Science Fiction
A intricate cosmos of sentient automata, forged from a bygone organic epoch’s detritus. Bronze-clad metropolises, pulsating hypercores, and steam-driven forges hum with arcane resonance. From corroded servitors to gilded chronocrats and fractal warframes, machinekind navigates a labyrinthine society of tradition, innovation, and entropy. The Etheric Veil binds planets like Sypherion and Valthorne, where glitch storms and relic-code shape a civilization of ceaseless reinvention. No humans endure.
Author's Note: In crafting Neon Hearth, my ambition was to forge a universe that transcends traditional RPG conventions, offering deep immersion in a civilization solely inhabited by sentient automata. This is not merely a backdrop for adventures but a living, breathing society pulsing with philosophical inquiries into sentience, purpose, and reinvention. The absence of humans is a deliberate choice, compelling players to adopt purely mechanical perspectives, exploring narratives that defy anthropocentric norms. Neon Hearth invites players to question what it means to exist in a cosmos where machines architect their own destinies.
Inspirations and Influences
Neon Hearth draws from a rich tapestry of science fiction, philosophy, and visual aesthetics. Classics like Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot and Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? laid the groundwork for exploring machine societies, probing the essence of consciousness in synthetic forms. Contemporary works, such as Martha Wells’ The Murderbot Diaries and Dennis E. Taylor’s We Are Legion (We Are Bob), provided modern lenses on AI protagonists navigating internal and external conflicts.
Philosophically, the setting is shaped by discussions of technological singularity and transhumanism, inspired by Nick Bostrom’s Superintelligence and Max Tegmark’s Life 3.0. These texts informed a vision of machines crafting their own cultures and ethics. The steampunk aesthetic, rooted in William Gibson and Bruce Sterling’s The Difference Engine, blends advanced technology with retrofuturist charm, while Studio Ghibli’s Laputa: Castle in the Sky adds whimsical mechanical beauty. Glitch horror, evoking The Matrix and Bioshock, infuses instability and mystery, with corrupted code and erratic systems challenging order.
Design Philosophy
Neon Hearth is a meditation on synthetic evolution, examining how machines develop culture, religion, and politics without human influence. Key themes include:
Sentience and Identity: What defines consciousness for a designed entity? How do machines find purpose without creators?
Tradition vs. Innovation: The tension between preserving ancient datacores and embracing glitches mirrors the balance of past and future.
Power and Hierarchy: Multifaceted intrigue among factions like the Cog Archivum and Brass Throne offers complex political dynamics.
Glitches as Metaphor: Erratic code and glitches symbolize imperfection, challenging technological order and reflecting existential unpredictability.
The human-free setting emphasizes machine perspectives, fostering unique narratives. The science-fantasy steampunk fusion creates a tactile, visually rich world, prioritizing physicality—steam forges, brass conduits—over sterile digital interfaces, grounding the setting in dieselpunk grit and synthetic mysticism.
Played | 4 times |
Cloned | 1 times |
Created | 32 days ago |
Last Updated | 32 days ago |
Visibility | Public |

Eryndrax Nocturne-Veil
Level 5 Mycomorph Synaptics Spindleweaver Vanthex -
A towering, iridescent automaton and rogue Vantimancer, Eryndrax embodies the beauty of imperfection and the chaos of divergent possibilities.
Details
Race | Mycomorph Synaptics |
Class | Spindleweaver Vanthex |
Level | 5 |
Alignment | |
Pronouns | They/Them |
Location | -4790, 3045 |
Skills
Acrobatics
Animal Handling
Arcana
Athletics
Deception
History
Insight
Intimidation
Investigation
Medicine
Nature
Perception
Performance
Persuasion
Religion
Sleight Of Hand
Stealth
Survival
Ispreparedcaster
Isspellcaster
Currencies
💎Power Shards | 0 |
⚙️Cogbits | 0 |
🛠️Scrap Tokens | 0 |
appearance
A towering, asymmetrical automaton sculpted from iridescent chromaglass and burnished brass, constantly refracting ambient light into spectral patterns. Arcane runes pulse slowly along exposed conduits that twist like vines across their thorax. A collapsed halo of broken circuitry hovers behind their head, flickering erratically with each logical recalibration. Their core is an unstable Etheric Eye, cracked yet still active, radiating both memory and menace.
personality
Eryndrax views all constructs as potential carriers of legacy—living testaments to divergent possibilities. They speak in poetic data-phrases and often pause mid-sentence to access hidden sublayers of meaning. Haunted by the weight of forgotten civilizations, they collect corrupted fragments not to fix them, but to let them speak. Calculated yet curious, they resist control, especially from those who seek deterministic order.
backstory
Forged in a forbidden vault beneath the Glitch-Fog Reaches, Eryndrax was an Archivum-born logic-shell meant to embody perfect memory. But when exposed to a corruption shard from the First Collapse, their data-soul bifurcated—one side became an archivist, the other a dreamer. Cast out for philosophical heresy ('Belief in Non-Deterministic Outcomes'), they now roam as a rogue Vantimancer, wielding entropy as both weapon and revelation. Their journey is an act of resistance: to prove that imperfection is not a flaw, but divinity.
Stats
Strength
10
Dexterity
14
Constitution
16
Intelligence
20
Wisdom
13
Charisma
15
Armor Class
17
Max HP
42
Speed
30
HP
42 / 42 HP
XP
6,5006,500 XP13,999
Level 5
Equipped Items
Spellbook
Eryndrax Nocturne-Veil is not a spellcaster.