Utropia’s intelligent automata are famous, and for good reason: these human-like mechanical simulacra have been perfected by Utropiian engineers to a degree far beyond anything found outside the city, and mimic human behaviour so well as to be, to the casual observer at least, completely indistinguishable from flesh and blood citizens.

While the technical mastery behind these automata remains largely secret and the exclusive propriety of the Utropiian Life Company, it is known that their mechanical brains run on light impulses, and that a vat-grown rubber-like artificial flesh covers exquisitely complex bodies of cogs and pistons.

Utropiian automata have become so life-like and so reliable that they now fill many jobs around the city and are completely integrated into the city’s daily life. Utropiians rely on them for tasks menial as well as essential, and indeed most often do not even care to know if there are interacting with a human or a machine, treating both alike.

It is undeniable these automata display intelligence, but whether they are actually conscious is a question that remains to be settled. While the Utropiian Life Co. maintains their behaviour is the result of a mimicry processes so complex that it merely possesses the outwardly indications of consciousness, many have come to believe that the behaviours these automata exhibit is more than programmatic formulas, arguing that ghosts have emerged in some of these machines.

What is certain is that visitors to Utropiia are in store for a shock the first time they realize they are interacting with a thinking machine.