Artifex

An Artifex is classified by the 17th Arcana Senatorum as: "A person or persons who, though Gifted, are unable to produce significant and unassisted magical phenomenon." Though this is a rather loose definition, it nonetheless describes them rather succinctly. Unable to produce "True Magic", an Artifex instead relies upon the art of enchanting to produce arcane effects. This is normally done to inanimate objects but the more talented Artifex can produce sentient familiars.

Discovery
Like all the Gifted, an Artifex is normally discovered by a Mor'kar representative of the Spire. In large cities such as Brightshore or New Anegal such representatives normally arrive every few months to test children in the area. However, in more rural areas such as the deserts of Prozen or the hilly province of Kataern they rarely arrive more than once every three or so years. Interestingly enough, the vast majority of Artifex' end up being humans and a growing number of them arrive from the provinces of the Crownless Lands and Straegard. There is ongoing research at the Spire as to the nature of this odd statistical anomaly but so far, no conclusive evidence or information has been unearthed.

Though humans make up the majority of Artifex, the most powerful are often Coalfolk. Whether this is because, as they believe, they have latent memories of their former lives as Dwarves--unquestionably the finest artifex Canthia has ever seen--or simply because their mechanical bodies' incredible resistance to magic allows them to work with amounts of energy which would melt the flesh off of full organics, is unknown. Because of this peculiar makeup, Coalfolk specialize in the mechanomagical. As they are unable to test the effects of their artifacts on living tissue, Coalfolk-enchanted wearable items are often very dangerous, and should always be handled with care. Many a young adventurer has found a Coalfolk-made ring in a darkened dungeon, tried it on, and had his hand blown off by the force of its enchantment.

Training
Once found by the Spire, an Artifex is usually sent off to study at that great institution under a senior Artifex. These men and women, known in the Spire as Gearbrains, will tutor and mentor each new Artifex until they eventually leave the college.