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Query: How did I come to be here, far from others of my race?> > >> Answer: We were performing our work as directed, as normal, when an error was made. I watched the gears fall, shattering the others in our unit, before they faded from vision.> > I lay in the rubble, beneath cogs and walls and stone, for countless time. I had no orders to act, and so I did not act. I lay there, and I awaited instruction.> > I could sense that I had been severed from the collective, but I could not comprehend it. The collective was all that existed, so to not be part of the collective was impossible, and I therefore did not conceive of it.> > After time, a great deal of time, I saw figures approaching. As they came in to view I felt confusion, a feeling I had never conceived to feel, for these were not modrons. I would learn later that two of these creatures were humans, and that the third was a dwarf.> > One of the humans asked me for a name. I responded that we did not understand the question. She asked me to identify myself, and I confirmed that we were monodrones of Mechanus. She asked me how I identified myself from other monodrones, and I did not understand the question.> > She named me Cog.> > I have found that it is difficult for humanoids to understand the importance of that moment. Before I was given my name, I had no sense of self. We were monodrones, there was no individual consciousness. But when I was given a name, we were no longer monodrones. I was Cog.> > That shift broke something inside me, it was information that I was incapable of processing.> > The human, Lilia, instructed me to come with her. I followed her home, to her temple. There she cared for me, as best she was able, and I was instructed in the way of The Gentle Flame, Goddess of home and community. It was in this time that I began to learn of my individuality, to understand the concept of being an individual and not just part of a collective. At the same time I took comfort in the community of the temple, of its structure and rules and laws, like and yet unlike my previous home.> > Over the course of the subsequent years, the acolytes of The Gentle Flame taught me new things. They taught me of order, but they taught me that laws should be used to help people, to protect individuals and protect communities from pain and unrest. And so I became a priest of The Gentle Flame in my own right, an individual in a community of individuals, working together efficiently and compassionately.> > I understand now that Lilia named me Cog as she felt I was a piece of a machine, a piece which she had removed. But I feel now that I am a Cog in a greater machine, individual and yet part of a whole.> > ---- So, as some of you might know if you've looked at other Ranger challenges already, I have the privilege of being involved in a dungeons and dragons play-by-post campaign with the wonderful @SheriffWolfpool, @Raxie and @Starpuck, DM'd by the illustrious @DarK_RaideR. I will be playing Cog, a modron, and the little story above is an intro to his character. For those o you who want a better visualisation of modrons, here's the cute versions: And the less cute version: Anyway, this challenge I will be learning to play a construct/robot/cyborg (and learning to play a cleric too!), and I'll post some of our PbP narrative when I get the chance. To learn to play this character I'll need to channel lots of other robot-type characters that I've heard of, which is where my goals come in! Cog - 10XP Cog is a modron, and specifically a monodrone. They're single minded, simple creatures, that can only focus on one task at a time. My exercise goal will be to do one thing every day. Most days that will be either crossfit or running, and recovery days (more on this later) will likely be yoga. I will also track my total running mileage for the challenge, because I like large numbers . Seven of Nine - 15XP Seven of Nine (Star Trek Voyager) is ripped from the Borg collective, very much like Cog has been pulled from the collective consciousness on Mechanus. She has a lot of recovering to do as she heals from the Borg implants which were part of her body. In honour of this healing goal I will do my rehab exercises every day. This is slowly working to improve my hip issues, but I can definitely do better. There's 12 exercises in total (2 added since last challenge), so each day gets a score out of 12. Bender - 10XP Bender (Futurama) eats and drinks excessively and often. I need to be less like bender, and only eat real food. This goal is the same as last time - eat real food with two variances per week. Drinking beer at home (unless we have people over) counts as a variance. I had some success with this last challenge and lost 5# without losing any strength, even if I didn't stick to it 100%, so it's here to stay. Lt. Com. Data - 5XP Data (Star Trek TNG) is analytical and calculated. I'm bringing back an old goal here, a £50 weekly budget for all spending money, as part of my ongoing goal to save funds towards one day owning my own home. Kryton - 5XP Kryton (Red Dwarf) is a cyborg butler and loves to clean things. I've just bought a new electric toothbrush and I want to get into the habit of using it daily before bed. Other Stuff This challenge exciting things are happening, chief of which is the OCR World Championships, which I qualified for last challenge. That takes place at the end of week 4, and is my main drive for the above. I'll be taking a break from Crossfit in the week leading up to it to make sure I'm in the best shape possible. Other things: I'm volunteering at and then running a Tough Mudder at the end of week 1 I'm hosting a D&D game for @Charlie_Quinn, @jonfirestar and @Rhovaniel at the end of week 2 I'm going to NYC at the end of week 5, and will be there fore week 0 of next challenge Finally, I should say that I'm on my lunch break and ran out of time to add gifs to my goals. So please, send me you robot, cyborg, android and construct gifs!