r9k/]]? Try /r(9*10^9)k/
Decaton overseer.jpg|Middle-management has its perks. Like five extra eyes, and luscious lips.
Modron_simple.png|Early concept art?
Primus 1e.png|1e Primus
Primus from blood-wars game.jpg|Primus, as he appeared in the [[Blood War]]s [[card game]].
Primus 2e.jpg|Primus and Tenebrous, from ''The Great Modron March''.
2e_Monodrone.gif| A monodrone, as they appeared in 2e
Duodrone 2e.jpg|A duodrone, as they appeared in 2e
Tridrone 2e.jpg|A tridrone, as they appeared in 2e
2e_Quadrone.gif|A quadrone, as they appeared in 2e
2e_Quadrone_2.gif|Another 2e quadrone
Quadrone 4e.jpg|A 4e quadrone
Pentadrone 2e.jpg|A pentadrone, as they appeared in 2e
Pentadrone PoL.jpg|Another 2e pentadrone
2e_Decaton.gif|A decaton, as they appeared in 2e
Decaton PoL mechanus.jpg|A decaton from ''Planes of Law''
2e_Nonaton.gif|A nonaton, as they appeared in 2e
2e_Octon.gif|An octon, as they appeared in 2e
2e_Septon.gif|A septon, as they appeared in 2e
Septon PoL.jpg|Another 2e septon
2e_Hexton.gif|A hexton, as they appeared in 2e
2e_Quinton.gif|A quinton, as they appeared in 2e
Quarton.PNG|A quarton, as they appeared in 2e
Secundus PoL.jpg|A secundus
Modron trial.jpg
</gallery>

{{D&D2e-Races}}
{{D&D-Outsiders}}

Modron

2021-02-14T23:01:26Z

2603:7081:7500:A9C:5D9:FD9A:9571:8D61: /* Modron Hierarchy */

[[File:Monodrone planscape supplement pg008.jpg|right|thumb|Ceiling monodrone is watching you orchestrate]]
Modrons are a race of Lawful Neutral Outsiders introduced into [[Dungeons & Dragons]] in 1st edition (MM2, pg 86), native to the plane of Nirvana, AKA [[Mechanus]]. In AD&D 2nd edition, thanks to the [[Planescape]] setting, they were the primary inhabitants of the extreme lawful-neutral plane of Mechanus. In D&D 3rd edition's Manual of the Planes, they share Mechanus with the Formians (giant ant-people) when their lawful good / lawful neutral plane went too lawful (thanks a lot, [[Lawful Stupid|Harmonium]]!) and was annexed by Mechanus.

Modrons first appeared as living geometric shapes - spheres, cubes, pyramids, etcetera. In 2nd edition, to try and make them look less goofy, they were redesigned with a more clockwork cyborg motif. They are perhaps one of the most iconic races invented for Planescape.

Modrons divide their territory in Mechanus into four areas, called Quarters. Each Quarter is then divided into another four sub-areas, called Regions. And Regions are divided again into another four sub-sub-areas called Sectors.

== Modron Mentality==
Modrons are what D&D sometimes calls "Exemplars", extraplanar beings that exist as living embodiments of a particular [[Alignment]]. Naturally, Modrons are associated with Lawful Neutral, though as was common for the edition, the precise method by which they exhibit this bumps them pretty firmly into [[Lawful Stupid]] territory.

The Modron mindset can be likened to that of a computer. And not a fancy AI, either; your basic cheap "garbage in, garbage out" 80s-esque piece of junk. Modrons have no real individual personalities, no capacity to understand anything besides basic logic, and are driven by an insatiable need to try and bring order from chaos, sense from nonsense-- even if it only makes sense to themselves. So integral is the idea of logic and order to them that Modrons actually cannot understand the existence of any Modron that doesn't belong to either the same caste, the cast directly below them, or the caste directly above them - a tridrone, for example, would understand other tridrones, duodrones and quadrones, but would not recognize the "Modronity" or even the very existence of a pentadrone (seeing only a strange, incomprehensible shape when looking at one); a monodrone would be too simple to communicate with.

All that is right happens because it must inescapably ''be'', and all that which is wrong must ''not'' be. This is the closest thing Modrons have to a philosophy, based on their concept that all life and direction springs from a single great pool of logical action.

Needless to say, they are a nightmare to deal with. Imagine trying to deal with a city-spanning bureaucracy where every single bureaucrat is socially interchangeable with all the others, has no individual personality, and makes no effort to share information between them. A single barmy could spend centuries trying to get a simple matter resolved, because they keep inadvertently restarting their applications. Clever berks have a slightly easier time with this, using paint or ink or some such to apply unique marks to individual Modrons so as to be able to tell them apart, which works because a Modron will not even acknowledge these markings unless instructed by a superior to remove them.

Perhaps one of the greatest examples of this is the adventure path called The Great Modron March. The titular March is noted for being as destructive as a rampaging horde of demons at the best of times, and is even worse when it suddenly occurs several centuries before it should. One of the earliest adventures involves a town that is trying to plead with the Modrons to at least give them time to evacuate: they worked out a diplomatic bargain with the Modrons before the last march, creating designated routes for the Modrons to use so they wouldn't hurt anyone as they passed through the town to the portal they were after. Thing is, the Modrons won't, indeed cannot, accept that the town's layout has changed in the three centuries since it was last used, and so they refuse to deviate from those established routes. Thusly, the party's goal in this adventure is to try and do damage control as a veritable sea of crazed clockwork cyber-angels march through the city, destroying and killing anything that falls in their way.

Their rigid psychology is proof against any attempt at tampering, even for modrons not on Mechanus and part of the hivemind. All modrons are immune to mind-affecting enchantments, charms, illusions or beguilements. Spells or effects that induce emotions are also completely impotent even to the lowest monodrone. Even their physiology is so bloody-minded stubborn about staying alive that all damage rolls made against modrons are at -1 for each die rolled.

== Modron Hierarchy ==
[[File:Base_modrons_by_Dillon.jpg|thumb|right|One, Two, Three,<br> Four, Five... point-one]]
Modrons exist in hierarchy, their very social structure based on the idea of delegation of authority; command decisions emanate from Primus itself, slowly going down the racial line until it is complete. Caste determines physical shape, abilities, social role and mental capacity. In ascending order, they go as follows; the first five castes form the "Base Modrons", whilst the other nine castes form the "Hierarch Modrons".

If a Modron is slain or otherwise rendered invalid to fulfill its purpose, a random Modron from the next lowest caste is promoted up to fill the void. The position they vacate is filled by a lower-caste modron with another promotion, and another, until the lack trickles down to the monodrone level; what happens here depends on edition. In some editions one Monodrone actually splits in two like a unicellular organism (in 4e any modron higher in rank than a monodrone would actually split into four monodrones on death), but in other editions a new monodrone simply walks out of this thing called the Creation Pool that Primus sits in. Because Mechanus is infinite in size like all planes, this happens so often that a constant stream of monodrones is perpetually marching out of the pool 24/7.

The lowest five castes are the "base" modrons, with animal up to moron intelligence.

'''Monodrones''' are responsible for general labor. Appearing as small metal spheres with a single eye, a pair of spindly metal legs, and either a pair of arms or a pair of wings, these single-task Modrons are virtually mindless, capable of undertaking only a single task at a time. Order them to fight, and they mechanically attack whatever they see, even one another if they are not ordered to stop first. These form the vast bulk of the Modrons numbers. They cannot speak, though they can understand orders. These are the type of Modron that would be the janitors at a fast food restaurant.

'''Duodrones''' are charged with performing complex tasks that a monodrone is too stupid to handle, up to and including directing monodrones. Appearing as rectangular shapes with four spindly metal limbs, duodrones are bi-functional, capable of handling two tasks simultaneously. This gives them slightly greater intelligence than monodrones; for example, a duodrone who was ordered to fight would kill all enemies in sight and then go in search of new enemies, rather than simply attack other nearby Modrons. Duodrones can speak, but only in a limited fashion; about all they're capable of is clearly reporting their operations and observations. These are the type of Modron that would prepare the food at a fast food restaurant.

'''Tridrones''' are capable of performing multiple tasks simultaneously and are also minor supervisors; these are the Modrons who command the duodrones. They resemble walking pyramids, pointy side down, with a single-eyed face on each side of their body, three legs and three arms. They are usually given a single general directive, which they then subdivide into simpler tasks and assign to their duodrone underlings. They are even capable of planning limited objectives on their own. These are the type of Modron that would run the drive-through a fast food restaurant.

'''Quadrones''' are capable of performing multiple complex tasks simultaneously, which also makes them the supervisors of Base Modronkind. Appearing as mechanical cubes with a face on one side, two legs, two arms and either a pair of wings or a second pair of arms, they are the first caste to approach human-grade sapience, being "four-function" creatures that can report actions and observations, make plans, react to unexpected occurrences and act to remedy them. This type of Modron would run the tills of a fast food restaurant.

'''Pentadrones''' form the lesser police officers of the Modron race, being charged with law enforcement. Their primary task is the prevention of Modrons going rogue. As the borderline between Base and Hierarch Modrons, these outsiders are five-function beings that can communicate, operate, monitor, plan and manage. They resemble mechanical five-legged starfish with a face on each "arm" and five spindly mechanical legs growing underneath them, which are used to walk. These modrons would be the manager at a fast-food restaurant.
[[File:Hierarch Modrons from MM2.png|thumb|right]]
The castes above this level are "hierarch" modrons of average up to godlike intelligence, and each caste requires a strictly regimented number that should exist at each caste level at any time -- no more ''and'' no less. They each have telepathy for communication at increasingly crazy distances, for the purpose of the hivemind mesh. They are so hyper-OCD organized that they never roll for initiative but choose their place in turn order. Every hierarch modron has the following at-will abilities: clairaudience, clairvoyance, command word, dimension hop, teleport (with 0% mis-jump), and forcewall. Hierarch modrons slain in Mechanus will self-resurrect in a few days; slain elsewhere, their souls return to their god, and a promotion chain is automatically triggered to fill the absent position. Hierarch modrons will never willingly leave Mechanus unless commanded by Primus.

'''Decatons''' are charged with overseeing the physical welfare of the base Modrons. There are one-hundred in existence at any given time; one for each Sector and one for each army. They resemble metal spheres with ten tentacles around their bodies standing on stumpy legs. They have access to a variety of curative spells that only affect Modrons, and can also levitate at will. This modron would be the area manager at a fast-food business.

'''Nonatons''' make up the police supervision of the Modrons. Their numbers are kept at eighty-one. Nine serve the octons by carrying their orders, sixty-four monitor the decatons of the realm, and the remaining eight monitor the decatons of the armies. They appear as, depending on edition, one-eyed cylinders with a ring of tentacles or giant caterpillar things with a monodrone-like face.

'''Octons''' are the governors of the Sectors, meaning there are only sixty-four octons in all of Mechanus. Octons are distinguished by the metallic collar that grows around their neck, from which sprouts eight tentacle arms. They are provided levitation by these collars, which enables them to move through air and water with equal ease and grace.

'''Septons''' are governmental inspectors, forty-nine in number, responsible for ensuring that each octon is performing its duties satisfactorily. They resemble humanoids with large, bald heads, and smaller versions of the same collars that grow from an octon's shoulders; septons cannot fly like octons, but they can move perfectly through water.

'''Hextons''' are the generals of the Modron armies. There are thirty-six of them. Hextons resemble six-armed humanoids, having two large human-like arms, each of which ends in a six-fingered hand, and four claw-tipped tentacles, as well as a pair of fan-like wings that join at their shoulders.

'''Quintons''' are bureau chiefs and record keepers for Modron territory. They number twenty-five. These Modrons have the appearance of tall, stockily built humanoids with two pairs of arms, a prehensile tail, and fanlike wings similar to those of a Hexton.

'''Quartons''' are the governors of the Regions, meaning there are only sixteen of these Modrons in existence at any one time. They have the appearance of 12ft-tall humanoids with four jointed arms and the same fan-like wings as the Hextons and Quintons.

'''Tertions''' are the judges of the Modron race. There are only nine, with two assigned to each Secundi and one reporting directly to Primus. They resemble 12ft tall, bald humans with long horns jutting from the sides of their head and long, prehensile-tails that end in a ball like a mace's head.

'''Secundi''' are the governors of the four Quarters, meaning there are only four of them. They answer directly to Primus. They appear as incredibly tall and thin humanoids with deep-set eyes. These modrons would be the board of directors in a fast food company.
[[File:Primus Dragon 341.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Primus, the One and the Prime, as portrayed in [[3.5e]]. Note that he looks different than what he is described like - this is because this is a picture of him after being reintroduced in Dragon Magazine as a [[Vestige]].]]
The highest caste has only one occupant, and it is the only god-type modron. It has telepathy that extends to all modrons in the same plane, along with the usual benefits of immortality and divine power. All modron clerics pray to the occupant of the highest caste, who responds efficiently and grants their divine spells for the day.

'''Primus''' is the One and the Prime, the god-like entity that is the ultimate source of the Modron race. He is their overarching will, their mind, their soul. All that they do ultimately stems from him. If seen in person, this entity manifests as the upper torso of an enormous androgynous humanoid rising from a pool of incandescent energy - the life essence of the Modron race - with its right hand obscured by rainbow-hued light and its left hand obscured by ink-black shadows. Primus does not create avatars, and Primus never leaves Mechanus. Primus's first concern is always the well-being of the modron species as a whole. Unlike other gods who will resurrect from the plane's quintessence if slain, Primus is "resurrected" by the immediate promotion of a Secundus, which triggers a highly organized civil war to determine which secudus is ascended, and which will in turn trigger a chain of promotions. Since modrons are a hive-mind, this new Primus will know everything the previous Primus knew. This Modron would be the almighty God-CEO of a fast food company.

In canon, Primus got killed before the start of the AD&D adventure-line "The Great Modron March", when Orcus (in his undead incarnation as Tenebrous) snuck into Mechanus and killed him, then stole his identity and set the March off early to look for his precious Wand so he could use it to restore himself to life. Though Orcus canonically got his Wand back, revived himself and left, allowing the Modrons to generate a new Primus, Dragon Magazine #341 states that the Primus that Tenebrous killed ended up becoming a Vestige. As a Vestige, Primus will not manifest to a [[Binder]] already binding Tenebrous, and grants bonuses for acting in a mechanical manner (that is, doing the same set of actions in multiple rounds), Lawful aligned attacks, and the ability to issue a Command spell once every 6 rounds.

== Rogue Modrons ==
It happens rarely, but sometimes, Modrons go rogue (this can happen with other outsiders as well, but for some reason Modrons are the only ones where it happens enough for said exceptions to be notable). They start to develop a personality and a mind of their own, becoming distinctive beings rather than interchangeable cogs. Only Modrons of at least quadrone rank seem to be capable of going rogue; the lower three castes are simply too mindless to develop that level of a sense of self. Modrons typically seek to destroy these rogues whenever they appear in order to return their essence to the logic-pool for recycling, fearing either their contamination of the Modron race or their depletion of the Modron logic-pool.

The most awesome modron ever is probably Nordom, the "backwards Modron", from [[Planescape: Torment]], who is an iconic example of a rogue. Rogue modrons are the most frequent source of modron PCs, being capable of self-interest and a certain amount of free will. They ''must'' be of lawful alignment (being only "chaotic" in relation to other modrons), and their brains tend to melt when they attempt to interact with chaotic people.

==Modrons in the World Axis==
Modrons made their way into the [[World Axis]] in [[Dragon Magazine]] #414 and [[Dungeon Magazine]] #186. Here, they are stated to be a result of a [[Archomental|primordial]] called the Prime Architect, which discovered the plane of the Accordant Expanse, a kind of polar opposite to the [[Far Realm]] as a plane of pure logic, order and stasis. This inspired him to undertake a project of massive proportions, which accidentally caused a multitude of breaches to the Far Realm to form as well as attracting the attention of Mak Thuum Ngatha, the Nine-Tongued Worm. The Prime Architect managed to repel the aberrant god, but was mortally wounded; the Primordial then bathed itself in the pure energies of cosmic Order emanating from the Accordant Expanse and was transformed into the entire modron race, which sealed up most of the Far Realm breaches and then built [[Mechanus]] as a demiplane within the Accordant Expanse before migrating there and creating Primus to rule themselves.

4e modrons have a distinct hierarchy, which goes as follows. Additionally, modrons have a more clockwork appearance in this cosmology, and a more [[Transformers]] like aesthetic; higher ranks of modrons are literally made by lower-ranked modrons physically meshing together and pooling their minds and "flesh" into a single higher being.

Base Modrons:
* Monodrone: General Laborer
* Duodrone: Skilled Laborer
* Tridrone: Supervisor
* Quadrone: Manager
* Pentadrone: Law Enforcer

Hierarchs:
* Decaton: Administrator
* Nonaton: Arbiter
* Octon: Mayor
* Septon: Inspector
* Hexton: General
* Quinton: Councilor
* Quarton: Governor
* Tertian: Judge
* Secundus: Viceroy
* Primus: Absolute Ruler

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
Modron-monodrone-MM2 page87.jpg|From Monster Manual II
Duodrone 1e.png
Tridrone 1e.png
Quadrone 1e.png
Pentadrone 1e.png
Monodrones march by Adam Rex.jpg|[[/r9k/]]? Try /r(9*10^9)k/
Decaton overseer.jpg|Middle-management has its perks. Like five extra eyes, and luscious lips.
Modron_simple.png|Early concept art?
Primus 1e.png|1e Primus
Primus from blood-wars game.jpg|Primus, as he appeared in the [[Blood War]]s [[card game]].
Primus 2e.jpg|Primus and Tenebrous, from ''The Great Modron March''.
2e_Monodrone.gif| A monodrone, as they appeared in 2e
Duodrone 2e.jpg|A duodrone, as they appeared in 2e
Tridrone 2e.jpg|A tridrone, as they appeared in 2e
2e_Quadrone.gif|A quadrone, as they appeared in 2e
2e_Quadrone_2.gif|Another 2e quadrone
Quadrone 4e.jpg|A 4e quadrone
Pentadrone 2e.jpg|A pentadrone, as they appeared in 2e
Pentadrone PoL.jpg|Another 2e pentadrone
2e_Decaton.gif|A decaton, as they appeared in 2e
Decaton PoL mechanus.jpg|A decaton from ''Planes of Law''
2e_Nonaton.gif|A nonaton, as they appeared in 2e
2e_Octon.gif|An octon, as they appeared in 2e
2e_Septon.gif|A septon, as they appeared in 2e
Septon PoL.jpg|Another 2e septon
2e_Hexton.gif|A hexon, as they appeared in 2e
2e_Quinton.gif|A quinton, as they appeared in 2e
Quarton.PNG|A quarton, as they appeared in 2e
Secundus PoL.jpg|A secundus
Modron trial.jpg
</gallery>

{{D&D2e-Races}}
{{D&D-Outsiders}}

Genie

2021-02-14T22:58:46Z

2603:7081:7500:A9C:5D9:FD9A:9571:8D61: /* Warhammer Fantasy */

Genies, a term corrupted from the Arabic term "djinni", are mystical spirits originating from Arabic folklore and later getting incorporated into the religion of Islam as something of a grey area between an equivalent to Christian [[demons]] and simply another race of mortals. They are best known for their immense magical powers, which iconically allow them to literally alter reality as they see fit. Because of this, mages have a pretty long tradition of magically stuffing them into small objects (lamps are most iconic, but rings and vases are pretty common too) and compelling them to obey whoever holds their prison. They also tend to be [[Eldrad|major league dicks]], though whether this dickishness is because of the aforementioned "being stuck in a lamp and forced to grant wishes for every yahoo who can get ahold of it" or they got stuffed into a lamp for ''being'' a dick tends to vary.

The most common stories involving Genies involve someone setting one free and in return allowing them wishes, generally with a certain amount of mischief in creative interpretation. You rub a bottle, a genie comes out, make a wish and you end up running for your life from a 30 meter tall Nixon as he rampages through your hometown Kaiju Style. Worth noting is that the wish-granting worked very different in the original tales than it does in modern fantasy, in several ways: 1)The number of wishes a given genie offered was not necessarily three; depending on the genie, it could be one wish, infinite wishes, or any number in between. 2) The actual granting of a wish didn't consist of the genie snapping their fingers and magicking your desires into reality, it was just them doing a favor they owed you by mundane means; if for example you wished to be the king/queen of the land, the genie would do something like go and purchase the title from the current ruler. 2i) As such, there was no guarantee that the genie would be able to grant your wish. Genies varied significantly in how powerful they were: one might be able to afford the purchasing of the queen's crown, for example, but another might only be able to get you as high as a baroness.

They're usually pretty good looking, and it's not unheard of for them to have sex with or even marry mortals.

==[[Dungeons & Dragons]]==
[[File:Female Efreet PF.jpg|thumb|right|300px|A Pathfinder take on the Efreet.]]

Genies are one of the "big names" for the [[Elemental Planes]]; being the most human-like in appearance and intelligence, they present a "face" for interactions both positive and negative that the more primordial elementals lack. There are four species of genie, one for each of the four major elements: [[Djinn]] (air), [[Efreet]] (fire), [[Dao]] (earth), and [[Marid]] (water); some editions also have a fifth, the [[Jann]], comprised of all four elements and thus needing to spend most of their time on the Prime Material. Although very different in personality, the various types each share certain traits, including polyamory (except the Jann) and large libidos, vaguely Middle Eastern cultures, and the ability to grant wishes with a laundry list of restrictions (notably, they can't grant wishes for themselves or other genies, and while they can grant one wish a day they can't grant another wish to the ''same'' creature until a very long period of time has passed).

Of these four (to five) races, it has always been the Djinn and the Efreet who have stuck out the most in the D&D player's mind. These two races have very clear archetypes; djinni are the "friendly leaning but dangerous if made moody" genies, whilst efreeti are the "obviously evil genies". In comparison, dao tend to boil down to "efreeti with earth powers and a lot more greed for gold and gems", whilst marids tend to boil down to "djinni with water powers, an even more fickle attitude, and a barrowload of extra ego". Jann, being both the weakest type of genie and the one type native to the Prime Material and thus more likely to be met in person on your travels than found in a magic item, come across more as a race of desert nomads with magic than "proper" genies.

In fact, it got to the point that 4e originally left those three races out; it wasn't until an article in [[Dungeon Magazine]] #199 that the dao and marids both returned to 4th edition (the Jann could suck it). And they were still pretty much identical to their classic depictions; dao were avaricious, evil, giant earth-genies obsessed with mineral wealth, and marids were arrogant, flamboyant, adventurous water genies who all to the last claimed a noble title. Whether this was deliberate - a lot of the later 4e Dungeon & Dragon magazine articles tended towards bringing back older lore - or was just a sign that the grid-filling nature of D&D genies robs even the best authors of their creativity, who can say?

[[Al-Qadim]], the "Arabian Nights" mini-setting for the [[Forgotten Realms]], placed a lot of emphasis on genies, naturally. It created the "Tasked Genie" designation, a variety of lesser genies specially molded to fulfill certain tasks until they had become entirely new species revolving around that task (specific strains: Administrator, Architect/Builder, Artist, Deceiver, Guardian, Harim Servant, Herdsman, Messenger, Miner, Oathbinder, Slayer, Warmonger and Winemaker). It created the Markeen, or "Genie Double", a genie cursed to be the exact physical replica of a mortal, and it introduced the [[Sha'ir]] class; a [[Wizard]] variant that drew its powers from the service of a minor allied genie called a gen.

Genies are one of the elementals most likely to produce [[genasi]] offspring, though [[Pathfinder]] also has a specific "genie-born" hybrid, the [[Suli]].

3.5's Tome of Magic introduced a new breed of genie; the Khayal, a "darkness elemental" genie native to the [[Plane of Shadow]]. Master wielders of shadow magic, khayal are distinguished by their dark, dusky-gray skin and their utter-black eyes, which appear more like night-filled holes in their skull than anything human-like. If one can look past that, they otherwise look like slightly taller than average humans. They regard the other elemental genies with varying levels of antipathy, but have an especial hatred for jann. Looking down on all other races, khayal culture revolves around deciving and manipulating them - although they are never anything but scrupulously honest with each other. Tradition holds that anyone who can irrefutably prove they have been lied to by a khayal is owed a single task from that genie in recompense, but they don't always live up to this. They have been known to assist mortals of their own volition, either out of mutual need or due to being impressed at the mortal's deceitfulness, but they display archetypical genie arrogance when they do.

3.5 also gave us the Frostfell sourcebook, and with it, the Qorrashi, who were associated with the Paraelemental Plane of Ice, but they only got an average-size soucebook bestiary-level description, so there's not much to say about them other than that they exist.

===D&D Genie Gallery===
<gallery>
<center>
File:2e Dao (MM).gif
File:2e Djinni (MM).gif
File:2e Efreet (MM).gif
File:2e Marid (MM).gif
File:2e Dao Female (LoF).png
File:2e Djinni Female (LoF).png
File:2e Efreet Female (LoF).png
File:2e Marid Female (LoF).png
File:2e Dao Male (LoF).png
File:2e Djinni Male (LoF).png
File:2e Efreet Male (LoF).png
File:2e Marid Male (LoF).png
File:2e Janni Female (LoF).png
File:2e Janni Male (LoF).png
File:Noble Dao.gif
File:Noble Djinni.gif
File:Noble Efreet.gif
File:Noble Marid.gif
File:Djinn & Efreeti 3E.jpg
File:3e Dao and Marid.png
File:Qorrashi.jpg
File:Khayal.jpg
File:4e Dao.png
File:4e Marid.png
File:4e Djinn Skylord.png
File:4e Djinn Stormsword.png
File:4e Djinn Thunderer.png
File:4e Djinn Windbow.png
File:4e Efreeti.png
File:4e Efreet Sultan of Brass.png
File:Dao-5e.png
File:Djinn5E.PNG.png
File:Efreeti-5e.png
File:Marid-5e.jpg
</center>
</gallery>

==Pathfinder==
{{stub}}

[[File:Pathfinder Genies.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The complete line-up of [[Golarion]] Genies.]]

Mostly identical to the classic D&D version, complete with dividing its genies into four elemental types. They call their earth genies "Shaitain", though.

{{clear}}

==[[Changeling: The Lost]]==
It's quite possible for a [[changeling]] - or, more fittingly, a True Fae - in [[Changeling: The Lost]] to style themselves after a genie. In fact, the splat ''Night Horrors: Grim Fears'' actually features a genie-motifed magically bound True Fae called Ybalashi, who is compelled to grant the wishes of whoever holds her vessel. Of course, as her title of "The Artisan of Poisoned Desires" suggests, making use of her magic isn't a smart thing to do.

==[[Warhammer Fantasy]]==
Whilst the [http://warhammerfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Djinn Djinn] are a largely forgotten part of lore, [[Tzeentch]]ian Greater [[Daemon]], the [[Lord of Change]], has been known to act as a Genie - and, of course, always in a jerkass fashion.

For example, in one old Warhammer comic, an imprisoned [[Lord of Change]] was set free by three travelers. In "appreciation" for them setting it free, he would each give them a wish. The first wanted the ability to fly, and the Daemon turned him into a fly. When the two complained, it defended itself by claiming that he wasn't specific enough. So the second wished to live forever, and the daemon turned him into a vampire, which then forced the third companion, a Dwarf, to kill him. The dwarf, seeing that the Lord of Change would obviously screw over any wish it will grant, would then wish for the daemon to be imprisoned once again... if he were actually intelligent! [[Derp|Instead the dwarf had the brilliant decision of making a wish that he was worth his weight in gold]], [[FAIL|which worked just as about as well as you might expect since the daemon then turns him into a statue of solid gold.]]

Meanwhile, over in [[Mordheim]], the mercenary Nicodemus was a wizard's apprentice who foolishly freed a bounded Lord of Change and then wished to be "the greatest wizard in the world". This caused him to start growing into a giant spellcaster, and he was forced to come to Mordheim for a steady supply of the wyrdstone he needs in his growth-retardant potion. There's even a fan adventure where he runs out of potion long enough to grow to the size of a ''real'' giant.
{{D&D-Outsiders}}