Mirrodin Blues (GLOGTOBER '24)

17 Sep, 2026

Challenge 1e by Walfalcon: An explanation of where sentient robots fit into a setting that previously did not have sentient robots.

Written for my friend's tabletop setting, The Ravening Frontier.

Premise

Among scholars, the question of who was ‘first’ to settle the Frontier is considered something of a hot-bed topic. For one, left unchecked, proof of any civilization within the Ravening tends to dissipate: devastated by conflict or inclement weather, before rapidly returning to the earth. It is thus within the interest of several factions to present themselves as pioneers, vying for control over the possibility of a (defensible) first claim — regardless of whether they actually believe in said claim, any distance that can be made from accusations of settler colonialism is good politics.

Of course, none of these groups were the first. They know this — The Ravening is chock full of all manner of peoples & monsters — but for reasons pertinent to the competing powers, it is dismissed as a technicality. Irrelevant. This is because the first group known to occupy The Frontier were not settlers or desperados. Not biological, but an entire species of autonomous machines. Historians call them the Kerat.

The Straight Road

Nobody knows where the Kerat originate from. One popular theory suggests that they were brought to The Ravening by another civilization, likely their creators, and put to work on some great task. Resource extraction is a common proposition, supported by the ancient dig sites found in some corners of The Frontier. One region in particular, known colloquially as ‘The Straight Road’, is neither a road or a straight line, but rather a correlation of sites associated with the Kerat’s influence. Massive landfills, quarries, and mines dot the ground, filled with the detritus of their operations, including the now-defunct machinery they deployed. Massive gashes in the earth can also be found between sites, or running perpendicular to them — so old, so deep, that not even The Ravening has succeeded in (fully) erasing them¹. The largest of these gashes, less a furrow or skid mark and more of a ravine, is known as the God’s Wound.

Living Kerat are often found adjacent to, or otherwise trapped within, locations throughout The Straight Road — buried amongst the remains of other Kerat. This is a common fate, with the survivors often beckoned to accept the assurances of 'proper society'... usually.

Another theory proposes that the Kerat were deployed to The Ravening in an attempt to terraform the plane, though any evidence that they were successful (or the species they’d been tasked to do it for) have yet to bear fruit. Fewer still speculate that the Kerat were built by a shadowy cabal still operating in The Ravening, or that the Kerat may've even produced themselves. Unfortunately, the nature of the Kerat's sapience has thus far left these questions impossible to answer².

Starlight; Combine

It can often be a shocking affair, to meet one of the living machines. Measuring approximately 8 feet (~2.5m) in height at their shortest, and upwards of 13 feet (~4m) at their tallest, a Kerat’s body is broad and imposing, with even the meekest of their kind standing out in a crowd. Their form consists of several interlocking chromium plates, seams near-imperceptible if properly maintained, with a lustre that dazzles in dim light.

The Kerat are clearly humanoid in design, although with figures more suit-like than sculpted; a thick body and a sunken, visor-esque faceplate obscures anything potentially indicative of an inspired anatomy. Likewise, the Kerat have no mouths. A ‘voice’ is projected from somewhere within its body, resulting in a grainy, rattling tone³. Perhaps one exception to this lies in their horns: all Kerat possess atleast one, upward-curving and positioned near the forehead. Typically a foot in length, It is not unheard of a ‘regular’ variant to possess two or even three horns. Why this feature exists (or why some possess multiple) is unknown. However, it is notable that ‘larger’ Kerat have been seen with anywhere from one to an entire ‘wreath’ of horns along their crown. On that note…

If I Had A Nickel…

The word ‘Kerat’ technically refers to two contiguous groups. While undeniably united in both origin and appearance, the man-shaped ‘Kerat’ share their name with a much larger, more bespoke race of enormous machine-things. These titans often measure somewhere within the 16-20 meter range⁴, with remnants of even larger beasts sometimes found along The Straight Road. They are wandering prizes and threats in equal measure. Entire communities have been founded on the corpse of a Kerat, scavenging components and materials that, if not rare, are otherwise impossible to come by in The Ravening. Heartvale is one such community, naming after the thrumming core that provides the city with a near-infinite source of what might be one of the most coveted resources in The Frontier: electricity.

Where the Man-Kerat are a rare breed, their cousins are critically endangered. Estimates hover around the existence of perhaps two dozen titans within the totality of The Ravening. That number is also shrinking, with weather degradation (or the most foolhardy of scavengers) claiming more and more lives every year. These colossi have nonetheless continued to make their presence known along The Frontier, wandering The Straight Road — or expanding it — with destructive antipathy.