It's called Animation, because they move.

by **Alric Wilmot** on November 7th, 2013, 1:01 am

68th of Fall 513 AV

Alric stepped inside briskly, the house warming him after the cool morning walk he had just enjoyed. He had awoken early, before the sun was up, and made use of it by enjoying a walk as he watched the sunrise. It was a beautiful thing, even if did happen to observe a few bodies rotting in the canals. Ravok was showing its true colors, and Alric found them all very disgusting shades of brown and black. It reminded him quite a bit of feces. Though, even through all the terrible things that happened in the city, he found that if one was talented or mischievous enough, they could side step many problems. His own mastery of hypnosis allowed a constant cloud of apathy to be extruded, protecting him from wandering eyes looking for a target.

But soon he would have a different sort of protection. He had lately been experimenting with his first foray into World Magic, a delightful discipline known as Animation. It could unleash the life that was inherent in everything. Though, the book he had bought mistakenly believed that life was created. A foolish thought, but he supposed it was natural. Not everyone was as gifted as he was. He never had teachers, though his friend seemed eager to be one. Still, Alric was reluctant, and was only allowing himself to be taught reimancy. Animation, he wanted to learn on his own.

So far he had created a Soulcore, put in a Kill-phrase, implant a few directives, and explain needed concepts. Yet, for all that he had not yet made the thing able to move. And for a magical discipline called, "Animation" that was quite frustrating. He had read that the creation of the Astral Body was the last step, and needed for the golem to move. But he had not yet accomplished this. it did not especially help that the book he had bought did not tell him how to do anything, instead only telling him what to do. The difference was subtle, but very important. Luckily, Alric was rather good at learning, and was coming along rather decently. At least, he thought so.

He took off his shoes so as not to track dirt into Miro's house and went to the corner where he kept his things neatly piled. He pulled out the knife, chalk, book, and doll. It was all very routine now, though he alternated when in the day he did it. He sat at the foot of the straw-stuffed bed and drew two circles, one big for him to sit, and one small for his doll to sit. He could almost feel the doll's anxiousness. Today would be the day it could finally walk, and see the world.

He pricked his finger as always and let the small drop of blood splatter onto the chalk line between the two circles. Once more he felt the familiar tingle of djed enter his mind, and within his mind's eye imagined that he could see the small doll's soul, a flame given to it by Alric's own much larger fire. He could see smaller flames, too, each a concept that he had taught to the little thing. Loyalty, Movement, Intention, and all of their antithesis's.

He smiled, knowing that he was completely responsible for everything his little doll knew. And even though the doll had yet to act on anything, Alric imagined that this still might be similar to how his father felt all those years, sacrificing everything for his education. He wiped an unbidden tear from his eye as he went back to focusing. So far, everything he had done he had done through visualization, imagination, and force of will. He had no cause to believe that creating an Astral Body would be any different. Still, he pulled the book closer to see what it might know about the subject.

by **Alric Wilmot** on November 20th, 2013, 6:52 pm

He leafed through the book looking for the words "Astral Body," hoping that he could get a definition and a process on how it was made. he doubted he would get the later, but it was still his hope regardless. As he passed a few familiar pages, he came to a new one, and found the words near the top of the page. He bent down and began to read.

The astral body is the outermost layer of the soul of any living being. It is the only part of the soul that can interact with the physical world, and thanks to this ability the spirit can reside within a body, puppeteering it as desired. The Astral body takes the form of the physical shell that it is contained within. Creating the Astral body, is most likely the easiest step, but also the most daunting. It is straight forward, as you only have to imagine the shape of the golem you are animating, and apply the conceived shape within the shell. However, this can be deceptively difficult if your spatial awareness is poor. In which case you will have to deal with the Astral Body by making several two dimensional shapes and piecing them together to make the whole.

Alric nearly wept with joy. Finally, at last, the author described the process! Granted, according to the author himself, he had just written about the easiest step, but that mattered little to Alric, who had successfully done all he other steps with rather poor instruction. So, it seemed that this finally, was truly it. He would create an Astral Body, and then the doll would live. It would not be able to speak, or understand speech. Really all it would do was follow Alric around. But Alric considered that good enough. he'd animate other things for use. The doll was made for experimenting.

All at once he closed off the outside world and closed his eyes, imagining the form of the doll. He imagined it as it was, with protrusions where its button eyes were, where the burlap had been picked and was bunching in threads. He opened his eyes briefly to remember a few other details, and quickly added them, smiling all the while. He gathered djed and shaped it, though it was not his. A curious sensation he imagined only World Magic users would ever know, and was slightly surprised to find how similar it felt to his own. Slowly, the Astral Body came together, and he imagined placing it over the small doll and letting it fall inside of it. He opened his eyes then, eager to see what would happen. Though no magic infused his voice, he spoke.

"Awaken."

Finally, after three long days, he saw his golem move. At first it was just a twitch of the head, then the arms. It looked up, or, at least that's what the motion seemed to reflect. He thought it could see him, recognize him as "Alric" by the programming Alric had forced upon it. Alric stood up, so that he could test if it would really follow him. As he stood, the Little doll attempted to do the same. But it simply flopped over, its legs kicking. Alric realized that he had not told the doll how to stand, despite filling it with the knowledge to jump, run, and walk. They were still in the circle. Could he program it while it was active? The book had said nothing about Activation impeding the process, so he gave it a shot. He went over how to stand, from various sitting positions, within his mind. He went through them step by step, simply imagining the act and sending the imagery and concept together into the golem.

by **Alric Wilmot** on November 20th, 2013, 6:52 pm

It seemed to work, as the doll pushed up off the floor and wobbled its way onto its two stubby legs. It looked up again, this time, not in Alric's direction. It looked around, left to right, until it caught a glimpse of Alric. Then it ran as fast as its stumpy little legs could move right to Alric's pant's leg. Alric laughed, the feeling of accomplishment flooding his being. He had finally made the doll move! He looked down at his little accomplishment, parked at his feet looking up at him. It didn't do anything more, of course. He hadn't programmed it to. He decided to test it further, and skipped to the right. It ran to Alric once again. Alric jumped to the left, and it followed. Alric moved backward, forward, on the bed, and all throughout the room. The doll was able to follow, though not onto the bed, as its jumping wasn't high enough and Alric had not taught it to climb.

After a merry game of chase, Alric decided to test that kill-phrase. It was getting late, and it would be best to clean up soon. He spoke the numbers, 10037211349, and the doll fell limp. Alric barked a laugh at that. He was getting the hang of this thing! He picked up the doll and book and chalk and knife, putting them away properly and neatly. He washed off the chalk and blood from the floor and brought out his journal. He had not written in it for a while, but he thought this might be a good thing to add.

by **Vanari** on December 2nd, 2013, 8:45 pm

Alric Wilmot

Reading	+1 XP
Meditation	+1 XP
Animation	+2 XP
Intelligence	+1 XP

Lores :

Notes :

Solo It's called Animation, because they move.