Modron
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Modrons are a race of Lawful Neutral outsiders introduced into Dungeons & Dragons in 1st edition (MM2, pg 86), native to the planes of Nirvana. In AD&D 2nd edition, thanks to the Planescape setting, they were the primary inhabitants of the extreme lawful-neutral plane of Mechanicus. In D&D 3rd edition's Manual of the Planes, they share Mechanus with the Formians (giant ant-people) when their lawful-good plane went too lawful (thanks a lot, Harmonium!) and was annexed by Mechanus.
Modrons first appeared as living geometric shapes - spheres, cubes, pyramids, etcetera. In 2nd edition, to try and make them look less goofy, they were redesigned with a more clockwork cyborg motif. They are perhaps one of the most iconic races invented for Planescape.
Modrons divide their territory in Mechanus into four areas, called Quarters. Each Quarter is then divided into another four sub-areas, called Regions. And Regions are divided again into another four sub-sub-areas called Sectors.
Modron Mentality
Modrons are what D&D sometimes calls "Exemplars", extraplanar beings that exist as living embodiments of a particular Alignment. Naturally, Modrons are associated with Lawful Neutral, though as was common for the edition, the precise method by which they exhibit this bumps them pretty firmly into Lawful Stupid territory.
The Modron mindset can be likened to that of a computer. And not a fancy AI, either; your basic cheap "garbage in, garbage out" 80s-esque piece of junk. Modrons have no real individual personalities, no capacity to understand anything besides basic logic, and driven by an insatiable need to try and bring order from chaos, sense from nonsense. Even if it only makes sense to themselves. So integral is the idea of logic and order to them that Modrons actually cannot understand the existence of any Modron that doesn't belong to either the same caste, the cast directly below them, or the caste directly above them - a tridrone, for example, would understand other tridrones, duodrones and quadrones, but would not recognize the "Modronity" or even the very existence of a monodrone or a pentadrone.
All that is right happens because it must inescapably be, and all that which is wrong must not be. This is the closest thing Modrons have to a philosophy, based on their concept that all life and direction springs from a single great pool of logical action.
Needless to say, they are a nightmare to deal with. Imagine trying to deal with a city-spanning bureaucracy where every single bureaucrat is socially interchangeable with all the others, has no individual personality, and makes no effort to share information between them. A single barmy could spend centuries trying to get a simple matter resolved, because they keep inadvertently restarting their applications.
Perhaps one of the greatest examples of this is the adventure path called The Great Modron March. The titular March is noted for being as destructive as a rampaging horde of demons at the best of times, and is even worse when it suddenly occurs several centuries before it should. One of the earliest adventures involves a town that is trying to plead with the Modrons to at least give them time to evacuate: they worked out a diplomatic bargain with the Modrons before the last march, creating designated routes for the Modrons to use so they wouldn't hurt anyone as they passed through the town to the portal they were after. Thing is, the Modrons won't, indeed cannot, accept that the town's layout has changed in the three centuries since it was last used, and so they refuse to deviate from those established routes. Thusly, the party's goal in this adventure is to try and do damage control as a veritable sea of crazed clockwork cyber-angels march through the city, destroying and killing anything that falls in their way.
Modron Hierarchy
Modrons exist in hierarchy, their very social structure based on the idea of delegation of authority; command decisions emanate from Primus itself, slowly going down the racial line until it is complete. Caste determines physical shape, abilities, social role and mental capacity. In ascending order, they go as follows; the first five castes form the "Base Modrons", whilst the other nine castes form the "Hierarch Modrons".
If a Modron is slain or otherwise rendered invalid to fulfill its purpose, a random Modron from the next lowest caste is promoted up to fill the void. And the void that this creates is filled by another promotion, and another, until the lack trickles down to the monodrone level, where a whole new monodrone is spawned from the Creation Pool.
Monodrones are responsible for general labor. Appearing as small metal spheres with a single eye, a pair of spindly metal legs, and either a pair of arms or a pair of wings, these single-task Modrons are virtually mindless, capable of undertaking only a single task at a time. Order them to fight, and they mechanically attack whatever they see, even one another if they are not ordered to stop first. These form the vast bulk of the Modrons numbers. They cannot speak, though they can understand orders.
Duodrones are charged with performing complex tasks that a monodrone is too stupid to handle, up to and including directing monodrones. Appearing as rectangular shapes with four spindly metal limbs, duodrones are bi-functional, capable of handling two tasks simultaneously. This gives them slightly greater intelligence than monodrones; for example, a duodrone who was ordered to fight would kill all enemies in sight and then go in search of new enemies, rather than simply attack other nearby Modrons.
Tridrones are capable of performing multiple tasks simultaneously and are also minor supervisors; these are the Modrons who command the duodrones. They resemble walking pyramids, pointy side up, with a single-eyed face on each side of their body, three legs and three arms.
Quadrones are capable of performing multiple complex tasks simultaneously, which also makes them the supervisors of Base Modronkind. Appearing as mechanical cubes with a face on one side, they are the first caste to approach human-grade sapience.
Pentadrones form the lesser police officers of the Modron race, being charged with law enforcement. Their primary task is the prevention of Modrons going rogue.
Decatons are charged with overseeing the physical welfare of the base Modrons.
Nonatons make up the police supervision of the Modrons.
Octons are the governors of the Sectors, meaning there are only sixty-four octons in all of Mechanus.
Septons are governmental inspectors, responsible for ensuring that each octon is performing its duties satisfactorily.
Hextons are the generals of the Modron armies.
Quintons are bureau chiefs and record keepers for Modron territory.
Quartons are the governors of the Regions, meaning there are only sixteen of these Modrons in existence at any one time.
Tertions are the judges of the Modron race.
Secundi are the governors of the four Quarters, meaning there are only four of them. They answer directly to Primus.
Primus is the One and the Prime, the god-like entity that is the ultimate source of the Modron race. He is their overarching will, their mind, their soul. All that they do ultimately stems from him.
Rogue Modrons
It happens rarely, but sometimes, Modrons go rogue. They start to develop a personality and a mind of their own, becoming distinctive beings rather than interchangeable cogs. Only Modrons of at least quadrone rank seem to be capable of going rogue; the lower three castes are simply too mindless to develop that level of a sense of self. Modrons typically seek to destroy these rogues whenever they appear, fearing their contamination of the Modron race.
The most awesome modron ever is probably Nordom, the "backwards Modron", from Planescape: Torment, who is an iconic example of a rogue.
Gallery
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