One of the newest breed of Seraph, bred not for war but to form a new working force for the Elysian Celestial Empire, one skilled enough to do fairly advanced tasks, capable, and most importantly to work without pay or consideration for oneself. It is on the back of these that Elysia hopes to have an economic revival, to bring back the days of glory currently lost to it.

The S18 stands six foot six inches tall and is in all appearance is a rather dumpy looking humanoid, with pale, almost white, rubbery skin. Their flesh is far less gooey than in earlier models, due to their need to handle delicate components that might be damaged in contact with ‘goo’. The head of the S18 features a crown of eight small black slit-like eyes, space roughly equally around the head providing it with 360 degree vision. Its mouth is large like in earlier models, and filled with similar sharp teeth, which it has a tendency to bare in a fairly horrific grin.

Two S18’s may be somewhat different because they have been created for a different purpose, in that they are made for a different task. One designed to work in a mine may well have echolocation to help it through the tunnels, ones designed to work in small spaces may only be three foot tall etc. The diversity of the S18’s is enormous. The S18 has a genetic structure that is rather easy to modify to create newer, more specialized, versions.

However among two S18 designed for the same purpose there is effectively no way to tell among two of them. S18’s do not have any specialised sensory organs other than their eyes (unless equipped with them to suit their purpose), instead tasting, feeling and hearing through their skin. Their tactile sense is especially developed, capable of detecting extremely fine details about something they touch.

S18’s are able to create tendrils out of their flesh, and use these to pick up and manipulate objects, which they do with an extraordinary degree of finesse, aided in this by exceptional hand-tendril co-ordination and their 360 degree vision. These tendrils have roughly the strength of a human arm, and an S18 can produce up to six at any one time. Designed for menial labour, as well as finesse, an S18 is capable enough to pick up one ton with either of their arms, or two if they are using both, and to carry this with a fair amount of ease. Their hands are equipped with five long and somewhat delicate fingers, capable of astounding manipulating skills, and also possessing a vice-like grip. Their flesh is highly damage resistant, although not so much as the skin of either the S11 or S17.

The mind of a S18 is both very complicated and very simple. It is very complicated in the way it can handle extremely complex tasks, and carry them out perfectly. It has an eidetic memory and an amazing visual-spatial perception, which makes it incredibly good at construction work. Once given a task it can watch an adept perform it, have some relevant information downloaded in to its brain, and it will be able to carry out that task with skill to rival a skilled worker. With its superior manipulation abilities, strength, and speed in combination with its greater senses, it can often out-do them as well.

However the mind is very simple in that it never questions its orders, and has very little sense of individuality. It is, for all intents and purposes, a drone. They are completely obedient to the Patrician and will only take orders from them or those that the S18 has been ordered to take order from by the Patricians. They have no imagination whatsoever and never get bored or think about the future beyond the tasks they are given. So they are essentially the perfect worker, as long as you aren't looking for innovation.

S18 can communicate vocally, although they only do so very rarely and only in response to direct questions, at which time they speak in a deep watery voice. Normally they co-ordinate with each other and with their masters using telepathy, and usually no more than a quick description of position and status. The S18 are actually quite powerful telepathically and, while they cannot use this telepathy offensively, they are very adept at resisting telepathic attacks. The Patricians did not want some telepathic menace turning their workforce against them, so they provided the powerful resistance as a countermeasure.

Zakalwe created this article on 2006/05/27 09:42; Wes approved it on 2006/05/27 21:29.