The kodequara is a race of dolls found in Heronoja, several offshore islands, and nearby countries. They were initially made from plastic and synthetic materials, but later ones consisted of humanoid mannequins carved from wood and animated with magic.
Thousands of years ago, the kodequara were created by the Heronoi as their servants and crash dummies. They were mostly silent and unsapient until thousands of them simultaneously came to life and attacked the Heronoi, pulling the kingdom of Heronoja to several weeks of civil war. The kodequara were defeated, dismantled, and buried in remote areas; but some of them were able to reanimate themselves. In legends, the Heronoi believed that the kodequara came to life when the trickster deity Kojarena gave them souls, as he wanted to create his own kingdom on Earth populated by spirit-possessed robots. Like the kodequara, Kojarena was a robot who was given a spirit by the Gods, although he was only remade as a god after his body was destroyed.
With their attempt in building a kingdom of toys defeated, the kodequara were scattered. Some were simply buried in Heronoja’s forests, only to reawaken and rebuild themselves out of any intact parts. Others were sold to foreigners or melted into tools, after which they began to haunt and play pranks at their users’ dreams. Others were left behind at uninhabited islands or hostile nations, hoping that the dolls will have nothing to do when they awaken or they would sabotage Heronoja’s enemies.
The term “kodequara” specifically refers to the doll-like race that inhabit and haunt Heronoja’s forests. In the forests, the forest wights (tree spirits) began to play with their bodies as though they were puppets. When they woke up, some kodequara tried to run, while others stayed to make friends with the forest wights. As the wights were glad that they would have more people to help them protect their forests, they used their magic to transform several kodequara into tree-people.
Kodequara tend to enjoy being romantic, as it was an instinct imprinted unto their souls by their creator Kojarena. This was done in spite of a lack of sexual reproduction, as Kojanera wanted to see his creations fall in love to mourn for the lovers that he lost over the eras. Every kodequara would love to be affectionate to their partner, usually by holding hands, kissing, hugging, or cuddling. If the partner is killed, the kodequara will hunt for the one who killed their partner, or the partner’s spirit will haunt and torment the killer with mischievous pranks.
As they were animated by Kojarena, almost every kodequara is built to be a magical creature. They begin their lives with some basic spells, such as glowing or making objects float in the air, but if they were taught they could learn more spells. That same magic allows them to communicate and interact with forest wights and other nature spirits, or even defeat evil ghosts. Many kodequara tend to worship different gods from the Heronoi, but their pantheons all centre around Kojarena, their creator. One of their beloved symbols is the Sun, which represents Kojarena being the ruler of all the stars in the sky.
In later times, more kodequara have been unearthed and discovered. Many of them harmlessly sat in their displays like artifacts and exhibits, but some managed to reawaken to foreigners with fear in their minds. Most awakened kodequara were isolated from the rest of society as people tried to study about them and their magical properties, but some were allowed to go free or befriend other people. The Ontemazei (a plant-like race of pink people) especially love kodequara because of their similarities (being like dolls, history of abuse, pity, playfulness, and sun worship) and because they looked so cute.
(The kodequara were inspired by the androids of Detroit Become Human and the Wood Elves of Warhammer. The forest wights are dressed like Baltic people as they represented the indigenous Rakolans who venerated them, and the kodequara wear Mycenaean clothing, reflecting their Heronoi creators)