The Tzik Artifice Company

The Tzik Artifice Company is a cloistered organization residing within Midhold in the Norfair Commonwealth. It is one of the known world's leaders in Artifice and Automata.

## **History**

### Sixth Century

The Tzik Company was established in 13,622 as 'Tzik Family Wands'. It grew to be the most prestigious conduit manufacturing company over the next 75 years. Around the turn of the 7th century, the Commonwealth entered into a war with Lorean. The government requisitioned the production of all artifice for wartime efforts and provided funding towards the advancement of arcane weapons. The Tzik company made a name for itself producing powerful artifacts for the war.

### Seventh Century

The conflict between Lorean and the Commonwealth ended at the beginning of the seventh century in an uneasy ceasefire that left both countries wary of further incursion. The Tzik company pivoted off of the wartime success, rebranding themselves as Tzik Artifice and pushing into the market of magical items and weapons. The family business expanded out over the countryside on the outskirts of the Midhold. The complex grew into something of a monastery, with many artificers making a pilgrimage there to study the arcane arts. The explosion of talent at the Tzik Company led to incredible breakthroughs, solidifying Artifice as an enlightened science, rather than mad experimentation. Near the end of the seventh-century ownership was passed down to the greatest artificer amongst the children of the Tzik family, Rhazem Tzik. She led the company to the invention of automata. These beings, fueled off of a spark of magic, were sentient life. A deal with the Commonwealth funded a project to create divisions of these expensive, yet invaluable, 'Warforged' designs. Government officials who worked with the company noted its use of automata outside of combat and these 'Companions' quickly became a must-have amongst the landed elite throughout all of Norfair. Automata became so prevalent within the continent that even laborers were replaced. Tensions began to build between the working class, who claimed the automata were a drain on society, and the Automata themselves, who demanded independence from their masters and from the Tzik Company. Riots broke out through the commonwealth and beyond. For a period, it seemed like a full-scale Automaton uprising was inevitable. Eventually, a ban was placed upon the manufacture of further Automata. and many of them were 'deactivated'. The Tzik Company closed its doors and went through serious restructuring. It only kept afloat by distancing itself from the debacle and returning to the production of classical magic artifacts.

### Eighth Century

Over the past fifty or so years the Tzik Company has become secretive and insular. Its current Director of Operations is purported to be paranoid of those who would steal company secrets or sabotage the organization. Though the company has grown more closed off from the public, Its standing as a home of the arcane still persists. It is considered a high honor amongst those who study magic to gain access to the inner sanctum of the Tzik Company compound. The company began producing new Companions and Warforged within the last three years. It has been very careful to assure the public that these are safe automata. The commonwealth is hesitantly allowing the renewed production thanks to pressure from the Earl Grey Trading House. The new models are generally more hardwired than older, less strictly controlled automata. The result is less prestigious, though more easily produced, line of automata. There have not yet been Automata insurgencies and the new generation of customers are so enamored by the "return to glory" of automated assistance that they have turned a blind eye to former controversies.

## Affiliates

### The Earl Grey Trading Company

The Tzik Artifice Company and the Earl Grey Trading Company are both huge corporations in the Commonwealth, holding no small amount of wealth and political power in the nation. Tzik brand Companions are often sent to accompany employees of the Earl Grey - *a luxury few can afford.*

### The Blue Order

The Blue Order appears to be a secret organization operating in the Commonwealth and beyond. The Tzik company provides the Order with remote devices that bestow the user the ability to teleport or retreat into a relaxing pocket dimension. The two organizations are not allied in a hierarchical way but have interests which align.

## **Exports**

### Magic Items

* Arcane Foci
* Enchanted Items

### Automata

* Companion
	+ EIN Companion
	+ EIN Companion mk2
	+ EIN Interpreter
	+ EFAIN Companion
	+ New EIN Companion
* Warforged
	+ FAS Defender
	+ FAS Defender mk2
	+ FAS Peacekeeper
	+ FAS Striker
	+ FAS Striker mk2
	+ Tzik Mobile Fortress
	+ New FAS Defender
	+ New FAS Peacekeeper
* Laborer
	+ Tzik Thopter
	+ ICO Laborer
	+ New ICO Laborer