ARTISAN ARTISAN ARTISAN ARTISAN ARTISAN The Artisan Caste contains roughly 10,000 of the brightest thinkers and strategists of the Mountain Folk. They, of all their people, retain much of the genius the Great Maker instilled in their race at the dawn of Creation. Even so, the Artisans, or Princes of Adamant, are but a mere shadow of Authochthon’s First and the Jadeborn beings who followed him. Since their Creator abandoned them to their own devices, they know they can never truly reclaim the glory their kind once held, and this realiza- tion has caused some to grow caustic and bitter. The sad truth for the Jadeborn, which the Artisans alone contemplate daily, is that the people who were once the hands of the Autochthon no longer hold his blessing. Neither he nor the First are ever likely to return to guide them out of the viperous environment of petty politics the Artisans have created for themselves and the life of endless toil and battle they have created for the undercastes. What bothers them most is that, even with their great genius, they cannot find a way to redeem their society and build bridges of cooperation among their caste members, whom they currently only compete with and scheme against. Without the skills and knowledge of such a think-tank to solve their societal issues, the Artisans are each and every one doomed to a dismal life of enlightened mediocrity and petty politics.
