Gremlins

An insatiably mischievous cousin to goblins, often likened to an imp, a gremlin is a winged biped with an innate hatred for electronics and humanity. Gremlins are believed to have been engineered by a dark artist using pneumamancy and infernalism specifically to destroy electronics. Gremlins will haplessly throw themselves into power stations and circuits in order to cause as much destruction to the electric menace as possible, expressing no sense of self preservation. This was believed to be inconsequential during the height of gremlin use by arcanists, as gremlins will generally dissipate shortly after their deaths leaving behind only a black icor and small animal-like bone fragments similar to an infernal.

Gremlins are no less considered hazardous by the Concordance in the modern day as when they fail to destroy themselves they express both an innate ability to cloak themselves and an insatiable desire to play cruel pranks upon humankind. Gremlins will trip, pants, or even wet unsuspecting humans when left to their own devices, and quickly become difficult to contain due to their ability to flawlessly obscure themselves. Thankfully, it was discovered that the common house cat is both able to partially detect the presence of gremlins, and are quite capable of successfully hunting the mischievous creatures which despite its imp-like appearance is fairly incapable of inflicting direct injury as they lack both claws and teeth!

### **Ecosystem**

Little is known of the gremlins' natural ecosystem, as for all intents and purposes they should not be able to sustain their population. Gremlins are exclusively male and often appear in packs of no less than four. There are no recorded accounts of adolescent gremlins. It is often assumed gremlins are therefore quasi-immortal extraplanar creatures with nativity to the shadow planes. It is also thought that gremlins may have a finite number due to the speculations that they are not a naturally occurring creature. Efforts have subsequently been made by some arcanist groups to try and eradicate the gremlin population.

### **Spoilers**

Gremlin’s were originally invented by a magician alumni of Scholomance named Johann Fritz who had aligned themselves with the Axis powers and became a part of the SS during the second world war. Johann originally sought to utilize animancy to create a creature capable of disrupting allied communications and aircrafts. By merging fairies and imps with an encoded malice for all things electric or noisy he was able to produce a chimera capable of doing just what he desired. However, after unleashing an army of the creatures he found that the ones who survived their initial pranks indiscriminately targeted both sides of the conflict. The creatures would not be named by Johann Fritz, and instead gain their name from the explanations of pilots seeking to explain their plane's engine failures.

Following the Axis surrender Johann’s laboratory was abandoned as nazi officers were arrested. Unfortunately his notes were discovered and sold into the black market before agents of the Concordance could discover them. Copies of his notes can occasionally be found at goblin markets. Following Johann’s arrest and imprisonment by a null court he would be assassinated by Concordance agents.