Monsters

What you see here is what you know.

As you learn more, this page will grow!

There are things out there, in the lonely and desolate places of the world.

You might find some; others will find you.

Eaters

The creatures are thought by some to the the living dead. Others claim the things are humans warped by something the sages call "a virus," a tiny poison that enters the blood and changes the person into a half-mindless, doglike thing that craves human flesh and runs in packs. A bad enough bite or clawing induces a fever and perhaps a slow change into an Eater.

The Eaters have good vision in the dark but do not mind light; in fact, they use torches when they assist humans (it is not unknown). They use a language of barks, growls, and whimpers to talk among themselves, and some speak human tongues. Packs thrive in the eldritch tunnels and catacombs beneath ruins and are led by a priest or magician warped into an Eater, yet retaining some powers. One such was the Eater-Queen Sid Dak Siddi Dag Vac encountered under the ruins near Castle Korigannon. Some call them Ghouls; others insist that is an even worse creature.

Guluk

Smaller and craftier than Stinkers, they often serve the same evil masters or form armies and small kingdoms, often underground. There's a large colony lead by a Big Boss, or King Thubrat Mitalucu (of clan Mitalucu), in the marshes around Thozanga, at a hidden place called The Black Rock.

Humans, Rindalari, and Simari wipe them out whenever possible. These creatures stand no more than 4' tall, have green skin, and see very well in darkness. Though not strong individually, they never act alone and use stealth to capture and immobilize prey. They have talent working metal, especially gold. This means that Guluk do trade with other folk, but they are as crafty at making a deal as they are at other tricks.

Guluk captives vanish into their lairs, to awful fates. While the stewpot is not one of them, nor mating (Guluk apparently find other races repulsive) captives probably work in degrading jobs as enslaved miners, farmers, or gladiators, all the better for the Guluk to get their revenge on a world that really hates them.

Stinkers

Rarely seen inside Windamere, unless sent by some evil leader. They do smell vile, a combination of rotten meat, body odors, fecal matter, and rancid sweat. They are long-armed, with coal-black or dark-green skin and tusks like a wild boar.

Many are said to serve The Khan and there is a place on the maps, perhaps imaginary, called "The Stink" where they come from. Debates among scholars rage over whether the Stinkers are a form of Misborn or whether they are their own race. Some legends have the Khan making them in vats. They can breed with humans, but the offspring are almost never able to procreate. Any are destroyed in nasty ways by the Khan and hated or feared elsewhere, since they have the cunning and ferocity of the Stinker and the reasoning powers of the human parent. They are derided as "Halfsies" and sometimes form solitary communities far from civilized lands.

The Rindalar word for Stinker, Irrch, captures their essence. The Simar word better captures their stink, Poolo.

These creatures are, to most, the subject of a rhyme that keeps little children in line:

Once there was a little boy who wouldn’t say his prayers,

and when he went to bed at night away up stairs,

his mammy heard him holler and his daddy heard him bawl,

and when they turned the covers down, he wasn’t there at all!

They searched for him in the attic room and cubby hole and press

and even up the chimney flue and every where, I guess,

they found his pants and knickers, but he was not about,

and the Stinkers will get ya if ya don’t watch out!

Once there was a little girl who always laughed and grinned

and she made fun of everyone, of all her blood and kin,

and once when there was company and the old folks was there,

she mocked them and she shocked them and said she didn’t care.

And as she turned on her heels and to go and run and hide,

there was two great big black things standing by her side.

They snatched her up the chimney, fore she could give a shout,

and the Stinkers will get ya if ya don’t watch out!

When the night is dark and scary, and the moon is full

and creatures are a flying and the wind goes Whoooooooooo,

you better mind your parents and your teachers fond and dear,

and cherish them that loves ya, and dry the orphans tears

and help the poor and needy ones that cluster all about,

or the Stinkers will get ya if ya don’t watch out!

Misborn

All you know is that they are said to be human. Ones seen so far are pallid and bald. One had an eye in the back of his skull. Some have three or four arms, even vestigial second heads. They seem to originate from the Place-Not-Named and follow The Master, some dark being who dwells in the awful ruins.

The things were instrumental in the kidnapping of Princess Arana by the Mad Wizard Essidar, though they called him "Betrayer!" as he snatched the Princess away, magically. Large numbers of them appeared in Zinrar and attacked those attending the funeral of Clarissa Geramond, daughter of Sir and Lady Germond of Zinrar.

They entered the town through a magical portal created, presumably, by The Master. Some of them were far tougher fighters than others and attacked the nobility and Guardsmen, wiping out 100 combatants and innocents. Other Windamereans, including Sara, midwife and holy woman of Markik, were tossed back through the open portal and to the place-not-named before it was closed by a defender's spell.

Ratkin

A terror to those lost under cities. These creatures may have once been human, or they are a form of Misborn, but no matter: they are bipedal rats of huge size, appetite, and intelligence. One Ratkin in Thozanga reportedly wears a crown and is at war with other rats of large size and conventional appearance, whose king ALSO wears a crown.

Shamblers

Headless, blind and hideous, these things also come from the Place-Not-Named. They attack all in range in a blind fury. Nothing is known of their origins or how they survive without a mouth.

They tower 9' to 10' tall and have talons sharp as swords on the ends of their hands. Their rubbery hide is tough and dead gray, like that of Misborn.

Shishtak

Deep in the dark and warm marshes around Thozanga this race of Lizard-folk dwell. They are wary of humans and, if they can waylay a smallgroup, will carry them off into slavery. In other cases, however, some traders do honorable if cautious business with this very territorial and very secretive race. Go too far into their territory, beyond a trading post shown to you in advance, and bad things happen.

They are led by shaman, curious about magic of all sorts, and known to live in other great swamps in the warmer regions of the world. Some say they are descended from humans, a type of Misborn that bred true and proved strong and agile enough to thrive in places no one else dares to live.

Shredders

These horrors are made, not born, from a person whose brain is left intact to become the Shredder's host. Through some awful Necromancy the victim lives to be hollowed out of flesh and bone and viscera, until only a husk and brain remain inside a stitched-up body filled with The Shredder.

The host's head erupts in a vomit-inducing explosion of kidney-colored tentacles and sucking mouths from the host, when the time of its mission arrives. As the thing encounters open air, it calves into more and more Shredders. With its mass of flailing tentacles and biting mouths, the Shredder kills all who are not of its own kind.

Thus far the Shredders encountered came from The-Place-Not-Named, but it is possible that they could be created elsewhere by the right spells.

Tuk

These creatures are 8' tall eaters of flesh, illiterate and tough-skinned. Some say they heal all wounds and their bodies must be consumed by fire. Other legends speak of sunlight killing them. They are warty and wicked in all regards. They'd be little better than naked beasts save for Grinestar, "The Great Tuk" or "The Boss," who uses some form of magic that has made his skin blue, his face comely by Tuk standards, and his stature shorter than others of his kind. His inner circle smelt metal and make things, skills unknown to other Tuk.

In theory, Grinestar commands allegiance from all Tuk and lives somewhere in a warren of caves in the Wilderness. He has no allies. Except for The Boss, all Tuk have one-syllable names like Bag, Bug, Bok, Bam, Rap, or Pug. Rumors remain only rumors of them serving, in armor, under the Khan's Barons.

The Unseen

They are all around us, the superstitious say. But sometimes, the spirits of the dead come back. Several sorts of Unseen can make themselves visible.

The Hungry Ghost: a terrifying spirit that drinks life from the living, caressing them with long transparent fingers while licking with a ghostly tongue. It leaves the remains a powdery skeleton that crumbles at a touch. It has no interest in animals but focuses on human beings and other talking races. Mortal weapons do it no harm.

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