Construct

Specifically living (or life-like) animated beings. Categories:

Animatrons and Clockwork

These are the simplest form, either brought to life by spells temporarily or constructed around clockwork mechanisms and simple magicite-powered cores. They cannot learn or grow and are extremely restricted in their responses to new information. Clockwork cannot be reprogrammed once constructed. "Bound", long-duration animatrons can be found in ancient ruins, but the secret to constructing such has been lost. Simple clockwork can be constructed, but generally limited to toy uses and simple contraptions.

Golems

Golems are bodies of unliving matter animated by summoned and bound elemental forces (usually a combination of earth, water, and air; fire is too volatile) in the form of True Words. Unlike animatrons, golems can be given new orders and are generally imprinted with a core set of commands to obey the one holding the control wand or their creator. Suited mostly for brute labor or simple defensive tasks, golems are incredibly expensive.

Two notable sub-types of golems exist in Noefra--the metal and crystal Labor Constructs of Wyrmhold and the wood and stone Shrine Guardians of Byssia. Representing very different approaches to the process.

Labor Constructs are built in factories, with cores created in a laborious, very carefully-controlled aetheric environment. The True Words are taken from the purest elementals that can be summoned and rebuilt into specific forms. As a result, labor constructs are effectively interchangeable. Their control structures are standardized by model and each model is specialized for a single task.

Shrine Guardians are carved by the Byssian ihmisi and sung into life, inviting primal spirits to inhabit them and leave traceries on their cores. Each one is unique in both form and nature, and their behavior is quite unpredictable. They are set to guard the deepest, most sacred parts of the forests.

From the two of these come the majority of the soul-forged.

Golems can be made in even larger forms, such as Ar Dolema, the walking construct-fortress of the Jungle of Fangs.

Higher Constructs

The shadesteel guardians of the Cysgoroesi are empowered by actual souls which have been pinned into soul gems. They are effectively mechanical people.

It is rumored that before the Cataclysm, the technomancers of Hammerhead had discovered how to make advanced golems capable of individual growth and independent operation while not being actually sentient. The methods of constructing these cores is unknown, however.