Artifice

"Write this down, I must leave immediately and do not have much time: we've had an incident in the Chimancy sect. All I know is that there's been an escape, someone valuable has died, and someone slightly less valuable is missing. Write a report in the log book and do not notify the Victorius."

~Grand Arcanist Azarus conferring to his pen.

Summary

An artifice is an otherwise inanimate object that has been granted either animation or a refracted conscious as per the will of its creator to become a construct. The object is entirely unliving in nature but has been bound to a master to which it serves without question like an extension of the creator itself. Artifice is created magically and can only be controlled and levitated by the one who has created it, meaning those who do not posses any innate magical capabilities will be unable to utilise artifice entirely. While artifice is an extension of the will and mind of its creator it is not entirely limited to the boundaries of its creator. A quill controlled by an arcanist may have different calligraphy when compared to the manual handwriting of its owner, a crystal orb is able to induce visions and perspectives that the creator may never have understood prior, and a sword may be able to react faster than any tendon or neuron would allow for.

Artifice has been utilised by many arcanists over many years. All arcanists capable of magic are capable of creating artifice, it is widely regarded as the easiest construct to create and use though it is not without its flaws. As artifice is an extension of the user it requires the user to be alive and lucid to function at all this has an effective range of roughly ten meters meaning if the artifice were to somehow leave the nearby vicinity of its creator it would revert to being an inanimate object once more. Additionally, while an arcanist may choose to create as many artifice as they desire controlling them all would prove difficult. While controlling artifice does not necessarily require any form of concentration it does use the subconscious of the arcanist controlling it to function. Thus if the arcanist was somehow mentally obstructed or weakened due to something like intoxication or blood loss the artifice would suffer in its capability to function properly. Controlling more than one artifice at once will also decrease its efficacy, akin to multi-tasking, attempting to multi-artifice is difficult. While some arcanists are capable of controlling multiple artifice at once the general rule of thumb is that you should only be using one at a time if you are to rely on it.

Creation

Creating artifice is relatively simple. You need only know the specific incantations and reagents and posses an object you wish to bend to your will. The reagents used are almost always sigils which will be consumed and vanish after the procedure has complete though the object may be required to undergo specific procedures. For example, to create a scryers crystal orb the object you must bend to your will would be a soul pearl likely derived from a wendigo. The process of converting this pearl into a scyers orb excises the soul trapped inside and in the process clears the cloudy crystal and makes room for the mental refraction that will inhabit it once complete. To bind the artifice to yourself the sigil must be inscribed unto both the the artifice and oneself, the procedure is incredibly safe and rarely provides any side effects. You will know the creation of the artifice is complete once the sigils vanish.

Artifice is limited in size by its sigils and its creator. Generally, artifice will only be able to be manipulated physically in the same manner that the creator could. This means any arcanist wishing to bend an incredibly large object to their will would end up with some difficulties. Firstly, the heavier the object the slower it will be moved as if the person levitating it was attempting to move it manually. This rule applies also to the mentally involving artifice such as the aforementioned scrying orbs and also magical mirrors. Meaning, a rather dim person may not be able to fully utilise any visions or perspectives created by scrying nor would they be able to induce the more potent ones. Likewise the storage properties of a magical mirror would be limited and perhaps even unreliable for those who are not so mentally gifted. These limitations are however able to be remedied with enchantments.

By engraving or scribing a rune or additional sigils unto the artifice you can expand its capabilities. This is where the complications may occur however. Unlike other constructs artifice is directly linked to the being of the arcanist and can create a vulnerability for the arcanist in question. A pure and unenchanted artifice is very stable and confers no real vulnerabilities but when enchanted the minute inaccuracies in the inscriptions can cause the artifice to become less responsive and require more subconscious effort to control. Not to mention that if an opposing arcanist were to attempt to invade the defenses or the controller, the artifice may prove as an entry point for a variety of spells that require a specific situation to gain purchase. Enchanting your artifice is not entirely a fools motive though and can provide a multitude of benefits.

Enchanting mental artifice such as a magic mirror can increase its storage capacity by allowing for a larger physical size, whereas physical artifice can directly benefit from the usual such as greater accuracy or durability. More complex enchantments are almost entirely incompatible with artifice though this has not stopped curious arcanists through history from attempting to do so regardless. This usually results in some kind of damage to the artifice and the user as the more complex and advanced enchantments failures result in mayhem, anything from brain damage to fires set inside the mind of the arcanist to permanent sigil markings on or inside the body are among the perils of overexerting your artifice. Though most fail, some noteworthy artifacts have been created by such wild experiments resulting in flaming swords, bows that cannot miss and Scrying orbs predating the death of fate capable of still divining the future. While the creators of these artifice have long since passed some of them still remain and while they remain dormant as their creator does not draw breath their enchantments remain and await a new master.

Inheriting artifice is incredibly simple, you need only use the binding sigils on yourself and the artifice to claim it as your own. As long as the artifice is uninhabited you may assume control of it. If the artifice is inhabited either by a current owner or has been possessed by a spirit then you will have to excise the current inhabitant. This can be done peacefully through reasoning or forcefully via rites, the latter of which could potentially damage the artifice making it in your best interest to non violently relieve the artifice of its squatter.

Abilities

As long as the artifice is not too heavy all artifice can levitate, its movements are dictated by the will of its owner though to the extent of about ten meters away at which point the object will cease to be animated and behave as a basic object once more. While physically oriented artifice such as tools or weapons posses little magical capabilities outside of this levitation the more mentally focused artifice can vary greatly, from jewellery that can glow and emit light to magical mirrors capable of storing objects in its reflection, and scyring orbs that can confer valuable information. Mental artifice is wide in use and each specific artifice is unique in its own merit. No one scryer orb is the same and each reveal their own refraction in their own method.

The magical mirror is an enchanted glass pane or mirror, to all but the creator it appears as a basic mirror or transparent pane but it acts functionally as a form of storage. Items can be placed inside or taken out only by the creator and will be visible either as if it were a reflection or on the other side of the glass. If the creator were to die before retrieving the item or the mirror were to shatter entirely the items stored inside are to be considered lost as methods of restoring the mirror are difficult. The items can be easily picked up by the creator by hand, while they cannot place their hand 'through' the mirror as if it were a portal they can simply either push the item into the mirror or pluck it out. It has been advised not to use this object to store living entities under any circumstance.

The scryers orb is easily the most arcane of all artifice. By refracting the conscious of the creator into the orb it can reveal perspectives to the creator. These perspectives are entirely from the mind of the creator though due to the wild nature the visions it can induce may seem like divining the future. This is however almost entirely impossible as fate, the binder of certainty and the future is widely regarded as have being slain millennia ago and so any kind of future divination foreseen in a scryers orb is merely regarded as delusion. This notion has been further supported by the intensity of visions being greater in those of a higher intellect meaning the mind is likely exploring itself for possibilities and ideas or concepts as opposed to being an open conduit to a greater, more powerful force. Aside from these visions a scryers orb can be used as a locus to communicate to spirits or other entities that posses great enough power to manifest as a spirit. A scryers orb can also link to another scryers orb but the initial link must be done in the vicinity, afterwards the effective range is unlimited.

Controlling artifice can be difficult to achieve, this mostly depends on the artifice however though. Controlling a bludgeon would be much less difficult than controlling an instrument or a pen. While the mental artifice possess their own difficulties converting the dexterity one may have for a weapon into the mental capacity to control a weapon can prove difficult and occasionally dangerous. Many an arcanist have ended up maiming themselves in an attempt to assume control of an artifice dagger or sword. Even something as mundane as a quill can cause sufficient damage if launched at high enough velocity in one's eye. Usually a good amount of practice is required before proper use, there are some exceptions however. If you already know how to play an instrument then learning to play it as artifice will become much easier and only take a few days to manage. Likewise if you are effective with a blade then it would only take a few days to learn how to use it as artifice also. This also works in reverse, if you had only ever controlled a blade with artifice you may learn to use the skills manually much easier. A true master of artifice will know how to use their tools and weapons in both their hands and magically.

Mentioned previously, artifice can be inherited and all artifice is also slightly different. If you were exceptional at using an artifice hatchet and then inherited someone else's artifice hatchet it may prove initially difficult to control it at the same level of expertise as you get used to its specifics. Inheriting artifice is also uniquely dangerous as it poses the possibility of a possession. If for, whatever reason, the prior owner of the artifice that had passed has somehow come to life once more in any form they may attempt to re-assume control of their prior artifice. While the artifice is still linked to the new owner the original creator will still have full control priority over the artifice, this can cause a clash of interest in the artifice causing it to become unstable. This can cause a variety of issues from migraine to poor levitation control to the wholesale destruction of the artifice. These issues can become cataclysmic if combined with enchanted artifice, especially if the enchantments are powerful. Artifice that has been enchanted to be able to be inhabited may choose to exert its influence onto another being allowing them to assume control of the artifice. Though in most cases if the prior owner returns they will easily re assume full control of the item.