Animation

This is for those who do more than just your average card tricks. Artificers, Wardens, Diviners, Healers and more reprehensible types, welcome!
Post Reply
User avatar
IamLEAM1983
Site Admin
 

Posts: 3707
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:54 am
Location: Quebec, Canada

Animation

Post by IamLEAM1983 »

- in Hope, being called an "Animator" refers to either one of two things. Either you're a classic 3D animator or a 2D artist in an animation studio or...
- ...you make a living by giving enough support to inert matter so life can be rooted within it. You literally "animate" matter.
- this obviously covers golems and clanks

Short History
- that's another long and storied School. We've been creating our own help as soon as we've been able to latch onto souls as a concept
- for the longest time, we were stuck tapping into souls in suspension close to the mortal plane. Animal souls, or the restless dead, for instance
- it'd take the Etheric Extraction Device and the development of Clank industry for more options to easily surface
- golems could be created out of loved ones before - it just took a *lot* of time and a lot of effort pushed into divination to reach the proper shade or enter Heaven
-...or Hell...
- considering, the first golems were usually best created when the creator was the one who actually dealt the killing blow to the new golem's soul, moments earlier

- otherwise, your other option is to use parts of your own life force and will to breathe basic automation into inert things.
- end result typically functions like the brooms in "The Sorceror's Apprentice". Unitask machines of wood, metal - or sometimes discarded flesh

- came to feed the stereotype that wizards always have a few homunculi lying around. Little critters made from discarded fingernail or toenail clippings, hair, sweat, etc
- Animation is largely celebrated for having brought clanks and earliest non-techological forms of cybernetics into being (see Victorian Era)
- like Elemental Magic, this one is highly sought-after and popular

How Does it Work?
a) Golems and Clanks
- as always, you need to deeply understand your starting subject - Life itself. The human and anthro anatomies. How the nervous and circulatory systems work
- considering, a lot of Animators double as general practitioners, physical therapy specialists, neuroscientists
- is a little more complex, so a firm grasp on the basics of Divination is also encouraged. You need to know where the soul is in the body, metaphorically speaking
- School requires *intense* commitment, moreso than regular elemental enchantments

- once you're ready, you have several cultural and folkloric bases to choose from. Most developed basis involves the Kabbalah, but other cultures have their rituals too
- the focusing ritual proper involves the preparation of the host construct. This can take months - unless you've found ways to automate it. Advantage of clanks
- starting frame will always be imperfect, if the used matter isn't rigid. Life is what's going to finish the job and make the result seem lifelike
- this also why mud and clay golems very rapidly grow lifelike, and why the same process takes decades for stone golems

- the ritual *needs* to be protected on the long term. Strong grasp on the basics of Warding is needed. Or else, you have to ward your entire workshop
- Clank workshops tend to be spiritual Faraday cages, because of that. They're surrounded by barriers no ghost, not even the most sane ones, can cross

- once you've prepared the body, you need to draw your chosen soul in. Having access to the original body helps, so does knowing that person on an intimate level
- if you can't have access to the original body, your best bet is to spend some time documenting yourself on your client's life - understanding them
- you essentially need to find their spiritual signature, if you don't know it already. This is a very deep and instinctive "key" that normally can't be passed on physically
- clank process automated this too. You take a deceased person's most treasured possession, slot it in any modern-day EED and fire the machine

- using that signature, you reach out to your target soul using Divination. If your target already wanted to be reincarnated, job's done. It'll follow you back
- if not, well... That depends more on your willingness to be paid or on your personal morals. Plenty of people disregard their loved ones' final wishes
- people tend to wrongfully assume "going metal" is something most people will enjoy
- the VERY LAST thing you want to do is create a Clank or golem that hates its new life. Depersonalization hits them very, very hard
- you can go from sullen grumpiness to homicidal rage in a few short months, in that case
- this goes without mentioning all the legal trouble this might set you in...

b) Homunculi
- you need to take bits of yourself - ideally easily discarded bits - and infuse them with the basic principles of life. Purpose, basically
- the end result is going to spring to life matching that purpose's needed anatomical features

- the more powerful you want your critters to be, the more you'll give of yourself to the process
- squeamish Animators can stockpile hair shavings and nail clippings for years. Others draw their own blood
- fairly insane ones cut off entire limbs. Sadly, complete amputations make for powerful and effective servants
- wizard has a weirdly beige-coulored spider with fingernails on its legs and a cybernetic or mechanical hand? Yeah. That's a homunculus
Post Reply