Challúmata (singular “Challúmaton”) are a class of necromantic automatons of Precursor Slaver-Noble make, taking the form of pale-bronze statues, often intricately decorated, cast from the soul-infused metal “Chénochallúm”.
Found throughout uncleared Precursor ruins in Andeios, especially in the Nakari Underground, they can also be found in unexplored areas beneath the Kheions of Alecand, likely originally loaned to the Imperial Precursor wardens by Pro-Arethon Slaver-Nobles.
Though they are related to Mechanim, and likely inspired the Mechanim project, they are different in form, design, and purpose, and were created solely to guard Slaver-Noble holdings rather than for manual labour and serving duties.
The name Challúmata, of Kheionai origin, broadly meaning “moving bronze.” The Taychendi called them a variety of names before eventually adopting the Kheionai title, a process motivated by the proliferation of texts by Kheionai mages (who had thoroughly investigated the Challúmata) following the opening up of Taychend-Kheionai trade in the 8th century.
Description[]
Challúmata are statues cast from Chénochallúm (colloquially called “Necrochalchum” by Cannorian adventurers), a soul-infused pale-bronze-coloured metal, whose method of construction has been lost since the Ruin.
They take the appearance of “smooth” metal statues, resembling those cast in bronze, with their limbs connected via near-seamless junction-points that can be dislodged, pulled or hacked apart by a determined adventurer. Their bodies can either be hollow shells or solid – the more solid Challúmata are generally more powerful, difficult to kill, and dangerous, being much less susceptible to crushing and piercing attacks on their limbs themselves.
Challúmata are powered by, as investigating mages have identified, a “slurry of many different souls”, infused into the Chénochallúm during its construction. Due to their inflexibility, the Challúmata were used solely as guards, not servants or labourers, as they were both too inflexible to do such tasks, and the Slaver-Nobles could rely on their slaves to do such work for them.
Control Methods & Weaknesses[]
The Challúmata were controlled via magical commands – likely using spells relating to Control Undead – given during the infusion/creation process of Chénochallúm. Infusion allowed these commands to persist outside the range of (and beyond the death of) the Slaver-Noble who made them.
These commands, often simple and inflexible – “walk up and down this corridor, and kill all those not of my [meaning the Slaver-Noble Creator’s] image,” for instance – are followed by the Challúmata absolutely, sometimes to disturbing levels. As there is no specific core like in Mechanim, that hold the souls that power the automaton, even while dismembered a Challúmata will attempt to carry out its orders. Therefore, In order to fully destroy a Challúmata magical means are required, though adequately separating the individual limbs of the automaton can suffice while adventuring.
The inflexibility of the Challúmata’s commands can also be turned to one’s advantage however – the above order (common in many discovered ruins) can be successfully fooled by glamouring one’s self as the Slaver-Noble creator mentioned, possible through discovering statues or other lasting depictions in the ruins you are exploring.
Forms[]
The Challúmata were made in a variety of different forms – notably, their appearance is not bound to the composition of the older souls, and so they take on whatever form the Slaver Nobles gave them. The souls infused in the automata are thus not necessarily what the end result looks like (for example, the souls of Halcanni creatures were not generally used to create Halcanni Challúmata).
Larger animals and humanoid Challúmata patrolled visible Slaver-Noble manors and vital areas, such as vaults, hidden laboratories and study chambers. These “front-facing” automata were specifically decorated and engraved, and made to look beautiful – even those in the Slaver-Noble’s private chambers or sites, as they would be seen by the Slaver-Noble in question and aesthetic value was therefore important. These are more likely to be well armed and solidly built, and can pose a very difficult challenge even to experienced adventurers.
Meanwhile, smaller and more animalistic Challúmata, such as hounds, serpents, or big cats, as well as damaged or hollow humanoid Challúmata, patrolled hidden-away or normally inaccessible areas, like sewers, disused underground areas, or unimportant warehouses. These were more likely to be both hollow and undecorated, as they were not meant for “public” view.
The most prestigious, powerful automata, and the largest, take the forms of enemies encountered by the Precursors on Halcann, such as trolls, cyclops or lizardfolk. These were almost certainly created as trophies celebrating the era of the Precursor age of exploration. Most were destroyed during the Ruin – those that remain are legendary beasts, and slaying one is seen as a serious achievement. The true nature and history of these Challúmata were only discovered following first contact with Halcann in the 1500s, though they inspired numerous myths and legends in Andeios before then.
History[]
Origins[]
Due to the massive loss of knowledge caused by the Ruin of Aelantir and the many wars and invasions that have engulfed Taychend and Andeios since then, the exact origins of the Challúmata, and of the metal of their construction, Chénochallúm, are unknown. They are known to have been created some time before the age of Precursor exploration started, however.
It is theorised by some scholars that their creation was inspired by Draconic magic, and thus pioneered by the Slaver-Nobles following the War of Broken Chains – other scholars simply state that Chénochallúm is simply an extension of the Slaver-Nobles’ obsession with or predisposition to slavery, though that was likely inspired by dragons in itself.
Post Ruin[]
Following the Ruin of Aelantir, many Slaver-Noble manors and above ground sites, which were home to the more powerful Challúmata, were overrun by revolting slaves and destroyed. The Slaver-Nobles who survived and retained control of their holdings – and the Challúmata alongside them – were then thought to have made some limited use of them in the immediate post-Ruin period, though these last “surface” Challúmata were likely destroyed in the wars of Ebenanth Starshear, the First Emperor.
Likewise, in most of the Kheions the Challúmata loaned to the Imperial Precursor wardens were destroyed in the wave of rioting and rebellion that followed the Ruin. In Degakheion it is thought that the city’s wardens (who would become the Phylaxana) were able to retain control of the Challúmata for a time – the strict commands of the Challúmata, which the wardens did not know how to alter, eventually necessitated their destruction however, as their danger began to outweigh their usefulness. It is thought that all Degakheioni automata had been destroyed by the end of the Isolation - though most had been scrapped or imprisoned only a few decades after the Ruin.
Whatever Challúmata the Slaver-Noble ancestors of the Cennayakuta possessed were also “lost” over the years, despite their apparent survival of Ebenanth’s wars – the occasional discovery of a new Precursor ruin in Imarchend is seen as an excellent way to test one’s “Slaver-Noble blood.” It appears this is a test that is frequently failed, though not necessarily due to the the Cennayakuta lacking Slaver-Noble ancestry, there being a myriad of other reasons the Challúmata would recognise a Cennayakuta scion as a foe.
Relationship to Mechanim[]
Though the extent of Slaver Nobles involvement in the Mechanim project itself is unclear – theories vary wildly from them making up a significant portion of the Insyaan Precursors, to them having no involvement at all on account of Andeios’ status as a subject realm of the wider Precursor Empire – it is clear that the creators of the Mechanim nonetheless took inspiration from the construction of the Challúmata. The failure of the Mechanim project did not seem to impact the use of Challúmata, nor the perception of them, as evidenced by their use by the Imperial wardens of the Kheions.
The Mechanim project, however, evidently quickly diverged in most ways from both the design and purpose of the Challúmata. The Challúmata were drawn from living beings, and intended to function solely as guards, while slaves did manual labour and other duties. Meanwhile, the Mechanim were essentially created to fulfil in the rest of the Empire the same function slaves did in Taychend, though more easily produced, with lessened resource requirements, and with more easily controllable.
This lead to massive divergences in design and function, which are self-evident today. While Mechanim are evidently sentient, and capable of learning and growth, the Challúmata are essentially animated, inflexible statues.