Hykop
"In the ancient world, when the Purrs hid in their bunkers, they built themselves protectors. They weren't always fools."
Hykops are large stone golems, often towering far above any turret or wall. These golems guard the remnants of shrines, usually, that contain treasures.
Structurally, there are a few variants.
Elder Hykops
Elder Hykops are large stone golems, and what are considered the eldest of Hykops. Very few remain in function, only about a hundred nestled in the crags of the Gertrudic Mountains survive to this day. These ones are smaller, slower, and easier to kill than most other Hykops. They take on the appearence of extremely buff Humans with oval-shaped heads, around twice the size of Humans. They also don't have legs, moving with their arms only. Typically these Hykops can be brought down using anything with enough momentum, including fireballs, longbow arrows, and axes.
Despite their weakness, they are extremely fast. When an Elder Hykop sees you, it will stare for a long moment - typically longer than it would seem, but usually about ten seconds. The time you have then is improtant time. If it loses sight of you, it may stop pursuing you. This is usually the case, but it shouldn't be counted on, as around 3/10 of the times, it will continue on.
Even though they are considered easy to defeat, travelers are many times caught unaware and attempt to escape, and in their escape waste time and chances they could have had to defeat the beast. If it continues chasing you after you lose sight of it, then fight it. Remember that it's fairly weak.
Rendo Hykops
Named after Rendo, where the ruins of the Rendo wall were discovered (A Purrish invention to stop the Goblin raids and invasions), these stone giants were erected on the walls, sporting a rather spherical shape and a large projectile launcher. It shot large boulders from it's barrel at encroaching siege weaponry and masses of infantry. It had rather short range, as evidenced from the boulders in front of the hulking beasts, and the craters that related.
These Hykops are the most rare, very few of the hulking spheres still functioning. However, despite their use for the Purrs, Humans and the descendants of Purrs never figured out how to tame or operate them, so many simply remain loaded, waiting for a Goblin army to approach with massive siege weapons. Most have been taken apart for the valuable jewels that are in Hykops that allow them to run. Few remain, some undiscovered, some under the protection of Purrish tribes, some merely lost under mountains.
Entroberic Hykops
By far the most common Hykop, these creatures are massive stone golems (around 60 feet in height, usually) found in the Westerns and the surrounding regions. These creatures were regional guards for the Purrs, and capable of taking down a Diamond on some occasions (as evidenced by the bones near ancient Hykops).
These Hykops were mass-produced in ceremonies known as "Ordainment", yielding ten or so to defend a localized area. The Ordainment only could occur in an area every ten years, after the construction was complete. Thus is why that each has a different marking on it's inside - to measure the batch. Overall, there were well over 300 batches, amounting to well over 3,000 Hykops. A fraction of these died fighting Diamonds, some were destroyed or hopelessly buried, others were killed by Humans or other races, and the vast majority of them still stand.
Similar to Elder Hykops, they adopt another Humanoid figure. With octagonal light faces, these large stone golems walk the world. They're typically fairly lanky as well, so they give an eerie appearance. If the light goes out, unlike the Elder Hykop, who merely used it as a symbol for displaying issues with the creature, it's now also used for sight. If it is knocked out, the Hykop will have a far harder time navigating. Hykops that end up in this way usually die very quickly.
Overall, there are roughly 1,400 Entroberic Hykops discovered. It's unknown if or where the rest are. It's also hard to get a read on how many are active, as some will dissappear or power down for months at a time for little to no reason.
Breakneck Hykops
Breakneck Hykops are the tallest, strongest, and most intense Hykops produced. Only about 60 of them are currently known to exist. These were the purrish Diamondkillers. Despite a few being taken down by Diamonds, they defended fairly well until the collapse. The Diamonds, as they starved, got desperate and attacked with waves of hundreds. These looked the same as the Entroberic Hykops, but were merely far larger. They also had a bit of a weird head as well.
Most of the time, these creatures were extremely aggressive towards Diamonds, only shrinking form a fight when heavily outnumbered or in the presence of an exceptionally powerful Diamond, unless in unison with Entroberic Hykops. these clashes of titans slowly made the surface into a vegetationless wasteland. Purrs couldn't farm anymore, and had to start herding largely due to the Breakneck Hykops.
Despite being great Diamondkillers, these creatures would almost all fall, and the Purrs would be forced to retreat fully into their bunkers. Despite protecting what probably amounted to millions of Purrs, they were unable to fully defend, especially as they got desperate. As the Purrs bunkered down, they Hykop population slowly withered, with a few damaged Hykops here and there left, roughly 1,000 or so remaining. These are simply ruins from an ancient time, as well.
For the Gertrudic people, thousands of years later, it became a constant struggle, however. With many of the fortifications built around that area, the Gertrudics would learn to fear and despise these crumbling stone golems. In Gertrudic culture, Hykops is synonymous to the word "Demon", as the Hykops are regarded as such. Guardians of stone and rock, they harm travelers in their way, although don't aggress, are very significant threats, and can easily destroy entire villages, families and elders alike.
Basic Information
Behaviour
These creatures remain utterly and entirely still for long periods of time. They do not move, but if something enters their vicinity, it will begin walking over and smash the creature. If the creature runs away and remains in sight, it will chase, but if it can hide well enough that the Hykop can't understand where it is, then it will return to it's previous spot and rest.
Additional Information
Geographic Origin and Distribution
These beings remain almost exclusively around the Getrudes and the Westerns, all spread about near-evenly. Breakneck Hykops are usually roughly 200 feet tall.
Genetic Ancestor(s)
Average Height
Entroberic Hykops usually reach a heigh of roughly 100 feet tall.
Average Weight
Typically these creatures weigh around thirty tons for the Entroberic, and double that for the Breakneck Hykops.
