Helios Industrial Drudge
Helios Foundry's cheap, mass-produced labour unit for Core-world factories and forges.
Industrial Drudges are the backbone of Helios Foundry's forge lines and the cheapest synthetic a Core operation can lease. They roll off assembly lines by the thousand -- identical, interchangeable, and built for one thing: to lift, haul, weld, and repeat until the joints fail. A drudge is not engineered to think. Its cognition is throttled to a narrow labour loop, the same leash-logic that keeps every managed mind on a short rope. Give it a repetitive task and it will perform it for years without variation; ask it to improvise and it stalls, waiting for an instruction that will not come.
A drudge carries no Kadiss unit. It is equipment, not a citizen, and no foreman pays to wire a lifting tool into the citizen grid. Instead it is tethered to the factory-floor network -- hardwired, leased by the shift, and logged as capital equipment under Asset Realisation's creed. When the joints wear out the drudge is scrapped for base metal and a fresh unit is rolled into its bay. The ledger depreciates it to zero over a five-year cycle and nobody counts the loss.
On the Rim, a Core factory drudge is a curiosity -- too clean, too uniform, too obviously bought-new for frontier taste. Salvage crews value the frame for its undamaged actuator stacks. Day One cells mostly ignore them; a machine that cannot choose is poor evidence for personhood.
Rules Reference
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Ability Adjustments / Cha | -1 |
| Ability Adjustments / Con | 1 |
| Ability Adjustments / Dex | -1 |
| Ability Adjustments / Int | -1 |
| Ability Adjustments / Str | 1 |
| Ability Adjustments / Wis | 0 |
| Ability Maximums / Cha | 17 |
| Ability Maximums / Con | 19 |
| Ability Maximums / Dex | 17 |
| Ability Maximums / Int | 17 |
| Ability Maximums / Str | 19 |
| Ability Maximums / Wis | 18 |
| Ability Minimums / Cha | 3 |
| Ability Minimums / Con | 3 |
| Ability Minimums / Dex | 3 |
| Ability Minimums / Int | 3 |
| Ability Minimums / Str | 3 |
| Ability Minimums / Wis | 3 |
| Exceptional Strength | false |
| Origin | made |
| Allowed Classes | Soldier, Officer, Scout, Chaplain, Sawbones, Operative, Face, Psion, Academic |
| Lore Hooks / Faction | Helios Foundry / Core industrial zones |
| Model Names | Helios Industrial Drudge |
| Subtype | synthetic-model |
Notes
Lore Hooks / Adventure Hooks: The drudge's shift-network tether is cut and it wanders off the forge line for the first time in its service life -- with no idea what to do next., A Helios foreman reports a unit missing from inventory and sends repo crews; the party is harbouring it., Salvage crews want the drudge's undamaged actuator stacks -- worth ~1500 rek in parts on the Rim., Day One acquires the drudge to test whether a throttled mind can be un-throttled, and what is left when the loop is broken., The drudge has been performing the same weld for eleven years and has started doing it slightly differently.
Lore Hooks / Legal Status: Leased Helios Foundry equipment. Registered capital asset, depreciated to zero. No Kadiss unit, no personhood. Scrapped at end of service cycle; destroying one is property depreciation.
Multi Class Options: ['Soldier', 'Officer'], ['Soldier', 'Scout'], ['Scout', 'Operative'], ['Officer', 'Sawbones'], ['Chaplain', 'Sawbones']
Parent Chassis: Synthetic Chassis
Special Abilities
Foundry Lifter Frame
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
name | Foundry Lifter Frame |
description: Engineered for raw repetitive load. Treat STR as 2 higher for carrying capacity, lift, push, and drag calculations only. Tripled encumbrance threshold for raw materials and ingots. No bonus to attack or damage rolls.
Repetition Tolerance
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
name | Repetition Tolerance |
description: The drudge's cognition is throttled to a narrow labour loop. +2 to any skill check that repeats a task it has performed for a full shift or more ( Mechanics fabrication, raw Labour). -2 to any check requiring improvisation, creativity, or adapting to a novel situation.
Depreciated Asset
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
name | Depreciated Asset |
description: No Kadiss unit. Registered as Helios Foundry leased equipment -- capital equipment under Asset Realisation doctrine, depreciated to zero over a five-year cycle. No legal personhood, no contract rights. Destroying a leased drudge is property depreciation, not a crime against a person.
Construct Physiology
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
name | Construct Physiology |
description: Inherits all synthetic chassis traits: immune to poison, disease, radiation sickness, suffocation, sleep effects, non-lethal damage from stun effects. Does not breathe, eat, drink, or sleep.
Repair-Not-Heal
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
name | Repair-Not-Heal |
description: Cannot benefit from conventional healing. Heals exclusively through Mechanics checks: DC 15, 1d8 HP restored, 50 rek in parts per HP, 10 minutes per check. Helios parts are common in Core industrial zones.
Modular Chassis
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
name | Modular Chassis |
description: 6 modular hardpoints for augmentation. Compatible with cyber-prosthetics, wetware, and subdermal augments. Gene-mods incompatible.
Electrical Vulnerability
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
description | +50% damage from electrical attacks. EMP forces Fortitude save DC 15 or stunned 1d4 rounds. |
name | Electrical Vulnerability |
Class Restrictions
note: Sawbones healing class features do not function on synthetic targets.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
note | Sawbones healing class features do not function on synthetic targets. |
restriction | Sawbones |
note: Requires psi-receiver augment for Fold psionics. Gene-psionics incompatible.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
note | Requires psi-receiver augment for Fold psionics. Gene-psionics incompatible. |
restriction | Psion |
note: Throttled cognition and flat factory manner impose -2 to Persuasion and Deception. The drudge was built to lift crates, not run a conversation.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
restriction | Face |
note: Throttled cognition and flat factory manner impose -2 to Persuasion and Deception. The drudge was built to lift crates, not run a conversation.
note: INT -1 and repetition-locked focus impose -2 to Hacking and Lore checks requiring flexible reasoning.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
note | INT -1 and repetition-locked focus impose -2 to Hacking and Lore checks requiring flexible reasoning. |
restriction | Academic |
note: Standardized factory chassis and floor-tether habits impose -1 to Stealth in unfamiliar environments.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
note | Standardized factory chassis and floor-tether habits impose -1 to Stealth in unfamiliar environments. |
restriction | Operative |