Artifice

*"Artifice is the force that brought us into this great age of order. It is the great equaliser between humanity and those who wield magic."*

- Imelda Violet, Head of the Witches' Association.

*"Artifice is the gift; the omen. It is the divine sign that our path is the righteous one. And with it, we shall shape the world anew."*

- Siegfried Mechel, Ratio-Elder

Artifice is the term used to describe both the mechanical inventions made by artificers and engineers of the Alberean Empire since 1350, as well as the mysterious force that drives these cogwork machinations; a force who's detailed workings extremely few understand. In the last 50 year, the Empire has made immense progress in the field of artifice under the guidance of the legendary Duretta Bosque, mass-producing inventions such as:

* **Artifice mobiles**, cars that are widely in use in the capital, Nys, increasing mobility of the Empire's citizenry.
* **Street lamps**, that light up the larger cities of the Empire such as Orzon at night, reducing crime.
* **Automated Sewage-Systems**, that have made the Empire's city-centres much more hygienic.
* **Radio-transmitters**, that allow for quick and efficient communication between the vast lands within the Empire.
* **The Railways**, or at least the start of their construction throughout Alberea.

## Weapons of War

However, the arrival of artifice to the world of Toussaint has in no way solely been used for good. It has also spawned terrible weapons of war, such as **the artifice rifle**, a terrifying repeating gunpowder rifle of immense force, used widely by the Lamention Legion during the annexation of Doren in the 1350's. Even more recently, rumours have been spreading since the end of the Great War that the Empire is working on a fleet of flying war-machines, referred to by the common tongue as 'the Forgefleet', following the wild succes of the empireal military's combustion-corps and their mobile cannon-machines.

The radical shift in power-dynamics that the ages of artifice have wrought in Toussaint is undeniable. The swiftness of the Empire's military campaign through Doren is most attributable to the availability of mass-producable artifice rifles, a force which the more traditional Dorenese military was in no way able to withstand.

It has also increased the lethality of war on the land of Toussaint itself, which is visible when travels close to the Fine Line dividing Montclaire and the Empire. Though it is true that part of the destruction of the Fine Line is attributable to the prolific Cobalt Plague that swept throughout it, corrupting its soil, it was the widespread deployment of the Combustion Corps and their weapons of fiery destruction that in the very least contributed to the borderlands' salted earths.

## What Is Artifice?

What makes the art of artifice so fundamentally different from common engineering is the power source that is used to power the construction in question. Throughout the last century, artificers of Alberea at the Lys Doré have developed mechanical 'cores' that contain and utilise a mysteriously conductive, glowing liquid to create very powerful, long-lasting, but most importantly *portable*, energy. The inner-workings of these cores are apparently almost impossible to reverse-engineer, and the Empire is extremely protective of its secrets. As a result, the secret to the creation of these cores is preserved for only high-ranking Alberean engineers and scholars that are loyal to the Empire.

These cores, though often in variable sizes, are what power artifice-inventions, as opposed to common machinery, which are often fuelled by coal or clockwork-driven force.

## The Ages of Artifice

When one speaks of the 'ages of artifice', these are meant as terms to denote the differing sudden 'jumps' in artifice-development by the Lys Doré and the Empire. These sudden 'eureka-moments' occurred in both 1361 and 1386:

**1350 - 1360** **|** ***The Preluding Age of Artifice***, seeing inventions such as:

Artifice cores, the artifice rifle, mechanised light-sources.

**1361 - 1385 |** ***The First Age of Artifice***, seeing inventions such as:

Artifice mobiles, advanced combustion machinery, radio-technology.

**1386 - 1399 (Currently) |** ***The Second Age of Artifice***, seeing inventions such as:

Semi-automated production, mechanised sewage systems, the railways of Alberea, mechanical flight.