Regarding bearing children, the Arsenal says they are lifelike and bleed--would that include menstruation? If so, I can imagine a version that could bring a child to term. If not, I can imagine a sinister sideline in "reproductive assistance" that would be equally twisted.Rotipher of the FoS wrote:Actually, if you replace "Stepford wives" with "Stepford everyone", you've got Meredoth's lebendtod in a nutshell.
Frankly, I'm not sure the original idea is as plausible in Ravenloft as in the real-life movie's era. Why? Because "respectability" and "fitting in" just aren't your average Ravenloft sexist pig's chief motivation for getting married. If you look at the descriptions of Core marriage practices, those cultures where the "replacement" idea would otherwise seem most plausible -- Dementlieu, Borca, Darkon, Richemulot -- are also the ones where people marry for economic and political convenience, not attraction or "keeping up appearances". Replacing one's wife with an obedient robot might work if you only need her to smile and dress nicely, but if she has to bear you heirs and keep her wealthy parents from cutting you out of their will, then replacing the real woman with a robot/golem/clone isn't going to cut it.
Come to think of it, it might work better if women arranged to replace their husbands, in a society where women legally have no economic power. If a woman in Falkovnia is powerless to spend money, hire employees, or sign contracts without her husband's say-so, there'd be a strong motivation for wealthy heiresses to marry some guillible dolt, then have him replaced before he starts getting ideas that it's his money.
What about a Dread Dopp? They can impregnate women that are otherwise barren--could they impregnate a lifelike golem? Could the dopp-embryo gather enough information from its lifelike surrogate to use it as a template?