Abomination

Constructs of pain.

Basics

• Taxonomic Order: Constructs

• Alignment: Infernal

• Energy: Arnum

• Lifespan: 20 years

• Diet: Pain

• Habitat: Cold boreal islands

Origins

Abominations are creations of ponomancers and other purveyors of pain.

Creation

Abominations can be created, controlled, or summoned by powerful ponomancers. The ritual to create one requires capturing a mortal and torturing them until they are nearly dead or in a state of trauma-induced mental failure (dissociation, catatonia, psychosis, etc.). Once they are in such a state, the ponomancer must bind them into a magical circle and inscribe their own True Name or the True Name of a powerful being of arnum into the victim.

Description

A traditional abomination appears to be a 7' tall skinless figure with pallid musculature, blue blood, and razor-sharp, hooked appendages made of the bone and nail of the mortals they are made from and which they use to rip their own bodies and the flesh of others. Variations on this theme occur.

Procreation

New abominations are formed from victims of torture via a ritual of ponomantic magic.

Powers

The hooks at the end of their arms cause unfathomable pain when they tear flesh. They absorb this pain into their own flesh. If they are not sated by the pain they take from others, they must rip themselves. They can sense weaknesses in others.

They are immune to most forms of poison, disease, and pollutants. They are not undead - they live and have uncorrupted souls - but they are not common living things. They can be hacked to pieces and keep going so long as their head and/or heart are intact. Some refer to them as flesh golems.

Abominations cannot be stunned.

Ponomancy

To control an abomination, one either needs the True Name used to create them, or they need to capture a bit of the abomination’s flesh. They must then wash that flesh in acid (hydrochloric is best) and place it in a ceramic jar full of nails. The jar must then be shaken while the ponomancer chants a Name of arnic power.

To summon an abomination, a ponomancer must take a piece of someone's flesh (their own or another mortal's) and place it in a magical circle. They must then produce the tears of someone who has been tortured emotionally, the blood of someone tortured physically, the phlegm of someone mentally perplexed (usually gaslit) into a state of agony, and the heart of one metaphysically tortured (usually via some traumatic action that makes them lose their faith or through direct esoteric metaphysical assault). Then a Name of arnic power must be invoked.

Weaknesses

Euphoria releases them from their painful existence.

Nations

Abominations are created by ponomancers in the cold, rocky islands of Jotuk in northwestern Ansulym by a people known as the Jotish (joh-TISH).

Culture

Jotish culture is one of brutal survival and violent raiding. They are slavers, torturers, and believers in a philosophy of pain and cruelty. They are a warrior nation who believe that causing pain to their victims is the highest form of victory in combat. From their slaves and enemies, they create abominations, which are used as slaves and soldiers.

Abominations know only pain, and they can only alleviate that pain by causing pain. They are a dangerous being to enslave, for they often rise up and kill their slavers just to alleviate their pain, but they make terrifying shock troops. The Jotish keep them in the belly of their galleys, keeping them as rowers and advance forces for raids. Their ponomancers can create new abominations easily from pieces of their captured enemies, especially if an abomination captured the enemy. Therefore, abominations are viewed as disposable.

When a new abomination is formed, it is given a fresh slave to butcher in order to calm it, as it experiences intense pain once it awakens. Once it has slaked its pain and hunger, it is then whipped or prodded by its master(s) until it fears them enough to obey. Then, it is tested, given simple tasks to do. If it is capable of simple tasks, it is kept as a slave; if it fails, it is kept as taken to the pits to be saved up for the next raid or battle.

An abomination doesn’t last much longer than 20 years at most if it is a slave. Warriors die much quicker. If they somehow escape their owners, they spend their lives trying to alleviate their pain, either through causing others pain, through death, or through some potent esoteric means. The smartest seek relief through celestial or aetherial magicks. The most desperate simply torment any living thing they come across. Most find ways to kill themselves, usually throwing themselves off the high cliffs of Jotuk to land in the rocky surf below.

Esoterica

Abominations are beings of arnum. Though they wield it through their hooks, they are not able to become ponomancers. They do not have the clarity of mind to wield most esoteric powers.

Religion

Abominations pray to the Jotish god Lavahem Yadavet Yavavra, the Lord of Hooks, for death, but it never comes.

Gender

All abominations are called “he” by the Jotish. If they have genders, abominations do not speak of it. They only beg for mercy.

Economy

They are the basis of the slave-economy of Jotuk.

Military

They are employed as horrific shock troops and advance forces in raids and battles for the Jotish.

Language

Jotish is not based on anything.

Outside View

Abominations are called “abominations” even by the Jotish who create them. They are feared, pitied, and reviled by everyone who is aware of them.

Notables

• Amnoch Kharathas, Abomination Manifest, Aeonian, Mother of Hooks, Slave to the Jotish War-King

Estimated Populations

• Jotish: 15,000

• Other: 3,000

Sample Stats

PRO 11
ATH 11
STR 14
AWA 4
WIL 4
PRS 1
STH 8