The Ember Golem Core

The great golems that roam the city streets of Arbor all originate from one place, the Ember Golem Core. While they may have lost much of the spotlight due to creation of the Artifex they are still the premier location for more menial labour concerns within the city. It is their goal to replace every worker in the city with one of their creations though at the moment the cost of such an undertaking prevents such a future from occurring. You will find their creations in factories and warehouses across the city, most notably the Warehouse Quarter operated by the The Gatherers as the golems can be trusted handling much of the goods moving through there in a way regular employees cannot. The Golems come in many shapes, sizes and materials so suit a wide variety of needs though none are an appropriate size or intelligence to act as butlers, front of house or other white glove style roles a fact that irks the leaders of the company greatly.
Domains: #For Company Majora 1 Primary 2 Secondary #For Company Minora 1 Primary 1 Secondary #For Nascent Company 1 Primary

"They ain't no Artifex but if you want something heavy moved the golems will do you right" - Gatherer worker

Public Agenda:

The Core exists to create golems and to sell them to whomever requires them even if they don't think they need them. Thus far they have mostly targeted the Factory Bosses, The Gatherers and The Dockers though the final of those three have refused most sales insisting that their own workers are good enough and taking jobs away would only hurt them in the long run. In addition and slightly more under the table a number of smaller companies within Arbor have specially commissioned fully battle ready models for use as enforcers, guards or even single minded assassins. How many of such golems exist is anyone's guess but reports of their activities occasionally make the papers as a bit of sensationalism and the carnage they wreak is something that sells in the bucketload.

Public Perception

Lower Class

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A large portion of the lower class don't even know the Core exists though those that do look at them with a mixture of fear and anger. The Core represents the ever encroaching onslaught of progress which threatens to take many livelihoods away and in a very real sense many have already felt the sting of losing their work to a golem crafted by them. So in truth there is much resentment though there is little power to actually do anything.

Middle Class

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For the middle class the core is simply another person to do business with, they see their creations as another bit of capital to spend on and they are all too happy to do so. They see the gripes of the lower classes as simply that and pay them no heed, as they layoff a dozen workers to employ a single golem that never sleeps, eats or complains about poor working conditions. They marvel at how far technology has come but fail to see the horizon when the technology will come for them.

Upper Class

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Those in the highest echelons of society regard the golems as expensive playthings or a stepping stone until they can afford an Artifex of their own. For those who own factories they look at them pragmatically and for the most part conclude that the golems are simply too costly to acquire and replace their existing workers when there is such an abundance of the poor willing to work for next to nothing.

History:

Golem making dates back centuries and is a purely magical endeavour, unlike the Artifex which is more of a hybrid art mixing technology with magical locomotion. Originally the Core was under the purview of the Collegiate Arcanum and by extension The Order of the Fallen Leaves when the two were simply a single entity.

Origins

The creation of the first Golems is one of the many dark sides of the Reconciliation, while many sects of the faith were subsumed into The Order of the Fallen Leaves a few declared they would not be taken in and sought to preserve the old ways and the time before the Great Tree. One of these groups brought with them ancient secrets of magic that had up until this point only produced small sparks of light and little else, but here in Arbor great magics could be woven.
The greatest of their magics was golemancy the ability to bring clay, stone and iron to life to protect them and theirs should the need arise. Dozens of the golems were created and their strength was undeniable, they fended off even the fiercest of attackers, secure in the small strongholds they managed to construct. However this was not to last and eventually once all other decent had been quelled the golemancer's were left with a choice submit to the rule of the Order or they would simply starve them out and deny them access to the great tree and its resources. Faced with few options the people inside agreed to the deal though there were a few provisions added: 1st the golemancer's would lose the name of their old religion powerful memory altering magic would be employed to strip them of their faith and it's name. 2nd they could continue to create golems under the supervision of the Order but any golem that participated in sedition any person who had had a hand in it's creation and their families would be executed. The leaders had no choice and agreed and with this deal a part of history was lost but peace preserved.

Breaking Away

Hundreds of years later the Core was still a tight nit collection of families though without any knowledge of the religious teachings that came to make them so. They were a people in the city and they knew the Order kept them at arms length, though they had become far more wealthy than expected as more and more golems were needed not just for defense but for loading and unloading trains, ships and general transportation of Cargo. The money was good and the moment the Collegiate broke away they took their chance and did the same the domino effect of losing both at the same time and the rise of the Factory Bosses resulted in the total loss of power for the Order and now the Core was free to explore its own interests without the need to send any of its earnings outside.

Rumors

With the collapse of the hold of the Order on the Core and it's engineers and mages there are rumors abound that the Core is looking for ways to restore the name of their lost faith scouring the Arbor for any Memoria intra objectum that might be present from the days of the Reconciliation or before it that might hold the key to their lost faith. Though such a thing is possible the more disturbing aspect is that many believe one of the original golems might be the object they are looking for though none are sure where any of the original are if they even survive.

Attire / Common Garb / Quirks:

Two groups exist in the Core that have very different requirements for Attire, on the one hand you have the artisans/engineers that create the bodies for the golems and on the other the mages who imbue them with life.

Artisans

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Depending on the medium being worked on the people of this division have slightly different toolset though there is a lot of crossover in outerwear. Thick coveralls to protect from sparks usually made a durable brown leather and a white undershirt. A tool belt with the items of their particular speciality and finally the symbol of the ember golem Core a ring with a blank void in the middle to represent the faith they have lost.

Mages

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For the mages there is a simple black robe with a skull cap, there are no other adornments on the robes by default though they make how many golems they have brought to life through special beads they place in their hair. This served a practical purpose in ages past when the Order would hunt down people if a golem went rogue and was a way for other members of the Core to split the load ensuring not one person shouldered the blame for the entire group.

Structure and Hierarchy:

The structure and organization of the core has its roots in the original religious order that is its origin. There is no one leader and instead decisions are made by a small council made up of 5 people. These 5 are voted on by the group and serve for a period of ten years at the end of which a new group of 5 is elected. The 5 must come from the group and be representative of the various specializations that are present within the Core. The number of people has expanded over the years as specializations have increased though in recent years there has been the push for the inclusion of a 6th member, representing glass, this has not come to pass yet as an election has not taken place yet. During the time of Dora Maxwell there was a great push to include her as part of a 6th member representing clockwork but when she disappeared that ended.

Specializations

The 5 current pathways for people within the Core many people walk multiple but true masters have but one calling.

Flesh

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Those craftsmen who create and specialize in creating golems made of muscle, sinew and skin. It is not a specialization for the faint of heart and at times they have been accused of grave robbing though It's always difficult to prove if that finger did indeed belong to dear old grandpa. Regardless their creations move about just as well as the other golems though are far less desirable to the general populace due to their grisly appearance. Two exceptions to this do exist though. The first of which is the circumstances where the reanimated person is someone close to someone else, the purpose of returning them as a golem can be for noble reasons or nefarious ones, either way this is the but the first of two. The other exception is when you attempting to go for the creepy and unnerving in which case a Flesh Golem is exactly what you need.

Clay

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Crafted from Clay these golems are more easily formable though still retain limits to minimum size that all golems do. The craftsmen who practice this style of golemancy are talented sculptors and artists in their own rights spending months on a single creation only to potentially throw it all away when they move on to the next flight of fancy. The Golems they create are works of art, if a bit on the large size, and quite sturdy once fired. The clay is provided by The Mud Men who also provide the same clay to the various Brick factories around the city. The Clay Golem is sturdy and reliable and as an added benefit appears as an ordinary statue until commanded into service. This makes them excellent guards and watchmen.

Iron

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In any other city these hulking monstrosities would be the pinnacle of golemancy. Riveted and welded together these hulking creations tower over others and they are one of the few who can be taught to wield weapons and can come equipped with a few surprises in store for would be adversaries. The creators of these monstrosities then are quite hulking creatures themselves needing to heave huge chunks of metal into the air and be constantly working under terrible conditions in order to assemble the Golems. Many of the Golemancers who create the Iron golems are also apprentice inventors seeking new contraptions to add in to the design a few surprises in store for potential combat. Indeed the Iron golems main purpose is to fight and they do it well.

Wood

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The pinnacle of Golemancy design, those that ascend to this lofty station are trusted to work with the most valuable and difficult to work with materials in all of Arbor Great Tree Wood. Cutting shaping and bending the materials is a complex and sometimes weeks long process for even small pieces. The wood is durable to the point of insanity and ordinary techniques for removing parts of wood to shape it simply do not work. Special tools and techniques are needed along with months or even sometimes a year to complete a single one. But at the end the creation is stronger the any steel, incredibly light and imbued with no small amount of the The Great Tree's magical properties rendering it quite resistant to basic and intermediate spell work. Further the Golem can be enhanced with further magics to grant it the ability to cast spells of it's own.

Mages

Finally not the craftsmen but those who bring the golems to life. Their lot is simply to see the great works that have been wrought and provide the spark of life. They have the final say as to whether a golem is ready though it is rare for a Mage to deny the request of any crafter it does happen on occasion for apprentice craftsmen on their first attempts.

Notable People:

Dora Maxwell - Gifted prodigy and mother of the artifex her name is anathema to those still at the Core due to her apparent trading of insider secrets to the Iron Hands
Levi Cohen - metalworker and expert in forging techniques, known for his attention to detail and precision, and a stickler for following traditional methods.

Miriam Katz - textile expert and weaver, with a reputation for using unconventional materials to create stunning and unique fabrics.

Isaac Levy - master glassblower and one of the most innovative craftsmen in the Core, always pushing the boundaries of what's possible with glass.

Rachel Stein- expert in woodworking and carving, with a keen eye for design and a talent for creating intricate and beautiful pieces.

Aaron Goldberg - a skilled potter with a passion for experimentation, he's known for his use of bold colors and unusual shapes in his creations.

Territory:

The Ember Golem Core is located in the First Ring in one of the oldest buildings in Arbor. They maintain the territory around the core for their families in a sizeable chunk of the city.

Notable Structures:

The Core - The building where much of the craftspeople work it's the largest structure in the area and looks like an old battle fort, partly because it is though it has been expanded and rebuilt several times over the years.

Type

Corporation, Manufacturing