Ghoul

**Ghouls** are creatures in LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS, appearing as the main antagonists of the first season episode titled "*The Secret War*".

## Backstory

The ghouls were monsters summoned by black magic from Koryaks. The ritual involved human sacrifice of a woman and removing her uterus to use the eggs as a catalyst.

## History

After the White Army was defeated in the Russian Civil War in 1919, the Soviets sent Major Grishin of the Cheka secret police to conduct black magic from arcane myths as a part of Operation Hades. As an occultist, he thought he could summon a horde of demons to fight for the Soviets. He conducted the ritual and summoned the beast while holding a talisman to command the beasts. However, the monsters began slaughtering the black magicians and eventually killed the fleeing Cheka officer.

In 1942-1943, the ghouls' spread across Siberia became a danger to the Soviets and teams of soldiers were sent to hunt down and eliminate the monsters while they remained in the wilderness.

Lieutenant Zhakarov led one of these teams to hunt ghouls at the same time as the Siege of Stalingrad. Unfortunately, this large battle with the Germans meant the Soviets couldn't spare support to eliminating the monsters. Zhakarov's commander, the Major, instead had to split the teams up to cover more area to make up for the lack of manpower. Hoping that each team could handle themselves as they would be too far apart from each to help.

Zhakarov's team comes across the original summoning spot of the ghouls and Grishin's frozen body with a journal detailing the ritual and its purpose. A few days later, the team finds the largest ghoul barrow they have ever encountered. A pair of Soviets set charges to seal the barrow shut and kill the ghouls inside.

The charges go off successfully and the two soldiers escape. However, the barrow was far larger than they realized, causing a landslide that killed the two saboteurs and enrages the ghouls. Malenchenko is sent to escape and relay the location of the barrow back to the Major while the men make a last stand to hold off the ghouls before blowing the mountains with charges.

The ghouls successfully slaughter the soldiers but Zhakarov manages to detonate the explosives. Some time later, Soviet bombers scorch the entire mountainside, slaughtering the horde.

## Powers

* **Strength**: Ghouls are incredibly strong, they are capable of lifting and throwing a full-sized man in winter gear with military equipment.
* **Agility**: Ghouls were shown to have incredible speed and reflexes despite their awkward shape. They could climb, run and jump very well.

* **Claws**: Ghouls had very long piercing claws on their forearms which they used attack their prey. They could slash at enemies and nearly decapitating a human head, but were shown capable of piercing a human body with a straight thrust.
* **Sharp Teeth**: Ghouls had rows of sharp jagged teeth. These teeth were capable of biting off an arm, though not instantly.

## Weaknesses

* **Durability**: While physically strong, ghouls were vulnerable to external damage the same as any other lifeforms. Bullets and explosives were effective in killing them the same as any beast or human.
* **Light**: Despite no immediately visible eyes, Ghouls appeared to be sensitive to bright and sudden flashes of lights. They preferred to hunt at night and instinctively recoiled from flares.
* **Intelligence**: Despite their demonic origins, ghouls didn't appear to have intelligence beyond a simple predator. They could circle prey and use the environment to their advantage but could not devise or scheme against their human prey. Instead they relied on numbers to overwhelm any obstacles.