List of Second Citadel Monsters

This list compiles all known information on the **monsters** mentioned or seen **in Tales of the Second Citadel** alphabetically.

## Monsters

Monsters are intelligent beings just like humans; they have society and culture and sapience. Those who can speak proudly identify as Monsters. They value their freedom above all else, so they have a senate to punish those who impede the freedoms of other monsters. In theory, anyway.

### Lord Arum

*See Lord Arum for more information.*

**Lord Arum** is a large, four-armed, lizard-like monster that maintains The Keep of Titan's Blooms. As directed by the Senate, he had been tasked with building constructs--living weapons to attack The Second Citadel and drive out the humans.

### Nymph

**Nymphs** are a mostly female-presenting species where each individual person is actually comprised of a swarm of bees. Holding their form stable requires concentration; the more one gets angry or excited, the more swarm-like she becomes. Their lifespan is over thirty thousand years. Notable nymphs include Sunny Budkin and Pitley.

Historically, nymphs would sit in trees, ask riddles, and pelt people with acorns for wrong answers. Now, their favourite pass time is Sport! A tournament between groups of men lured into an arena, teams compete in randomly picked qualifying rounds. The winners fight to release the Maneater Damselfly from its chains first, and the loser's partner gets fed to the damselfly. They flee the arena to avoid being eaten, and party for the next week in celebration.

Sport has been going on for fifty thousand years, With the discovery of the chrysalis cloth they could enjoy Sport weekly, instead of only every thousand years it takes a new damselfly to mature. Sport 9 was between the Of-Reillys and Of-Malleys. Sport 28,954 was between Porcus and Trotter, and the Of-Nakeeshes. Sport 28,955 was between Sirs Marc, Talfryn, Damien and Angelo.

### Judge Helicoid

*See Judge Helicoid for more information.*

A large, mucous-y sea-slug.

### Pig-Oni

**Pig-Oni** are large, bipedal pig creatures that are magically linked. They can only die if both are killed at the same time. Otherwise, they regenerate within second. When killed, it is rather like popping a blood-filled balloon. They joked about having bones but monster biology is strange.

One notable pair of these are Porcus and Trotter, two guards of Fort Terminus, and champions of Sport.

### Pix

**Pix** was a feathered Monster who lived in Fort Terminus with her Human partner, David. Something outside the Fort terrified her, so she begged David to flee their home together. He agreed, but some mysterious explosions caused a collapse and they perished. Their ghost memories are stuck re-playing their final moments together.

### Porcus

**Porcus** is a pig-creature voiced by Stewart Evan Smith in Second Citadel - The Spiral Sage (Part 1) and Part 2. Chained to Trotter, with whom he is implied to be in a relationship with.*[citation needed]*

### Trotter

**Trotter** is a pig-creature voiced by Michael Underhill in Second Citadel - The Spiral Sage (Part 1) and Part 2. Chained to Porcus, with whom he is implied to be in a relationship with.*[citation needed]*

## Beasts

While humans refer to every creature as monsters, some are more animal-like and do not seem to possess sapience, though they are still highly intelligent beings.

### Crocodile-Hound

**Crocodile-Hounds** are aquatic monsters that are known to dwell in the Lake of Tranquility. They are known to have scales and claws, and fully-grown Hounds reportedly having tusks. Their appearance has been compared to a "frog-wolf-turtle-bear" by Sir Angelo. They exude bio-luminescent mucus with hypnotic qualities, and are noted for their loud and echoing howling. Crocodile-Hounds nest on land. They are carnivores, with their diet consisting of fish and any other meat they can find.

One notable Crocodile-Hound, named Nimue, was owned by the witch named Vivian, who lived on an island near the village of Ballast. Nimue formed a unique bond with Vivian and cared for him like a loyal pet, bringing him food whenever he was sick.

### Maneater Damselfly

**The Maneater Damselfly,** also known as *Zygoptera phallophaga,* is a dragon-sized damselfly. It takes a thousand years for one to mature naturally, but with chrysalis cloth this was quickened to just a week. Once it has its first taste of flesh, it keeps eating until it dies, or is injected with twenty gallons of stinger venom.

*Zygoptera* is the real-life classification of damselflies, while *phallophaga* comes from (*phallus*) and (-*phagia*) which means 'to eat'.

### Old King Cinder

> *"We're born knowing the eyes of the King; Old Cinder and his crown aflame."*
>
>

**Old King Cinder** is the name given to a beast that runs through the Southern Frosts for a day or two at the end of each year. Its death marks the last second of the old year, when its flames burn out. It never appears the same twice; it can be a great stag, or an ox, or a horned-lion, or likely anything else large and horned. The horns are wreathed in flame, crown-like in appearance. The flames scatter ash and embers across the beast's pelt and create unique, flickering patterns. Pelt, size, even the smell are always different. Old Cinder is only ever present during the final days, suggesting it is a magical spirit or, as locals call it, a forest god.

People of the Southern Frosts celebrate the days when Old Cinder prances through their villages. These days are called Cinderclasp, and it is their end of year festival. Or as festive as the south gets. They chase Cinder and try to hang bells from his horns. Children believe that the new year cannot come until Cinder burns out.

Cinderclasp is about mourning what has past, but knowing this is necessary to reach what will come.

## Constructs

### Echo Monster

**The Echo Monster** is an amphibious, cave-dwelling monster that has auditory-related powers. Despite its diminutive size, this monster had the ability to mimic human speech and echo voices off of the cave walls. It would then manipulate its victims into killing each other and then feast on their corpses.

After Sir Caroline and Sir Angelo investigated the caves, the Echo Monster was slain by Sir Caroline.

In the events of Second Citadel - The Spiral Sage (Part 1), it is revealed that Lord Arum had used the Moonlit Hermit to create the Echo Monster.

### The Janus Beast

*See **The Janus Beast** for more information.*

### Psychic Grubs

The **psychic grubs** were one of Lord Arum's attempts to fill the Senate's order for weapons. The grubs were all white and eyeless. When escaped into the jungle, a cluster of these grubs infected several types of fungi. The numb-cap mushroom, which targets pain centers of the brain, let the grubs access images of what a person fears most. The infected slime-molds brought these images to life and tried to lure and attack people. The grubs made an audible heart beat sound, and when threatened the heartbeat began racing. In Arum's lab, another cluster of these grubs would move to block someone's, as if knowing where they would be.

One of these grubs was presented to the Senate as a final weapon to destroy the human citadel. However it would not fully mature for many years. Porcus and Trotter stole chrysalis cloth from the Nymphs to speed up its growth, so it would be ready in only a matter of days. It was psychically linked to Queen Mira, thanks to the head scarf Sir Damien gave Arum.

## Mentions

* Rattle Panther - broke one of Dampierre's ribs. They have venomous fangs, cat eyes, and obsidian claws
* Basilisk - tried to kill Sir Damien in his sleep. It has a tail, and claws filled with thick poison
* Cockatrice
* Giant Lungfish - lives in a lake north of the Second Citadel. Crawls out and walks on land
* Bird that duplicates every time it is placed in a bush
* Earthworm that turns into a dragon when bullied

## References

1. ↑ Second Citadel - The Battle at World's End (Part 3)
2. ↑ Second Citadel - Lady of the Lake
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Second Citadel - The Treacherous Heart
4. ↑ Second Citadel - Knight of the Crown, Lord of the Swamp (Part 1)