Archive for Creatures

“They are small, gray or brown, and look velvety soft. Cute, really. Except for those tusks. Those actually look like they could do some damage. Then, when the little bastards start swarming, all thoughts of cuteness vanish right quick. Wish I didn’t take that path through the forest. Didn’t even notice the little holes in the hillside where I decided to take a break, until they started streaming out. I woke up not long after that.”

-from the dream journal of Charles Curry 

Newborn Servants of Bokrug

“Well-equipped,  I started out on a spring morning (near the end of April 1929) and after a short climb I reached the top of the Tempelmauer. After a short rest between the cliffs I started to look for the entrance to the cave. Suddenly I saw a snake-like animal sprawled on the damp rotting foliage that covered the ground. Its skin was almost white, not covered with scales but smooth. Its head was flat and two very short feet on the fore-part of the body were visible. It did not move but kept staring at me with its remarkably large eyes. I know every one of our animals at first glance and knew that I faced the one that is unknown to science, the tatzelwurm….[the] tatzelwurm did not have large claws but short and atrophied-looking feet….Most probably the tatzelwurm is a rare variety of salamander living in moist caves and coming only rarely to the light of day.” – unnamed Austrian schoolmaster, quoted in On The Track of Unknown Animals, Bernard Heuvelmans (1955)

Used, Broken, But Unending.

“Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime” – Ernest Hemingway, 1946

Po…Po…Po Po Po…Po…Po…Po Po…

Alternative names: The Eight-Foot-Tall Lady 

Hachishakusama is a spirit that abducts children on the edge of puberty. She takes the form of an unnaturally tall and lithe woman. A long white dress clings to her body. A matching wide-brimmed sun hat casts a shadow over her beautiful yet cold face. A haunting, deeply masculine voice chanting “Po” always accompanies her. She haunts the liminal spaces between civilization and wilderness such as farms, country homes, and suburbs. She has even been encountered at parks in dense urban areas. 

She first makes her presence known to a child she intends to steal while the child is alone outside. After initial contact she withdraws, making no attempt to harm the child. This begins a campaign of terror that lasts 1D20 days. Over the course of days, Hachishakusama will appear to the child at random moments, a hungry, sinister expression on her face. Most often she will appear at a distance, though only for a moment, vanishing in a blink. In some reported cases, she will stare at a child through a window at night. She makes gestures to the child, beckoning them to come to her. Hachisakusama is also capable of mimicking the voices of adults the child trusts, though the “Po” runs under her words. 

 He was so damn insistent I almost did it just out of frustration, to get him to shut up. I didn’t know why it had to be done in some dank, musty old cellar, though I do now. He said the location and the work of the alchemist, some ancestor of his, had to be kept secret. Clearly he was correct.

Defiler of the Forsaken

For a scavenger, Patience is the key to the Pantry.

-Delia Owens

Much like the greater variety of this creature, Lesser Shepherds / Shepherdess’ of The Black Goat begin life as a normal human. They too had mother’s die during childbirth, but never as part of a formal ritual to Shub-Nigguruath. During their childhoods they receive none of the special diet or training of Greater Shepherd or Shepherdess’. None of these creatures had any connection to a cult of the Black Goat with a Thousand Young. They are created when an unlucky individual whose mother died in childbirth eats or drinks something made from the black milk of a Sacred Ewe of Shub-Nigguruath. This is close enough to the criteria for creating a Greater Shepherd or Shepherdess that it triggers a similar transformation, albeit one resulting in a less powerful version of the intended creation.

These creatures start out as human. They are chosen before their birth for the honor of becoming a guardian of a site sacred to the Outer Goddess Shub-Niggurath. Their mothers are ritually sacrificed to the Shub-Niggurath at the time of their birth. The babies are then raised by the cult they will one day serve. These chosen children receive mental, physical and spiritual training, as well as being fed special diets, in preparation for their future role. Once they reach adulthood they are given a ritual drink, triggering extremely painful physical alterations, forever changing them at the cellular level. This agonizing process takes a full day and night after which they are granted special powers and protections by the Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young. They are now a Shepherd or Shepherdess of The Black Goat. 

Many cultures feature legends of uniocular people or monsters: the Arimaspi (Greek), Likho  (Slavic), and of course, Cyclopses. Japan’s Hitotsume kozō and kasa-obake, both being  somewhat cute, mischievous yōkai are closest in depiction and demeanor to these pests, which  likely originated the myths of monocular entities. The character of Slimer from the  Ghostbusters franchise is a binocular cousin to this strain of goblin.  

“Out, damn spot! Out, I say!” 

–Lady Macbeth