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A Quest of Queens—Lore

Clockwerk

The spark of life is time, woven to a crux. And so the great work of the Clockwerk unspools over the ages. Use your time wisely, Kayexh. You must complete the great work.

from the book of the artificer

The Clockwerk are mechanical people powered by magical lodestone hearts. Their mechanical nature makes it difficult for them to recover from harm because they must repair themselves.

Clockwerk yearn to find their "Maker," a mysterious Artificer rumored to have created their entire race. It is believed the Clockwerk people built the city Arcanum under the direction of the Artificer. These days they are members of polite society, logically-minded, hard-working, and curious.

Ecology & Physiology

Like other races, the Clockwerk require rest. To regenerate residual lodestone energy, they "reboot" for 6 to 8 hours each night. However, due to their mechanical nature, Clockwerk must be manually repaired when their bodies are damaged. The Clockwerk language in its natural form is a mellifluous combination of quantized sound and percussive rhythms, impossible for non-Clockwerk to recreate without the aid of instruments.

The secret ritual of Clockwerk reproduction is a closely guarded secret in their society. Clockwerk are sexless (or at least do not conform to the male/female binary, as understood by other races). When two or more Clockwerk decide to produce a gearling, they select a lodestone of unique bearing and work in tandem to forge its chassis. Some artificers conjecture that the Clockwerk share their schematics in the forging of the gearling's design. The inserting of the lodestone heart into the Clockwerk shell is considered a sacred act of creation that bonds the Clockwerk in their "cog" (a group of parenting Clockwerk) to the created child.

On Clockwerk Longevity

A Clockwerk's lodestone heart burns intensely. While a Clockwerk's chassis can persist for millions of years—as long as the chassis can survive the sands of time—their lodestone heart cannot. At best, a Clockwerk can expect their lodestone heart to last seventy to one hundred years or less, depending on if the Clockwerk takes to an adventuring sort of life. It is not unheard of, however, that artificers trained in the science of Clockwerk use their knowledge to partially restore a Clockwerk's heart. Such a procedure is risky and experimental, sometimes resulting in the creation of a totally new personality in the renewed being.

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