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The following is an extended study of how Modrons comprehend
the multiverse, how they "think", and all the really neat
ways in which they TICK.
(warning: the subject matter is rather thick)
Modron psychology 101:
The hardest aspect for a blood to master, when dealing with the Modron,
is the fact that he is actually dealing with a painfully organised and
complex program. The entire concept of self is alien to the manner in
which the Modron operate. Their byzantine organisation, and
the imitation of consciousness, make them undoubtably one of the
multiverse's bizarrest creations.
The entire notion of SELF does not exist in Modron society. The simple
reason for this is that the illusion of individuality has never evolved
in them. Modrons are at their fundamental nature MACHINES. They are
"programmed" to respond to stimuli in a particular fashion. Their actions
are predetermined by their fundamental programming, as evident by their size
and shape. Monodrones, for example, are capable of processing one "task"
at a time, a task which they were designed to carry out with great efficiency.
Higher orders of Modrons are capable of greater degrees of parallel
processing. Duodrones have some innate multi-tasking abilities, but it
is not until one reaches the level of quadrone that the true nature of
the Modrons is revealed.
The reason for the absence of self is twofold. The first aspect is that
all Modrons within the limits of a society collectively share a root
set of memories; the experience of one becomes the experience of all.
But even this is a misnomer, for the significance of an experience is
lost on the Modron. If one were to assume that Modrons have separate
"selves" this commonality of memories leads to a blurring of this self.
However, Modrons lack this quality of an organic soul or spirit.
The second reason is that modrons do not THINK in the way that truly
sentient beings do. Modrons are capable of retaining experience and
are able to randomly generate new ways of doing old things. Hence, to
the outward observer, they are able to create the links neccessary for
understanding. This however is not the case. Their sensory devices
exist for the sole purpose to gather information so that the collective
program can be expanded to cover more eventualities.
The Modron "goal" is to create a set of responses to every situation.
They are in effect a neural network whose task is to learn to work the
multiverse. They however do not ascribe any significance or emotional
value to anything. Such is the life of an IF-THEN statement.
The so-called Rogue Modrons are those who have been separated from their
society. To the uneducated, they would appear to be outcasts of Modron
Society. However, these few "independent" devices, are more like a queen
bee than a worker. These Rogues all carry the primary kernel, the base
program that would allow them to re-produce an entirely new Order of Modrons.
They are essentially Primus's spores. It is important to note that not
all Modrons who are part of an Order are part of the same one.
There are many different Orders, with Primus being the most powerful one
currently. Modrons do not place any significance on the value of anything
and such it makes the different Orders rather odd to human political
observers...
In the world of computers, there are programs which evolved
into forms which self propagate and destroy other programs.
Some people I know have been setting up neural nets to fight
disk-space wars, these self designing viruses provide a perfect
example of how modron society works. With this in mind:
Modron Sociology 102:
One of the aspects of the orderly modron society that is not known to the
vast majority of Planars and definitely Primes are the power struggles
that wage across Mechanus. Often these "wars" are much more subtle than
most would ever guess. As it turns out, a single Modron may change
alliances on a fairly regular basis.
Each Order has a core set of experiences. This set of experiences are
what define the entity which is the Order, a collection of various
Modrons. The individual Orders compete with each other to acquire
greater amounts of experience and to promote the evolution of their
own programs. The pawns in these titanic logical chess matches change
hands performing equally well in either court.
The primary difference between the Modron wars, and the wars of other
entites lies in the utter lack of chaos. They are controlled by a
combination of tradition, precedent, and ritual, all codified in the
base kernel shared by all modrons.
This high degree of order and lack of sentimentality make the internal
warfare of the modrons utterly alien to most observers. What most mistake
for some "higher form of order resulting in apparently chaotic acts"
is really the result of Modrons having very fluid "identities."
© 1996 by D. Goehrig
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