Post by Bladedancer on Apr 3, 2009 18:57:19 GMT -8
A Brief Monograph on the Phoenixbuilt or Selfbuilt, Sometimes in the Vulgar Argot Spoken of as the Warforged, by Arcturius Nesevek of the Imperial Library
"The world of Man and Elf is fallen into darkness, the depth of which no eye can measure and no hand can grasp." So says the Third History of Cyrinius, of the banishment of Hope and the breaking of the world, and yet the last three centuries are not without stories of success - even, one may dare to say, of new growth. One such story is that of the Phoenixbuilt, whose hosts seem ever to grow in number.
Of their origins, they say little, save the occasional reference to a final gift of Garl Glittergold to the world and a great debt owed to the Raven Queen for the First Forging. Exactly when this event occurred, I have been unable to discover - the Phoenixbuilt themselves will speak but little of it, and other knowledge of the matter is scanty. It seems, in fact, that these new arrivals have already developed a lively disregard for history - one senior cleric of the Raven Queen, when I pressed on the matter, informed me quite calmly that "The telling of stories does not build new warriors." That, it seemed to him, closed the matter.
In the building of warriors, however, it can certainly be said that the Phoenixbuilt have been busy. The first battle of the mercenary Legion of Steel is recorded two centuries ago in the Sixth Chronicle of Gerethus, where they slaughtered a force of orcs seven times their number in the service of the Empire and demanded in return some three hundred cubits of steel and precious metals. For what, they would not say - but rumor said that the forges of their camp burned night and day for months afterward, no matter where they traveled. Since then, the Phoenixbuilt have spread the length and breadth of the world, most often in the form of mercenary companies whose relentless discipline has saved more than one weak potentate from an unfortunate end - whether at the hands of his enemies or his own people. In Celeis, the Steel Legions can be found in the employ of the Empire and her nobles alike - though I have found no record of them fighting each other, regardless of the politics of their patrons. Still, in the Imperial City they are more commonly found in the Merchant's Quarter than the barracks set aside for mercenaries - while Phoenixbuilt arms are their chief trade, their artisans have grown in both number and fame as the disciplined skill of their metalwork has come to rival that of the Dwarfholts. That they commonly take their fees in metal, rather than coin, is an eccentricity readily tolerated in the City.
A word on the appearance of the Phoenixbuilt is, perhaps, warranted in passing. The traveler's saying that no two can be found of the same measure may be taken as something of an exaggeration, but it is true that the variation in design and appearance of the Phoenixbuilt is nothing short of astonishing. From towering hulks that look like nothing so much as suits of articulated plate fit for Ogres filled with intricate gearwork to delicate golden artisans whose arms are scarcely so wide as to fill the finger-grip of a child, their construction and design seem endlessly varied and subject to constant personal redesign and reconstruction as the individual changes its own body to suit its current needs. However, there do appear to be at least three constants in their construction which bear mentioning - the vast majority of Phoenixbuilt are of roughly human size and arrangement, though often somewhat larger, and each includes a single arcane rune carved on whatever serves them as a forehead. This rune remains unchanged throughout the Phoenixbuilt's life, even if the entire rest of the head or body is replaced, and seems to serve a key function in establishing the identity of that individual among its peers.
There are some mentions among the histories that Phoenixbuilt refer to their Maker or Forger in much the way a human might speak of his father; however, the extent to which they possess anything that might be reasonably described as family structures is presently beyond my ken....
"The world of Man and Elf is fallen into darkness, the depth of which no eye can measure and no hand can grasp." So says the Third History of Cyrinius, of the banishment of Hope and the breaking of the world, and yet the last three centuries are not without stories of success - even, one may dare to say, of new growth. One such story is that of the Phoenixbuilt, whose hosts seem ever to grow in number.
Of their origins, they say little, save the occasional reference to a final gift of Garl Glittergold to the world and a great debt owed to the Raven Queen for the First Forging. Exactly when this event occurred, I have been unable to discover - the Phoenixbuilt themselves will speak but little of it, and other knowledge of the matter is scanty. It seems, in fact, that these new arrivals have already developed a lively disregard for history - one senior cleric of the Raven Queen, when I pressed on the matter, informed me quite calmly that "The telling of stories does not build new warriors." That, it seemed to him, closed the matter.
In the building of warriors, however, it can certainly be said that the Phoenixbuilt have been busy. The first battle of the mercenary Legion of Steel is recorded two centuries ago in the Sixth Chronicle of Gerethus, where they slaughtered a force of orcs seven times their number in the service of the Empire and demanded in return some three hundred cubits of steel and precious metals. For what, they would not say - but rumor said that the forges of their camp burned night and day for months afterward, no matter where they traveled. Since then, the Phoenixbuilt have spread the length and breadth of the world, most often in the form of mercenary companies whose relentless discipline has saved more than one weak potentate from an unfortunate end - whether at the hands of his enemies or his own people. In Celeis, the Steel Legions can be found in the employ of the Empire and her nobles alike - though I have found no record of them fighting each other, regardless of the politics of their patrons. Still, in the Imperial City they are more commonly found in the Merchant's Quarter than the barracks set aside for mercenaries - while Phoenixbuilt arms are their chief trade, their artisans have grown in both number and fame as the disciplined skill of their metalwork has come to rival that of the Dwarfholts. That they commonly take their fees in metal, rather than coin, is an eccentricity readily tolerated in the City.
A word on the appearance of the Phoenixbuilt is, perhaps, warranted in passing. The traveler's saying that no two can be found of the same measure may be taken as something of an exaggeration, but it is true that the variation in design and appearance of the Phoenixbuilt is nothing short of astonishing. From towering hulks that look like nothing so much as suits of articulated plate fit for Ogres filled with intricate gearwork to delicate golden artisans whose arms are scarcely so wide as to fill the finger-grip of a child, their construction and design seem endlessly varied and subject to constant personal redesign and reconstruction as the individual changes its own body to suit its current needs. However, there do appear to be at least three constants in their construction which bear mentioning - the vast majority of Phoenixbuilt are of roughly human size and arrangement, though often somewhat larger, and each includes a single arcane rune carved on whatever serves them as a forehead. This rune remains unchanged throughout the Phoenixbuilt's life, even if the entire rest of the head or body is replaced, and seems to serve a key function in establishing the identity of that individual among its peers.
There are some mentions among the histories that Phoenixbuilt refer to their Maker or Forger in much the way a human might speak of his father; however, the extent to which they possess anything that might be reasonably described as family structures is presently beyond my ken....
