Solo Becoming My Own Salvation Pt.2

Kamilla gets to animating her helpful new golem...

(This is a thread from Mizahar's fantasy role playing forums. Why don't you register today? This message is not shown when you are logged in. Come roleplay with us, it's fun!)

Syka is a new settlement of primarily humans on the east coast of Falyndar opposite of Riverfall on The Suvan Sea. [Syka Codex]

Moderator: Gossamer

Becoming My Own Salvation Pt.2

Postby Kamilla on May 20th, 2019, 8:53 pm

Image

Kamilla Circe Gordon


61st of Summer, 519AV

It was a somewhat bearable evening in Syka, the sun having sunken below the horizon bells ago, leaving the settlement to be lit by the stars as moon that seemed to shine more brightly in Falyndar. Three weeks Lars had said and three weeks Kamilla had waited, to the day, before returning to retrieve her commission, thankfully the sawmill operator had kept to his word. Now, the mage found herself on the beach sand, a few steps off of the cobbled road where her new cart waited patiently to undergo the animation process. If all went well, the wheeled object would soon be gifted with limited life and sentience.

Having long since planned the animation process to take place once the cart had been built, Kamilla had spent time the past two days using her Reimancy to form a flat stone surface to work on. She’d spent the days making the two by four meter stone ‘floor’ which was wide enough for her to comfortably fit the cart within the destination circle, leaving enough space for herself in the smaller source circle.

While the nights in Syka were more than bright enough lit by the moon and stars above, Kamilla thought it best to place her hooded lantern on the stone floor outside of the circles. The light cast by the lantern’s flame spread across the newly created stone floor, enough to make drawing the circles simpler but not much else.

Deciding it was time to get the process started, Kamilla made sure that the cart was centred in the width of the stone floor before heading to get backpack and removing all the necessary materials. Most notably, some charcoal sticks and inscribing paint. Hopefully no one would interrupt her during the process, but it seemed unlikely considering she’d chosen the furthest part of the cobbled road she could find to perform the animation.


User avatar
Kamilla
Magical Mistress
 
Posts: 577
Words: 592212
Joined roleplay: November 16th, 2014, 5:52 pm
Location: Syka
Race: Human
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Journal
Plotnotes
Medals: 3
Featured Character (1) Overlored (1)
Syka Seasonal Challenge (1)

Becoming My Own Salvation Pt.2

Postby Kamilla on May 29th, 2019, 5:44 pm

Image

Kamilla Circe Gordon


Having retrieved the materials, Kamilla grabbed one of the charcoal sticks and began drawing what would be the ‘Source Circle’, a simple circle large enough for her to sit comfortably inside. Seeing as it was a basic shape, the drawing of the circle took only half a chime, the animator doing her best to make it as perfect and consistent as possible, spending another half chime going over the line to ensure it was dark and solid enough.

Getting to her feet, Kamilla then made her way over to the cart, this time drawing the ‘Destination Circle’, encircling the cart and going over the line once again to ensure that it was solid enough, much like she’d done with the first circle. This circle being larger, took at least double the time as the first, a good two chimes of drawing.

Standing up with a sigh, Kamilla frowned slightly, seeing how the charcoal had darkened her finger tips. Honestly, she had no idea why she didn’t use chalk instead, it was less of a mess and far easier to draw with. She would have to keep it in mind the next time she was at the Syka Mercantile.

Satisfied with her Source and Destination circles, Kamilla moved on to the next step. Connecting the circles. Basic animation circles were linked via a single line, but Kamilla had moved beyond that, instead drawing two solid lines which effectively created a tunnel for the information to be passed through. The lines themselves took only a chime to draw, but it was the next step that would take a bit longer.

Done with the charcoal stick, she discarded the remaining stump, tossing it into the sand and reaching for the small tub of inscribing paint. The finishing touches of her animation circles would be a focus glyph in the middle of each circle. Something she’d used once before to assist the flow of information during the process.

User avatar
Kamilla
Magical Mistress
 
Posts: 577
Words: 592212
Joined roleplay: November 16th, 2014, 5:52 pm
Location: Syka
Race: Human
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Journal
Plotnotes
Medals: 3
Featured Character (1) Overlored (1)
Syka Seasonal Challenge (1)

Becoming My Own Salvation Pt.2

Postby Kamilla on May 29th, 2019, 6:41 pm

Image

Kamilla Circe Gordon


While it had been quite some time since she’d last animated something, the memory remained fresh in her mind. Her previous endeavor had been the animated golem, Sil, she’d created for her judgement back on Sahova. Of course she’d passed, despite the golem being little more than a moving sheet of cloth, able to to fold and gather itself into the loose form of a man, Keene Ward.

That had been her first attempt at combining her animation circles with glyphing for ease of use and it had worked well enough with a focus glyph in each circle, but this time she would attempt to push it further.

First came the focus glyphs, simple enough, Kamilla had tweaked and adjusted her trademark glyph over the years to finally end up with its current design. She’d started with her grandmother’s focus glyph, which was functional but certainly didn’t feel personal, then moved on to a more floral design, made up of curves lines and soft edges that resembled a flower. However, after her time on Sahova, Kamilla herself had hardened somewhat and it was apparent in how her focus glyphs changed, still maintaining the floral design but now with a lot more sharp edges and corners.

It took her two chimes to draw the slightly enlarged versions of her focus glyphs in the middle of each circle, somewhat resembling a pentagram with curved lines but sharp corners, the top of each point connected by a circle with another circle in the centre, formed by the negative space between the lines.

Once she’d completed that, Kamilla decided to try and use a series of smaller glyphs to form a path, placing the series of small interconnected cross like shapes on the outer sides of the two lines that linked the circles. This step in particular, while very simple, took the most time by far. It took her at least ten chimes in total to create the intricate pathway, but she found herself satisfied with the result, smiling proudly down at her creation.

User avatar
Kamilla
Magical Mistress
 
Posts: 577
Words: 592212
Joined roleplay: November 16th, 2014, 5:52 pm
Location: Syka
Race: Human
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Journal
Plotnotes
Medals: 3
Featured Character (1) Overlored (1)
Syka Seasonal Challenge (1)

Becoming My Own Salvation Pt.2

Postby Kamilla on May 30th, 2019, 9:25 pm

Image

Kamilla Circe Gordon


With all the necessary preparations complete, Kamilla was ready to begin the process, but decided to add one more preparatory stage into her schedule. Flipping through her book, the mage pulled a loose piece of paper from between the pages. On one side was a shoddy attempt at drawing blue prints for the cart and on the other, animation instructions. At least they were to her, Kamilla imagined they wouldn’t mean much to anyone not versed in the world magic.

Steps:
-Soulcore
-Persona
1)Directives
=Loyalty
=Authentication
=Obedience
2)Knowledge
=Recognition
=Signals
-Astral Body
1)Perception
2)Movement
3)Skills
-Awaken


The mage went over the list three times in her head to make sure she properly recalled the order before bending down and taking a seat in the source circle, making sure she was not to touching the circle at any point.

With everything seemingly in place, Kamilla reached for her dagger, poking the tip of her finger with no visible reaction to the sting, after all she’d done this many times before. While the blood began to gather into the required droplet, she quickly glanced over her workstation once again, seeing nothing out of place, then finally turned her fingertip downward and watched as the crimson offering fell to the charcoal black circle, linking her to it and activating its inner energies.

The moment the blood had hit its mark, the circle hummed to life, a spiral of energy filling the energy, not that it was apparent to any of the five senses, to any on lookers, she’d simply be silently sitting in a circle linked to another containing a wooden cart. It was ones inner self that felt the animation circles come to life, energy feeling energy as the surrounding djed brushed against her inner djed like humming wind on another plane of existence. It was exquisite and the mage could already feel her heart beating along to the vibrations, a small smile playing on her features. It had been far too long.

User avatar
Kamilla
Magical Mistress
 
Posts: 577
Words: 592212
Joined roleplay: November 16th, 2014, 5:52 pm
Location: Syka
Race: Human
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Journal
Plotnotes
Medals: 3
Featured Character (1) Overlored (1)
Syka Seasonal Challenge (1)

Becoming My Own Salvation Pt.2

Postby Kamilla on May 30th, 2019, 9:45 pm

Image

Kamilla Circe Gordon


Still enjoying the soothing hum of the awakened circles, Kamilla closed her eyes, took a deep breath and slowly exhaled in an attempt to calm her mind and focus on the link with the circle created by her blood offering. It took a chime or two and several deep breaths, but eventually, the outside world faded into a blur as her mental workspace came into view within her mind.

She’d always been awestruck by the ‘workspace’, she was sure it was different for everybody but she loved hers all the same. In her mind, Kamilla could see the glistening lavender silhouette of herself sitting with the glowing blue circle, linked to another with a transparent lifeless gray husk in the shape of the cart. Besides, the glyphs which also glowed, everything else was blank, as if she were floating in the abyss of her own mind, only the workspace and herself currently in existence. It always felt deeply personal to her.

Ready to get started, Kamilla began what was surely the most personal part of the process, especially when using herself as the source... creating the soulcore.

The soulcore would be the golem’s soul, it’s spark of life, something she could not create from scratch, instead, Kamilla would offer a piece of her own as tribute, involuntarily creating a link between herself and the animated object. The mage had long since learned of this side effect, it was something small that faded even further over time but never completely vanished, even now she could feel the faint tug of her soul towards the red scarf she’d animated years ago, if she focused on it. It was a peculiar side effect but one she’d come to accept, after all she was offering a part of her very being.

Creating the soulcore was simple enough, in her ‘workspace’ Kamilla would reach toward the glistening lavender silhouette of her djed with an invisible hand and pluck a tiny grain of life from her firm, carefully bringing it towards the edge of the source circle before releasing her grip on it. The tiny spark would then travel across the lines and tunnel linking the source circle to the destination, floating gently towards the center of the other where it waited patiently, already beginning to fade,

Working quickly, using her invisible hands, Kamilla would gently guide the spark towards the center of the gray husk that was the cart’s form, gently cradling and nurturing it like the last remaining embers of a fire, until its glow began to strengthen and brighten, finally finding its dependence in its new form. With that, the first step of the process, creating the soulcore, was complete.

User avatar
Kamilla
Magical Mistress
 
Posts: 577
Words: 592212
Joined roleplay: November 16th, 2014, 5:52 pm
Location: Syka
Race: Human
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Journal
Plotnotes
Medals: 3
Featured Character (1) Overlored (1)
Syka Seasonal Challenge (1)

Becoming My Own Salvation Pt.2

Postby Kamilla on June 30th, 2019, 2:54 pm

Image

Kamilla Circe Gordon


Having successfully created the soulcore, Kamilla saw no reason to take a break after such a short time and decided she'd move on to the next step of the animation process... creating the persona. While all steps were required to create a functioning golem, in her opinion, it was the persona that required the most attention to detail. A golem with a messily created persona could become useless, dysfunctional, disobedient or worse... dangerous, though she doubted a wheelbarrow sized wagon would pose much threat to anyone.

Still in her mental workspace, Kamilla began with the basis of the persona, a need, a feeling to drive the golem's action, it's reason to live. She'd already decided on the most appropriate emotion, adoration. Focusing on the feeling itself, using her own feelings toward Yennefer to bring the emotion to the forefront of her emotions for the time being, Kamilla mentally plucked the ball of emotion from her own form along with a mental image of her own appearance and brought it to the edge of the circle, releasing it and watching it travel along the pathway, appearing as a floating ball in the destination circle. From there she guided it towards the glow of the soulcore within the translucent husk of the wagon and gently coaxed it into the glow until it was absorbed by it. The golem's adoration would encourage it to both obey and follow her happily.

Next came directives, the part to be most careful about and one wherein the order was important as well. The highest directive was obvious, Loyalty. Focusing on its meaning, Kamilla transmitted the loyalty directive across the animation circles and into the destination, adding an image of herself once again to form a bridge between the adoration and loyalty, both being tied to her. Next came a secondary loyalty directive,  wherein she could temporarily hand control of the golem over to another, to this one she added the image of herself using hand signals that she'd already decided upon the day before, the one for temporary loyalty being an image of herself forming an 'O' with her hand and then pointing to the new person in charge with two fingers of the same hand. This kind of loyalty would last until Kamilla herself gave the golem an overriding order. All this knowledge was plucked from her mind and guided into the destination circle and golem's soulcore.

In addition to the secondary loyalty directive, Kamilla also added a third,  the signal for this one being another 'O' and then pointing with one finger, it could also be given by someone who fell under the secondary loyalty directive and it would last until the first night after the tertiary loyalty was given. With this directive, Kamilla also added the concept and image of night... as well as that of day so that the golem would know the difference.

Next came information and images of the cobbled road, it's appearance and the directive to remain on it as well as information and image of sand and t4 instruction to stay off of it. The wagon would instantly be stuck if it ventured off of the path. Then came information of obstacles, be they objects or people and the instruction to avoid them or, if unable, to stop moving to avoid them. Then came the hand signs for follow, stop and go. All the hand signs would require the 'O' sign to authenticate the command.

After what Kamilla estimated to be at least two bells of transferring directives and knowledge, images included, across the circles and into the golem's soulcore, she was finally happy with the persona and ended the session. Her awareness now returned to the real world, the familiar smell of the sea and it's calming sounds rushing to greet Kamilla along with an array of other sounds as she stretched her limbs out in a very feline manner.

Words: 654

User avatar
Kamilla
Magical Mistress
 
Posts: 577
Words: 592212
Joined roleplay: November 16th, 2014, 5:52 pm
Location: Syka
Race: Human
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Journal
Plotnotes
Medals: 3
Featured Character (1) Overlored (1)
Syka Seasonal Challenge (1)

Becoming My Own Salvation Pt.2

Postby Kamilla on June 30th, 2019, 3:11 pm

Image

Kamilla Circe Gordon


Stepping out of the animation circle, Kamilla was careful not to disrupt or step on any of the lines as she made her way towards her pack, taking a more comfortable seat on the sea sand, retrieving her waterskin and taking a few big gulps. The animation process may have looked like a lot of sitting or idle meditation to onlookers,  but focusing all ones energy into mental actions was not an easy task and often left her feeling very drained after a single sitting. Along with the waterskin, she also pulled a banana from the bag and proceeded to peel and eat it, enjoying the soothing beach atmosphere, even now she could feel the faint pull towards the wagon, an unpleasant side effect of using her own soul as a template for its soulcore.

After about half a bell of rest Kamilla was returning to the source circle and taking a seat in its center, another prick of the finger and drop.of blood and the circle hummed to life once more, her eyes already shut as she focused on aligning her thoughts with the circle and it's energies in order to return to her mental workspace. It took a while, several chimes in fact,  but eventually she could see her own glowing lavender shape, the glowing lines of the circles and the husk of the wagon with its steadily brightening soulcore. It was time properly flesh out thr golem's astral body and teach it rge necessary skills it would need to do its job.

Reaching across the circles with disembodied hands formed of pure intent, Kamilla began to impose her will on the tiny soulcore, grabbing and kneading the light it produced before slowly stetching it out and filling the wagon's empty husk with the expanding soulcore. She was very careful to make sure that the glow filled out every part of the wagon's physical form, or it wouldn't not be able to move properly. It was a simple enough task but very time consuming, the soulcore was like both a fire and dough at the same time, first she needed to coax and encourage it's glow by expand and then she'd take that glow and stretch or guide it into ever corner and inch of the golem's shape until, finally, she was satisfied with her work.

Taking a mental step back, Kamilla was pleased to see that where there once was a husk with a single glowing core in its center, there was now the translucent growing shape of the wagon, it's soulcore still a bead of the brightest light deep within it. In the back of her mind, Kamilla wondered if people had a soulcore too, it seemed likely, after all animation was the magic of granting life to that which was previously lifeless. The only difference is that her golems were not yet able to learn and adapt beyond what she'd initially taught them.

With the astal body now properly shaped, Kamilla went on to teach her golem how to use its body to accomplish it's directives. First came the easiest bit, mentally twisting all four of the wheels forwards to demonstrate the skill of movement, then rotating the wheels in the opposite direction to teach it how to reverse. Next was turning, thankfully Lars had improved upon her rudimentary blueprints with an impressively simple yet functional axis attached to the two front wheels, this was twisted to the left then right in order to teach the golem how to change directions.

With the simple skills of movement successfully transmitted, Kamilla moved onto what would be her first attempt at teaching a golem to see. Focusing on the reflective stone embedded in the wagon's front panel, she focused on teaching the golem to use the images reflected in its stone to carry out its directives, to identify her or a secondary or tertiary loyalty holder, to use its sight to identify the cobbled road and obstacles and to identify day and night. The process would work in tandem with the golem's persona  knowledge, linking each skills to the images she'd transmitted during the first sitting so that it would be able to associate what it was seeing with what it knew.

Words: 706
User avatar
Kamilla
Magical Mistress
 
Posts: 577
Words: 592212
Joined roleplay: November 16th, 2014, 5:52 pm
Location: Syka
Race: Human
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Journal
Plotnotes
Medals: 3
Featured Character (1) Overlored (1)
Syka Seasonal Challenge (1)

Becoming My Own Salvation Pt.2

Postby Kamilla on June 30th, 2019, 3:52 pm

Image

Kamilla Circe Gordon


With the astral body finally complete, having been taught how to move and perceive, Kamilla was relieved to have only a single step left to complete, easily the easiest step too. The awakening. It had been a long evening and Kamilla was certain that it had been at least six bells since she'd arrived and begun to draw the animation circle as well as the glyphs,  she was exhausted and beyond ready to be done with the Golem, though she felt something was missing, something probably pointless but in her opinion meaningful. She had yet to decide on a name for her new golem.

Of course, the wagon was not capable of hearing, so a name would not be something it would ever be able to experience being called by, but Kamilla felt that all living things deserved a name, she saw it as a milestone of being alive and she felt that even her golems deserved that privilege. She thought and thought, any name would do, do why couldn't she decide on one. Until finally one came to mind...

Wally...

It was a silly name, but it didn't matter, as long as it had one.

Taking a deep breath, both mentally and physically, Kamilla focused on her own life energy,  her djed, the inner essence of what was essentially her true form... and with a focused mind, exhaled hard, breathing life into her new golem and completing the awakening.

In her mental workspace Kamilla could see the soft glow of the wagon's astral body hum to life, intensifying in brightness and pulsating rather than maintaining a constant level of luminescence and she knew her job was down.

Opening her eyes,  Kamilla felt the energy of the circle die down once again, this time for good. The golem was complete and the circle was no longer needed. With this in mind, the mage got to her feet and did another exaggerated feline stretch,  head spinning somewhat as her blood began to rush for a moment before slowing to a more natural pace. Brown eyes moved to the wagon, which appeared no different to how it had looked earlier that day, but if she had done her job correctly,  then it would now be an object with a rudimentary form of life.

Stepping around the golem, Wally, to investigate it's mundane appearance, Kamilla ran a hand along the smooth wood of its form, stopping once she reached its front side and eyeing thr reflective stone embedded in it. The stone that it would use to perceive the world. It was time for a test.

"Okay, Wally... I know you can't hear me but it's time for the moment if truth. Here goes..."

Taking a step back to make sure she was in clear view, Kamilla took a deep breath in preparation for the big reveal. While she had somewhat successfully animated several things in the past few years, she was never sure that the object wouldn't just remain an inanimate one until she saw it in action.

Exhaling slowly, Kamilla used her left hand to form an 'O' shape with her fingers, the activation signal, then with her entire hand gestured for the wagon to follow and began walking towards the cobbled road.

There was a moment, a pause filled with deafening silence as she watched the wagon fail to react in any way, her heart slowly preparing to drop if it turned our that she had failed in her attempt and then... A loud sigh of relief as all the anticipation she had built up finally dissipated into a cloud of pleasantness. The golem, Wally, slowly began moving back and forth on the small stone slab that it found itself on, rotating in increments until it could finally find its way onto the cobbled road where it stopped a few feet short of Kamilla and waited patiently. If it were a dog, Kamilla was sure it would be wagging it's tail happily, adoration was at its core after all.

Now smiling from ear to ear, Kamilla went to retrieve her bag and place it within the small wagon golem, once again signaling for Wally to follow, which it did. "Thank goodness." Pleased with her accomplished, Kamilla strutted her way back towards the city core, loyal wagon following close behind.

Words: 722

Wally, golem :
Name: Wally
Item: Small Wooden Wagon
Commands: Numerous Hand Signs
Source: Kamilla
Description: Wally is a wheelbarrow sized wooden wagon, animated to follow Kamilla, or anyone she gives temporary loyalty to, along the cobbled road in order to transport her work supplies with ease. It perceives the world through a reflective stone on its front and responds only to specific hand signs.



User avatar
Kamilla
Magical Mistress
 
Posts: 577
Words: 592212
Joined roleplay: November 16th, 2014, 5:52 pm
Location: Syka
Race: Human
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Journal
Plotnotes
Medals: 3
Featured Character (1) Overlored (1)
Syka Seasonal Challenge (1)

Becoming My Own Salvation Pt.2

Postby Madeira Dusk on September 13th, 2019, 2:14 am

Image
Grades Awarded!

Don't forget to edit/delete your grade request!


Kamilla

Skills
  • Organization: 2xp
  • Planning: 3xp
  • Animation: 5xp
  • Drawing: 2xp
  • Glyphing: 2xp
  • Meditation: 3xp
  • Endurance: 1xp
  • Philosophy: 1xp
  • Observation: 1xp

Lores
  • Glyphing: a more personal design
  • Lore of learning from past success
  • Organization: to-do list
  • Meditation: accessing the 'mental workspace'
  • Animation: the consequences of creating a soulcore from oneself
  • Animation: the most important attributes of a persona
  • Endurance: taking the chance to rest
  • Animation: the nature of a soulcore
  • Animation: teaching sight to a golem
  • Philosophy: the privilege of a name

Awards & Retribution
+Wally, animated golem

Notes
Every once in a while I'll read a thread like this and remember why world magic is the best magic. Congratulations on your new golem! <3
User avatar
Madeira Dusk
long may she reign
 
Posts: 1774
Words: 1599220
Joined roleplay: October 11th, 2016, 7:45 pm
Race: Human
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Journal
Plotnotes
Medals: 11
Featured Contributor (1) Featured Thread (3)
Mizahar Grader (1) Overlored (1)
Donor (1) One Thousand Posts! (1)
One Million Words! (1) Lhavit Seasonal Challenge (1)
2018 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1)


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests