The Metal Men of Golnir

Art by DoctorChevlong

There are many artifacts of the old, bygone Fedreline Empire that speak to the mark they had on the world in their day. Fragments of mosaics in crumbling floors, black-figure vases with elaborate scenes, and the corroded bronze helmets of their soldiers, to name a few. Some artifacts are of value beyond being mere historical curiosities - the Fedrelines, it is known, were workers of magic, and many enchanted treasures still sit beneath the earth today, waiting to be discovered, preserved through the ages by the spells woven into their craft.

But other discoveries are harder to explain. Largely in Golnir, but occasionally in surrounding areas, there have been found peculiar constructs dating to the Fedreline era - figures of men, forged of bronze, iron, and orichalcum, bearing arms and armor. Though they may appear to be suits of armor, the pieces are almost always found riveted to articulated frames with gears and joints, and all of them possess a hollow chest, in which is stored a clay jar or a box of some kind, inlaid with runic inscriptions.

These metal men, as they are called, have not been explained, despite many inquiries by the sages of all the lands. In their construction, they most resemble, if anything, the automatons of the learned Quel'Ahman engineers, but no mechanisms have been found to power them, nor have been recovered any manuals or blueprints that would describe their function. Furthermore, the automatons of the modern era spray water and play music for the amusement of noble guests, but all of the metal men that have been found are equipped as warriors. Some have proposed they may have performed mock battle scenes, but if that was the case, this must surely have been a popular pastime, due to the sheer number of such creations that have been found.

The most curious part of the metal men is surely the vessels contained in their chests. In light of the Fedreline conflicts with the Nuwapians, with their knowledge of necromancy, a connection to the lich's phylactery is inevitable. So too, a number of metal men have been discovered in Quel'Ahma, often amidst the ruins of Nuwapian cities, many of them bearing the scars of battle. Some have posited, then, that to combat the lich-lords, the Fedrelines may have pursued similar arts, using bound souls to animate suits of armor as a new kind of soldier - one that would never tire, nor have to eat or drink, and would not be affected by disease or the desert heat.

If such magics gave life to the metal men, the rituals involved in their creation have long since been lost. No one has seen one of these beings move, let alone fight. At least, no scholars have documented such a thing - but rumors will always abound, and there have been occasional sightings of silent figures dressed in archaic armor lurking around the ruins. Some, it is said, have even slain those who came too close.