Automatons
*sketch of the automatons*
It is absolutely incredible being able to see ancient elven automatons, and in so fine a condition too! Most of these were destroyed during the Fall and designing killer automatons was banned in the treaty of Wic following the war. Any remaining war automatons were destroyed in the forges of Haemercíud in the decades following the war, with the exception of those in the Lion Towers. By the time I was born, the knowledge on how to make these fascinating machines was all but lost, except to the followers of Ondesthorne, but trying to negotiate any information from them and not ending up in slavery is incredibly difficult.
But now!!! I finally have a chance to study original Imperial-era war automatons! I might be the first sky gnome to ever gaze upon them, and I will discover their secrets!
Their frames appear to be made from a mithril-iron alloy, an alloy which we have lost the knowledge on how to make, and they use a system of magically enchanted wires to move around, like a life-sized puppet in a puppetshow. The wires seem to be made of copper, but a few are made from mithril as well, particularly those in the weight-bearing joints.
Immediately this presents a problem to us. Mithril is expensive and difficult to procure, so I'm going to have to find a different solution for our own automatons. If we can make a deal with some lowland dwarves the solution might just be to buy mithril, but I rather suspect we shall have to find a replacement in the Stormlands. Aether-iron, with its low weight and high tensile strength, might do the trick, and since I improved the refinement process it should be a lot cheaper and easier to get our hands on.
But what is most impressive is their programming. These aren't golems, at least not in a technical sense, and the time-consuming and difficult process of making a golem of extremely limited intelligence has rarely proven to be worth it in the construction of armies. For lonely wizards in towers its probably fine, but when you need thousands of automatons it just won't do.
These automatons have advanced circuits of fulgurite within their torsos and heads, which seems to allow them to follow complex orders. According to Isengrim's notes, the process of programming automatons is difficult and long, but once programmed automatons are remarkably adept at following instructions within the limits of their programming. His notes give some instruction on the basics of such magical programming, but he took the advenced techniques with him to the grave. No matter, I will just discover them for myself!
I don't know if the other automatons of the ancient elven empire used fulgurites, but it seems unlikely given the rarity of this fulgurite crystal. I would wager no.
All in all I must say that these automatons have taught me most about how to make a good apparatus for movement, I think I have learned how to make the frame for automatons and how to give them the ability to move. The next step is to find a good power-source and way of programming them.
Comments