It is Aaron here to give you the lowdown on the most down-to-earth undead there is. I would like to be a little sappy, though, before we get there. For those of you uninterested in fluff, skip down past the picture for the rest of you. Thanks for listening. I feared that I would never be here. I worried I would never get the chance to do the things I loved in any sort of significant way. But now nearly 150 people have a physical copy of a book I wrote coming to their door, and 50 more are reading it digitally. I don't know what to do with the emotions I feel other than try and thank you all. I hope that the game I offer you will be enough, even more though, I hope that the games to come give you just as much joy! Okay, saps done, let's get to Golems
Tulip the Grave Golem tending their Yard
A heap of grave dirt given life and form-pressed and polished by the life force. Given the humanoid shape, you are a grave golem. Most of your sort are hardy, sturdy, and even seen as “respectable” among the warmbloods. Most Grave Golems hold a deep respect for burial sites and feel a connection to any graveyard, even if it's outside of their own beliefs.
Due to their innate guardian nature, Grave Golems rarely leave a place, preferring to stay in one graveyard and tend to it throughout their undeath. Golems that don't have a specific yard they return to are often bombarded by other Grave Golems with questions and requests for recitations from the rolling stone. Similarly, Golems tend to share their graveyards with traveling Golems, considering it an honor to share soil with one another, along with stories.
In an odd form of symbiosis, many ghouls and Golems work together. The ghoul facilitates proper burials for dead found near the golem's gravesite in exchange, the golem will allow the ghoul to rotate old bodies out for personal use. While the golem does respect rites of burial, most don't care what happens to a body after the ceremony, so long as the rituals and observances for that person's customs were observed. This relationship is further enriched when the golem is given riddles, puzzles, or other thought-provoking tasks that make it contemplate.
Grave Golems choose graveyards based on their own personal preferences, but for most, the graveyard must be abandoned. Once they have it fixed up and the Golem has done an inventory of the plots, the Golem will begin filling in vacancies, with any dead they can find at first, but if unable to, they will feel an unearthly compulsion to fill those vacancies and begin looking in any place they can find.
🪦Key Attribute: Strength (+1)
💀 Undead Boon — Earthbound: You start with rank 1 earth or sigil magic. Additionally, you do not need a tutor to learn higher ranks of this magic. Reduce all damage you take by 1 to a minimum of 1.
🪨 Stony hands: All quickdraw checks involving your hands are made at -2
🩸 Healing — Loamy Grave: Once per new dawn, you can rest in grave soil to heal 1d6 life force. If you buried a living human here, heal 2d6 life force or a critical injury.
⚰️Post-Mortem Questions:
When you woke as a grave golem, did you innately try to connect with the nearest grave to you, or did you wander? What burial rite did you first learn from touching grave soil?
How do you feel about the preparation of human remains for the consumption of other undead? Does this feel like a violation of your innate duties, a sacred service, or something else entirely?
What was the most touching gravesite you have ever seen, and why? What stories have you made about the person based on the small part of them you saw?
How good a poet are you when compared to other Golems? Are you proud of your work regardless? What do you feel you need to experience to heighten that work?
What truth about a personal history compels you to make sure it's known? How does it affect your perception of current events?
When was the worst melancholy that ever hit you? How many graves did you fill to end the hurt? How many flowers and poems did you write to try to honor them after?
From a mechanical perspective, Grave Golems are neat magical tanks! I have also made a lot of their mechanics revolve around the Graves they make! So be sure to have plenty of bodies on standby if you wanna be strong! Thanks again, everyone. i worked really hard to make this world feel... alive for lack of a better word. I know you'll love making stories in it as much as I loved making it. Tomorrow we are covering one of the Classics! They are hungry for brains.
