Transcript of a speech given by a Gian Family representative.
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Every golem begins with an idea.
From the simplest good golem used to till the fields, to the mightiest war golems, to the common clay golem so prized for its durability and reliability, no two golems are truly the same, and thanks to the delicate process involved in their creation, each must be carefully planned out.
The first stage of any new golem’s life is a request. What functions must it serve? Is it to serve as a mobile battalion, mage’s bodyguard or a simple laborer?
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At the heart of every golem is a core. While some war golems, particularly larger ones, may utilize multiple cores, the vast majority have but a singular incredibly complex core. A golem’s core is not a power source, as is commonly believed, but rather a power processor, taking energy from the collector arrays and distributing it to the motor, control, and any axillary arrays. This heart is one of the most critical pieces to the golem’s end function, and is accordingly carefully constructed.
For this presentation, we will be looking at a standard clay golem, such as can be found on construction sites or aiding the city watch, and utilizes a fairly simple seven-layer core.
The first layer is a perfectly polished Tarrenial glass marble untouched by anything material since it was made molten. Should so much as a mote of dust come into contact with the sphere, it would bond irrevocably to the substance, pushing all mana channeled into the core through that mote of dust, burning out the dust and subsequently the core itself.
To prevent that scenario, the glass core is kept suspended within a specially-created void box, held aloft via pure force magic and allowed to cool over the course of nine months from when it was first created. After nine months and one day exactly, it is placed into a sixty thousand rune array designed for a single purpose: coat the perfectly spherical marble core with a millimeter of mana-infused mithril. On the day of the operation, four artificers work together to ensure that not only does the mithril coat the sphere perfectly evenly and simultaneously, but also that all one hundred and forty seven runes involved in managing the power flow of the golem within this layer not only form properly on a physical level, but also that they form properly on a magical level. Even the slightest echo from the Tapestry outside the formation array could ruin months of work, and they accordingly cannot waver even once during the three-hour ritual.
Once the second layer is in place, it becomes substantially easier, though any mistake still bears the risk of ruining the core and rendering all work done until that point worthless.
The third layer involves sixty-three runes that act as a buffer to the inner core and ensuring it isn’t burned out, and is usually worked in pure copper, with the runes carved in by hand over the course of a week.
The fourth layer is done in porcelain, and the two hundred and ninety runes used in this layer take the form of porcelain incorporating powdered silver and unicorn horn to be twisted into slightly-three dimensional shapes meant to isolate the inner workings of the core from the exterior Tapestry and attacks. The firing of the porcelain is exceptionally tricky, as the temperatures involved would be plenty to melt the third layer and rendering the entire core useless. To prevent this, for the entire 12-hour process a pair of artificers are constantly minding the inner core, performing a ritual meant to keep the interior cool even as the exterior is properly fired and initially begins to cool.
The fifth layer is done in steel, and while the porcelain fourth layer contains heat ablation sufficient to allow the core survive being immersed in molten steel, it must still be carefully tended to in order to prevent the core from being crushed as the metal sphere is quenched in a potion designed to bind the golem to its control wand (or, for a personal golem, to the individual itself, utilizing their blood). Once the binding is done, forty four runes are carved into the exterior and enchanted.
The sixth layer fills in the carved runes within the steel and coats the entire core with a specialty potion made largely from the resin of the glowpine but also including etrasai, black orchid nectar, and powdered wyvern scale. This is to ensure longevity of all the enchantments used in the core and prevent degradation as the golem ages.
The seventh- and always final- layer involves carving out a perfectly-sized cavity within a large crystal, usually quartz, and utilizing a hundred thousand rune array to teleport the inner core inside the crystal. This outer layer is vital for the other runic arrays of the golem to properly interface with the core itself.
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While the core is being made, the rest of the golem is still under construction. First, the housing for the core must be made. For this clay golem, it will be housed within the upper torso, close to the center of gravity. Around the core goes the control array, as it must be able to directly interact with the core. Despite common belief, the control array is not part of most golem cores, as once finished the core is immutable until broken. By having the array set around the core, it is possible to perform maintenance or apply upgrades to the array without dismantling the entire golem.
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The arrays for this golem is made by creating a full-sized model out of clay, then an artificer carves out over twelve hundred interlinked runes, then fills the entire array with iron. Once the iron cools, the clay it was cast in is broken open, the array is cleaned and polished, and it is prepared to be assembled into the actual golem.
While every trace of the clay mold must be removed from the array, so too cannot even a single filigree of the runes be bent out of shape. To accomplish this feat, a careful application of air and water magic is used to first wash, then polish the iron. Once complete, a new structure of clay is built up around the array, using three kinds of clay.
The first type of clay, and the type that will be used for the majority of the golem’s mass, is clay taken from the banks of the Gishtai River. The river’s properties help ensure that the clay is exceptionally pure, and capable of accepting repair magics with ease while being more resistant to hostile spells.
The second type is used on all the golem’s joints and anywhere which requires flexibility. This is a special clay mix, primarily based in clay from the Gishtai River, but mixed with springwood ashes, gem python blood, and water mana-infused sand.
The third type, and the one used to directly coat the arrays that we see here, is taken from the banks of the Snowspring. The white clay is then brewed with crushed white jade, dust of living dreams, living shadow, and powdered lodestone, alongside several other trade secret ingredients. This mixture is carefully applied around the polished iron arrays, leaving not even the slightest gap. This will allow the basic control array to slowly modify itself in accordance with any long-term commands and training the golem is provided, to maximize its use.
Once all the layers have been applied, the control array is ready for use and integration into the other arrays.
While less critical than the control array and core, the motive and collection arrays are still very important in the actual function of the golem, as without them the golem is incapable of moving and being powered, respectively.
The motive arrays for clay golems are carved directly into the inner layers of substrate, carefully designed to ensure that the golem is capable of just as easily crushing the skull of a dwarf as it is capable of delicately polishing a teacup. Furthermore, it needs to take into account the incredible weight of the golem itself, be capable of full actuation within the hand and other joints, and ensure that no single part of the golem bears too much of the construct’s substantial weight. Indeed, the precise array must be custom-designed for each limb depending on the power of the core, the composition of the clay used in the construction, the local Tapestry, and even the time of year the golem is being created. It is for this reason that most golems are made in the summer, as the array required is simpler than that of any of the other seasons, but the artificers must then contend with the intense summer heat outside of any cooling enchantments which have the potential to disturb the local Tapestry in unexpected ways and necessitate a different configuration of runes.
Each motive array is fairly simple for all that it is capable of doing- a single joint usually only accounts for about two dozen runes, but the sub-directors responsible for ensuring that, for instance, all the fingers work in unison may be as complex as a hundred runes once integration into the sensory arrays is complete.
The sensory array is the next portion to be integrated into the golem, and is usually done in copper filigree inset into clay one layer above the motive array itself. An artificer carefully carves away the fired clay, mindful to account for and not hit any of the minute flaws which always appear as a result of the firing process, and later carefully applies force and fire magic to soften and hammer into place copper wire. It’s important that the layers over the sensory array protect it from damage, but also not be so thick as to block the delicate feedback which the golem requires to function.
This clay golem, despite a last-minute required adjustment to plan in order to prevent a minute crack from growing into a critical one, was a success, and will in theory be capable of feeling even a gnat flying around it through the disturbances in the air, sense changes in the local Tapestry created by mages merely walking around, and see in even absolute darkness. It even is integrated with the control array to serve as an additional layer of security to ensure none but its rightful owner is capable of giving it commands.
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At around this stage in the process, any special features not part of the golem’s core design are added and integrated. While this clay golem has nothing to be added, others of its kind may possess stored spell matricies, the ability to fire basic force or fire blasts, or function as a fully-powered wardstone. War golems are the most common recipient of these variable modifications, though we do receive some special requests to integrate them into more standard constructs on occasion.
Combat golems are usually significantly more powerful and utilize a host of additional inbuilt magical arrays supplied by the military. There is nothing intrinsically unique about combat golems which enable them to have these additional features, but rather a simple matter of practicality: Only the military has sufficient magical strength to power these additional features. Some powerful sorcerers will provide arrays for their servants to have minor magical abilities of their own, but as enchantments without a mage to use them, are inherently quite limited. Though, of course, all of our creations follow the standard sumptuary laws forbidding individuals not in the royal line from owning metal-covered golems, and we do not make exceptions.
The final stage of golem construction before assembly itself is to create the collection array. These are the enchantments responsible for powering not only itself, but the entire construct. The arrays, partially made of bronze and partially carved directly into the golem’s body, are efficient enough that this clay golem, despite being capable of easily lifting more than ten tons, can run almost entirely off of the local Tapestry’s ambient magic. Other golems may utilize lightning, fire, or raw mana as supplementary energy sources, but most are fully capable of utilizing nothing more than the energy in the air for basic functions.
Once all the individual parts are complete, it is time to assemble them all. While extremely important, it is far less interesting and not terribly important for us at the moment. As demonstrated, an artificer suspends the torso in a large-sized frame, using force tethers to hold it in the air while the limbs- assembled separately through a combination of several construction methods- are attached by linking up the motive arrays on each piece. Then, they carefully run magic through the entire system to allow the rune-pairs responsible for passing power along to connect and begin standard functionality.
Finally, the core is inserted, and the golem becomes properly animated. After an extensive set of tests to ensure all functionality is fully operational, the golem is rendered complete, given an official seal of creation, and sent to its final owner. This clay golem was commissioned by the Tariah guard, and will be tirelessly keeping the citizens there safe for decades to come.
Any questions?