New droids can pop up almost anywhere you go, whether manufactured only for a select region, or cobbled together by local resellers. Some shine forth, challenging our ideas of what we consider 'artificial intelligence' to be, while still others end up immobilized, gutted, and serving as buckets for spare parts. Here are some new droid types that can be found in Elrood sector...

XL-500

Hundreds of years ago, when droid technology was in its infancy, the first artificially intelligent automatons made their way from the fields of heavy industry, and into the home of the consumer. People didn't really need these simpleminded mechanicals to make their lives any easier, but they were keenly aware that droids would one day become the 'servants of the future'. Armed with more credits than sense, high-income households shelled out for these early robots, and even the worst of them became a recognizable status symbol in any modern, metropolitan home.

One such example was the XL-500 unit, produced by the now long-defunct Starslinger Novelty company, in the deep core. Families delighted at the arrival of the 'futuristic-looking' XL-500 in their homes, the ads having told them it would be able to clean floors, fetch one's footwear, play simple strategy games, and even carry on a conversation. What they soon discovered, however, was that while the robot actually could do these things, it could really do only one thing at a time, requiring additional logic cards for each new activity. The factory model, for instance, was the 'conversational' unit, and consumers discovered the limits of the droid's conversational ability within hours of getting it out of the box.

XL-500s were returned to retail outlets in droves, and the managers of Starslinger Novelty panicked. The droid was refitted with an assortment of handy household tools, such as food tin openers, writing utensils, chronometers, even cigaro lighters. However, since the poor droid measured in at only 50 cm tall, consumers either had to carry their XL-500 around, or get down on hands and knees to use the tools. Needless to say, this didn't improve the droid's standing. Today, any XL-500 units still on the loose can usually be found rusted, dead, and buried beneath other useless debris in the occasional garage.