Mimics are golems, artificial creatures left over from the time before the War of the Mages. Their original purpose was to safeguard treasure for kings and nobles, but in the hundreds of years since then (and with the fall of much of civilization in the interim) their purpose and origins has been forgotten. Now they are called monsters, creatures that hoard treasure and kill any who try to take it.
Mimics are normally a pale, gelatinous creature on their own, and stand about four feet tall, with a humanoid form. They can portray themselves as male or female, and most prefer small, dark, dry spaces, like treasure vaults. They guard their treasure by making it a part of themselves, and injuring a mimic destroys some of the treasure it guards. Killing it destroys all the treasure it guards.
Mimics will ingest the treasure they are to guard and protect, and the treasure itself is changed, magically, by their bodies into an equal weight of small scales that cover their body, like dragon or fish scales. Gold, silver, precious gems... anything that is a valuable form of treasure (or currency) can be taken and altered in this way. Mimics prefer coins, gems, and small baubles, as anything bigger tends to be a difficult mouthful for them. Gemstone scales are used to give color to their form- eyes, hair, blushes for cheeks, and so forth. Variations in gold and silver work the same way. Once coated in scales, they can then use more treasure to form ‘bones’ and ‘flesh’ to give their body some weight and sturdiness. A mimic can hold around two standard treasure chests of valuables before their hoard begins to impede their movement. Three chests will make them bigger, but slower. Four or more leaves them immobile, and they will have to relinquish some of their hoard in order to move if that is necessary. They can literally cough up ingested valuables, taking them from the ‘flesh’ or ‘bones’ or scales and reforming them back into the piece of treasure they were before ingestion. By releasing treasure, they can regain mobility, but at the cost of leaving the released treasure vulnerable to theft. If the mimic is killed only the ingested treasure is lost.
When resting (which is most of the time), the mimic will remain in a treasure chest, a puddle of coins and small gems. The myth of hungry treasure chests out to remove fingers (or worse) from theives is that a mimic is somewhat like a hermit crab; they will amass a small hoard- enough to coat their body in protective scales- and then find a properly sized treasure chest and use that as their home. Their gelatinous form binds with the treasure, but also with the chest to a small degree, allowing them to control the chest as if it was a part of their own body- opening and closing the lid, and activating the lock.
The treasure chest sizes were standardized when the mimics were created, in three sizes. A small chest can hold a 14-year old youth with some room left over. A medium can hold an average, if fit, adult male. A large chest can hold five people standing up, and has both a lid and also hinged walls, held with clasps. If the clasps are undone, the walls fall flat, with the lid attached to the back wall. While these were made for mimics (and the mimics will pick them over other containers if given an opportunity), they can bond with almost any container. Boxes, barrels, crates... anything with a closeable (and preferably lockable) lid will work.
Larger hoards require the mimic to divide itself between several chests, or finding a larger chest. A king’s fortune sized hoard generally leaves the mimic spread throughout the treasure chamber, and lies in waiting for thieves, only revealing itself to capture a thief.
Mimics can divide themselves in two, and more powerful ones into three, but if the parts are separated by distance, only one can remain intelligent. the rest react on animal instict. A mimic’s power is directly proportionate to the amount of treasure they are guarding. More treasure equals more power. One mimic guarding a king’s treasure chamber (A well off king, at least), could likely be in four or even five places at once- one spread through the treasure, one as a ‘human’ guard in the room, and another two ‘human’ guards outside the vault door.
After the war, though, there wasn’t as much treasure to guard, and even fewer nobles and kings, so the mimics, when not needed, were cast out. They’ve since found dungeons and caves to hide in, each with their meager hoards of varying size.
Mimics tend to have a very protective personality. They are very guarded about the wealth they guard, treating it as a literal extension of themselves. If they bond well with the person whose treasure they guard, they can sometimes extend the protectiveness of what they guard to their owner, as well.
Mimics also are shut-ins. Most have spent their entire lives in a vault somewhere, and only know of the outside world from the stories of others- castle guards, kings, nobles, and others who would interact with the Mimic. More than a few have secret fantasies about being stolen away- romantically and literally- by a thief from the vault where they must live.
Mimics are, however, adept at more than just staying in a locked room guarding treasure. Most have a love of wealth, and some have partnered themselves with a successful thief, or adventuring party. Others have partnered themselves with a merchants' or thieves' guild, holding their treasury in safety.
(The following is an excerpt from the owner's manual for a purchaseable Mimic, available before the Fall of Naveshe during the Mage Wars)
Care and handling for your Mimic:
Congraturations on your purchase of a Farsham brand Magical Implement Monetary Intrusion Counterunit (MIMIC)
Mimics require a small amount of monetary infusion to remain stable and active; the bare minimum needed is enough to allow them to coat their head and perhaps some of their shoulders. In this state, they are bound to their treasure box, and remain immobile and weak. More wealth allows them to cover more of their bodies, and a wide variety of valuables is recommended. Gold, silver, gemstones, ivory, mithril and some semiprecious metals are all able to be integrated into a mimic's body, to help them have form and substance. Anything they integrate is held in a dispersed matrix throughout their form, preventing anyone from taking one single bit of treasure from the mimic and making off with it. Only authorized users can retrieve items from the mimic, though anyone can deposit valuables.
While traditionally a mimic will inhabit a treasure chest and hoard treasure (usually to the chest's capacity, and the fright and demise of would-be thieves), as long as a mimic has enough valuables to remain humanoid and ambulatory, it will guard whatever their owner deems to be valuable.
Care:
A mimic will require polishing on a regular basis. Using a soft buffing cloth, one should polish the mimic until the mimic is certain all the wealth it is guarding is properly shiny.
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