| The Craftsman |
Stop the Press! This Isn't Right! |
The Craftsman Other Titles: Great Maker, Forge God, First Fire, Old Sweat Associations: Forges, Anvils, Tools Associated School: Enchantment Core Values: Creation and Art
Desire to Create
The Craftsman is the shard of Illumitas’ desire to create. He is a servant of others, building not for personal gain but rather for the empowerment of the community. It isn’t just tools he creates but connections too. The Craftsman builds families and communities. Many inventions are attributed to the Craftsman, some practical and others metaphorical. It is said the greatest invention attributed to the Craftsman was the notion of family. Time is credited as having been built by the Craftsman. Legends hold that he envisioned it as a Great Dam, keeping everything from happening all at once. This allowed a slow but steady series of experiences to be relished, struggled with, and learned from. Promises are said to be a collaborative work of the Knight, the Scholar, and the Craftsman. The Knight’s ideals, the Scholar’s words, and the Craftsman’s parchment and ink still to this day form the basis for binding agreements between sincere cooperating individuals. Merchants attribute to the Craftsman the minting of coins to ease the chaos of barter. Legend holds that the first coins were blank, and made of soft metals, so that each individual could hammer their mark into a coin. In this way, the Craftsman wanted to show that everyone had some worth to their community.
Personality and Behavior
When he appears to followers, the Craftsman is boisterous and caring. He is a large personality who pours out his heart in words while he continually works. There is no task the Craftsman fears, he sees challenges as learning opportunities, but unlike Grak he would never push someone past their limits. Building up a person takes time and steady growth, just like crafting a fine item is not done in one session. When giving direction to his followers he’ll point them in the direction of tasks that need to be done but leave them to their own devices to figure out how. It’s accepted though that he would never assign someone a job he didn’t think they are capable of learning to do themselves. Of the Seven the Craftsman is the one of the most likely to communicate with the faithful. How else can he guide them to build a stronger relationship with his kin? Among the Sept he is said to be the one responsible for keeping the Seven as a cohesive unit. It is believed that his greatest sadness is that he has never been able to convince Draconus to join them. The Craftsman has made peace with his own mystery. He accepts that no matter how powerful, self-sufficient, or skilled an individual may be, the mortal and divine alike are connected to their companions. No one can ever be alone and be thought of as whole. Great experiences are worthless if not shared. Without communication and compromise, nothing can change the world. The Craftsman finds peace simply by aiding his family. The Craftsman does not so much stand against the Dark Three as he stands valiantly with the Sept. When they need him, he is there. Much like certain of his kin, the Craftsman is not a jealous god, and smiles upon Artisans who keep both him and his siblings in their thoughts and actions. Sidebar: The Parable of the Ring It is said that the Elemental once asked the Craftsman to forge the most beautiful ring he could, though she never returned to claim it from him. Artisans today tell that story with a smile, and use it as a parable for making things of beauty just to make the world more beautiful, and for no other purpose. They suspect that the Elemental simply wanted to see the hard working Craftsman smile. <end sidebar>
Physical Description
The Craftsman is frequently portrayed as a robust, muscular, earthkin man in workman’s clothes covered in a heavy leather apron. He often has a large beard, sometimes patchy due to burns caused by stray sparks from his forge. In his right hand there is always a tool of some kind and in his left hand either another tool or his current project depending on what he is doing at that moment. Even in visions of him it is said that you can smell the coal from the fire burning near him, and feel the heat of the forge.
Avatars of the Craftsman
There are no Avatars of the Craftsman with tales about them. Many believe this is because a true Avatar of the Craftsman wouldn’t seek glory, they’d hunker down in a forge and produce the tools needed for victory. In all probability there have been many Avatars of the Craftman about, they were just mistaken for master artisans.
Worship of the Craftsman
Followers of the Sept will dedicate activities and tasks to the Craftsman hoping for divine aid. The Craftsman is the patron god of smiths, engineers, miners, carpenters, weavers, stonemasons, and anyone who improves their world through construction, smiling on anyone who builds for the greater good. A bridge connecting two villages allows new friendships and trades to form. A city wall protects everyone from mutual harm. A loom can produce cloth for others to use for any number of purposes. His followers, both formal and private, are known collectively as Artisans. These Artisans will typically have a small shrine in their workshop. One particularly successful circle of potters in Terra call themselves the Craftsman’s Brides. Any worker who loses time, their hurts, and their hunger while making a thing of beauty and worth to all, is counted as an Artisan of the Craftsman. Be it the master swordsmith or the village shoemaker, none of the Artisans holds any rank above their peers.
Places of Worship
The earthkin found the Craftsman’s home in the Thunderguard Mountains. It was a fortress stronghold which the earthkin named Voltanicus in honor of the very similar location on Vargainen where they first changed into the earthkin. The new Voltanicus resides deep inside the mountains of Terra near a glowing river of magma. Outside of Voltanicus, the Craftsman’s temples are found in a worker’s tools, an anvil stamped with the Craftsman’s mark, the keystone for an arch is inscribed with his rune, or even something as small as the gears for a clock are things of worship. It is the act of fabrication that turns even the most drafty workshop into a place of divinity.
Expectations of Chosen
Chosen of the Craftsman don’t just create, they create things that aid the community. The Craftsman creates for a purpose and that purpose is to help others. Chosen of the Craftsmen exist inside of a community of others and they see their role as building that community up and helping it excel. To fail at being a Chosen of the Craftsman is to be selfish, building only for themselves or to build tools deliberately for those who wish to harm the community. Redemption from this error is possible, though like smelting ore, the candidate must work the impurities from his or her mind before they can be reforged.
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