So, I was reading up on Pygmalion again - as I tend to do every couple months - and got to wondering about servitors and just how human one could make them look. Sure most often the changes are dramatic and unmistakable, but what if someone got it in their head to arrange "production" of a "social servitor" - something like a paid escort to look good on one's arm and take care of his needs. ( ahem ... all of his needs )

Doubtless if the arrangement was discovered some people would be in hot oil ... or find themselves working drone duty in a processing plant ... but until it was crushed, does this seem viable? How "pretty" could a servitor be? ( no need to ask about what kinds of prosthetics and enhancements they'd have )

Check out the Janus Simulacra in Inquisitors Handbook. Described as being works of art and "skirt the edges of techno heresy". Some have even tried to pass these servitors off as human, but the Adeptus Mechanicus have seen "worlds burned for such transgressions in the past".

So a Janus Simulacra could very well be designed to look "pretty" and sometimes eerily human, while the clockwork parts are hidden beneath synthetic skin.

Why risk heresy with a custom built servitor when you can hire/buy/kidnap then subject to extensive surgery and brainwashing a real person for an escort at a fraction of the price?

Because what radical magos doesn't want the oppertunity to scream the words 'It lives' with a maniacle and entirely synthetic voice?

Yes, a servitor is just a cyborg with a mind wipe(sometimes). In other words they are human with varying degrees of augmentation and with their personality and will removed. You could have a servitor with just som cranial implants that allows you to install the personality traits that you desire at the time.

I imagine there are many a noble with a pleasure servitor, perhaps even whole harems. Not to mention the pleasure worlds. Also I dont ever remember seeing anything to sugest that prostitution is ilegal in the empire. Of course there is also nothing saying that it is legal either. Or porn for that matter. the only time i recal anything overtly sexual is in the mantion of some cult of she who hungers. Any other mention of this basic human function is only mentioned on passing.

Dagda said:

But having sex with things the Mecanicus make tends to end in purgings by crazed cyborgs... ;-)

Graver said:

Perhaps. But then again think about how many new and strange sexual inclinations that might arise in a society like the Imperium of Man. A Janus Simulacra would be the dream toy of a perverted "technophiliac".

There is a section of town in Tattered Fates that has or at least implies, a set of prostitution rings.

What I gathered from Xenos (the Eisenhorn novel) is that prostitution isnt illegal, at least on that world at the time.

The other night I ran a adventure where the PCs had a running firefight with a band of joygirls and joyboys, as their pimp also dealt in smuggling xeno weapons.

The Kal Jerico Necromunda novel Blood Royal makes many references to prostitution and escorts, but at the underhive and spire level and it seems to bot be illegal at either level.

I'm sure prostitution isn't illegal ... at least not in the Imperium at large. But there are those with the money who will want to try new and forbidden things simply because they are new and forbidden. For people like that a hooker or even a kidnapped street girl isn't going to be enough ... they want something different . And where there is a desire, there will always be someone ready to try filling it; heresy or no.

Jack of Tears said:

Different? Like absconding with your three best chums (say a banker, a judge, and a bishop) off to a remote keep with their daughters, four old prostitutes, eight studs of exceptional endowment, four of the most hideous crones you could find, and sixteen beautiful virgin boys and girls ranging in age from 12 to 15 all to be used and abused for four months through escalating acts of debauchery inspiered by the stories of the prostitutes and fueled by the need to out do your friend's, even pulling the house servetor's into the mix when the other meat that was brought along becomes too used or dead to be fun by it's self? Who needs specially designed servitors for that... tough, if you did have specially designed servitors...

But, yes, if something can be done, you bet there's someone out there willing to do it. If there wasn't, the Soroitas would run out of folks to burn, the Mechanicus wouldn't have hereteks to add a bit of spice to their terribly boring lives, and the Inquisition would be reduced to a a group of old-boys who gather at a hunting lodge every decade or so to reminisce about their glory days ;-)

Something like prostitution or porn's legitimacy and legality will vary, like most things, per world or even per city. As long as the Empire gets its tribute from the world, and the citizens aren't worshipping Chaos gods (or other heresy), it doesn't really care about what the citizens do or how they live their lives.

As for a human-like servitor ... the problem with this idea is that the emulation of humanity treads upon heresy. The closer to human a servitor becomes, to closer it approaches a method of supplanting (in the minds of Imperial officials) humans. My impression is that one of the Empire's greatest fears is a threat that is hidden and passes itself off as human. Hence part of the great power, and focus, that the Inquisition brings to bear. So, imagine the fear created by a machine that can emulate and pass itself off as a normal human. In the wrongs hands (or with free-will) such a machine could, covertly, work against the Empire. As long as the 'threat' is out in the open, there is less fear and (actually) hostility. That is why almost all servitors and artificial constructs appear so bizarre and non-human. So that, no matter what, they cannot be confused for an actual human in most circumstances.

This isn't to say that such creations haven't been and won't be created, but it would become quite a big, dark, and dangerous secret to have such a creation. Safer, as said, to mind-scrub an actual human ... or utilize separate servitors (a top-human one and a bottom-human one, for example) for whatever purposes needed.

Bottom line, if it isn't human, it shouldn't look human, unless you're willing to get in trouble.

@ Graver, what the hell are your games like? Do I want to know?

thats exactly what i was thinking as well...nonethless yes it could be done but honestly the mechanicus will have your tail just like the inquisition would have your tail for having a daemonhost even if your a techno magos just doing something different they dont like it or appreciate it because the mechanicus cant have pleasure period...or can they ive always wondered about that anyone have any opinions?

My thought is that the Magos have moved beyond the need for pleasures of the flesh ... though that may or may not mean they have psychologically moved beyond the interest in the sexual. They might still appreciate imagery and depictions of sexualism, though likely in a form more similar to their own - technophilia might be quite common among the ranks of the tech priests. Likewise, certain upgrades which produce euphoria on demand might have a place among the faithful - though they would likely present it in a non-sexual sort of fashion.

And, obviously there would be repercussions should knowledge of these "social servitors" get out ... which is why the individuals behind it would have to be very discrete and cautious about their clientelle.

Jack of Tears said:

Interesting. That raises some questions. Could you make a servitor *look* human, but was clearly a servitor in behavior and function, and not flirt with heresy? That's something to mull on.

Aside from that, I could see "pleasure servitors", especially for the more... ahem... "modified" Adeptus Mechanicus being servitors who hooked into nervous systems and stimulated pleasure centers of the brain, or even recreate artificial sensations with no actual contact or deed being performed. Everything from the sensation of eating your favorite meal (even maybe triggering the taste of it, total-recall style) to more "carnal" pleasures, to simple immense pleasure overload. Sort of like The Matrix (ungh I hate using that example but it's easy and appropriate), but I wouldn't go so far as to recreate full sensory input. That's out of line with the setting. Simple, basic emotions or sensations seems far more in line with the setting.

Of course, the more... esoteric... of the Magos might simply be interesting in various sensations not possible due to augmentation any more. Pain, cold, numbness, whatever. Sensualists starved of any sensation. It's an interesting idea. And if such a thing is difficult/impossible, it might make a pact with chaos lucrative. If such a thing *is* possible, it might quite possibly be *the* most insideious interrigation device that the Inquisition could ever obtain.

I see these particular servitors mainly as incredibly baroque pieces of art, guilded, or for some reason, hammered copper, depicting cherubim in flight and entertwined around vines and scenes of passion (not carnality, but simply intense emotional scenes), with the full purpose of the servitor not readily apparent. I could also see a classical era style marble carving of say nymphs entwined or some other exotic scene, and the guts of the servitor buried deep inside. They'd be looked down upon by the majority of the mechanicus, having embraced the machine more than the flesh, and thus some of the more... self-consious individuals might craft human-esque shells for their servitors.

TheFlatline said:

That question is basically what I was shooting at initially ... a "can it be done?" sort of thing.

TheFlatline said:

All good ideas, some of which I will unabashedly steal for my game.

Assuming I read it correctly, Graver's post is a brief synopsis of "120 Days in Sodom" by the Marquis de Sade.

I sincerely hope that he didn't try to recreate any of the book in his game.

alexhickman said:

Why? I think it sounded awesome!

But then again I kind of like the really dark and depraved role playing games that has a content that can make you feel like **** when playing. I dont know it's probably because of the strong and visceral emotions it can bring (kind of the same way that good horror movies do).

GM:s and gamemakers who do not shirk from taking their game to the very deepest levels of darkness, filth an depravity should have all the credit in my opinion. Games can be so dull when all they are about is playing the "hero" that kill "bad guys". Think of the old horror RPG Kult for instance, now that's a game filled to the brim with sick stuff... And I love it!

I doubt there is really a place in 40k for stereotypical heroes who do nothing but heroicly slaughter bad guys. DH seems, in my opinion, to be one of the most blatantly morally grey settings around - and I have ran some very grey settings.

As to his synopsis, I certainly enjoyed it. Our games tend toward the very dark underside of society were depravity is to be expected; as those do make for some of the most interesting places to find your characters. I recall one session where we were discussing the difference between Dark and Vile - one of my players says, "we're dark, but I don't think we're vile" to which the other replies, "wait, I'm just getting started."

FWIW, I have pleasure servators in my game. 99.999% are repulsive in some areas, sexy in others, they have hoses and tubes comeing out of their bodies, they have body parts unrelated to the physical sex act replaced with scary looking 40k augmentation. Some of the lower quality ones have smokestacks that belch out coal smoke. Think the remade from China Mieville's Bas Lag books. The fact that there is demand for their services inceases the yuck factor of my campagin.

Nojo509 said:

A psychologist could make their living/career out of one person who actually sought out servitors for carnal pleasure which were so "crude" that they belched out black smoke.

I'd save that level of technofetishist for a really jacked up NPC. Not necessarily a villain, but certainly someone screwed up in the head that the PCs would think about a lot.

I was under the impression that all servitors started out human, and were lobotimized and modified to perform specific function (mining, combat, etc), where is the tech heresy in having a lobotomized and less modified servitor? I thought tech-heresy was more the opposite direction, making machines too human artifical intelligence and too realistic cherubs being examples.

Agent.0.Fortune said:

Generally I agree. The question is "where is the line?"

As I interpret it, passing off tech as flesh is a major heresy. I can think of no instance of tech that is sanctioned that *could* pass as organics, technology level aside.

Best as I can guess, you might be guilty of a minor act of heresy for trying to "hide" the fact that you're using technology by making it appear completely human. However, the tech side you're spot on. No thinking machines. Not that Humans have that technology available to them any more necessarily without bargaining with either xenos or chaos.