The rewound are living clockwork. Their forms are craftful and exposed, yet hardy, due to their infusion of brio, and do not grind down with silt or mud. Their feet end in long, ballet-like arcs, with metal talons for dirt and cobblestone rotating out to leather-padded prisms for temple service. Their limbs are spindly constructions, twisting out in beautiful yet bizarre geometry; they have no heart, but instead a set of repurposed clockwork mechanisms which house their infused cores.
Their existence is one of the many results of the Arbiters gifting the world with brio. Machines were dull things before - they were represented by such items as a clocktower, a self-dousing lamp, or at their most impressive an offshore mining rig (highly profitable, but that soon fell apart). Upon the infusion of brio into the world, many craftspeople turned to their work in order to praise the Arbiters, struck with inspiration and working ever fervently; out of these came the shells of the rewound, which began to naturally swell with brio, and become animate - and intelligent.
Today, the rewound are the greatest example of ingenuity and of praise for the Arbiters; creating a rewound is never a task undertaken alone, and to be chosen to manifest inspiration is a mark of blessing from the gods.
Rewound always begin their life with 2 years of service to a nearby temple, working for the Council of the Holy Arbitration. Generally this introduction gives them a great, fervent faith; occasionally, though, a rewound becomes exceptionally disillusioned, the intensity of their expected devotion burning away what love they had and replacing it with cynicism. Still, this childhood suits them well, for they reach adult maturity within weeks and nigh-universally have an appropriate skillset for the (admittedly simple) tasks expected of them.
Personality
Age and Weight
Traits
Size. Rewound are Medium sized. They receive no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Racial type. Rewound are half-machine, half-essence. They have the outsider (native) type. They do not need to eat, breathe, or sleep. They may use consumable items, such as potions, if they so desire. They cannot be raised or resurrected.
Base speed. Rewound move at a rapid, grinding pace. They have a base speed of 30 feet.
Languages. All rewound begin with the languages Common and Arbitrage. Seeds with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Auran, Giant, Gnoll, Goblin, Ignan, Orc, Terran.
Basic Features
+2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma. The rewound are lithe and nimble, as must be any avatar of the Arbiters, and inherit the true sight of their ideal. However, their utter devotion sometimes estranges them from others.
Special Features
Darkvision (Su). The rewound are gifted with a vision powered by the world's essence, and gain the darkvision 60 feet racial trait.
Dedication (Ex). Rewound gain an additional Conviction point every day as a result of their utter devotion to their Principle.
Dissonant (Ex). The rewound do not run on vim, but rather on brio gifted to them by the the Arbiters. They react negatively to Complete energy and positively to Dissonant energy. In addition, they take a -2 to all Diplomacy checks involving non-Dissonant creatures.
Machine Head (Ex). Rewound work in a manner foreign to those their kin suffer from. They gain a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against disease, mind-affecting effects, poison, and effects that cause either exhaustion or fatigue.
Machine Heart (Ex). Whenever rewound would take electricity damage, they instead take 150% of that damage. However, they also gain a +2 racial bonus to Dexterity-based skill checks, due to their precise and darting movements.
Rapid Servitor (Ex). Rewound are built to be nimble and expedient. They take half the normal time when taking 10 or taking 20 on Disable Device checks, and once per day as a free action they can gain +10 to their movement speed or halve their movement penalty from sneaking for 1 round.
Baroque
Though many rewound are built for passion and tools, some end up serving in a more subtle role of refinement and responsibility, needing to take care of delicate things and delicate situations. These rewound have the following modifications:
Ability score modifiers change to +2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, -2 Strength.
Baroque rewound lose the rapid servitor and darkvision traits.
Baroque rewound gain the baroque and eidetic servitor traits, as follows.
Baroque (Ex). Once per day, a baroque rewound may cast a spell as if it were stilled, using her internal movements to serve as the gesturing. If she does not have spellcasting ability, she may instead gain +1d6 sneak attack damage on a single attack once per day, as the rogue ability. She may use this ability after making her attack roll and hearing the result but before making her damage roll, and her use is not consumed if the target is immune to sneak attack damage or precision damage. This damage increases by +1d6 at 3rd level and at 5th level.
Eidetic Servitor (Ex). A baroque rewound may make Aid Another checks for Diplomacy and Intimidate, and use Bluff to communicate secret messages in innuendo, using her Intelligence score in place of Charisma. She gains a +2 to all of these uses.
Burnt
Those rewound whose passion and dedication rips love from them rather than bolsters it are called burnt rewound. These burnt rewound often break their term of service early, on the pretense of completing a hermitage of their own. These rewound come out of this time with the following modifications:
Ability score modifiers change to +2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, -2 Wisdom.
Burnt rewound lose the dedication trait.
Burnt rewound gain the false hermit and cores of passion traits, as follows.
False Hermit (Ex). A burnt rewound gains +2 to Intimidate checks, but her -2 to Diplomacy checks from her dissonant trait now applies to all Diplomacy checks.
Cores of Passion (Su). Once per day, a burnt rewound can reroll any attack roll made against a creature which lacks the dissonant racial trait. She must make this decision before hearing the results of the roll.
Ability score modifiers change to +2 Strength, +2 Intelligence, -2 Wisdom.