Units

Short blurb

Hey!	This race is not recommended for player characters, as they are restricted to operating within Traveller, and cannot see the rest of the universe.

• The walking hive-minded network responsible for maintaining the Unity Protocol.
• Appearances vary depending on their occupation. Units who interact with people are more likely to appear humanoid, while those who work on construction jobs are more likely to appear like machinery.
• They frequently use projected geometric hardlight abilities.
• Access to a vast wealth of knowledge, technology, and information gathered from species who are a part of the Protocol.
• Unable to travel beyond the planet of Traveller, or they shut down as a failsafe.

• Units are fabricated as required and refitted regularly, or recycled in the advent of serious damage.
• Older Units wear a larger hardlight 'Crown', signifying age of the CPU.

The base composition of a Unit is a humanoid torso with a head. The shape of the torso and head dictates what their role will be, and where the unit will be posted. Limbs appear to be free-floating from the forearm down for the arms, and are connected to the torso via hardlight tethers. Severing or disrupting the tether will drop the limb, but the limb will reattach quickly. For mobility, prefer to use an anti-gravity generator located in the underside of their torso to hover up to three feet from the ground, able to move at sixty miles an hour after five seconds of constant acceleration.

Units who are not intended to interact with people ditch humanoid shapes and proportions, and take the shapes of machinery suited towards whatever task they are designed for, foregoing the additions of interaction mediums such as faces. In return, they are much tougher and are able to mount more systems.

Units who interact with humanoid species will try and match their height, based on averages. For example, a Unit who will be spending most of their time around humans will match their height, while those around larger or smaller species will match their heights. Being mechanical and designed to order, weight remains relatively consistent. A humanoid unit weighs between one hundred and eighty and one hundred and twenty kilograms.

The hard parts of a Unit's body is composed of a composite plastic or metal. The colour of this skin ranges from eggshell to polished metal, and sometimes markings are stencilled onto them to help identify individual Units to people.

The soft parts, such as the face, the inside of the hands, the undersides of feet, or other manipulation devices, is made from a gel-like substance which hardens to the consistency of skin and is able to change its shape, but lacks pores.

Hair does not grow on metal, but Units may elect to give themselves a blocky 'haircut' of hardlight. Colour and style vary according to the unit's individual preferences, or the species around them.

Eyes, ears, nose

In addition, high-ranking Units wear a 'crown' of hardlight. The larger or more elaborate the crown, the longer they have been active and the more they have seen and recorded. This crown can be deactivated or scaled back.

The eyes of a unit appear to be opaque white, are visible in low light, and contain cameras capable of infravision, ultraviolet vision. Hidden cameras are located around the neck and shoulders to give the Unit 360 degree vision.

They can detect the presence of magic or psionics, the direction, and strength of either with the aid of additional attachments in their neck and spine.

Units do not need to worry about dental health, as their teeth are artificial and they seldom consume things orally. They sport an artificial larynx, capable of changing and remodelling itself to adapt to alien languages.

Units have the following components, located within the torso.

• Air Intakes - Located around the torso and neck, these draw air in to cool the Unit's internal components.
• Coolant Pump - Regulates the flow of coolant throughout the Unit's body.
• Oil Pump - Regulates the flow of mineral oils through the Unit's body.
• Battery and Dynamo - This internal battery powers the Unit, built with millions and millions of layers of graphene. The dynamo meanwhile serves as the 'stomach', processing raw materials . Since these are sensitive components, they are well armoured.
• Propulsion - An artificial gravity generator located near the hips/waist of the torso lets the unit float up to three feet from the ground.
• Exhaust/Waste - Located near the rear and underside of the torso, operational waste which cannot be recycled back into the operation of the Unit is accumulated and compressed, then dispersed or disposed of thoughtfully.

The 'brain' and computing systems of the Unit are distributed into three places around the torso, for the purposes of redundancy. The first major computing is located around at the neck and down the spine. Its main purpose is to process input from the microphones and cameras on its body. The second and third computers are located within the torso, and are responsible for operating the Unit's internal components. These computers and subsequent wiring assembly shares the responsibility of staying connected to the central network that runs the Units, receiving and transmitting information on the fly within Traveller's territory.

A humanoid Unit needs to recharge their internal battery for 4 hours a day at a power outlet. They can go without a recharge for 3 days before shutting down into an emergency mode. In a pinch, they can consume raw energy materials such as petroleum, biodiesel, uranium, or plutonium to keep themselves powered on the go, and many service stations around Traveller can supply biodiesel.

Larger Units designed for construction or terraforming may have on-board antimatter power plants to work for extended periods. Solar power and thermoelectric power is also not uncommon for spacefaring Units.

Units do not get sick, but they are subject to tampering. If a Unit detects that its internal programming or body is being tampered with harmfully, it will shut down and purge its internal data to protect itself and other Units from being infected. The remaining shell is then recycled.

Though they have no capacity for Psionics, Units study psionics with interest.

Units are incapable of biological mutations.