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In order to construct his mechanical fortress Morphael used his powers to create a new machine that could modify captive free folk into a breed he called his ‘builders’. The machine reduced their size so they could squeeze around gears, pulleys and counterweights, yet made them inordinately strong to lift heavy metal parts. The magic changed their eyes, making them larger so they could see in the dark recesses, and elongated the fingers of their small hands to make them more dexterous for manipulating small parts. He kept them under guard at all times, killing any of them that were not absolutely obedient. But their obedience was an illusion, for they only pretended to comply. The fact was that Morphael’s guards killed off the ones with the least ability to deceive them, while the ones who acted the most compliant, were the best deceivers.

There were many captured slaves, some of whom Morphael had already altered into his builder race, began a great plot against him. They could not stop him from taking more of them and using his Grim magical machine to alter them into his builders. But they found a way to cheat him. They sought amongst their ranks until they identified those who were accident prone, or had abysmally bad luck, or just couldn’t pass up a practical joke, or were good saboteurs, basically, the undesirables of society, and had all of these misfits volunteer to go through Morphael’s alterations into his ‘mechanic’ race. The results were devastating. The worst mixture of these traits ran true as these new creatures bred. They called themselves the jenemos. And a day came when they banded together and sabotaged all his machines. Morphael’s great fortress came to a halt. Had the Citadel been ready, perhaps Morphael would have fallen that day, but they were not. After the great sabotage, the worst of the jenemos disappeared into the inner workings of the vast fortress. Morphael had the ones he could catch killed, and ordered the machine that made them destroyed, but it did him no good. The jenemos were master builders, and they had already constructed a second machine in secret, then smuggled it out piece by piece.

For years after the great sabotage the inner workings of Morphael’s fortress would suddenly break down, or spew oil onto the workers, or start producing blunt arrows or some other mistake. Morphael brought in new human slaves to work his machines, but there were always rumors of little nasty creatures seen in the shadows just when something broke or did something unexpected. A pogrom was started to wipe out the jenemos, but it didn’t work. They were too clever, and something bad always happened to those that hunted them in the dark recesses. Eventually, some of the jenemos escaped into the Reflected Worlds. They developed a nomadic society, preferring to be alone most of the time, keeping to dark places. They gather at certain times of the year in secret enclaves to trade and pass on their skills, stories and jokes. Most free folk shun their company, but there can be no doubt, when it comes to fighting Morphael, the jenemos reach new heights of mischief. They are the sixth and final race of free folk in the Reflected Worlds.

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