Chapter 6.1 - Early Arrivals

If there was anything to be proud of in Haven, it was the ability for his citizens to be open towards strangers. Although job assistance was a requirement, no one seemed to have a problem with getting apprentices in their workshop, whether they were new refugees, recently Plated, or former slaves.

Serin was especially happy with some of those leaders that were open to foreign ideas. Shurik had taken in a Forest Elf named Adam to be an apprentice in his workshop. Although Forest Elves were another peaceful race, they understood the need for defense. So while the other two Forest Elves that apprenticed under Shurik tinkered with different quality of life improvements using magic, Adam focused on weaponry. When Serin came to visit, he was stunned by the items he saw. Adam had combined a mix of crafting and enchantment to create non-lethal forms of weapons. A repeating crossbow that fired out nets large enough for a humanoid, that mounted on the shoulder and used a mini homunculi for aiming. Wrist mounted bolos that carried a delayed shock spell in a quartz array, and two specialty rounds for the scattergun. The first used a flash burning metal to explode into a loud and bright flash, disorienting the target, the other that simply fired a bright hot round with a colored smoke trail.

Adam explained that this second round was built to fire into the air and visually alert nearby allies that a person is in distress. Serin realized not everyone had such a command of the Message spell as to send long range targeted messages to others or the power to fire a large fireball into the air on command, and this was a quick way to communicate distress, even in a magic-denied environment.

Serin looked at the weapons and smiled, Adam was giving a presentation on his creations to Dana and Edel. King Jeffrey's proxy, a younger man named Nabi, was keenly interested in them.

Edel spoke first, "I can see that many of these tools have some merit, especially to the tamers when it comes to capturing monsters to tame. But what use does this have for war?"

Adam smiled, "I understand that humans are a difficult species for the changelings to have a chance at consuming, solely because unless there are interlopers or active warfare, there is no prey. I also know that it has been difficult to take some of the enemy scouts alive for interrogation. This should solve both of those issues.."

Adam continued, "This will also give a non-lethal way to arm both homunculi and dhamphir. I have spoken at length with Masters Restin and Tyber and they agree that these tools would be acceptable to them, because they do no harm to their intended targets. Right now there is an entire populace that refuses to defend themselves because they have not been given the tools to do so. This can shore up that gap in our defenses."

Adam had definitely shown his designs had buy-in. Additionally,to ensure that innovators were compensated and continued to work in the department, any schematics that were put into use required a portion of the profits to go to the original creator. And because Serin had left it as a flat 10% percentage to the creator, and 5% to the lab, it left room for merchants to still be able to haggle prices.

So while most of the forest elves had taken up various jobs as interior decorators, or managing cultivation of greenhouses and the greenery throughout the capital and biome regions, they still managed to have skilled outliers that meshed well with established industry. The combination of new initiatives and new ideas to older industry is what made every new race unique and able to merge into society well.

It also seemed that every group that came through the gate brought their own unique cultural identity, and although his nation grew more diverse with each group, it was easily overcome by his Nation's identity, which was a gathering place welcome to all.

So when Serin saw that yet another gate to refugees was ready for admittance, he smiled as he quickly messaged the various leaders and began preparation of a welcoming party.

***

The eternal king knew his time had come. It had been many years since his people had been wiped out. War, famine, and disease had ravaged the lands. His people could have recovered were it not for his own self sabotage.

The last great war had the eternal king and his kingdom near destruction when he unleashed two weapons. The first one was the battle maidens, a synthetic human capable of combat far above their level. The second was a virus, which crippled men's ability to fight. What the eternal king did not foresee was the consequences of his virus. When it reached his own people, it left a scar on the womb of women, leaving his nation unable to conceive children. In one fell swoop he had destroyed the last of his enemy, and also destroyed his own nation.

After that his nation imploded, as the aging populace fought for every experimental cure and followed every magical and technological lead, they sought out to cure themselves of this choice. But the virus had re-written their genetic code, something that the greatest healing magics could not cure.

The eternal king then attempted to use the battle maidens as breeding stock, but due to their design, they only gave birth to their own kind.

Decades had passed, and now the eternal king sat, withered and grey, on a throne in an empty castle, on a desolate landscape. In front of him stood the newest regiment of constructs. 1200 battle maidens led by two male battle wardens. Males born of the construct were extremely rare, and while failing to meet the combat prowess of their female counterparts, they excelled at strategy and tactics. They were the last of their kind, as the last male humans died out a decade ago, and the forever king was far too old to sire children.

The eternal king was preparing to give his last order. He did not know what future held for him in the afterlife. His world was dead. His kingdom in ruins. In front of him as the last regiment he would be alive to witness for pass and review. The king then began to speak, to order this regiment to kill the remaining humans, something happened. Magic bubbled in the air and he felt the distinct effect of high magic.

The forever king watched as on the far side of his audience chamber, a gate began to open

The regiment of constructs stood unmoving. They were at attention and would not move to save their own lives. The king looked closely and on the other side of the gate, he saw something that made him smile. He saw a powerful human wizard, much like himself. The King spoke, "Battle Warden, I am relinquishing control of your regiment to the wizard that stands behind you through a portal. You can identify him by his hooded raiments and blue markings, blue eyes, and light blond hair. March your people through the portal and report to him for your further orders. And above all else, take this book with you, so that this leader will not follow in our footsteps." The king motioned to a book on a small side table to his left. He was far too weak to turn the pages by hand and had been reading it in his mind, as he had read it 1000 times.

The Battle warden showed no emotion at this command, He simply saluted, marched over to the side table, collected the book, and began issuing orders to march his people through the portal.

***

At first, Serin was confused. The people coming through the gate looked like a military contingent of soldiers. Then Serin began to see. They all had light blue or light green eyes. All of them had similar hairstyles that showed a hair length of mid-torso. They all carried a rifle similar to Serin's original blast powder rifle, as well as two swords, a hatchet, and a boot knife. Another knife was affixed to the end of their rifle. Each one wore a uniform and carried a matching pack.

And they all had no emotion. No facial expressions.

Serin was confused. The representatives were confused. The assembled townsfolk that came to welcome the new arrivals were confused.

The confusion did not end. As the regiment of nearly 1200 Soldiers came through, one stayed at the front of the formation and commanded it while the second came to stand 2 meters from Serin. The male, who looked almost related to the entire contingent, saluted Serin. "Awaiting Orders, Sir."

Serin gulped.

***

Normally, when a refugee group comes through, the calming spell is used on the refugee. This time it was the populace. As an unknown armed contingent of soldiers arrived in their capital.

Serin looked at the male officer in front of him, "Are you in charge of this group?"

The officer had the slightest bit of confusion, "I am not sure what you mean, Sir."

Serin replied, "Are you the leader of this group of Soldiers?"

The officer replied, "Negative Sir. You are the leader of our regiment."

The other representatives looked confused. Serin continued, "Can you tell me anything about where you came from?"

The officer looked at Serin, "I was instructed by my previous king to hand you this book."

Serin took the book. It was easily a few thousand pages. Serin knew their group didn't have time. He then looked through his spells and found one and overextended it. The [absorb information] skill was used to help spellcasters learn a bit faster, but since Serin could overpower any spell, Serin used it to speedread the book in about 6 minutes.

The representatives waited, then Serin understood. "So you are a Construct. Specifically, a Battle Warden?"

The officer nodded. "I am the assigned envoy and strategist for the 511th Battle Maiden regiment. The other officer is the regiment tactician."

Serin then began to explain to the group.

"It seems the race is not human, but rather Construct." Serin then displayed their racial attributes.

Registration: A Construct can be registered to a User. the Construct can level up its plate but will never exceed the level of his registered User. This registration is only voided by the death of the User.

Level Capped: A Construct that is unregistered has a capped level of 30

Artificial Soul: A Construct has little to no magical affinity, and spellcasting is outside their skill, however they are still capable of using magical devices, although their internal mana supply is halved.

Bred for War: In regards to combat prowess, Constructs fight high above their capability.

Emotionally Stunted: A construct has difficulty understanding and displaying emotions.

Jericho then looked at Serin, "So you just inherited a regiment of emotionless killing machines."

Serin shook his head. He did not know what to do. Bilol smiled, "I for one want to see their fighting prowess. Hey Ryan, I have an opponent for you."

A male changeling, level 30, walked over. Serin looked at the officer in front of him. "Would you mind having one of the Battle Maidens spar with this person. It's just a sparring match. It is not to the death."

The Officer stood, saluted, "Of course Sir." Then pointed to one of the Battle Maidens. She looked recently Plated and when Serin spied her level he saw it was level 12.

Serin then watched as she disarmed, walked over, and bowed to her opponent. Ryan the changeling ran in. Their moves were fluid, and Serin watched as the Changeling martial arts was slowly gaining the upper hand. Suddenly Ryan had the battle maiden in a full arm lock. The match looked decided.

Just as Serin was about to call the match, the battlemaiden did a backflip, breaking her arm in 3 places, and in the same motion proceeded to kick in the inside of Ryan's knee, dislocating it. The battle maiden, without any sign of pain then kicked in the other leg dislocating it as well and finished by pressing her leg on Ryan's head and a thumb tucked under his windpipe, intent to rip it from his neck. Then the battle maiden looked at her Warden and at Serin. "I have defeated my opponent."

The changelings were shocked. Their martial arts were built to cause control through joint manipulation and pain. But if the opponent, equally skilled in martial arts, was not phased by breaking their own arm, their martial arts were effectively countered.

***

At the moment, one of the protectorate's bunkhouses was used to house the Constructs. Most of them had to be put into tents outside, while Lord Koni worked to build a few additional bunkhouses.

Serin sat with the representatives.

"So what do we do with 1200 new residents? They have minimal skill sets outside of fighting. And even if we kept them as strictly soldiers, their level is capped at 30." Ephraim had spoken and voiced his concern.

Serin mentioned, "Their level is only capped at 30 if they are unregistered. If they register, their level can grow to match that of the person they register to."

Bilol spoke up, "How exactly is that not slavery? They will follow whatever orders their master gives them. To include killing themselves."

Serin then spoke up. "The information presented on the Constructs in the book I was given is minimal at best. But there are a few things that I learned. The first is that yes, registering a construct to another binds them into service. However that is the only way a construct can grow. Additionally, to ensure that constructs did not break the binds of their masters, they are infertile until registered. So unless they register to others, they will eventually die out. Their lifespans are undetermined. It is known they are longer than humans by many degrees, and they may even be immortal, however this is only a theory since their lifespans are relatively short due to the high mortality of the duties they perform."

Bilol commented, "Yes. I have never seen a living creature willingly break its arm without a second thought simply to get the upper hand in a sparring match. It was as if the only purpose for the Construct's being was to win that match, and when it was complete, it again had no purpose."

Representatives continued their conversation. Serin did not know what to do. Elder Merrin then spoke. "So it is by the very nature of the Construct to be subservient to another for the continuation of its species. Serin, did the book go over what skills the battle maiden was able to learn? Are there any restrictions?"

Serin spoke, "The majority of the Battle Maiden's skills are for combat. However, there are a large set of skills that are considered within their skillset that did not apply to combat. According to the book, Battle Maidens that registered were designed to be skilled in a variety of things to ensure they could meet the stringent demands of various roles, from governess to bodyguard. Hell there are even skills for playing an instrument and ballroom dancing."

Darius then raised his hand. Serin motioned to Darius to give him the floor, "The answer is right in front of us. We ask the citizens who wishes to have a battle maiden under their charge. The first pick should go towards the members of the protectorate that do not excel in physical combat, such as healers, battle medics, mages, and delvers. Additionally, I believe it is the responsibility of every representative to take in and register at least one Construct. From there we open it to those in our Nation who are able to take in, train, and care for another. After that, the remainder can spend their time training with the protectorate or with Lady Eris's advanced courses."

There were murmurs, and Darius continued. "We may not be able to register every single one of them, but we should try to do just that. However, I feel that every single person who applies to register a construct should also have to go through some form of vetting process and training. Additionally, any who have owned slaves or commanding Content in the past should be banned from taking in a construct. Although they must register to another to grow, we should stress the importance of the fact that they are still plated, and as plated they are equally protected under the law."

Serin could see the future being full of traps for his people. A moment had finally come, and he had to speak. "I agree with what representative Darius has put forth. I am aware that several of the immigrants from the grand woods alliance had been slave owners in the past. Although common practice, it is outlawed here, and we will have to wait a generation until the slave owner mentality leaves them."

Serin looked around, "Is there any group that is opposed to taking in a Construct? If not, I recommend the strategist be assigned to Dana, while the Tactician be assigned to Edel. Other than that, I am not sure it matters."

In Addition to the assigned garrison operations Serin had for the Constructs, he assigned them the requirements of joining the Protectorate.

With their addition, although lower in level, the Constructs would almost quadruple the Protectorate in Haven.

***