Sandino's Snake: Armourer's Notes 4

If you haven't read Sandino's Snakes: Interlude - The Artefacts, scroll down to read that first...

The Men of Iron, constructs built by ancient men, were found in a buried outpost deep in the Perdian Expanse. Isolated and sealed in stasis crates since the end of the Age of Technology, they were completely untouched by the ravages of time. Made of an unknown, ultradense, and virtually indestructible metal, each one has a somewhat incongruous titanium box affixed to the back of its skull. When activated from a Control Box, the machines can be commanded in groups of up to 20, moving as smoothly and fluidly as men, but with twice the power and strength. Each is armed with a heavy, two-handed weapon that glows with a green light when switched on, and spits out bolts of incandescent energy that can melt a man in an instant.

There are, however, several oddities, beyond the oddity of their very existence. The control boxes on their heads seem to be afterthoughts, attached after the Men of Iron were made. Learned Cardenal surmised that the Men of Iron could once think for themselves, but were subsequently refitted for more direct control by their masters. In addition, though their optical apertures are clearly working and allowing them to see, they do not light up as they are clearly designed to do. Learned Cardenal has yet to determine why this is.