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Description
Golems are humanoid constructs of inert material animated by spells. Strong, loyal, dauntless in the execution of their assigned tasks and unconcerned with compensation or the fact that they are property, Golems are employed in a wide rage of function. The rough idea of a golem has been used by by the Eastern Empires for thousands of years, a few of the kingdoms of the Southern Continent and by the Raptors for tens of thousands of years, but for the sake of simplicity we shall focus on those civilizations on the Northern Continent west of the Dragonspine Mountains.

The precursors to golems were animated statues contrived by the High Elves since before the Time of Chaos, though their use was limited to public artwork until the War of Four Centuries as they were unable to do more than perform a preset sequence of events. During this period the High Elves, Dwarves and Student Men pooled their resources to develop new and better ways to hold back the forces of the First Dark Emperor. Among their greatest successes was the refinement of this concept. Most importantly was the development of the chem, a small item usually of parchment or bronze which has inscribed onto it a magical "shadow" of a human, dwarf or elven mind. This, once placed and bound into a properly prepared body will cause the Golem to come to life. Golems were originally intended as warriors and remained in use in that function through the war, but they were ultimately found to be of more use in civilian ends freeing up people to fight.

Golems are made to understand that they belong to certain humans and perform a range of human actions as instructed by those they belong to. The most common golems are unifunction golems, able to do a simple task well but otherwise only able to do the most basic of tasks under supervision being walked through at all stages. Moving heavy things (crates, logs, rocks and similar) from Point A to Point B and stacking them neatly is the most common golem performed job. These golems are generally made of clay, which is the easiest material for golem makers to work with despite having some disadvantages. More sophisticated golems exist that are able to do a number of tasks with the most sophisticated golems being capable of a limited degree of learning. Most golems are mute, but some can speak, though generally only in a small vocabulary of preset phrases and the ability to remember the name of their users. There are legends of Golems which can match wits with a man, but these are dubious at best.

Most Golems are decidedly civilian in function and many are by design incapable of violence against humans. Combat Golems are less common, but still exist. Some of these are converted civilian golems (as were used by Daagsgrad and Borogskov up until their conquest) but much more impressive and imposing. A three meter tall iron statue with superhuman strength armed with a pair of runic blades can cut it's way through a mundane shield wall with ease and can endure a lot of damage even from cannon fire. However there are a number of spells which can temporarily incapacitate a golem as well as more complicated spells which can break the spells which give them life. While they have been effective in battle on several occasions war golems are often seen as White Elephants. They are most commonly used as guards at palaces and as symbols of wealth.

Golems are quite useful things to have, but they do have their shortcomings even beyond their limited intelligence. The art of Golem making is known to a small number of specialized mage guilds, each with their own distinct way of making golems which they jealously guard, save for the fact that making golems is a tricky complicated process which requires large quantities of mana. Even a simple unifunction clay golem costs 750 to 1,250 Lyra to make and requires several years to build. Total yearly golem production is at most to the effect of 500 to 700 a year, though the attrition rate of golems is also low. There is also the matter of power, golems draw energy from ambient background mana but this is very rarely enough to provide them with continuous activity. Even in Sylvanas for every day of activity a golem has, it must spend two to two and a half days inert recharging. In most other places the ratio is eight to twelve days of being inert for every one day of activity. For the Coldlands the ratio is twenty to twenty five days inert for every day of activity. Mages directly charge Golems, though most mages can only supply a golem with enough energy to keep a golem active for an hour or so before they themselves need some time to recover the magic they expended. For this reason while golems are useful they do not dominate the economy.

The most extensive users of golems are the High Elves, who have one golem for every thirty people. Almost all of these are employed in some industry doing most of the heavy work. They also lead in general quality, there are few unifunction golems among the high elves. A few dwarvish enclaves specialize in the making of golems for both their own use and export and have ratios of fifty golems per capita to assist them, but outside of these golem use is less pronounced. After them the Venoans, the Seraphate and the Dark Elvish states have the most pronounced golem use with one golem for every 100-125 people. The empire has one golem for every hundred and fifty people and in most other places one golem for every three hundred people is the norm, but it can get lower in areas that have low levels of background magic, are generally poor or both (such as the pre-Infrastructural coldlands). Infrastructure had imported a couple of golems for trials but has deemed that given the amount of dead time they have in the Coldlands they are not economical for their intended purposes.

Some general facts about golems...
When active, a Golem's eyes glow brightly, when charging they glow dimly
A few golems are several thousand years old and remain in general use
Golems with more than one set up arms exist, but are rare
Many golems have leather soles attached to their feet to prevent damage to floors. Leather straps on hands are often used for a similar purpose.
Simple golems often have mitten like hands which are easier to make work
Golems occasionally exhibit qualities of the people that made them, for example if their creator enjoyed violin music a golem might be responsive to said music becoming slightly quicker in it's task if someone fiddles out a tune for them while working.
Small toy golems are occasionally made for the super rich.
Many people outside of Infrastructure believe that the members of the Central Committee are some form of complex golem

Description
Golems are humanoid constructs of inert material animated by spells. Strong, loyal, dauntless in the execution of their assigned tasks and unconcerned with compensation or the fact that they are property, Golems are employed in a wide rage of function. The rough idea of a golem has been used by by the Eastern Empires for thousands of years, a few of the kingdoms of the Southern Continent and by the Raptors for tens of thousands of years, but for the sake of simplicity we shall focus on those civilizations on the Northern Continent west of the Dragonspine Mountains.

The precursors to golems were animated statues contrived by the High Elves since before the Time of Chaos, though their use was limited to public artwork until the War of Four Centuries as they were unable to do more than perform a preset sequence of events. During this period the High Elves, Dwarves and Student Men pooled their resources to develop new and better ways to hold back the forces of the First Dark Emperor. Among their greatest successes was the refinement of this concept. Most importantly was the development of the chem, a small item usually of parchment or bronze which has inscribed onto it a magical "shadow" of a human, dwarf or elven mind. This, once placed and bound into a properly prepared body will cause the Golem to come to life. Golems were originally intended as warriors and remained in use in that function through the war, but they were ultimately found to be of more use in civilian ends freeing up people to fight.

Golems are made to understand that they belong to certain humans and perform a range of human actions as instructed by those they belong to. The most common golems are unifunction golems, able to do a simple task well but otherwise only able to do the most basic of tasks under supervision being walked through at all stages. Moving heavy things (crates, logs, rocks and similar) from Point A to Point B and stacking them neatly is the most common golem performed job. These golems are generally made of clay, which is the easiest material for golem makers to work with despite having some disadvantages. More sophisticated golems exist that are able to do a number of tasks with the most sophisticated golems being capable of a limited degree of learning. Most golems are mute, but some can speak, though generally only in a small vocabulary of preset phrases and the ability to remember the name of their users. There are legends of Golems which can match wits with a man, but these are dubious at best.

Most Golems are decidedly civilian in function and many are by design incapable of violence against humans. Combat Golems are less common, but still exist. Some of these are converted civilian golems (as were used by Daagsgrad and Borogskov up until their conquest) but much more impressive and imposing. A three meter tall iron statue with superhuman strength armed with a pair of runic blades can cut it's way through a mundane shield wall with ease and can endure a lot of damage even from cannon fire. However there are a number of spells which can temporarily incapacitate a golem as well as more complicated spells which can break the spells which give them life. While they have been effective in battle on several occasions war golems are often seen as White Elephants. They are most commonly used as guards at palaces and as symbols of wealth.

Golems are quite useful things to have, but they do have their shortcomings even beyond their limited intelligence. The art of Golem making is known to a small number of specialized mage guilds, each with their own distinct way of making golems which they jealously guard, save for the fact that making golems is a tricky complicated process which requires large quantities of mana. Even a simple unifunction clay golem costs 750 to 1,250 Lyra to make and requires several years to build. Total yearly golem production is at most to the effect of 500 to 700 a year, though the attrition rate of golems is also low. There is also the matter of power, golems draw energy from ambient background mana but this is very rarely enough to provide them with continuous activity. Even in Sylvanas for every day of activity a golem has, it must spend two to two and a half days inert recharging. In most other places the ratio is eight to twelve days of being inert for every one day of activity. For the Coldlands the ratio is twenty to twenty five days inert for every day of activity. Mages directly charge Golems, though most mages can only supply a golem with enough energy to keep a golem active for an hour or so before they themselves need some time to recover the magic they expended. For this reason while golems are useful they do not dominate the economy.

The most extensive users of golems are the High Elves, who have one golem for every thirty people. Almost all of these are employed in some industry doing most of the heavy work. They also lead in general quality, there are few unifunction golems among the high elves. A few dwarvish enclaves specialize in the making of golems for both their own use and export and have ratios of fifty golems per capita to assist them, but outside of these golem use is less pronounced. After them the Venoans, the Seraphate and the Dark Elvish states have the most pronounced golem use with one golem for every 100-125 people. The empire has one golem for every hundred and fifty people and in most other places one golem for every three hundred people is the norm, but it can get lower in areas that have low levels of background magic, are generally poor or both (such as the pre-Infrastructural coldlands). Infrastructure had imported a couple of golems for trials but has deemed that given the amount of dead time they have in the Coldlands they are not economical for their intended purposes.

Some general facts about golems...
When active, a Golem's eyes glow brightly, when charging they glow dimly
A few golems are several thousand years old and remain in general use
Golems with more than one set up arms exist, but are rare
Many golems have leather soles attached to their feet to prevent damage to floors. Leather straps on hands are often used for a similar purpose.
Simple golems often have mitten like hands which are easier to make work
Golems occasionally exhibit qualities of the people that made them, for example if their creator enjoyed violin music a golem might be responsive to said music becoming slightly quicker in it's task if someone fiddles out a tune for them while working.
Small toy golems are occasionally made for the super rich.
Many people outside of Infrastructure believe that the members of the Central Committee are some form of complex golem