WHO ARE THE ARTIFICERS?

The Artificers are a class of unique beings, each of which manage or embody a different aspect of Elstren's construction. Although the Architect is responsible for the overall 'design' of Elstren, the Artificers act as emissaries of the Architect capable of more 'precise' sculpting. The Artificers' relationship to the things they're meant to embody is difficult to pin down; some suspect that they consciously shape and control Elstren, while others suspect that they're mere guardians to the Architect's creation that each have their power tied to a specific aspect.

There are three confirmed Artificers, though some conflict exists over potentially classifying the Weaver as a fourth Artificer given that it serves a very similar role in shaping the firmament. The confirmed Artificers are the Song, the Sea Dragon and First Landing.

THE SONG, the Sky Incarnate.

The Song, sometimes called the Weather Machine or the Storm Garden, is a series of islands floating on or inside of a permanent stormcloud that roams over the Diamond Sea. It consists of a primary island called the Core and about six small satellite islands, totaling at around 10,000 square miles. It is the most studied but also arguably least understood of the Artificers, and seems to break the mold of the other two.

The Song is so termed because it produces an alluring, calming song that attracts any flying animals, allowing them to seek refuge on its island. For these animals, its conditions are practically idyllic, with few predators besides each other and plentiful food. They are covered by unique, alien forests with many floral and fungal species not native to anywhere else on Elstren, but all of the animals that live on the Song are from other parts of Elstren.

The island is also dotted by unusual structures made out of perfectly clean, angular marble-like stone and metals that resemble silver and bronze, ranging in size from as large as a person to as large as a skyscraper. They seem to protect inaccessible mechanisms, as machinery can be heard and felt moving inside of many of them, and many more such mechanisms are theorized to stretch underground.

Some are adorned with decorations or have unique artifacts; an example is the Swarm Bell, a large bronze bell held between two pillars. The bell attracts butterflies in enormous quantities, and is periodically rung by an unseen mechanism, producing a deep, mournful chime that can be heard across the entire island and causes the butterflies to swarm wildly around it. Supposedly, each time this bell strikes, an intense storm begins forming somewhere in the world.

Other structures, such as large wind chimes, wind vanes, rain basins, whirlpools, and fountains are all present and have their own unique functions and quirks. Another example is the Ringing Tree, a marble sculpture of an enormous tree that hosts thousands of chimes that supposedly create high winds, windstorms, dust storms and even tornadoes when they strike each other depending on which chimes struck and how hard. Many of these structures seem to have no purpose or are very poorly understood.

Unlike the other two Artificers, the Song differs in that it is not clearly sapient. However, hints of an intelligence are present—a group of rogue magical researchers attempted to anchor a satellite island of the Song to the ground in a coastal city for closer research, but they faced extreme magical repercussions for doing so that ultimately lead to the deaths of all of those directly involved and the town below the island becoming abandoned, proving that the Song curses those who attempt to control it. All other such examples of attempts to control the Song or access to the Song have ended in utter disaster.

Likewise, it seems to have rules for those who visit it. It will kill anyone who takes the life of any animal on purpose on its island, typically striking them with lightning repeatedly. It also shocks or even kills those who attempt to damage its mechanisms, and does not permit permanent structures to be established anywhere on any of its islands.

THE SEA DRAGON, the Sea Incarnate.

THE FIRST LANDING, the Land Incarnate.