Builder

 

Homes, churches, schools, markets, outhouses, castles, fortified walls, bridges what do they all have in common? Someone built it. This requires skill, time and many resources. You could say that it takes a real passion to perfect something for someone else's use. That is what Builder's do. They build things, it is both as simple as that and far more complicated than that at the same time. Want to be good at a certain aspect of building? Well this trade boasts more specializations than any other.

Carpenters handle many of the common, day-to-day items that so many take for granted. They manage saw mills, build furniture, craft tools, make carts, thatch roofs, erect structures and just aim at making life simpler. While simple structures are within this tradesman's wheelhouse, complex structures of size and glory require a different specialization. Nonetheless, no community can do without the skills of a seasoned carpenter.

Masons work in all things stone. They carve magnificent archways and bathtubs, fashion blast furnaces, craft cobblestone for roadways, sculpt statues and manufacture countless items for every day use. No castle would stand erect were it not for the skilled hands of a Mason or two. While stone and mortar walls are nothing to laugh at in warfare, fitted stone is the only way walls can be enchanted. It is impossible to upkeep a fortress, castle or palace without the expertise of a Mason.

But what about all those cathedrals, atriums, improved fortifications and towering structures of legend? Well my fine friends, they are the result of an educated Architect. Architects understand things like the laws of gravity, weight displacement, structural integrity, system ductility and lateral loads. Terms that the common person might find confusing. The Architect doesn't just build a structure, they study the purpose of the structure and improve its design to offer maximum use of space and resource alike.

Mechanics are another specialization of the Builder trade. They manufacture complex objects like Cranes, elevators, sawmills, windmills, watermills, drawbridges, gatehouses as well as higher-end siege and anti-siege equipment. They are masters of clockworks and machines. The expertise of a Mechanic improves manufacturing, castle defenses, mass production and allows architects to design for secret entrances and lairs. While the Architect can plan for a mechanism, it is the Mechanic who handles the construction of that mechanism.

Engineers design machines of war and large scale tools. They have an unmatched understanding of physics and how to make impossible tasks possible. With a mixture of trades like alchemy, architecture and metallurgy they can pull various resources together to produce high-end wares and structures the likes of which can only be matched by the most skilled of Magicians. Need to get past a pesky fifty foot stone wall made of fitted stone and reinforced with steel girders? Well than you need an Engineer.

Last but not least of all Builders is the Shipwright. From the slender speedy Schooner to the solid Carrack to the formidable Man-o-War, this profession makes sea-faring a sport, a profit and a place of war. Centuries of techniques and generations of instruction has cut this trade a path of profit and employment. Merchants seek foreign wealth, Kings seek to secure their shores, fishermen toil the bounties of the sea and all of these require the skill of a Shipwright.