Magical Mechanical Marvels - a lost technology of wonderous toys

The most special and exclusive toys to ever entertain children in Llyn (one of the Four Regions of Adhonaglamar) are the Magical Mechanical Marvels, from the Wooden Marvels Company Inc.

Founded by Jacub Dondoni, the WM Company started out making simple wooden toys for children. While beautifully crafted out of exotic pieces of wood, they were nothing more than static toys. Still, due to their quality and the rareness of the types of wood used, they were favoured by the more wealthy families as presents for their offspring.

In the year 1023 however, when the company was run by the great-grandson of Jacub, Ellion Dondoni, a new line of wooden toys was introduced. They were called the Magical Mechanical Marvels. What made them so special was the fact that when a child would speak one of several words of command, the toy would perform a series of movements based on the command, after which it would return to its innate wooden state. This required no other intervention; no springs to be wound, no buttons to be pushed. When the toy wasn't active, it would be static; no hinges or joints allowed any movement whatsoever. In that sense they looked just like the previous lines of wooden toys made by the company. Yet they were something the world had never seen before.

Each toy would have its own set of words. These would depend on the type of creature or object the toy depicted. The toys came with a custom wooden box that housed both the toy and had the words of command inscribed on the inside of the lid.
The one distinguishing feature of the MMM compared to the previous toys of the company was the type of wood used. MMM toys were carved out of a dark brown wood, with a fine dark purple grain.

Although the WM brand was already well established, this new line of toys was such a mechanical marvel that it instantly became a hit within the wealthy in Llyn. Some of the toys even ended up being exported to the other Regions, although tensions at the time made it difficult to set up reliable supply lines.

For a good 22 years the company produced the Magical Mechanical Marvels. The demand was high, yet the time to craft them was long; much longer than it would take carving a regular toy. Each MMM was carved by a Dondoni family member. Only they knew its secret. No one outside of the family, not even the other master carvers in the company, knew how they were made or even where the Dondoni family acquired the special wood.
It was a type of wood that wasn't found in Llyn, and even in the other Regions there are few who knew about its existence and origin. Carving it and activating its magical properties required special skills; skills that Ellion only ever disclosed to his son, who took over the business three years after the first MMM hit the market (Ellion was already old at the time; he died in 1028).

By 1045, only one Dondoni master carver remained. At the age of 29, Darion Dondoni had one daughter that was 5 years old. She being only young enough to play with the toys rather than craft them, Darion was the only one who knew the secret to their creation.
In the winter of that fateful year, he unexpectedly died during a trip to acquire resources. Accidentally caught up in a fight in a local inn on his way back home, he was stabbed to death before he could pass on his knowledge of the Magical Mechanical Marvels to his daughter. Their secret died with him.

Nowadays there still are a few Magical Mechanical Marvel toys in the world. Mostly owned by collectors, they still function insofar as the words of command to each of them are still known. Some of the MMM have lost their wooden box, making them nothing more than static toys. Yet the particular colour of their wood still gives away the fact that they are indeed one of the unique, magical toys invented and crafted by the Dondoni family.