| The Hounds of Alcinous | |
|---|---|
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| The dogs in their resting positions. | |
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Origin |
Hephaestus/Alcinous |
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Type |
Automaton canines (Molossian hounds; gold and silver) |
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Function |
Sophisticated Defense AI |
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Location |
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Collected by |
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Retrieval |
TBA |
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Usage Period |
12th Century BCE (Originally) |
| [Source] | |
Origin[]
Alcinous was the king of Phaiacians on the Greek island of Scheria, the final destination of Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey. His palace, described as having been made with walls of bronze and gates of gold, was guarded by two dogs that flanked either side of the front doors; one gold, one silver, reportedly crafted by Hephaestus himself.
At some point, Alcinous' brother Locrus left Scheria with several family heirlooms to create a colony, the canine automata included; he sailed to Italy, the eventual home of Warehouse 3.
Effects[]
These automata are programmed to defend their charge with their lives and are built to the task. They are much stronger than real dogs and are capable of tearing through stone and metal with their teeth and claws with relative ease.
Their eyes, made of rubies, act as cameras of a sorts, and can record any face they see instantly, which is stored in a kind of internal memory bank. This allows them to create "criminal profiles" and histories of everyone they encounter for future reference, enabling them to recognize and pursue a target (assuming they escape their first encounter). If visual recognition fails, their sense of smell outmatches that of modern bloodhounds tenfold, allowing them to track targets across hundreds of miles over several weeks.
Collection and History[]
These guard dogs were created as immortal, indestructable guard dogs to guard the most valuable treasures and their owners. As time passed and the canines were handed down through Locrus' family over the centuries, after the creation of Warehouse 3 in 31 BC, they were collected and employed as guardians of the Warehouse and the artifacts housed within.
As the entrance of Warehouse 3 was heavily guarded by a statue of Securitas, the hounds were employed elsewhere, and their positions changed periodically over the next few hundred years. Eventually they were finally tasked to be the personal bodyguards of the current Caretaker, Lucius Tatius Rufus Felix, after the death of Flavia Prisca.
As Lucius could not accompany the Warehouse to the Hunnic empire as Caretaker, "his" guarddogs had to be deactivated, as they could not be allowed to remain outside of the Warehouse's control for fear of causing trouble or falling into the wrong hands. They were deactivated and stored in the Warehouse.
They were temporarily reactivated during the reign of Warehouse 8, but they were largely unresponsive for reasons unknown, and due to large disloyalty to the Warehouse and its employees, they were deactivated once more. They have not been reactivated since.
Trivia[]
- TBA