Judgernaut:
Understanding is such a precious thing. And as crystalized understanding, mutual and from above and below, are laws not to be cherished and protected?
The Judgernaut thus does good work, shoring up the failing mores of mankind. Such is the belief ot the settlements within its path.
To understand it, one must first accept that no form of information is truly secured against all the ravages of time. This was something that troubled the ancients as well, and the Judgernaut and others of its ilk seems to be just one of many ways of putting this bit of understanding in practice. And one must understand that laws are a product of specific times, chains of cause and effect. Thus, to wield one is foolish: To wield all of them would be foolish. But only for a human.
It's a remarkable beast, taller than many of the walls of the hamlets and abodes it trudges through. Or rather, floats through. Despite its size rivaling that of a big building, this creature has the capability to levitate through the air, unimpeded by wind. Only strong magnetic fields can stop its movements, causing the dozens of disks that line the under-curve of its spiraling shell to falter. They're massive things of keratin, their edges cracked and crackling with electricity. Many an attempt has been made to pry them away from the creature's body, whether still living or dead, but the number of success stories can be counted on the fingers of a mangled hand.
The ancients were wise, after all. Perhaps not wise enough to stop the end, sure, but those who designed the Judgernaut knew their craft.
And knew their laws. So does the Judgernaut, and its understanding has not fossilized to the times before, unlike its massive carapace. The routes of these creatures seem to be utterly casual to an exterior observer, at first. These who dabble in the matters of laws and justice and preserving knowledge, however, can easily recognize that each stop coincides with a settlement somewhat tied to these topics.
In these places, the Judgernaut's arrival is a wellspring of mixed emotions. It metes out salvation and executions in equal measure, often in accordance to systems arcane to the average person. Entire generations of scholars have strained their eyes to read accounts of their trials, and their lungs have grown weak from the hour-long speeches needed to cater to their attention.
But let us say that there are few judges as fine as such a creature.
Everything in its body is geared towards this. Its manifold eyes- Arranged always in geometric shapes, always fly-like and always of a bright colour- Can identify and decipher the hundreds of tongues that flowered after the ancients' times, can see through stone and lead as easy as a thin mist, and can see things many miles ahead. They are said to see through bone and flesh as well, and many criminals have broken down and confessed just by feeling the creature's gaze upon them.
Its head is armored with scab-like metallic slabs, more natural growth than vulgar crafted defense, each capable of withstanding rains of projectiles of all sorts. The rage of a crowd lashing against an injust sentence is treated with the same deference as the offensive of a general: Ignored, or swatted aside.
Its mouth-parts are a fine array of antennae, whiskers and probosces through which the Judgernaut makes itself understood as needed. Their voices are compound things with an eery reverb, well-matching the scent of ozone that surrounds them. A single spoken word at the end of a sentence can send entire cities plunging into sheer anarchy, or raise a kingdom from decadence.
They trade in anything tied to law. They may offer consultation in exchange for something, often written reports. But the Judgernaut is not elitist: It will happily register the tall tales of crones and bear witness to plays and parodies, all in the name of posterity. Many a town have made their arrival into a festivity unto itself, aided by the bounties that these gigantic creatures often offer in exchange for their services. They may:
-Store things within their shells. Each Judgernatur's interior is composed of hundred of discrete, vacuum-sealed compartments that can hold and preserve all sorts of matter, from clay tablet to precious electronic parts. Sometimes, even bodies- Dead or otherwise- Are stored within. The living may find a sort of afterlife in this creature, their brains trapaned by soft, nearly invisible fleshy tendrils that let the Judgernaut see into their minds.
-Memorize songs, speeches, performances, and recall them. Even their smells, even the sensations of the spectators and actors. They are often sought by playwriters for this, and by politicians interested in the oratory trades.
-Communicate with one another over massive distances. Thanks to their antennae, they are capable of sending signals to their brethren: They do need their general location, however.
And above all, provide informal and formal judgement. Many have been made into baliffs, judges, seldom executors, sometimes orators, thanks to their lack of needs or (mostly( wants. Their thought process is alien to most, but few dare dispute their conclusions, for these tentacles are as armored as their heads yet as fast as whips despite their size. Most Judgernauts however do not find any pleasure in dispensing retribution: Many prefer to record the proceedings. Even fewer have any real malice in them. The vast majority swings between a childlike curiosity- Fleeting yet earnest- For all things not of the laws and memories- And a blunt, somnolent apathy to the rest of the world. Loneliness does not bother them, nor love nor pain or hate. They know these things as abstract concepts they can apply as they wish, although it's widely known that all there is needed to send one of them in apoplectic fits of often apocalytic rage is even daring to erase information pertaining the laws of ancient times.
Yet, they do not seem to be interested in the moral dimensions of the apocalypse itself. They mourn the eschaton only for the loss of judical systems of incredible complexity and finesse, the means of dispensing justice of entire civilizations erased like sand under the waves.
But above all, they are content to follow through on their judgerment. To not do so is considered something that must be remedied as soon as possible at best, and a sign of abhorrence and perhaps damage. Few Judgernauts die, and none of natural causes. Their kin is more than willing to break out of their predictable patterns to retrieve their bodies, and while they hold no sentimentality towards the body itself, they will certianly take umbrage at people looting its contents.
Like many other creatures, the Judgernaut adapts to its surroundings as well. Some of them have traced their ancestry backwards with stubborn perseverance, and now aid the enterprising crews of subarminers who want to plunder the remains of the cities of the ancients on the seafloor. Some go further still, turning their entire bodies into digging implements, gigantic drills and armored furnaces. They take a supreme delight in slowly traversing the honeycombed superstructures that dot the planetary crust, and some are even said to have made contact with the chtonian intelligences that are said to reside near the nucleus.
Others prefer to voyage in light and silence the likes peoeple have rarely felt since the end of the ancients. Some can still see them, can still follow their turquoise trails as they lit up the night sky. Several dozen Judgernauts were last seen cognregating around some of the ancients' abodes in the void, their mouths spinning armor-gossamer around the bulbous form. They are believed to be carrying out an ancient mission.
Some even go as far as to say that this is proof that the ancients have survived somehow, somewhere out there, and that one day the Judgernauts will fire their engines all at once and sail forth in a void so primal as to eat all flames. All but one: A brilliant thought inscribed on coral-like circuitry embedded in shells blessed by golden geometries. Theirs is a belief made reality.
Let justice be done, even though the heavens may fall.
EDIT: Whoops wrong thread. i think.
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