Homunculi

A Homunculus (Homunculi plural) is a humanoid, usually intelligent, lifeform created by alchemy. Homunculi vary massively in size, shape, and actions, and are counted as being creatures of pure chaos. Homunculi are rarely created on purpose, and better yet are even more sparsely created well, as most are created through alchemical accidents.

Homunculi overall have had very little effect on the large happenings of the realms, and as such there is little to no history regarding them. The first creations and legends of homunculi began in Aegis. Yet, Anthos marked the first recorded creation of such creatures.

The appearance of a homunculus is highly dependent on the quality, and kind of alchemical ingredients used in its creation. Homunculi can easily be fitted into 4 categories based on their appearance and lifespan.

Fiend:

Fiends are the most common, most short-lived, and most easily made of the 4 varieties. Fiends are made with the lowest quality of ingredients, and are usually created due to alchemical accidents and follies.

Fiends usually are small and impish in appearance, with odd mutations and tumors forming on their bodies due to the poor quality of the ingredients used in its creation. Fiends are usually unintelligent and chaotic creatures bent on destruction and rabble-rousing. Yet, due to the poor quality of the ingredients used in its creation- Fiends will rarely live more than a month, as the imperfections of their body will eventually catch up with them.

Deviant:

Deviants are a cut above fiends, and are made from rather good alchemical reagents. These homunculus are uncommon due to the quality of the ingredients made. Most alchemists looking to create homunculi will usually aim to create homunculi of either higher or lower quality, making deviants relatively rare.

Deviants are much more humanoid in their appearance, and can appear to look like a dwarf, human, orc, or elf. As a deviant may be as tall as an orc, to as short as a dwarf based on how it manifests at creation.

A deviant will generally have skin of an odd and sometimes unnatural color; many times it’s based upon the prevailing alchemical reagents used in its creation. A deviant created with alchemical reagents pertaining mainly to fire, for instance, would have red skin, and have a resistance to being burnt or harmed by fire, yet would have an unnatural fear of water.

Deviants though better-made than Fiends are still creatures of chaos, yet mores controlled. Deviants are capable of higher thought, yet will genuinely only care about itself, aiming to destroy and hinder all that would come in its way of achieving whatever twisted goal it is bent on. Yet, gladly deviants are short-lived, and will rarely live more than 3-6 months, as it's unnaturally created body will eventually begin forming imperfections , and said imperfections will inevitably lead to its demise.

Abberant:

Abberants are homunculi made at the cusp of perfection. So unfathomably close to their more powerful doppleganger cousins. Abberants, unlike their deviant or fiendish cousins, are hard to differentiate from their descendant counterparts, looking close to any dwarf, elf, human, or orc. Likewise, they bear a strong intellect, near to that of a doppleganger, yet just barely missing the true reaches that it's mind could reach.

Abberants bear the same resistance and weaknesses to elements as Deviants, yet their image is rarely defined by the prevailing element of their creation, rather, by the way they're created, and from what race they're created from if they're created from such.

Doppleganger:

Dopplegangers are homunculi created with the purest, and most rare alchemical ingredients, and are the peak of life created from alchemy.

Dopplegangers appear identical to whatever race they chose to manifest as, whether it be Dwarf, Orc, Human, or Elf. Likewise, Dopplegangers have the highest intellect of all the varieties of Homunculi. Dopplegangers like all other varieties of homunculi are chaotic. As such, a Doppleganger will lead a life only caring about itself.

Dopplegangers likewise will bear the same kind of elemental resistance as a Deviant or Abberant, and would be resistant to whatever prevailing element it was made of. Likewise, Dopplegangers are the most long-lived of all the homunculi, living a lifespan only a tad shorter than whatever race it manifests as, due to the imperfections of its unnatural body. A Doppleganger manifested as an elf would live to around 700 years.