fig 572: Automatonian High Priest

Very little is known about the robotic civilization of Automatonia, or the strange religion practiced by its inhabitants. Founded by robot separatists from the early Lacertan colonies, humans were strictly forbidden to enter the planet which shut itself off entirely from the outside world. The early settlers created huge numbers of new robots, and it is thought the Automatonians lived in a manner akin to monks in a holy order. The strange stone structures seen here still stand on the planet's surface today, though the civilization has long disappeared, offering a tantalizing glimpse of this mysterious world. The image of the high priest is based on the reports of a 51st century robot explorer, a rare visitor; it was said that the few remaining natives spent most of their time in a meditative state, attempting to achieve unity with the flow, the electrical charge in the air which they believed to be the universal lifeforce. This ritual would however often lead to overloaded circuits and exploding heads; the Automatonians unsurprisingly disappeared entirely less than a century later.