Gargoyle

Living Stone Guardians
A voluntary creation requiring the willing sacrifice of a human being entombed in stone and undergoing a long ritual until death. The resulting ‘living stone’ can then be carved into gargoyles.

Gargoyles are incredibly strong, they can exert at any point on their bodies a force equivalent to their entire weight pressing on that point under a single gravity, they are always ‘made of stone’ and as sturdy and durable as if they were a still statue in a given pose. The strongest gargoyles are like yosemite granite, the weakest are soapstone. Most living stone is somewhere in the middle. Gargoyles can be any size if sufficient living stone was produced by the volunteer’s sacrifice. The amount of living stone produced by a ritual is dependent on the resolve of the volunteer and the amount of stone they are entombed by. Whichever can contribute less volume. If a volunteer lacks the resolve to make at least their own body volume into living stone, they lack the resolve to make living stone at all and were not sufficient.

Most volunteers are highly vetted to avoid wasting resources on ‘dud’ gargoyles but some communities simply practice a ritual burial that has the potential to turn ANYONE into living stone material for gargoyles, which are then carved en-masse, hoping that some of the ‘decoys’ will have sufficient resolve.

The mind of a gargoyle is dedicated, disciplined, unshakable and protective of its community or building positioning. They can be taught to understand language but they are unable to speak (but several have been taught sign language or gestures).

Gargoyles cannot walk very fast without breaking themselves due to the forces involved and as such do not stray far from their designated protectorate. A gargoyle carved to resemble a horse could not gallop without breaking its legs.

They are rarely harmed by magic and they are capable of seeing through most illusions. They do not sleep, eat or need to blink. But can only see in the direction they have eyes. They will erode and accumulate damage, they can only be repaired by a grout made of living stone and fresh pieces carved from living stone.

Living stone that is un-carved will keep as long as it’s kept in a dark cool place or carved/incorporated into a gargoyle.