Poppet

Poppets are small, basic constructs that typically help their owners with simple tasks. Occasionally, poppets gain sapience, independence, and a spark of life. Elevated beyond mere helpers or playthings, these poppets are free to chart their own destinies.
Most commonly made of cloth, wicker, and wood, poppets are among the simplest of constructs. They serve as helpers to fetch tools, clean dishes, tidy rooms, or perform other light tasks. Their size and appearance vary, but nearly all poppets appear humanoid in shape and between 1 to 3 feet tall. They’re usually roughly made with button eyes sewn onto blank faces, strings of yarn in place of hair, and a simple dress or tunic made from coarse, cheap cloth. Wealthy families sometimes purchase poppets as toys, with their squishy bodies and stitched smiles, to keep their children company. Most poppets can’t speak and lack the intellect to understand speech beyond preprogrammed orders.

Very, very rarely, a common poppet spontaneously manifests a spark of life—a tiny bit of life essence— and becomes a thinking, independent creature. These events are exceedingly rare; fewer than one in a thousand gain this spark. A poppet might manifest this life essence through a magical fluke in its construction, a brush with ephemeral spirits, or even the fervent wish of a loving child. Whatever their origin, the poppets described here as an ancestry have their own life and free will. They might consider their creators or former owners to be friends, but they acknowledge no one as their master and often leave comfortable homes or workshops to seek their place in the world.

Sapient living poppets usually refer to themselves as “awakened” to indicate the moment they gained clear and true self‑awareness. Poppets might talk about this event as the time they “popped up,” “woke up,” or “sparked alive.” Most poppets celebrate two special anniversaries each year: the day of their initial creation (which, for most poppets, they must learn secondhand or by studying their creator’s records) and the day they awoke to true consciousness.

Living poppets are both humanoids and constructs, which gives them some of the benefits and drawbacks of each category. Their bodies are usually made of wood and wicker, but they can be made of cloth, leather, tin, stuffing, or delicate clockwork. Either way, poppets burn or melt quickly and must take care to avoid fire. They virtually never look alike, as each is created from unique and unusual circumstances.

Poppets are fully alert and self‑aware when they awaken to sentience; although they might not know much at first, they instantly gain intelligence and consciousness. They must breathe and sleep, and they must consume food and water each day; through a sort of magical digestion they can restore rips, tears, or scuffs in their physical form. Poppets don’t age the same way fleshy creatures do, but they slowly wear down in physical form as well as in mental acuity. A poppet that tends to their body and mind (and takes care to avoid fire) can live up to 30 years.

Free‑willed poppets are so rare that almost no such poppet has met another. Poppets normally live with larger creatures, though not always their creators, and tend to get along well in societies sized for larger creatures. Most live in cities because that’s where toy makers, clockwork crafters, and other specialists have their shops, but poppets created by lonely hermits or reclusive inventors might prefer a life in the wilderness.

Poppets often stay on the lookout for other creatures who, like them, have stumbled into self‑awareness. They might have regular conversations with animated objects, golems, houseplants, statues, or toys, in which they’re deeply polite out of a desire to leave a good impression for the time when the object “wakes up.”