Chapter 5.3 - Homunculi

An excerpt from Elder Merrin's book, "Practical Applications of Mana and Magical Devices: An Intermediate Level Text for Younglings"

Homunculi, Design and Use

The Homunculus is a magical and mechanical construct, design and production of which is considered a highly technical task, only available to those with a talent for magic and/or crafting. Although the various abilities of the homunculus can be adjusted or reworked to meet the needs of the user, the overall parts are the same.

Frame: The physical frame of the homunculus is the body of it. It is similar to a marionette without strings. As this is the largest part of the homunculus, it is constructed of light metals, porous rock, or wood to meet the needs of the design.

Core: This is the source of power for the homunculus. It is usually a magically conductive vessel that uses a special liquid form of Magical essence. Depending on the energy required by the model and the size and design of the vessel it determines the amount of time the homunculus can operate until it goes into its dormant state.

Lattice: This is the programming core of the homunculus. Based on the size, power, and complexity of the lattice it changes the complexity of operations capable by the construct. The lattice is usually a set of etched crystals embedded in a matrix, housed in an etched gold or platinum plate.

Rigging: This is the skeleton of the construct, consisting of enchanted joints, actuators, and levers to best mimic the gross and fine motor skills required by the model.

Etching: Carved onto the frame of the homunculus is its Etching, the magical symbols that serve as the nervous system of the construct. It receives messages transmitted by the Lattice, and transfers them to the Rigging based on the instructions of the User.

Although most crafters have the capability to construct homunculi, very few have shown an aptitude for it. Beyond following simple instructions, the capabilities of these automatons are nothing beyond simple tasks and chores.

End Excerpt.

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With the initiative started of switching the menial labor force from undead to homunculus, a few changes happened to the city. The first was the implementation of pods. In an effort for public buy in, each of the representatives paid for a homunculus pod to be installed outside their dwelling area. The protectorate was then informed not to do the deep cleaning that they had previously been doing and instead focus only on serious refuse removal.

After a few weeks most of the public wanted in on a cleaner and pod installed at their homes. Those with the ability to make homunculi earned from delving the dungeon traded finished models for a pod, or started to sell homunculus.

This then had a ripple effect. And like a great shift in the market, within 2 months one shop reigned supreme.

Jorvik Brai, one of the plated Mechanist Gole, was a little different from his peers. He did not excel at the usual Gole Mechanist skills of turning metal and machine into an extension of his arms. Other than joining the protectorate out of his race's pride, he only volunteered to participate in emergency measures. Its not that Jorvik was afraid to fight. It was that he just found it too chaotic to enjoy. So when not being called to serve, he spent most of his time in Shurik's prototype lab as one of the key developers. What he lacked in fighting spirit, he more than made up for in ingenuity.

When Shurik brought the message that prototype operations would cease to test and produce homunculus and their pods, Jorvik was a little dour. This changed with Shurik handed him a Homunculus perk stone on the condition that he make at least 25 homunculus.

This is when Jorvik's ability took off. Jorvik, often quiet and soft spoken, never stood out among the already quiet Gole. With this new capability Jorvik became focused.

Within a week, he had hit his quota for earning his perk stone, where it usually took Serin about 3 days to build a homunculus, Jorvik completed twelve times that number.

Jorvik then volunteered over the next week to produce another 25, and for payment he requested one of the open workshops for setting up his own homunculus shop, as well as the raw materials to produce another 25.

Over the third week, Jorvik created 25 and sold them to the public. However on the fourth week, he did not produce any homunculus, and other than materials moving in, he did not produce anything.

At the one month mark, as snow began to fall on the town a line had formed outside Jorvik's shop. Word had gotten out that he was releasing a new model of homunculus. This was unheard of, as none of the prototypers were able to develop drastic changes to the base model without drastically reducing its productivity. Serin had asked Shurik about it and Shurik ensured Serin that not only was this serious, it would probably be the first serious institution provided directly by the Gole.

Soon the doors opened Jorvik brought his model out. When Serin shuffled up to the display of the new model, Serin was surprised by what he saw. In lieu of the normal bipedal model, this one was a quadruped. Its entire frame was reinforced with adamantine and instead of a single Core the homunculus had six in two rows on its underside.

Its back was a squared off section with a lip, preset for the town's standard wood frame storage boxes.

Jorvik didn't have to explain the importance of small walking load carriers. Nor did he have to explain their specifications, as he had it listed on a sheet on the table. Along with the price.

Running Time:

6 hours max load (50kg)

8 hours half load (25kg)

12 hours no load (<10kg)

Price: 25,000cr (price reduced by 5,000cr if all materials provided by user)

At first Serin was shocked by the price for this single homunculus. It was almost twice the market rate for a base model. But Serin could see the effectiveness of this design. Serin then saw how Jorvik worked so quickly. Inside his shops there were legless 4 armed homunculi taking care of all of the mundane tasks, as well as some of the magical tasks for his workshop.

Serin saw that while most were still gawking at the model, some of the merchants were attempting to haggle. Serin could see that Jorvik was bored, and kept repeating the same statements. "Price is firm." "No Haggling."

Serin came up to him, "How did you instruct your models inside? And are they for sale?"

For the first time that day, Jorvik lit up. "Hello Serin! Oh let me show you." Jorvik placed a sign on his little stand outside his shop that read ' be back in 15 minutes'

Jorvik walked to the model and showed the work he had done "I discovered in the process of instructions a higher level set of instructions, however they require a more complex crystal lattice to process the advanced commands. Since I haven't quite figured out these more advanced lattices, I was able to facilitate the higher level processes with sets of specific lower level processes. However this would have not been possible with the normal models, so to reduce the strain on the core and the lattice, I rerouted the etching previously utilized for its feet and legs and simply doubled its arms. It loses mobility but it doubles its working speed. To ensure speed there are micro logistics models I developed to move materials from one area to another. It helps keeping the work into assemblies. It also helps to enchantments on certain workstations, because teaching magic to Homunculus has been met with mixed results." Jorvik pointed at a pile of broken and exploded cores waiting for scrapping.

Serin looked at it all. The productivity of such a small space was almost overwhelming. Dedicated grabbers sat along the walls and ceilings moving raw goods, finished parts, and everything in between to a large wall of bins, hooks, and vats. Serin was shocked. His facility was a one man show. "Jorvik this is amazing."

Jorvik beamed. "I made this shop as efficient as I could but honestly there is so much more I could do. If I could power workstations with continuous mana I could fully automate most of the automaton work. Shurik told me the second finished schematic was a way to convert the kinetic energy provided by fast flowing water into mana similar to how the pump stations work, however the designs he planned on using would go towards a general goods factory. Also it required a large pressure reservoir of water to work."

Serin grinned, "If you would like the nation's backing in this endeavor, we only ask for a percentage of your product or profit, and we will ensure you receive all the material backing you need."

Jorvik had heard of the industries that had received the attention of the government. Yes it did mean a 20% tax, but they would ensure that everything would be provided for. The tamers, farmers, and craftsmen had all requested assistance at the same rate. None of them had complained about the 20% tax on their produce/profits.

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