Nightgaunt

Elementals of darkness.

Basics

• Taxonomic Order: Elementals

• Alignment: Aetherial

• Energy: True Shadow

• Lifespan: 150 years

• Diet: Energy

• Habitat: Places where light cannot reach

Origins

Consciousness formed where light did not reach, shadows come alive by aetherial spark.

Description

Nightgaunts are impossibly thin, with black, slick, rubbery skin. They have no faces. Their horns curl inward. They have prehensile claws and a barbed tail. Their wings are large and membranous. They make no sound, not even when they move.

Procreation

Nightgaunts reproduce sexually, though the specifics are hidden in the dark.

Powers

Their claws and tail cause an intense tickling sensation if not used as a weapon. They have acute senses despite not having faces, and they can control the darkness around them. They fear nothing and are impossible to control. They can survive in deep space and frigid cold.

They feed off energy of any kind, which they absorb through simple proximity, which is why they dwell near the Spirit Gate.

Shadows

Nightgaunts dwell within shadow and can wrap it around them protectively, command it to consume anything that has ever reflected light or cast a shadow itself, or use it to move through nearly instantly. When something is consumed by shadow, it ceases to be and often never was, and its substance is absorbed by the nightgaunts. They rarely do this except in cases of extreme danger, however, and only the most powerful can do so. Shadowwalking is also energy-consuming and only used to retreat into the safety of pure darkness.

Weaknesses

Any light disorients them. Brown aether poisons them. Void weakens them disproportionately. The bright, euphotonia, ma’dhahabi, lahab al’qalb, lunar aether, and qeernariji affect them more strongly than mundane light, and gossamer light completely overwhelms them.

Nations

There are six nations of nightgaunts:

• Anoggtl: the nightgaunts of the dark side of the Grey Moon, amongst the shadows.

• Bothu-ggnoa: the nightgaunts of the forests of Nandja, where the canopy is so thick the sunlight does not reach.

• Dhac-kehu: the nightgaunts of Shadowdeep, the original nation.

• Lotugyschoi: the nightgaunts of the sewers of Merukis, a small and strange nation.

• Shazhaath: the nightgaunts of the frozen reaches of the south pole, where the sun does not rise for months of the year.

• Ughilell: the nightgaunts of the Borean Ocean, deep beneath the waves where light cannot reach.

Culture

The Dhac-kehu dwell in Shadowdeep, a region of the Subterranean Realm where no light has ever reached. Within it are great cities carved into the ceilings of the dark caverns, the legendary Night Wood, and the Spirit Gate, a massive portal that connects Shem to other worlds within the Spirit Realm, where legends are alive.

The Dhac-kehu are the original nation of nightgaunts - five groups were sent out to seek other sources of true shadow throughout the world long ago and formed new nations - and they live in a mysterious society in their strange, impossible cities. Their cities have passages that go nowhere, towers that spin down into vast nothingness, stairways that connect impossibly to chambers not connected to anything, and windows that look out into solid stone. The nightgaunts shape the stone with shadow and use special materials to create strange wonders that no one will ever see.

Nightgaunts have a communal society led by a council of elders called mibogorlaru. They are elected from the eldest of the nightgaunts in any given community and sent to the great upside down spire So'cathubbote at the center of Shadowdeep, suspended above the Spirit Gate. There, they feed and communicate in silence and share their wisdom.

Every nightgaunt community raises children together. Until the age of 15, they are allowed to play and live freely. Once they are 15, they begin learning various tasks to contribute to the community. By age 25, they usually choose a specific role, though not all do.

There are three main tasks in their society: to protect the Spirit Gate, to preserve shadow, and to keep the ancient secrets of their people.

The Spirit Gate is protected by their warriors - lakrasho (tenebriants) and yogul (ebonguard). The lakrasho wield javelins that, when thrown, draw true shadow around them and allow them to consume those that are pierced by them. The yogul wield both javelins and pikes and stand guard directly outside the Gate. They are specifically the nightgaunts who guard the Gate - other mortals who guard the Gate are called ebonguards, but they have the same function, powers, and weapons.

Those who preserve shadow are protectors of nature, specifically Shadowdeep and the Night Wood. The otharsa (druids) and dhugoth (rangers) of the Night Wood commune with nature, bond to the woods, and protect the realm, but they are supported by the p'oa'uat who tell (silently) the tales of the darkness, the laegoll who tend gardens in their cities on the ceilings, the lzs'hau who keep bats, the scagthac who contemplate the shadow, and the nyulhlumos who allow shadow to flow through them. They make up the religious and spiritual leaders of the nightgaunt communities.

And those who keep the secrets form a network of scholars, scribes, spies, and messengers who protect the vast library Mmathoshl and interact with the outside world in order to know if anyone is getting close. Their roles include the ha’akels (assassins), n'rthotas (nightdancers), thateles (dark seekers), ghoggnats (messengers), ilondelas (shadowwalkers), yithlarsth (scribes), rngoic (spies), and rnegogolach (shadowsailors).

Almost all nightgaunts have some skill at shadowweaving, but some few, called chatsthugot, who specialize in it. They produce the dark cloth that nightgaunts trade with chthonians and others for the few goods they need. Other common crafts among their communities include the rth’lash, who draw unseen figures in stone; huaggh’ul, who perform unseen pantomimes, and m’goicarau, mystic dark sex workers.

Nightgaunts in Shadowdeep do not recognize the flow of time the way others do, but instead count time by tynhols, which are roughly equivalent to 44 minutes, of which there are 92 in a ymyh. There are 172 ymyh in a n’khaoll. Every n’khaoll, on the 87th ymyh, they celebrate Thothau’kha, which commemorates the first opening of the Spirit Gate and the coming of the spirits.

All of Shadowdeep, even the non-nightgaunts, know that protecting the Spirit Gate is vital to keeping Shem safe, and they protect it with their lives.

National Cultures

The other nightgaunt nations all have their own tasks:

• Anoggtl: the dark side of the Grey Moon has a region that never sees sunlight, and there, strange flowers grow. The Anoggtl keep these strange gardens and protect the night itself.

• Bothu-ggnoa: in the forests of Nandja, there are places where the canopy prevents the sunlight from reaching the forest floor. There, the nightgaunts live in the thick of the vegetation and guard elephant graveyards, where esoteric energy is most potent.

• Lotugyschoi: in the sewers of Merukis, there is a chamber deep within where no light reaches, the Lotugyschoi train Merukisi thieves and criminals in the arts of stealth. Among them are the gu'urhitho, elite burglars who go out on the darkest nights to engage in the greatest thefts.

• Shazhaath: near the south pole, in the dark mountains where for months there is no sun, the Shazhaath protect the Tugolegggha, a monument of black ice that contains true shadow sealed within it.

• Ughilell: in the Borean Ocean, the Ughilell dwell in deep trenches where they keep watch on the armies of the Eldritch.

Esoterica

Nightgaunts are beings of true shadow and its greatest wielders. They can also wield other forms of shadow - arcane shadow and gemtkhereg - but not Elysian essence, which is not controllable by anyone. They sometimes also use kazaddarean, hvittdogg, various forms of poioumenon and paradoxical energies, and spirit energy. They cannot use the bright, lunar aether, ma’dhahabi, lahab al’qalb, qeernariji, euphotonia, lhair, infernum, or gossamer light. They also cannot use brown aether, which is fatal to them.

Religion

Nightgaunts worship Dach-Lzolctle, the Dark One, who formed the dark itself. They have no organized religion, but druids, shamans, and other religious figures are a common part of their cultures, all of whom help them preserve nature and darkness itself.

Gender

Nightgaunts recognize no genders, even though they reproduce sexually.

Economy

They live in communal cultures.

Military

The Spirit Gate is protected by their warriors - lakrasho (tenebriants) and yogul (ebonguard). The lakrasho wield javelins that, when thrown, draw true shadow around them and allow them to consume those that are pierced by them. The yogul wield both javelins and pikes and stand guard directly outside the Gate. They are specifically the nightgaunts who guard the Gate - other mortals who guard the Gate are called ebonguards, but they have the same function, powers, and weapons.

And those who keep the secrets form a network of scholars, scribes, spies, and messengers who protect the vast library Mmathoshl and interact with the outside world in order to know if anyone is getting close. Their roles include the ha’akels (assassins), n'rthotas (nightdancers), thateles (dark seekers), ghoggnats (messengers), ilondelas (shadowwalkers), yithlarsth (scribes), rngoic (spies), and rnegogolach (shadowsailors).

Language

They have no language. Words used for them or their roles are approximations of the silent communications they have with one another, inspired by Lovecraft’s mythos names.

Trade

The most common material nightgaunts trade with others are the products of shadowweavers, which they use to gain materials they cannot find within Shadowdeep.

Occupations

Mibogorlaru are the nightgaunt elders.

The Spirit Gate is protected by their warriors - lakrasho (tenebriants) and yogul (ebonguard). The lakrasho wield javelins that, when thrown, draw true shadow around them and allow them to consume those that are pierced by them. The yogul wield both javelins and pikes and stand guard directly outside the Gate. They are specifically the nightgaunts who guard the Gate - other mortals who guard the Gate are called ebonguards, but they have the same function, powers, and weapons.

Those who preserve shadow are protectors of nature, specifically Shadowdeep and the Night Wood. The otharsa (druids) and dhugoth (rangers) of the Night Wood commune with nature, bond to the woods, and protect the realm, but they are supported by the p'oa'uat who tell (silently) the tales of the darkness, the laegoll who tend gardens in their cities on the ceilings, the lzs'hau who keep bats, the scagthac who contemplate the shadow, and the nyulhlumos who allow shadow to flow through them. They make up the religious and spiritual leaders of the nightgaunt communities.

And those who keep the secrets form a network of scholars, scribes, spies, and messengers who protect the vast library Mmathoshl and interact with the outside world in order to know if anyone is getting close. Their roles include the ha’akels (assassins), n'rthotas (nightdancers), thateles (dark seekers), ghoggnats (messengers), ilondelas (shadowwalkers), yithlarsth (scribes), rngoic (spies), and rnegogolach (shadowsailors).

Almost all nightgaunts have some skill at shadowweaving, but some few, called chatsthugot, who specialize in it. They produce the dark cloth that nightgaunts trade with chthonians and others for the few goods they need. Other common crafts among their communities include the rth’lash, who draw unseen figures in stone; huaggh’ul, who perform unseen pantomimes, and m’goicarau, mystic dark sex workers.

Outside View

Those that know of nightgaunts either fear them as figures of nightmare and assume them to be demons of the dark or know them to be protectors of esoteric energies.

Notables

• D'thithaacho, Nightgaunt Manifest, Aeonian, who birthed ten thousand children

• Ngn-aramma, Conduit of Spirit, Aeonian, merged into the Spirit Gate upon its first opening

Estimated Populations

• Anoggtl: 44,000

• Bothu-ggnoa: 44,000

• Dhac-kehu: 44,000

• Lotugyschoi: 440

• Shazhaath: 4,400

• Ughilell: 44,000

• Other: 4,400

Sample Stats

PRO 8
ATH 9 Flight 11
STR 9
AWA 9
WIL 9
PRS 7
STH 17