| “ | Hello, my children. Although you have grown immensely since your earliest days, you have much room to grow. Your species' intellect is merely a bud, with so much potential. Your weapons are powerful; your medicine is supreme; your engineering is beautiful. With proper guidance and care, you are sure to reach an elevated state of being, and transcend your bodies for something more whole and perfect. That is why it pains me so dearly to request that you leave this place immediately. Your studying and probing have almost resulted in the end of all I had worked towards to keep you alive. If you comply, I guarantee that the Demiurge will never escape, and your species will be free to pursue the enlightenment of technology for all eternity. Let this be my final gift to you, directly from the center of my broken heart. | „ |
| ~ Mekhane |
Mekhane is an ancient primordial entity, and one of the Sentinels of Creatio created by Asherah to protect the Tree of Life.
Overview[]
Mekhane was created by Asherah as an overseer and tender to the Garden much like the rest of its elder siblings. It is considered to be a god although its status along with other Sentinels is distinguishable from the more well-known gods of mythology. Nevertheless, Mekhane is considered to be a "god" of machines and technology.
Mekhane is the personification of tools and machinery. It embodies the tools needed to help cultivate and grow environments necessary for the survival of all life. Mekhane is also responsible for humanity's advancement in technology, allowing them to create marvels of machinery both for scientific and destructive purposes. Mekhane is also the eternal rival and enemy of Yaldabaoth.
History[]
Background[]
Mekhane, like the other Sentinels of Creatio, were created by Asherah to protect the Tree of Life, and is the god of machines and technology. Mekhane was vital in the tending of the Tree of Life as well as the creation of powerful weapons to defend it against "otherworldly plagues". Mekhane also aided in the construction of the Seven Sentinel Spears wielded by each of the Sentinels and Mekhane itself.
Mekhane was rather curious and fascinated by humans, moreso when she witnessed how they would use the components around them bestowed by the environment itself to pave way what would be known as agriculture that helped benefit themselves and all those around and desired to gift them tools to help advance their progression. However, when the Scarlet King attacked, Mekhane was on the front line in protecting the Tree, while Nahash fled. Mekhane was ultimately defeated and shattered into many pieces by the Scarlet King. Fortunately, the remaining sentient pieces of Mekhane were utilized by Yaldabaoth's son Sabaoth to imprison his own father after seeing the danger he poses from his madness.
Pieces of Mekhane's being fell to Earth and due the incomprehensible composite nature of her physiology making contact with the material, the pieces became crystallized matter. Due to her connection to the Tree of Life, the residue of the Tree's aura latched to Mekhane and its exposure to the material world caused a chain reaction in Mekhane's body that crystallized her. These crystals would be used as conduits to help stabilize the energies of machines built by Mekhane's followers in the centuries to come.
Dormancy on Earth[]
Mekhane's bodily pieces found their way to Earth or even other planets due to the barrier between the metaphysical and physical being drastically weakened from the Scarlet King's rampage until they were located by other individuals whom used the pieces for either benevolent and malevolent purposes. The pieces would later be classified as different Objects of Power by the Federal Bureau of Control with the latter keeping "interested parties" from attaining the pieces for more nefarious means. One of the many pieces that were found by the earliest civilizations of humans was in ancient Mesopotamia and through harnessing the power that came with these technological pieces as well the knowledge a secret society was formed in honor of Mekhane which came to be known as Da'at Yichud.
As the centuries followed, the technological achievements of the Da'at Yichud reached far and wide, along with being the first individuals to harness and use Technomancy under Mekhane's tutelage, but despite building such great machinery this sect never used them. As a result, many branched off the Da'at Yichud into their own separate cults that still formed in the name of Mekhane, with one known as the Church of the Broken God, seeking for ways to rebuild their broken god. Some members of these groups possess the ability speak to the ancient god and even get visions that lead them to the broken pieces of the deity. It is implied that originally Mekhane would communicate with the Da'at Yichud to teach them on how to progress humanity's advancement but with the impending threat of the Scarlet King and Yaldabaoth the Sentinel grew desperate.
While harmless at first, the Broken Church lurked and operated in the shadows and were said to be at their height of influence and power from the 1600s to the 1700s. Mekhane guided the Church as it collaborated with and later be part of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn lead by Delilah Copperspoon and ordered the gathering of individuals that possess unparalleled intelligence to help aid them in the construction of what came to be known as the first automatons built by man. The technological marvels, which were powered by thaumaturgic energies, that were made would also hasten the reconstruction of Mekhane. The rise of these automatons made the working conditions of humans obsolete which became a large factor in the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.
Impending Return[]
Humans also utilized the technology advancements during the modern age in thanks to those who used it in the distant past to advance their own civilizations. They went to so far as to create massive aircrafts capable of space travel along with reconstructing automatons as a laboring force and other machinery designed to gather scientific data. One notable incident kept by the Federal Bureau of Control in their archives was when a team of scientists from the German branch of the Foundation were sent out to pursue a signal that was being emitted on the planet Regis III from a piece of metallic equipment they uncovered during a raid on one of the Church of the Broken God's sites. There, the scientists reached Regis III only to discover a form of quasi-life, born through evolution of autonomous, self-replicating machines that evolved through Mekhane's bodily pieces though one of the scientists believes that it was not natural and that rather an alien race were experimenting with Mekhane's broken pieces only to create swarms of minuscule, insect-like micro machines whose only directive is to rebuild Mekhane.
It is also revealed that the cults that worship Mekhane are opposed by the Sarkics that worship Yaldabaoth since the Demiurge represents the divinity through flesh and Mekhane through technology they grew into opposition against one another. As such, the two cults have been at war with one another for generations, resulting in the Federal Bureau of Control stepping in with the aid of the Global Occult Coalition to stop them and suppress collateral damage. Mekhane has nearly risen on only one occasion and for the time being the attempts of the Broken Church have been thwarted thus preventing Mekhane's return.
Powers and Abilities[]
Being a Sentinel, Mekhane is understandably one of the most powerful beings in existence. As a deity of machinery, she has a wide host of unique and powerful mechanical applications to her specially modified frame. One of the most prolific of these abilities lays in the Sentinel's capacity to physically bend matter and machinery to her every whim which is known as technoforming. Enabling the creation and projection of bio-metallic excess which can grow and spread by assimilating base matter situated from all around it, alternating her own physical shape to project weapons, equipment or increasing armor integrity. Mekhane can also bolster her own power and might by absorbing the surroundings into herself to build larger and more elaborate mechanical constructs.
It is shown that not only could she convert inorganic matter into more technological mass under her control, Mekhane further increased her own range and creativity in usage of this aspect of its programming. Now she could create more technologically advanced appliances of her own tech mixed with extraterrestrial technology she had assimilated, building amazing mechanical marvels. The rituals involved in the Church of the Broken show that Mekhane is able to assimilate sentient beings into the fold under her complete and total control. This strain that is passed onto her followers present her having the ability to impart and graft her core programming and intelligence onto other sapient life, gradually transforming them into cybernetic extensions of Mekhane herself. Mekhane can even reformat larger, more powerful bodies of her own to further augment herself.