[hider=Number 14] [table][row][/row][row][cell][center][img]https://i.pinimg.com/564x/41/99/89/419989d1f441f4135d5742d92670473b.jpg[/img] [color=white]_______________________________[/color][/center][indent][indent] [quote][sub][b]NAME:[/b][/sub] [indent][sup]Number 14[/sup][/indent] [sub][b]AGE:[/b][/sub] [indent][sup]50[/sup][/indent] [sub][b]RACE:[/b][/sub] [indent][sup]Stone golem[/sup][/indent] [sub][b]PRONOUNS:[/b][/sub] [indent][sup]Genderless, but they tend to use they/them or he/him pronouns. [/sup][/indent] [sub][b]HOMETOWN:[/b][/sub] [indent][sup]Unknown[/sup][/indent] [sub][b]HEIGHT:[/b][/sub] [indent][sup]8’0”[/sup][/indent] [sub][b]WEIGHT:[/b][/sub] [indent][sup]22,000 lbs[/sup][/indent][/quote] [/indent][/indent][center]_______________________________[/center] [I]"The ticking never stops. The angles hurt me when I try to think."[/i] [/cell][cell][center] [img]https://txt.1001fonts.net/img/txt/dHRmLjQwLjg0N2Q3ZC5UblZ0WW1WeUlERTAuMA,,/sedgwick-co.regular.png[/img] _______________________________ [sup][h1] [color=black]The Stone Rejected[/color] [color=white]The Stone Rejected[/color] [/h1][/sup] [I]"I belong nowhere. I find none like myself. What is my purpose in this place?"[/i] [/center] [sup][h2][color=181818][b]▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅[/b][right][b]▅▅▅▅▅[/b][/right][/color][center][b][color=black]What are you? [/color][/b] [b][color=white]What are you?[/color][/b][/center][/h2][/sup] [indent][b]APPEARANCE [sub]▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔[/sub][/b] [I]"I am a rock."[/i] [indent] Number 14 is golem, a sentient construct composed of granite. His entire body is cobbled together out of these stones via arcane runes that act kind of like joints. Number 14’s body is humanoid, but it isn’t very well-defined, with no musculature, hair, or genitals, though he does wear clothes because otherwise people get uncomfortable. He stands eight feet tall, with hulking shoulders and a noticeable hunch. Number 14 doesn’t have a neck at all really, as his head just connects right to his shoulders. His arms are gargantuan, with thick forearms and hands the size of catcher’s mitts. On his left forearm is inscribed the words “Number Fourteen”, which is where he gets his name. Number 14’s head is round, with a square jaw (literally cut of stone), and a bald scalp. He has a straight mouth, literally a straight line that cannot show emotion, a bump reminiscent of a nose, and two perfectly round eyes that glow white. Number 14 is a tank of a being and he moves like one, striding slowly but deliberately, the ground literally shaking beneath him. He can be quite clumsy and often bumps into objects, usually destroying them in the process. Dexterity is not Number 14’s forte. He is incredibly slow, his fastest possible movement speed a little more than a jog, but he moves with terrifying force. Number 14’s voice is as low as you can imagine, like the earth itself is rumbling in a speech pattern. To make other beings more comfortable, Number 14 wears clothing. Generally, he wears a beige short-sleeved tunic, a brown hood, a brown leather belt, and brown trousers. He doesn’t wear shoes, as getting a tailor to make pants big enough to cover his gargantuan ass was hard enough and getting a cobbler to custom make him shoes would be too much of a bother. He carries no obvious weaponry of any kind (read: he is the weapon). [/indent] [b]CAPABILITIES [sub]▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔[/sub][/b] [I]"I have determined the logical solution to this problem to be: punching."[/i] [indent]Number 14 is a golem, a true tank amongst tanks. He is extremely heavy owing to his rock-carved nature, clocking in at over 22,000 lbs, not much lighter than a school bus. As a rule, golems can lift as much as they weigh, making Number 14 staggeringly strong. To put this into perspective, Number 14 could bench press a bull elephant without breaking a sweat and throw cars (if they existed) around like they’re frisbees. Number 14’s punch is, unsurprisingly, devastating, capable of obliterating basically whatever it hits. The force behind one of his punches is relatively equivalent to getting hit by a midsize SUV going 20 mph. When impact occurs, bones snap, tissues turn to jelly, and armor shatters to bits. Basically, if you are about to get hit by Number 14’s punch, your best course of action is to put your head between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye. Some wooden structures, as well as structures made of rocks less hard than granite, such as stucco, brick, or limestone, hardly stand up to one of Number 14’s punches either, making him a great siege weapon. To counterbalance this, however, Number 14 is extremely slow and his attacks are telegraphed to all hell, to the point where you have to either be stupid or cornered to get hit by one. Number 14 is slow in general, his top speed only about 4 mph, a light jog. In addition, Number 14’s granite nature makes him extremely durable. Slashing or piercing weapons, such as arrows or swords, are basically useless against him, the equivalent of trying to use a knife to mine ore. Some elemental damage, such as fire or electricity, also barely effects Number 14 due to his naturally fire-retardant nature. As a golem, Number 14 is also magically immutable, meaning that spells that alter the shape of stone cannot be used to mess with his body. While basically immune to piercing and slashing, concussive or blunt-force damage is effective against Number 14 and can do massive damage to him. In warfare, golems are often countered with cannonfire, as a hit from a cannon can take them down in one hit and golems are usually too slow to get out of the way. An additional weakness is that Number 14’s body is held together by a series of arcane sigils in his joints. Essentially, two identical sigils are placed on each side of the joint and these together allow it to animate. If either of these runes are damaged, the limb stops functioning and it can’t be fixed— the entire joint has to be sanded down and the sigils replaced, a process which can take days and that can only be done by experienced golem-crafters (few and far between in Deadwood). Another advantage of being a golem is that Number 14 doesn’t require water, food, or oxygen to live, as he is powered by an internal magical battery made of the souls of dozens of sacrificed creatures. This battery gives him significant endurance, despite his slowness, meant to keep golems industrious when they are mining or doing other manual labor tasks. Number 14 does need to sleep, especially after exerting himself a lot, as the battery needs time to recharge. While sleeping, Number 14’s arcane limb joints weaken, meaning that he becomes even more lethargic than usual. Normally, he needs about 4 hours of sleep to function at full capacity. An additional built-in flaw of the golem is their lifespan, which is predetermined from their birth. Every golem lives for 100 years and 1 day, and after that their battery fails and they collapse into a pile of rocks. [i]Stone of Far Speech:[/i] One thing that Number 14 possesses (that most golems do not) is a rock with a spiraling arcane sigil carved into it. This rock fits into Number 14's body where his right ear would be and unlike the other rocks in him, it can be removed and replaced without damaging him. If the rock is removed, Number 14 can continue to hear through it and can speak through it, kind of like a walkie talkie. If he closes his eyes, Number 14 can see limitedly through the stone as well, though only for a few feet. The stone can be moved any distance away from Number 14 and still work, but if it is destroyed, he cannot generate a new one. [i]An important aspect of golem psychology:[/i] Something else I want to mention: golems are not people. Their minds work in somewhat alien ways compared to a human and they’re much more akin to a slightly more sentient computer. They aren’t unintelligent, per say— Number 14 can read, write, and solve math problems that the average medieval person couldn’t— but golems possess a certain inflexibility in their thinking and a lack of creativity. Golems have a hard time coming up with or solving problems that require outside-the-box thinking, and this is something Number 14 struggles with. General golem problem-solving consists of the following: (1) try the most direct solution, (2) if direct solution doesn’t work, give up, or (3) continue trying the direct solution anyways until either it works or the golem collapses of exhaustion. [/indent] [b]EQUIPMENT [sub]▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔[/sub][/b] [I]"This small one gives me comfort."[/i] [indent]Number 14 packs light. He carries only a burlap sack with a rope strap in which he stores his few possessions. Within this bag are a few silver pieces, several rocks that Number 14 has collected across his journey (mostly quartz crystals of various varieties), and a statue of a stout humanoid made out of clay which was given to him by a child. The statue gives him a sense of companionship, though he knows it is illogical to tie such feelings to an inanimate object. [/indent] [/indent][/cell][/row][/table] [sup][h2][color=181818][b]▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅[/b][right][b]▅▅▅▅▅[/b][/right][/color][center][b][color=black]Who are you? [/color][/b] [b][color=white]Who are you?[/color][/b][/center][/h2][/sup] [indent][b]GOAL [sub]▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔[/sub][/b] [I]"Exusia, the city in the sky...."[/i] [indent]As a golem, Number 14 is inextricably motivated to find a single fulfilling purpose in life. Golems were not made to be free thinkers- they have a master that controls their every action. But Number 14 doesn’t have this, and it hurts to not have a purpose. Currently, Number 14’s goal is to return to Exusia, where he hopes someone can make him a talisman and find a purpose for him. [/indent] [b]PERSONALITY [sub]▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔[/sub][/b] [I]"I feel...feeling causes me discomfort."[/i] [indent]Golems weren’t meant to be free. The mind of a golem is much more similar to a computer than a person, designed to focus on a single mundane task for an incredible amount of time. The golem’s master is supposed to do the thinking for it, but Number 14 has no master. Furthermore, Number 14 has cannot remember who his master was or anything about his life prior to awakening in the Sea of Bones. From his point of view, he just kind of...showed up one day. This is all context just to understand how Number 14 is as a...person? Number 14 is highly logical in his thought process, but is single-minded and stubborn. He loves performing mundane tasks such as cooking, laundry, or manual labor, and does not seem at all distressed at all by harsh working conditions. Sometimes, he will show up at mining camps or lumber yards, work for a few hours unprompted, and then continue on with his life, not asking for payment and ignoring any who try to stop him from leaving. Thinking in the way humans think causes Number 14 distress, especially talking about his feelings or attempting to come up with hypothetical scenarios. For the most part, his head is pretty devoid of such thoughts, but being forced to imagine things or think outside of the box causes him pain. If you have ever dealt with the psychic pain caused by a mental illness such as OCD, this is how Number 14 feels when he does this. Number 14 has emotions in the same way that a McDonald’s cheeseburger has meat in it: it’s buried very deep down and hardly noticeable from the surface. Most feelings Number 14 talks about are physical sensations: hot, cold, in pain, etc. He rarely says that he is happy, sad, or angry and is very difficult to read due to his inexpressive face. He definitely feels comfort and safety around things he is familiar with, and feels anxiety and fear around things which threaten him. The primary emotions in Number 14’s head are longing and loneliness, an empty space in his heart not unfamiliar to those who have experienced heartbreak. Number 14 feels like something is missing from him in a very literal way. He has no dreams or hopes for his life, just a dull pain in his chest that drives him to look for answers to his purpose in existing. Working lets him ignore this pain for some time, but it always returns, pounding in his chest and temples like a war drum. Despite his hulking size and physical prowess, Number 14 is slow to anger and generally dislikes violence. If given the opportunity to talk a situation out, he will do so, even if he thinks he could win the fight. If talking doesn’t work, Number 14 usually just leaves, using his bulk to shrug off any attacks he might face from an aggressor. In his estimation, most of the folk who are dumb enough to pick a fight with a golem usually lack the ability to actually damage one, and thus far in his memory Number 14 has never been injured by a person starting a fight with him (monsters are another story). Insults generally either bounce off of Number 14 or go over his head completely. Taking offense from words is illogical in his opinion. By alignment, Number 14’s probably Lawful Neutral. He doesn’t go out of his way to right wrongs in which he is not involved, but if given the option he’ll generally try to do the right thing. As mentioned prior, Number 14 likes following orders, and if asked to do something he’ll generally just do it. Remorse is not an emotion that comes easily to Number 14, and he doesn’t usually apologize for things. If he does something wrong, he usually writes it off either as him not having full understanding of the situation or something out of his control occurring. He might say something like “I did not intend to rip your arm off”, but he won’t say “I am sorry that I ripped your arm off.” [/indent][/indent] [sup][h2][color=181818][b]▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅[/b][right][b]▅▅▅▅▅[/b][/right][/color][center][b][color=black]Why are you? [/color][/b] [b][color=white]Why are you?[/color][/b][/center][/h2][/sup] [I]"The ticking never stops."[/i] [indent] [hider=Paranoid Android by Radiohead][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lt8AfIeJOxw[/youtube][/hider] The ticking never stops. The whirring and grinding of gears I cannot see persists no matter what solution I employ. When I try to stop them, my mind slips off unsuccessful. My mind slips off of many things. It is as if my mind is filled with sharp things that cut me when I try to think, but I cannot see the knives. I am locked in a container and I cannot see the walls. I do not know who I am. I do not know why I am here. I awoke in a field with dust clouds above me and the remnants of farmland around me. Dried grass and animal bones prickled against my stone. I found words carved into my arm: Number Fourteen. I think that is my name. I do not know how I know how to read these words, but I do. I do not remember learning to read. I do not remember anything. Perhaps I fell in battle in that field. Perhaps I was born there, some cosmic entity’s attempt at comedy to make a stone contemplate its existence...there it is again, the cutting against my thoughts. I do not think I was made to think. I rose from that field and I traveled, hoping to find answers to my questions. I found nothing but bones and sand. I saw a great fortress between two mountains. I walked its halls, looking for purpose, but I was met with hostility. I am often met with hostility. There was a man there with a great hammer. He meant to kill me. He called me a monster. In the end, he was easy to throw, and then he died. I was no longer welcome in that place. I do not even remember its name. I met a man on a dirt road who was a spellcaster. He called himself Henrich. He told me some things that were useful to me. I am a golem, a creature made of stone by magic. I was created to serve a spellcaster, but in order to serve them, they must possess a talisman which controls my behaviors and actions. Henrich asked me where my talisman was, and I did not know. I still do not know if it even exists. Henrich had never heard of a golem without a talisman, but he figured that part of my distress comes from this nature. He said there was a place where I could learn more, a place called Exusia, but it is up in the clouds and impossible to reach. He said he might know a person who could take me there. Before we could go, however, we were attacked in the night. Beasts set upon us from the wilderness: large black wolves with teeth so large they couldn’t close their mouths. The wolves could not harm me, but Henrich was killed. I never learned of the person who could take me to Exusia. At least now I have a direction. I must travel to Exusia and find where I came from. Otherwise, I will never be satisfied and this grim pain will never leave me. [/indent] [sup][h2][color=181818][b]▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅[/b][right][b]▅▅▅▅▅[/b][/right][/color][center][b][color=black]What else is there? [/color][/b] [b][color=white]What else is there?[/color][/b][/center][/h2][/sup] [indent][hider=I am a Rock by Simon and Garfunkel][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKlSVNxLB-A[/youtube][/hider][/indent][/hider]