Warforged in Polesia

When the early human wizards first made contact with dwarves, they were fascinated by their golem crafting and inevitably stole the technology. However, this was not enough and arrogant spellcasters, out to make a name for themselves, sought various ways to improve upon dwarven designs and to reduce the cost of crafting the constructs.

One such wizard, Xyratis Estrano, stumbled across a ritual that bordered on necromancy. While golems normally required a bit of the would-be creator’s life force to animate, Estrano found a way to make others pay this price for him. Since he did not fear death he simply siphoned all of his “volunteers’” life force into a human sized golem made of mithril reinforced with iron joints. To his surprise he created not a mindless automaton but a thinking functioning construct with, for all intents and purposes, a soul.

The souls of the victims were washed clean and retained no memory from their former lives, and so the new golems functioned as newborn children, though with some refinement they were able to speak and perform simple tasks from creation. Estrano instantly gained fame for his living constructs but he kept the secret of their creation closely guarded, knowing both that he would lose his monopoly and possibly his head as well if anyone found out.

Kings and would be warlords paid Estrano vast sums of money for these construct soldiers and he became so wealthy that he founded the city of Xyra in order to continue his research out of reach of either feudal or spiritual authorities. His armies were spread across Antanides and beyond, some possibly reaching as far as Zhonguo and Asashiro. But, after nearly a century, Estrano disappeared, none could say where. Some rumored that he transferred his soul into one of his eternal constructs, some said he simply went crazy and flung himself into the Ethereal Expanse.

It is rumored that others have discovered the secrets as well and it does appear that new warforged, as they are now called, are being made from time to time but none know exactly from where as it is considered illegal now even in Xyra. The warforged have long outlived the wars for which they were originally made and many have either attached themselves to various noble families as age old retainers or have since left to find their fortunes where they can. People have come to view them as living creatures and treat them accordingly (not necessarily better than before).