[Guide] Sorvians & Sorvian Sculpting

[Archipelego 2188]

 

https://www.lordofthecraft.net/forums/topic/187842-%E2%9C%93-feat-lore-sorvian-sculpting-ca-race-lore-sorvians/ 

Sorvians

The Sorvian; a creature created out of equal parts obsession and genius. A more apt term would be ‘Neo-Sorvian’, as these creatures are a mere mimicry of their predecessors. Creatures of clay turned flesh, wood turned skeleton, and porcelain masks, the Sorvian is a creature made to embrace an attitude of devotion and servitude. This devotion and servitude comes in many forms, but there is a unifying trait amongst all Sorvians; ideologies.

 

A Sorvian will attach themselves to an ideology as a drowning man holds onto a floatation device in the ocean. It makes up what they are, how they feel, and how they act. As such, a new Sorvian exposed to a particular ideology will almost always stick onto it, like glue. However, once a Sorvian attaches themselves to a specific ideology, it’s incredibly difficult to break them from it. It is possible, however, at some expense to the wellbeing of the Sorvian.

 

The Sculptor

The act of creating a Sorvian is known as Sculpting, and as such, those who can make Sorvians are known as Sorvian Sculptors. Sorvian Sculpting is a feat, and requires a soul of some kind to participate in. This is because, when creating a Sorvian, a Sculptor transfers a small amount of their soul essence to the entity. Because of this, a Sorvian Sculptor can only create three Sorvians within any three month period. This can be distributed in any way; three all at once, every three months, or one every month. However, this cannot be ‘stacked’ if you don’t create Sorvians for a while.

 

A Husk is a Sorvian’s body before the Awakening process. A suitable Husk, with human strength and proportions, is within 3-6ft in height. Newts, a type of Sorvian with the strength and proportions of a halfling, stand between 2-3ft in height. The skeleton of this Husk must be made out of some kind of wood, constructed to be able to stand up on its own before the next step. Then, this must be covered, in its entirety, with clay. There can be no exposed area of wooden skeleton, though the thickness of the clay should be dependent on the area and how proportionate the amount of ‘flesh’ would be there. Failure to follow these steps would result in a failure of a Husk, which would crumble in any attempted Incanting.

 

Next comes the mask. The mask of a Sorvian is the most crucial part of all it’s features. It must be made of porcelain, with an identifiable mouth and two eye holes. Then, an Incantation must be scrawled on the back of this mask. This Incantation is entirely gibberish; any true meaning is lost, and there’s no decipherable language from the symbols. The exact nature of what the Incantation is is largely unknown and unknowable, but it seems to come naturally to any Sorvian Sculptor. This Incantation is scrawled on the back of a suitable mask, and when pressed onto the head region of a suitable Husk, the Awakening will take place.

 

The Awakening is the simple act of bringing a Sorvian to ‘life’. This is done by connecting a suitable Husk and mask. A wave of pale blue light will radiate out from where the mask makes contact, engulfing the whole Husk within a span of a few seconds and giving the Husk the spark of life and intelligence needed to become a Sorvian. Really what’s happening is the soul essence instilled into the mask by the Incanting process is being spread and distributed throughout the clay Husk, which seems to respond positively to it.

 

Sorvian Sculptors maintain the ability to both repair and revive injured and dead Sorvians. By the creation of a new clay and wood limb, with a new incantation scrawled on the supposed point of connection, the new limb can be connected in a similar wave of blue light as the original Awakening. However, this limb will always be more pale than the rest of the Sorvian, a constant reminder that it’s not the original. Additionally, the point of connection will always have a line of what can be considered ‘scar tissue’, more soft tissue.

 

Larger wounds, such as large chunks of flesh missing, can be fixed as well. Mixing wet clay with blood and packing it into the wound, and then allowing it to dry, would allow for the wound to be essentially fixed. However, this isn’t particularly flush. The repaired area will forever be rougher, like scar tissue, as well as paler than the rest of the Sorvian.

 

A Sorvian’s death, much like a golems, can be a possible PK. However, there is a method by which any Sorvian Sculptor, not just the original creator, can bring the Sorvian back. By recovering the mask off a dead Sorvian and putting it on a new, suitable Husk, the Sorvian will be brought back to life, with the same memory and death rules applying as normal Descendants. However, the new Husk will undergo a transformation into an extremely accurate approximation of the Sorvian’s previous one. This means, functionally, a Sorvian will forever persist in the same timeless form. If the mask is destroyed, it can be recreated by any Sorvian Sculpture, with the same nonsensical Incantation.

 

 

The Sorvian

It’s important to know that a Sorvian, although humanoid, is firmly in the uncanny valley. Even a detailed Husk will be smoothed over during the Awakening, with artificial tendons and such forming and flexing beneath the surface. A pale, sexless entity with no true distinguishing features and a blank, white, porcelain mask. It’s enough to make most people uncomfortable. As such, most Sorvians learn to cover up their forms with clothing, enough to make them appear both Descendant in nature and of their particular ideology.

 

A Sorvian has the eyesight and hearing of a human; never any better, never any worse. Their vocal range starts out very neutral, but will develop as they learn speech, tongues, and accents of those around them until a Sorvian learns to mimic rather well. These things, along with their desire to be one with an ideology and a people, will present a somewhat decent mimicry of Descendant life. One thing deters from this, however; the mask. The Sorvian is too proud of it’s mask to even think about hiding or covering the thing in any such way. Some deep, intrinsic part of it’s being knows it’s mask is an essential part of it’s being, necessary for its survival. A Sorvian will always think of it’s mask as it’s ‘face’, and has a hard time accepting the fact that it’s in fact still a mask of porcelain.

 

A Sorvian does not have blood. Limbs can be severed and the Sorvian will persist, their force of will and their dulled sense of pain keeping them going. However, this does not mean that a Sorvian is truly immune to pain-- far from it. Instead of sharp pain for a week or so while a wound recovers, a Sorvian feels a constant, dull ache from any wound. This is proportionate to the wound in question, small cuts would be felt marginally longer before fading into obscurity and tolerance. Larger wounds, however, would take elven months before they could be relatively ignored by the Sorvian. Even then, however, they aren’t gone, always a constant, dull ache, a building pain on the psyche of the Sorvian. In times of stress for the Sorvian, these wounds will return, deemed ‘phantom pains’.

 

A Sorvian will always have a sense of respect and reverence for their creator. As such, a Sorvian will, if asked, follow out a command given to them by their creator. They aren’t bound to their creator, though. A Sorvian is fully capable of carrying out any desire they themselves have, and aren’t reliant on their creator to give commands. They will wander of their own accord, likely getting involved with whatever it is they find unless a creator is there to direct them in a specific direction. However, there is one command a creator cannot give; a Sorvian will not, in any circumstance, willingly harm their own mask. It is too precious to them.

 

Sorvians are relatively immortal. Their form will persist forever, but is still capable of entropy and degradation. Even daily life will wear down the body of a Sorvian, the strains and small injuries of their dedication slowly building up over years. This means that, by the end of a decade, or a century, of a Sorvian toiling away, they will be a mess of scars, wounds, and rough repair jobs, all simply to keep them going, serving, and working.