Elementals

No creature is more magical than elementals. They are beings of zizik through and through. If you see a whirling firestorm moved around by invisible forces, you have just laid your eyes upon a blazizik elemental. If a seemingly harmless pile of rubble suddenly rises and forms a multilegged beast with a gaping maw lined with jagged rocks (or simply an aggressive pile of stones), you have been ambushed by a hozizik elemental. These are just two examples of many; elementals take a great many forms and have a variety of powers. Even among the same aspect, their appearance and ability differs from one to the next. Hybrid elementals exist as well. Mix blazizik and hozizik and receive a lava elemental, or one that is partially rock, partially flames. Alizizik elementals – formed out of flesh, blood, and bone – are a reality, too. The terrifying, murderous abominations that still wander Threa, if in small number, are evidence of this.

Fundamentally, an elemental is a soul contained within a magic vessel without a natural body that has the ability to sense, use, and store magic. Elementals are superior magical creatures. Having a body is not part of the definition, although many elementals do. What aspects of zizik an elemental calls its domain is determined at its creation and cannot be changed, unless its soul is directly altered by external powers. This means that elementals cannot learn to manipulate aspects outside of their domain.

Like any other creature, an elemental requires a vessel for its soul – a crystal, bulb, or force field. The soul vessel of an elemental is called its core.

An elemental can only be exterminated by destroying its core and consequently dispersing its soul. It has no brain that could die of influences other than direct damage (e.g., the body bleeding out, suffocation, etc.). While attacking an elemental's soul directly is impossible, altering its body is achievable if the attempting sorcerer is sufficiently powerful. The bond between elemental body and soul is weak enough to be overcome; it is a doable albeit difficult task.

Magic is the sustenance of elementals, and an elemental can only feed on magic of their own domain. Elementals can draw it from their surroundings, if there is any to be had, but this is very inefficient. Consuming the zizik stored in magic vessels, especially souls, is the most efficient. This is why elementals are often hostile; their hunger for souls drives them to hunt living creatures. Consuming large amounts of energy makes an elemental grow stronger. They grow weaker if they have not fed in a while. Strong elementals can control a large amount of their element, weaker ones can control less. Strong elementals are larger as a result, so that they can hunt larger creatures with richer souls. Nevertheless, elementals cannot contain unlimited amounts of energy. The more potential the elemental's soul has, the stronger it can grow. The potential is determined at the soul's creation, but it can be artificially increased by skilled mages (including the elemental itself). An increase to a soul's potential can occur as the result of a magic shock, too, but this happens seldomly.

Overall, elementals are scarce, especially the randomly created ones.

Cores

An elemental's core – the vessel of its soul – is its most crucial component. If the core breaks, the soul within will leak out, becoming vulnerable to direct zizik manipulation, and it will quickly fall apart; it will die.

Elementals can move their souls from one vessel another. This allows an elemental to choose its cores, but it also harbors the risk of the elemental losing its grasp on its soul and dying as a result. Many elementals take the chance anyway because they have a preference for certain type of containers depending on their dominant aspect and resulting type of body. At creation, an elemental will occupy whatever vessel is most easily available. If none are available, it will create a magical force field around itself and continue from there.

Hozizik and frozen azizik elementals prefer magic crystals as cores. They can contain the highest zizik energy density, allowing for smaller vessels for the quantity of soul, and they do not require constant maintenance. Hozizik elementals have an advantage here; they can grow and repair their own crystals. Bulbs of magic-storing plants require no upkeep to function either, but they will eventually rot unless nurtured with trezizik or through natural means (a living plant). Trezizik elementals prefer the bulbs over crystals anyway because they can maintain them, allowing permanent usage, and they can heal the them if they become damaged. If an elemental with a solid core runs out of magic, it can just become dormant and recharge. Eventually, once it has soaked up enough ambient magic or magic from a nearby well, it can become active again.

A crystal or bulb is more difficult to move around than a force field. It requires a proper body – legs! – if it is to go anywhere far. Even then, it is much easier to hit than a hovering, quickly moving, nearly invisible magical force field. Hence, the body around the solid also acts as protection to make up for this downside.

Elementals of the other aspects prefer magical force fields to contain their souls. Being weightless and incorporeal, the force fields are more flexible and agile than either crystals or bulbs. An entirely non-solid elemental can fly if their body is not too encumbering or simply nonexistent. Magic fields can be damaged with worldly means. Physical or energetic objects passing through one will damage it, and the affected elemental must spend extra magic to stabilize it again. Once the elemental runs out of zizik energy – no matter if it is because of hostile attacks or magic starvation – its core will collapse, and its soul subsequently scatters.

Solid material is denser; hence, it requires more energy to move than water, air, or merely a force field by itself. Given that magical force fields already require a constant influx of magic just to remain intact, it is more energy efficient to not to have a solid body if your core is immaterial. However, temporarily inhabiting a magic crystal for the purpose of saving on energy is an option, and some non-solid elementals have adapted to do just that.

More exotic forms of cores exist as well. Crystals, bulbs, and force fields are just the most common ones. Water heavily infused with magic crystal dust can turn into a liquid magic container of sorts. Azizik elementals are the only ones that can handle this substance right, and they highly prefer it as a core when enough is available. These liquid cores combine some of the energy density of crystals with the fluidity of water.

The above described conditions lead to the tendency that elementals with solid bodies have solid soul vessels, while non-solid and bodiless elementals have immaterial cores. Elementals that do not follow this rule, or rather the preference of their dominant aspect, are often unfit. Only the fit (enough) survive. More on the body types can be found below.

Bodies

When it comes to their physical form, there are three classes of elemental – solid, non-solid, and immaterial. An elemental's aspect(s), type of core, and their surroundings determine the body class they are going to have.

Solid elementals are those of hozizik, trezizik, nokzizik, or azizik. Naturally, water elementals can only have a solid body in environments cold enough to permit frozen water. Permanently keeping a body of water frozen in an above 0 °C environment is a draining task that would quickly lead to starvation. Keeping a nokzizik shape solid takes energy, too, but less so. It is a lot more viable than one made of ice. Hozizik and trezizik elementals have the easiest time. They have bodies of rock or plants respectively. The former requires no upkeep at all, and the latter only requires it if the natural ways to keep a plant alive (i.e. sunlight, water, and nutrients) do not suffice.

Non-solid elementals are of hozizik, nokzizik, azizik, or aezizik. Seeing hozizik here is likely a surprise, but consider an active volcano. The heat within melts even rock, allowing for hozizik lava elementals. Nokzizik elementals often switch to a liquid state to save energy or to become quicker. Azizik and the aezizik are the most natural and common form of non-solid elemental, being made of water and air respectively. Their bodies flow and ebb and appear to lack a defined shape.

Immaterial elementals are of lizizik or blazizik. Neither is capable of forming a body, having no control over anything (practically) material.

Izizik elementals do not exist. It is an aspect that is practically anti-magic; it would erase a soul if used on it instead of transitioning it into an elemental.

Putting an elemental body into motion (or even keeping it upright) is technically an active use of magic to manipulate matter, which normally requires constant focus and willpower and would tire out any ordinary creature rather quickly. Elementals mitigate this attuning to their body, to the specific atoms it is made of. This makes controlling the body much more energy-efficient and require no concentration. It becomes no more difficult than lifting an arm would be for a humanoid.

Especially solid elementals benefit from attunement because their bodies are comparatively dense and heavy, although it is a time consuming process for them to attune to material and add it to a body. While it is quicker than attuning to new matter, re-adding separated, solid attuned material is not instantaneous either, which is why it is in fact possible to cut a solid elemental's limbs off to incapacitate it, at least temporarily. Damaged elementals will often seek easy prey or a magic well to acquire zizik to repair their bodies with. In a fight, an elemental might expend the magic of its soul just to quickly repair its solid shape and continue its assault in the hopes of making a net gain by slaying its intended prey. An elemental body can only be healed by the aspect(s) that its constituents belong to. Hozizik is required to put a stony elemental back together; trezizik will have no effect.

Fluids – and even liquefied rock – are much quicker to attune to, and also much easier to add back after having been cut off. It is practically impossible to maim a non-solid elemental.

Technically, when it comes to the appearance and functions of its body, an elemental is only limited by its imagination, its magic proficiency, the laws of magic, and the laws of physics. Organic limitations, such as the range of joints or a need for certain organs, no longer apply. However, it is easier and more comfortable for a soul to control a shape it is used to. Therefore, if the soul of an elemental remembers its past body and is able to create a new one, it will – out of habit – create a physical form that closely resembles its old one. The new body will even work like its inspiration, going as far as respecting the constraints of its non-existent joints.

Non-solid elementals are worse at keeping a shape and more mentally flexible, having been unshackled from a solid form holistically. Hence, they often leave their past shape behind and just become blobs with tendrils or pseudopods that are formed as needed.

It requires time and meditation to overcome the discomfort caused by adopting a strange, unnatural shape. However, if given enough of the former, even solid elementals of low intellect will evolve and learn to use their newfound powers to accomplish things their organic kin is incapable of. They might even mutate their body magically to gain new abilities. If the soul stems from a formerly living creature, these abilities are often similar to those they possessed before they transitioned into an elemental. A scorpion turned into an elemental by a surge of hozizik may end up being made much larger and out of crystal. If it consumes enough magic and its mind happens to grow complex enough, it may learn to change its stinger, which lost its venom when the scorpion became an elemental, into a crystal spikes shooting limb instead.

Nokzizik elementals are an exception to the above. Just how they can easily switch between solid and liquid form – being always on the brink between the two states – they also easily switch between being shaped and shapeless. In fact, they find it far more comfortable to be shapeless in liquid form, while they prefer to adopt a known, habitual shape as they solidify.

When a soul is heavily damaged during the transition to an elemental, it forgets its original shape, and thus it does not know what the body it desires to form should look like or what limitations it should have. In most cases, it turns into a blob of matter without a defined shape, even if they are a solid elemental. Many of them wither and die over time. The luckier ones manage to evolve because they either transitioned nearby a powerful well, giving them more time, or are simply quicker learners. A shapeless elemental has an easier time learning how to adapt its body to suit its needs and to propel itself forward. This grants it amazing potential. Over time, it will learn to use its elemental powers to alter its shape and move its body without restrictions. If allowed to ripen and evolve, a shapeless elemental can become incredibly dangerous because it is not limited by habit, instinct, or a formerly organic design.

The laws of evolution very much apply. The better an elemental and its body are at hunting, at surviving, the more energy the former will acquire. If it is successful enough, it will even reproduce. Unfit elementals simply die; their lines end. As a result of this development, a species of formerly shapeless elementals can turn into one of shaped elementals with rather alien but viable forms.

Shapeless elementals have a much higher likelihood to survive the initial time after their creation if they have a force field core. This is owed to the fact that they can be moved around even without a body, which allows the elemental to approach a magic rich area nearly effortlessly. It can practically fly there. Once able to safely soak in the zizik energies, it can slowly evolve and adapt, learn how to create a body worth of a hunter. Thus, most shapeless elementals are of the non-solid variant and have a force field as their core.

The closer the magic energy of a soul or magic vessel is dispersed to an elemental's core, the more energy the elemental can absorb from it. Hence, some solid-bodied elementals grow an orifice comparable to a mouth so that they may bring prey as close to their core as possible. Fluid elementals simply envelope their prey before it perishes.

Because the normal laws of magic still apply to elementals, they have a limited range when it comes to manipulating matter, even their own body. The further away from their core something is, the weaker their influence on it becomes. Interacting with things that are far away also takes more energy, and spreading out their body makes elementals very weak. Consequently, a hozizik elemental cannot just attune itself to an entire desert, or rather, it cannot be an entire desert. It would extinguish itself in the blink of an eye attempting to command such a gigantic space and mass. This restricts the size of an elemental's body. How much material it can attune to – how big it can be – depends on the strength of the elemental's soul and how much magic it has stored and can store.

Minds

The minds of elementals range from intelligent to feral. Intelligent elementals are capable of reasoning and making conscious choices. They are basically people in elemental bodies and extremely rare, as the process of becoming an elemental often damages the soul enough to turn it feral. Feral elementals are nothing more than beasts given magical powers. They still often carry some of the instinct and natural intuition that guided them before they became an elemental. If this is the case, they will often behave as they did before their transition. Svikbarns are a good example. Their souls must originate from some sort of social, pack-forming hunter because svikbarn will protect, care for, and help each other; they have a clear social structure in their groups despite being mere elementals.

It is this tendency to cling onto past behavior that prevents cannibalism between feral elementals, if the creatures they once were would not normally hunt their own kind. It appears that they see something familiar in each other's souls, that the weak social aspect that remains with them keeps them from turning on each other. Nevertheless, elementals do prefer consuming each other over starving to death.

Elementals, no matter how intelligent, are immune to magical madness. Having been unshackled from naturally born flesh, they can no longer suffer from the waste magic likes to lay upon organic brains and senses.

Capabilities

Although elementals are superior magical creatures, only a minority of them uses magic creatively. The grand majority of elementals is so simple minded that they are not capable of casting a wide array of spells. They only have a limited selection of magical powers, if any, which have become ingrained into their soul over time.

Elementals can see like any humanoid can if they grow magical, glowing eyes. These are in fact an extension of their souls suspended in a magical force field – a weak spot. Without them, an elemental is blind to light on the visible spectrum.

Even without eyes, it appears that elementals are aware the world around them as it is, as if they can sense matter itself. Some refer to this amazing feat as “blindsight”. A downside of this sense is its very limited range, reaching perhaps a hundred meter for the most powerful of elementals and mere centimeters – a negligible amount – for the weakest ones.

One explanation for this blindsight is that sensing magic of all aspects is second nature to elementals. They are very sensitive to zizik in all of its form, which allows them to spot souls and other sources of magic to feed on from a distance. How far their magic perception actually reaches varies between elementals. Some simply rely more on their eyes than on their other senses.

Since elementals can feel physical vibrations going through their core in their soul, they can in fact hear. No special body parts are required. They also have a sense of touch; they can tell when their body parts hit resistance and what this resistance is like.

Speaking, or rather making any noises akin to those one could make with a mouth, is a different matter. Only aezizik elementals can accurately manipulate air to speak or make specific sounds. Every other type of elemental has to make due with touching body parts together to create noises (e.g., by rattling rock scutes or rustling leaves). Some elemental species have evolved to adapt to this and have in fact developed a variety of ways to create sounds for the sake of communication. A dagger-toothed leaper might growl when angered or aggressive, but some hozizik elementals will make their body rumble like a rockslide.

It is possible to acquire further senses through creative body modifications. Svikbarns are capable of smelling. They do this by growing specific plants on their bodies that can detect the presence of odor molecules. By having a direct connection between core and plant, the elemental can experience the same sensory input as the plant does. This is practically like the connection between the brain and the sensory organs of a living creature. Svikbarns use this for communication through scent. They use the flowers and other flora growing on their bodies, or rather that their bodies are made out of, to release specific aromas to signal specific concepts to their kin. The assault of a pack is often heralded by the sudden occurrence of a wonderful, flowery fragrance on the air. Few are aware, and they die wondering what beautiful flower garden must have been the source.

Creation and Reproduction

Elementals are either created randomly, purposefully, or through asexual reproduction. Either way, the creation of an elemental requires a lot of magic, a soul, and a suitable magic vessel. Although an elemental that is simply a soul in a container would be rather dull, matter to form a body out of or a prepared body are optional.

The random creation of an elemental occurs when a soul's vessel is destroyed in an area with tremendous amounts of zizik or by an intense strike of it. The latter can happen during magical storms, magic surges, or similarly powerful events. Normally, souls disperse and thus die when their vessel is broken, but, if there is enough magic around, then the soul might be infused with said magic before it (completely) disperses and may find a new vessel, such as a magical crystal, or simply creates its own zizik vessel field. Magic is a wild and chaotic thing when it appears in vast amounts within a small space.

This transition to an elemental saves the soul from death, but it also alters it heavily most of the time. The soul's personality is partially erased or utterly changed and its memories scrambled or lost. Often, nothing but instinct remains, which is why the grand majority of randomly created elementals are feral like beasts. The soul's domain changes as well. It is granted access to the magical aspects that were involved when its former vessel was destroyed. They are either added to or replace its former domain. Once trapped in its new vessel, the elemental will instinctively seek to forge itself a new body out of whatever matter is available that it can manipulate, if any.

Purposefully creating an elemental is a difficult process. A soul is taken out of its original vessel and transferred into another. During the transfer, the performing mage(s) can alter the soul. They can edit its personality, change its memories or simply delete them, and so on and so forth. The soul must be given the ability to sense and manipulate magic during the transition or already possess it beforehand to become a true elemental. Giving another creature these gifts or the blindsight innate to true elementals is a lost art. Only grand masters of zizik and souls were capable of doing this. They understood the chaotic processes behind the natural creation of elementals. Either way, the soul can be made loyal to its creator, thus becoming a servant. Since it can be difficult to reign in an elemental, people usually prefer to make golems over elementals; there is less danger of and in rebellion.

It is possible to create souls, but this is an enormously difficult task. For this reason, most creators always take an already existing soul and modify it to match their requirements.

Elementals can asexually reproduce. If an elemental acquires too magic energy – more than its soul can store – it will become unstable and split into two souls. Generally, this is an unplanned act. Elementals are never truly sated and gladly attempt to snatch up more energy if the opportunity arises, so it is not uncommon that they gorge themselves until they split. The newly formed soul, which is an exact copy of its ancestor, requires a core, and it will only accept cores of the type their parent uses. Many forms of hozizik elemental naturally cultivate magical crystals on their bodies and trezizik elementals often grow magical bulbs; these surplus magic vessels can serve as cores for their children. The other variations of elemental, if they have a solid core, have to hope that a crystal or bulb is available and nearby when they split; their child will die otherwise. Elementals with force field cores have the easiest; their offspring will instinctively create their own vessel field upon birth. Once the recently produced soul has settled into a secure vessel, it will immediately create its own body (if it can) and try to find magic to feed on, continuing the cycle of life.

Golems

Essentially, a golem is a soul that has been enchanted and magically altered to receive magical abilities, but whose abilities and (potential) body are limited by those same enchantments. Golems are quite similar to elementals in many ways, but there are differences:

• Golems are never randomly created by magical storms or similar, only artificially by a certain kind of proficient spellcasters (so called golemancers).
• Golems do not innately possess blindsight or a heightened magic sense. These abilities must be given to to them during their creation.
  
• Golems are not always superior magical creatures, but elementals are. For a golem, it depends on the soul that was used to create it. It may even be non-magical creatures.
• Golems cannot freely modify their body, only as far as its enchantments permit. Elementals can do that, though they do not always realize it because of habit and instinct.

Cores

A golem can have any type of magic container as its core. What type of core a golemancer should pick depends on what the purpose of the golem is going to be. A golem with a solid body or intended to be stationary will do well with a magic crystal. It requires no upkeep, is robust, can store a lot of magic, and is easy to work with. Fluid and immaterial golems are better served with a force field for a core. It is as agile and flexible as their body is and lighter to move around, too.

Golems will stick with whatever core their creator picked when they were made. A golem can only change move its soul into another magic container if they are a magically gifted creature or if their enchantments enable it. The enchantments also have to permit it in either case.

Bodies

Golem bodies are limited by the laws of physics and magic and by the imagination and capabilities of their creator(s). This is the key difference between elementals and golems. The former limits itself, the latter is limited by someone else.

When a golemancer creates a golem, they decide what its body should be like by imprinting the body plan onto it through enchantments. It is much easier to do this for solid golems because their body can be created in advanced and separately enchanted. The soul can be installed into the ready form and take over control thanks to the enchantments. A fluid golems must possess the ability to forge a body on its own, either because their soul is naturally able to do this or was granted this gift, in order to then create one according to the previously imprinted magical schematic.

A golem can steer and even create or modify its body, even if its soul stems from a non-magical creature, as long as the enchantments make it possible. Modifications are only possible within the limits of the enchantments.

For solid golems, it is easier to give the golem a body that its soul is already used to from its natural life. The golemancer has an easier time fitting the soul to the body. Fluid golems are as mentally flexible and have as much trouble keeping a defined shape as fluid elementals; hence, it is better to give them a shapeless body with pre-defined, tendril-like limbs.

Minds

The minds of golems are not special or limited per se. It is possible to create golems with a free will and the intelligence of a humanoid or dragon, just how it is possible to create a golem with the brains of a beast and loyalty of a well trained pet.

Normally, golems are created to be servants. Their souls are altered to be deeply loyal and obedient to the soul of one or multiple masters specified during creation, or whoever their master tells them to listen to after creation. A golem without direction by its master will heed whatever commands were ingrained into its soul during its creation. If none fit or were given, it will follow the instinct it once had if any of it was allowed to remain.

Again, golems do not have to be made in this way. A mage could create an artificial body for a friend and move their soul into it without shackling it, thus creating a golem with free will.

Capabilities

Golems can use magic creatively if they are smart enough to do so, are magical creatures, and their enchantments do not shackle their magic abilities. However, most golems are not meant to be spellcasters. It would potentially make them dangerous even for their owner. Magic is a fickle thing.

Instead, many golemancers include specific, pre-defined magic abilities in the enchantments of their golems. Even non-spellcaster golems can trigger them, given that their soul has been enhanced for this purpose. A golem may be given the ability to shoot fireballs out of its arms, for example.

Golems can see light on the visible spectrum if their creator has included magical eyes in their body plan. They work exactly like the eyes of elementals do and glow just the same. Golems hear and have a sense of touch in the same manner elementals do as well.

Blindsight and magic perception are not necessarily part of a golem's senses. They are only available to it if their enchantments include it. This is especially true for the former. Magic sense does not need to be gifted to the golem's soul if it already stems from a magical creature.

Only aezizik golems can speak; they can precisely manipulate the air to achieve similar results to what organs of speech could. Golems not capable of using aezizik cannot speak or orally make sounds at all. They have to use their body parts instead (e.g., rattling rocky bits together or rustling leaves). Some golemancers include ways of creating noise and signals with specific meanings into the designs and minds of their golems to allow for rudimentary communication.

It is possible to acquire further or improve existing senses through modification of the soul. For example, one could give their golem tremorsense or improve its vision at night.

Creation

The process of creating a golem is quite alike creating an elemental.

A soul is taken out of its original vessel and transferred into another. During the transfer, the performing golemancer(s) must alter and enhance the soul. It must be given the magical schematic for its intended body, enchanted to be able to control it, and its abilities must be defined and granted. This is also the phase when the golemancer(s) can give their creation a variety of further capabilities, such as blindsight or magic sense, and when they can edit the soul's personality, change its memories or simply delete them, and so on and so forth. It is then that the soul can be made loyal to its creator or another master, making it a servant.

Overall, the process requires a lot of magic skill and energy as well as time and effort. It is best done as a large, organized ritual with multiple casters.

Trap Golems and Utility Golems

A simplified, easier-to-create form of golem are the trap golem and utility golem. They are stationary beings whose only purpose is to cast a specific spell or array of spells when certain conditions are met. They are incapable of doing anything else. Most of the time, their souls are installed into crystals fore cores because it allows them to remain idle with a very low magic upkeep. Ambient magic is often enough to keep them going, and they are able to survive in their passive, vigilant state for millennia before they run out of energy and die.

Trap golems are used to deter or harm intruders. They are basically just a soul in a magic vessel equipped with just enough senses to detect and potentially identify creatures within their area of observation. Once their attack conditions are met, they will cast whatever spell has been ingrained into their soul. Often, their core includes just enough magic to cast the spell once, then they die of magic starvation. However, some trap golems are set up to survive the spellcasting. They just become dormant after casting and soak up nearby magic until they have enough to cast again.

Utility golems work in a similar fashion, but they fulfill peaceful, helpful tasks, such as opening a door or creating a bridge across a chasm. Very advanced civilizations that enjoyed magic in abundance might even have used rudimentary blazizik utility golems to heat their meals and drinks.