Golems. Constructs. Tools. Automatons.

Artifices is a category for things that appear to be alive, but probably aren't. They are animated using the vital spirit of Life, the electric energy of Spark, or the ephemeral nature of Dreams.

No matter how an object is animated, one immediately knows that it is alive by how it moves. All living artifices can move on their own, interact with others, and seem to grow and learn in a way that goes beyond mere programming. This semblance of life is often false and made merely to reassure the user that it's okay to be used.

An Artifice is said to have a soul. While this is true in the strictest sense, one would be forgiven if they also thought that a golem was an unthinking, unfeeling machine. So too are androids, infused with their machine soul, and given the capacity to move beyond what they are given. Even more unfeeling are the stories of tools, exerting their will on whoever wields them, and often bringing their wielder to a place they did not expect.

Some objects will gain a semblance of life when they are old and loved or hated. These are different from an Artifice. They are much more like spirits, possessing an object and wielding it like a doll is their main body. Artifices are made to appear alive to begin with and their ability to change is limited to what they were given, or what parts can be swapped.

Other objects are said to be cursed, possessed, or otherwise magical in nature. These rings, swords, or tools are enchanted and can alter the world around them. Most subtly feed off of the essence of the wielder to perform their charms or feed their glamours. Whether that's as imperceptible as drinking your aura or as vibrant as drinking your blood depends on the reason for existing.

Artifices can be simple. A hoe that drinks sunlight and transfers it to the ground is likely to have a minor effect on crops. A ring that fills you with vigor is merely a receptacle for life, and is functionally the same as a battery full of spark. Even a simple amulet with a dream inside can convince your body that it's cooler or stronger than it actually is, and let you unlock more of your potential without your mind getting in the way.

Artifices can also be complex. Multiple competing essences can be fixed to a sword with Cores. The combination of a wet, electrified blade is more than enough to deal with any slime that wishes to do you harm. This process scales up, from mere combination effects to fully realized consciousness bound together into a form.

The most well known Artifice across the world is a Golem. They are clay, lumped together and given a form, fed a scroll of instructions, and left to their own devices on how to carry those out. A golem's reason for existing is entirely dictated by what is written on their scroll, and they cannot deviate without being taken apart.

A more modern invention is the Android. These too are built out of inert material, but they've been given a different purpose. The computer core inside them dictates their programming and their base behavior, their limbs choose how they interact with the world, and part of their purpose is to replicate human behavior. The approach is different, but they are fundamentally the same.

So too is a living tool different, yet the same. Some merely exert their will through contact. A cursed sword may be an Artifice filled with a spirit and thirsty for blood, crossing boundaries and making them hard to define, but the most important part of the object is that it is a sword. It cannot exist without being a sword.

The core of an Artifice is its instructions. Robots meant for farming will farm, and do nothing else. Androids are robots that can learn, but so too are they bound to the instructions of learning. Even a living doll with a spirit attached can only do what a doll is capable of, as the instructions are to translate what the spirit means to do.

Take care around any Artifice you find. It does not care for you, nor does it wish to hurt you. It simply does what it's told.