A homunculus in a flask.
A Homunculus is traditionally a form of artificial life created by alchemy or magic. Vaguely human shaped, the homunculus serves as a companion, helper and possibly a surrogate child for its creator. Popularized in sixteenth-century alchemy and nineteenth-century, it has historically referred to the creation of a miniature, fully formed human. The concept has roots in preformationism as well as earlier folklore and alchemic traditions.
Appearance[]
Despite the name, they are not necessarily small, some homunculi are described as man sized and how man-like they are varies from account to account. This may be a function of how the creature was made and/or the skill of its creator while some are recorded as being able to speak, but most are mute. Other common unnatural features include wings, beaks, claws and fur. In a fantasy setting they may be hard to distinguish from imps and may be mistaken for a familiar (or may be a common disguise for familiars). In some accounts the homonculus will bear a more or less grotesque resemblance to its creator and more successful ones look to be entirely human in appearance but with superhuman qualities.
Description[]
Methods of creation vary but most seem to be enthusiastic about the use of human semen which would seem to enforce the "surrogate child" theme and blood. Other methods involve a mandrake, a herb deeply entwined with human fertility, and retorts packed with herbs and and/or animal parts and incubated in baths of sand or manure for a given time. Sometimes the creator frames the creature's body with metal wire and/or clay and sometimes not; a man-sized homunculus could even be cast onto a human skeleton. Of course, one could use the skeleton of a child or a monkey for a smaller creation. Perhaps the simplest method recorded involved injecting semen into a fresh hen's egg, sealing the hole with parchment and then burying it in dung until it hatched.
It is said that homunculus possibly possesses no soul but it may, however, share part of its creator's soul if that is what clones do under the laws of magic. This may make it more or less susceptible to magic. It is entirely normal for a homunculus' master to be able to conduct remote viewings through his creature's senses, for this may be an inherent ability or normal scrying magic with an improved focus. Harming the homunculus may or may not harm the creator, but it's likely that access to one will provide substantial sympathetic benefits to magical sending aimed its creator. Since it is likely to be made of a piece of him/her, it will probably provide a strong link under the magical law of contagion.
Types of Homunculi[]
Colony Homunculi[]
By culturing the cells of a potential homunculus made with his own immortal cells inside a sample of the incomplete liquor of immortality, Szilard Quates was able to create homunculi which are complete immortals but which possess no knowledge at birth. Homunculi created in this way are recognized as "another self" or as an "independent mobile colony" of an immortal whose cells went into their creation. The creator can pass knowledge to the homunculus using their left hand, and also has the ability to end the homunculus' life by cutting the connection between their own cells and the cells unique to the homunculus.
The homunculus known as Ennis has described this process as follows: if Szilard is the "company's main store," then Ennis is a branch store. Szilard can "shut her down" at any time.
The biological sex and appearance of the homunculus seems to match the sex and appearance of their genetic donor, but can be changed if another individual's genetic material is donated. In creating Ennis, Szilard used both his own cells and the cells of a mortal woman he kidnapped to catalyze her creation. Inside a cultivation tank, Ennis grew to be the same age as her 'mother' because the culture liquid was the incomplete product, and then stopped growing because she had Szilard's immortal cells. Ennis likely looks identical to her 'mother'.
"Water" Consciousness Homunculi[]
"Water" consciousness homunculi are a type of hive-mind consciousness derived from Szilard's research into immortality. They are so called because their 'will' resides in a clear liquid that resembles water; however, the "water" itself is not conscious, lacking neurons or anything that could be used to perceive the outside world. Instead, when the "water" is ingested, a battle of wills ensues between the ingestor and the homunculus. If the homunculus wins, they inherit the ingestor's knowledge and take over their body.
In theory, if an ingestor were to win they would inherit the knowledge of the homunculus but not take over the rest of the hive mind. It is, however, possible for a "water" consciousness homunculus and an ingestor to coexist in the same body if both yield control during the battle of wills.
These homunculi were originally developed by Szilard Quates and his subordinates during their research into how immortality works and the creation of humanoid vessels.
Ageless Homunculi[]
Ageless homunculi are just as what the name implies them to be and that being immortal homunculi. The method of their creation is unknown. They are ageless but not immortal, meaning that they can die from everything except old age. In other words, they can live forever so long as their bodies do not suffer fatal harm. Many of them are eccentric in personality and in physical appearance, but it is unclear whether this is a direct function of how they are made or a result of sadistic experiments conducted on them. That said, several of them are deliberately eccentric so as to distance themselves from humans.
Complete Homunculi[]
Complete homunculi are those which were created by Mammon through the use of the Prima Materia and born possessing all knowledge, but were trapped in the flask in which they were created. They are essentially the universe itself, concentrated into a single location and given the ability of human speech; as such, they can see the past, present, and future as well as control space and time as easily as one might move one's limbs.
While multiple people refer to the sixteenth century alchemist Paracelsus as the originator of this concept, the fact that Ronny Schiatto was created in 300 B.C. by Mammon indicates that the method of creation was known prior to Paracelsus' experiments.
Complete homunculi have the option of escaping their flasks by forfeiting some of their knowledge or power, thus becoming incomplete. Most of them choose to forfeit some of their influence over the universe and retain their knowledge of the future; however, Ronny Schiatto made the opposite choice, to forfeit his knowledge of the future and retain the ability to interfere with the laws of reality though he was killed by Gabriel soon after showing that despite their hold over reality they are no all-powerful and can be killed by celestial beings.