Inanimate creatures
- Thread starter bluejester12
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If they're metal, the word could be robot/android. ^_^ (sorry, had to mention the obvious!) Shikigami, from japanese myth, is the word for magical servants made out of paper (though because of the spells, they won't necessarily look like paper anymore. they do though in the movie Spirited Away, appearing as little paper people). Also, automaton, according to wikipedia, is sometimes used to describe non-electronic moving machines, like clockwork toys; but you could adapt it to your own purposes. Simulacrum is similar. Norse mythology has a clay giant named Mökkurkálfi or Mistcalf (that's the actual name of the individual I think, but you could tweak it into a species name). Wikipedia also says that organic artificial humans are also called "constructs"--you could expand that to include inanimates. Other than that...I can't think of anything off the top of my head. This may be one of those situations' where you're just going to have to make up something on your own.
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Keanu reeves.
Seriously, check out his facial expressions, my pet rat pulls off better and he died three years ago.
But seriously though, have you given thought to developing your own word? Something unique (Well as unique as can be) that will be memorable and used in just your book.
Construct ist used for inorganic objects as well.
Also homunculus for any kind of artifical creature created by magic, though usually associated with creatures that are more intelligent (for lack of a better description) than a normal golem.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homunculus
Also homunculus for any kind of artifical creature created by magic, though usually associated with creatures that are more intelligent (for lack of a better description) than a normal golem.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homunculus
I read about a creature called a 'Hedley Kow' once. (I'm not sure of the spelling). It was supposed to be a monster that disguised itself as a pot of gold, which when people found it, they would take it with them thinking they had gotten a treasure.
Later on, people would turn around to see how their pot of gold was doing, and they would find only silver in the pot. After this happened a couple more times, the tricked individual would have found a pot of, I think, plain rocks.
This would be when the person would realize they had been tricked by a Hedley Kow.
Basically, the Hedley Kow was a benign creature, but that liked to play tricks on people.
That's the way I understand it, anyway.
Later on, people would turn around to see how their pot of gold was doing, and they would find only silver in the pot. After this happened a couple more times, the tricked individual would have found a pot of, I think, plain rocks.
This would be when the person would realize they had been tricked by a Hedley Kow.
Basically, the Hedley Kow was a benign creature, but that liked to play tricks on people.
That's the way I understand it, anyway.
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There was "The Wabbler," and "Killdozer." If you have a specific thing in mind that's unique to your story, don't worry about putting a generic label on it. Call it Irving, if you like.
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In Christian mythology, Man was made out of clay. Woman was made out of Adam's rib.
In Norse Mythology, the first man and woman, Ask and Embla, were created from, respectively an Ash tree and an Elm tree.
In Norse Mythology, the first man and woman, Ask and Embla, were created from, respectively an Ash tree and an Elm tree.
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The question immediately reminded me of the creations of Ray Harryhausen, which included a few statues brought to life, such as the mythical bronze giant Talos. Despite being sent by the gods, Talos was supposed to be an automaton with working parts inside, as opposed to the Golem style solid sculpture animated by magic. Perhaps the earliest version of the robots and androids of our present culture?
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There was a movie called "Adam's Rib" starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. Not that this has anything to do with the current discussion; I merely mention it in passing. I think there are two different descriptions of the creation of humans in Christian folklore, reflecting input from different eras.
Just to add to Shadow_Ferret's mythoreligious references, the Mayan gods also created men out of 'stuff,' but had three goes before they got it right. The mud-men weren't so hot -- dissolved in rain and so forth. The wooden men were pretty cool, but they had issues (depending on the myth and/or translation, they either had no soul to start with, or they got all caught up in themselves and forgot to worship the gods), so the gods sent a great flood to wash them all away (the survivors became monkeys) and started again. The last try were men made of corn -- and that's us.
Unfortunately, I don't think they had any names aside from 'mud men' and 'wooden men' to call them, so it's not much help on the original question.
Unfortunately, I don't think they had any names aside from 'mud men' and 'wooden men' to call them, so it's not much help on the original question.
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If it's an ethereal creature rather than an actual tangible object, it could be a servitor. In certain magical traditions, a servitor is created to do the bidding of its maker.
You could start with Bulfinch's Mythology and create one of your own. Or maybe Aliens and Alein Societies by Stanley Schmidt.
I create my own, personally, based on myths and legends and folklore. I have many creatures and people like that. I take a little of this, add a dash of that and, voila, there it is!
I create my own, personally, based on myths and legends and folklore. I have many creatures and people like that. I take a little of this, add a dash of that and, voila, there it is!
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