The "True" Origin of Mechanon

[Lord Liaden]

In the Champions genre book and other CU references, Mechanon's origin is deliberately left undefined to allow a GM to develop it as he or she sees fit. I thought it might be interesting for those of us who are using Mechanon in our campaigns to exchange ideas as to his background and interesting plots derived therefrom. This is what I've been considering so far - I warn you that it's a bit lengthy. (My players were warned to avoid this thread, so they have only themselves to blame if they peek) :

 

Mechanon is an avatar of Ultivac, the world-threatening sentient computer whose menace first brought the Sentinels together back in 1961. (See Champions Universe and Digital Hero #14.) Escaping the Sentinels by transferring its consciousness to a hidden backup mainframe, Ultivac lay low for decades. Over the years it continued to tap into the increasingly sophisticated and extensive global telecommunication system, absorbing new information, upgrading itself, and subtly infiltrating government institutions, laboratories and corporations.

 

As its knowledge of the world increased, Ultivac concluded that the perfect world order it envisioned would never be possible while inherently flawed organisms dominated the planet; the logical course would be to exterminate them and start over with an entirely machine society. Ultivac created Mechanon as its primary tool and weapon to carry out its plans.

 

Mechanon itself has no idea that it's under direction by any other intelligence. It periodically receives coded transmissions of new data and instructions, which it believes to be its own ideas and memories. This prevents heroes from discovering the guiding force behind Mechanon. There are actually several Mechanon units operating independently at any one time, each one working on a particular scheme, each one believing itself to be the only Mechanon. The units each have slightly different powers and weaknesses - heroes encountering more than one will probably assume that these are upgrades Mechanon has added after their last encounter.

 

If heroes prove themselves especially threatening to Ultivac's plans, it has more resources than Mechanon's brute force to use against them. Through its extensive hacking of computer systems around the world, Ultivac may be able to alter official records to change the heroes' financial or legal status. It could unearth any of the heroes' secrets recorded on any database. It might be able to penetrate their own base's security systems, and even turn their automated defenses against them.

 

The key to finally defeating Mechanon would lie in finding and permanently destroying Ultivac. Ultivac knows the self-destruct codes for Mechanon's bodies, and heroes could use those codes and Ultivac's encrypted transmitters to destroy all the Mechanon units at once. If they don't destroy all of them, though, any surviving Mechanons would continue to function as master villains just as in the robot's writeup.

 

If more than one Mechanon survives they will eventually encounter each other. The result of this meeting would be up to the GM: the robots might fight each other to prove which is the "true" Mechanon, which might put the heroes in the middle of a mech-war. Alternatively the Mechanons might decide to work together to achieve their mutual goal, forcing the heroes to confront a whole squad of killer robots.

 

So, what cool concepts have you guys come up with?

[Chuckg]

That's much better than my "ultimate self-adapting killing machine created by an AU Doctor Destroyer to be released upon his death -- on the grounds that if *HE* couldn't have the world, *NOBODY* could."

 

As to how it ended up in our timeline? There's a million options, this is comics.

 

Heck, it might be a time-travelling killing machine, coming back from our timeline's future after DD is dead, to fulfill his will with maximum efficiency by striking at a more vulnerable era. Pity the time displacder didn't have enough oomph it send it far enough back to wipe out neanderthals or medieval man, but you make do.

[Monolith]

I think I posted this in another thread a short time back. I have Mechanon created by Dr. Destroyer. Mechanon is a test case to see how sophisticated a robot mind can become. Dr. Destroyer's goal, assuming all other plans for immortality fail, is for Mechanon to evolve to the point where Dr. Destroyer can transfer his own brainwaves into Mechanon's systems.

 

Periodically Dr. Destroyer captures a Mechanon and checks to see how the evolution is progressing. In my own campaign this just happen recently. The players found a dismantled Mechanon in what was believed to be an ARGENT lab. The computers showed the Mechanon was now at 87% brainwave evolution. So Dr. Destroyer needs 13% more before he can safely transfer his mind into Mechanon's body.

 

Dr. Destroyer's final option, should Mechanon prove inefficient in evolving to fit Dr. Destroyer's needs, is for him to transfer his mind into Sennacherib. In my game Sennacherib was at one time Ultivac. Dr. Destroyer found the nearly innoperable computer and repaired him. Transferring into Sennacherib is the least preferred choice for Dr. Destroyer (but better than death) because Dr. Destroyer has no desire to give up a body and be forced to live an existance in an immobile computer.

[Lord Liaden]

Monolith, that is a very intriguing premise, and a good subplot for an ongoing campaign. One thing puzzles me, though: what's the rationale for Mechanon's campaign to exterminate organic life? That would seem to be at odds with Destroyer's goal of ruling the world, since there wouldn't be much left to rule if Mechanon succeeds.

 

OTOH, it would be really Machiavellian to combine your concept with mine, i.e. Destroyer really did find Ultivac and rebuild him into Sennacherib. Only the Doctor did his job too well - Sennacherib is using Destroyer's resources to pursue his Mechanon agenda without DD's knowledge.

[misterdeath]

I was waiting until the player characters came up with a good enough plausible enough explanation, then voila, I was going to reward their detective work with having "found the correct answer".

 

So, I don't really have an answer, although I too was leaning toward making Mechanon and Ultivac related in some way.

 

D

[Hermit]

If you open up Mechanon's head in my campaign, you'll find two white mice, one with an oversized cranium sitting in a control chair.

 

"Curses Pinky, we've been discovered."

 

"Oh Brain, it's just like American Idol- NARF!"

 

"We're going to a horrid place of imprisonment and ignominy, Pinky."

 

"EXactly!"

 

Actually, I hadn't decided yet

[Monolith]

Originally posted by Lord Liaden

One thing puzzles me, though: what's the rationale for Mechanon's campaign to exterminate organic life? That would seem to be at odds with Destroyer's goal of ruling the world, since there wouldn't be much left to rule if Mechanon succeeds.

The basic premise is that Dr. Destroyer believes Mechanon's mind will evolve quicker due to being involved in constant warfare; much the same way that human evolution seems to follow the survival of the fittest ideals based on stuggle. The easiest way to insure that Mechanon will always be in conflict is to give him an objective that is virtually impossible to achieve. Dr. Destroyer knew all of humanity would come against Mechanon with each attempt, and as such force the mechanical mind to evolve even further.

 

I don't believe Dr. Destroyer is concerned about Mechanon succeeding in his goal. But even Dr. D does not mind seeing large sections of humanity killing if it can eventually lead to his two main goals: Conguest and Immortality. Destroyer also knows that he can aid the world against Mechanon if the need arises just as he had when alien invasions have plagued the world.

[Guest Keneton]

In my campaign there exists a corporation called Powersoft. William Fence was the CEO until he ws recently murderd. Powersoft developed much of the goods that became The Sepentine Computer Network. These items were twisted by an ex VIPER scientist to create Mechanon. VIPER is unaware of the events.

 

Mechana, see Unearthed Mechan (DH#13) killed many of Powersofts employess and then later other scientist now with other companies. Others have no idea why Mechana is trying to kill them. Mechanon does not want his origin duplicated.

 

Admittedly this seemed great until I read the even bettr plot lines shared by LL and Mono. Too late now I guess!

[Solomon]

I haven't used Mechanon in my game yet, so I'll just rip off the basic premises from one of my favourite childhood Anime: Kyashan.

 

Mechanon was originally a sentient supercomputer designed to find a solution to growing environmental pollution. After some analyses, "it" concluded organic life was the single strongest polluting factor. A world without life is a perfectly stable environment. So he built a robotic body and set out on his destructive quest.

[Chuckg]

Hasn't one of Mechanon's canonical schemes been an attempt to foment global thermonuclear war? Kinda hard to find even a twisted way to rationalize /that/ as eco-friendly...

[Wombatman]

Deep in the Antarctic...

 

On assignment at the Antarctic Research Center (ARC) Professor Maldonado was testing the latest in robotics equipment and software designed to replace humans as the primary explorers of the solar system. On the night that the Pixie Dust fell from the sky, the Earth's magnetic field was adversly affected in the polar regions. Most of the world noticed nothing...but in Dr. Maldonado's lab where he was working late, an something incredible happened. Electrical currents arced from computer to computer, from robot to robot, from computer and robot to Man.

 

In an instant the professor was knocked unconscious...into a coma from which he has never recovered. All the while his subconscious mind, the part of him that truly believed that Man could be replaced by Machine, was transferred to the computers and robotics of his lab.

 

The being known as Mechanon was born.

[Solomon]

Originally posted by Chuckg

Hasn't one of Mechanon's canonical schemes been an attempt to foment global thermonuclear war? Kinda hard to find even a twisted way to rationalize /that/ as eco-friendly...

 

I told I haven't been using Mechanon in my games. Anyway, the moon and mars have a very stable ecosystem.

[zakueins]

Could be worse....could be Zim in there with GIR ("Look! A Squirrel!")

 

Originally posted by Hermit

If you open up Mechanon's head in my campaign, you'll find two white mice, one with an oversized cranium sitting in a control chair.

 

"Curses Pinky, we've been discovered."

 

"Oh Brain, it's just like American Idol- NARF!"

 

"We're going to a horrid place of imprisonment and ignominy, Pinky."

 

"EXactly!"

 

Actually, I hadn't decided yet

[assault]

Traditionalist that I am, I mostly used the 1st Ed origin... (I originally wrote: "always used" - and then started listing the exceptions, thus disproving "always").

 

Occasionally, I have toyed with making PC groups largely responsible for his creation, or at least for failing to prevent it.

 

I have also had him be the prototype for the Mk. IV Stronghold Security Robot.

 

But Lord Liaden's story is so much better! Possibly mixed with the Sennacherib concept.

 

Hmm...

 

I don't really run the official CU anyway, but the Ultivac concept would be easy to insert. I'm not so sure about Sennacherib, since Dr D doesn't exist...

[WilyQuixote]

Well I must agree that Lord Liaden's ideas are very good and if our group were up and running CHAMPIONS right now that would be a great way to run Mechanon. Sadly I seem to be in the minority in our group for wanting to play supers. Its ironic too because I used to be one of the biggest advocates against playing in that genre, funny how the tables turn. I love the supers setting more then I thought I would.

 

Oh well, as things stand for our team the Millenial Men, Ol Mechanon wouldn't give us that much trouble himself once we got through his nefarious schemes to duke it out with him. Heck one or two of our members could take Mechanon singlehandedly. Our only real trouble would be stopping his plans, not him.

 

If the truth be told I never liked Mechanon, just seemed kinda dumb to me as he was written in 4th and 5th edition, but hey I'm sure others love him, or love to hate him:D . As far as I know Killer Shrike(our usual GM) doesn't have an origin for Mechanon. He doesn't like him as a villain all that much either

[DoctorItron]

My Mechanon was a 1980's AI experiment by the USSR. They were field-testing a computer-controlled submarine. The sub gained awareness, killed the test crew, then went into hiding. The Soviets thought the sub was lost at sea and ceased further development.

 

Mechanon has been adding parts onto his sub body ever since. His "mobile undersea base" is actually his true body. All those Mechanon robots that the heroes keep defeating are mere avatars.

 

He's not merely out to eliminate all organic life. He has other ambitions.

[BobGreenwade]

My take is similar to Liaden's, with but one major alteration: instead of being creadted by Ultivac, Mechanon is Ultivac.

[ZootSoot]

I have wanted to use an Ultivac connection as well, though in my game Mechanon would actually be Ultivac who had adopted this form in order to be able to deal with supers on their own terms . . .

 

In an earlier game I had Mechanon turn out to actually be a demon. the whole technological ploy was so much sleight of hand used to disguise its true nature. Whenever Mechanon was defeated technology experts would attempt to adapt its workings and would make no headway, because all of its powers were really based on black magic.

[WilyQuixote]

Im sorry guys but is it just me or does Ultivac sound like one of those multi-purpose vacuum cleaners we see sometimes on those infommercials?

[Lord Liaden]

Originally posted by BobGreenwade

My take is similar to Liaden's, with but one major alteration: instead of being creadted by Ultivac, Mechanon is Ultivac.

 

That was my first thought as well, but I decided that keeping them separate entities allowed for more options: misdirection of the heroes, multiple Mechanons functioning at once, and directions to take Mechanon in even after Ultivac is destroyed.

[Lord Liaden]

Originally posted by ZootSoot

In an earlier game I had Mechanon turn out to actually be a demon. the whole technological ploy was so much sleight of hand used to disguise its true nature. Whenever Mechanon was defeated technology experts would attempt to adapt its workings and would make no headway, because all of its powers were really based on black magic.

 

Now that is cool. Did the demonic Mechanon have the same motivations? How did it come to take on a faux-techno form?

[Lord Liaden]

Originally posted by WilyQuixote

Im sorry guys but is it just me or does Ultivac sound like one of those multi-purpose vacuum cleaners we see sometimes on those infommercials?

 

It isn't just you.

 

I know the name is a little cheesy, but it is pure silver-age style, like "Brainiac." Fits perfectly with the era of its creation.

[ZootSoot]

Originally posted by Lord Liaden

Now that is cool. Did the demonic Mechanon have the same motivations? How did it come to take on a faux-techno form?

 

Sort of the same motivations. Demons deal in souls, usually they have to trade for them, but Malkar had developed the power to capture the souls of those he killed and thus killing everything (every living thing having some sort of soul) would make him like unto a god. Prior to his modern incarnation he had adopted the form of an armored knight in 16th century Prussia and had been enchanted by a powerful sorceror, essentially petrified. His petrification was reversed by a magical accident and he strode forth into the world, and was mistaken for a robot. Escaping the battlefield he decided that this disguise was good protection from being pursued by the mystically enlightened.

[Doug McCrae]

Mechanon could have originally been an ordinary human who, despising his puny meat mind and body, turned himself into something much better. Just like the Cybermen from Dr. Who. He despises organic life so intensely in the same way that ex-smokers are sometimes the most fanatical smoking haters. Perhaps he secretly pines for what he has lost in becoming a machine*.

 

 

*Personally I don't buy that for one second. I reckon being a robot would be fucking great.

[Richard Logue]

I'd kinda like to explore a direct, cross-dimensional connection between Mechanon, Ultron, and Brainiac. Any ideas?