Category:Dread Construct

This section contains canon info from officially published sources

A dread construct is either a golem that receives the dread golem template or a less elaborate

dread construct such as the carrionette, the living wall, or the wishing imp. It is rarely a mindless creature, usually having at least a measure of both consciousness and self-consciousness. Its maker is a dread constructrafter who is engaged, whether he or she realises it or not, in dread crafting and dread creation. The competences of constructcrafting are not necessarily presupposed. The dread construct is created with at least a dash of dark desire and at least a smidgeon of assistance from the Dark Powers. One need not be even a novice at magic to create a dread construct. Equally, one can be the most gifted scientific mind in the Land of Mists but the construct will not animate save by the fiat of the Dark Powers. Making a dread construct is usually will to the creation of life and as such is hubris and transgression. The creation of a dread construct is usually Powers Check worthy, but such a check may be unnecessary as the dread construct itself may be "reward" enough as was Maligno for Guiseppe. Dread constructs do not necessarily wish their makers dead (living walls and golems do), but they certainly wish them ill ([the wishing imp being archetypical of this). Constructs such as the mindless necrophidius are not dread constructs.

The maker of a dread construct is a bit like a cyclist. The cyclist knows how to ride his or her bicycle. But he or she cannot explain the physics involved. Dread constructs are crafted by individuals who do not truly know the "how" of "what" they are doing. They do not recognise the influence of the Dark Powers in the animation of their construct and they do not understand the role of dark desire in its creation. Nor do they understand the consequences . . . . The latest person to reinvent the lantern jack fails to realise that the creature may put an end to loved ones and himself or herself.

Neither Emil Bollenbach nor Dr. Victor Mordenheim constitute exceptions. Both believe that their wonders are works of biological and medical science. Mordenheim, at the very least, does not even realise that Adam is not a member of the living, but is rather one of the created. Adam is, for him, a living thing whose definition is strictly a matter of biology. Other makers are, in their own ways, no less deluded. Their creations are, for example, works of "advanced alchemy" or "advanced chemistry", or "gifted metallurgy" or "gifted woodcraft", or a "parent's love" or an enemy's "hatred", or even "divine favour". Individuals such as Azalin Rex or members of the Fraternity of Shadows who have a firm understanding of the process of creating a dread golem wisely choose not to do so.

Knowledge of dread golems is Ravenloft Lore and Knowledge (Ravenloft). Arcane Lore and Knowledge (arcane) are useful, but afford no information about the ways in which dread golems differ from golems, and so may even offer information that is, in certain points, dangerously inaccurate. For example that a golem is a mindless creature firmly under control of its maker.