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Designs for species I'll hopefully be using later on in development of my game idea.
Elementals: Corporeal guardians of nature's elements (Earth, Air, Fire, and Water). They are not entirely sentient and function more on a base level of instinct. They frequently clash with their opposites (Earth to Air, Water to Fire). Their battles are the living representation of the ever-present conflict between order and chaos. Excess of a single type of elemental in an area is a sign of discord in nature.
Golems: The result of binding a humanoid spirit to the dead shell(s) of an Elemental by way of magic. Sorcerers originally created mindless golems to use for labor, but since then their creations have become new bodies for departed souls. Centuries ago these new sentient golems became self-sufficient, having learned the magics required to create more of their kind. They have since separated from the human race they once belonged to and built their own civilization. They worship Omnis, lord of the Elements.
//Sketched in pencil & colored in PS CS3
Elementals: Corporeal guardians of nature's elements (Earth, Air, Fire, and Water). They are not entirely sentient and function more on a base level of instinct. They frequently clash with their opposites (Earth to Air, Water to Fire). Their battles are the living representation of the ever-present conflict between order and chaos. Excess of a single type of elemental in an area is a sign of discord in nature.
Golems: The result of binding a humanoid spirit to the dead shell(s) of an Elemental by way of magic. Sorcerers originally created mindless golems to use for labor, but since then their creations have become new bodies for departed souls. Centuries ago these new sentient golems became self-sufficient, having learned the magics required to create more of their kind. They have since separated from the human race they once belonged to and built their own civilization. They worship Omnis, lord of the Elements.
//Sketched in pencil & colored in PS CS3
Category Artwork (Digital) / Fantasy
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 486 x 1280px
File Size 164.6 kB
Golems living primarily in either human cities or their own cities, they do not often come into contact with their Elemental kin unless traveling. Elementals have a similar reaction to Golems as they would to another Elemental, and that reaction is highly dependent on which element the individual represents.
Golems, created by humans, were originally a reliable source of hard manual labor. The first Golems were capable of little more than simple subservience, but humans crafted more elaborate Golems over the years, and they soon were able to salvage the entirety of the knowledge that their original human spirit possessed. In this case the Golems would often refuse to work without compensation, and this conflict between them and their creators caused enough friction that the Golems banded together and left to find their own home and life, separate.
Having no need for sleep or sustenance, Golem cities are usually relatively small, and do not often contain individual homes. Being a people adept at many crafts, they have quickly become one of the most sufficient and lucrative cultures around, and maintain a large amount of control within the markets and trade routes. The Golem cities are often positioned upon said trade routes, to take full advantage of them. As such their cities are often composed mainly of blacksmiths and other such buildings.
Golems, created by humans, were originally a reliable source of hard manual labor. The first Golems were capable of little more than simple subservience, but humans crafted more elaborate Golems over the years, and they soon were able to salvage the entirety of the knowledge that their original human spirit possessed. In this case the Golems would often refuse to work without compensation, and this conflict between them and their creators caused enough friction that the Golems banded together and left to find their own home and life, separate.
Having no need for sleep or sustenance, Golem cities are usually relatively small, and do not often contain individual homes. Being a people adept at many crafts, they have quickly become one of the most sufficient and lucrative cultures around, and maintain a large amount of control within the markets and trade routes. The Golem cities are often positioned upon said trade routes, to take full advantage of them. As such their cities are often composed mainly of blacksmiths and other such buildings.
It is ironic that they do for themselves what humans would have forced them to do: crafting. Though there is some friction, humans have generally accepted the more advanced golems as a race unto themselves, even if they are not at all happy to be losing a good source of labor. They do have trouble seeing the older Golems as equals even more than the newer ones, as they're more like "robots" than people, even though the spirit within them once belonged to a fellow human.
There are still a good few Golems that live within human cities, though in comparison to the free ones it's not a great number at all, and many of those will eventually leave with a trade caravan and join the other liberated Golems. Many "city-Golems" are content to remain there though, for pay. They have a great love for trinkets and knowledge, which may come from the human need for advancing oneself within one's culture. Since they do not eat, and do not need sleep, they generally are not interested in money so much as items, and will most often trade rather than take coin for their work. What coin they do take is often later melted down and recast as some kind of bauble. Their buildings are intricate as well as functional, as they have much time to spend since they are long-lived, only "dying" once their bodies break down too much to enclose the spirit within them.
They are a young race, and have not yet been tested beyond the few centuries of their existence as to their true purpose as time wears on, and for now their goals are simply to live as a free people and advance their crafts beyond what they have already accomplished.
There are still a good few Golems that live within human cities, though in comparison to the free ones it's not a great number at all, and many of those will eventually leave with a trade caravan and join the other liberated Golems. Many "city-Golems" are content to remain there though, for pay. They have a great love for trinkets and knowledge, which may come from the human need for advancing oneself within one's culture. Since they do not eat, and do not need sleep, they generally are not interested in money so much as items, and will most often trade rather than take coin for their work. What coin they do take is often later melted down and recast as some kind of bauble. Their buildings are intricate as well as functional, as they have much time to spend since they are long-lived, only "dying" once their bodies break down too much to enclose the spirit within them.
They are a young race, and have not yet been tested beyond the few centuries of their existence as to their true purpose as time wears on, and for now their goals are simply to live as a free people and advance their crafts beyond what they have already accomplished.
(apologies for the book. I got on a roll. XD Again, thank you for your questions. This is exactly what I needed.)
The first Golems were created by a sorcerer and his apprentices, who were seeking a way to instill life - though not necessarily intelligence - into something inanimate or dead. Having a theory that the innate magic in elementals - whether dead or alive - may aid this process, the sorcerer began to experiment with the shells of slain elementals. He tried many different things; combining multiple elemental shells, even attempting to use more than one element to construct each body, but his experiments failed time and again, and he began to doubt the possibility of success. In desperation, he began to think that perhaps to instill life into something, life would need to be taken from something else. He tested this first with animals; cattle and goats that were to become the dinner of some local family. After many attempts he finally achieved something - one of his elemental shells stirred; it shook for a moment, then grew still. Ecstatic, he tested this method many times over, but got no better results than the first time.
The next leap in his research came from using different beasts, more savage and intelligent than farm animals. This yielded better results, but also the death of one of his apprentices, as the bestial nature of the slain animal took over the elemental shell and tore all around it asunder until it was slain.
Growing so close now, and desperate to achieve his goal, the sorcerer overstepped boundaries others would not cross. Arranging for several prisoners from the dungeons to be released into his custody, he began to experiment with humanoid spirits. After several more tries (a few of which ended in disaster) he was finally able to adjust his runes and spell-casting to the point where he ended up with something very much alive, and capable of following simple orders, though otherwise quite dull-witted.
The end of this sorcerer's days saw his Golems put to work mining, working bellows, building. For a long while, the rest of the human race simply accepted them as a miracle of magic. It would take another two generations of mages until the people grew to know what they actually were, and this only when the son of one of the sorcerer's previous apprentices was able to create Golems that retained more knowledge and memories of their previous lives than before. He kept these Golems as his personal assistants, even going so far as to teach some of them simple spells. He was smart enough to keep them relatively happy, as he had seen all too often what happened when the human mind inside the powerful shell of an elemental was displeased.
These first "true" Golems were given much more opportunity for education, but upon their creator's death, they had no masters - for he had no children. Most of them were later discovered and taken to be put to work with the others of their kind, though rumors of their greater intelligence spread quickly. There were two Golems which had been left behind in the mage's home, undiscovered. They delved into his tomes and learned his spells; methods for creating more of their kind. When finally they were unearthed and put to the same work as their brothers, they sought to reveal their true nature, in an effort to free themselves.
It took years for many to see the truth inside the earlier rumors, but eventually there were two sides to the responses this revelation received: Those who had Golems working for them said nothing of it. They were happy with their profits and their business and the fine craftsmanship that came from the labor of what others called "abominations". They fought to keep them as servants.
Others were appalled, and guilt as much as horror drove them to seek freedom for the Golems. They would not believe what magic had wrought right beneath their noses. Eventually many Golems were destroyed in the scuffles that ensued, but just as many escaped the cities and, often on the tail of trade caravans, came to their current home lead by the two Golems that had remained hidden longest.
In short, no one had or gave permission; it was for a long time just a dirty secret within a small community of sorcerers. It is assumed that once a Golem's body breaks down and releases the human spirit within, that spirit would follow to the same place any other human spirit would end up. Though some have theorized that having remained bound to a normally innate form for so long, these spirits would become some sort of ghost unable to make full passage from a physical existence.
The first Golems were created by a sorcerer and his apprentices, who were seeking a way to instill life - though not necessarily intelligence - into something inanimate or dead. Having a theory that the innate magic in elementals - whether dead or alive - may aid this process, the sorcerer began to experiment with the shells of slain elementals. He tried many different things; combining multiple elemental shells, even attempting to use more than one element to construct each body, but his experiments failed time and again, and he began to doubt the possibility of success. In desperation, he began to think that perhaps to instill life into something, life would need to be taken from something else. He tested this first with animals; cattle and goats that were to become the dinner of some local family. After many attempts he finally achieved something - one of his elemental shells stirred; it shook for a moment, then grew still. Ecstatic, he tested this method many times over, but got no better results than the first time.
The next leap in his research came from using different beasts, more savage and intelligent than farm animals. This yielded better results, but also the death of one of his apprentices, as the bestial nature of the slain animal took over the elemental shell and tore all around it asunder until it was slain.
Growing so close now, and desperate to achieve his goal, the sorcerer overstepped boundaries others would not cross. Arranging for several prisoners from the dungeons to be released into his custody, he began to experiment with humanoid spirits. After several more tries (a few of which ended in disaster) he was finally able to adjust his runes and spell-casting to the point where he ended up with something very much alive, and capable of following simple orders, though otherwise quite dull-witted.
The end of this sorcerer's days saw his Golems put to work mining, working bellows, building. For a long while, the rest of the human race simply accepted them as a miracle of magic. It would take another two generations of mages until the people grew to know what they actually were, and this only when the son of one of the sorcerer's previous apprentices was able to create Golems that retained more knowledge and memories of their previous lives than before. He kept these Golems as his personal assistants, even going so far as to teach some of them simple spells. He was smart enough to keep them relatively happy, as he had seen all too often what happened when the human mind inside the powerful shell of an elemental was displeased.
These first "true" Golems were given much more opportunity for education, but upon their creator's death, they had no masters - for he had no children. Most of them were later discovered and taken to be put to work with the others of their kind, though rumors of their greater intelligence spread quickly. There were two Golems which had been left behind in the mage's home, undiscovered. They delved into his tomes and learned his spells; methods for creating more of their kind. When finally they were unearthed and put to the same work as their brothers, they sought to reveal their true nature, in an effort to free themselves.
It took years for many to see the truth inside the earlier rumors, but eventually there were two sides to the responses this revelation received: Those who had Golems working for them said nothing of it. They were happy with their profits and their business and the fine craftsmanship that came from the labor of what others called "abominations". They fought to keep them as servants.
Others were appalled, and guilt as much as horror drove them to seek freedom for the Golems. They would not believe what magic had wrought right beneath their noses. Eventually many Golems were destroyed in the scuffles that ensued, but just as many escaped the cities and, often on the tail of trade caravans, came to their current home lead by the two Golems that had remained hidden longest.
In short, no one had or gave permission; it was for a long time just a dirty secret within a small community of sorcerers. It is assumed that once a Golem's body breaks down and releases the human spirit within, that spirit would follow to the same place any other human spirit would end up. Though some have theorized that having remained bound to a normally innate form for so long, these spirits would become some sort of ghost unable to make full passage from a physical existence.
(I ask you questions that help you flesh out your world, sating my limitless curiosity as I go. That's symbiosis, baby!)
Yikes!
But refreshingly realistic.
So where did they get the spirits for all these Golems?
More prisoners, or random kidnappings?
How are their relationships with other species?
Can the old ones be 'upgraded' to greater intelligence?
Yikes!
But refreshingly realistic.
So where did they get the spirits for all these Golems?
More prisoners, or random kidnappings?
How are their relationships with other species?
Can the old ones be 'upgraded' to greater intelligence?
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