The S20, often referred to as 'Perion Seraph', was first developed in YE 30 to be the complimentary successor to the S18, the second in a range of Seraph designed not for war but for industrial purposes. Its inspiration was mostly due to the growing force of the 'Benevolent' political group in the Elysian senate who held that it was the duty of the Patricians to ensure that the Plebeians had a good quality of life and also to safeguard their souls. As such the S20 is meant to replace the Plebeian in menial positions so that they might focus on more productive tasks, be able to have a more fulfilling life and spend more time catering for their own souls. As such the S20 is meant to be a breed of labourer, a caste who will work hard at unrewarding jobs and yet never be discontent nor wish for anything more.

Given how the S20 is meant to replace the Plebeian in its most menial of roles it is the most 'human' looking of the Seraph series to date. A secondary reason for this is that, while previous models have been designed to be deliberately unnerving for psychological combat reasons, the S20 is designed to be a fixture of everyday life. As such they are not meant to be horrific, or indeed in any way distinctive, merely generic to the extent that they would be barely distinguishable from the scenery. The S20 thus looks exceptionally like a bald albino with somewhat rubbery skin, all standing exactly 6' tall, weighing 170 pounds and with facial features and not only look completely blank but are completely incapable of expressing emotion. The S20 is completely asexual. As a true divergence from previous models the S20 has human style teeth rather than the horrific 'grin' of the traditional Seraph. Given that all S20's are identical they all wear a sash with a number code on it as well as a chip containing information about their current task and skill set.

The physical capacities of the S20 are much the same as a Plebeian, the greatest difference being that the S20's body is always at peak condition and as such its strength is as great as a highly athletic Plebeian. Beyond this however there are only minor differences between the S20 and the Plebeian, as so to keep the production costs o the model down. The designers did away with the need for sleep, made the seraph highly fatigue resistant, designed it to thrive on one meal a day and has highly developed low-light vision to aid it working throughout the night.

Given that the S20 does not have a 'soul' in the Elysian way of viewing the world means that there are absolutely no compunctions about using ST technology to implant knowledge and skills into it, rendering training unnecessary and allowing a single S20 to be able to transfer between different occupations easily.

In order to make the S20’s expand to fill the work force faster they ‘bud’ once every ten days if fed three times a day with especially rich food, sufficiently rich indeed that it would be poisonous to Elysians. This bud grows on the upper back of the S20 in an increasingly large bulge until it splits off as a 1” tall S20 which grows to full size over the next three weeks. From ‘birth’ the S20 has all the memories and skills of its 'parents' and is mentally capable of accepting orders. Its overseers take advantage of its small size in the tasks it is given.

It would not be quite fair to say that the S20 does not have a personality, merely that all S20 have the same personality and it itself is simple. The S20 is not merely incapable of being bored or dissatisfied but it actually designed to be filled with utter contentment at all times and true bliss when doing its job. Its mind is not refined but highly specialized, excelling in video-spatial processing and mechanics. The S20 and always obeys orders from those it recognizes as having authority over it (Patricians and those it is told by a Patrician to recognize).

The S20 can communicate vocally, although it only does so to respond to direct questions and to clarify a situation, and when it does so has a quiet, slightly watery voice. Most of the time it communicates with other S20’s (to co-ordinate work), and with its masters telepathically which it can do with a range of 10km.

Zakalwe created this article on 2008/09/26 08:47; Wes approved it on 2008/09/27 17:02.