The Krampusby Reuben Dodd for the OctoberNomicon Art Contest
It came right at me, walking past Gregor.. Gregor grabbed the fire poker and began beating the thing. It flailed in the air, as if it had no idea where Gregor was… finally in frustration it leapt out the window. We never understood why until later when we were adults and Gregor explained his bruises.
— Death bed statement, Karl Gustof; Hamburg Hospice
The Elder God Krampus is relatively small, as Elder Gods go. He’s not really even that “elder” either. No Krampus was born with early life on earth, and is powered by the prayers of it’s unwitting worshippers. It’s worshippers are good parents everywhere.
Krampus came into existence with the evolution of parenting on our planet. The moment instinct kicked in to raise and shelter young instead of abandoning or eating them a great conflict arose. When a cub frightens away a prey animal, when a child ruins your one suit right before the big job interview, when your toddler tells the dreamy man in the park something horrendously personal… anger is only a normal response. You SCREAM inside your head, then you look down into the eyes of offspring, and the rage subsides… and you punish the child accordingly; you ground them, you take away their toys, you growl at them hoping that next time they won’t scare the elk away. Where does all this unfulfilled rage go? It becomes a prayer; a prayer to Krampus. As the year goes on, Krampus exists outside of existence, in a dead but dreaming state very similar to Cthulhu, absorbing all that anger, all that rage, all that righteous fury, until his day of mass comes around.
Free from the bindings of nonexistence, Krampus is free to act on his true nature. Krampus IS all the suppressed feelings of rage and vengeance from all those parents. He comes into our reality still QUITE livid about that suit, about chasing Dave away, and about spooking that elk. Krampus has no parental instinct, only that rage.
Some parents, however, do not feed Krampus. Some parents act on their rage and beat their children. The wicked parents who don’t pray to Krampus, never feed him their rage. So when Krampus comes to town, he has no memory of the children of these evil parents, nor does he have any memory of orphans with no parents to suppress rage from. These poor children, no matter what the age, are invisible to Krampus. He can not see them at all. He will walk right past the child who tells her classmates that she’s clumsy and falls down a lot to get to the boy who’s getting a new bike for Christmas.
Other than that, the rest of the stories are true. Some children he merely beats, the truly bad children he abducts. The children he takes it is unknown what happens to them, as their bodies are never recovered nor are they ever heard from again.
Krampus can manifest two times a year. The first time he has limited access to our world, he is not at full power, nor can he stay in our reality long.. he’s merely a collection of random, an hour or less appearances.. this is Krampuslauf (typically days to a week before Christmas) where unbelieving celebrants engage in a bacchanalian festival through the streets in fancy dress celebrating the idea of a horrible, child hating thing that they believe doesn’t exist. This is due entirely to what essentially boils down to an accidental mass summoning ritual (Imagine a bomb festival with traditional lit match passing on ye olde hill of gunpowder). The other night he is at full power and is most dangerous. This night is Krampusnacht.
Krampusnacht
As soon as the last Feast of St. Nicholas concludes and the sun has set, which ever comes last, Krampus materializes on the street. This is typically December 6th. Once made coporeal, Krampus takes off sprinting on a rage-filled tear of vengeance, seeking out all the children of good parents everywhere. Because of his nature, he can see children through solid walls or even through several meters of solid rock in a cave. He doesn’t generally have preference and will head directly to the closest child, working his way towards the naughtiest. The amount of punishment he doles out is mostly arbitrary, as he is powered merely by blind rage and will often abandon a child if a better target of opportunity arises or he bores of torturing his current victim. If unstopped, Krampus will continue his rage of terror until sun up.
Krampus – Krampuslauf Terror
STR 48 SAN na INT 35
DEX 45 APP 5
CON 25 SIZ 12 POW 30 Luck 50
Climb 20 Dodge 06 Hide 05 Jump 13
Sneak 05 Swim 13 Throw 13 Drive 10
Listen 13 Spot 13 Track 10
| Grapple 13% | Punch 35% | Kick 13% |
| D3+D4 | D6+D4 | |
| Claw 50% | Snatch Child 0% | Whip 45% |
| 1D8 + 3D6 | 1D6 on fail | 1D10 |
| [1 try/turn] | [1 shot/turn] | |
Krampus – Krampus nacht flayer
STR 89 SAN na INT 45
DEX 55 APP 5
CON 35 SIZ 12 POW 40 Luck 50
Climb 20 Dodge 06 Hide 05 Jump 13
Sneak 05 Swim 13 Throw 13 Drive 10
Listen 13 Spot 13 Track 10
| Grapple 25% | Punch 45% | Kick 13% |
| 2D6 + 2D4 | 3D6+2D4 | |
| Claw 50% | Snatch Child 50% | Whip 85% |
| 2D8 + 5D6 | 1D6 on fail | 2D10 |
| [1 try/turn] | [1 shot/turn] | |
