Ubi Mel Ibi Apes

Wizards are a key element of ASE, individuals of every walk of life driven insane by super-science or sinister magic. Not many are strictly human, and all are very dangerous.  Wizard's represent the real power in the Land of 1,000 Towers and it's only a matter of time before any party of PC's will have to tangle with one or more of them.  Below is the write up for one such Wizard, Hexamacht the Apiagimon. Should my party continue to wander South-West of Denethix Hexomacht has a good chance of becoming a major part of the campaign, either as a patron or big-bad.  I kind of like Hexamacht, he's more a tragic figure than a cackling villain, but that's not going to stop him from being a horrible danger to civilization.

HEXAMACHT the APIAGIMON -Android Entit

Hexamacht

the Apiagimon

Android/Wizard (Fighter 7)

STR: 16 +2 melee hit/damage

INT: 15 (Special)

WIS: 12 No Bonuses

DEX: 16 – 2 AC/+2 missile to hit

CON: 19 + 4HP/die

CHR: 15 -1 Reaction Rolls

HP: 57

AC: -1 (w/DEX bonus)

Equipment: Integral clockwork armor (as platemail +1), +3 Golden nanocluster longsword (1d8+3), Heat-ray beamer (1D8 as laser pistol with 10' cone area of effect), Giant Riding Bee, Pouch of (25)100gp gems. All of Hexamacht's magic items will melt into a fine golden grit within 1D4 days of his death.

Abilities: Resist Magic 25%, Immune to poison, sleep and charm.

Detect invisible (65%), Speak with insects. Regenerate 2HP per round.

Alignment: Lawful – A cold machine intelligence that seeks to encourage agricultural renewal and order.

  

Hexamacht, as he or it now proclaims himself, began as an adventurer, scout, and mercenary captain working out of Denethix 40 odd years ago when he was well known under the name of Jhesu Fleaholt. On one of his delves he discovered an ancient agricultural research station and he and his band attempted to loot it. Time had destroyed most of the station's wonders, but Jhesu discovered a cache of what appeared to be strange gems sparkling with inner fire. There was no way Fleaholt could have recognized the gems as dormant nanoclusters - colonies of self-aware soil recovery micro-robots. As he took hold of the gems Jhesu fell to the floor convulsing and gemstones melted into his flesh. His companions efforts, magical, alchemical and mundane, had no effect, but after only a few hours Fleaholt rose from the floor and began issuing precise orders, proclaiming himself “Hexamacht, the Apiagimon." Some of his companions tried to resist Hexamacht's orders, but they found the already formidable fighter's abilities augmented, and his affable demeanor transformed into an alien uncompromising mercilessness.

The scientists who designed the original nano-machines saw the coming apocalypse and their final work, while trapped in their sealed station slowly dying of plagues and radiation, was to create a set of self replicating intelligent nano-machines able to brave the exterior conditions and restore the poisoned soil and water to arable lands. After the crisis passed, the machine colonies would go forth, sowing, weeding and harvesting crops, to prepare a world again habitable by man.

Hexamacht is now a colony of these machines, who cluster and combine to replicate organs while they wear the skin of Jhesu Fleaholt as a shell. He appears to be a normal man, seemingly wearing a suit of elaborate clockwork armor whose gold, green and bronze gears, gyros and hydraulics shift with his movement. This armor is in fact Hexamacht's body, transformed by ancient super-science and unrecognizable except for his dark handsome face.

Since the machines that control Hexamacht were designed to prepare a pastoral utopia for human survivors, this remains Hexamacht's driving goal. Yet some element's of his human understanding and personality remain, and Hexamacht understands that the Land of One Thousand Towers is no barren waste to be terraformed into an Edenic garden - It is a wilderness that must be cleared. Hexamacht views the other wizards and powers within the world as a gardener views pests, he doesn't hate them, but they must be exterminated so that his lands can bloom and prosper. To this end he has began creating an army of assistants and lieutenants as well as forcing the scattered farming communities around the ancient agricultural station into a regimented and uncompromising mold. Hexamacht is not cruel, but he has no emotions and functions on alien logic. People and things that are useful will be cared for and maintained as long as they remain so, while everything else will be made useful, recycled into useful parts or destroyed. His lands now appear as an idyllic expanse of perfectly groomed fields and orchards, with scattered whitewashed villages all built on the same efficient plan. The grid straight roads are patrolled by stiff moving men in gilded clockwork armor riding mechanical insects and troops of peasant militias carrying identical simple equipment. Haggard farmers toil in the fields, aided and watched by the mechanical bees that serve as scouts, sample collectors and spies for Hexamacht. In reality life under Hexamacht's rule is tolerable, but empty of human meaning, art and ritual, with harsh discipline to enforce his will.

The Apiagimon himself can sometimes be seen riding about on a giant mechanical bee on mysterious errands. Hexamacht might be unstoppable, if he could create Hexmen, cybernetic insects, and other nanomechanical horrors at will, but he is limited by the availability of the advanced materials required by the nano-machines to reproduce in large numbers. To this end Hexamacht seeks to collect ancient technology - even a broken laser pistol contains enough high-technology to start a new cluster of nano-machines and recruit a Hexman. Because he is neither malicious nor psychotic in the traditional sense, Hexamacht will gladly trade for such items, offering synthetic gems in exchange for technological artifacts. By not being a murderous cheating maniac Hexamacht has developed a reputation for being a 'good' sort of wizard who can be dealt fairly with, even if he can't be trusted. Still, it is not unknown for Hexamacht to take what he can't buy, biomechanically 'induct' especially useful agents into his forces, or steal from those who are so weak that they cannot threaten him or his creations.

Hexmen: AC 3, HD 4 (hp 16 HP each), #AT 1 (2 ranged), D 1D8/1D4 ranged, MV ('40/120') Save F4, ML 10. Melee enemies at -1 hit from defensive swarm. Infravision (60'), Immune to poison, sleep, and charm.
Hexmen appear as fighters or knights wearing varied suits of clockwork plate armor and wielding oddly shaped and colored (most often greenish gold) swords and repeating hand crossbows. Only their faces are bare, and while they are human (or rarely demi-human) they appear strangely slack and emotionless with glittering eyes that glow in the dark. In combat a haze of bee-like robotic insects will swarm from a Hexman, distracting attackers. Each Hexman rides on a spindly insectile creature (treat as riding horse) that can't be ridden or tamed by anyone but a Hexman and is actually a mechanical construct. The statistics above are average, and both weaker and stronger (depending on the amount and quality of nanoclusters comprising them) Hexmen exist. Their numbers are limited however, and they act as Hexamacht's lieutenants and henchmen, not as his foot soldiers.

Peasant Levy: AC 8 (leather), HD 1-1 (hp 4 HP each), #AT 1, D 1D6/1D6 ranged, MV ('40) Save F0, ML 8. Armed with bills (polearms), leather armor and short-bows. All equipment is exceedingly uniform.
The Peasants, villagers and tribesmen who have come under Hexamacht's rule have a largely safe existence, but one of exceeding dullness, strict regimentation and draconian discipline. All who are fit enough are trained as militia and levies to support the Hexmen, thought hey are neither strong fighters or well equipped.

Giant Riding Bee: AC 4, HD 6 (hp 26 HP ), #AT 2, D 1D6 Bite 1D4 Sting + poison, MV ('60/'120 Fly) Save F4, ML 10. This artificial life-form appears to be a giant bee in strange metallic tones. It has a saddle built into its back and obeys only Hexamacht. It can bite and use its poisoned (save or die) sting if forced into combat.

Note: The book "The Glass Bees" by Ernst Junger (a very interesting man) is partially the inspiration for Hexamacht.  Hexamacht has a pool of ears in his garden this much I know.