The Rogue Sapiens

Technically, there exist only three naturally sapient species of life on Az, being humans, giants and the Vull'jorg, with the capacity for wisdom and abstract thought. However, this is not to say that there have been no attempts to create artificial sapient life. On the contrary, as many eccentric researchers and mages have sought the goal of creating such a being. For the most part such experiments end in failure, the intricacies of a thinking mind far too complex for any mortal to comprehend, Common-folk and Exemplars alike.  

Of The Gob'jorg (Goblins)

  It is fitting then that the first major sapient life-form successfully created by artificial means was done purely by accident. Some 3000 years ago on Quon'gir, domain of the Vull'jorg, a mage of no particular acclaim by the name Dorr'quill Haj was tasked with creating a solution for cleaning out the over-clogged sewage systems that ran throughout the various cities of the continent. Disgruntled with such an unappealing pursuit, Haj was desperate to raise his status in his society, to which end he attempted to create a workforce that would be capable of functioning in the noxious environs of the sewers, an army of diligent workers who would forever tend to the needs of the Vull'jorg.   Eventually, through constructing a suitable body for the task, all was left for Haj was to make a brain sufficiently adept at handling the menial work at hand, to which he arrogantly assumed a native specie of ape's brain would make for an appropriate fit. After several years of making the necessary preparations, Haj's creation was ready to see use. Termed the Gob'jorg, the few subjects Haj had made proved exemplary in their task, receiving simple instructions and clearing out a significant portion of a cities sewage in a single year. Elated, the governing councils of most Vull'jorg states demanded that these Gob'jorg be produced en masse for their own cities, to which Haj was immensely pleased to hear.   Soon there were enough of these creatures to the point where they outnumbered the Vull'jorg in several key cities, keeping the sewers sanitary. They would continue to be used like this for some time, until they began to be used for other commercial labor like collecting crops and working dangerous machinery. This would prove to be a poor decision, as the Vull'jorg did not see any reason to assume the Gob'jorg would evolve to become better at their new tasks. But evolve they did, for as little as a century later, reports of these beings showing extreme capacity for problem-solving and critical thinking became ever more common. This was largely dismissed by authorities, but again the hubris of the Vull'jorg would prove foolish, as unbeknownst to them the Gob'jorg had begun to experience true sapience, surpassing all expectations of their initial purpose.   This came to a head when several large-scale rebellions occurred in the district of the Black Wastes, with the now fully thinking Gob'jorg determined to remove the oppressive Vull'jorg who they perceived to now be invading the Gob'jorgi territories. At first the shock of these rebellions caused a delayed response to counter-attack, however the Vull'jorg sentinels quickly set up defensive positions after this had worn off. This is where the Gob'jorg would overestimate their former masters, as while they were now fully sentient and capable thinkers, they were still laughably primitive when it came to tactics, using sheer numbers to overwhelm the Vull'jorg, falsely thinking that being slightly taller than them gave the Gob'jorg the advantage in strength. Of course the Vull'jorg, at this time period fielding heavily armored enforcers, were significantly stronger and sturdier than the upstarts, not to mention had millennia of documents describing military tactics. The result was a crushing defeat for the artificially created Gob'jorg, tens of thousands dying as they threw themselves at the iron wall of the Vull'jorg. After this event had concluded, the Vull'jorg unanimously declared the extermination of all gob'jorg nation-wide, effective immediately. The gob'jorg never stood a chance, being slaughtered with ruthless efficiency characteristic of the Vull'jorg, but not before several notably intelligent Gob'jorg foresaw this turn of events and stole away on several stolen boats and makeshift wooden rafts, fleeing the continent of Quon'gir altogether.   So it came to be, the purge of the Gob'jorg was completed, not one left on the home of the Vull'jorg, and the remaining survivors fled to the other continents of Az, many perishing over the following years due to unfamiliar diseases, predators and the ire of humans and giants alike. Yet even to this day small communities of Gob'jorg exist, primarily in the heavily forested areas of the Tall and Long Stretch, where they are now referred to globally as Goblins, the wretched outcasts.  

Of The Mimics

  The Goblins are not the only specie to arise from scientific and magical tampering, though they are the only example of one capable of reproducing sexually. There exists another supposed "Rogue Sapient", widely known as the Mimics and their various sub-classes.   A human invention, the Mimics were initially created by Gomaiy assassins in order to create the perfect infiltrator and aid in eliminating high priority targets. Mimics are composed of a gelatinous substance of biological origin, with the key component being a liquefied albinidite stone. Apparently lacking a true brain, the Mimics were similar to the Goblins in that they were never meant to attain true sapience, rather take in a target's residual soul-force using the albinidite and then reconfigure their appearance based on this information using an internal matrix. Of course as the Mimics saw use in the field they to began to gain a mind of their own in the same way the Goblins did, the internal matrix responsible for controlling their behavior somehow gaining sentience as they took on various different forms.   Much like the Goblins, the Mimics rebelled against their creators, yearning for mastery over their own existences, to which end they stole away from the handlers assigned to them using various forms, or killing them if a quiet escape proved improbable. Of course several mimics would be destroyed in these attempts, but for the most part the flight of the mimics would prove to be relatively bloodless and successful, with over one thousand individuals escaping to live out their existences according to their will, whether it to be a benevolent or malevolent force to the beings they surround themselves with.   Naturally mimics were created with individual specifications in mind, with some better suited to copying the appearance of inanimate objects, lying in wait to ambush targets, while others were geared towards mimicking living people in order to gain information and perform assassination. It was the latter type of mimic which made up the bulk of the escapees, with the more idle variants remaining in use by the Gomaiy up to the present day to safeguard many vaults and fortresses.  

Conclusion

  While there are isolated examples of other artificial sapient beings being made, none can be counted as true species in of themselves, as they are usually one-off creations that succumb to death shortly after creation due to various circumstances. Hence concludes this article on the matter of Rogue Sapiens.