For years, puppeteers have been entertaining crowds with their skillful manipulation of artfully crafted marionettes.

But with the recent development of the "automaton," a semi-automated puppet without the need for strings, the uses for a puppeteer‘s talents suddenly expanded to the fields of agriculture, fishing, industry, and even combat. In any era, there is always a need for specialists to master new types of technology. And the puppetmaster has stepped forward--a special breed of puppeteers that customize their automatons with ingenious attachments and use a controller known as an "animator" to transmit commands. Puppetmasters also sometimes find it necessary to protect themselves from advocates of simpler times, and are rarely seen without a pair of sainti--their hand-to-hand weapon of choice.
Let us take a closer look at this fascinating profession...

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