Name: President Humphrey Clarence Watts  v8.721
Nickname: Mr. President
Age: 108
Race: Automaton (Human soul variant)
Nation of Origin: Mallaston

Appearance

President Watts prior to the operation. (Current appearance on min-profile).

Role

President Watts is the political leader of Mallaston, although he governs with the backing of a large council of aristocrats. President Watts has the authority to veto any decisions made by the council, but he rarely does so. Having ran uncontested for the past ten elections, Watts has personally done very little in terms of decision making. Watt's leaves most decisions up to his council, after all he only truly fills the role because of his excellent speaking abilities and extreme popularity. In his youth, Watts gained fame in the advent of the Mallastonian invention of moving pictures. 

President Watts is a pretty durable even by automoton standards, although he isn't built for combat. Underneath of his hat, a propeller that is usually compressed within his head can fan out in order to give him the ability to fly. He can even carry a passenger with him, although he wouldn't normally.

Personality

President Watts is a confident talker who knows how to make people smile. His best quality is that he knows how to make people laugh, and he often uses humor in his rebuttals against any protests of actions done by the council. He is known to often times win debates with protesters without acknowledging their arguments at all, often using popular slogans and catch phrases in order to win over the crowds of Mallaston despite never actually presenting a counter argument. President Watts does not personally believe that the councils decisions are always the correct ones, but he fears that they may remove him if he does anything to the contrary of their desires and replace him with a new puppet.

President Watts' worst quality is that he is a coward. He doesn't have the heart to  stand up to wrong doing on the part of the council, or for his own rights. In order to cast the transformation procedure into a better light with the public, President Watts was "asked" to become an automoton. He now worries that he will be a puppet of the public eye forever. His fear of death has so far kept him very compliant with the wishes of the council.

In his free time President Watts enjoys tea parties, he uses hot oil in order to emulate tea. He also enjoys one on one conversations although he rarely gets to meet people without the councils guards at his side at any given time.

History

President Watts began his life as a Mallastonian human. As a young man he grew up when automoton's were still less effective on the battlefield than humans. An upper class citizen, the young Humphrey became an officer of an airship brigade. As a lieutenant, his ship was taken out deep within Brancian territory. With his captain dead and surrounded by Brancian forces, Humphrey and his men held out for several days before they were extracted by allies. At least... that it was the classic moving picture says about the now president. 

In truth President Watts never served in the military, and was in fact an actor playing a roll in a propaganda message during the war with the uncivilized Brancian's. Despite the fact that he had never served, the moving picture was such a hit that Humphrey became one of Mallaston's biggest celebrities. He appeared in so many rudimentary films being cast in a virtuous light that many people began to believe that he actually had the qualities being assigned to him. He found himself being called to universities to give motivational speeches, and became the posterboy for military enlistment signs.

As President Watts matured he become known for his powerful rhetoric and sense of humor. With nothing more than the bare minimum in education, he was approached by Mallaston's council in his fifties to become their spokesman. It was an offer that he could not refuse, but little did he know it would also mean that he would be viewed by the common Mallastonian as the head of state.

Watts took on the mantle of President, the highest honor that a Mallastonian can achieve. The press painted him as a genius, never mentioning the fact that he had no real education beyond acting talents. Many inventors, artists, and others have been paid off or intimidated by the council in order to present their ideas as having originated from President Watts. Over the course of his life he became lovingly known as the "Father of modern Mallaston", despite having never innovated a single thing in his life. Occasionally, people made claims that he had stolen inventions, but the media depicted these people as raving lunatics.

Constantly reelected, President Watts thought his life as a puppet would soon be over as he reached the age of eighty-six and grew ill. The council took the opportunity to present the nation with a new invention, placing the soul of President Watts into the body of an automaton. After seeing the heroic president become an automaton himself, many other affluent Mallastonian began performing the expensive procedure.

Writing Sample

    Sitting in a wooden easy chair, President Watts sipped upon a small cup of oil that he had poured for himself in his favorite tea cup. It was a quiet day in his little slice of heaven, the clockwork palace of Mallaston. His room was adorned with trophies and metals, portraits of himself and long dead family members, even his young spouse who passed early on in his life. Hanging from his perfectly white walls were a plethora of clocks; some clocks were bronze, others were lacquered with ivory, others made of piecemeal coins. 

    Watts' mechanical head picked up the sounds of knocking at the door, it spun around to the left, swiveling beyond the limitations of a mere man. From within his artificial voice box, the sound of a sigh emitted from within him as he stood up. His feet clanked against the marble floor as he began approaching the door made from a fine elm. He grasped onto the golden handle of the doorway and slowly opened it to allow the visitor inside.

    "Mr. President, the council wishes to speak with you within the hour," an automaton made of wooden components told him in a robotic manner. This was not an automaton like he was, it had an artificial mind that was crafted by a wizard. 

    "Why thank you! You've done a really great job, would you like to come inside for some tea?" President Watts asked, adjusting his aesthetic monocle at the wooden machine before him.

    "Sir, I may enter the  facility at your request. I can not, however, consume tea," the automaton informed him.

    "Nonsense! Come inside, I will treat you to a cup of my special tea. It is made just for us automatons," the President informed the robot, placing an arm on its confused shoulder. It began walking inside in order to comply with him.

    As he came in he walked over to a wooden table that had several tea cups already sitting and ready to be filled. He pointed at one of the chairs, and the lesser automaton looked at him blankly for a moment until he muttered the words "have a seat!"

    "So how are work conditions for you these days?" President Humphrey asked sarcastically as he poured hot oil into the cup of the automaton. He knew the being wouldn't be much for conversation, but he was bored and the only human beings who he was allowed to talk privately all followed the councils agenda.

    "I do not understand the question, sir," the automaton admitted after taking a moment to attempt to compute what it was that he had meant. It picked up the glass of oil, mimicking the president and drinking it.

    "I see, do you have any hobbies or things that you like to do for fun?" the President asked, finding the awkward pauses interesting as the machine tried to figure out a way to answer his question.

    "I enjoy... your hospitality," the automaton said, and as it responded President Watts dropped his tea and lifted his hand towards his monocle to readjust it. To Watts's knowledge these beings were not able to comprehend such things as enjoyment. His head thought about what it could mean. If these automaton with artificial minds could now understand enjoyment, could they understand sorrow as well. He looked at the automaton, but said nothing for quite a while.

    "Oh, well thank you for coming, it has been nice to meet you," President Watts said as he ushered the automaton out of his room. As he closed the door he thought to himself how it could be an ethical dilemma if the people of Mallaston came to view the automaton with artificial minds as truly sentient. Within his heart he knew that if he spoke up about it the council would bury it.

Approved!


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