Clay (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
magiktouch) wrote2015-03-04 01:40 pm
magiktouch) wrote2015-03-04 01:40 pm
Carvaka Application
▸PLAYER
Name: Dolly
Means of Contact:
aim: we were british
email: justadolly@gmail.com
Age: 25
▸CHARACTER
Name: Clay
Journal:magiktouch
Canon: Original
Age: 300-400 years.
Canon Point: After setting out on a journey from Grimstad at Mina's insistence.
World Description:
Hundreds and hundreds of years ago when the world of Ålesund was aflutter in the age of alchemy's discovery, none were so advanced as the ancient and powerful kingdom of Eingrad. Known historically for their bounty of wealth and power, Eingrad owed this prosperity to its advancements in the field of alchemy. They were able to create more efficient machinery, steam power, and eventually they began exploring the little-known branch of alchemy they called "magi-technology." Through hard work and perseverence the alchemists of Eingrad succeeded in creating the very first working Shem, or "Golems": featureless beings composed of clay which could perform simple tasks, and who were bound in servitude to their creators. They possessed no mind of their own, and eventually many kinds of Golem came to exist to serve a multitude of purposes.
Golems brought unprecedented prosperity to the kingdom of Eingrad. They could be used for mundane tasks such as manual labour, and even as tools for defence and war. Often times Golems would be put to work on tasks considered too dangerous for humans. It allowed for a near-invincible workforce which never required food or rest. Most of the early models were made of clay, but soon they were also made of stone, wood, and in some cases, metal. It was an age no one thought would come to an end; it would be one that continued as long as their tireless creations. This however, was not to be.
During the reign of the Härtwurte Dynasty, the Kingdom of Eingrad was given a King who sought to escape his own mortality: he desired to live forever and subvert death. This King had the very best of his alchemists delve further into their arts in order to find a way to achieve his goal, promising a king's ransom to whoever could give him what he desired. The alchemists worked fervently and eventually their labours bore fruit in the form of condensed, crystal-like cores. They were filled with strange energy, and could be refuelled with that same energy without ever breaking down. These cores were called Aer, and were rare to the point of being near-impossible to create. Only four were ever successfully made.
The alchemists brought the Aer to the King and told him they could grant him the immortality he desired, but in order to do so they would need to test certain...theories. Theories and methods which were as inhumane as they were atrocious, but permit them the King did. The alchemists were provided with as many materials as they needed to complete their experiments, and fortunately for the alchemists there was quite an abundance of them while Eingrad remained at war with a neighbouring kingdom. Prisoners of war, thieves and murderers, even beggars off the street were rounded up in secret and given to the alchemists in order to complete their work. Hundreds lost their lives to cruel experiments in order to determine the best way to utilize the Aer; the alchemists discovered that they were best powered with the energy of the living, and so prisoner after prisoner was fed to the Aer in order to boost their radiance.
At the same time the alchemists were put to the task of creating a casing, a container to house their Aer. In essence, they were creating what was to be their King's new, perfect, immortal body...and they already had the method needed to build a tireless and un-aging creation in the form of Golems. But what they desired to create was no mere construct of stone or marble: the alchemists had to create a durable alloy capable of housing and channelling the Aer, and the end result would be a substance called Truesteel. The first human-modelled Golem bodies were finally constructed as the war with the neighbouring kingdom came nearer and nearer to Eingrad; they were outfitted with the Aer and set to be powered, but as it came time to offer their King what he truly craved, two alchemists working on the project had come to have a change of heart. Guilt-laden by their many atrocities committed in the name of the King, they sabotaged the project so that when it came time to perform the process which would extract the King's soul and imprison it within one of the Golems it backfired, and as a result the Golems, the lab, as well as the King and the alchemists, were destroyed.
Save for one. Though most of the underground lab was left in ruin and for the most part caved in, one of the alchemists who had sabotaged the work lay half-buried beneath rubble with not long to live. The world never remembered her name, but in her dying moments she saw the body of the one remaining Golem. She reached out her hand to lay it upon its chest, apologizing for what they had done in the name of their mad King. But as she succumbed to her wounds her soul passed from her body to the Golem's Aer and merged with it.
Who she was and everything that made her her dissolved, and what was left when the Golem slowly sparked to life was only a strange sense of attachment to the lifeless woman who lay beside him. What little light was cast from the Aer in his chest allowed him to see the woman who had granted him life...and ultimately she became the one he modelled his human form after, adopting her blue eyes and long red hair as his own.
The Golem, Clay, didn't have the power to remain awake indefinitely. Though he was awake for several months, remaining passively curious about the strange place in which he had awoken and the deathly still woman he felt he did not really desire to leave the side of, eventually he would run out of power. Clay spent much of his time with her, and eventually he lay down beside her body as he fell into a motionless slumber of his own.
By the time Clay next awoke, several hundred years had passed. The woman he had gone to sleep next to was no longer at his side; in fact he was no longer within his underground birthplace at all, but instead in the abode of an odd collector of antiques. So imagine that poor old fellow's surprise when the metallic skeleton he'd been keeping just up and started moving and projecting human features all over the place. Naked human features.
Clay of course understood very little of anything. He had never met someone who spoke before, had no knowledge of language nor of any social customs. The old collector at least was enthusiastic to educate his newly-revived piece, and Clay proved an oddly quick and capable study. He picked up both conversation and language swiftly, but social norms and cues still took him a while. He became quite fond of the eccentric old collector and lived with him in solitude for many years. They had long conversations, dined with one another, and in general lived out a strange sort of paternal, tutor-student-son relationship.
But of course Clay did not age, and when the old man passed he stayed at his manor in much the same way he had stayed at the woman's side. He probably would have lived out many, many more years there had it not been for the arrival of one of the collector's much younger colleagues: a bizarre, tiny sort of woman who played the part of mad scientist rather well--albeit in a socially-awkward, kind-hearted sort of way. Clay wound up living with the woman (Mina, she was called), and through her he became much more knowledgeable about the world. Eventually it got to the point where he decided he wouldn't mind seeing and experiencing some of it for himself. His passiveness remained, but his curiosity was more piqued and when he told Mina of this she basically told him Of course he should go experience stuff, go do it now and record everything you learn for my research!
So Clay did just that, and started wandering the world with an opened mind and a desire to find something he wanted to do with himself.
The world in which Clay currently lives is divided into three main territories: the largest is known as the Grand Duchy of Strömstad and is ruled by the remains of Eingrad's neighbouring kingdom. The Grünstadt Republic is the second-largest but much powerful. It is comprised mainly of portions of Eingrad's former territories, as well as those to its south. It is primarily a gathering of various States. The final territory is known simply as "The Veldt." It is a vast overgrowth spanning hundreds of miles between and around both Strömstad & Grünstadt. It is mainly populated by various pockets of villages and nomads. Much of it remains unexplored outside of established roads and crossings, but portions of the western side have begun to encroach upon the remains of Eingrad's once-vast kingdom over time. At least a twelfth of it has disappeared into The Veldt. Commonly, any unexplored or foreign territory is considered part of The Veldt.
Since the Kingdom of Eingrad no longer existed when Clay awoke, he technically came from the Grünstadt Republic's less-populated southern territories. The current technology of the day has not yet surpassed steam and for the most part, all forms of alchemy have fallen into decay and disuse; Golems, Shem, are all but forgotten in all corners of the world. For the most part the world has turned more towards the industrial than the alchemical, although Strömstad still uses some ancient technologies in their capital city. All travel is done by horse, Toto (large flightless birds), or on foot, and in most rural areas water comes from rivers or wells. Only in major cities has plumbing become widespread.
Diplomatically, Strömstad and Grünstadt maintain amicable relations and frequently trade with one another, although there has been some uncertainty regarding Strömstad's powerful military. For the most part those living The Veldt have little to do with the outside world unless they happen to be along the roads and crossings. Many are superstitious and consider the Veldt sentient, or at the very least filled with any number of spirits and deities. Most outside The Veldt do not share this view, although people do remain wary of it. There have never been any significant attempts to chart or map it.
Personality:
Clay is very much a free spirit, in that he's generally carefree and doesn't get bogged down by circumstances or unfortunate happenings. He isn't the type to worry over details or issues when they come up and figures he'll take things as they happen. Planning ahead is never something he's really worked out or done for himself since his time line is sort of forever so long as he stays powered, and he lacks any real goal or desire for himself. He likes doing things he enjoys such as reading or talking to people, but Clay also enjoys learning new things--and as Mina was adamant in explaining to him, some things must be sought out and tried to truly understand them. And when he tried it for himself Clay found he rather enjoyed the experience of travelling and discovering things on his own rather than simply being told or reading about them.
He is passive in personality though, in the sort of way where he doesn't mind what other people say or do and just sort of accepts it. His initiative is tied mostly to his own curiosity and Clay doesn't have much drive to convince or control others, aside from expressing his own point of view. If someone's rude or aggressive towards him Clay isn't the sort to retaliate even in the case of violence simply because he hasn't really experienced very much of it. He doesn't really see the point in it, and it's also troublesome; he doesn't really like things like that. He also doesn't feel pain the way someone human might so that's also influenced the way he handles situations with physical harm. Clay had to be taught what death and hurting others were, and although he has a much better understanding of it now he still doesn't react to it the way a more emotionally advanced (or invested) person might be. He would certainly protect someone he likes or cares about, but Clay wouldn't seek revenge or try to kill anyone in return.
But that isn't to say he's passive to the point of doing nothing. Clay can be an instigator and a little bit of an imp, traits picked up from the odd collector he lived with. He likes to tease people and use his carefree and laid-back attitude to rile people up from time to time. He also has little qualms about getting in peoples' personal space, initiating intimacy, or making people uncomfortable by putting his face near theirs. This is partly because he's never really picked up social boundaries, and partly because he fuels his Aer by consuming energy through his mouth; often times he will lick or kiss people or objects with magical properties to power himself. There's no significant meaning in it aside from that and riling people up, although he knows it is a form of expressing affection.
Unfortunately Mina was not interested in men and was not exactly appreciative when he tried it on her. So it's still a hit-and-miss thing for him.
As a Golem Clay is more inclined to do things he's asked, although he doesn't like orders. Favours are an entirely different story though and if he thinks he'll find it interesting or if he's fond of the person asking, he's generally pretty helpful. Even if he might be a little difficult about it, because again, he enjoys teasing people. And if he doesn't have to do something Clay has no qualms about leaving it up to other people or stopping at the very baseline of what he's agreed to. He likes to do things, but not for just anyone and even less so for people he dislikes. He's more likely to be difficult to those sorts. A sure sign of Clay disliking someone is his not talking to them, since talking is something that he enjoys very much. The less he talks to you the less he likes you.
And Clay is always honest! 100% of the time since he doesn't really like lies; the effort to pick up nuances and social cues is a little more difficult for him and frustrating. The old collector and Mina never really told him any fabrications, but he knows quite a bit about them. Enough not to see the point in them; they're frivolous and useless as far as Clay sees it. If someone's honest about being a terrible person he'll actually like them more than if they're a better person overall who tells lies.
All in all, a lot of Clay has been informed by the three people he's been most attached to in his life: the nameless alchemist, the old collector, and Mina. His curiosity and enjoyment in reading and learning, as well as his fondness for his appearance came from the nameless alchemist. The collector gave him his quirkiness, and Mina gave him enthusiasm. Clay genuinely enjoys just existing and doesn't worry about how he does it, or how he's different from the people around him. He doesn't worry about how one day he will outlive them all nor does he worry about his living tirelessly; every day is an experience to enjoy and learn from.
Clay also has an odd affinity for dogs. He loves their company, loves to pet them, loves everything about them. And when he finds someone particularly fun or amusing he usually attributes pet names to them as well, like "boy", "pooch", etc. He just really loves all dogs in all sizes and he would love to own all the dogs in the universe... But Mina's allergic and won't let him keep one. It's the biggest tragedy.
Appearance:
Link; Clay stands at about 6'5".
Abilities:
Immortality: Because Clay's organic form is only a projection, he does not age or decay and his body remains immune to the effects of time. He doesn't feel hunger or require food or water to survive in the way an organic being would, although to remain powered and animate he must consume matter with "energy" in it that he can burn as fuel. This can be of a magical or organic sort (ie. he can consume the magic of others/held within objects, or choose to eat organic matter regardless of its form. Both of these he does with his mouth, which sometimes results in him kissing and/or licking people). Clay can, however, be killed if his core is crushed or destroyed.
Golem Biology: Clay does not suffer from pain, fatigue or damage like a person would. He's only tired when he runs low on energy, and although he can react to pain it isn't debilitating to him and he doesn't really "feel" it. The only time he would actually experience discomfort is if the damage was done to his core.
He can also project a human appearance onto his metal body which feels and looks authentic: he will have flesh which feels warm, and he can bleed (although it would have a blue, bio-luminescent glow to it). Essentially, he uses the magic and energy he's converted into fuel to project this form and although he can construct and change its appearance at will, he cannot change his height and if he runs too low on energy Clay will revert to his metallic golem form. If he runs out of power entirely he will cease to function and remain in a dormant state.
Magic Divination: So long as a person or object possesses even a trace of magic, Clay can sense and track them. It is harder to track weak sources though, or sources too far away.
Name: Dolly
Means of Contact:
aim: we were british
email: justadolly@gmail.com
Age: 25
▸CHARACTER
Name: Clay
Journal:
magiktouchCanon: Original
Age: 300-400 years.
Canon Point: After setting out on a journey from Grimstad at Mina's insistence.
World Description:
Hundreds and hundreds of years ago when the world of Ålesund was aflutter in the age of alchemy's discovery, none were so advanced as the ancient and powerful kingdom of Eingrad. Known historically for their bounty of wealth and power, Eingrad owed this prosperity to its advancements in the field of alchemy. They were able to create more efficient machinery, steam power, and eventually they began exploring the little-known branch of alchemy they called "magi-technology." Through hard work and perseverence the alchemists of Eingrad succeeded in creating the very first working Shem, or "Golems": featureless beings composed of clay which could perform simple tasks, and who were bound in servitude to their creators. They possessed no mind of their own, and eventually many kinds of Golem came to exist to serve a multitude of purposes.
Golems brought unprecedented prosperity to the kingdom of Eingrad. They could be used for mundane tasks such as manual labour, and even as tools for defence and war. Often times Golems would be put to work on tasks considered too dangerous for humans. It allowed for a near-invincible workforce which never required food or rest. Most of the early models were made of clay, but soon they were also made of stone, wood, and in some cases, metal. It was an age no one thought would come to an end; it would be one that continued as long as their tireless creations. This however, was not to be.
During the reign of the Härtwurte Dynasty, the Kingdom of Eingrad was given a King who sought to escape his own mortality: he desired to live forever and subvert death. This King had the very best of his alchemists delve further into their arts in order to find a way to achieve his goal, promising a king's ransom to whoever could give him what he desired. The alchemists worked fervently and eventually their labours bore fruit in the form of condensed, crystal-like cores. They were filled with strange energy, and could be refuelled with that same energy without ever breaking down. These cores were called Aer, and were rare to the point of being near-impossible to create. Only four were ever successfully made.
The alchemists brought the Aer to the King and told him they could grant him the immortality he desired, but in order to do so they would need to test certain...theories. Theories and methods which were as inhumane as they were atrocious, but permit them the King did. The alchemists were provided with as many materials as they needed to complete their experiments, and fortunately for the alchemists there was quite an abundance of them while Eingrad remained at war with a neighbouring kingdom. Prisoners of war, thieves and murderers, even beggars off the street were rounded up in secret and given to the alchemists in order to complete their work. Hundreds lost their lives to cruel experiments in order to determine the best way to utilize the Aer; the alchemists discovered that they were best powered with the energy of the living, and so prisoner after prisoner was fed to the Aer in order to boost their radiance.
At the same time the alchemists were put to the task of creating a casing, a container to house their Aer. In essence, they were creating what was to be their King's new, perfect, immortal body...and they already had the method needed to build a tireless and un-aging creation in the form of Golems. But what they desired to create was no mere construct of stone or marble: the alchemists had to create a durable alloy capable of housing and channelling the Aer, and the end result would be a substance called Truesteel. The first human-modelled Golem bodies were finally constructed as the war with the neighbouring kingdom came nearer and nearer to Eingrad; they were outfitted with the Aer and set to be powered, but as it came time to offer their King what he truly craved, two alchemists working on the project had come to have a change of heart. Guilt-laden by their many atrocities committed in the name of the King, they sabotaged the project so that when it came time to perform the process which would extract the King's soul and imprison it within one of the Golems it backfired, and as a result the Golems, the lab, as well as the King and the alchemists, were destroyed.
Save for one. Though most of the underground lab was left in ruin and for the most part caved in, one of the alchemists who had sabotaged the work lay half-buried beneath rubble with not long to live. The world never remembered her name, but in her dying moments she saw the body of the one remaining Golem. She reached out her hand to lay it upon its chest, apologizing for what they had done in the name of their mad King. But as she succumbed to her wounds her soul passed from her body to the Golem's Aer and merged with it.
Who she was and everything that made her her dissolved, and what was left when the Golem slowly sparked to life was only a strange sense of attachment to the lifeless woman who lay beside him. What little light was cast from the Aer in his chest allowed him to see the woman who had granted him life...and ultimately she became the one he modelled his human form after, adopting her blue eyes and long red hair as his own.
The Golem, Clay, didn't have the power to remain awake indefinitely. Though he was awake for several months, remaining passively curious about the strange place in which he had awoken and the deathly still woman he felt he did not really desire to leave the side of, eventually he would run out of power. Clay spent much of his time with her, and eventually he lay down beside her body as he fell into a motionless slumber of his own.
By the time Clay next awoke, several hundred years had passed. The woman he had gone to sleep next to was no longer at his side; in fact he was no longer within his underground birthplace at all, but instead in the abode of an odd collector of antiques. So imagine that poor old fellow's surprise when the metallic skeleton he'd been keeping just up and started moving and projecting human features all over the place. Naked human features.
Clay of course understood very little of anything. He had never met someone who spoke before, had no knowledge of language nor of any social customs. The old collector at least was enthusiastic to educate his newly-revived piece, and Clay proved an oddly quick and capable study. He picked up both conversation and language swiftly, but social norms and cues still took him a while. He became quite fond of the eccentric old collector and lived with him in solitude for many years. They had long conversations, dined with one another, and in general lived out a strange sort of paternal, tutor-student-son relationship.
But of course Clay did not age, and when the old man passed he stayed at his manor in much the same way he had stayed at the woman's side. He probably would have lived out many, many more years there had it not been for the arrival of one of the collector's much younger colleagues: a bizarre, tiny sort of woman who played the part of mad scientist rather well--albeit in a socially-awkward, kind-hearted sort of way. Clay wound up living with the woman (Mina, she was called), and through her he became much more knowledgeable about the world. Eventually it got to the point where he decided he wouldn't mind seeing and experiencing some of it for himself. His passiveness remained, but his curiosity was more piqued and when he told Mina of this she basically told him Of course he should go experience stuff, go do it now and record everything you learn for my research!
So Clay did just that, and started wandering the world with an opened mind and a desire to find something he wanted to do with himself.
The world in which Clay currently lives is divided into three main territories: the largest is known as the Grand Duchy of Strömstad and is ruled by the remains of Eingrad's neighbouring kingdom. The Grünstadt Republic is the second-largest but much powerful. It is comprised mainly of portions of Eingrad's former territories, as well as those to its south. It is primarily a gathering of various States. The final territory is known simply as "The Veldt." It is a vast overgrowth spanning hundreds of miles between and around both Strömstad & Grünstadt. It is mainly populated by various pockets of villages and nomads. Much of it remains unexplored outside of established roads and crossings, but portions of the western side have begun to encroach upon the remains of Eingrad's once-vast kingdom over time. At least a twelfth of it has disappeared into The Veldt. Commonly, any unexplored or foreign territory is considered part of The Veldt.
Since the Kingdom of Eingrad no longer existed when Clay awoke, he technically came from the Grünstadt Republic's less-populated southern territories. The current technology of the day has not yet surpassed steam and for the most part, all forms of alchemy have fallen into decay and disuse; Golems, Shem, are all but forgotten in all corners of the world. For the most part the world has turned more towards the industrial than the alchemical, although Strömstad still uses some ancient technologies in their capital city. All travel is done by horse, Toto (large flightless birds), or on foot, and in most rural areas water comes from rivers or wells. Only in major cities has plumbing become widespread.
Diplomatically, Strömstad and Grünstadt maintain amicable relations and frequently trade with one another, although there has been some uncertainty regarding Strömstad's powerful military. For the most part those living The Veldt have little to do with the outside world unless they happen to be along the roads and crossings. Many are superstitious and consider the Veldt sentient, or at the very least filled with any number of spirits and deities. Most outside The Veldt do not share this view, although people do remain wary of it. There have never been any significant attempts to chart or map it.
Personality:
Clay is very much a free spirit, in that he's generally carefree and doesn't get bogged down by circumstances or unfortunate happenings. He isn't the type to worry over details or issues when they come up and figures he'll take things as they happen. Planning ahead is never something he's really worked out or done for himself since his time line is sort of forever so long as he stays powered, and he lacks any real goal or desire for himself. He likes doing things he enjoys such as reading or talking to people, but Clay also enjoys learning new things--and as Mina was adamant in explaining to him, some things must be sought out and tried to truly understand them. And when he tried it for himself Clay found he rather enjoyed the experience of travelling and discovering things on his own rather than simply being told or reading about them.
He is passive in personality though, in the sort of way where he doesn't mind what other people say or do and just sort of accepts it. His initiative is tied mostly to his own curiosity and Clay doesn't have much drive to convince or control others, aside from expressing his own point of view. If someone's rude or aggressive towards him Clay isn't the sort to retaliate even in the case of violence simply because he hasn't really experienced very much of it. He doesn't really see the point in it, and it's also troublesome; he doesn't really like things like that. He also doesn't feel pain the way someone human might so that's also influenced the way he handles situations with physical harm. Clay had to be taught what death and hurting others were, and although he has a much better understanding of it now he still doesn't react to it the way a more emotionally advanced (or invested) person might be. He would certainly protect someone he likes or cares about, but Clay wouldn't seek revenge or try to kill anyone in return.
But that isn't to say he's passive to the point of doing nothing. Clay can be an instigator and a little bit of an imp, traits picked up from the odd collector he lived with. He likes to tease people and use his carefree and laid-back attitude to rile people up from time to time. He also has little qualms about getting in peoples' personal space, initiating intimacy, or making people uncomfortable by putting his face near theirs. This is partly because he's never really picked up social boundaries, and partly because he fuels his Aer by consuming energy through his mouth; often times he will lick or kiss people or objects with magical properties to power himself. There's no significant meaning in it aside from that and riling people up, although he knows it is a form of expressing affection.
Unfortunately Mina was not interested in men and was not exactly appreciative when he tried it on her. So it's still a hit-and-miss thing for him.
As a Golem Clay is more inclined to do things he's asked, although he doesn't like orders. Favours are an entirely different story though and if he thinks he'll find it interesting or if he's fond of the person asking, he's generally pretty helpful. Even if he might be a little difficult about it, because again, he enjoys teasing people. And if he doesn't have to do something Clay has no qualms about leaving it up to other people or stopping at the very baseline of what he's agreed to. He likes to do things, but not for just anyone and even less so for people he dislikes. He's more likely to be difficult to those sorts. A sure sign of Clay disliking someone is his not talking to them, since talking is something that he enjoys very much. The less he talks to you the less he likes you.
And Clay is always honest! 100% of the time since he doesn't really like lies; the effort to pick up nuances and social cues is a little more difficult for him and frustrating. The old collector and Mina never really told him any fabrications, but he knows quite a bit about them. Enough not to see the point in them; they're frivolous and useless as far as Clay sees it. If someone's honest about being a terrible person he'll actually like them more than if they're a better person overall who tells lies.
All in all, a lot of Clay has been informed by the three people he's been most attached to in his life: the nameless alchemist, the old collector, and Mina. His curiosity and enjoyment in reading and learning, as well as his fondness for his appearance came from the nameless alchemist. The collector gave him his quirkiness, and Mina gave him enthusiasm. Clay genuinely enjoys just existing and doesn't worry about how he does it, or how he's different from the people around him. He doesn't worry about how one day he will outlive them all nor does he worry about his living tirelessly; every day is an experience to enjoy and learn from.
Clay also has an odd affinity for dogs. He loves their company, loves to pet them, loves everything about them. And when he finds someone particularly fun or amusing he usually attributes pet names to them as well, like "boy", "pooch", etc. He just really loves all dogs in all sizes and he would love to own all the dogs in the universe... But Mina's allergic and won't let him keep one. It's the biggest tragedy.
Appearance:
Link; Clay stands at about 6'5".
Abilities:
Immortality: Because Clay's organic form is only a projection, he does not age or decay and his body remains immune to the effects of time. He doesn't feel hunger or require food or water to survive in the way an organic being would, although to remain powered and animate he must consume matter with "energy" in it that he can burn as fuel. This can be of a magical or organic sort (ie. he can consume the magic of others/held within objects, or choose to eat organic matter regardless of its form. Both of these he does with his mouth, which sometimes results in him kissing and/or licking people). Clay can, however, be killed if his core is crushed or destroyed.
Golem Biology: Clay does not suffer from pain, fatigue or damage like a person would. He's only tired when he runs low on energy, and although he can react to pain it isn't debilitating to him and he doesn't really "feel" it. The only time he would actually experience discomfort is if the damage was done to his core.
He can also project a human appearance onto his metal body which feels and looks authentic: he will have flesh which feels warm, and he can bleed (although it would have a blue, bio-luminescent glow to it). Essentially, he uses the magic and energy he's converted into fuel to project this form and although he can construct and change its appearance at will, he cannot change his height and if he runs too low on energy Clay will revert to his metallic golem form. If he runs out of power entirely he will cease to function and remain in a dormant state.
Magic Divination: So long as a person or object possesses even a trace of magic, Clay can sense and track them. It is harder to track weak sources though, or sources too far away.