The Depthstarver’s Curse

*(This page is subject to changes in the future for balancing, if necessary.)*

Those driven to the depths of hunger and voracious violence by the depravity and desperation of their beastly instincts are those damned from society and outcast from the very fiber that they once originated from; these beasts of Azura are dubbed ***Wendigos***.

### **Origins**

Amongst the many tales of cursed wretches and creatures in Azura, only a select few reach the light of day. Many years before the current time of Ludwag, a thunderously notorious group of brigands led by a powerful accursed individual stood with his men in the mountains, which were still uncharted by the Nixian defectors of Latteras, lurking for passerby travelers down on their luck. Adjacent to a mountain, they waited hours for anyone to come to them, although they were greeted by a hulking beast of unknown proportions that chased them off into the mountain’s tunnels to escape it. Some tales say a yekin, others a wyvern, although, after being chased inside, the men quickly found themselves lost in the winding tunnels and caverns, and soon they were beyond lost, and beyond hungry.  After the rations went, the shoes went, and after the boots were gone, the cloth and leather on their clothing went next. But the truth was, they were lost and without the means to eat. The details of how their leader grew to such anger are lost to time, as some say it was due to hunger, others due to mutiny. But he slaughtered every single one of his men, and in his ravenous hunger, he devoured them all, and amongst his meals was a sense of satisfaction. And after consuming these men fully, the man began to notice his skin crawl. His entire body began to stretch, contort, and rigidly condense down. The excruciating pain that came from this amalgamated form was horrifying. His skin no longer had any pigment, his teeth grew to great lengths with razor-sharp edges, his hands grew lethally elongated claws, and his body was stretched multiple feet taller. **Renowned as cannibals**, the only word that remains for those who submit to the urges of starvation and malice is “Wendigo”. *Many are unsure if these folktales are even true.*

### **The Curse**

Much like actual lycanthropy (due to it being a subcategory of this one), the curse of *the Wendigo* is a very particular curse that affects the body and mind of the lycanthrope so much that it consumes them and **turns them into ravenously hungry beasts during times of great hunger or stress**. During these events of great hunger or stress, an afflicted body will undergo a bone-chilling level of change as their entire body stretches and their bone mass thins, and their skin condenses down into a *chitin-like consistency*. To secure the survival of the afflicted, ***corpses must be consumed without any trace left behind***, save for bones. With this, the wild magic of their body consumes the flesh with them and rapidly forces their bodies to lengthen and condense their skin down, akin to how a mancer loses muscle mass over the time of their progression. Now, consumed by an everlasting hunger, **a wendigo can only be satisfied by the flesh of a humanoid being**. Those afflicted can be noted to have very jagged and beast-like teeth, very lengthy fingernails, and are noted to be extremely pale, tall, and skinny in their regular form.

#### **How it works:**

Wendigos are *always hungry, irritable* and can turn into their form involuntarily even on the slightest moments of stress, **forcing them to stay away from society**, lest they be outed and exposed. Those afflicted are shunned by most Kingdoms on Ludwag for their origins being immoral and malevolent. Unlike lycanthropes, who could have been cursed by pure bad luck, the curse of a wendigo is only gained by the choice of the person, whether out of desperation or by evil intent.

Akin to a *lycanthrope’s rapid regeneration*, a Wendigo has these properties, **but only if they are consuming the flesh of a corpse**; otherwise it will not be present while they are in combat. If starved, the Wendigo will not heal, and will slowly degenerate in its form. Because of their bestial nature, **Wendigos are incapable of human emotion** **while transformed** and will often find it impossible to seek much of a reason to empathize with natural human emotion due to their constant beast-like hunger. **Past the T1 stage, they are incapable of long-lasting friendships.**

Different from their other accursed counterparts, a Wendigo only retains a bit of strength compared to their previous forms, adapting with *extreme speed and agility*. Their claws and morphed hands allow them to **easily scale walls and crawl across the tops of ceilings** at the cost of moderate pain of digging their claws into surfaces. At their latest stage (T3), Wendigos are known to be faster than winged beings in short bursts and can sustain a running speed of a horse for excessive amounts of time. Their nimble and agile bodies also allow them to make very sharp and rapid changes of direction with little regard for momentum.

**While not transformed**, Wendigos are easily identifiable by their jagged teeth, lanky bodies, and jaggedly long fingernails. Their skin is very noticeably pale and their minds are afflicted with horrid mental maladies of psychopathy and other various mental disorders. Along with their insatiable hunger, if a wendigo undergoes a prolonged length of time without food, they will degenerate in their forms and strength. **Starving a wendigo of another person’s flesh for upwards of a month will result in a de-ranking in their tiers**, and cause excruciating stomach pain until they get enough to replenish their strength. This forces those afflicted to either continue to consume human flesh or starve to death.

Additionally, **Wendigos are very territorial** due to their constant hunger and very rarely do they ever fight alongside one another. In fact, there are many instances where **wendigos will resort to cannibalization of their cursed kin to sustain themselves**. When confronted with innumerable forces, wendigos will obviously fight a common enemy, if threatened, but will soon devolve into bestial rivalry afterward-- should they survive.

*A Wendigo has no allies, no friends, and no kin*; such is the nature of the curse of the betrayal of their own species through cannibalization.

The *weaknesses* of a wendigo are very simple, but hard to truly achieve in great lengths in their greater stages. Due to the chitin-like surface of their skin and densified muscles, wendigos are fairly strong, and can easily dispose of a person by their lonesome by using their superior agility if done correctly. But, **they prove awfully weak to fire in most instances**, albeit they are not particularly flammable. When attacked by fire, **a wendigo’s chitin will begin to burn off, allowing for a weak point on their body to be attacked**, as well as causing pain that a Wendigo would otherwise not be able to feel. Otherwise, the vast majority of blunt and slashing damage from normal human strength would not pierce it, although bestial strength -- such as lycanthrope or something stronger -- would be able to breakthrough.  **Arcane, divine, or magical burns/flames also prove to be effective against a wendigo**. Alongside these same weaknesses is the **phobia of crowds** **and bright lights**, both of which can progressively create poor vision for the afflicted and a genuine sense of fear- further accentuating the cases of travelers being safe in numbers.

### **Tiers**

#### ***[T1] Starved** (Free-to-play)*

***· T1 do NOT look like the characteristic Wendigo form, instead taking on the appearance of a rabid and emaciated humanoid figure (resembling the original race of whoever chose to take on the curse.)***

Those unlucky or evil enough to fall to the curse of the Wendigo are cursed with a new appearance that shows itself in their early stages the most. Due to malnourishment, a Starved will have the appearance of their usual skin which lacks pigment, although it will look heavily flushed and deprived of nourishment. When subdued to intense stress or hunger, a wendigo will undergo an excruciatingly painful transformation of the body. In this time, the body will stretch rapidly, causing horrible pain and agony to the accursed and leave stretch marks and scars across the stomach and joints of the body where it was stretched. Their bodies will **increase an entire foot** past their previous length, although **will not exceed 7 feet**. Identifiable by the lack of pigment in their eyes as well, ***they are extremely skinny and prove to be very weak***; having to often resort to ambush tactics to win fights. Those in this stage will grow claws that have a razor-sharp edge and piercing point that **can get in between basic armor like gambeson and even stab through chainmail**. Although the epitome of a beast-in-the-making, this stage of the affliction will not carry the boons of their more advanced counterparts- instead giving them the **running speed of what the peak of their respective race would be**. On this same notion, they are capable of smelling blood up to 10 feet away- but do not harbor the ability to deter footprints or track scent at this stage. These cursed individuals **will be unsettled while within large crowds**, though are capable of holding conversations for longer periods than their deranged counterparts.

#### ***[T2] Blighted** (IC Progression-only)*

***· T2 can be gained via events by consuming a staff member's T2 Wendigo (with their permission and acknowledgement). T2 can also be obtained from consuming player's T2 character and confirming with a Moderator that the T2 has been devoured by their T1 with PTK/RTK.***

Far beyond the point of no return, those who had progressed to the point of consuming the flesh of another depthstarver or by other supernatural means, a blighted’s appearance is far more lanky and far more terrifying in bestial form than their weaker form. Now expanding up to **two feet taller** and gaining the weight of the last meals they have gained in their bestial form, their form still remains humanoid and very skinny, but somehow intensely strong and nimble. Now overcome with **intense strength that could even rival an accursed lycanthrope, a blighted’s speed renders it wholly terrifying**. Their skin no longer holds a decaying effect in bestial form and is entirely flushed. Few exist, and fewer survive, but those who have come this far have been overcome with an agility that knows no other; **able to catch up to horses and other mounted animals with build-up, and make sharp turns while running at their top speeds**. Their lacking vision additionally seems to vanish during the cover of **darkness, allowing them to see with full clarity** and sense the scent of other prey wherever they may hunt. Their keen sense of smell **can pick up blood up to 100 feet away**, and becomes particularly sensitive when there are deceased corpses. Additionally, **they have developed chitin-like material over their skin, and proves to be resistant to slices and stabs so long as it is not in the same spot**, which is particularly dangerous if they are given the opportunity to feast upon a corpse- where any injuries they sustain are capable of healing over within a few minutes. Aforementioned strength is **capable of sending grown men flying and denting/stabbing under plate and its equivalents with proper force**- though this does not come without its downsides. At this same stage and strength progression, the afflicted have become even more demented than their starved counterparts, becoming **heavily unsettled within large crowds**, and getting progressively terrible vision the longer they are around such. This same fear of **being overwhelmed and outnumbered by their prey is what causes many to run away** in such a situation, as they become **disoriented by bright lights and flame**; though may pick individuals off should they wander alone.

***(Note : Staff have the right to deny progression to T2 if the player in any way demonstrates poor behavior or is unable to provide evidence of a successful kill)***

#### ***[T3] Embraced*** *(Staff-only)*

Those who have both come to terms with their bestial instincts and hunger no longer hold the full mentality of humanity any longer. An embraced return to the epitome of beast-like appearance from. Their arms extend to excessive length, their body begins to regrow its hair, and their head, like their Blighted counterpart, **takes on the resemblance of an animal**- albeit much more decayed and jagged. They rest at **9-10 feet in their bestial form** and no longer rely on lightning-fast ambush tactics like their blighted and starved kin. Still holding **heavy agility**, an Embraced can run **faster than winged beasts in short bursts and catch up to horses with ease**. Their arms are immensely strong and can overpower the strongest of beasts that stand in their way. Aforementioned mental-state, as with all who suffer from the affliction, has become its worst form at this stage- and anyone who suffers from such can hardly be considered something to be reasoned with. Their nature within **crowds has become too much for the creature to handle**, causing these elusive folktales to prefer **complete isolation**. They are **incapable of holding conversations for more than a few minutes** at a time, and have a mental depravity that is **unable to differentiate friend from foe**; even if it is another wendigo.