ArCorps Prime

### **The Heart of Stonehearth**

The Arcane Corps started as "The Group," in a temporarily empty storage room in the back of the Stonehearth Merchant Company in Baldur's Gate. There were Greathearth businesses still making the transition to the SMC and the families were coming together, finding a new equilibrium as they sought to find a new combined identity.

Those leading the group were Stonehearth family. Maybe not the best of the casters in the room, but they were good – good enough to hire the best, and keep training them.

It was that continual investment in the people, the training, the education, the travel, always looking to be better, do better – and do good – that kept them moving. It was the Group that was working with the scholars and academics, studying magic in new ways and in new angles – with something that most wizards didn't have: *a major R&D budget*.

As their grasp of magic progressed from cutting edge to undiscovered country, their integration and utilization of magic in everyday processes was deepening. They were using magic where it hadn't been used before, making the process stronger, faster, more accurate and safer. Magic wasn't thought of as a separate function anymore, it was simply part of the world.

Even as part of the Group split off, the more military-minded focusing on destructive capacity, the core group was now able to focus that much more on scientific, industrial and commercial magic. By the split, around 1318-1320, the Arcane Group had grown into the Arcane Corps.

The "civilian" half were the builders – and now the center of revenue generation for House Stonehearth. They had become the Arcane Corps – *Prime*. The ArCorps Prime does everything from production-line artisans to logistical support mages to pure research scientists. If there was ever a wonderland of creative magic in the Forgotten Realms, it was in Prime.

### **The Modern Prime Corps**

There are four casting-centric classes, and all of them are employed by Stonehearth, but the Wizard is by far the most utilized and widest-ranging of the group. This build page will show a typical ArCorps Prime Wizard build, but remember: *ArCorps is an organization, not a class*.

It is possible that level progression may step outside the primary class, depending on the needs of the ArCorps and what the character can provide. On a related note, DMs will get a feel of how this build goes, and be able to guide a player through creating an ArCorps-appropriate sorcerer, cleric or warlock.

*Ask not what the ArCorps can do for you, ask what you can do for the ArCorps*...

#### **Production-line arcane artisans**

* These are the craftsfolk who actually make the items that Stonehearth deploys, whether they're sold on the Marquisate market or used internally. Very few of these artisans make a whole item from end-to-end, though most could if they were asked. Rather, most artisans focus their talents into one primary portion of the construction of any given object. Sometimes a true assembly line, sometimes simply a multi-step process, it depends on the object, the tolerances, the power it channels and so on.

#### **Logistical support**

* If they're not actually involved in the building, construction or assembly of an SMC product, and they're not a research scientist, then they're in the logistical support section. Logistics and support gets the raw materials for Production, they coordinate the construction and/or assembly, they test the products, ship them, track the expenses and do the accounting, maintain the payroll, track the competition, investigate malfunctions, and otherwise keep the facilities operating and the lights on.
* The other major portion of logistics includes arcane instruction. This is the vaunted group of trainers, instructors and professors that teach the fundamentals to *everybody* and the non-martial skills to everybody outside the Arms. Logs/Instruction are absolute *rockstars*, both inside the SMC and House Stonehearth *proper.*

#### **Arcane research scientists**

* The research and development isn't a single division, but rather one coordinating office for more than a dozen task and field-focused laboratories. Those labs are always working with the production lines of the SMC, but as of the expansion into a march (then a Marquisate, then a Commonwealth), they're researching *everything*.
* The highest profile lab focuses on pure *laws of magic*, and they are the particle physics group of Primal Magic. They have half a dozen facilities around *Faerûn*, some in remote, technically unclaimed territories that are far, *far* away from settlements. There used to be three of them, but as of an unfortunate incident in 1477, there are now only two.
* There are two Stonehearth laboratories that are specific to the Arms but are technically on the "Prime" side as they do not directly participate in military operations. The security for these labs are beyond the imagination of most Forgotten Realms wizards – and attempts to penetrate them have earned decisive responses from Stonehearth. The "General Materiel Labs" (GML) is focused on battlefield arms, armor, ordnance and munitions, while the other is known only as "Special Weapons" (SW). Rumors that the SW lab was working with the high-energy lab that suddenly ceased operation in 1477 are untrue.

## Where to From Here?

* Let's Build an ArCorps Prime Wizard!
* I need to glance at the overall **Character construction** page...
* I'm not sure I can handle the power. What are the other directions in the **Crucible**?