657 – Philo’s on the move!

Ahh, yes, the Great Onomatopoeia Battle of 2018, I remember it well… I love sound effects. 🙂

And now, in a continuing service, an entry from the Encyclopedia Ardrisia…

ARTIFICERS

Magic exists in many forms on Ardris. There is divine magic wielded by devout clerics or self-righteous druids; arcane magic controlled by studious wizards, unpredictable sorcerers or irreverent bards. Then you have the folks who figure there’s GOT to be a cooler way to cast a fireball spell without using bat guano, usually involving a lot of gears, steam, and bronze tubing. These are the Artificers.

The practice of Artificery is a very new and experimental one. As such, it attracts new students bored with the traditional ways of magic like moths to a flame. “Sure, I could learn to cast Lightning Bolt. That is, if I really wanted to wave my arms around like a lunatic, mutter a lot of nonsense words, and then use some fur and a rod of amber as material components (which get consumed in the process, I might add). Wouldn’t it be far cooler if you could make a handheld device that could do the same thing? Plus, spellbooks are heavy.”

In addition to their talent for creating magical devices, artificers are also especially good at working out the functions of existing magic items, determining if items are cursed, and they are trained in techniques to drain and store the magical essence contained in most magic items (destroying the item in the process) and reapplying it to one of their own devices, which greatly lowers the creation cost.

There are no academies or conservatories that teach artificery. Most artificers learn their art either from a mentor or through dangerous trial-and-error. It is theorized that the number of living artificers in the world would be much higher if only some of them had used basic safety protocols or at least thought twice before ingesting 10 pounds gunpowder (we’re looking at you, Uncle Todd – RIP).

Famous Artificers include “Doctor” Ocnohr the Crafty, who invented the Follicle-O-Matic hair regrowth apparatus; Meobre of Mikiltuum, who created both the blasting rod and the world’s first folding kayak; and Tekeb Mohs, who invents the first time machine in about 45 years.

The Encyclopedia Ardrisia , volume 1 (Aahz to Attempter, the Great), Kilanio University Press, 48th edition.

Yes, Artificery is a real word. 🙂

Take care,

~Rob