Microsoft Zone Archive/Asheron's Lore/The Golems
Related topics: Golems
The Golems Edit
Original Link (now dead) - http://www.zone.com/asheronscall/ASHEgolems.asp
The Golems
Chiseled Forms
by Chris L'Etoile
In the volcanic half-light within Mount Lethe, the stones began to move. A few, glowing like clumps of embers, trembled and clattered across the floor. Then larger pieces began to stir, twisting and swirling upwards like leaves in an autumn zephyr. The blackened pieces of basalt slowly assumed a hulking shape -- a purpose.
Vaguely humanoid in form, the shifting stones pounded down the magma tube, throwing their deep red ember-light on the walls, and on two small figures bathed in sweat and soot. "Hendac!" the woman called, hurling a smoky gray nabut to her companion. As it sailed through the scorching heat, its trail of frost melted to a rain that sizzled and steamed on the charred rocks. The man, Hendac the Watcher, caught the weapon handily, spinning it into a classic Aluvian quarterstaff guard position.
The Golem drew back and launched a fist of churning black gravel at the woman. She sidestepped and flinched away from its broiling mass. The near miss bathed her in bloody light. Her companion swept in behind the Golem, striking again and again, to little effect.
They led it to one of the swinging rope bridges erected by Lord Cambarth when he had attempted to mine the mountain. There, Hendac spun and faced down the beast, striking it ineffectually as Jena circled around behind it. The golem, angered, moved to the edge of the bridge to smash him.
Hendac ducked, and swing at the rocks that passed for legs. Jena charged and shoved it from behind, yelping in pain as her hands struck its semi-molten form. In a long stream of stones and gravel, it tumbled over the low hemp railing, hitting the bubbling magma below with a series of thick plops.
He motioned for her to follow him, and walked into the cavern at the far end of the bridge, away from the suffocating heat wafting up from the magma pools below. She followed, taking a last, thoughtful look at the Golem splashing in the lava.
Hendac sat in the center of the cavern, and shrugged out of his backpack. She sat across from him and placed her throbbing hands, palms up, on her knees. He pulled a small wand and a few reagents out of the pack. "What are you doing?" she asked. He glanced up, and gestured with the wand at her hands. "Ah." He had taken up the study of life magic lately, and seemed to be intending a healing spell.
As he puttered, she looked back at the bridge, which swayed gently in the hot air rising from the magma. "Hendac?" she asked. "What do you know about Golems?"
"You know," she said, "in our lands, there are men and women who devote their entire lives to making their words a thing of beauty to the eye as well as the ear. Some work for decades to produce a single manuscript of the Alamakhaida." Hendac shrugged noncommittally.
"I only say," she continued, "because you have the skill of one of them." At that, his soot-smudged cheeks showed a blush. His finger traced in the dirt, "Do a lot of writing."
She laughed fondly at his discomfort, and began to read as he went about preparing his healing spell.
Celcynd of Rithwic claims to have seen one of another type. He told me once that he had managed to swim through the strong sea-currents to reach the island off the coast of Eastham. He found a large castle there, of the same High Empyrean design as Neydisa near Mount Esper, which is commonly held to date from the Age of Lore. The gates to this island castle were guarded by Golems made of clear gemstone. The light caught within their bodies refracted into rainbows -- quite lovely, he said. They promptly sent him back to the Lifestone.
The sages have had many heated discussions about the Empyrean use of Golems. While it is unlikely that anything short of an explanation from Asheron himself will settle the issue, one theory seems to have gained grudging acceptance by all schools of thought. That is the "agent" thesis. This holds that the Empyrean used Golems as simple, expendable laborers.
A good deal of documentary evidence supports this. Recently recovered texts, dating from the last war with the Shadows, detail the use of Magma Golems as guardians and workers in Empyrean pyreal forges. These forges seem to have been built solely within the heart of active volcanoes. Mount Esper, in the north of Osteth, was at one time such a foundry. (There is some scant evidence that Neydisa Castle was used as a treasury for new pyreal.) It seems clear that the Magma Golem was needed to work the metal -- sometimes within its own semi-molten form, sometimes in liquid lava.
Other known uses of Golems are legion. Golems have been found in ancient mines, kitchens, and storehouses, doing menial and difficult labor that the Empyrean apparently considered beneath them. Judging by the singular scratches on the stonework, it seems that Golem labor was used to help construct the great lighthouse near Tou-Tou. Golems do not appear to have been used as soldiers, possibly because of their susceptibility to a mass disenchantment spell that the Empyrean are known to have possessed. Most often, Golems appear as simple guardians, keeping visitors clear of areas considered dangerous. It is curious that Golems often resort to aggressive behavior -- perhaps a symptom of decay in their vital enchantments, a kind of senility, if you will.
Destruction of vast numbers of Golems has revealed very little about their method of creation. Over ninety percent of their mass is undifferentiated, inert material. Only two Golem "organs," if such a term may be used, seem to exist. The first of these is the Golem Heart. This appears to be a core enchanted object, around which the rest of the creature is assembled. The second organ is the mote of magically forged pyreal alloy. While intact pyreal motes have only recently been recovered, I have little doubt that they have existed all along. Gondibyr Langarl, the archmage of Rithwic, believes that these motes may have been what passed for a mind in the creature. Instructions the Golem was expected to carry out were magically imprinted upon the pyreal mote.
Perhaps these "shrines" once contained instructions, in the form of pattern enchantments? Surely the small mote that serves as a Golem's mind can only hold a finite set of instructions. Is it not logical, argues Shikiru, that these shrines could be enchanted with more elaborate series of commands? When a Golem completed one task, it returned to the shrine for another. When the enchantments on the shrines expired, the Golems were bereft of direction. Yet, after all these centuries, they still patiently stand, awaiting orders.
__________
Golems are said to be remnants of Empyrean magic, left behind as guardians for their strongholds, both above and below ground. Now that the Empyrean have vanished, however, they have become mindless automatons, attacking anything that comes near. They stand seven to eight feet tall, and are made of many materials, including earth, wood, water, ice, stone and metal. They bash with their club-like limbs, and some also attack with magic.
Dangerous to Lethal, depending on material
Copper Golem Edit
Original Link (now dead) - http://www.zone.com/asheronscall/golemcopper.asp
Granite Golem Edit
Original Link (now dead) - http://www.zone.com/asheronscall/golemgranite.asp
Ice Golem Edit
Original Link (now dead) - http://www.zone.com/asheronscall/golemice.asp
Iron Golem Edit
Original Link (now dead) - http://www.zone.com/asheronscall/golemiron.asp
Limestone Golem Edit
Original Link (now dead) - http://www.zone.com/asheronscall/golemlimestone.asp
Magma Golem Edit
Original Link (now dead) - http://www.zone.com/asheronscall/golemmagma.asp
Mud Golem Edit
Original Link (now dead) - http://www.zone.com/asheronscall/golemmud.asp
Obsidian Golem Edit
Original Link (now dead) - http://www.zone.com/asheronscall/golemobsidian.asp
Sandstone Golem Edit
Original Link (now dead) - http://www.zone.com/asheronscall/golemsandstone.asp
Water Golem Edit
Original Link (now dead) - http://www.zone.com/asheronscall/golemwater.asp
Wood Golem Edit
Original Link (now dead) - http://www.zone.com/asheronscall/golemwood.asp
A Golem's Death Edit
Original Link (now dead) - http://www.zone.com/asheronscall/golemdeath.asp