Legend has it, the first bugul noz was a sidhe shepherd so lovely he was said to rival the Beloved Divine in beauty. He was not just lovely, but also proud, and he went to the Sapphire Lakes whwere the Beloved Divine lived and proclaimed himself her sole consort, confident that once she was him, she would consent to this. Instead, she was outraged. She exiled him from the Lakes. Spurned, he turned to the Serpent Mother, seeking a poison to taint and scar the Beloved Divine. Seeing in him the chance to hurt an enemy, the Serpent Mother seduced the sidhe, gave him the poison, then crafted the incubi after his image.

The bugul noz, named Schnowder Loch, went back to the Lakes and seduced another into bringing the poison to the Beloved Divine. When he got to the Beloved Divine, she was dying. Her gentle beauty broke the spell, and he confessed all. Out of spite, the Serpent Mother cursed Schnowder to be opposite the Beloved Divine in looks by taking all the dreams of all the insecure people of the world and crafting them into one Name, then Naming him. The Beloved Divine, unable to counteract the curse, empowered the bugul noz with intense, unending love to alleviate it.

Eventually, Schnowder, overcome with grief, gave himself to the Wild Hunt.

Bugul nozes are very kind and gentle folk, and very lonely. They live alone, wandering dark woodlands and through small adopted communities at night, tending their blindfolded herds and hoping for relief from their loneliness. They have small, isolated communities that meet up every ten days to avoid losing their Names. At this meetings, they discuss local issues, decide on protective tactics for the communities they have adopted, food sharing, and news. The one who runs the meeting is the local elder, who is literally the oldest among them. They have no greater national structure, keeping to very small groups of about 30.

Bugul noz children are the only beings immune to the curse; they see their parents for what they are and vice versa. At adulthood, around the age of 25, the curse asserts itself and the parent-child protection is lost. This is called "the parting," and it is the most painful moment in life for most bugul nozes. So deep is their love that parents continue looking after and caring for their children anyway, just doing so from a little further away.

In order to alleviate their loneliness, bugul nozes adopt communities of other fey or mortals, going there only at night, only when they can be unseen, and tending their herds for them, protecting them from dangers unseen, and fixing broken things in the night. Their kindness is often rewarded with tributes of ale, honey, cheese, and flowers.

Because of their curse, bugul nozes hate when others are described as ugly. They will go out of their way to defend anyone who is insulted in this way, to address their insecurities, or to make them feel better. Only through this manner of kindness do they ever find someone who is able to look at them without harm; this is usually how a bugul noz finds even another bugul noz to be partners with. Romantic partnerships between them are very easy after this. Because it is so difficult to ever even find a partner, bugul nozes rarely have any kind of marriage ceremony, though private, personal commitment ceremonies happen occasionally. Gender is recognized but never an issue between them.