Elemental Constructs

Elemental constructs were invented about a hundred years ago at Kingsfield University through intradepartmental collaborations. Students and professors of various elemental specialties worked together to create animated objects of two elemental types. Constructs require a physical component -- usually earth or frost, but sometimes air or fire -- and an animating component such as water, light, shadow, electricity, or music. The fusion of two elements allows the object to fulfill a task or purpose independent of the adepts who created it. The first construct, a fusion of earth and music, was able to carry a tray of food from one end of the laboratory to the other before exhausting its energy supply. Since then considerably more sophisticated constructs have been developed, able to perform tasks from manual labor to delivering messages. Constructs are relatively simple to make, but useful constructs take planning and a high level of expertise. In addition, they eventually exhaust the animating component, rendering them inert unless re-imbued. Therefore, constructs are mostly found only at universities or in the houses of nobles and merchants.

Rarity

The more useful or specialized the construct, the rarer it is.

Raw materials & Components

Constructs must be made of freshly generated substances; the longer since a substance was generated by elemental energy, the less likely it is to work. Furthermore, compound elemental substances are tricky to use, though for specialized applications it may be worth the trouble.