Creature Feature: Copywights

Originally created by unscrupulous magic-users to get around the protections on newly invented spells, Copywights have become a common sight in Saugat, the City of A Thousand Schools. Even as techniques for protecting spell-rights have moved beyond the usefulness of Copywights, they have remained a useful tool in and of themselves.

To Create A Copywight 

First, find a corpse of a literate human. Gender and magical ability does not matter in this case. You will need to hollow out their skull to prevent any residual personality. Carve the inside of the skull with your astrological birth chart and insert at least three ounces of your flesh before resealing the skull. Then raise them as you would any undead servitor. Give your new Copywight a name, and make sure to register them at the local August Counting House, in order to prevent accidental exorcism. You now have a legal Copywight.

To Use a Copywight

If you have a spell, but are worried about the side effects, you can use a Copywight as a proxy for the spell. This might be useful for determining the safety of newly invented spells, avoiding some older forms of spell-rights, or to cast a spell from a safe distance from a dangerous subject. To do so you must prepare the spell as normal and then pseudo-cast it while touching the place on your body from which you removed the flesh contained in the Copywight. The spell will then fill the Copywight's head. During this time they have a tendency to leak proto-magic, so it is suggested to trigger the spell quickly. How each individual Copywight is triggered is different on a case by case basis, determined by the creator during the animation ritual. Once triggered, the magic will be cast, although Copywight's are as smart as most other legal undead, which is to say not very, so targeting is occasionally a problem. The spell will last forever, although the spell-slot (or spell die) is unavailable to the magic user in question. Magic users at the University of Dread Golgath the Necroqueen are experimenting with combining Copywights and Scrolls to more permanently store spells. One of their experiments, was recently lost, causing a bit of a panic in Saugat, since a (now expelled and de-mystified) student had filled it with "The Gnawing Doom of Dread Golgath".

Modern Spell-Rights

After the Wounding magic was more or less a free-for-all. In her wisdom, the Augustine established the Augustine Creed, which still guides the territories. Part of the creed included a complicated system of rights for the inventors of spells. Immediately though, these laws were broken, and so began the arms race of encryption, protection, and arcane traps known as Spell-Rights. The earliest form of Spell-Right Protection, sometimes derisively called serps, were simple cyphers and codes. Over time, as encryption became a standard part of magic-users education, this shifted towards other forms of protections, hidden clauses in spells that warned the owners when they were used illegally. Then clauses that carried out extreme punishment came into popularity after the trial of Corpulent Mellisant, whose spell of weight-loss included secret protections that caused violent purging in illegal users. Copywights, deniable and disposable assets, were invented as a result. Due to their legitimate uses, they have remained legal, and Spell-Rights have simply moved on to new forms of protection. These include:

• Spell Keys, spells that required specific components designed or controlled by their inventor in some way.
• Persistent Authentication, where a caster must identify themselves to the creator or a servant thereof using a sub-spell.
• Vanity Attacks, which are a gentler approach. These spells have an unpleasant appearance or design when used for free, but once registered they lose this negative display. This is a gentler form of Spell-Right that relies on both the vanity and laziness of magic users. No one wants their fancy new fireball spell to smell like trench foot.

Copywight Mechanics

HD: 2
Defenses: As Leather
Damage: 1d4 + Spell-Bleed (Potentially)
Morale: Unbreakable Undead (Typically)
Number Encountered: 1d6
Collective Noun: Archive

Proxy-Magic: Each Copywight can hold one (1) magic-user spell at a time. As long as they hold a spell, any damage rolls add Spell-Bleed. When triggered by a command phrase or other condition, Copywights will cast their spell. There is a 1-in-6 chance they will choose their target randomly, otherwise they will target as desired. There is no limit to the level of the spell a Copywight can hold. In the GLOG system, instead of being based on level, Copywight's are based on the number of spell-dice invested at their creation.

Spell-Bleed: Copywight attacks gain additional effects and damage based on the level of the spell they are currently proxying. The effects should be adjudicated by the Referee, but should be based on the spell they contain (e.g. A Copywight containing the Enlarge spell might increase the size of the individuals it hits by 5% each time it strikes them). Feel free to roll on the spell list to determine the spells as needed. Additional damage is based on level of the spell:

+1
+1d2
+1d3
+1d4
+1d6
+1d8
+1d10
+1d12
+1d20

Treasure: If a Copywight is killed without destroying the skull, the contents can be used to empower spells cast against the wizardly creator. This will add +2 to damage or give them a -2 to any saves caused by the holder of the skull. Additionally, many copywights wear brass or copper masks or fine clothes, since they are going to be hanging around wizards a lot. Alternately, a non-aggressive Copywight could be a treasure itself, if its command phrase is known. Even if it cannot be refilled, they make an interesting alternative to a scroll or potion.

Example Copywight Mask

Example Copywights

Dorian
Dorian was a boy who grew up wanting to be a magic user and traveled to Saugat to visit the House of Inversion, but was killed in a tragic pot-pie based accident before arriving. Due to the will left with the Augustine Guides, his body was sold to the House of Inversion and turned into a Copywight. The Headmistress of the House of Inversion, fond of irony and fools, frequently uses him as a proxy to cast the ritual of inversion. Dorian doesn't wear a mask and his well-embalmed corpse smiles whenever it completes the spell.
 
The Palanquintet
Glothilda Creel is perilously lazy. She is also a famed adventurer. She refuses to move from her opulent palanquin, carried by five Copywights that do all her spell-casting for her. Despite the additional burden this creates for her companions and the occasional accidents involving mis-aimed spells, she has become a minor celebrity. The Palanquintet have been given numbers (1, 2, 4, 7, and 12), as they have been replaced over time. Glothilda is too lazy to even name them properly, but she has some affection for 1 and 2, who have been with her a long time. She prefers broad-shouldered men as Copywights.

Tremble Jane's Legacy
The Legacy were Tremble Jane's gift to her hometown of Crab River. Her tower, on its outskirts, is still maintained in her honor. Like most magic-users, in her old age she became eccentric and a little power-mad, but in her this took an overwhelming desire to help Crab River. She left behind more than a few minor magic items, but the Legacy were the final sign of her patronage and protection. She sought volunteers from the town, who provided the bodies of their family, and then put every single of the spells she could prepare into them before the wasting disease rendered her unable to go on and eventually killed her. The 36 Legacies all have their own names (their own family names) and some have been expended. These have been rehumed (un-exumed? Re-interred?) in a special tomb. The legacy containing the 9th Level Spell is Tremble Jane's Mother, Bonnie Jane, a withered old zombie who occupies a rocking chair at the top of Tremble Jane's tower. They contain the most useful spells Tremble Jane knew, and the command words are shared among the town council.