I'm what's called a homunculus, an artificial human. In my world, alchemy is a real science, and sometimes people try to use it to bring back the dead.
A human transmutation like that can't work. Alchemy relies on equal exchange, and there's no exchange for a life or a soul. The alchemist will usually get a body part taken from them as payment for something that's part human and part a creature from the alchemic source. The person they wanted doesn't come back, they just get one of us looking like mangled flesh and bone instead. But we're alive, and if we have enough time and help, we can put ourselves together. We'll have the same body and face as the dead person, more or less, and some of their memories, but we're not them and we're incomplete. We don't get hungry or tired or cold, and we're stronger and faster than a human. Each of us has a special ability too, like how I can shapeshift.
We're not supposed to have souls or feelings or be people at all. I don't think that's true now, but I did for a long time.
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A human transmutation like that can't work. Alchemy relies on equal exchange, and there's no exchange for a life or a soul. The alchemist will usually get a body part taken from them as payment for something that's part human and part a creature from the alchemic source. The person they wanted doesn't come back, they just get one of us looking like mangled flesh and bone instead. But we're alive, and if we have enough time and help, we can put ourselves together. We'll have the same body and face as the dead person, more or less, and some of their memories, but we're not them and we're incomplete. We don't get hungry or tired or cold, and we're stronger and faster than a human. Each of us has a special ability too, like how I can shapeshift.
We're not supposed to have souls or feelings or be people at all. I don't think that's true now, but I did for a long time.