Spellbound, Perfect Servants

“The Spellbound are a horrid sight, but even worse is the otherworldly uncanniness that seems to follow in their wake. Their presence invokes an odd feeling, an anxiety that assails the senses from all fronts, as if reality itself has been put into question. Still, their usefulness far surpasses any reservation one might have. In a society of backstabbing, egotistical mages, it is wise to keep servants who lack the mind to plot against you by your side.”

— Nariev of Sphere Chimer

While the Isles of Quinvala are commanded by powerful mages, tended by ambitious apprentices, and guarded by massive constructs, it is the Spellbound that are the most recognizable beings of the Conclave of the Spheres. These creatures of flesh and servitude can be seen wherever their masters may tread, from the halls of the Conclave on the Isles of Quinvala, all the way to the Malediction.

Servants who know no desire but that of their masters, whether the Spellbound are shaped to fulfill specific tasks, or are simply directed to missions where their bodies are better suited, is a mystery. Some will bear wings and be used to spy on the enemy, while others, whose bodies are distorted with thick chunks of fat, are used as guardians, protecting their masters against enemies’ blows. Some others take grotesque, muscled forms, which seem designed for war and the destruction of foes. These masterworks mostly remain beyond the gaze of other factions, being employed only when absolute annihilation is called for, as the terror they invoke is terrible for business.

The Spellbound are created by Sphere Chimer, the only Inner Sphere of the Conclave to never fall out of favor and lose their seat on the Council of the Nexi. Chimer is responsible for the study of the interaction between magic and living matter, and holds the right of first refusal over any such knowledge uncovered in the Malediction. Its members create and maintain most biologically enhanced wonders of the Conclave, and while all Spheres keep the secrets of their crafts under lock and key, no knowledge is as coveted as that of the creation of the Spellbound. Very few people besides the Nexi are aware of the process that creates them, and some rumors say that many a mage was sentenced and exiled for the crime of trying to uncover too much.

The Spellbound differ greatly in shape and size, but they all share two common traits that easily distinguish them from the other creatures of Selejia: their greyish-blue or purplish skin, crackled by veins of bright blue, and the presence of additional tentacled appendages. More so, all of them must be contained in one way or another, be it through a single metallic sphere, fitted on their heads, or through a larger apparatus, containing their body as a whole.

Although deemed disgusting even by members of the Conclave, the Spellbound have proven to be far too useful and cheap to produce ever to be replaced by other sources of labor. In fact, the Conclave has become so reliant on the workforce provided by the Spellbound that, as more and more of them are created, some have begun speculating that they now outnumber the erisyr, the original members of the Conclave.