Hello everyone, it’s ya boy Choujin.

Today’s friday and thus we got ourselves another fan-work created.
Yes, it’s another Warcraft fan-work, but something that got me pondering to set up for a probable story.
With Shadowlands on the horizon, I got musing on the idea of soul-powered machines from WoW called Vigilants. Thus I got writing on this little “File” called “Project Zanuka” (yes for those who play another game, I went with that name)

So with that, get yourself comfortable, get your favorite snack and be ready to read this latest work.

Chala Nightshadow’s Project Zanuka

Introduction
With N’Zoth defeated, many would assume that the threat of the Black Empire is gone. The problem that comes up is the result of corruption. An Old God’s remains can cause somehow adverse side effects (as proven with the Sha). Several engineers pondered on the possibility of using mechanical creatures for dealing with Old God level threats to solve this problem. This is something I’ve been reading up and studying by providing a “second chance” to aid in the protection of Azeroth. Thus the proposal for a new project: Project Zanuka. The request is to put the “soul” of a being inside a machine as the Old God’s corruption has no effect on mechanical or artificial creatures.


Origin of Project Zanuka
The origin came from the notes of a Pandaren engineer named Zanuka Sparkeye. Who studied Mogu Spiritbinders and theorized the possibility of transferring one’s soul into a new body (animal or otherwise). Sadly, due to a few failed experiments, he was shunned by his brethren. Though looking at this research, it’s not that off. Besides Mogu Spiritbinders, other Azeroth and Draenor groups have used means to bind souls to an object. It’s a known fact that Warlocks have done this before through soulstones, allowing them to cheat death. The Cult of the Damned and the Scourge’s Liches will use a phylactery to ensure their body remains. The Drust of Kul Tiras was also known for soul binding animals and humans into their wicker creations. Even the Alliance’s very own Draenei have used the departed souls to power their own Vigilants. From observations of these examples, the idea of a machine can be powered by the soul of a machine.


Proposal
The objective of Project Zanuka is to create machines powered by a soul that serves as a weapon against Old God/Void level threats that plague all of Azeroth. Though the void’s effects prove damaging to living creatures (or reanimated), it has no effect on mechanical beasts. However, though mechanical units are viable, anything organic material (pilot or other) will be affected by the void. A.I., though useful as it is, isn’t at the capacity to work well. The Soul powers the machine, having it operate the machine fully without corruption’s harmful effects. The best thing is the body can be modified to fit the situation needed.


Problem that arises
The primary issue when it comes to this is the ethical aspect of this project. How would one acquire a soul without breaking taboos such as either killing the intended target, shackling the soul with soul binders, or desecrating hallowed grounds to obtain a soul? The next problem that shows up is how to ensure the soul doesn’t end up causing problems like berserking or rebelling if it becomes aware. The Drust enchantment creates an unethical basis for stripping the soul down to its individuality for the body to not reject. That too can become something of a pain in the ass should the soul realize it’s in a mechanical body as it can rebel and go berserk. Further research into this will require studying the Draenei Vigilants to better understand how they work.


A solution to the Ethical outcome
Harvesting a soul may be considered unethical due to bad examples throughout history; the best option for dealing with this situation is to harvest souls of those already departed. There are lost souls and scourge wraiths that could be harvested and used as the core battery. Careful consideration must be made to avoid harvesting or violating any armistice treaties with the Horde should this route go through it.


Conclusion
If this theory works, it should allow a  revolutionary way of dealing a fatal blow to the Void Gods. Should any old god resurface on Azeroth or anywhere else, that threat will be managed. Though I fear that the machine could be deadly in the wrong hands, I am confident that this won’t lead to war as the only one with that knowledge is with me.

Happy Friday everyone, it’s ya boy Choujin.

Usually, I’m not a person who does fan-work. Not that I’m against fanfiction, but it’s mostly I try to create some original content as best as I can. However, today’s story is a fanfiction I wrote for my World of Warcraft guild. It’s a bit of a cute story.

To give a brief summary of the story and why I wrote it? Well, it was during an RP war campaign on the Emerald Dream server of World of Warcraft. To summarize the story, the guild i’m in has made a camp in the Cenarion Refuge, an outpost in the area of Zangarmarsh of Outlands. As a form of intermission, three robots are hanging about, while two of them end up dealing with the dangers of the swamp.

So sit back, and enjoy this short story
Warcraft belongs to Activision-Blizzard and all characters belong to their rightful owners

Mechanical Swamp-Runners

Written By TheChoujinVirus

Two days in Zangamarsh and Chala already has herself set up as well as her machines Optimo, Jeeves, and Reaves. She wishes she could bring some of her larger items like the Iron Nightsabre. Still, she needed something to help move supplies and maybe repairs for the Ashen Vale’s efforts. She decided to head out to Shattrath to find a way to bring her Xiwyllag ATV, the Steel Shark, to Outlands. So while Chala was out, Jeeves, Reaves, and Optimo were alone for the time being. The only other machine with them being the Robosabre, Chala’s Mechanocat, which had the same mechanical cognition as the scraphound Mecha Vero.

As Chala was still out, the robotic trio passed their time with a game of Hearthstone. Commonly, Jeeves and Reaves were always in a match. Optimo, lacking arms to play the game, simply sat and watched the two machines duel it out between two decks. Though today, something was eating Reaves.


“Did you see Joenn’s reaction of me? What she told Chala?” Reaves asked the mechanognome while playing a hearthstone creature.
“Query: What are you talking about, Reaves? Do you mean Joenn’s trauma?” Jeeves asked. He played a polymorph spell, turning Reave’s creature into a sheep.


“What audacity…Fel energy being bad? I never asked to be created with a Fel core.” The mechanical creature played another card, then using a spell to heal himself.

Jeeves simply plays a counter card that eliminates the creature while he gave his opinion to Reaves.
“Suggestion: Maybe you should have better foresight and maybe better understand why she fears you.”

“Better foresight? What do you want me to do? Ask a Draenei that backs away from the sheer sight of you?!” Jeeves asks

“Answer: Use your observation, Reaves. You have optics and a processor, you should know that”Jeeves then delivers the killing blow, using a Firebolt spell to lower Reaves’s health to zero.”Observation: Just like your lack of it cost you the match…again…”
 Reaves looked at the board then at his robotic opponent. If he had a mouth, it would curl like an angry scowl before he stated, “That’s it! I don’t have to take this!” The Fel-powered machine chuffed off angrily, Optimo watched him walk off before he started to yell out “Reaves! Don’t wander off too far! Miss Nightshadow told us to guard the camp!”
“Reassuring statement: Do not worry, Optimo. He’ll be back soon. Legion machines tend to get flustered easily, and he’s not one to take defeat easily. The only thing I cannot tolerate is a poor loser..”

Optimo nodded as the group simply went back to their duty of maintaining her camp. Jeeves was simply keeping everything as tidy as possible (as much as an outdoor camp can be as neat as possible.) Optimo began to do his routine pacing around the camp, checking to see if Chala or any member of the Ashen Vale needed assistance. Though he began to worry about Reaves as he hasn’t come back yet.

“Jeeves, Reaves hasn’t returned back to camp,” Optimo said with concern.
“Reassurance: I’m sure he’s still steamed about what I told him.” The butler replied

“But it’s been one hour, thirty minutes and eleven seconds since he left,” the Mechanostrider said

Jeeves began to stroke his mechanical chin, reviewing how long since Reaves left.
“Puzzling Concern: You are right, Optimo. It has been a while. Hypothesis: He may have gotten lost in his haze, I suggest we wait for Miss Nightshadow to return to camp before we search for Reaves.”
“But what happens if we wait too long? He might be in trouble,” Optimo said, “We have to rescue him.”

“Caution: Miss Nightshadow has advised us to not leave the camp,” Jeeves said, “Losing you is not something that I would-“
Optimo began to walk toward the direction Reaves headed. Though as he began to pick up the pace and darted off, Jeeves followed but refused to stray too far from the camp.
“Ineffectual command: Stop Optimo! Ineffectual command: I order you to stop, Optimo! Miss Nightshadow will not tolerate this!”
Thecommandc butler’s command fell on deaf ears as he watched Optimo head off into the marsh. He had that horrible feeling that Chala was not going to be thrilled that two of her machines have left camp.

“Worried Self-Statement: Oh no…Miss Nightshadow will deactivate me for sure…”

******************************************************

The little Fel machine angrily trudged through the marsh, still fuming over what Jeeves told him.
“Lacking the foresight to understand why people fear me…What does that rustbucket know about what people react to? My guess is Joenn’s just a chicken…because nobody else seems to be affected by my presence.”

Reaves continued to mutter and rant to himself. Besides his self-monologue and the sound of his mechanical parts squeaking and creaking, the sound of buzzing fireflies, frogs, birds, and any other fauna dwelled in the marsh. He heard something rustle loudly, causing the fel machine to jump toward the direction.

“Who’s there!?” He then made a mockery threat against the invisible threat “I am powered by Fel!”

The rustling grew louder, opened fire with a blast, shredding a chunk of the bush as a now panicked rodent ran out and away from the area.
 Reaves sighed, “Keep it together, Reaves, you can’t just let everything just-” He turned around to then see Optimo right in front of him. Startled, Optimo backed away while Reaves nearly fell over in shock.

“There you are, we need to get back to camp,” Optimo said, “Miss Nightshadow will be upset if we’re not.”

The Fel Machine huffed rudely, “Why should I? She seems to listen to the Traitor Eredar..”

“Draenei…they prefer to be called Draenei..not ‘Traitor Eredar”, Optimo corrected Reaves.
“Whatever..” Reaves replied, “I’m not coming back…”

********************************************************
Back at the Enclave, Chala returned from Shattrath with some fresh produce to restock the Cenarion Circle’s supplies. She noticed the camp was quiet, a bit too quiet.

“Jeeves? Optimo? Reaves?” Her tone when calling Reaves seemed a bit stern, but when she didn’t hear from any of them, she pulled out her remote to activate them. She assumed that they may be in sleep mode. When she did activate the remote, she saw Jeeves was hiding behind some mushrooms to the right behind her. Chala heard Jeeves’s making noise as she turned toward the machine.

“What are you doing hiding there?” Chala asked
Jeeves started to stammer “Fearful Apology: It wasn’t my fault, Ma’am! Please don’t deactivate me!”

Chala cocked her eye in confusion, “What happened?”

“Explanation: Reaves left after he got trounced in Hearthstone. He didn’t show up in over a few hours, then Optimo left to try and bring him back.”

Chala turned shocked, “Wait! They’re out in the swamp?!” She quickly got back to her Steel Shark, checking the radar on the machine.

“Annoyed Explanation: I don’t understand those two from time to time. I feel that they have some form of faulty memory…” Jeeves said
Chala continued to look at the radar until she found two blips on the radar. “Ahah! Found them! C’mon Jeeves, we best get to them before something does..”

Jeeves nods quietly as he hops into the ATV with Chala, ready to rescue Optimo and Reaves.

*******************************************
“What do you mean by ‘not coming back?'” Optimo asked

“Why should I stick around with people who look at me like I’m going to kill them?” Reaves said, “Why should I tolerate people who think that I bring corruption because of my power supply?”
Optimo tilts his head as he rebutted to Reaves’s rant. “But they have no problem with me; in fact, some actually want to talk with me. Miss Aeriara said I have a cute smile.”

“That’s because you’re designed to look cute and helpless..I’m just a Legion machine that was given a new purpose…” Reaves said as he began following the path toward Nagrand.

“But you do have a purpose, you can change into anything that is needed,” Optimo said, “I can only analyze and scan.”

“Again, you’ve got appeal due to your appearance.” Reaves said, “appeal is good for those who like cute things and less on repulsi-“

Reaves fell over when he tripped over something. Optimo stared at this object with curiosity. It looked like a very lumpy and worm-like root.

“What is that root?” Optimo asked, but the sound of hissing and grumbling gave the mechanostrider its answer. The root twitches before it started to rumble underneath both feet, and erupting from the ground like a fresh shoot was a huge fungal giant. The creature turned toward the two machines, towering them as he had only one thing on its mind: food.

The Fel Machine looks up as he replies, “Well, it’s a fungal giant…that’s no problem. We can take him together Optimo,”
As Reaves turned toward his right, he noticed that Optimo wasn’t there and that Optimo was already running away. The fel machine looked back at the machine, watching but fearful as it started to stare at Reaves. However, as its fungal brain began to wonder what to do next, Reaves took the opportunity to take Optimo’s example and leaves the creature. Following his self-preservation protocol, Optimo ran near the shores of the main lake, near one of the towers. He began to look around for a few moments, then when he turned to look toward his left, he saw Reaves’s face. The Fel Machine, though his face couldn’t show emotions, was fuming mad.

“YOU LEFT ME BEHIND!” he bellowed.
“I thought you were going to run,” Optimo said

“I was going to fight him! I’m not some coward that runs away!” He said, turning behind him to see where the giant was. However, the giant was nowhere to be seen.

“Well, I guess he gave up.” Reaves smugly said, “I would too if I was chasing two fast robots.” The machine then walked closer to the water as he turned to Optimo. The Mechanostrider looked at his Fel counterpart before asking him. “Are you sure you want to leave?” He asked

“I’m sure of it, Optimo. Otherwise, she would have been searching for us by-“ On cue, Reaves’s body was grabbed by a large arm emerging from the water, an arm that belonged to that Fungal Giant. It didn’t give up, it simply burrowed underground to ambush the mechanical creatures. Before Reaves could yell, he was pulled underground, swallowed by the monstrous creature as it erupted to the surface as it now stared down at Optimo. The mechanostrider now scared as the giant got closer and closer. Suddenly, the giant’s mouth started to emit smoke as its belly started to glow green, growing brighter and brighter. Hotter and hotter as the creature turned toward its stomach, the pain growing. Though before it could react, it erupted in a hellish green explosion that spewed fel charred chunks and a damaged Reaves.

“Reaves!” Optimo said, nearly getting pelted by a chunk of burning Fungal Giant. He got closer toward the damaged machine, sparks, and fel fire emitting from its busted body.
“See?” The machine stammered, “No big deal… Now, …why can’t I feel my legs..or my right arm…”
Optimo was about to explain what was going on until the two found the sound of propeller blades coming closer toward them. Chala found them (though the loud explosion was probably the clue).
“Optimo! Reaves! Oh, thank Elune, you two aren’t badly damaged..” She said, though turned to the damaged Reaves

“But Reaves is..” Optimo looked at Reaves.

“Reaves will be fine..his Personality Core is damaged, but I’ll make sure he’s going to be fine.” She said. She then looked at the two as her tone turned into something stern, “Now..we have to talk about you two leaving camp….”