Once chosen by the Creator to help shape this nascent world, Zar-Medrek was cast aside when the deity fled, abandoning the world unfinished and flawed. Betrayed and burdened with knowledge no mortal was meant to bear, he bound his soul to machine and magic, becoming the first and last Artifilich. For fifteen centuries he has watched the world decay under its own imperfection. Now, from within the Manufactorum Crucible—a divine forge he has twisted to his own will—he seeks to ascend, not merely to godhood, but to supremacy over the one who betrayed him. To Zar-Medrek, divinity is not inherited—it is engineered.

Deep beneath a ruined fortress lies the Core Foundry, a nightmarish industrial sanctum where the Artifilich melds corpse and construct into arcane machines of war. The air thrums with unnatural energy, the scent of scorched ozone, and chemical rot. Massive conveyor belts crisscross the chamber, ferrying half-formed servators and arcane components through automated assembly arms and vats of glowing fluid. Lightning coils pulse rhythmically overhead, discharging into power channels carved into the metal floor. Every surface bears sigils of control and sacrifice.

___

You step into silence—thick, electric, and wrong. The air hums with static as if the chamber itself were holding its breath.

Before you sprawls a cathedral of blackened brass and obsidian glass. Circuit-veins pulse beneath your feet, their green and violet glow crawling in complex patterns that shift as you move. From the walls and ceiling, thousands of segmented cables and tendrils hang like dormant serpents, coiled through shattered statues and ancient machines.

Raised walkways crisscross the upper tiers of the lair offering access to control nodes and cryo-pods containing an uncountable number of corpses, while conveyor belts rattle below, feeding hunks of metal and corpses into automated forges that weld and wire them into twitching servators. Pressurized tanks of acid bubble behind reinforced glass, their vapors hissing as valves cycle open and closed. Arcs of chained lightning leap between towering generators, casting strobing shadows that never quite match the movement of the room.

At the chamber’s heart, suspended in a pit of magnetic force and radiant geometry, floats a gyroscopic engine—rings of gold and scripture spinning around a point of inverted light. Shield projectors rise like sentinels around it emitting aetheric distortion fields, a flickering barrier of energy that cocoons the core in shimmering protection.

Then comes the voice—layered, harmonic, vibrating in your chest more than your ears:

“So... you have finally arrived. I had anticipated your arrival long before you ever took your first breath. Foolish, admirable, but ultimately futile. Despite your preparations, you walk into the jaws of inevitability—an equation you cannot solve. This is no place for the unprepared, and yet here you stand. Let us see how far your resolve truly extends.”

Lair Features: The Manufactorum Crucible

The Artifilich's lair is a towering industrial complex of whirring servos, conveyor networks, pressurized tanks, and arcane reactors — all controlled by the Artifilich's integrated neural network. The following lair features are always present unless disabled.

Environmental Hazards (Passive Terrain Effects)

Conveyor Belts

Sections of the floor consist of active conveyor belts. A creature entering or starting its turn on a conveyor belt must succeed on a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw or fall prone and be carried 10 feet in the direction of the belt's movement.
Movement against the belt is treated as difficult terrain.
Movement with the belt increases by 10 feet.

Assembly Arms

Massive hydraulic arms crisscross the lair, performing complex construction tasks. A creature that passes through or ends its turn in an active assembly zone must make a DC 16 Dexterity saving throw, taking 4d8 bludgeoning damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success.
 

Shield Generators (five in lair)

Five arcane shield projectors hum from around the Crucible, three on the ground floor, and two on the upper platforms, surrounding Zar-Medrek with a shimmer of flickering energy.

• While at least one generator is active, Zar-Medrek gains the Void Shield feature (see Traits), and resistance to all damage except force and psychic, and his void shield's damage threshold is reduced by 5.

• Each generator is an Object which can be targeted individually (AC 16, 40 hit points). For every disabled generator, Zar-Medrek loses 1 point of AC, and his saving throws are reduced by 1.

• If all five are disabled (DC 20 Arcana check) or destroyed, the Void Shield effect ends entirely, Zar-Medrek loses the resistances granted by the shield generator, and loses one use of his Legendary Resistance, if he still has one.

When a shield generator is destroyed, it explodes in a burst of destabilized force energy.
Each creature within 10 feet must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or take 3d8 force damage and be pushed 10 feet away from the explosion. On a success, they take half damage and aren't pushed.

Lair Actions (Initiative Count 20, Losing Initiative Ties)

Zar-Medrek can take one lair action per round, choosing from the options below. It cannot use the same effect two rounds in a row unless it is the only one available.

Pressurized Acid Vat (two in lair)

Zar-Medrek releases a pressurized spray of hyper-corrosive acid from a mounted vat. Targeting a pre-designated 60-foot line or 30-foot cone in the lair.

• Creatures in the area must make a DC 22 Dexterity saving throw, taking 13d8 acid damage on a failed save, or half on a success.

• The acid vat can be disabled (DC 20 Slight of Hand check (Thieves’ Tools and proficiency with Thieves’ Tools grants advantage)) or destroyed (AC 17, 60 hit points). Once destroyed or disabled, this lair action is no longer available.

When the acid vat is reduced to 0 HP, it ruptures violently, spilling corrosive sludge in a 15-foot radius centered on it dealing 2d8 Acid damage to each creature in the area.
Creatures in the area must make a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw, taking 4d8 acid damage on a failed save, or half on a success.
The area becomes difficult terrain for 1 minute due to sizzling acid puddles.

Lightning Arc Coil (two in lair)

A surge of stolen energy channels through hanging pylons, mimicking an Adult Blue Dragon’s Lightning Breath in a pre-defined line across the battlefield linking the power cores.

• Creatures in the area must make a DC 22 Dexterity saving throw, taking 12d10 lightning damage on a failure, or half as much on a success.

• A power core can be unplugged (DC 20 Athletics check) or overloaded (DC 20 Arcana check), or destroyed (AC 18, 75 hit points). Once both power cores are disabled, this action becomes unavailable until it is repaired.

When destroyed, the arc coil emits a final catastrophic discharge in a 30-foot line directly in front of it dealing 2d8 Lightning damage to each creature in the line.
All creatures in the line must make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw, taking 4d8 lightning damage and cannot take reactions until the end of their next turn on a failed save, or half as much on a success.
Creatures wearing metal armour or wielding metal weapons make this save with disadvantage. 

Cryo-pod to Assembly Line Activation

At the start of its turn, the lair expels a Servator Automaton from the end of the conveyor system, which then rolls its own initiative. (Zombie stat-block with AC14, Dex of 16, and move speed 40 which can spend an action to repair 15 hit points to a damaged lair mechanism within 5 feet of it. If a destroyed mechanism is restored to full hit points it reactivates.).

• If the Cryo-Pod Control Unit on the upper balcony is disabled (DC 20 Investigation or Athletics check), or destroyed (AC17, 160 hit points), no further Servators are expelled until the system is reactivated, and all Servators concentrate on restoring it to operational status.

When a cryo-pod is destroyed, it vents supercooled refrigerant in a 20-foot cone aimed outward from the destroyed pod.
Each creature in the area must make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw, taking 4d8 cold damage and its movement speed is halved until the end of its next turn on a failed save, or half damage and no condition on a success.
The area is heavily obscured for 1 round due to the escaping vapor.

• If the conveyor system is destroyed (AC 17, 80 hit points), newly spawned Servators appear from the cryopods themselves and enter combat as a normal Zombie stat-block which can spend an action to repair 5 hit points to a damaged lair mechanism instead of 15, as the Servators have not been fully processed.

Destroying the conveyor belt system causes sparks, falling debris, and chain backlash in a 15-foot line along the track’s path.
Creatures in the area must make a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw, taking 2d8 bludgeoning and 2d8 slashing damage from debris, chains, and exposed gears and is knocked prone on a failed save, or half as much on a success.