Moigno, Rational

Rational Moigno

Rational moignos are two-dimensional beings, and a basher who doesn’t know much about maths will never be able to spot the difference between rational and irrational variants. A graybeard who knows his integrals from his differentials will easily be able to recognise the different mathematical terms from which the rational moigno is comprised; all of the equations that rotate around the body of a rational have real, discrete solutions (unlike those or an irrational, which give recurring or ambiguous answers).

COMBAT: The rational moigno’s only attack is that of number-blindness. If threatened, the rational moigno can spray out a massive string of equations which dazzle and confound an attacker. Creatures with intelligence, should they fail a saving throw versus spells, are paralysed for a number of rounds equal to their intelligence. If a victim passes his save, this number is halved. Rational moignos do not generally try to kill adversaries, preferring to flee, but if the moigno is accompanied by more violent creatures, the victim may be in rather more danger. Creatures of animal intelligence (1) or lower are not affected by the number blindness attack, but since moignos are impossible for most predators to eat, this doesn’t normally cause them too many problems.

The number of rational moignos encountered has implications on their statistics. If only one of them is met, it has maximum hit dice (9). If a matrix of 4 (2×2) are encountered, each has 4 hit dice, and if the maximum number, 9 (a 3×3 matrix) are present, they have only one hit dice each.

HABITAT/SOCIETY: The irrational moigno is the species most commonly referred to as a “moigno”. Those two-dimensional creatures are obsessed with finding the most accurate values of pi and other irrational (never-ending, never-repeating) numbers like e and the square root of 2. They’ve been discussed before, and far be for me to repeat that here.

These sibling equations, the rationals, are less concerned with the infinite task of probing irrational numbers, and revel more in the day-to-day challenges of discrete mathematical calculation. They’re not often seen by planewalkers because they’re kept busy zipping around the cogs and crankshafts checking they’re rotating correctly according to the accepted physical laws. When modrons decide to built or reposition a cog, a small army of rational moignos are called upon.

The problem with these creatures—who’re able to interact with mortals far more readily then their irrational brothers (while their “speech” invokes all sorts of mathematical terms, they understand more mundane language too)—is that they’re unbelievably dull. A rational moigno will count anything, from the number of words a basher utters, to the number of buttons on his boots, and the number of hairs on his head. And they’ll share all of this “fascinating” information with anyone and everyone who’ll listen.

ECOLOGY: 

Rational moignos multiply their numbers by long division (sorry, an old modron joke, there). When the time is right (something to do with a factor of their age being equal to some prime number) the living equation undergoes a process which produces three smaller moignos. The parent moigno technically no longer exists, being replaced by these equation children (called derivatives by those who know).

Rational moignos play an important part in the smooth running of the newly-built portions of Mechanus. Prior to the appearance of moignos on the planes, the modrons found it very difficult to expand their realm by building cogs, and instead they had to claim and conquer neighbouring platforms. Now they have the mathematical know-how to construct and integrate new cogs with the surrounding plane, their empire-expansion is that much less aggressive, and even a little faster. Other than in this role of voluntary subservience to the modrons, rational moignos play no real part in the ecology of Mechanus.

It’s though that the rational moignos were first created by irrationals who were fed up with having to do mundane calculations for the modrons. Over the centuries, numbers of rationals has increased dramatically, leaving the irrationals the time they need to calculate pi, a far more worthwhile goal in their “eyes”. In fact, they have so much time these days that numbers like e or root two have become targets too; they’re not the “holy grail” that pi itself is, but they’re still useful numbers, and excellent proving grounds for young moigno still honing their skills ready for the day they’re ready to consider calculating pi.

Source: Jon Winter-Holt, art inspired by Jeremiah Golden