FinchReport
English：Finch · Characters
Chancellor of the University of Machinists, a Hive Prince scholar. He runs the largest cache of technology on the continent right under the Holy Nation's nose, and what makes it possible is a pair of fake idols at the gate.
Finch is the leader of the University of Machinists, a Hive Prince scholar. He is at the faction headquarters in World's End and rarely leaves the building.
A university in enemy territory
The Machinists are an organisation of scholars whose goal is to dig up the history of this world, recover its lost technology, and write it all down and put it into circulation. They are not much good at staying alive outside city walls, so the dangerous half of the work is outsourced to the Tech Hunters — go into the ruins, into the remains, and haul the ancient artefacts back. The two organisations get along extremely well (faction relation +100), and in practice most of the Tech Hunters in World's End are running errands for the university.
The problem is that World's End sits on Holy Nation land, and the Holy Nation regards technology as original sin and kills Skeletons on sight. And yet this city is full of Skeletons standing about and warehouses stacked with machinery.
Finch's explanation is: those two statues at the south gate. They are carved closely enough to resemble Okran (or Holy Lord Phoenix) that the Holy Nation's more gullible officials believe this is a pious place, and so they stop asking questions. He stresses that the city has no allegiance to the Holy Nation whatsoever, and the two statues are pure stagecraft.
The books he wrote
Finch is one of the most prolific authors in the game. Works under his name include Cultural Groupings And Evolution II, Legend Of The Headless Ancients II, Mass Extinction I, The Lost Ancients I and The Mystery Of Skeletech I, along with the one that never got a sequel, The Cannibal Plains: De-evolution Of Man?. He also wrote a short note for the Tech Hunters of the Leviathan Coast, later collected into the Tech Hunter's Notes series.
There is an obvious pattern in that bibliography: he writes almost nothing but first volumes. He picks out the questions worth chasing, and other people pick up the later volumes and finish them.
The book that best captures his style is the one about the Cannibals. He lays out several mutually exclusive possibilities: that the Cannibals are the direct descendants of the inhabitants of the ancient laboratories, driven mad by toxins leaking from their own facilities or by failed experiments; that two civilisations may once have coexisted, and migrating Cannibals killed off the advanced natives; or that a severe famine simply pushed people into it. He concludes on none of them.
His attitude towards the player
The player can talk to Finch but will not get much out of it. Ask him about the research artefacts the Tech Hunters dig up and he flatly refuses to share; ask about the history of the region and he tells you to go and find Iyo — the P4 Unit Skeleton he calls "my assistant". Iyo is himself the author of several pieces in the Tech Hunter's Notes, and he will actually answer questions.
Combat ability
Almost none. Strength 16, Toughness 24, Dexterity 24, every weapon skill flat at 20, Dodge and Martial Arts only 2. He is the man in this city you least need to guard against, and the one you should least lay a hand on.