Golems

Artwork by -name- Golems Area: Anywhere Diet:: None Size: Normally, no larger than 7.5ft Hostility Depends on orders Tameable?: No will of its own Note: Players can play this creature as their own persona on the server by making a creature application.

Golems, occasionally referred to as 'stonefolk', are sentient constructs, comprised of a magical 'core' buried in a stone body. One of the great mysteries of golems is that no mortal knows how they work, and all attempts to understand their fundamental workings have ended in failure or the creation of abominable monstrosities.

History

Ancient Asulon

The oldest records of golems come from the Scriberfolk, a group believed to be part of ancient civilisation of Karik, who sought to understand what they called 'stonefolk' at a fundamental level. Golem bodies were stronger and did not weaken with age, and through understanding how a mind could be contained in stone, they sought immortality. Their first discovery was soulbinding, where a soul could be bound to a golem's core, taking the place of the rare elemental lightning they usually used to make golems. When this proved just to be an alternate (and less stable) power source for the golem which gave none of the memories or personality of the Dwarf used to create it, they sought to use a variant of necromancy to move a Dwarven mind into a golem. At first, and in spite of the damage it caused to the Anvil, this seemed to work, but their 'success' did not last. It soon became apparent that the golem was not the Dwarf in stone form, it simply believed itself to be the Dwarf it was 'copied' from. Before long, the fundamentally incompatible golem and Dwarven minds unraveled and the experimental golem descended into insanity, becoming a renegade monster that rampaged until its mind finally came apart and its core imploded, killing it. The records of the Scriberfolk end soon after, although it is unclear if they were killed by the Drakes that would later drive the modern Dwarves from Karik, or if they were wiped out by another monstrosity of their own creation.

Aegis

In Aegis, the method of golem creation was uncovered by the Braveaxe family. After generations of research into the Anvil of Kal'Urguan by the Braveaxe family, and much experimentation and failure, Thorik Braveaxe, Gotrek Firemane and Hiebe Irongut (two of which would go on to be Grand King) managed to create a golem. The golem, known as Grey Vigil, was unstable at first, but proved to ultimately be a loyal ally of the Dwarves. It fought by Thorik's side in many battles such as Crimson Vale and Wrath's Clutch, until Thorik was forced to hand it over to the Undead Prophet Fyrste in exchange for the life of the nephew he was sworn to protect.

Grey Vigil went on to serve Fyrste as loyally as it had once saved the Dwarves, turning violent as a result of being taken into the Undead realm of Drauchreich and soon became a thorn in Lord Marshall Thorik's side. During this time, the golem slew many Aegisians in the belief that it was serving its new masters. However, many survived Grey Vigil's powerful but inept attacks. One man in particular, named Floop Lightforge, survived repeated attacks, but rather than being traumatised, he was inspired by the construct, vowing that one day he would have the skill to craft such an entity.

Thorik couldn't afford to send the Dwarven Legion after one renegade golem, but he knew Grey Vigil had to be stopped. With the master smith Gotrek being the new Grand King, he commissioned Arbrek Starbreaker to forge a golem to defeat Grey Vigil. Arbrek was eager, and soon got to work on the ardrous task of creating a new, superior golem. Realising he needed a mage, and with Hiebe Irongut off battling the Undead, Arbrek sought the aid of a young Human mage and blacksmith called Merrigan. Merrigan was ambitious, and realised that, by being adept in both blacksmithing and magic, he could craft a golem, albeit an inferior one, without Arbrek at all. Merrigan constructed a golem body of his own without Arbrek's knowledge and orchestrated the secret creation of two soulbound cores. Then, one night, Merrigan struck. He knocked Arbrek unconscious at the golem forge, and using the cores brought both golems to life. Naming them Amipher and Maldeo, Merrigan left, with both golems loyal to him and him alone.

Eventually Thorik decided the new golem was taking too long, and sent the Dwarven bounty hunter Rohgan Greyhammer to find and destroy his creation turned enemy. After a long hunt and several encounters, including a battle at a coronation of the now Grand King Thorik Braveaxe, Rohgan trapped the golem atop the ruins of Wrath's Clutch. Rohgan was unable to match Grey Vigil's strength and resilience. Bloodied, bruised and near death and defeat, he threw himself at the golem, unbalancing it. The golem lost its footing, and they both fell from the tower. The fall killed Rohgan and shattered the golem's body. With his sacrifice, Rohgan regained his family's lost honour and destroyed a dangerous threat to Aegis. Or so it appeared. Meanwhile, Arbrek was determined that he would not fail in creating a golem. Unable to do so alone, he sought out a new mage, the enigmatic Salamandra. Salamandra was no blacksmith, and thus together, they forged a fourth golem, Raiga. However, not long before they completed the new golem, news of Grey Vigil's destruction reached them. With Raiga no longer needed to destroy Grey Vigil, Salamandra and Arbrek parted ways. The new golem seemed intent on going with Salamandra, and once again, Arbrek gave up the golem to the mage.

Grey Vigil's core survived the destruction of its body, and was salvaged by Gideon Silverblade, a noble of Galahar with a keen interest in golems. He repaired the golem, and after discovering its violent nature used it to keep his enemies in check. Gideon's use of Grey Vigil was short lived. Gideon instructed his golem to obey all members of his family. Grey Vigil interpreted this literally, and proceeded to attempt to slaughter Gideon's household when Gideon's infant son, Joel, shouted 'Klomp!' at it.

The golem was badly damaged in its escape from Galahar. It eventually encountered and attacked two bandits, who easily overpowered it and disabled it. The bandits were servants of the Undead Sorceror, Wrath, who, using his Undead magics, restored the golem to full strength and returned to it its knowledge of its Undead masters. Grey Vigil went on to fight on the Undead side in many battles. It was finally and permanently destroyed by the Orcish golem hunter, Dretus, in the dying days of Aegis when the Orc and his allies managed to smash Grey Vigil's core. The golem crumbled to dust before him, and the trapped soul within was freed from its torment at last.

Modern Asulon Only Amipher and Raiga remained by the end of Aegis. Both were transported to Asulon, but Amipher fell from the ship en route, and spent the next fifty years walking along the seabed to Asulon. Raiga travelled with Salamandra, but before long was damaged. Merrigan repaired it, but before long Merrigan was gone and Raiga sought Salamandra once more.

When the Dwarves found Karik, they did not initially realise that the Anvil of Karik shared the powers of the Anvil of Kal'Urguan. When they abandoned Karik to the Drakes, the Anvil was left behind. Eventually, Arbrek Starbreaker managed to decipher an ancient Scriberfolk tome found in Karik, and learned of the Anvil's true power. In a daring and dangerous attempt, Arbrek retrieved the Anvil from Karik, deciding to use it to cement the power of the Starbreaker clan. But before he could do so, he met his end. Arbrek had also partially uncovered the scriberfolk resurrection ritual, and not long after his death, his most loyal followers planned to restore him to life in a golem body. In the Anvil's new hiding place in the dwarven city of Khaz'A'Zhar, they forged another golem according to the ritual, and when it awoke, it spoke with Arbrek's voice. After one, possibly two previous misuses by the scriberfolk, the Anvil could take no more. The enchantments collapsed, leaving a roughly anvil-shaped black rock where the anvil once was. 'Arbrek' attempted to resume his place as master smith and head of the Starbreakers, but the Dwarves were hugely resistant to what they saw as a subservient construct trying to take a place in Dwarven politics. 'Arbrek' was opposed at every turn, and found himself prone to uncontrollable fury and irrational actions, which he believed was due to stress.

Eventually, 'Arbrek' encountered a golem known as Ark. Ark was unlike any golem he had seen before. Its craftsmanship looked ancient, and it was far more passive than Grey Vigil or Raiga had been. It claimed to be the last golem of the scriberfolk, their saving throw in the event of their destruction. Through Ark, 'Arbrek' learned of the flaws in the scriberfolk rituals, and of how his mind was unravelling. Immediately, 'Arbrek' began working to find a way to return to a mortal vessel before his mind became too degraded, eventually managing to transfer Arbrek's knowledge and personality to another dwarf, destroying the 'Arbrek' golem in the process. Ark remained for a while, continuing its mission of passing on knowledge to those who it viewed as akin to the scriberfolk. Eventually it had the misfortune to encounter a Wihun, a band of merciless hunters of all things magical or of magical origin. One particularly zealous Wihun, Kilross, attempted to bring down Ark single-handedly. While his fellow Wihuns brought down and killed Ark, the golem's collapse buried the Wihun under a pile of rubble. His injuries from the battle and the rubble would damage his mind and change the course of his life.

The Anvil remained destroyed, but its tale had not yet ended. Floop Lightforge, determined to forge golems, sought to purchase it from the Dwarven Paragon, Kjell Ireheart. Ireheart knew it was unusable, but neglected to inform Floop, who was paying in huge amounts of raw diamond. Floop soon discovered Ireheart had tricked him, but was determined that the Anvil could be repaired. He was right: a few years later, a Dwarven smith named Rohgar that also sought the anvil teamed up with Floop to return it to its former glory. Rohgar discovered that whilst the outer layers of the Anvil had been reduced to black rock, a small amount of the original anvil was still useable. Rohgar dug it out of the rocky mass, melted it down, and using the enchanted molten metal, forged it anew. The White Anvil, as it would soon be known, became an artifact of discord; the golem anvil worked once more, and now everybody wanted it for themselves. Reunited with Raiga, even Salamandra sought to take the anvil for himself. Ireheart refused to give up the Anvil now he knew that it worked, and tried to fool Floop with a decoy. When Floop saw through the disguise and stole back the Anvil, Ireheart had his men hunt him down. Using political connections, secret vaults and stealthy timing, Floop managed to transport the Anvil to Holm. Rohgar followed him, and Floop soon moved the Anvil to a new forge he had constructed.

Rohgar prepared to work the forge, but things did not go as planned. When he had reforged the Anvil, Rohgar had been exposed to the enchantment directly, and as he stayed near the Anvil, its magic ravaged his mind and body. Soon, his personality was destroyed, replaced with the identity of the Keeper, a slave to the Anvil that followed it wherever it went. From his he gained the knowledge of how to use the Anvil. As the Keeper and Floop prepared to use the Anvil for the first time since its reconstruction, they were attacked by Dwarven forces. Holm had been under pressure from the Dwarves of Mount Ire for a while, and in an attempt to avoid war they sold out Floop to the Dwarves. They took the Anvil and its Keeper by force, taking it to their strongest bastion, a mountain fortress.

The Keeper remained with the Anvil in the fortress for several months. Eventually a Dwarf sought him out, and volunteered to give his soul to make a golem to help the now besieged and fractured Dwarven Empire. With the aid of Hodor Grandaxe, a relative of Thorik, the Keeper built Ferrous. The Keeper took the newly forged golem to the Asulon Markets, and trained it the basics of the world, before entrusting Ferrous to a temple monk.

Raiga became damaged and crazed soon after Ferrous's forging. Perhaps it believed the best way to protect Salamandra was to kill everything else, or perhaps it was simply murderous. Faced with a possible second Grey Vigil, Salamandra was forced to destroy his own creation. He fought Raiga and smashed the golem's core, freeing the trapped soul and bringing the dread golem to a permanent end. As Raiga crumbled to dust before him, he vowed to claim the Anvil and use its power once more.

Anthos

When the races traveled to Anthos, the anvil stayed in the possession of the Dwarves. Deep in the halls of Kal'Azgoth, in a room only accessible by the Master Smiths, it waited to be used once more.

This opportunity came about through the clumsiness and curiosity of a scientist by the name of Aisu Swain. Aisu was in the employment of the VonSchlichten Engineering Company, and as such was very interested in Dwarven mechanics and the like. Because of this interest, he often visited Kal'Azgoth to learn hands on. On one of these trips in particular, Aisu was studying a restricted Dwarven lift mechanism, when he suddenly lost his footing and fell to his doom. Landing on the stone below, the life escaping him, Aisu reached out to the only object he could see in the darkness. This item happened to be one of Farren Starbreaker's lifegold soul gems. Upon dying with the lifegold in hand, Aisu's soul was transferred into the gem. It was discovered a few days later by Barvek Grandaxe, who brought the corpse and the gem up into his forge. Many weeks passed as the trapped soul lay unused in the forge, until one day when the merchant Toveah Goldman came to the Dwarven Smiths requesting a golem be made for him. The Smiths accepted, having been promised immense amounts of gold, and began the process with gusto. After a few more weeks of preparation, a team had been assembled of a smiths and golemagi consisting of Farren Starbreaker, Barvek Grandaxe, Kalen Forseth, and Tortek Golemforge. This group descended into the chasms of Kal'Azgoth where the mighty anvil lay dormant. After hours of labor, Farren uttered the words of life, and the mighty golem Apex was created.

Apex was promptly taught basic commands and then sold to Goldman for the sum of 10,000 minas. Apex stayed with Goldman for two years before the merchant perished and Apex returned to his Impera, Farren.

Creation

Golems must be forged on the enchanted Anvil of Karik, or, in Aegis, on the Enchanted Anvil of Kal'Urguan or in the Golem Forge below the Braveaxe Manor. A golem forged anywhere else will be nothing more than an inanimate body with some gold in the middle.

To create a golem, a master blacksmith and master of magic use must work together. The blacksmith must forge the body, which is often even more difficult than the highly advanced enchantment and magic the mage must perform. A golem made fully by a mage will have physical difficulties due to inept blacksmithing, and a golem made purely by a blacksmith will suffer from a weak mind and weaker life force due to poor magic.

The body is hand forged by a blacksmith. The more work the blacksmith puts into the body, the stronger the core seems able to animate it and the better and stronger the golem is. Golem bodies are always slow and loud, as they are made of stone. The golem core does not seem to animate other materials. Clay has been proven to work, but materials such as iron, gold and obsidian do not animate. The core cannot animate very large bodies, and for this reason, golems rarely are larger than an Orc. The creation of the core is complex. Magegold, the material the cores are made from, is rare, and charging it with the life force needed for a golem, turning it into Lifegold (also known as Black Magegold, for reasons detailed further on), is harder still. Binding a soul can turn base gold into Lifegold instantly, or an existing piece of Magegold can be turned into Lifegold when directly struck by conjured lightning while being held aloft, usually by the blacksmith. As the Magegold absorbs the lightning (or, more correctly, absorbs the elemental spirit used to conjure it), this is non-fatal. A golem core made with a mortal soul rather than a spirit results in a Soulbound golem, a core made with a lightning spirit results in a Lightningbound golem. There are almost no differences, save for Soulbound golems being slightly more intelligent and more prone to instability and corruption.

Lifegold is widely referred to as Black Magegold. This name is a misnomer, as Black Magegold looks like gold tinted, slightly frosted glass with a coloured mist (the golem's mind and 'soul') swirling within, and unlike actual gold, is extremely fragile. The name comes from Black Magic, the old methods of golem creation in Aegis, where a soul had to be magically bound to gold to form the magegold core, were considered to be skirting the boundaries of morality by some and thought of as outright evil by others. The Orc known as Dretus used to hunt golems for this reason.

Many attempt to create golems to make their mind and soul immortal. A mortal soul can power a golem via soulbinding, but the soul's owner does not become a golem, their soul is simply prevented from leaving the world and is used as a power source. Despite the ability to use mortal souls in golems, golem minds and mortal minds are not compatible with each other in any way, shape or form. A mortal mind cannot work in a golem body. It is thought that they work on completely different principles, but as nobody understands the golem magics, nobody is wholly sure. A telepathic struggles to read the mind of a golem for this reason. Attempting to mesh golem and mortal minds usually is temporarily successful, but before long the mind collapses, the golem goes on a path of destruction, and then its core physically and fatally implodes. In the event of a core's destruction, the golem's body slowly and dramatically crumbles to dust.

Behavior

Every golem has a master, referred to by the golem itself as the Impera. The golem knows this word from its creation, but it has no knowledge of the world beyond that. It has no vocabulary, and only one drive, the compulsion to serve. For this reason, a golem cannot be 'its own master', as a golem would never want this. For a golem, it would be an unfulfilling life. Golems usually decide to serve the first person they see, but also may serve others who they are frequently around or those who their master tells them to obey. A golem's memory is at its strongest when the golem has just been created, and the first instructions they hear they often remember for their entire lives. Training a golem can be a slow and tedious process, but they are fast learners in their early days.

With the exception of the initial lightningbinding, being struck by lightning plays havoc with the golem core and thus the golem. In the case of Grey Vigil, an Undead lightning strike disabled it for several days, and it was unable to recall who it served when it recovered. This resulted in it serving whoever it could find, including the Iblees worshiper known as Lord Arbelas, until the Braveaxes finally found and repaired it.

Golems do not heal like mortals, thus any damage to their bodies is permanent until repaired. While any damage to the body is detrimental to the golem physically, to kill the golem the core must be shattered. While the core is safe within the body, if the body is opened, the Lifegold is very, very fragile. Any magical or physical attempt to repair it or interface with it damages it further, and the worse the damage gets, the worse the golem is impaired, as the interna 'mist' gathers around the cracks in the core. Just physically touching a golem core can cause it to fracture like a bullet through glass at the point of contact. Golems do not have joints, so to speak. The limbs are attached to the body via magic and occasionally simple sockets. Regardless of method, the connections between parts are in physical contact with each other. The friction of this makes golems very loud, giving them no stealth capabilities. Golems often make very loud cracking or creaking sounds when moving after a long period of inactivity.

Golem minds are, in a word, simple. They are not necessarily stupid, but their mental capacity is low, their drives are simple and those golems that can talk have a very basic vocabulary. A golem rarely understands metaphors and implications, taking things literally most of the time. Many philosophical concepts go completely over their heads. They exist to serve, enjoy serving and prefer to leave complex thought to their masters. As a result, golem leaders are almost unheard of, unless they are directing other golems.