Architectural Mages

Some of the most useful mages in all of Jera are the archemages. Their field of study and practice encompanies the building of structures. Their art uses the mathematics of engineering and the methodology of golem creation and control and the very drawing of minerals from the earth itself into a desired form. It has been said that Grunburg wasn't built in a day, but more recent thinking is to consider how many archemages that it would have taken to accomplish just such a feat.

An archemage must be a master of golems. They create not only the more standard golems (iron, clay, etc.) but larger models of the same thing. They have a strict code that such not be used for warfare, though it is well-known that such would be used for defense if critical need arose. Some of these golems can accomplish in a week what it would literally take a man a lifetime of labor to do. Some tower up to fifty feet in height. The standard ones look more or less like a man, but the more recent ones look nothing like a human. The punks have created ones that are a combination of gears and mechanical devises, powered by the magic necessary to put a golem necessary. The automatons that the 'punks create ARE centered around military use.

The second specialty that a archemage puts to good use is the growing of stone. The archemage is a purist elementalist mage of the highest form. The earth is his ally and the source of his power. An archemage devotes all of his time and energies to the study of buildings and things elemental. They do not adventure to gain experience in their craft, but rather gain in experience through long, consistent years of the creation of things physical.

They are mostly hired by those with obscene money to spend, who want only the best and aren't willing to wait the many years necessary to build a stone structure the traditional way. In fact, as the craft of the archemage has reached almost the state of a science, the price for hiring someone capable of doing structural sorcery has plummeted. Where once only a secretive select few knew the mysteries of building magic, now it is taught at the university level to anyone that wants to learn that can make the grade. It is getting to where most buildings can be more cheaply coaxed from the earth than to be cut from stone at great expense and labor.

A truly positive note to the use of archemages is that since their becoming more and more common, the slave labor of orcs and goblins has beocme more and more rare. The Alexander Parliment has even discussed banning slavery altogether, though the rich argriculturists fight it tooth and nail. They have wonderful harvests since agricultural magic was brought to the forefront by Scinton, but with free labor, the profits are obscene. The power of the farmer's lobby is truly great in the government of Asterland.