Wendigo

The Horned Shadow about to take another victim.

Wendigo are creatures which are created when a malevolent Etheric spirit possesses a human who has consumed human flesh. Over a period of time, the cannibalistic human steadily degenerates in mind and grows in power, and their hunger for the flesh of man. Notably, wendigo spirits are only known to possess victims within the northern reaches of the world, as the Numina who create wendigo are closely tied to the starvation brought on by winter.

## Creation

Wendigo are Numina spirits, and begin their existence in the myriad planes of the Numenor, typically residing within dark realms ruled by winter. They are Wildlings, representing creatures of flesh, but are powerfully tied to hunger, cannibalism, and the starvation brought on by winter.

The Opening that a wendigo requires to possess a human is cannibalism; one a human has eaten the flesh of their fellow man, they become vulnerable to possession. Once the wendigo takes hold of their host, they begin filling them with Urges to consume more human flesh. First, they nudge their host into eating the dead, but as they gain a stronger and stronger hold, and the line between human and wendigo blurs, they become prone to murdering the living for the purpose of devouring them. Eventually, the wendigo comes to devour prey while they are still living, reveling in the suffering they inflict as their victims are consumed alive.

## Possession Stages

* First Stage: Wendigo in the first stage of possession have usually grown several inches in height, and have become taller and thinner, with a ragged, emaciated look to them. Their flesh is noticeably paler, their eyes sunken, and their nails have turned into short, dark talons, while their teeth have grown longer and sharper. They constantly feel the Urge to devour human flesh, though being able to resist for long periods of time is common. It is rare that they actually kill humans to devour them, and they tend to subsist on human corpses, or fresh animal flesh. The presence of fire at this stage makes them somewhat uncomfortable, but no more.
	+ Generally speaking, weak willed or indulgent people remain in the second stage for weeks. More moderate individuals will last several months, perhaps a few years. Extremely strong willed individuals have been known to hold out for decades at a time.
* Second Stage: By the second stage of possession, a wendigo has usually grown over seven feet tall, oftentimes closer to eight. Their forms remain gaunt, but their forms are usually covered with lean, wiry muscle. Most wendigo see their facial features distort, their mouths filling with fangs, eyes changing color, perhaps glowing, perhaps turning into black pits. The majority are covered in a coating of fur, and have had their skeletal structure altered, their fingers and toes growing into long talons. Others have been known to exhibit small horns, spikes, or tails. Mentally, wendigo in the second stage have begun to routinely kill and eat people, though most can be fairly lucid when sated, and may even display regret or disgust at themselves on occasion, though many more revel in their new state. By this time, the presence of fire is quite distasteful to them, and they strongly prefer to stay away from it, though they can tolerate its presence with an effort of will.
	+ By the time a wendigo has succumbed to the second stage, possession tends to rapidly accelerate. On average, the second stage lasts for a less than a month, though individuals who embrace the change may fully transform in a matter of days.
* Third Stage: In the stage of full possession, a wendigo takes the shape of a towering monster, which usually stands between nine and eleven feet tall. The Fleshchange tends to warp their skeletal structure, allowing them to switch between walking on two legs or running on all fours. Most wendigo sprout prominent horns or antlers, and many boast large jaws, filled with teeth. Enormous, scythe-like talons sprout from their fingers, and their feet become monstrous, sometimes avian, sometimes hooves, sometimes like some other warped predator. Full wendigo capture and devour victims alive with horrifying regularity. Fire tends to enrage and terrify full wendigo.

## General Behavior

After full possession, most wendigo have been driven thoroughly insane. They stalk humans routinely, typically preying on those who delve too deeply into the wilderness, as despite their eroded minds, wendigo retain their intelligence, and most prefer to avoid attracting undo attention. Some, particularly bold or sadistic, will throw caution to the wind, reveling in the terror and suffering they cause, and immersing themselves in the chase of predator and prey.

Wendigo prefer to devour their prey alive, relishing in ripping out still living organs and tasting warm blood. To that end, many of them tend to capture their victims and imprison them in their lair until they are ready to feed. Once they have exhausted a local supply of prey or wish to lie low for a while, most wendigo will enter a state of hibernation within their lair, sleeping for a few decades before waking to hunt once more.

In terms of their intellectual capacity, many wendigo eschew speech, with the exception of hunting prey, instead producing all manner of roars, hisses, and snarls. Due to their False Voice Charm, which all wendigo can use innately, each wendigo's vocalizations are quite unique. Despite their generally more feral mindset, wendigo remain intelligent and cunning, and frequently engage in deception and trap setting to lure prey into vulnerable positions. They are capable of feeling fear and anger, of desiring vengeance or exhibiting sadism. Some are even lucid enough to engage in full conversation, either to taunt their prey, beg for their lives, and in extremely rare instances, even apologize for their actions or ask for forgiveness.

Due to its damaging properties, all wendigo are instinctually afraid of fire. The sight of even small amounts of flame sends most of them into a frenzy, causing them to either flee or lash out at whoever produced the flame.

## Powers and Abilities

Natural Weapons: Wendigo have claws, teeth, and antlers which are supernaturally sharp and resilient, enabling them to slash through a variety of materials.

Regeneration: Wendigo are able to recover rapidly from the vast majority of injuries within a few minutes. Short of decapitation or immolation, they are able to fully heal from any wound inflicted upon them, and can even regrow lost limbs and organs, though such injuries obviously take longer to heal.

Supernatural Durability: Wendigo are monstrously resilient to damage. Their hides and bodies are toughened, so that it incredibly difficult to puncture their skin with bullets or blades. They are able to withstand damage to the body and limbs without being overly hampered, as long as the limbs are not removed. Head trauma will slow them down somewhat, but rarely does any lasting harm.

Supernatural Senses: Wendigo are possessed of supernaturally keen senses. They are able to see, smell, and hear creatures from up to a mile away, and are able to see in pitch darkness.

Supernatural Speed: Wendigo possess supreme supernatural speed, being able to run in excess of a hundred miles per hour with ease. This speed also applies to their reaction times, and allows them to dodge and swat aside a number of projectiles.

Supernatural Strength: Gifted with horrific physical strength, wendigo are able to easily dismember most creatures with their clawed hands. Flipping cars is easily within the realms of possibility for them, and they are able to rip through many types of metal with little difficulty.

### Charms

As Numinous spirits, wendigo are capable of making use of several spiritual Charms, and can learn to use them without tutelage. Wendigo are fairly potent Numina, and every single one of them has access to all the Minor and Lesser Charms listed here. Charms of a higher level are rarer, reserved for more powerful individiduals.

#### Minor Charms

* Chilling Aura (Bane): The Chilling Aura Charm enables wielders to cause the temperature in their vicinity to instantly plummet to well below freezing. A city block sized area can be effected easily with this Charm, while greater effort can cover a wider region Water rapidly freezes, and creatures that are not equipped to survive in subzero temperatures usually freeze to death within minutes. The Aura is centered around the Charm's caster, and follows after them as they move, though the effects linger after they depart. How long they do so depends on the natural environment, with warmer areas causing the Chill Aura to fade faster.
* Darksight (Insight): This Charm allows a being to see with perfect clarity, even in the total absence of light. Once acquired, it is permanently active, though users can bestow the powers upon others with a touch. Gifted Darksight can last indefinitely, but can be disabled by the user at any time.
* False Voice (Cunning): The False Voice Charm allows a wielder to perfectly mimic the voice of any living being, be they human or animal. This allows them to produce animal cries, copy a person's voice that they have heard, or even invent one from scratch. No matter how unskilled they are as an actor, they may effortlessly produce the sound of any emotion or tone of their choosing.
* Frost Weaponry (Bane): Frost Weaponry entails either one's natural weapons to be imbued with chilling power, glowing pale blue and producing a frosting miss. Any injuries dealt by these weapons are coated with ice and induce frostbite in the surrounding flesh, while the victim shivers with bone-chilling cold. Such wounds are beyond the power of mundane medicine to heal, and even most magical healing is slow and laborious. These weapons also cause a thick layer of ice to form over any surface or object they continuously touch.
* Silent Passage (Cunning): The Silent Passage Charm ensures that its caster makes no sound as they move. Whether it be through swimming, running, climbing or flying, their movements produce no sound, regardless of what they are carrying or the terrain they traverse through. This Charm does not silence the effects of damage they cause to their environment or others, verbalizations, or other noises not related to movement.
* Throw Sound (Cunning): This Charm enables practitioners to cause any noise that they can discern to seem to emerge from another point within their field of perception.

#### Lesser Charms

* Aura of Silence (Cunning): Aura of Silence causes all sound within a few dozen pace of the Charm's caster to be negated. This area can be expanded with a greater expenditure of power. If sound from outside the Aura enters it, it is quieted and does not continue through to the other side. Aura of Silence has the downside of rendering its user deaf.
* Banescream (Bane): The Banescream involves unleashing an unearthly shout which devastates those within range of hearing it. The Banescream ravages not only the ears, but the mind as well, sending a lance of psychic agony through the thoughts of its targets. However, this effect is conveyed by sound, and being further away does dampen it. Point blank blasts of the Banescream instantly kills most humans, while being a few steps away sees them knocked out, those within a stone's throw are usually stunned for several moments. Supernatural beings are more resistant, especially those with powerful mental defenses. Physical potency is irrelevant. It is through psychic shielding that the Banescream can be fought off.
* Command Fog (Urge): The Command Fog Charm allows for users to summon a cold mist into being and shape it to their will, or alternately, command any masses of water vapor close enough to the ground to be considered fog. They may cause it to move in a chosen direction or twist it into whatever shape they desire.
* Command Wind (Urge): This Charm enables casters to manipulate air currents, allowing them to summon and direct strong gusts of wind. This can be used to push about gases or move small object, but is not powerful enough to directly damage most living beings, save for uprooting small plants or ripping off a tree branch.
* Frost Ward (Warding): This Charm makes any who possesses it completely immune to the negative effects of extreme cold. This effect is permanent and passive. It is also possible to wielders of this Charm to bestow this Charm on others with a touch. Its effects can last indefinitely, but they may revoke it at any time.
* Sense Life (Insight): Sense Life is a Charm that enables wielders to sense the presence of living beings within their vicinity. This Charm requires active focus to use. Larger life forms, or large numbers of life forms, are easier to detect. This power does not detect spirits or undead.
* Unmarked Passage (Cunning): Unmarked Passage ensures that any being who can wield it leaves no mark to indicate their passage as they move. Footprints are not left were they walk, water does not ripple as they move through it, and they do not knock leaves off trees. Intentional alterations to the environment are not protected by this Charm.

#### Major Charms

* Frost Blast (Bane): This Charm lets casters unleash blasts of frigid energy, which can chill the environment, snuff out fires or instantly freeze foes in ice. Mortals usually die in minutes after being encased. Frost Blasts can be negated by extreme heat, and are more potent if it is already cold.
	+ Wendigo usually use this Charm by expelling surges of cold breath from their mouths.
* Healing Slumber (Warding): By using this Charm, a caster enters a deep sleep that lasts anywhere from an hour to a night, during which they cannot be awoken. However, the Healing Slumber is able to completely repair all wounds upon the caster's physical form, so long as they are relatively fresh. Wounds that have already healed to the fullest extent cannot be affected by this Charm. Limbs and organs can be regrown, poisons cleansed, and all but the most potent of supernatural effects are negated. This Charm can be used on the self, or on anyone the caster touched. If a target is unwilling, the effect fails.
	+ Wendigo almost never use this Charm on others.
* Mist Form (Roaming): The Mist Form Charm lets users transform themselves into a mass of cold mist, of a similar volume to their body. They may shape their mist form however they would like, allowing them to slip through tiny openings. Though they can be blown off course by wind, they cannot be dissipated by mundane air currents. They are largely invulnerable to physical attack in Mist Form, but are incapable of it as well. Naturally, those in Mist Form can also fly, though they move at whatever their top speed is in their normal physical form.
* Sense Presence (Insight): This ability allows casters to sense the psychic imprint of individuals that is left behind in places they visit. Such imprints are strongest the more recent the target has passed through, and gradually fade away until they are indiscernible. The more time a target spent in an area, the stronger the imprint as well.
* Steal Strength (Warding): With this Charm, a caster may suck the life force out of any living being they slay directly, right at the moment of death. Their life force is then used to replenish their energy and heal their wounds.
* Thoughtspeak (Insight): Thoughtspeak enables casters to sense the surface level thoughts of beings within proximity of their senses, enabling them to discern their mental dialogue, imagery, and whatever else is on their conscious mind. The Caster may also project thoughts of their own into a target's mind, and can sense telepathic intrusions unless they are very subtle. Individuals with psychic abilities can discern if a caster is employing this Charm on them, and may be able to force them out of their mind.

#### Higher Charms

* Call Storm (Bane): This Charm enables the caster to call forth a storm into being, covering an area centered around them with an maelstrom of the user's design. Biting or scorching wind, lightning and sheets upon sheets of snow or rain are all possible. The potency of the Charm usually allows several square miles to be covered with ease, though more power can be expended for a greater effect. Call Storm does not allow the caster to precisely direct where winds, precipitation or temperatures go. The Storm instead moves with the one who summoned it.
	+ Wendigo tend to only use this power to summon blizzards.
* Hibernation (Warding): This charm allows users to enter a sleep that can last indefinitely, during which time the caster does not need food or water, and does not age. The power required to sustain these effects is immense, so users do not heal while under its effects, but the effects of any wounds they suffered are frozen. They may either wake at a rough time of their choosing (one week from now, five months from now, sixty years from now), or may be awoken by magical means.

#### Greater Charms

* Deathfrost (Bane): The Deathfrost is a potent Charm which summons an aura of cold so intense that most living beings freeze solid within seconds. Common fires snuff out, and all but the most potent heat is smothered. The Deathfrost can be modulated so as to remain within touch range of the user, or expanded to a radius of several dozen strides, on average. By default, the Deathfrosts effects remain lethal for several hours after a Caster has left an area, and it usually takes several days for temperatures to return to normal.

## Weaknesses

Decapitation: Decapitation will immediately kill a wendigo.

Fire: As wendigo are created by spirits of cold and hunger, they are repulsed by heat, especially fire. They are highly flammable, and can be set ablaze by relatively minor flames. Wounds caused by fire are incredibly slow to heal, and cause absolute agony to the wendigo. Being consumed by flame is one of the only ways to kill them. Such is a wendigo's fear of fire that they will usually flee before even a small torch.

Iron: Due to the fact that wendigo are being possessed by a spirit, an extraplanar being, the touch of pure iron causes them pain. However, it will not kill them, even if they receive what would be equivalent to a lethal wound to a human from it.

Magic: Wendigo are susceptible to magic, and can be killed by powerful uses of it, or repelled by magical wards.

## Department File

**Name:** Wendigo

**Prevalence:** Rare. Wendigo are not a frequently occurring entity, and tend to appear within Canada and the northern United States.

**Minimum Threat Code:** Orange

**Maximum Threat Code:** Red

**Average Threat Code:** Red

**Description:** Wendigo typically appear as gaunt, emaciated humanoids between seven and nine feet in height. Certain individuals appear more human, with pale skin and clawed fingers, whilst others are noticeably more distorted, possessing antlers, fur, and faces resembling deer skulls. These physical differences indicate the age of a wendigo, with the more humanoid creatures being younger and less progressed in their transformation. Wendigo prey exclusively on humans, preferring to capture live prey and return them to their lairs, which usually consist of cold, dark caverns that are relatively isolated. Survivors of wendigo captivity have stated that wendigo prefer to consume their prey live.

**Origin:** According to various sources, including werecreature shamans and animist mages, wendigo are created when a human engages in the act of cannibalism, and is subsequently possessed by a wendigo spirit. Claims made by these sources indicate that wendigo have existed for thousands of years, although these statements are completely unsubstantiated by anything other than oral tradition.

**Known Abilities:** The typical wendigo exhibits substantial superhuman strength, speed, and resilience. Such strength is sufficient to overturn vehicles and tear through metal. Similarly, a wendigo's speed is sufficient to outpace most motor vehicles when moving through rough terrain, although the maximum speed a wendigo is capable of has not been documented. Wendigo are also extremely resistant to physical harm, and while standard firearms are capable of damaging them, such damage usually only serves to enrage them. Furthermore, they possess substantial regenerative capabilities that allow them to completely recover from such wounds in minutes. In addition, wendigo are possessed of keen senses, presumably for use in hunting prey. Wendigo also possess vocalization abilities, which enable them to mimic the screams and cries of humans. Some accounts from field agents state that they heard voices belonging to those they had recently interacted with, voices the wendigo would not have heard, indicating that they may have some telepathic abilities. Lastly, wendigo are also capable of projecting their vocalization as a piercing scream, which is capable of stunning prey.

**Known Vulnerabilities:** Wendigo are pained by pure iron weaponry, which, while not fatal, slows them far more than ordinary weapons. The primary method of killing them, however, is immolation. Wendigo have shown to be extraordinarily terrified of even small flames, as they are highly vulnerable to being set ablaze.

**Notable Specimens:**

* **The Horned Shadow:** The Horned Shadow is a wendigo known to reside somewhere in the Great Lakes region, having been known to take victims from both the coast of the lakes, as well as the islands located within them. The specimen is believed to be linked to disappearances in both 1929 and 1957, was first identified in 1992, where Field Operations team Beta Six attempted to destroy it, resulting in all but one of them being killed by the creature. The sole survivor, Field Agent Malcolm Grant, was so traumatized by the event that he was no longer deemed fit for duty. Grant described the creature as "a horned shadow", which thenceforth was used to refer to the creature. Based on Grant's description, the Horned Shadow is a wendigo of considerable age and power, and potentially, of higher than average intelligence, as Grant, when interviewed, seemed to be of the belief that he had been deliberately spared. While researchers from the Department R&D Department are skeptical of this, the possibility has not yet been completely discounted.