Illustration by Wayne Reynolds
Pallemi does two things well. The first is that he can fixate on a subject of interest to such a degree that he understands it as well as any expert. The second is stepping up to help, even when it might be to his detriment.
Pallemi Rakaros was born in 542 ar within the small fishing village of Obblicos in southeastern Nex. The town sat across the Miasmere, directly south of Quantium, and provided fish for the capital and the wizard-king’s pleasure palace in Khulo. As a child, Pallemi helped his father weave nets and enjoyed the almost meditative state he would reach as he knotted each thread together into their simple, yet sturdy patterns. It wasn’t long before he was able to keep up with his father’s pace and quality, much to his father’s surprise.
Shortly after his seventh birthday, Pallemi found that he was the only one willing to enter the burning home of a neighbor, as the rest of the neighborhood watched. Afterward, he learned that the fire was magical. The idea of a mage’s ire was enough to keep others at bay, but Pallemi decided he wouldn’t let anyone stop him from helping others.
Pallemi knew that if he learned magic he could use it to defend others. Unfortunately, Pallemi had no access to schools, so he looked south to the Mana Wastes. He repeatedly traveled to the border of the wastes and watch magic travel on the winds. He witnessed all manner of magic while he was there, not just what the wizards of Quantium could conjure. Pallemi soon saw the fundamental essences of the magic at play, the pieces that fit together to create the final portrait that was a spell. He just couldn’t quite grasp how to make it himself.
Eventually, the time came when Pallemi grew old enough to leave the village and he traveled to Oenopion. There, he took an apprenticeship within the stone forges of the city. It was this proximity to smiths and mages crafting stone bulwarks and iron wardens that finally allowed him to understand the magic he witnessed.
It needed a name.
Once he began learning the names of the aspects of magic, he found himself able to wield it himself. It started with simple words allowing him to create sparks of electricity to wake new constructs, or bits of ice to cool a forge. The words eventually took the form of runes, commanding greater power. Pallemi’s mentors took note and provided greater teachings. He learned more about runes. He studied the magic of local faiths and soothsayers. He even learned to fight with a weapon for the times he needed to stop an uncontrollable guardian. After several years, he received his greatest task yet: the automaton.
The smiths kept the inactive construct in a vault beneath the city. Decades of tinkering and experiments resulted in a complete lack of understanding on the construct. Pallemi was to be the next forger to try to understand how it was made and how to activate it. He was only too happy to take on the task and after several years, he knew it better than anyone else. It was a marvel of engineering and the various techniques used in its creation could further not just the field of construct creation, but also life-saving devices and personal utilities.
Pallemi’s main task was a replication of the construct and after a decade he created a new automaton body using techniques that built upon Jistkan engineering. His superiors were ecstatic and Pallemi with them, but his joy became rage when he learned that the constructs were meant to be used as weapons in the war against Geb. He did not want his work to hurt others. He did not want to create weapons.
Pallemi fled the city and returned home. There, he returned to a simple life, eventually starting a family. Then, in 576 ar, a terrible fog crept out from Quantium and mixed with the waters near his home. The people of Obblicos grew sick, including his wife and son. Pallemi remained relatively healthy, however, so he took it upon himself to find a cure for this new plague. He returned to Oenopion and spent weeks reconnecting with the city’s alchemists. He hoped they would be able to help.
Unfortunately, Pallemi found himself suddenly short on time. The plague finally set in and wracked his body. He couldn’t stand the idea of dying before he could help Obblicos and so he snuck into the vault and found the prototype he created. In a desperate frenzy of work, Pallemi took what he knew about the construct and magic and created the final key to the automaton: a core to house a soul. He needed to buy himself time, so he had no doubts as he initiated the transfer of his soul into the new body. The task completed, he proceeded to leave the vault.
The next moments remain as glimpses to him. Several iron wardens closed in on him. Smiths firing magic at him. Running. Running. So much running. And then, a sudden nothingness.
Every few decades he would catch another glimpse as smiths studied Pallemi’s new body. Over time he gathered the following: he was a prisoner. The smiths were using his construct body to try to replicate his work and build weapons. Nex was gone, but the war preparations never ended. At one point, he learned that Obblicos was lost to the plague. The last glimpse he had was talk of a dead god and an opportunity to return to developing new automatons.
Then, a flash. Something had gone wrong. Pallemi was awake once more but no longer held under magical restraint. He could sense that someone had allowed opposing magical energies to come in contact and it caused an explosion within the lab. Pallemi didn’t hesitate. He moved past the half-finished automaton in the center of the room, grabbed its weapon, and ran once more.
It wasn’t long before Pallemi escaped Quantium and found himself out into the world once more, millennia after he was born. He learned how much the world had changed, but one thing remained true: he could help. Pallemi decided that the immortality he had received in the form of his new body was a gift he would not squander. He set out to learn about this new age, explore the world, and help where he can.
Luis Loza
Creative Director
Pallemi is a runesmith, a new class debuting in Pathfinder Impossible Magic, a 256-page hardcover Pathfinder Second Edition release coming July 30 in standard, special, and sketch cover editions! If you’d like to get it early and with a free PDF, subscribe to the Pathfinder Rulebook, Special Edition, or Sketch Edition lines today!