I need some ideas for homunculi, the artificial human kind, not the little familiar. My next BBEG for my 5e campaign is going to be a powerful wizard who specializes in manipulating life energies and is a skilled alchemist, so naturally manufactured soldiers were a fitting choice as his main work force. There's a lot of ways to go about them but I want some more opinions before I set anything in stone.
Some things to consider:
-How are they created? Grown in a tank or magically created quickly from components?
-How do they act? Are they mindless constructs or do they have personalities and character traits?
-How do they look? Are they the walking image of human perfection or are they monstrous organic constructs?
-Quality or Quantity? Should they be superhuman and few in number or should they be simple clones that serve a purpose?
The process starts on an assembly line. Various humanoids of all sorts have their meat and organs stripped for the bones which are carefully arranged and placed, kept together by some sinewy substance.
As the skeletons are placed into crystal containers and locked into it's pedestel where several cables feed into it and cause the container to glow and the solution to bubble upon connecting.
Next to it are the others with varying stages of development showing the muslces, tissues and organs slowly growing into place with the finished product being a genderless humanoid figure, hairless covered in colored blotches that seem to shift by reflex.
As the forging process completes attendants let the creature out of the container and bring a cart with foul smelling mush composed of the ground up bio matter from the initial cleaning process for it to feed on before it is lead away.
>>43975274
Grown in a vat from various organic matter
There is no set consciousness, it has to be an artificial personality possibly implanted through a stone or relic.
Appearance wise should be based off the material used.
Lower tier ones made from simple materials should be fodder or for labor, the higher tiered ones should be for combat purposes.
>>43975274
>ORIGIN
Balancing based on purpose would be cool
>LOOKS
Dependz on purpose
>ACT/PERSONALITY
Purpose
>QUALITY x QUANTITY
Dependa on purpose
Essentially, an elite inflitrator homunculi would be human like, would take time and would require indoctrination or something to be made more "human" in terms of personality and mental skills, probably give them special abilities like shapeshifting or camouflage.
A fighter homunculi could range from an inhuman elite brute, very hard to make, or a mass produced mook type, both inhuman looking.
A worker force would be nearly instantaneous to produce, very weak and dumb, and possibly temporary in existence.
Axlotl tanks.
Gholas.
>>43975274
Created: Homunculi are formed from a combination of herbs, roots, and organic material. Growth is started out in large sealed flasks as a pseudo-fetus-thing and initial development is coaxed using magical energy (1 per flask). After it's developed a little it is moved into an oxygenated solution of nutrients, proteins, etc along with a special serum to accelerate growth (capacity depends on the size of the vat). Depending on how well/convincingly they are wanted to grow they can stay in the vat for anywhere from 2 weeks to several months. Additional specific processes can be applied afterwards to achieve certain qualities (size, strength, intelligence, certain features, limbs, etc). Note, there are different requirements for homunculi of different "species".
Personality: They start out as little more than mindless drones or simple children wanting to please their father/mother. Depending on individual intelligence and experiences, vague personalities and habits can be developed. The older the homunculus, the more developed it tends to become. Strangely enough younger ones tend to want to huddle together with each other when they have no current tasks.
Appearance: Varies depending on how they were grown and how long they were grown. Ones that were rushed will have much smoother, almost seamless features; very few wrinkles, thin lips, pale skin, hairless, asexual appearance. The longer the homunculus is gestated the more lifelike they will become, although this occurs with random features; hair, skin creases, genitalia, more natural skin tones. Ironically once a homunculus gestated for longer than about 3 months it will cross the uncanny valley and seem a bit too lifelike.
Quality/Quantity: Depends on average gestation period. If the BBEG wants an army, shorter gestations will allow for more homunculi to be pumped out on a regular basis. If they want stronger homunculi, resources and attention will have to be more focused.
>>43975274
>-How are they created? Grown in a tank or magically created quickly from components?
Depends on the resources available and the time you're willing to spend. Vat growth takes time, but the results tend to be more stable. High powered bio-transmutations can produce results in a jiffy, but those results tend to be crude and unreliable. Nothing worse than a homunculous which falls apart right when you need it most.
By far the easiest way is to mystically impregnate a cow (not as much fun as it sounds). If you balance the elemental anima correctly you'll get a fine, sturdy homunculous in a little over 9 months; plus fresh milk. Of course they tend to pick up some cow traits in the process, but that can be controlled and no one I've worked with ever regretted having an army of minotaurs to command. The kingdom of Perria produces their Centaur Cavalry using similar methods.
>-How do they act? Are they mindless constructs or do they have personalities and character traits?
Basic survival instincts can be easily imprinted using animal templates, but most homunculi will require raising/training to be useful. You can shorten the time that takes with mind magics, but anything beyond basic speech and literacy tends to take a fair amount of subtly to get right. If you want specific personality traits, skills, or even fake memories you should higher an expert in mental manipulation.
>-How do they look? Are they the walking image of human perfection or are they monstrous organic constructs?
>-Quality or Quantity? Should they be superhuman and few in number or should they be simple clones that serve a purpose?
All of the above. Your typical bio-alchemist will whip-up lots of drones for drudgery, and a few elites for grander purposes. Pretty ones are popular for general use, but ugly ones are great when you want to scare the peasantry into line.
>>43975274
I would reccomend you play or at least look up the Geneforge series. It tackles the idea of wizards creating life and the consequences very well in my opinion, and is a fun set of games to boot.
Forget making an army. Make a human version of this. Mass-produce sterile Wifeus and wait a generation until the land is empty.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterile_insect_technique
