Computers in Eberron? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Computers in Eberron? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Rechan
09-07-07, 04:46 AM Now, I know immediately you're going with the knee-jerk that Computers are too advanced and too scientific for Eberron.

Here me out a second.

The Computer was originally constructed with the human mind as a basis. It stores information like a human, and searches for that info like a human brain, and does analysis.

So, is there a way to Simulate this with some sort of magical or psionic construction?

Really what I want is to design something that works like a network of information, and potentially hook it up to the magical equivalent of AI. (Certainly not to the extent of Skynet, even though the idea of some magical force siezing constructs left and right is nice and scary if unleashed on the Lord of Blades).

My inspiration here is sort've like Cerebro for Xavier, or some other sort of mechanism that PCs would place in their home base to help them do research, analysis, or problem solving, but to be Much Cooler. Something that would actually interact with them, and have a representative personality (ergo the AI).

I imagine that the best way to simulate this might be some sort of psionic energy - an incorporeal form of sentient intelligence or an Intelligent magical/psionic item that functions like ... like I don't know.

Any comments?
Shady314
09-07-07, 04:51 AM Now, I know immediately you're going with the knee-jerk that Computers are too advanced and too scientific for Eberron.
Not at all. Any sentient magical item with a high INT could be considered a magical computer. IMO.

Here me out a second.
The Computer was originally constructed with the human mind as a basis. It stores information like a human, and searches for that info like a human brain, and does analysis.

So, is there a way to Simulate this with some sort of magical or psionic construction?
Why not? Warforged are already sentient.

Really what I want is to design something that works like a network of information, and potentially hook it up to the magical equivalent of AI. (Certainly not to the extent of Skynet, even though the idea of some magical force siezing constructs left and right is nice and scary if unleashed on the Lord of Blades).
I was imagining more of a magical very advanced abacus but ok.

My inspiration here is sort've like Cerebro for Xavier, or some other sort of mechanism that PCs would place in their home base to help them do research, analysis, or problem solving, but to be Much Cooler. Something that would actually interact with them, and have a representative personality (ergo the AI).
Right. A sentient magical item.

I imagine that the best way to simulate this might be some sort of psionic energy - an incorporeal form of sentient intelligence or an Intelligent magical/psionic item that functions like ... like I don't know.
Any comments?

I don't know if that's the "best." That's one possibility but there are a million ways to pull this off.
Charles Phipps
09-07-07, 08:19 AM Pretty much, it depends on what you need from a computer to replicate with magic because it's much cheaper/easier to seperate functions but definitely you could do a lot a similiar of stuff.

* An 'Illusion' generating machine that stores information via a typing console.
* A Construct that repeats everything entered into it.

etc etc.
Kid SixXx
09-07-07, 08:42 AM Now, I know immediately you're going with the knee-jerk that Computers are too advanced and too scientific for Eberron.

Why is that? Eberron already has the wizard's equivelent to the PDA in the form of spellshards, so why would an eldritch engine with the functionality of a computer be any different?

I think that your concept of a magical internet is probably spot-on.

I'd think that House Sivis and House Kundarak would be prime candidates as creators of a magical internet to assist them with the practical matters their respective houses are concerned with.
Papermonday
09-07-07, 09:21 AM I'm thinking HEX and Terry Pratchett right now:D
Alas
09-07-07, 11:39 AM My inspiration here is sort've like Cerebro for Xavier, or some other sort of mechanism that PCs would place in their home base to help them do research, analysis, or problem solving, but to be Much Cooler. Something that would actually interact with them, and have a representative personality (ergo the AI). You know what could be groovy? "Tame" cranium rats, or something similar. They would

Have a collective intelligence the PCs could consult
Have a desire to stay in a particular lair (the PCs' home base)
Be individually cute and cuddly (except perhaps for the cranium part).

Think of it as Batman's computer and the bats in the Bat Cave merging into the same thing. Actually, that'd be a neat hook for a House Vadalis heir. And certainly, interacting with a hyperintelligent swarm of rodents would be memorable for the players...
madninjapimp
09-07-07, 12:15 PM You may want to think about Docents as well. Perhaps you could have a device that allowed for multiple docent or docent like objects to be attached. You could add items of +skill (like +5 knowledge the planes for "astrological" computations) to it thus giving it a large "database" of knowledges.
Alas
09-07-07, 12:20 PM Now I remember what docents remind me of-- Dr. Theopolis, from the old Buck Rogers TV series.

I, uh, don't mean that as a bad thing.
naturax
09-07-07, 01:38 PM I think for this sort of thing (helping with research) I think it'd be cooler if you summoned a creature from another plane and it read all day and used its knowledge to help solve problems. That fits the themes of Eberron much better than a super-smart item in my opinion.
Artector
09-07-07, 01:39 PM I'd go with a sentient magic item. Depends on how far you go, but I see different routes. You could give it a high intelligence, and a low wisdom, this would be a basic calculator type computer, able to compute data, but no adept at storing it. Then you could do the reverse and have one with a low int and high wisdom, it could store large volumes of information, but not be able to understand it.

Then you could have the 'supercomputer' it could process and store information, be able to perfom functions on the level of today's computers.

To do this you'd probably need nothing more than a sentient magical item that's a slab of rock and possess at will minor Illusion. Or for the fancy computers have Major Illusion.

As a DM though you'd have to consider "Would a PC make this?" thus "Does it acutally need stats?". "How does one access it?" Hit the buttons? Turn it on with a dragonmark? Enter the right sequence? You decide.

I like the idea of the computers being a Dragonmark creation, something for House Sivis, as they need to store data. Or House Orien, for figuring out distances from place to place without bulky maps.
DBlizzard
09-07-07, 01:40 PM Now I remember what docents remind me of-- Dr. Theopolis, from the old Buck Rogers TV series.

I, uh, don't mean that as a bad thing.

Well, thank you! :( Now I'm not going to be able to get that image out of my head whenever a docent makes an appearance in my game!

:D

Warforged scouts now have a Buck Rogers analog as well.
Rechan
09-07-07, 03:38 PM Thanks for the ideas, folks. I like the cranium rats - what book are they in?

Why is that? Eberron already has the wizard's equivelent to the PDA in the form of spellshards, so why would an eldritch engine with the functionality of a computer be any different?
Because of the reactions you get when you suggest something like Gunpowder. ;) I'm just wary of the potential backlash of "That's not Eberron!"

What is a Docent?

I'd go with a sentient magic item. Depends on how far you go, but I see different routes. You could give it a high intelligence, and a low wisdom, this would be a basic calculator type computer, able to compute data, but no adept at storing it. Then you could do the reverse and have one with a low int and high wisdom, it could store large volumes of information, but not be able to understand it.

Then you could have the 'supercomputer' it could process and store information, be able to perfom functions on the level of today's computers.

To do this you'd probably need nothing more than a sentient magical item that's a slab of rock and possess at will minor Illusion. Or for the fancy computers have Major Illusion.
My PCs are playing Inquisitives, so basically anything that would speed up research and offer resources. But instead of it just being "The magic item in the closet I pull out to give me a +5 to skill", I'd like it to have its own avatar, or at least a projection with a personality. Instead of turning it on and punching a button, you ask it to do something and then it tells you, verbally. Letting the computer interact with the PCs is part of the fun, so that it becomes an NPC, not an item.

Also so that the DM has a voice when they're all standing around trying to process their clues.

Now that I think of it, the best example would be Bob from the Dresden Files. Bob is a spirit of knowledge that offers info-dump, an adviser and helps with magical projects.
Alas
09-07-07, 04:13 PM I believe cranium rats first appeared in Planescape (at the very least, they pop up as a potential antagonist in Torment). More recently, they're in the Fiend Folio.
Shady314
09-07-07, 04:51 PM I think for this sort of thing (helping with research) I think it'd be cooler if you summoned a creature from another plane and it read all day and used its knowledge to help solve problems. That fits the themes of Eberron much better than a super-smart item in my opinion.
Summoning a creature is more Eberron than an artificer making a smart sentient wondrous item? :confused:

Anyways Rechan as has been shown by other posters there are a LOT of kewl ways to pull this off. The cranium rats sounds like a particularly fun way to do it. Another way I was thinking is a cursed magical item with a powerful fiend of knowledge trapped in it. That'd be fun. It'd always want you to just try the ring/amulet/whatever on. You'd probably have to stroke it's ego a little to get it to tell you everything. Anyways this would make it easier ie cheaper for the PCs to get their hands on being a cursed ie useless and kind of disturbing "library."
Kid SixXx
09-07-07, 05:06 PM What is a Docent?

A docent is a warforged componant that become sentient when embedded into the chest of a warforged.

Pretty much a plug-and-play item, as it were.
OctaviusIII
09-07-07, 05:53 PM Don't forget also that magic has no problems interfacing with writing or the spoken word - avoid a keyboard if you can.

In a way, the magic around the Korranberg Library is itself a research tool. Ask for what you're looking for and it'll find it for you.
Alex_
09-08-07, 08:12 PM For a more distrubing twist, you could have Daelkyr, Mindflayers, and similar creatures using gigantic masses of brain material to form "living computers". They could be interacted with verbally, via psionics, or small symbionts that connect the user's mind with their own.

The Quori would probably have something in the form of network or pooled minds and information stored within crystals, possibly related to their monoliths. Psicrystals could be used as a sort of interface/portable media storage device.
Meloncov
09-09-07, 02:30 AM IMC, there is a huge difference engine in Korranberg.
LoneStranger
09-09-07, 02:52 AM Unfortunately to truly make something that would work the way you'd want it to you'd need a lot of quite possibly rare and expensive components.

I see a crystal/dragonshard matrix for the actual storage itself, a combination of magic and psionics to power it, an elemental that uses lightning to power (possibly an air elemental to keep the matrix cool), and some way to handle input and output. For the last part I can see parts of a construct tied into the machine (a construct's head listens for the "input" and then speaks for the "output").

Kinda rough ideas I know but still it could be possible, be even more interesting if multiple creations like this exist and they could talk to each other.
CannibalSmith
09-10-07, 12:59 AM If you didn't know, there are computers in Eberron already. They're called spellshards - a crystalline form of spellbook, or should I say, PDA. It's not a stretch to assume that you can store not only spells, but mundane texts, pictures, and maybe even animation inside them. (Edit: oops, this has already been said)

A house rule idea: spellshard familiar. Special power same as raven, but with sexy female voice. :) And as long as you have Silent Image prepared, it can project a hologram (reserve feat style).
InkBlot
09-10-07, 11:09 AM Two words: Mother Brain (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5f78Dapfuo).

I had started designing a Turing machine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_machine) using the magic mouth spell, but stopped when I realized that magic mouths couldn't trigger other magic mouths. It would have been real cool too - built into a book, activated with a word, and murmers to itself while running programs.

You could make a Turing machine using unseen servants, but it would be relatively slow, take up an entire tabletop at least, and likely wouldn't be portable.

At any rate, it's probably better to devise multiple low-level spells which each perform a function you'd want a computer to perform. Such spells already exist, to an extent. Amanuensis, for example, is a cantrip which automatically produces an exact copy of any nonmagical text.
Edymnion
09-11-07, 09:09 PM IMO, just make a construct with high intelligence that isn't mobile.
Maybe something like a Brain in a Jar.
Meloncov
09-11-07, 09:26 PM IMO, just make a construct with high intelligence that isn't mobile.
Maybe something like a Brain in a Jar.

Anything with a real intelligence score is very different from a computer.
Revvecor
09-11-07, 09:34 PM Anything with a real intelligence score is very different from a computer.

I would say that anything with a Wisdom score is not a computer. In my mind a computer has a high Intelligence score and no wisdom. By this I mean that it is capable of thinking, acting, and maybe even learning (Intelligence), it just lacks creativity (Wisdom) that sentient beings possess.
Rechan
09-11-07, 10:38 PM Anything with a real intelligence score is very different from a computer.
This is also why I said AI.
Edymnion
09-13-07, 09:01 PM Anything with a real intelligence score is very different from a computer.How so? No wisdom and no charisma means it is incapable of sensing the world around it, and it is incapable of thinking of itself as an independant being. It would be very much a computer-like intelligence. No will, no personality, just raw intelligence that does whatever you tell it to.

Of course, if we just really wanted to get silly, a necromancer with an eldritch machine could make a digital computer. Just make *LOTS* of zombies. Each zombie can only follow simple instructions. "Moan if both of these other zombies moan" is a simple instruction, and allows for complete boolean algebra.
TiwazTyrsfist
09-14-07, 06:09 PM Read some of the Discworld books set at the Unseen University. Hogfather is a good one.

Then include HEX in the game.
Picture, if you will, a giant ant farm.
It includes oddly shaped glass pieces, and odd long tubes, and other bits it asked for.
One bit contains a large number of ram skulls. If they take them out, it can't remember old data until they put them back.
It has a mouse in it. Noone knows WHY, but the wizards have found that if they forget to give the mouse it's cheese, HEX prints +++ OUT OF CHEESE ERROR +++ and shuts down.
And so on.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Rechan 09-07-07, 04:46 AM	Now, I know immediately you're going with the knee-jerk that Computers are too advanced and too scientific for Eberron. Here me out a second. The Computer was originally constructed with the human mind as a basis. It stores information like a human, and searches for that info like a human brain, and does analysis. So, is there a way to Simulate this with some sort of magical or psionic construction? Really what I want is to design something that works like a network of information, and potentially hook it up to the magical equivalent of AI. (Certainly not to the extent of Skynet, even though the idea of some magical force siezing constructs left and right is nice and scary if unleashed on the Lord of Blades). My inspiration here is sort've like Cerebro for Xavier, or some other sort of mechanism that PCs would place in their home base to help them do research, analysis, or problem solving, but to be Much Cooler. Something that would actually interact with them, and have a representative personality (ergo the AI). I imagine that the best way to simulate this might be some sort of psionic energy - an incorporeal form of sentient intelligence or an Intelligent magical/psionic item that functions like ... like I don't know. Any comments?
Shady314 09-07-07, 04:51 AM	Now, I know immediately you're going with the knee-jerk that Computers are too advanced and too scientific for Eberron. Not at all. Any sentient magical item with a high INT could be considered a magical computer. IMO. Here me out a second. The Computer was originally constructed with the human mind as a basis. It stores information like a human, and searches for that info like a human brain, and does analysis. So, is there a way to Simulate this with some sort of magical or psionic construction? Why not? Warforged are already sentient. Really what I want is to design something that works like a network of information, and potentially hook it up to the magical equivalent of AI. (Certainly not to the extent of Skynet, even though the idea of some magical force siezing constructs left and right is nice and scary if unleashed on the Lord of Blades). I was imagining more of a magical very advanced abacus but ok. My inspiration here is sort've like Cerebro for Xavier, or some other sort of mechanism that PCs would place in their home base to help them do research, analysis, or problem solving, but to be Much Cooler. Something that would actually interact with them, and have a representative personality (ergo the AI). Right. A sentient magical item. I imagine that the best way to simulate this might be some sort of psionic energy - an incorporeal form of sentient intelligence or an Intelligent magical/psionic item that functions like ... like I don't know. Any comments? I don't know if that's the "best." That's one possibility but there are a million ways to pull this off.
Charles Phipps 09-07-07, 08:19 AM	Pretty much, it depends on what you need from a computer to replicate with magic because it's much cheaper/easier to seperate functions but definitely you could do a lot a similiar of stuff. * An 'Illusion' generating machine that stores information via a typing console. * A Construct that repeats everything entered into it. etc etc.
Kid SixXx 09-07-07, 08:42 AM	Now, I know immediately you're going with the knee-jerk that Computers are too advanced and too scientific for Eberron. Why is that? Eberron already has the wizard's equivelent to the PDA in the form of spellshards, so why would an eldritch engine with the functionality of a computer be any different? I think that your concept of a magical internet is probably spot-on. I'd think that House Sivis and House Kundarak would be prime candidates as creators of a magical internet to assist them with the practical matters their respective houses are concerned with.
Papermonday 09-07-07, 09:21 AM	I'm thinking HEX and Terry Pratchett right now:D
Alas 09-07-07, 11:39 AM	My inspiration here is sort've like Cerebro for Xavier, or some other sort of mechanism that PCs would place in their home base to help them do research, analysis, or problem solving, but to be Much Cooler. Something that would actually interact with them, and have a representative personality (ergo the AI). You know what could be groovy? "Tame" cranium rats, or something similar. They would Have a collective intelligence the PCs could consult Have a desire to stay in a particular lair (the PCs' home base) Be individually cute and cuddly (except perhaps for the cranium part). Think of it as Batman's computer and the bats in the Bat Cave merging into the same thing. Actually, that'd be a neat hook for a House Vadalis heir. And certainly, interacting with a hyperintelligent swarm of rodents would be memorable for the players...
madninjapimp 09-07-07, 12:15 PM	You may want to think about Docents as well. Perhaps you could have a device that allowed for multiple docent or docent like objects to be attached. You could add items of +skill (like +5 knowledge the planes for "astrological" computations) to it thus giving it a large "database" of knowledges.
Alas 09-07-07, 12:20 PM	Now I remember what docents remind me of-- Dr. Theopolis, from the old Buck Rogers TV series. I, uh, don't mean that as a bad thing.
naturax 09-07-07, 01:38 PM	I think for this sort of thing (helping with research) I think it'd be cooler if you summoned a creature from another plane and it read all day and used its knowledge to help solve problems. That fits the themes of Eberron much better than a super-smart item in my opinion.
Artector 09-07-07, 01:39 PM	I'd go with a sentient magic item. Depends on how far you go, but I see different routes. You could give it a high intelligence, and a low wisdom, this would be a basic calculator type computer, able to compute data, but no adept at storing it. Then you could do the reverse and have one with a low int and high wisdom, it could store large volumes of information, but not be able to understand it. Then you could have the 'supercomputer' it could process and store information, be able to perfom functions on the level of today's computers. To do this you'd probably need nothing more than a sentient magical item that's a slab of rock and possess at will minor Illusion. Or for the fancy computers have Major Illusion. As a DM though you'd have to consider "Would a PC make this?" thus "Does it acutally need stats?". "How does one access it?" Hit the buttons? Turn it on with a dragonmark? Enter the right sequence? You decide. I like the idea of the computers being a Dragonmark creation, something for House Sivis, as they need to store data. Or House Orien, for figuring out distances from place to place without bulky maps.
DBlizzard 09-07-07, 01:40 PM	Now I remember what docents remind me of-- Dr. Theopolis, from the old Buck Rogers TV series. I, uh, don't mean that as a bad thing. Well, thank you! :( Now I'm not going to be able to get that image out of my head whenever a docent makes an appearance in my game! :D Warforged scouts now have a Buck Rogers analog as well.
Rechan 09-07-07, 03:38 PM	Thanks for the ideas, folks. I like the cranium rats - what book are they in? Why is that? Eberron already has the wizard's equivelent to the PDA in the form of spellshards, so why would an eldritch engine with the functionality of a computer be any different? Because of the reactions you get when you suggest something like Gunpowder. ;) I'm just wary of the potential backlash of "That's not Eberron!" What is a Docent? I'd go with a sentient magic item. Depends on how far you go, but I see different routes. You could give it a high intelligence, and a low wisdom, this would be a basic calculator type computer, able to compute data, but no adept at storing it. Then you could do the reverse and have one with a low int and high wisdom, it could store large volumes of information, but not be able to understand it. Then you could have the 'supercomputer' it could process and store information, be able to perfom functions on the level of today's computers. To do this you'd probably need nothing more than a sentient magical item that's a slab of rock and possess at will minor Illusion. Or for the fancy computers have Major Illusion. My PCs are playing Inquisitives, so basically anything that would speed up research and offer resources. But instead of it just being "The magic item in the closet I pull out to give me a +5 to skill", I'd like it to have its own avatar, or at least a projection with a personality. Instead of turning it on and punching a button, you ask it to do something and then it tells you, verbally. Letting the computer interact with the PCs is part of the fun, so that it becomes an NPC, not an item. Also so that the DM has a voice when they're all standing around trying to process their clues. Now that I think of it, the best example would be Bob from the Dresden Files. Bob is a spirit of knowledge that offers info-dump, an adviser and helps with magical projects.
Alas 09-07-07, 04:13 PM	I believe cranium rats first appeared in Planescape (at the very least, they pop up as a potential antagonist in Torment). More recently, they're in the Fiend Folio.
Shady314 09-07-07, 04:51 PM	I think for this sort of thing (helping with research) I think it'd be cooler if you summoned a creature from another plane and it read all day and used its knowledge to help solve problems. That fits the themes of Eberron much better than a super-smart item in my opinion. Summoning a creature is more Eberron than an artificer making a smart sentient wondrous item? :confused: Anyways Rechan as has been shown by other posters there are a LOT of kewl ways to pull this off. The cranium rats sounds like a particularly fun way to do it. Another way I was thinking is a cursed magical item with a powerful fiend of knowledge trapped in it. That'd be fun. It'd always want you to just try the ring/amulet/whatever on. You'd probably have to stroke it's ego a little to get it to tell you everything. Anyways this would make it easier ie cheaper for the PCs to get their hands on being a cursed ie useless and kind of disturbing "library."
Kid SixXx 09-07-07, 05:06 PM	What is a Docent? A docent is a warforged componant that become sentient when embedded into the chest of a warforged. Pretty much a plug-and-play item, as it were.
OctaviusIII 09-07-07, 05:53 PM	Don't forget also that magic has no problems interfacing with writing or the spoken word - avoid a keyboard if you can. In a way, the magic around the Korranberg Library is itself a research tool. Ask for what you're looking for and it'll find it for you.
Alex_ 09-08-07, 08:12 PM	For a more distrubing twist, you could have Daelkyr, Mindflayers, and similar creatures using gigantic masses of brain material to form "living computers". They could be interacted with verbally, via psionics, or small symbionts that connect the user's mind with their own. The Quori would probably have something in the form of network or pooled minds and information stored within crystals, possibly related to their monoliths. Psicrystals could be used as a sort of interface/portable media storage device.
Meloncov 09-09-07, 02:30 AM	IMC, there is a huge difference engine in Korranberg.
LoneStranger 09-09-07, 02:52 AM	Unfortunately to truly make something that would work the way you'd want it to you'd need a lot of quite possibly rare and expensive components. I see a crystal/dragonshard matrix for the actual storage itself, a combination of magic and psionics to power it, an elemental that uses lightning to power (possibly an air elemental to keep the matrix cool), and some way to handle input and output. For the last part I can see parts of a construct tied into the machine (a construct's head listens for the "input" and then speaks for the "output"). Kinda rough ideas I know but still it could be possible, be even more interesting if multiple creations like this exist and they could talk to each other.
CannibalSmith 09-10-07, 12:59 AM	If you didn't know, there are computers in Eberron already. They're called spellshards - a crystalline form of spellbook, or should I say, PDA. It's not a stretch to assume that you can store not only spells, but mundane texts, pictures, and maybe even animation inside them. (Edit: oops, this has already been said) A house rule idea: spellshard familiar. Special power same as raven, but with sexy female voice. :) And as long as you have Silent Image prepared, it can project a hologram (reserve feat style).
InkBlot 09-10-07, 11:09 AM	Two words: Mother Brain (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5f78Dapfuo). I had started designing a Turing machine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_machine) using the magic mouth spell, but stopped when I realized that magic mouths couldn't trigger other magic mouths. It would have been real cool too - built into a book, activated with a word, and murmers to itself while running programs. You could make a Turing machine using unseen servants, but it would be relatively slow, take up an entire tabletop at least, and likely wouldn't be portable. At any rate, it's probably better to devise multiple low-level spells which each perform a function you'd want a computer to perform. Such spells already exist, to an extent. Amanuensis, for example, is a cantrip which automatically produces an exact copy of any nonmagical text.
Edymnion 09-11-07, 09:09 PM	IMO, just make a construct with high intelligence that isn't mobile. Maybe something like a Brain in a Jar.
Meloncov 09-11-07, 09:26 PM	IMO, just make a construct with high intelligence that isn't mobile. Maybe something like a Brain in a Jar. Anything with a real intelligence score is very different from a computer.
Revvecor 09-11-07, 09:34 PM	Anything with a real intelligence score is very different from a computer. I would say that anything with a Wisdom score is not a computer. In my mind a computer has a high Intelligence score and no wisdom. By this I mean that it is capable of thinking, acting, and maybe even learning (Intelligence), it just lacks creativity (Wisdom) that sentient beings possess.
Rechan 09-11-07, 10:38 PM	Anything with a real intelligence score is very different from a computer. This is also why I said AI.
Edymnion 09-13-07, 09:01 PM	Anything with a real intelligence score is very different from a computer.How so? No wisdom and no charisma means it is incapable of sensing the world around it, and it is incapable of thinking of itself as an independant being. It would be very much a computer-like intelligence. No will, no personality, just raw intelligence that does whatever you tell it to. Of course, if we just really wanted to get silly, a necromancer with an eldritch machine could make a digital computer. Just make LOTS of zombies. Each zombie can only follow simple instructions. "Moan if both of these other zombies moan" is a simple instruction, and allows for complete boolean algebra.
TiwazTyrsfist 09-14-07, 06:09 PM	Read some of the Discworld books set at the Unseen University. Hogfather is a good one. Then include HEX in the game. Picture, if you will, a giant ant farm. It includes oddly shaped glass pieces, and odd long tubes, and other bits it asked for. One bit contains a large number of ram skulls. If they take them out, it can't remember old data until they put them back. It has a mouse in it. Noone knows WHY, but the wizards have found that if they forget to give the mouse it's cheese, HEX prints +++ OUT OF CHEESE ERROR +++ and shuts down. And so on.