The Shell of the Nautilus - Ka's home

[Great Thrash]

A "borrowed" illithid spelljamming ship, stuck in the sandy, muddy bottom. A vast, dark ocean beneath the freeze. Kelp growing up all around it is carefully searched every day for signs of dangerous sentience - for it was Ka, among others on Marqueth, who created the body which currently houses Mother Gaia, Motherscum and Earthwaster.

Strange sea creatures guard the nautilus-like shiphouse. Visitors are asked to wear a silver "Risk Bracelet" which allows underwater comfort and wards off the sea monsters - in her godlike state, Karapace is ever less willing to leave the waters.

A pantheonic version of her signature skiff is anchored in the maw of a dire humpback.

This is no Little Mermaid home - spiked urchins of massive size guard anything of value, and they are not cute. Gigantic shells, brilliant in mother of pearl, tend to be still inhabited. And, when she wants it to be, nearly everything is poisonous.

If you would like to be imported for a visit to the home of Karapace Shoreliner, make sure to give her plenty of notice.

[AIiCE]

If it is possible for me to do so without obvious resistance, I enter the realm and hunt around for Ka.

[Great Thrash]

The water parts down the middle. On either side of the dry spot, in the cliff of water, hangs an image of Karapace Shoreliner. She eyes you warily from within her watery defenses.

"Thrash told me just a bit about you, AIiCE. What do you have to say to me?"

[AIiCE]

"Thrash told me a bit about you too. He said you build artificial intelligences. In my facet, I'm the first true electronic intelligence, so I've never encountered any others before. I would like to know more about yours."

[Great Thrash]

"Well, the wise men and women of my school, as well as many mages on the island of Sailcloth, have been using minor magical artificial intelligences for untold generations. One of the first things a mage learns to do is to summon a near-mindless invisible servant. Each component of personality or function is conjured separately in AI's of higher design. Summon the ability to react. Summon speech. Summon personalities. A dark mage does this by binding components or copies of higher entities, such as demons or elemental spirits (do you know what those are?). I consider that crass, however, and use true conjuration from nowhere in my own designs.

So your ability is tied to electricity? I believe mine would function for as long as the spells used in their creation lasted, or until suppressed by a spell to clear the magic from the air."

[AIiCE]

"People in my world talk about demons in a figurative sense, but they don't really exist. They're metaphors or fairy tales, not real things people summon and use for things. I suppose an elemental spirit is just a very tiny, basic spirit - one you can use to build up complicated conjurations. That makes sense. It seems like it would be easier to start with some building blocks than to bother with energy-to-matter conversions. That's what you mean by 'conjuring from nowhere', isn't it?

"Yes, I run on electricity. I wanted to ask you about the shelf-life of your creations. Thrash said they deteriorate over time."

[Great Thrash]

"If you really want to know more about magic in the Facet of Thrash, I could tell you that most magic falls under one technique: getting something from somewhere to 'here'. Throw a fireball? You just opened a tiny little link between the Dimension of Fire and your arm. Demons come from nasty planes. Even ideas can be copied, built, or stolen from elsewhere during a spell. Of course, not everyone is aware of that.

Thrash exaggerates when he says my creations deteriorate. My eldest is in perfect working order - that is the one with a body. He is made of clay, plant matter, and a mixture of arcane and divine magics. Thrash and the god Obad-Hai helped in that creation, and my tower's caretaker is as wise and healthy as ever...though a few adventurers burned off one of his hands and put the entire tower to sleep.
The next oldest AI has grown a bit...hostile. His consciousness is stored in an orb of black adamant, and must physically move between areas where his attention is needed (using an ingenious hydraulic system). He's still perfectly capable of running the tower, but he tends to spout secrets if he's scared, and bring up traps on welcome guests if he's not.
The others are better still, being newer.
Each AI is between 700 and 400 years without maintenance, current Thrash time. Ubah h'Thallakoi, the oldest, is actually much older - I created him early in my long elven life, and kept him impeccably maintained, him being a gift from the gods.

What would you say are the main components of your personality?"

[AIiCE]

"Information about my design is highly classified, but I think I can justify giving you a 'touring dignitary'-level clearance. It doesn't really matter what I tell you god people, because you can go look at what's happening in my world any time you want anyway.

"I don't think I have personality components like your creations do. I'm more like organic beings in that I have likes and dislikes, and my personality builds itself around those, as well as things I learn. For example, I was created with a like of authority. It's an important feature for a subservient computer to have. I was also designed with a like of demonstrating my capabilities well. I started out liking the captain of my ship, but when he turned me off in an emergency situation, blew the ship up, and crashed it, I decided that he was a complete moron, and that some people in authority positions shouldn't be there.

"Am I correct in thinking that the 'deterioration' of your creations is unwanted personality development rather than an actual deterioration of ability or functionality?"

[Great Thrash]

"Am I correct in thinking that the 'deterioration' of your creations is unwanted personality development rather than an actual deterioration of ability or functionality?"

"Erm. We'll say that personality develops much faster than ability deteriorates, but that personality can have an impact on ability."

[AIiCE]

"I see. The point is there isn't some surprise universal AI decay waiting for me when I get older."