THE BIRTH OF MEKS

A DISCUSSION ON THE REAL NATURE OF MEKS

ATTACHMENT #1015NU233

Haavroen of Faanes, Alphatian Sage and expert of Arcane Lore:

<<So, my friends, i am sure everyone realize the importance of our meeting. Thus i suggest we begin immediately presenting the facts of our latest researches and studies. The topic of this session is, as you all know, the real nature and history of what we commonly call Meks.

<<According to our common sources, they are tall metallic constructs who were created long ago by an ancient long dead race of sorcerers. The meks were mostly used as bodyguards and most of them resemble their masters: they're insectlike. They are quite powerful and immune to all spells except cold based spells -which only slow them- and Disintegrate.

<<Who created these things? This is a tough question, i must admit, but i am positively inclined to believe we have the means to find this out. Now, if i remember correctly, many have been mentioned as planar encounters by some daring adventurers. I think it is most likely that the said race of Sorcerers originated from an outer plane, but probably dominated several, thus spreading their servants throughout the inner and outer planes.>>

Vittorius Caminos VII, Imperis Magus of Thyatis and Professor of Archaeology at Collegium Arcanium:

<<First of all, the Meks could be considered like powerful metallic golems that are somehow built mixing magic and technology. This implies then that they can be remnants of the forgotten Blackmoor Empire and… *murmurs among the others* Come on, fellow scholars: we all know Blackmoor had the knowledge AND the resources to build this kind of constructs, so don't react so wild every time i mention the word Blackmoor: it's not a Power Word spell, after all…>>

Mark von Berg, Professor of Ancient History and Linguistics at the Great School of Magic:

<<My honorable collegues, allow me to make just a little correction to all that's been said so far.

<<Actually, wise Haavroen, the entry in the Complete Guidebook to Otherworldy Creatures -4^th edition, published by Te'Ess Arr of Alphatia- says that: "Meks were created by a race of INHUMAN sorcerers who died a long ago." Referring to this specific quote, we must then exclude the possibility that either the Blackmoorians - Professor Caminos suggested- or any other HUMAN race could have built them.>>

Vittorius Caminos VII:

<<Very well then, but what about Adaptors? They are surely "inhuman creatures" and they come from the Outer Planes. The Meks could be a technological creation of a clan of Adaptors who perhaps tried to colonize Mystara and failed… maybe because of Immortal intervention…>>

Mark von Berg:

<<I'm sorry to interrupt you again, but i fear you are in error. This is indeed an interesting hypothesis and i have to admit that i had the same idea in the past, but some researches i did in places i won't mention convinced me that the Adaptors are not the answer to our issue. Remember: they are not a race of Sorcerers, nor are they a DEAD race, as the entry about the Meks' masters reports. Moreover, since the Meks are found not only on Mystara but throughout the whole Multiverse, this would imply that the Adaptors tried to conquer the whole universe using meks, and obviously failed. Frankly, i don't know much about Adaptor customs, but they don't seem this power-hungry, nor this stupid…*soft laughter*>>

Vittorius Caminos VII:

<<Well, i do admit you have a point here. Anyway, i've got a third possible solution: Horde! If the meks were created during the Elemental Wars, then they could have been a gift of this race to any other non-elemental race that helped them in their wars. The Hordes have an insectoid appearence -sort of- and are much older than humakind… and besides, they're not human!>>

Mark von Berg:

<<Again, your hypothesis doesn't hold, and for a very simple fact: hordes aren't capable of mastering such a high level of technology or magic needed to design meks. They are a strange lifeform of the elemental Plane of Earth, and as you all know a very powerful one, but they cannot certainly be defined a "race of sorcerers".>>

Theiss'en the Great Old One, reclusive wizard of the Jungle Coast (rumored to be an ancient Gold Dragon):

<<Has any of you ever thought about the Egg of Coot being their creator? *some people shudder* We don't know for sure what he really was, but i've speculated much about this topic and i'm fairly sure he couldn't have been a human, so this requirement would be met. Besides, he could have been the last member of a dead race of sorcerers from another world, maybe even another plane of existence. It's a plausible solution, even though i must admit we have no real proof of the existence of meks at the time of the Egg.

<<Another possible theory is to link them to the Pyrithians, you know, the race from which the green-skinned Emerondians are descended. Recall that they use insects and plantlike weapons...>>

Mark von Berg:

<<Whilst your first hypothesis does seem to hold, the second one about the Pyrithians is to be excluded, in my humble opinion. Remember that meks are huge metallic beings, and as you have brilliantly explained us in your excellent study about Emerondian culture, they don't mess with anything "unnatural" -such as metallic constructs like meks- Theirs is a druidic culture, and they "grow" monsters rather then construct them.

<<If i may express my personal opinion, the question of the meks' origin is far too obscure to be resolved in only one meeting. *murmurs among the others* Anyway, i too have hypothesis.

<<Remember that meks come out in many shapes that "resemble their creators": insects, lizards, giants, and many other creatures -according to the CGOC. If we accept all these hints as true -and that's what i'm doing: i've never thought about the possibility of the great Te'Ess Arr lying at his readers-, then we must conclude that Meks were created either by many different races -remember the different shapes of meks- or by a race of long dead and forgotten Metamorphs that probably originated in the Outer Planes.

<<Also, since there are so many different meks on Mystara, there's also the possibility that someone has studied the inactive meks during the centuries and has managed to build other new meks. The Egg of Coot might be one, as Theiss'en suggested, the Adaptors and the Oards are other possible candidates in this case, as well as any other powerful sorcerer or race well versed in technology. I would not thereby exclude the possibility that someone actually had the time and skills to study meks and to BUILD new types of those creatures, thus producing meks in different forms from the originals.

<<Finally, i would not exclude the possibility of Gargantua being their creator *some people shudder and murmur*… or for that matter, of Gargantua and the Egg being the same being… Well, you already know my opinion about this subject.>>

Haavroen of Faanes:

<<Mmhh… It seems we have some very interesting theories and starting points here, but we still need to shed some light on this obscure topic. Maybe taking another approach to the issue, a more indirect one, could help…

<<For example, why not to try to find the cause of the meks creators' doom first? Why did they die? How can such a powerful race be totally destroyed? Only by something more powerful? Did the immortals play any active role in this event? That's beginning to sound like a cliche lately… *soft laughing* Could there still be some left of these Insectlike beings? What were their role in the history of the multiverse? Were they involved in the elemental wars? Or were they gone long before that?>>

Mark von Berg:

<<Wait, wait, o' most wise Haavroen… one question at a time, or else we'll all get feebleminded… *laughing*

<<Anyway, I think that the cause of their creators' doom is probably to be found inside their own society. A civil war of planar proportions, that's my take on it. Probably, the sorcerers were divided into two or more factions -like the Air and Fire Wizards on Old Alphatia, for example- and in their final attempt to annihilate the enemy factions, these wizards destroyed themselves and their whole race. It could be that the Meks were the Ultimate Weapon that some of them wanted to use to destroy any opposing side, but probably at the end of the war every faction had its own Meks, and this resulted in a no-winner conflict, during which they eliminated each other because their strength was equal. The remaining Meks in the outer and inner planes -and in Mystara- are very powerful golems that testify the epic proportions of this cross-planar war.

<<There is however another possible scenario to consider. Not all the sorcerers of this race have died, but some of them, the wisest and most foresighted, anticipating the outcome of the conflict, have gone into a state of suspended animation inside "sleeping chambers" buried deep beneath the earth of Mystara -considered far away enough to avoid being noticed by their enemies-, leaving meks on the surface to guard their sleep. They planned to awaken in a couple of centuries or so, but unfortunately something went wrong -maybe the Great Rain of Fire altered their artifacts or their magic- and they remained imprisoned in their sleeping chambers, unable to exit by themselves. Or maybe some awry magical effect has altered the timer of their chambers, and the awakening date has been postponed of a couple of millennia.>>

Theiss'en the Great Old One:

<<Interesting. Now that i recall, some of my informators have reported that to the east of the N'djatwa lands in Vulcania, there live powerful metallic creations that spend the days beating one another to a pulp. They didn't mention much else about this because they didn't go too near to investigate, and I have always taken it to mean that was the land of the fabled gnomish Earthshakers. Perhaps it isn't the land of Earthshakers, but of Meks? Or perhaps the ice gnomes in the region built their Earthshakers in imitation of the powerful magical Meks that shared their southern lands? What do you all think?>>

Mark von Berg:

<<This fits perfectly in my theory! Maybe the sleeping chambers and the meks' creators lie beneath the ground near the Ice Gnomes, and the meks are there to protect them. Maybe the gnomes spotted an enormous vein of gold or adamantium (or another precious ore) right in the place where the meks live, and after some attempts to chase off the meks that have proven disastrous, they came to the conclusion that they had to build something similar to meks to defeat them, and so they came out with earthshakers. Now they are using the earthshaker to tunnel the very ground where the meks' masters lie, and this has caused the meks to attack the gnomes, beginning the war between Earthshakers and Meks.>>

Haavroen of Faanes:

<<This is certainly most interesting and deserves a better investigation to find evidences of your hypothesis, Professor von Berg. I hope the Great Theiss'en will invest some of his time and resources to find out the truth and to report it to the next meeting…>>

Theiss'en the Great Old One:

<<Consider it done, o' wise Haavroen>>

Haavroen of Faanes:

<<Now, it seems we have a possible solution to our issue concerning the origins of meks, but i must say we are only at the beginning of our trip to find out the whole truth.

<<We must now focus our attention to another face of the problem, that is to say the real nature of meks. Are they magical or mechanical, much like Blackmoorian or Oardian creations?>>

Nikola Huddenson, Professor of Physics and Alchemy at the University of Corun:

<<Actually, after a long research and thanks to the help of Professor von Berg, i've found out that the word Mek is closely related to the Blackmoorian word "mecha" or "meka", which is a transliteration of machine, and it was used to describe anything high-tech. I thereby think that Te'Ess Arr took the word "mek" from the Blackmoorian term, and thus this implies that Meks are in fact mechanical, technological creations. Let's examine the facts we know about meks once more.

<<Meks are not naturally occuring, were created by "sorcerers" -either actual magic-users, or, much more likely given meks' nature, beings of sufficently advanced technology to be labeled sorcerers by more primitive species-, and are found in several planes.

<<They, in and of themselves, are not intelligent. Meks vary in in size -ranging from 16 ft to over 30 ft-, construction, power, and use. Many meks are insectoid, but among the non-insectoid, there is considerable variation, and they were created by inhuman entities.

<<So, giving the fact that meks are not intelligent and that they cannot travel to other planes by themselves -as testified by the facts we've previously found out about the Legend of Pyx- this means that meks are native to several planes, in my opinion.

<<I share one of Professor von Berg's theories, that's to say: not all meks were created by the same race. Given the variation and the distribution of meks in several places throughout the Multiverse, one race does not seem to fulfil all of the requirements necessary for mek creation and placement. As they cannot travel to other planes on their own, and presumably do not reproduce, to be found on other planes in (relatively) large numbers would require meks being created on said plane.

<<My proposal is that "mek" refers to a giant technological golem created for some purpose. Our friend here, Don de Em-pol, would call them robots, because they are not really golems, so i suggest we use this taxonomy.>>

Don Dieguito y Calugos de Em-pol, Archwizard of Almarron and Expert of Outerplanar Beings:

<<Indeed, señor Huddenson, this is a very good argument which i highly support. I would only add this specification: meks aren't robots, but a category of robots. This is reasonable since they were built by sorcerers and their masters, as you suggested, seem to be more than a single race of sorcerers. So with the word "mek" we mean a sort of constructs, which share the same main features -material, dimensions, power, armor, number of attacks, and so on- and maybe the same system of building. So they are all made of steel and created as bodyguards, they can change shape and are resistent to magic.

<<The only thing i don't agree with is your definition of their intelligence. I would not say they are stupid, but rather their intelligence is "not ratable". This means that every mek has been built with a specific task and all it can do is perform it. If a mek faces an anomalous situation, it can't react or it react in the most obvious way, such as the mek incident in the Plane of Pyx.>>

Nikola Huddenson:

<<Thank you for you specification, don Dieguito. So, following this line of reasoning, the meks could be brainless armor that one enters and controls, or they could be semi-intelligent, autonomous drones, or even a combination of the two: roboticized armor with intelligent features like autopilot, weapon targeting... *some people cough* Oh… yes, sorry for the technical terms, i didn't want to embarass any of you: my apologies. All i wanted to say is that there can be many meks, with many different attributes.

<<Unfortunatly, I cannot explain who the inhuman sorcerers are mentioned in the description. A theory I came up with involved the Beagle, you know… that alien skyship that…>>

Haavroen of Faanes:

<<We all know the topic of your discussion. There is no need to specify further, since this information is top secret and this place is not protected enough to allow any of us talk about it… freely.>>

Nikola Huddenson:

<<Uh, i'm sorry, fellow members. All i wanted to say is that the Beagle's crew is technically inhuman, and the locals see them as gods with powerful magic. Escalating warfare between Captain Riesling and Saint Stephen may lead the two to develop powered armor, which they would use to harass one another. This could have been the first example of meks in Mystara…>>

Theiss'en the Great Old One:

<<There are too many "could" and "may" in this theory for me. Remember that we don't know much about that period, especially now that the Gate has been sealed by the disappearence of Te'Ess Arr…>>

Vittorius Caminos VII:

<<He was last reported traveling towards the west coast, if i remember correctly. My sources told me that he had a secret meeting with some unknown wizards… Business stuff, if i got it right…>>

Haavroen of Faanes:

<<Fellow members, i advise you all once more to keep your comments on this topic to yourself, especially since this is not our current topic. Surely Te'Ess Arr knew what he was doing, so we need not fear anymore for him. Now, back to our discussion…>>

Mark von Berg:

<<The dilemma we face here is clear to me, fellow scholars: how are the Meks built? Are they simply "powerful golems" entirely made of iron or steel or adamantium -no cranks or machinery pieces inside? Are they robots with an internal powersource and a calculator in place of the brain…? *whisper by don de Em-pol* Uhm, yes… androids, thank you Don Dieguito.

<<Or are they Battle Suites whose real purpose and user manual has been lost, like Professor Huddenson was suggesting? And above all: are the MAGICAL or MECHANICAL? That's the main point. The CGOC says they were created by a race of sorcerers, but could it be that those who compiled that guide were hinting at the fact that the technology used was so advanced that could have been described only as "magical"? Could it be that the sorcerers were not "wizards" but technicians like the Blackmoorians, or the Beagle crew? This is our dilemma, the last veil before the final truth...>>

Haavroen of Faanes:

<<It is obvious to me that we won't be able to solve this puzzle until we find out if there are real meks in the Earthshakers' land. Only after we find out what lies there, we will be able to draw the final lines of the problem.>>

Theiss'en the Great Old One:

<<Very well, then. I suggest we postpone our meeting at a later date to continue with the discussion and to draw the conclusions after i gather more intelligence about that part of Davania.>>

Haavroen of Faanes:

<<I see nobody has anything against this, so be it. We will meet at the break of dawn in the Place of Many Fangs in one month. Farewell to all, fellow memebers, and long live Mystara.>>

[Compiled by Marco Dalmonte]

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