Ghostbound Generosa
In other places and times, these people might be called warforged. But that name does not match them, because they were not forged in war, nor were they forged for war.
In the Tense River Basin, there is some energy, some pain that keeps the undead rising. The traumas of the Decrept War changed the very place and still linger. Souls, trapped by their pain. This was how undead are understood to be in the TRB. Its commonplace that if a person dies and is not buried in consecrated ground, they will rise again in some form or way. Always a trauma, or a darkness in their life that reflected back in the kind of undead they rose as.
Marquise Luis Galvani realized that. He was thought to be an eccentric noble, but he devoted himself to the crafting of constructs. The magics required for creating a simple obedient construct were defined, measured, known. But what of an intelligent, aware construct? This became his obsession. And he long hypothesized that if an appropriate receptacle was made, then as someone were to die, perhaps he could bind the spirit that rose again to a constructed form. He was certain that this could be the key to immortality. If he were to ensure that he died in the right circumstances, perhaps he could bind his soul to one of his constructs, a powerful Iron Golem. Luis however lacked one thing, a design that could hold and harness his ghost and bind it to the machine.
Ezmer Therese however, was a brilliant mind. Apprenticed in magic by Mnuxim Mopo, until her own research was uncovering truths even he hadn't thought to explore. She married into the Galvani family, but as the daughter in law of the Marquise she had the opportunity to continue her research on his dime. Ultimately leading her to discovering the missing piece for making Ghostbound Golems. A small golden sphere, barely a bauble. But intricate and elegant in its design. The Marquise was thrilled, and used her design to attempt to bind his ghost, and those of his entire family, to immortal construct forms. He did it cold blood, without warning them beforehand, he knew that they wouldn't agree to it, and if he let even a hint of emotion into his decision, he could not be sure the deaths would result in he and his family returning as just the right kind of undead. Though he executed most of the plan just as he intended to, a simple detail was overlooked. His family unknowing of the fate about to befall them, slept, and did not wake. The callous coldness brought them back as the very spirits he needed them to be. The ghosts rose a fortnight later. Then captured, bound, but not awakened. They lay dormant for centuries. When they were finally awakened, their ghosts stitched to forms of iron and gold, it was only then that the Marquise discovered, that he hadn't kept his emotions in check that night. He, just for a moment, delighted in what he did. Proud that he could show one better to Ezmer who had seemingly so easily solved the riddle that had plagued him for decades. The ghost was bound, the golem awake. It was the Marquise, but a dark and twisted vision of him, the worst parts of him given reign. The attempt to chase immortality had failed. He had made himself a monster, cost the life of his son and wife in the process, and the worst punishment for him... Ezmer's binding was a success. She would be the awake and aware ghost in the machine, while he became darkness.
Ezmer knew more than she shared with the Marquise. She asked herself, if unpleasant emotions had the power to keep souls in this world, so must not then the pleasant emotions have similar power? Indeed, they do. As corny as it sounds, she found that love had that raw emotional capability. Not romance, not affection, but a real open and powerful love, the kind that is bursting with joy. She had already performed a successful ghostbinding, before the night of the Marquise's plan. But it was very different. Ezmer took what she knew, and what she had learned from the Marquise, and visited a good friend on their deathbed. He wanted to be there for his family, but had been stricken with illness. It was that love, and being surrounded by those who loved him, that allowed him to become the first Generosa. With that, she gifted him the knowledge of how to give this gift to others. But not everyone would be able to receive it, only a very few people have a heart open enough to be bound to a Generosa.
That first Generosa took care of his family, and as they passed he realized his time too was passing. But his body would go on. He created six others, a new family of iron. And then in an act that defines what it is to be Generosa, he let go. He allowed who he was to be complete and released. His soul remained, and would awaken naive in the body at the next sunrise. But this was a new person. The same body, the same soul, but a clean slate. And that is the power that keeps them going, a love so strong that you can give your entire body and to someone who you haven't even met. Just to give them the shot at seeing this world and doing something in it.
This is still the way of the Generosa. There are few of them throughout the Tense River Basin. And each of them treats their body and the world as a gift they are giving to whomever comes after. Many of them remain secluded in study, and are marked with incalculable patience. They recognize that someone will come after, and they do the best they can to set them up to do well, and then relinquish control to allow them to be a new person.
Generosa
Generosa are formed from iron and gold, they are constructs that have been given life through a process of ghostbinding. They are Ghostbound Golems more or less. But they are effectively, living humanoids. Resting, healing magic, and Medicine all still apply to them as they do to other humanoids.
ability score increase:
Con +2; Cha +1
age:
The maximum Generosa lifespan is unknown. You are immune to magical aging effects.
alignment:
Generosa are driven by goodness, though they have free will and some can turn evil. Virtually all are Good.
Size:
Medium
speed:
30ft
Languages:
Common, Primordial
race features:
Constructed Resilience. Your body is wrought in iron and gold. Some needs of flesh are not your concern. You have advantage on saving throws against being poisoned, and you have resistance to poison damage. You don't need to eat, drink, or breathe. You are immune to disease. You don't need to sleep, and magic can't put you to sleep.
Sentry's Rest. When you take a long rest, you must spend at least six hours in an inactive, motionless state, rather than sleeping. In this state you appear inert. It doesn't render you unconscious, and you can see and hear as normal.
Boon of the Predecessor. The Generosa that gave itself up to you, left you with a gift of their generosity. +1 bonus on all saving throws.
Old Soul. You gain proficiency with Insight, and one musical instrument.
Familiar Spirit. Mindless undead assume a Generosa to be undead like them, and will not engage unless by intelligent command or provocation. The Life Sense of Unending Wails does not detect a Generosa.
Relinquish. There is no going back from relinquishing. The Generosa gives themselves soul and body, to a new Generosa. In an act of extreme and unrepentant generosity, their memory is removed, their wants and desires forgotten. At the next dawn, a new person emerges with the body and the soul of their predecessor. But no memories and no access to that person who once was and is now gone. If this act is performed, but the requisite generosity is absent, it will fail. Instead the mind will be wiped, the soul wrenched from the body, and the body will lay as a lifeless husk.
Constructed Resilience. Your body is wrought in iron and gold. Some needs of flesh are not your concern. You have advantage on saving throws against being poisoned, and you have resistance to poison damage. You don't need to eat, drink, or breathe. You are immune to disease. You don't need to sleep, and magic can't put you to sleep.
Sentry's Rest. When you take a long rest, you must spend at least six hours in an inactive, motionless state, rather than sleeping. In this state you appear inert. It doesn't render you unconscious, and you can see and hear as normal.
Boon of the Predecessor. The Generosa that gave itself up to you, left you with a gift of their generosity. +1 bonus on all saving throws.
Old Soul. You gain proficiency with Insight, and one musical instrument.
Familiar Spirit. Mindless undead assume a Generosa to be undead like them, and will not engage unless by intelligent command or provocation. The Life Sense of Unending Wails does not detect a Generosa.
Relinquish. There is no going back from relinquishing. The Generosa gives themselves soul and body, to a new Generosa. In an act of extreme and unrepentant generosity, their memory is removed, their wants and desires forgotten. At the next dawn, a new person emerges with the body and the soul of their predecessor. But no memories and no access to that person who once was and is now gone. If this act is performed, but the requisite generosity is absent, it will fail. Instead the mind will be wiped, the soul wrenched from the body, and the body will lay as a lifeless husk.
Each Generosa is unique in its design, as it was built for an intended person. Now that may not be the person inside of them now, but all Generosa start that way. They always incorporate iron and gold as primary components. Most look like a rough iron statue of a person, with gold accentuating eyes and other other details.
In the Tense River Basin, there is some energy, some pain that keeps the undead rising. The traumas of the Decrept War changed the very place and still linger. Souls, trapped by their pain. This was how undead are understood to be in the TRB. Its commonplace that if a person dies and is not buried in consecrated ground, they will rise again in some form or way. Always a trauma, or a darkness in their life that reflected back in the kind of undead they rose as.
Marquise Luis Galvani realized that. He was thought to be an eccentric noble, but he devoted himself to the crafting of constructs. The magics required for creating a simple obedient construct were defined, measured, known. But what of an intelligent, aware construct? This became his obsession. And he long hypothesized that if an appropriate receptacle was made, then as someone were to die, perhaps he could bind the spirit that rose again to a constructed form. He was certain that this could be the key to immortality. If he were to ensure that he died in the right circumstances, perhaps he could bind his soul to one of his constructs, a powerful Iron Golem. Luis however lacked one thing, a design that could hold and harness his ghost and bind it to the machine.
Ezmer Therese however, was a brilliant mind. Apprenticed in magic by Mnuxim Mopo, until her own research was uncovering truths even he hadn't thought to explore. She married into the Galvani family, but as the daughter in law of the Marquise she had the opportunity to continue her research on his dime. Ultimately leading her to discovering the missing piece for making Ghostbound Golems. A small golden sphere, barely a bauble. But intricate and elegant in its design. The Marquise was thrilled, and used her design to attempt to bind his ghost, and those of his entire family, to immortal construct forms. He did it cold blood, without warning them beforehand, he knew that they wouldn't agree to it, and if he let even a hint of emotion into his decision, he could not be sure the deaths would result in he and his family returning as just the right kind of undead. Though he executed most of the plan just as he intended to, a simple detail was overlooked. His family unknowing of the fate about to befall them, slept, and did not wake. The callous coldness brought them back as the very spirits he needed them to be. The ghosts rose a fortnight later. Then captured, bound, but not awakened. They lay dormant for centuries. When they were finally awakened, their ghosts stitched to forms of iron and gold, it was only then that the Marquise discovered, that he hadn't kept his emotions in check that night. He, just for a moment, delighted in what he did. Proud that he could show one better to Ezmer who had seemingly so easily solved the riddle that had plagued him for decades. The ghost was bound, the golem awake. It was the Marquise, but a dark and twisted vision of him, the worst parts of him given reign. The attempt to chase immortality had failed. He had made himself a monster, cost the life of his son and wife in the process, and the worst punishment for him... Ezmer's binding was a success. She would be the awake and aware ghost in the machine, while he became darkness.
Ezmer knew more than she shared with the Marquise. She asked herself, if unpleasant emotions had the power to keep souls in this world, so must not then the pleasant emotions have similar power? Indeed, they do. As corny as it sounds, she found that love had that raw emotional capability. Not romance, not affection, but a real open and powerful love, the kind that is bursting with joy. She had already performed a successful ghostbinding, before the night of the Marquise's plan. But it was very different. Ezmer took what she knew, and what she had learned from the Marquise, and visited a good friend on their deathbed. He wanted to be there for his family, but had been stricken with illness. It was that love, and being surrounded by those who loved him, that allowed him to become the first Generosa. With that, she gifted him the knowledge of how to give this gift to others. But not everyone would be able to receive it, only a very few people have a heart open enough to be bound to a Generosa.
That first Generosa took care of his family, and as they passed he realized his time too was passing. But his body would go on. He created six others, a new family of iron. And then in an act that defines what it is to be Generosa, he let go. He allowed who he was to be complete and released. His soul remained, and would awaken naive in the body at the next sunrise. But this was a new person. The same body, the same soul, but a clean slate. And that is the power that keeps them going, a love so strong that you can give your entire body and to someone who you haven't even met. Just to give them the shot at seeing this world and doing something in it.
This is still the way of the Generosa. There are few of them throughout the Tense River Basin. And each of them treats their body and the world as a gift they are giving to whomever comes after. Many of them remain secluded in study, and are marked with incalculable patience. They recognize that someone will come after, and they do the best they can to set them up to do well, and then relinquish control to allow them to be a new person.
