A long, long time ago, so long ago that reality had not yet been divided into six nations but still rested upon a single planet in the Pastoral Era, a daughter was born to the family of the captain of the Stargazing Ship Troupe. She was named Philly.
It was said that she neither cried nor fussed when she was born, learned letters at half a year old, trained her body at one, and by three, she could guide her father away from a conspiracy.
That was the era when artificers held the lowest status, and also the era when the Four Pillar Gods were at their strongest. The God Realm was infinitely close to reality; violence, conspiracy, plague, and indulgence were like muddied colors formed after the picture frame melted, staining the canvas of the Human Realm. As the group with the highest inspiration, artificers were the most likely to hear the whispers of the Four Pillar Gods, fall into madness, and lose themselves.
Beneath the full moon at night, artificers would mutate into savage Werewolves, and only flesh and blood could satisfy their irrepressible appetite; in sweet dreams, artificers would suddenly grasp a brand-new miracle, then half-asleep and half-awake, use their families and neighbors as test subjects; amid thunder and lightning in a rainstorm, artificers would melt into sludge, fusing every living creature within a hundred miles into one; when thick fog rose from the earth, all races would crave mating with artificers and give birth within a single day to indescribable abominations.
On the continent, there were only sects that worshipped the Four Pillar Gods. Sects warred constantly against one another, and internal strife raged without end within each sect as well. Only artificers who joined a sect could receive the Blessing of the Four Pillar Gods