The Chelonian Genesis of the Clanks

Overview

The Clanks are living relics of Chelonia’s Golden Age—sentient constructs of metal, crystal, and magical resonance. Though their creators vanished beneath the sea, the Clanks endure, wandering Arcasia with long memories and longer questions.

Origins

Forged in the final centuries before Chelonia’s drowning, Clanks were designed not as soldiers but as custodians, artisans, and thinkers. Their cores contain a fragment of the same energy that sustains the Pearl, refined through Chelonian genius into perpetual reservoirs of power.

When the great continent sank, the Clanks—impervious to drowning or decay—survived. Many remained submerged beside their creators, emerging only centuries later when their preservation cycles ended.

Mind and Soul

Clanks think slowly but thoroughly, perceiving time in layered patterns rather than moments. Their memories are crystalline—literal fractal archives housed within their chests. Whether this constitutes a soul is debated by sages and theologians alike.

Some Clanks awaken already burdened with guilt or purpose. Others come into the world blank, their prime directives erased by the calamity.

Clanks in the Fifth Age

In modern Arcasia, Clanks occupy an uncertain place:

• Free Peoples value their endurance and precision.
• Dwarves consider them wonders of lost craft.
• Merfolk view them with reverence, as surviving fragments of their old world.
• Some fear they represent a return of the hubris that doomed Chelonia.

A few factions seek to dismantle Clanks to rediscover Chelonian magitech. Clanks who learn of this tend to become wanderers, seeking purpose far from civilization.

Purpose in Play

Clanks make excellent explorers, scholars, or guardians. Their long lifespans and fractured memories offer natural adventure hooks tied to the ruins of Chelonia or forgotten machinery awakening across Arcasia.