From the AD&D 2nd Edition Fandom Wiki:
“A colossus is an automaton, artificially created and under the direct control of whomever is able to manipulate the runes of its creation. Once it is activated, a colossus tries to destroy any edifices it discovers that were not constructed by its creators; this is part of its programming.”
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Stone Colossi are very small
Compared to your average planetoid.
But they’re really large compared to you;
I recommend not making them annoyed.
They might destroy your barn,
Or your whole village square
Know how to tell where a Colossus has been?
…there’s nothing there.
Some unknown race of beings
Whom the Lizard People fought
Lived before our current history
And what wonders they wrought!
Icy massive Pyramids,
Fifty-foot-tall Sphynxes
Glyphs and runes of power vast;
Curses, cantrips, jinxes.
One doesn’t raise Colossi for vacation;
They fight wars of annihilation.
It’s hard to judge them for all that;
Those who judged have long been flat.
What kind of warfare did they wage?
In that long-gone, wyrding age?
Technology we cannot replicate,
Giant statues we can’t mate.
(Don’t, by the way, a Colossus date.
They don’t have current money,
and are always late.)
Why is it that these giant things
(Solid stone’s the opposite of wings)
Whenever they see structures not made by their makers
They send the structures to undertakers?
Who were their opponents in bygone days
To inspire a flattening of ways?
But they’ll smash a castle, a hovel, a jar;
That’s just how Colossi are.
…and now, just Colossi remain
Like the legs of Ozymandias
And the Dungeon Master in the sky
Pretends: “Oh, sure, I planned this.”
~Jeff Mach
My name is Jeff Mach (“Dark Lord” is optional) and I build communities, put on events, and make stories come into being. I also tweet a lot over @darklordjournal.
I write books. You should read them!
