Archive for Creatures

“I tell you the truth that you don’t want to hear. She tells you the truth that you shouldn’t want to hear. And when the Second Dawn comes, The Son of the Bull will tell you the truth that you can’t imagine, the truth that people only dream of during a Golden Age.”

Lucius Gaius, High Priest of Fiat Lux.

Overview: Fringe sects and splinter religious movements were constantly cropping up in Classical-era Rome, originating from all corners of the Empire. Within the state-recognized system of pietas, or religious loyalty, there was a fair amount of room for experimentation. These sects often portrayed themselves as a new aspect or newly enlightened understanding of an old, familiar god. As long as they did not directly challenge the established order or make powerful enemies, during much of the Roman era these “reinterpretations” of recognized religions were generally tolerated.

“Here, in this desert, there live amid the sand great ants, in size somewhat less than dogs, but bigger than foxes. The Persian king has a number of them, which have been caught by the hunters in the land whereof we are speaking. Those ants make their dwellings underground, and like the Greek ants, which they very much resemble in shape, throw up sand heaps as they burrow.”

Herodotus, The Third book of Histories

Despite their name these terrors of the desert are found in many places. They are said to be similar in form to the ants of Greece, aside from their size, which is reported to be larger than a fox but smaller than a dog. They are very territorial and attack any living thing approaching one of their mounds. As many as fifty of these creatures come swarming out of their mounds at the first sign of intrusion.

The Succo were rare even at the height of Stygia’s power, but now only a few remain. These creatures began as the issue of unholy unions between human sorcerers and priests and the Great Old One Atlach-Nacha. They appear to be enormous spiders with a vaguely human like face amid their eight eyes and fangs (females often with long hair, males often with facial hair), and human-like hands at the end of their first pair of legs. These hands are too feeble to wield a weapon, but can be used for fine work, such as opening doors, using fine tools, tying and untying knots, or writing messages on paper of wax tablets. They can speak but only in whispers,
although they can scream and screech quite loudly when enraged.

Once a species of early human, these creatures were driven underground by waves of invaders. In the dark depths of the earth they slowly transformed into a race perfectly suited to a life below the surface of the earth. They appear as grey skinned humanoids, with large black eyes, scraggly white hair, busy eyebrows, and thick beards. They are squat of build, standing at most five feet tall, with broad muscular shoulders. Ordantani see perfectly well in total darkness, but full daylight is now nearly blinding to them. However they suffer no ill effects from torch light, lamps, or diffused sunlight.

These extremely dangerous guardian creatures were created by the wizards of Lomar, to guard the lands of their estates. While the secrets of their creation and the ability to control or command them has been lost to history, those scholars who know of the Fallen Kingdoms and the Shadow War surmise that such monsters were created by magically cross breeding a terrestrial lion with certain unknown extraterrestrial mythos creatures. Luckily, they cannot breed, and no new Nemean lions have been created in millennia. Unfortunately, they are incredibly dangerous, immortal unless slain through violence, and nearly indestructible.

This creature is found far north of the Antonine Wall in the wilds of Caledonia, land of the savage Picts. It is greatly feared in those lands but mostly unknown in other countries. Legends tell that these creatures are created when a normal snake’s head is cut off. If the dying snake finds it’s severed heat the two halves can be rejoined, and the snake then transforms into the dreaded Beithir. It is often called The Lightning Serpent, as the creatures are most often seen after thunder storms.

They gather frankincense by burning that storax which Phoinikes carry to Hellas; they burn this and so get the frankincense; for the spice-bearing trees are guarded by small Winged Snakes of varied color, many around each tree; these are the snakes that attack Aigyptos Nothing except the smoke of storax will drive them away from the trees . . .

Herodotus, Histories III

In the Roman province of Arabia there lives a most unusual, and dangerous, serpent that is found nowhere else on earth. They are small (about a foot long), aggressive, colorful and armed with deadly venom. What marks them as unique is that they possess a pair of leathery bat-like winged. They fly with a nimble grace and if need be swoop down to attack with deadly accuracy. Their colors seem to constantly shift in the light, and their moods, sometimes rippling across their bodies in pulsing patterns when agitated.

A union of Hali-Spawn and human host, the gestalt organism is able to engage in physical combat while simultaneously casting spells. Bullets inflict negligible damage, and they are only partially susceptible to slashing weapons. Moreover, the ichor of the Huhuotl regenerates even traumatic physical damage until its hit points are reduced to -6 or lower; seemingly dead, the Huhuotli may resume activity when hit points have regenerated back above 0. The Red Gaze of a Huhuotl plunges its victim into a killing rage, in which he may attack friends as well as his enemy. If faced with a particularly worthy opponent, the Huhuotl may draw its victim into extremely close quarters, then attempt to attach one of its sucker-mouthed tentacles to his/her throat, simultaneously draining 1D4 hit points of blood per round and injecting a small amount of its own ichor into the bloodstream. Without a complete blood transfusion within 4 hours, the victim’s blood becomes commingled with the Huhuotli ichor, and will not allow itself to be removed without killing the host.

The octopoid inhabitants of the Lake of Hali spend millennia in a larval stage that initially is not much larger than the human head. Shortly after hatching, many are transported across light years of space to colonize distant worlds; whether this is done to spread the progeny of Hastur throughout the universe, or as a defense against the cannibalistic attentions of their sires is unknown. Physically defenseless for all their formidable alien magic, the infant Spawn must pursue a parasitic relationship with other species to fulfill its bloodthirsty nature. The Spawn foment constant warfare among host races wherever they go, selecting the fittest as host bodies, and driving all other inhabitants to extinction. Countless worlds have been overrun and turned into nightmarish outposts of Carcosa by the Spawn of Hali in this manner. In addition to their Amazonian colony, the Spawn of Hali may have infested other remote regions of the earth such as Australia, where they may lie at the root of the myth of the giant- headed, weather-controlling Wandjina.

Small, goblin-like creatures that feed off the filth and excrement of human habitation. They possess a long and sticky tongue, used for feeding. Akaname are associated with the unclean places of human habitation: bath houses, out houses, etcetera. They are especially attracted to areas with large, hard to clean spaces, such as prisons, flop houses, and sewers. They are not picky and, just as cockroaches do not discriminate, Akaname are found in the spaces occupied by the both the rich and the poor. They have
an uncanny ability to remain unseen by humans, although dogs and cats can sense their presence; when the family dog is staring at a spot on a wall, or scratching at a corner of a tatami mat; when the house cat stands with arched back and fur on end, they are more likely than not chasing a mouse or other common commensurate pest, but sometimes they sense that they are in the presence of an Akaname. Even the mildest mannered pet will attack an Akaname once their presence is detected, and many a beloved family friend has met their end by attacking the disease-ridden yokai.