Ghoul

Ghouls are djinns from arabic legends, like all djinns their existence predate Islam, going back to arabic paganism, only for the new religion to confirm it by giving them a place in its lore.

Due to their savage and cannibalistic natures it is sometimes said that, unlike other djinns, ghouls are not Allah's creations, as He would not have made a creature so predisposed to evil behaviour, instead being the children of Eblis, either his biological progeny or metaphoricall as a race he made from other djinns.

## Appearance

Ghouls are humanoids roughly the size of an ordinary human, though their hunched posture make them look shorter. They are gaunt, completely hairless and their skin is a greyish pale, as if rotting, which give them a corpse-like appearance (though they are living beings and not undead). Ghouls have sharp talon-like claws and a mouthful of jagged fangs, making their predatory nature plain for all to see.

Ghouls are powerful shapeshifters however and can take the form of a hyena or a jackal as well as that of any human whose flesh they have eaten in order to avoid notice.

## Behaviour

The behaviour of ghouls is somewhat difficult to understand as legends give contradictory accounts in that regard :

On one hand, many tales describe the gouls as feral desert dwelling predators, savagely waylaying travelers to eat them but being easily duped. For example, legend has it that ghouls will suck someones blood through their feet during the night but that simply placing the soles of one's feet against a rock will prevent it as the ghoul is too stupid to find the soles.

On the other hand, other tales describe ghouls taking on a human guise and living alongside humans without raising any suspition, even seducing potential preys into secluded locations.

Yet other tales holds the ghouls to be desert dwelling, savage predators like in the first version, but far more cunning. Such ghouls are known to hunt in organised packs, use tools and weapons and even laying traps for travellers, like lighting fake campfires to lure them to the ghouls or adopting a human form to approach them, though they're seldom able to pass as human for long periods as their feral behaviour betray them.

All versions however agrees that ghouls are carnivorous, prefer humans to any other preys, and are opportunistic scavengers who will raid graveyards rather than hunt when possible.

In order to reconcile these versions the ghouls in Crypto X Ing are assumed to become more intelligent if able to feed well, making the aforementioned accounts exemples of different level of intellect among ghouls.

It should also be noted that ghouls, like all djinns, have free will and may decide to abstain from evil actions, they may even convert to Islam and be granted access to paradise by leading a virtuous life : In the folktale of *"The Ghul's Daughter"* for exemple, a ghul shows mercy to a human girl whose family have been murdered, and gives her some of his powers. Such cases are rare however as most ghouls, lead by their glutonny and greed, chose to lead wicked lives.

## Characteristics

* Strength : ghouls are much stronger than humans, able to lift gravestones and dig out dead bodies without tools.
* Claws and fangs : in their natural shape ghouls have powerfull, bone crushing jaws and talloned hands. They're even known to prefer using their natural weapons rather than manmade one.
* Resilience : ghouls are no sturdier than ordinary humans, relying on regeneration to survive injuries.
* Healling factor : ghouls can regenerate injuries whith amasing speed, including lost limbs, though extreme and repeted injuries can ovewhelm their healing factor.
* Speed : due to being superhumanly strong, ghouls are also somewhat faster than human on average, though not to an extreme level as humans are still capale of keeping up with a ghoul.
* Intelligence : a ghoul's intelligence vary depending on how well fed it is, a starving ghoul beeing comparable to a rabid animal while a very well nourished one is equal to a human. In order to produce an average specimen the ghoul used in Crypto X Ing is an inbetween, feral and violent but smart enough to use simple tools or lay traps, comparable to a particularly violent caveman.

## Powers

* Paralysis : in its natural form the ghoul's claws inflict a paralysing venom on the victim
* Shapeshifting : ghouls can adopt the forms of a jackal or a hyena (and are presumaly even stronger than natural animals in the same way they're stronger than humans in their humanoid form), as well as any human whose flesh they've eaten (the human need not be dead for this to happen as a mouthful of flesh is sufficient to allow the transformation). Ghouls can even tranform their feet, and only their feet, into donckey hoves for a powerful kick.

## Weaknesses

* A ghoul can be killed in a single blow so long as it's not struck again, if struck again it will be resurected and benefit from it's healing factor from now on.
* The ghoul's regeneration will not save it from decapitation.
* Fire will destroy a ghoul as burns can't be regenerated.
* Acid will also negate the ghoul's healing factor.
* Lightning lastly will instantly kill the unlucky ghoul it strikes.