#magipunk

WotC won't put the Artificer in the SRD, so I'm writing my own Inventor class, with no spells, a martial focus, and the freedom to create unique innovative technologies.

Examples:

Paula Petril, a fireworker using combustion technology, brandishing a dragon torch firework 🔥

Fizzbe Gobblegoop, an alchemist using scrap technology to demonstrate a gruel dispenser gadget 🐌

Varsnip Felflame, a mechanist using soul technology, accompanied by a defender construct 👿

Gore Meatfist, an armourer using blood & bone technology, wearing a power armour and brandishing a sawblade gadget 🍖

The first robots to arrive on Ymir were those sent by Empyrean. They had no intelligence of their own, and operated merely as they were programmed. However, contact with raw, unrefined adonium caused them to gain sentience, and they tried to claim the planet as their own. Admiral Montu wiped them out, leading to the Genesis II Project, as headed by Dr. Nebo.

Some time during the Second Age, humans living on Ymir figured out how to use adonium to create their own automatons to assist in mining adonium. Rather than running on electricity, these automatons ran on the magic of adonium itself. Every automaton has an adonium core, which acts as the seat of its consciousness. However, not every automaton has free will or total consciousness. Many simply behave as their makers programmed them to behave.

Automatons are considered a servant class in human society. Most of them work in the mines, but some assist in day-to-day tasks. Some automatons might be bartenders, lift operators, woodcutters, or even soldiers on occasion.

The lifespans of automatons vary greatly. Some only last a few years before they break down and can no longer function. Others run for hundreds of years. There are even rumors of some who have survived thousands of years. Generally, as long as an automaton’s adonium core is still intact, they are still “alive,” though sometimes the damage to their bodies is so great that new frames need to be built for them.

Since automatons do not need some of the basic creature comforts, such as food and water, those that are paid are usually paid far less than humans. Even so, automatons often seek work because it makes them feel like their lives have purpose.

Sadly, in recent times there are some humans who have grown to resent and even hate automatons. The Skin and Bones society was formed around the basic idea that only beings made of flesh should be considered truly “alive.” Members of the Skin and Bones Society have been known to destroy automatons for the slightest offenses, or simply because of baseless hatred. They often wear parts of automatons they’ve killed as armor, intended to frighten any other automatons they might come across.

Since justice for these murders is hard to come by, some automatons have formed gangs, posses, or militias. This, in turn, has made many of their human neighbors nervous that automatons are about to rise up against them, and driven several right into the arms of the Skin and Bones Society.

Those automatons loyal to Empyrean usually pray to Shun as their patron deity. Since he is believed to be the god of stone and hard labor, their mythology says that he was the first one to create automatons, and has a special interest in their survival.

In Wazdist (or Wattist, depending on your spelling) religious tradition, the world is filled with dejwa, or demons. Invisible, these agents of the darkness regularly take advantage of mortals: convincing their minds to commit crime, their bodies to fall ill, and their souls to stray outside of the Goddess' light.

But they do not just pick their victims randomly, no - they seem to prefer transitions and change. When one is moving houses, growing from one gender to another, or beginning work on a new invention... that's an opportunity for one of them to strike.

Does that mean one should not change? No, of course. It is in the nature of folk to change their situation. Without change, one can't move anywhere closer to the truth.

In that case, there is only one logical option - one must simply take precautions. The Athamians absolutely love their cultural traditions and ceremonies, and these precautions are definitely one of them.

In the ancient times, it was mostly about blessing your new home, or undergoing complex sacraments as part of your gender transition. But now, it's practically everywhere: In every factory, safety posters are plastered on the walls like vines creeping up ruins. Wands have built-in isolators, to prevent miscasting due to spir inefficiency. And only genuine, heavy-gloved, thaumat suit-wearing specialists are ever allowed near the bolt-transmit network.

Lyra (playing Hesty): Woah.

DM: Anyone who grew up in Breya - that's all of you except Winnifred - has a device which I have yet to name, basically a crystal which lets them access this magical web.

Andy (playing Diardi): Yass! Can we order Ubereats?

DM: It's very basic - you can't google things. Their main function is essentially the same as a Sending Stone, but you can call anyone whose device you've connected yours to.

Hamish (playing Hunter): Awesome.

Lyra: You really liked the Sending Stone group chat TTC set up, didn't you?

DM: I set it up because I hated not being able to contact anyone! Worlds with no technology are super inconvenient. Anyway, you can choose to already have one if you grew up here. How long have you been in Breya, Winnifred?

Marijn (playing Winnifred): Probably only a couple of weeks. I ran into the party pretty quickly. I don't think I'd have one.

Andy: I don't have one either. I've lived in Breya for a while, but I don't want people to be able to contact me.

DM: Fair enough. I'll say they're 20 gold. Even most peasants can save up to get one.

Hamish: I have two. For obvious reasons.

Lyra: Can I suggest their name be Stoppers? Their original name was Contact Crystals, but most people hated that so it got shortened to CCs. That got colloquialized to Ceases, which then changed to Stoppers. 'Stopper me when you get home!'