Creatures of Lore

The land of Britannia is filled with dangers, from warfare between the various kingdoms, to deadly biomes such as marshlands and storm-battered coastlines. While not all, there exist many creatures that present a threat to all around them, whether of a natural origin or twisted by Mab's dark magyk.

## **Docile Creatures**

An array of creatures who although can seem intimidating at first glance, are often far more friendly and good natured towards the Fae, humans and animals alike.

### **Ent**

Often mistaken for mere trees, Ents are residents of the Faelands. Though they can range in size and appearance, they tower over the tallest of the Fae, resembling the size of their sentient counterparts. While with their size comes titanic physical strength, the Ents are peaceful beings, who find the humans of the world ever curious. Sadly however, they have been hunted and attacked for millennia, with humans mistaking them for trees to make firewood from. Ents also possess natural Earth magyk, effortlessly able to make flowers blossom and heal any scarred nature.

### **Fianna**

The Fianna are the most populous creature native to the Faelands of Britannia. Resembling stags and deer, they are distinct with their dark green and cream coats, though they are far more elusive and skittish. Popular targets of hunting by the Fae, their meat is considered a fine delicacy, and their pelts serve as a soft material to fashion garments from.

### **Spriggan**

While in initial appearance they could be mistaken for aggressive creatures, Spriggans are cousins to the much larger larger Ents, although still taller by a margin than the Fae. More resembling humans and Fae than their tree-like counterparts, they were originally denizens on the Faelands, before the world became overrun by humanity. Like the Ents, they possess command over the Earth itself, using their magyk to heal and maintain their home forests around them. They are also a shy and little-seen creature, holding wariness over strangers, though have been known on occasion to befriend those travelling through the woods.

### **Squibbit**

The accidental creation of a Fae scholar, they are the fusion of a squirrel and a rabbit. Aside from their appearance, they have no distinct abilities, and make popular pets among both the Fae and humans.

### **Sylvan**

Sylvans are large and portly humanoids who along with the Fae, lived far before the coming of man. They can often be mistaken by humans for demons, with their curved horns and the lower half of a goat, but they pose little threat in general, more content to waste the day away eating. From time to time they are considered pests, as one may find its way into a farmer's larder. They also enjoy playing practical jokes, much to they annoyance of their often human targets. However, Sylvans carry great strength and can become fierce if ever provoked.

### **Unicorn**

Exceedingly rare, even in a world of illusive magical creatures, unicorns are a sought after beasts that most will only ever picture in stories told by their elders. Possessing the body of a pure white horse, the mark of the unicorn is the golden horn upon their forehead, which is said can grant a wish to whoever is able to find one. There is also a darker tale however, that unicorn blood can be used to cure all ills, and a unicorn can fetch a high price for bounty hunters and those who seek them out for less than benevolent reasons.

## **Beasts of Peril**

Mostly aggressive and dangerous, these creatures of various shape and size are not to be dealt with lightly by even the most seasoned of warriors.

### **Animated Armour**

These empty suits of armor have been given a temporary 'life' due to possession by a dark spirit. The spirit can move from armor to armor if it so wishes, though it can take many days for the spirit to recover when doing so. Once established within a suit of armor, the spirit can travel between dimensions at will, causing a huge electrical outage that signals an opening between our world and that of the Fae. You can tell when armor is possessed because a strange unearthly glow emanates from within the suit, indicating that its ghostly inhabitant is awake.

### **Arachnomorph**

Spiders are in general an unwelcome pest to most humans, let alone ones that can reach the size of a large dog. Thanks to the dark magyk lingering throughout the realm, typical house spiders can find themselves transformed into a monster dozens of times their original size. And with their increase in size comes an increase in appetite, with livestock and even smaller humans falling to their tastes. Though of a manageable size, they rarely hunt alone, and if not careful, can overwhelm even the most seasoned of adventurers, devouring them alive.

### **Archespore**

The dark magyk throughout Britannia has not only affected the local fauna, but also flora. Archespore is the general term for plants that have metamorphosised from a docile plant into a carnivorous beast, targeting near anything that moves as its prey. Many types of archespore are capable of spewing acids and toxins, using them to incapacitate their prey before consuming the victim, where they will be digested alive.

### **Banshee**

The sign of a Banshee is a blood-curdling wail. It is said that those who hear her cry are fated to die within a short period of time. Speculation of these spirits is that they are the ghosts of young women who befell a tragedy and clung onto life after their death to pursue vengeance against those who wronged them.

### **Barghest**

Folk of simple or superstitious minds claim committing particularly rotten acts will bring down the wrath of God in the form of “barghests,” phantom dogs which stalk the roads at night. Even if this were their origin, saints and sinners alike would need fear barghests, for they attack both with equal ferocity. Monster hunters rarely believe in God, but they do accept that barghests exist and are always connected with some sequence of tragic events that happened in the past. Their explanation, however, holds that barghests result from a curse or a concentration of ill will.

Barghests, like wolves, are stronger in packs. Together they surround their prey, leaping at it and tearing it apart with their teeth. They are fast and agile, they can easily evade attacks directed at them.

### **Beithioc**

A twisted and feared beast of the woodlands, the Beithioc resembles a terrifyingly muscled and much taller stag, with a markable difference; the third eye upon it's forehead. The supernatural eye is used to hypnotise its prey, stunning them before the beast goes for the kill. A mountain of muscle, it is easily capable of smashing through trees and stone alike, while armed with razor sharp claws and piercing fangs.

### **Botchling**

If ever one hears the cries of a babe when outside of a settlement, beware, especially if the infant seems abandoned and alone. What seems like a human baby is likely a Botchling, a vampiric creature that upon rescue, will latch onto its saviour and proceed to pierce their jugular, draining them of their blood. Upon inspection, the Botchling is a vile sight, similar in size and shape to a human infant but skinless, with large bloodied eyes, a long tongue and most disturbing, what seems like its own umbilical cord wrapped around itself.

### **Broodmother**

Broodmothers are horrific sights, with their mass of writhing flesh and appendages. Supposedly the mothers of hordes of Goblins, their creation is far more horrifying than even their appearance, with tales telling that broodmothers are human women, kidnapped by goblins in order to produce their spawn, and transformed into grotesque creatures over time. The details of how this occurs can only be speculated, which many decide not to even imagine.

### **Cave Troll**

Trolls are a dying species living mostly in mountainous areas. They are aggressive and territorial. This can sometimes result in attacks on humans who are foolish enough to encroach on the Troll's natural habitat. However, Cave Trolls are usually passive around their own kind and rarely attack each other, although they will often kill to protect their kindred. Men say that when Trolls die of old age they turn to stone and this can be clearly seen in certain rock formations if one looks closely enough. Trolls can use their mighty blows to smash heavy obstacles.

The great Trolls are biologically related to the Small Trolls. The large subspecies is fairly aggressive. The Swamp Trolls are a rare subspecies of the larger Cave Troll who live in wet areas.

Cave Trolls fight similarly to the Swamp Troll, but often do so alongside many Small Trolls. They can hit hard, but move rather slowly. After a few swings they may pound the ground. The best way to fight them is to keep distance, occasionally rolling behind them to hit them in the back. Slow and steady whittling down their health is the best way to defeat them.

### **Chupacabra**

Often portrayed as evil, blood-sucking monsters, the Chupacabras' only real obsession are magical relics. When in the presence of such artifacts, they will do anything to get them. However, the Chupacabras are not inherently evil creatures, and most of the time, after a short game of hide and seek, they will return anything they have stolen.

It had always been thought that the Chupacabras were a sort of blood-sucking monster, until later research showed that they were more like mischievous forest creatures that played with the belongings of gullible travelers. However, that latter assertion was not entirely true either. In fact, there are not many Chupacabras, rather it is a single immortal being that has roamed completely free from time immemorial, causing confusion around the world. Its incredible wisdom is only comparable to the originality of its mischief and the value of the relics it carries in its backpack.

### **Cockatrice**

Resembling a combination between a giant poultry bird and a feathered lizard, Cockatrices are horse-sized beasts that roam the skies seeking their next meal, usually livestock such as cows and pigs, but are not unknown to attack farmers and other folk, especially when forced from feeding on local livestock.

### **Cyclops**

Cyclopses can easily be recognized by the single eye located in the center of their foreheads. If for some reason that is not visible, other tell-tale signs are their enormous size, incredible strength and a seething hatred for all humans. If that wasn't enough, there exists a variant of Cyclops with all the same terrifying strength, but also the ability to fire a beam from its eye that can turn all caught in it to stone. The only way to reverse the petrification of those affected it to slay the creature.

### **Dearg-Due**

Always be wary of a beautiful woman at night, for the enchantress may well be a Dearg-Due in disguise. Using her feminine charms, she will whisk a young man away to a secluded place, and then reveal her true monstrous form, before draining his body of blood and feasting on his flesh.

### **Drenda**

Similar to Archespore, Drenda are sentient bunches of thorns, come to life with a vampiric-like purpose to drain those ensnared in their clutches of blood to sustain them. Once the vines have captured a target, they will be cut and bled, their strength and life sapped until they are no more, while the Drenda feeds, and waits for its next hapless victim.

### **Drowner**

Drowners are believed to be the bloated and undead bodies of those lost at sea or drowned in large bodies of water. Emerging from their watery graves, they will hunt down any who disturb their homes and attempt to drag them back into the murky waters.

### **Foglet**

Fog is the traveler's foe. In the forest, it can make one lose one's way, at sea, it can send one sailing into the rocks. Yet such dangers are nothing compared to the monsters known as foglets which sometimes lurk within it. These creatures have powerful arms and claws, yet what makes them truly dangerous is their mastery of deception, beguilement and disorientation. Many times they need not attack at all, instead simply driving their prey to madness or into boggy marshlands, after which they wait patiently for it to drown in the muddy waters.

### **Ghoul**

Despite most people believing otherwise, Ghouls are not undead creatures. In fact, their ancestors were human, but a diet of corpses and rotten flesh transformed them into horrible monsters that dwell in burial grounds and cemeteries. Ghouls usually live underground, but sometimes venture outside in small groups to scavenge for carrion. The vomit of the Ghoul is highly poisonous, but can be dispelled using Light Magyk.

### **Goblin**

Goblins are hated and feared creatures, plaguing the land in their hundreds of thousands. Though they make their homes underground and in forgotten ruins, they often venture out at night in search of food, anything from pets to livestock to human children, entering human settlements in their hordes and taking what they will. While small in stature, they are armed with sharp claws and teeth, and use overwhelming numbers as their strength.

### **Golem**

Golems are mindless matter brought to life by a spell. They obey their creator's orders without question. Their boundless strength, ability to withstand pain, endless patience and the fact that they need not one jot of food or drink makes them the best servants or guards anyone could ask for. Once provoked, they will not tire of battle until they have either crushed their opponent or themselves crumbled to dust. If that was not enough, they can also be created with elemental effects, such as fire, ice or earth.

### **Griffin**

Often mistaken for great majestic bird of prey, the Griffin is often referred to as the King of the Skies, a fusion of eagle and lion, with all the ferocity of both animals as it stalks the land for prey. Powerful enough to carry of the largest of livestock and humans with ease, the sighting of a Griffin often calls for hunting of the beast, both for the local's protection and also the value of its body parts, particularly it's majestic feathers.

### **Hag**

A despised creature, the Hag only appears at night, desecrating local graveyards for long rotted corpses to make its meal. While largely uninterested in the living, if the hag is disturbed, it can turn into a fearsome foe, with deceptive speed and sharp claws, that if caught by, can cause infection from the Hag's handling of decayed flesh.

### **Harpy**

While not the most fearsome of creatures, Harpies are unwelcomed to even the most seasoned of warriors, travelling in packs and circling above in the sky, swooping in for attacks. Humanoid in appearance, they are capable of wielding weapons and tools, with an apparent fondness for spears and polearms. In keeping with the avian features, they also possess sharp talons which can cause great damage to those caught by them.

### **Hym**

Many creatures across the land and in tales are terrifying, but few more so than the Hym. A projection of pure dark magic, ironically those who fear them the most such as children have little to worry. For Hyms will attach themselves akin to parasites to those with guilty consciences, who have committed acts of despicable natures. Once the Hym has latched its claws into its prey, they sap on their hosts energy, not only weakening them physically, but also manifesting in them nightmares and hallucinations, often rendering the host to acts of self-harm, insomina and even driving them to suicide at times.

### **Kelpie**

A shapeshifter, but most often appearing as a beautiful horse, the Kelpie is recognised in every form it takes by the telltale kelp that hangs from its hair. If an enchanted human is to ride upon its back, the Kelpie will hurtle towards a nearby source of water, dragging the helpless victim underwater and drowning them, before taking them to its lair to devour them.

### **Leanan Sidhe**

Direct agents of Queen Mab herself, the Leanan Sidhe often appear as extraordinarily beautiful women, enticing men to join them before taking their lives in a number of ways, from using their surprising strength to crush throats, or slicing arteries open with their hidden claws. The bodies are never seen again, with it being speculated that the Leanan Sidhe's use their victim's blood to maintain an eternal youthful appearance, or use it in twisted rituals to their trapped queen.

### **Leshen**

A Leshen is a Spriggan twisted by dark magyk. Possessing all of the Spriggan's abilities, they are now used for dark purposes and the culling of all human life that dares enter their domain. The Leshen's preferred tactics are to call on other creatures such as carrion crows and wolves, or to trap their victims with vines and tree roots, before using their long and razor bone claws to inflict deep wounds. If one hears an inhuman bellow while travelling within the woods, they should run and never look back.

### **Marlboro**

Monstrous inhabitants of marshes and swamplands, Marlboro stay hidden within the waters, waiting for prey to disturb the shallows, before sending out fearsomely strong tentacles and bringing their victims down into a watery grave where they will be feasted upon. In the event that whatever disturbs their dwelling is successful in evading their main method of capture, the Marlboro will appear in full, rising from beneath the waters and revealing its hideous form. In the event a Marlboro surfaces, it will use a combination of its tentacles to cause damage, along with its foul toxic breath, which will cause the victim to choke and suffer from a number of ailments.

### **Naiad**

Naiads, also known as Nymphs are creatures that live in shallow swamps, appearing as beautiful women. They spend most of their time beneath the surface, although their presence can be detected by air bubbles rising to the surface. They appear in regular intervals in the same location. If walking by one, they will reach out with their long limbs and drag their victim to their demise at the bottom of the swamp, killing them by drowning.

### **Ogre**

Ogres are massive dwellers of caves and nearby landscapes, completely primal beasts devoid of intelligence and living only to destroy and devour. It is fortunate that they mostly keep away from civilisation, but on occasion, an ogre has attacked a town and near decimated it in the process. Trying to reason with these beasts will only end in one being stamped out under their heel.

### **Skeleton**

Fallen warriors whose forgotten flesh has decayed over time, their bodies have been raised by dark magyk.

Skeletons are notoriously hard to fell, as even if their bones are broken and damaged, they will continue to attack as long as they can take shape, and can only truly be destroyed by methods such as disintegration.

### **Swamp Troll**

Similar in height and build to their cousins the Cave Troll, Swamp Trolls linger in, as is suggested, swamps. Fiercely territorial, they are incredibly dangerous, and pose a threat to even the most seasoned of hunters and warriors, and should be approached with absolute caution.

### **Ulfhedinn**

There are two possible types of Ulfhedinn. The first are humans that have been poisoned with an infectious disease known as the 'Ulfhedinn Influenza', which is transmitted, in most cases, by the bite of another Ulfhedinn. There is an old saying that goes like this: *"If you are bitten by a Ulfhedinn, better to let it gnaw"*, and like most proverbs, it is probably true. Once infected with the disease, the transformation process can be completed in only a few minutes, after which the victim's mind will have been replaced with the savage instincts of a ruthless predator.

The second are those who were bred by Mab herself, the Greater or 'pure blood' Ulfhedinn. In these cases, their condition is not considered a disease, as the transformation process has been deliberately chosen. The endowment of this gift (or curse), however, was not given to just anyone by Mab, and only a handful of her more loyal thralls received such a gift. Mab kept these elite guards for special missions, and they are not only fearsome, but incredibly intelligent and formidable foes in combat. With nowhere to go after her imprisonment, there are still several who roam the wilds of Britannia to this day.

### **Undead**

Undead are the result of necromancy used on fresh corpses. Unlike Skeletons however, once reanimated, they will stay that way until slain, even should the necromancer be killed. Although they retain their bodies, the Undead are mindless beings, intent on a sole goal; to devour anyone in their path. With a insatiable craving for flesh, these cursed beings will stop at nothing as they search for anything on which to feed. Unlike old wives tales and legends speak of however, if one is bitten by an Undead, they too will not also fall to the curse, but rather have to resign themselves to a horrendous and painful death as they are devoured alive.

### **Vampir**

A Vampir can be born from many different creatures; the ceremony itself involves the exchange of blood between the 'host' and the soon-to-be vampire. However, vampirism has to be accepted by the recipient, so it remains exclusive to intelligent creatures.

Young vampirs are bestial in appearance. The lowest ranked vampires usually take the form of a creature with bat-like appearance. Over the centuries, as they become more powerful, vampirs appear more human-like and are able to transform at will from their true form into human form.

One can usually ascertain the power of a vampir by its appearance, and any vampires that appear totally human are usually incredibly powerful, possess superhuman strength and speed, and are extremely dangerous. Indeed, many of the oldest vampirs are mistaken for high-born nobility.

Vampirs can sense the living - that which is their source of sustenance, blood, the life force of all living things. Drinking blood allows them to maintain their strength and power, and also restores their vitality.

## **Legendary Monsters**

While there are many creatures of lore throughout Britannia, there are those who stand above the others. Unique in their appearance and standing, these beasts are the apex of danger, and should not be taken lightly by even an army of the most well-trained soldiers.

### **Aonbheann**

The Aonbheann is an anomaly even among Unicorns, some of the rarest of creatures. Easily distinguished from its brethren by its coat of pure black, some say the Aonbheann was once Mab's personal steed, twisted by her dark magyks. If that was not rumour enough to deter folks from finding it, it is said the Aonbheann also has the mastery of lightning at its command, and can cover itself in as well as project bolts of the ferocity of nature.

### **Buafmhor**

There exist whispers among some of a monstrous creature hidden within the sewers of Britannia, though none can be sure as to where, or if the legends are even true. They speak of the Buafmhor, a gigantic and hideous toad, that devours men and any creature in its path alike. The tragedy of the tale is that this monster was rumoured to have once been a man, spurned and cursed by a jilted lover. But none have found the beast, or ever lived to tell the true tale.

### **Chimera**

Legends talk of a beast of horror nestled within one of the old ruins of Dumnonia, an amalgamation of lion, goat and serpent fused into one by dark magyk, and insatiable with fury. While there have been brave souls who have set out to find and slay the beast, they have all failed in their quest, or never returned from it.

### **Dragons**

Once dragons were commonplace and ruled the continent absolutely. Dragon fire was the bane of cities, and dragon appetite was a constant threat to the first colonizers. Today dragons are nearly extinct, hunted to the brim long ago. Sometimes small wyverns and the like can be seen, but compared to dragons, they are like stray cats to panthers. The beasts were exterminated by professional monster hunters. Alchemical components found in a dragon's body are among the most expensive on the market, and are in high demand among sorcerers. The beast's roasted tail is a real delicacy.

The legends are true: dragons like to gather hoards and have a voracious appetite that they satiate by eating all living creatures with no exceptions. They like to lounge in places of power - they nap there, drawing energy, yet nobody knows what they use that energy for. There are five species of these great wyrms: white, black, red, green and rock. Golden dragons, extremely intelligent, said to be gifted with the ability to assume the shape of any creature, are of course a fairy-tale for little children. Dragons are smart indeed, but they cannot speak, much less polymorph.

### **Hydra**

There is only one account of a warrior having faced the Hydra, and their life was snuffed many decades past. They described a gigantic and multi-headed serpent, whom the heads if cut off would simply be replaced by another. The account is considered by most as the ramblings of a madman, but in all stories', there lies an element of truth.

### **Morvudd**

Among the Beithioc, there is said to be one so vicious, so feral and so bloodlusted that it is feared by all other monsters. Given the name Morvudd, this Beithioc is said to be the tallest and strongest of its race, dwarfing the power and rage and most of its kin. Said to carry a distinct grey and red hue in its fur, it is debated if this monster even exists, or is merely a tale to frighten children, having never been seen by living eyes.

### **Stygian**

Beneath the Earth itself is said to lie a creature of unimaginable horrors; the Stygian. This gigantic worm is said to burrow through the ground, causing tremors and quakes wherever it goes, until it breaks through, seeking its latest meal, before returning, leaving naught but wreckage and chaos in its wake.