A visual record of the Heterodox Object # 8030. Representation made by an artistic tartarean entity servant of the Claustrum N°4.

Heterodox Object #: 8030

Object Class: Physical Heresy.

Unified Guardian Rites: Due to the absence of thaumaturgic resonances, the object has been stored in a Class 1 Agripian Unit, with the unit reinforced by a Solomonian seal against the possibility of spontaneous transmutations of the object or variations of the ontological characteristics of the same. The use of elemental consensus runes has been established to avoid the deterioration of the material structure of the object.

As the True Name of the Object is unknown, it is forbidden for members of the Order or other thinking entities present in the site to recite Names of objects similar to the Object, those who are found in this activity will be deprived, through the use of a sacred enchantment, of their voice. Those who are caught negotiating with or coercing tartarean entities or entities from lower realms to determine the Name of the Object shall be deprived of their Name and expelled from the Order.

Even when the Object has shown no signs of possessing Reason, Soul, Intelligence or Heart, its binding to intangible entities or the application of dead matter animation techniques on its structure are prohibited.

In the event that the Object suffers accidental material damage, the Heretic Watts must be allowed to restore it. No measures have been determined to repair the astral damage should it occur.

Description: Object # 8030 corresponds to a construct composed of wood, leather, copper and brass. Its main capacity is to produce and allow the displacement of masses of steam by the direct application of phlogiston to a volume of water, without the intervention of salamanders, igneous tartarean entities, directional glyphs, pyromantic spells, transmutations, prayers, nomination or other conventional ways of producing and controlling fire.

As described by the heretic responsible for its construction, the materials used to create the object were obtained in a conventional way, through basic alchemical purification.

Due the risk of invoking the wrath of the God of Fire and other igneous entities, no attempt has been made to repeat the heterodox phlogiston flow process by which the Object operates, so information about its operation is based on eyewitness accounts and that of the heretic responsible.

Addendum 1: Official confession of the responsible of the Object.

Interrogated: Heretic Iacobus Watts, peasant, non-practitioner of the Doctrines of Power.

Interrogator: Inquisitor Veratia Sixtus, Assistant Magistrate for the Correct Interpretation of Orthodoxy in the Nineteenth Sanctuary of the Brotherhood.

Preamble: As established in the basic protocol against heresy, the person responsible has the right to explain to the designated inquisitor the reasons for his deviation from orthodoxy. The subject was interrogated inside a Circle of Truth by Inquisitor Sixtus, not requiring the use of coercive spells or the invocation of terror to obtain the confession.

A transcript of the interrogation, made by an impish scribbler, is as follows.

Inquisitor Sixtus: Blessed be your day, heretic, I am Inquisitor Sixtus, state your name, place of origin, god to whom you worship and occupation for official records.

Heretic Watts: Blessed be your day, Inquisitor Sixtus. I am Iacobus Watts, I come from the northern coast of Britannia, I worship Dagda, and my main occupation is plowing the land.

Inquisitor Sixtus: Being a man whose job is to make the soil fruitful, what led you to turn away from the good teachings of the gods and the path of righteousness?

Heretic Watts: Excuse me?

Inquisitor Sixtus: It makes no sense for you to deny what you have done. Since your arrest by the Legion you acknowledged being responsible for that object.

Heretic Watts: Ahh, you mean the steam machine.

Inquisitor Sixtus: That's what you call it. Now explain to me, what led you to conjure it up? What actions against the will of the gods can that steam machine do?

Heretic Watts: Do you mean how do I use it?

(Sixtus nods)

Heretic Watts: I don't think its purpose is against the will of the gods, I only used it to pump water from the well on my farm. As you can see, I am an old man. I have a small farm where I live alone, my wife was taken by the plague a few years ago, and we had no children. Due to my age it is becoming more and more difficult for me to do the daily chores in the place.

Inquisitor Sixtus: And why didn't you ask a kabbalist in the nearest village to conjure up a golem to help you with manual labor? Those constructs are excellent, accurate and don't wear out, they help a lot in physical tasks.

Heretic Watts: I did it, I asked the kabbalist of the town of Olicana and although it cost me several cycles of silver, I can't say that he did a bad job. The construct was reliable and obedient, I tested it by helping me to plow the fields and I had no problems, only that when it approached the well it started to behave strangely. First it did not obey me and then it started to move erratically, after which it fell apart.

Heretic Watts: Evidently I believed that I had been swindled, I was furious and went to see the kabbalist, who could not help but show his confusion and disbelief. I threatened to report him to the Legion for fraud, whereupon, without charging me another denarius, he conjured up another golem, somewhat smaller than the previous one, which I took to my farm. This new construct worked well until it approached the well where it disintegrated just like the old one.

I took the remains of both constructs to the kabbalist who accused me of practicing pagan magic of corruption to ruin his works and tried to expel me from his workshop. When he calmed down he apologized to me and said that he was going to analyze what could have ruined his creations.

Days later, he arrived at my farm accompanied by an elderly man carrying a pair of cuprum rods, a geomancer. They walked silently through the farm, first around the buildings and then through fields until they reached the well. There the geomancer's rods came together and sizzled, as if whipped by invisible creatures. Later, the old man told me that several ley lines intersected there, causing such instability in the flow of power as to make the performance of any kind of magic almost impossible, after which he left.

Heretic Watts: I had resigned myself to the fact that I would have no help in this matter when a night, while preparing dinner, I noticed something that gave me an idea. As I was quite hungry, I had added quite a few ingredients to the stew I was preparing, so that the lid of the small pot that was boiling on the stove was displaced by the volume of broth, falling off.

Inquisitor Sixtus: And what does that have to do with your 'steam machine'? More than one kitchen servant has carelessly spilled the stew by having a stove with too much fuel or adding too much water to the pot, I fail to see the connection.

Heretic Watts: At first glance it is not obvious but that led me to remember something I had witnessed many years ago, during my period of military service in the Legion. I remember I was stationed in the Danaan region and in that place a man from the Rationalist sect was doing a demonstration. He had a construct that raised water from a well, I think he called it a pump and only using the strength of a slave for the process, no need for elemental bonding or other forms of magic. Somehow that bubbling cauldron made me think that there was a force there that could be tamed for the service of people, without the need for incantations or rituals. So even though my dinner was ruined, I went to sleep happy.

Inquisitor Sixtus: And was it that night or one of the following nights when you were visited by the Muse, who told you how to build the object?

Heretic Watts: I don't know, I rarely remember what I dream. What I do know is that I got excited about the project and started experimenting. At first they were very simple machines and failed to make proper use of the steam flow. Month after month I spent my meager savings on materials I couldn't get on my farm, like metal. It was years of trial and error, I did not give up because I felt I was getting closer to something important. I had accidents, I burned myself more than once with the steam coming out, but each model was better than the last. Until one day I finally had a working construction that easily pumped water from the well.

Heretic Watts: I showed to my neighbors the steam machine, who were not impressed, they assumed it was some magical contraption using runes to control the elementals, so I traveled to Londinium and presented my construct to the Alchemists Guild, who denounced me to the Brotherhood of Orthodoxy and I was arrested.

Heretic Watts: Can you imagine, Inquisitor Sixtus, the potential this machine has? There must be men far more skilled than me capable of building increasingly efficient steam machines that do more than only pump water from a well. Such machines could transport rocks from the ore fields, move loaded wagons, weave, do so many things that depend on animal strength or magical power. And these machines would be available to everyone. Can you imagine how many benefits ordinary people would have? It would be a new era, the whole civilization could advance without depending on the blessed few who can use magic.

Inquisitor Sixtus: Heretic Watts, I am not someone qualified to judge the value of your creation, I am here only to obtain a reliable testimony before the trial you will have later. Your steam machine will continue confiscated and you will remain in a cell of the Brotherhood.

Heretic Watts: (sighs) I am an old and lonely man who will soon have the thread of his existence cut off by Morta, so whatever punishment I must face does not cause me grief. My only sorrow is that they could not see the potential of my machine, and that they prefer to adhere to what they know, how much good it could have brought to the people.

Addendum 2: Verdicts in the Heterodox Object #8030 case

As a scholar of the Constructivist Kabbalah and Metallurgist Alchemist I cannot fail to recognize the ingenuity in the design of the Object. It is an elegant and simply crafted construct, the unfortunate thing is the source on which its power is based, it is incomprehensible and consequently difficult to control. If we could, instead, link it to a Seal of Moloch or a runic series attracting salamanders the object could function within the parameters of sanctity expected in a conventional magical construct.

Claudio Apertus, First level Kabbalist from the Nineteenth Sanctuary of the Brotherhood.

An object must be pure in its conception and in its purpose. Although it seems that the intentions of the heretic when creating the object were not evil and the purpose of the object has so far been benign, its very conception away from the path of righteousness that the gods have laid out prevents it from being put to use. May the creation continue in the hands of the righteous whose thoughts do not stray from the path of orthodoxy.

Cayo Cattus, Legalist Theologian from the Nineteenth Sanctuary of the Brotherhood.

What is the true purpose of the Object? Even the most lackluster thaumaturge can through magic accomplish a task as menial as pumping water from a well, the use that the person responsible for the Object said it had. Does he want to attempt against the natural order or worse, enrage the gods by making a mockery of the blessings they give us and the magic they have given us access to? The idea of altering the flow of power and allowing any commoner to wield it is disturbing to say the least, I recommend finding and removing any other construct similar to the Object whose provenance is far from the holy path of the Magic and imprisoning those responsible, so as to prevent them from spreading their heresies.

Praetor Marcial Caecus, Principal Responsible from the Nineteenth Sanctuary of the Brotherhood.

Addendum 3: Visions of the Oracular Counselor Tertius

+ Go beyond this point only if your faith is strong and your heart is free from doubt.

- And your conviction has never faltered

I prayed to the gods for an answer to the doubt in my heart, and they gave me this vision.

In a world beyond the stars, constructs like the Object are the norm, and the power that flows so freely through our Land is the exception, something anomalous that few can comprehend and even fewer can control.

And that world prospers. Although the pass of the eons has been the same as ours, they have progressed much more than we have, reaching a stage of development and well-being that not even our most inspired poets can dream of. A world with abundant food and clothes, without the constant fear of the scourge of the plague that takes children and old people alike, where neither slaves nor beasts of burden are necessary because their machines give them the strength they need, where men can fly and cross seas and even reach beyond the sky, to where the home of the gods is located.

A world of wonders and miracles.

And without the need for magic.