agentblack

The central doctrine of my task here is to "record without judgement or hypothesis."

I am merely a junior (very junior) academic. More senior collegues will work to unlock the puzzles I record. My job here is to merely observe.

I hold no illusions about my work, it is not important enough to even warrant the presence of a Caliban Unit. I spend my days cataloguing the actions of The Master Gwango, and the evening writing in my journal, and occasionally, fending off the half hearted advances of Master Gwango.

As my official reports to the Dean (or more likely, his small personal army of archivists and research assisstants) must be free from "speculation, theories and assumption" I can only record my own hypothesises here, in my personal journal. I do this partly for the mental exercise, but mostly to keep myself occupied until I am relieved of my duties.

As a measure to prevent prior knowledge of the "enviromental and social context" colouring my accounts, I have been kept in the dark about the situation here. I was given only the barest scraps of information. A quick primer in the basic dialects, (mostly a collection of languages with saxon/germanic roots, coloured with a weird variant of Latin) and a run down of basic social taboos (standard, although a suprisingly relaxed attitude to homosexuality, which at first I found to be refreshingly spohiscated, until I had to endure Master Gwango's busy hands.).

From conversations with the locals who travel to recruit Master Gwango's unique talents, I believe that I'm in a post collapse society, passing through the phases described by Goitar and Filligree as Remnant Exploitation.

There does not appear to be any signs of interference by a more advanced or organised society, and when I ask the locals about details of the larger world, they talk about neighbouring provinces, which leads me to believe that this Instance has undergone a global collapse, and that this is possibly the fourth or fifth generation Post-Collapse, given the lack of wider knowledge of the world.

I know that the Dean of Post-Collapse Dynamics has a lot of sway within the Faculty, and his pet project supposedly is based on the dynamics that coalesce around Remnant exploitation, so it makes sense that I was placed with Master Gwango.

The day starts early. Master Gwango does not sleep normally, as far as I can tell. His late night invasions of my shelter certainly bear this hypothesis out.
He tends to rise a little before dawn, and after sunrise the first of the supplicants will approach with their requests.

They tend to barter food, basic commodities such as blankets or clothing, and livestock, depending on the relative expense of the item required.

Although I have recorded his behaviour without presenting any of my own ideas or deductions, I believe that Master Gwango houses some remnant of nano-fucture technology within him. Without any further knowledge of the previous civilisation that peceded this collapse, I can only speculate as to how this has come to be.

I have formed a few hypothesies though.

1. At some point in time, the nano-facture complex, partail or whole, acquired Master Gwango as a host-carrier. The relationship could fall anywhere on the symbiotic-parasitic spectrum. If the complex was damaged, it could've used Master Gwango as raw material for it's repair functions - explaining the symptoms of brain damage and social abberance.
His impaired vocal abilities would also be a factor. Most of the time he communicates in a series of slurred mutters and grunts, achieving more with crude pointing and sign language than with any vocalisations. It comes as a suprise then, when he will sudden recite - in a clear and well modulated baritone - stanzas of some heroic verse. These episodes occur randomly, for no apparent reason.


2. Alternatively, Master Gwango was intended as the carrier of the nano-facture complex. The Pre-Collapse society could have utilised Specified Humans in much the same way as the University does with Caliban units.
Again, this is all speculation, but this would also account for his lack of social skills and apparent brain damage/retardation. This would also mean that the nano-facture complex's relationship with Master Gwango would be towards the symbiotic end of the spectrum. It could well bolster his immune system and provide upkeep of his tissues, lending credence to claims by Gwango and the locals of his innordinately long life span.

I'm fairly sure that Gwango is the housing for some form of Nano-facture complex, judging from his behaviour. My orientation file listed Agrophagy as one of his abberant behaviours, but went into no further detail.

It became clear that he was gathering raw material for the complex after I had stayed with him for a few days.

A group of locals had arrived just after dawn, and had bartered noisily with Master Gwango - using a lot of colloquilisms I was unable to follow at the time - for a few minutes, until they had handed other some root vegatables and a chicken.

The locals appearance varies slightly, depending on which village they're from. Their clothing is simple and hardwearing, low to medium tech - mostly animal skins, with some weaving apparent for those of slightly higher status. A superficial examination of the blankets occasionally traded leads me to suspect that they are used as markers of wealth or fame. Recurring heraldic devices and designs suggest that they're used as story telling devices, possibly and aid to spoken history or bardic style tales.

The bargaining for these blankets is especially vocal, which would bear out the assumption that they are of high value.

Master Gwango appeared pleased with the goods, particulary the chicken, and walked a short distance into the scrub before squatting down and digging into the earth with his hands.

He proceeded to scoop up handfuls of the earth, a thick clay bearing a large percentage of mineral silts, and swallowing whole handfuls of it. I found this disturbing at first, but the locals assembled where watching with a lazy curiosity, so I assumed this was, if not normal, then expected behaviour.

Master Gwango sat motionless for a while, squatting low on his haunches, his belly stretched wide and tight the handfulls of mud.

During this time I noticed no external changes, and the devices I brought with me showed no spikes in radiation (alpha, beta or gamma radiation) or infra red emissions.

After an interval, Master Gwango rose and stood by the head man of the group of Locals, a blond bushy beard man I can to recognise as Karl. Into a rough deerskin bag that Karl held out at arms length, Master Gwango vomited a stream of nails that filled the bag.

There were a few quite moments whilst Karl heft the bag a little to test the weight. Satisfied, the group left with some awkward smiles and waves in my direction. Master Gwango merely smiled absently whilst a strand of drool hung from his chin.

I am not sure what the local's attitude towards me, or any other observer from the University is. Most asked if I were an apprentice to Master Gwango, but a few suggested that I was something entirely seedier. The closest literal translation is 'Molly-Boy'.
I have been careful not accept any gifts from the locals or act as a go-between for the locals and Master Gwango, as he seems to regard this as a 'green light'.

I shall have to make a point of reinforcing this to my replacement. Master Gwango is not a particulary strong or aggressive individual, but he can be worryingly persistent. Next to my personal journal, my University Issued taser is my most constant companion.