Concerning golems:
My pet theory for a time now has been that the Iron Golems we see in villages are the work of Native Mercurian Shamen (i.e. witches). It is fairly well-established in lore that of the witches we encounter in the world today, many act or acted as a type of shaman figure for their community or communities - while we don't know the extent of their historical significance given that these tribes were spread across the New World, we know that they had some level of medicinal and spiritual significance; it would not be a stretch to assume that some had at least a grasp of early magics or mystical arts, practiced particularly for the purpose of protecting their community.
Now, we also know that Native Mercurians were engaged in limited mining, and so it is certain that they would have been able to obtain iron; in fact, they no doubt considered it one of the strongest materials they had. I therefore propose that some early shamen got it into their head to imbue a sort of vague, limited consciousness inside of an iron construct - this was not a mind on the level of a Mercurian, but rather a lumbering consciousness guided by a single idea - perhaps something along the lines of 'Protector' or 'Defender of the Homeland'. Especially in those early days, magic was an inexact work based on spirit and loose ideas.
This vague idea of protection would go a great way to explaining the behaviour of Iron Golems. Defence of the community is the single thought that drives the construct, so they will attack hostile mobs on sight but ignore villagers. Outsiders (us) are not perceived as a threat unless we attack the community, whereupon the Golem's base instinct kicks in and it engages the threat to its community. Sometimes, just once in a blue moon, there is a hint that something deeper lurks under that base consciousness; villagers who witness Golems extending roses to children in a gesture of emotion that should not truly possess wonder if there may be more to the construct than they believed. But as the effectiveness of this half-metal, half-mystical construct became apparent in the dangerous early days of the New World, the idea caught on across the World.
And as for the fact that we can build Golems as well? Some enterprising Hermertians have sought out shamen who still practice this custom to create Golems for their own purposes; it usually works well enough, though the magic remains inexact and based on limited expressions that can result in the golems turning on other Hermertians if they are considered a threat to their creator.
_________________ Wysterian Labourer's Council Currently Holding Stewardship of Wysteria Minister for Applications and Settlement Forums Administrator
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