Artificial bodies are an attempt by the modern-days
Merchants-Mages of
Amathus to reproduce the automaton soldiers invented and used by the
ancient Propoetides to conquer their gigantic empire.
Legends say that the automatons were made of shiny marble. This is nowadays regarded as poetic license, as marble do not have anything near the properties required for this kind of magic. After centuries of experiments, the Merchants-Mages have managed to get some great results with material that most resemble the composition of a human body. In order to do this, they use a mixture of animal sacrifice and ritual clay mixed with crystalline resources such as piles of salt and other minerals. The first part of the artificial creation process consist in transforming those materials into the artificial body.
The second part is to give it life. Unfortunately, the Merchants-Mages did not managed to reach full automation, as the control necessary to work each minute muscle in combination with each other is extremely complicated. However they found a work-around this: souls have been created for just this purpose, and binding one to the artificial body allows for the necessary control.
Since the process to create an artificial is more complex than any kind of healing magic, this is not an alternative to it. And since the artificial are fully and permanently bound to the will of their masters during the soul binding process, very few people volunteer to having their soul transferred. However, given the Merchants-Mages' absolute control over the city, they do not have to be respectful of people's opinions. Their only limit is that powerful mages now know how to protect their soul against this treatment, even after their death, and so only mediocre souls are still available to use in artificials.
Of course, everyone is aware of the
ancient Mages-Kings' mausoleum that lies just below Amathus, filled with all the
soul jars of the imperial family, however no one has been able to breach its impenetrable wards. At least, until the
Mistress suddenly showed up with
a very special artificial...
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