The Obsidian Man of Urik is a unique golem, with a body and adorning clothes perfectly carved from a single block of obsidian glass. Its features show no signs of chiseling, as its body appears as smooth as human skin, and with clothes modelled after a nobleman’s kilt and bardic. It stands 12 feet tall, weighs around 4,600 pounds, and is perfectly proportioned, lacking any of the exaggerations one might expect from a creature of its size. It has also been said that the Obsidian Man radiates an aura of overwhelming necromancy.
History[]
During the 189th King's Age, in the Year of Wind's Reverence, obsidian miners working the Smoking Crown mountains found a huge statue of a man entombed within a vein of solid volcanic glass. On the orders of their templar overseers, the miners chiseled away at the surrounding stone. Once free, the Obsidian Man was laid on a sledge and prepared for transport to Urik where it would be presented to king Hamanu. The following morning, 13 people had been brutally murdered in the mining camp, crushed to death. Fearing that delays would enrage the king, the templars forewent the investigations of the killings until later and proceeded with the freight to Urik.
Every morning, the templars found more people crushed to death. Despite the suspicions of the templars, they found no evidence that it was in fact the Obsidian Man that had committed the killings, as it was ever only found reclining on its sledge, as unmoving as a statue. When the caravan finally reached Urik, dozens of people had been killed.
The Obsidian Man was then brought before Hamanu, who examined the figure with intense interest. However, he could gleam little from the statue itself and was angered by this. He retired to his library to research the matter and set twenty of his half-giants bodyguards to watch the Obsidian Man. In the middle of the night, Hamanu was roused from his studies by the sound of battle coming from inside his palace. He rushed to the scene to find half his bodyguard killed and the other half maimed, while some of the walls of his palace had been reduced to rubble.
Hamanu followed the trail of destruction and caught up with the Obsidian Man in the main square of Urik, where he fought it by bringing forth all his terrible power. Despite being severely injured, the warrior king stood triumphant and managed to bind the construct to his service with a golden circlet around its brow.
Following this, Hamanu went on to use the Obsidian Man's massive strength for many years, using its power for his and the city's benefit. That is, until a young templar, for unknown reasons, removed the Golden Circlet from the Obsidian Man's brow sometime during the second year of Tyr's freedom. After killing the templar, the golem walked out into the desert and disappeared.
In Free Year 7, the golden circlet was stolen from Hamanu's palace. Despite the rage of the king, the thief was never apprehended and the circlet remains lost to him. Hamanu still searches for the circlet and the obsidian man, and is very eager to put it under his control once more, offering vast rewards for information on the whereabouts of both.
Abilities[]
The Obsidian Man is a raging, near-unstoppable force driven by a need to destroy living things, being able to destroy whole villages and small armies on its own, and even pushing the limits of the sorcerer-king of Urik. The only reprieve from the onslaught of the Obsidian Man is the light of the sun, as the the golem cannot abide by it. Once exposed to daylight, it goes into a dormant state. While in this state or repose, the Obsidian Man is impervious to physical harm and unaffected by arcane and psionic powers. Come nightfall, the statue animates once more to continue its massacre.
In battle, the Obsidian Man uses its awesome strength to overcome most obstacles, however that is far from its only means of harming its foes. Its most common ranged attack involves firing a thin beams of black fire, targeting anything within 180 feet of itself. Should the brute strength and black fire not be sufficient, it can make use of the finger of death spell once a week. Beyond this, it can also make use of fly (for up to 1 hour) and wall of fire once a day each, and may use both stone shape and passwall at will.
Defeating the Obsidian Man is no easy feat, as it's immune to damage from anything less than a metal weapon or a +3 enchantment or better. It's also immune to all psionic attacks, except for those of the psychokinetic discipline, as well as most magic - the biggest exceptions being cone of cold (and other spells that deal cold damage), stone shape (which causes it 1 point of damage per the level of the caster), and stone to flesh (which reduces its AC, alternatively negates its damage reduction and immunity to magic for a round). Transmute rock to mud has the same effects on it as the slow spell, while transmute mud to rock completely heals it. Bright light, especially sunlight, can stun the golem for several rounds of combat. Once the Obsidian Man has sustained enough damage, it reverts to its unmoving repose,healing all damage done to it by next sunset.
To destroy the Obsidian Man is difficult, and only two ways have been theorized to work: exposing it to 24 hours of continuous sunlight, or to cut out its heart with a +5 weapon and then throwing the heart into the lava of the Smoking Crown mountains where it was first discovered.
The Golden Circlet[]
The golden circlet is the only way to control the Obsidian Man, and even that isn’t foolproof. Firstly, not everyone is able to use it - you must be able to manifest psionic powers to even attempt using it. Secondly, to maintain control, the controller must see to it that the golem is allowed to slay at least one sentient creature every night, or risk it turning on the controller. Furthermore, commanding the Obsidian Man to use any of its powers permanently drains the controller of a small portion of their own life force.
In addition to all of this, the Obsidian Man has shown an unnatural tendency to become separated from the golden circlet, by hook or by crook, or even by accident. Once freed from the circlet, the Obsidian Man is quick to retaliate against those that sought to command its rage.
Notes[]
The Obsidian Man from the Book of Artifacts.
As with many things Dark Sun, there exist some discrepancies in the timeline of the Obsidian Man in published material, be it from TSR or athas.org. These issues are detailed below:
- According to the AD&D 2 source material, it's stated that the Obsidian Man was discovered "85 years ago, in the Year of Wind's Reverence", which means the book is counting back from at least Free Year 9.
- Following this logic, the removal of the golden circlet from the brow of the Obsidian Man, which took place "some seven years ago" by the accounts of the Book of Artifacts, has to have happened in Free Year 2 or thereabout - further placing the theft of the of the golden circlet itself in FY 7.
- This runs in conflict with the timeline presented on athas.org, which instead places the discovery of the Obsidian Man in the Year of Mountain's Slumber - counting 85 years before Free Year 1.
- Legends of Athas sticks with the idea that the discovery occurred in the Year of Wind's Reverence, but states that the removal of the circlet happened in FY -1 and the theft of it in FY 1, meaning that the discovery of the Obsidian Man happend about 77 years before the liberation of Tyr instead of 85 years.
Source[]
- Book of Artifacts, by David "Zeb" Cook. (1993). TSR Inc.
- Encyclopedia Magica Volume II, by Doug Stewart and Steve Winter. (1995). TSR Inc.
- Legends of Athas, Bruno Fernandes. (2008). athas.org