Animation
Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2013 7:17 pm
- 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
- ...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