Infernal Terata
"Monstrous" beings based on infernal, imperial, or industrial stories and legends.
Alado
Ray-like “monsters” on the ill winds.
- Lifespan: 60-100 years
- Diet: Meat-heavy mortal fare
- Habitat: The skies
- Socioeconomic Status: Ruling class
Alados are mantaray-like people who fly through the air on their massive fins. They have large arms and a set of four very small legs. They are about 5’ long not counting their slender tails, which are another 3’ in length. Their faces are extremely human.
Alados fly on the ill winds, peragro, infernal winds that carry misfortune with them. They do not react to mundane winds or other aligned winds. They do not control these winds, but they are immune to fate, fortune, wind, and chaos effects except celestial ones, to which they are weak. They can inflict misfortune with a lash of their tails. If they mortally wound someone, they may negate the wound and instead inflict a permanent curse of their choosing (with GM’s approval).
Alados live in nomadic bands that fly through the skies, usually over imperial lands, and they are led by the most fearsome among them. They are extremely powerful members of the imperial ruling class, and they often lead air forces and other aerial occupations. They are considered by common folk to be harbingers of disaster and misfortune, which they use to their advantage.
Those who reject the imperial lifestyle and ruling class privilege are hunted and killed or treated as traitors.
PRO 9 ATH 9 Flight 11 STR 9 AWA 9 WIL 9 PRS 7 STH 9 ESS 9
Carambano
Blue “monsters” whose breath unleashes blizzards.
- Lifespan: 60-90 years
- Diet: Meat-heavy mortal fare
- Habitat: Cold regions
- Socioeconomic Status: Ruling class or Privileged oppressed
Carambanos are 6’ tall blue-skinned beings with broad shoulders and huge mouths. They have white eyes and grey nails. They are completely hairless and often have ice hanging off their bodies.
All carambanos can take huge, deep breaths and unleash blizzard winds - strong winds filled with blasting snow. This takes time to recover from when they do it. They are immune to cold and take low die when facing heat/fire-related attacks. If they are in a blizzard, they absorb the cold and become more powerful; if they use the blizzard to harm others, they make steal the souls of those they mortally injure. They do not have to do this.
If six or more are working in a group, anyone attacking them takes the low die.
Carambanos live in cold regions, usually polar areas or places where blizzards are common, and they come out in blizzards to hunt for food. They live in small hunting communities led by the strongest and most ruthless among them. They often work for imperial ruling forces or are among them as agents in the coldest kingdoms and empires.
PRO 9 ATH 9 STR 8 AWA 8 WIL 7 PRS 7 STH 9 ESS 9
Corniog
Horned hunter folk.
- Lifespan : 120 years
- Diet: Meat-heavy mortal fare
- Habitat: Temperate forests
- Socioeconomic Status: Ruling class
Horned folk who are relentless hunters. They stand about 9' tall. They have green skin and dark, velvety fur, and their heads are animalistic with huge horns. Their eyes glow yellow. They have claws and a tail.
Corniogs have natural hunting abilities. They can sense non-intelligent mammals, reptiles, birds, or amphibians within 50' of themselves. They have keen senses of smell, and they have heat vision. They have an aura of fear around them when they hunt at night, and an aura of shadow when they hunt during the day.
If they eat a pregnant animal, a child animal, or a breeding adult, their sense for that animal will extend tenfold.
If they take part in a hunt to extinction, they gain powers from the animal they wiped out. This applies only to those who took part and their descendants. Thus, many distinct nations of corniogs are known by the powers they have taken from extinct animals.
Some powers include but are not limited to the following:
- Water-breathing
- Fire resistance
- Cold resistance
- Electrical resistance
- Hibernation
- Metabolism control
- Increased athleticism
- Increased strength
- Improved vision
- Improved olfactory
- Improved hearing
- Heat regulation
- Venomous bite
- Acidic spit
And so on. Consult with the GM if you have other ideas.
Corniogs are a ruling class nation in the empires. There, they dominate other species with brutality and tyranny. They are mostly a feudal society, but they also trade in slaves. They are known for their massive feasts and excesses. In the empires, they continue their dominance.
There are those among the corniogs from "lesser" nations who do not take part in extermination hunts. These are oppressed, and they are considered inferior, weak, and unworthy of life. They are usually serfs and peasants in the corniog kingdoms.
Corniogs have many crafts made from the animals they kill, including clothing, weapons, armor, tools, and of course, food. But their biggest export is a wine mixed with animal blood that is popular throughout the continent.
PRO 10 ATH 10 STR 10 AWA 8 Smell 10 WIL 8 PRS 7 STH 8
Cythreulig
Colorful, hairy dominant forest folk.
- Lifespan : 300 years
- Diet: Meat-heavy mortal fare
- Habitat: Cities and towns in formerly forested areas
- Socioeconomic Status: Ruling class
Furred forest beings. Cythreulig appear to be 6' tall on average. They have yellow, red, or orange skin. They tend to be hirsute, with hair that is usually straight and shimmering in various colors, from blue to green, yellow to white. They have three eyes. Their mouths have teeth like that of a snake, and their bite is venomous.
Each cythreulig nation is attuned to a different domesticated animal that their family, community, or nation has dominated for Ages. This attunement allows them to control, influence, and command that animal, and if they eat it, they grow temporarily stronger and briefly have horns or antlers. These are always a kind of domesticated ungulate; their horns or antlers will reflect the horns or antlers of that which they devour. If the animal has none, they will simply have stubs or bumps.
Cythreuliaid have sharp senses of smell. They are innately skilled at reading peoples' reactions. Powerful cythreuliaid can steal souls with their gaze if they have devoured enough of their attuned animal.
The touch of a cythreulig will cause a target to lose control of their muscles temporarily if the cythreulig has eaten enough of their attuned animal. They will need to replenish soon after.
Cythreuliaid began as a nation in Deseria where they were a ruling, oppressive nation. They dominated other nations, cultures, species, and forged an empire. They were called the Arweinwyr, or rulers, and they were ruthless. They keep a strict, hierarchical system of society. At the top of their system are the ruling family, the Ymffrostgar dynasty, with a powerful ruling noble class around them. Below the nobility are the warrior caste and the esoteric caste. Everyone else is a slave.
In the imperial lands, they are among the ruling class species.
If a player chooses to be a cythreulig, they must be one who has abandoned their privilege.
PRO 11 ATH 10 STR 10 AWA 11 WIL 10 PRS 11 STH 10
Malacutus
Twisted-necked beings who make people wish for death.
- Lifespan: 70-120 years
- Diet: Meat or souls
- Habitat: Forests
- Socioeconomic Status: Ruling class
Malacutuses are mostly human in appearance, but their necks are twisted around many times and about a foot longer than they should be. They have glowing blue eyes, clawed hands and fanged teeth, and bat-like ears.
Malacutuses have rasping voices that they can choose to throw, much like a whisperer can, to affect the emotions of others negatively (instilling despair, depression, and so on). If they drive someone to kill themselves, they may steal their souls. They can smell emotions. Some have the ability to drain hearts with a touch if they have stolen at least one soul. If they do not use the power to steal souls, they will eventually gain the power to affect emotions in a positive way with their voices, but few achieve this, as their culture encourages them to be soul-eaters.
Malacutuses come from a small forest kingdom, but they have long been absorbed into imperial culture and imperial ruling classes. They are very powerful and many of their families are very wealthy. They are known for their court practices where they pass judgment on commoners with their voices. They love music, tapestries, and wine.
Those who reject the imperial lifestyle or never take a soul or a life are seen as weaklings and cast out.
PRO 8 ATH 8 STR 9 AWA 9 WIL 9 PRS 9 STH 7 ESS 9
Ogre
Child-eaters.
- Lifespan : 120 years
- Diet: Meat
- Habitat: Temperate hills and forests
- Socioeconomic Status: Ruling class or oppressed
Ogres stand between 7’ and 9’ tall. They have a disproportionately large head. They tend to be hirsute and have skin ranging from palest white to dark green in color. They find it easy to maintain muscle mass.
Ogres are always hungry, and they are capable of eating almost any kind of meat without fear of poisoning (see Weaknesses for exceptions). What meat they are eating may give them other powers. If they eat the meat of a mortal child, they gain bonuses to their strength. They do not need to eat mortal children to survive, though they often claim this is so.
For any meat that they eat, they may gain other powers. If they eat a child of that species, they gain more bonuses than if they eat an adult. Consult the GM for the powers different species might give them.
It is said ogres originated from a group of either humans or giants who ate their own children and were cursed with voracious, cannibalistic appetites. The original nation is a powerful ruling class nation who encourage this origin legend as well as many other legends depicting themselves as tyrants, killers, and overlords to frighten the local populace into serving them. “Serve or your children will be eaten” is the message they send, and it is very effective.
In truth, most ogres don’t each children or even other mortals. They eat meat-heavy diets and tend to live in squalor due to the horrific reputation of the ogrish ruling class. They face extreme repression in other parts of the world because of this undeserved reputation. Only the powerful among the Mauditien engage in such horrific practices.
The ogrish lords live in luxury off the tithes and tariffs and taxes they levy upon the serfs they control. The serfs of Vieux Terre are of many different species and usually identity generally as Galdish and with the wider Galdish culture, while the Mauditien embrace a narrower, more grotesque culture. There is a gap between the culture of the lords and the serfs.
The culture of the lords is dominated by ensuring their power and frequent feasting. Most feasts do not involve mortal flesh, but every month, there is one feast that involves the eating of a mortal child, almost always a non-ogre. Different families have a different preferred species to devour, usually taken from the local serf stock or imported as slaves. Many breed slaves.
In the Talunese region, most ogres are visiting nobles with a lot of wealth and power. There are several nations of ogres in the area, including the Orcolati, whose feet cause the ground to rumble; the Orco, the largest group who are very similar to their eastern cousins; the Mommotti, who sometimes visit nightmares on people;
If a player chooses to be an ogre, they must be a lower class one or one who has abandoned their privilege.
PRO 9 ATH 8 STR 11 AWA 8 WIL 8 PRS 7 STH 7
Raghju
Flying, terrifying beings.
Raghjus are 6’ tall beings with massive wings - insectoid, bat-like, pterodian, or bird-like. They have sharp claws and teeth, long ray-like tails ending in stingers, and eyes that glow bright red. Their skin is dark grey.
Raghjus can fly. They can see in the dark, and they have poison in their stingers that causes hallucinations and nightmares. They have an aura of fear; they feed off the fear others feel. The more fear they devour, the more terrified their victims become. They do not have to feed on fear - they can live off meat.
Raghjus are a powerful ruling class warrior species. They are either elite leaders of shock troops and squads of killers, or they are private soldiers and assassins. Those who choose not to live off fear are treated as second-class citizens and exploited for their fearsome labor.
PRO 9 ATH 9 Flight 10 STR 11 AWA 8 WIL 9 PRS 9 STH 8
Sunken One
Sinkhole dwellers.
- Lifespan: 150 years
- Diet: Meat
- Habitat: Sinkholes
- Socioeconomic Status: Privileged oppressed
Sunken ones are 4’ to 8’ tall hominids with gooey flesh covered in sand, sludge, slime, mud, and muck. They have no necks, and their heads are dominated by huge, round mouths full of teeth and two large, slimy tongues. Their eyes are on small stalks coming off the back of their heads; they have at least two and at most four at a time. If one breaks off, it regrows. Their arms end in leech-like appendages.
Sunken ones feed on blood and flesh. They lurk in sinkholes, waiting for it. They can swim through dirt and stone like a fish, and they can cause sinkholes by exuding their slime into solid ground. They do not need to breathe, and they are resistant to heat and cold.
Sunken ones can absorb the luck of those they eat, altering their own.
Sunken ones are said to be people who were cursed, but there’s no evidence of that. There is evidence they evolved from some elemental terata, but it’s unclear which ones. Not all sunken ones prey on intelligent beings, but those that do are most well known. They live in small, brutal groups that hunt together. They have adapted to urban life, becoming sewer dwellers who warn the imperials of weak parts of the city. Their original culture is a subterranean aquatic culture that focused on hunting large prey like aurochses and elephants, but that is long forgotten.
PRO 9 ATH 8 Swim 9 STR 6 to 15 AWA 8 WIL 9 PRS 6 STH 7
Ulcisorian
“Monstrous” folk with infernal flames for insides.
Ulcisorians are 8’ tall, hulking beings with huge claws, fangs, and bone spurs coming out of their dark red flesh. They have eyes that gleam bright white and huge fangy snouts.
Ulcisorians breathe infernal flame, which causes physical and metaphysical damage. They are enormously strong.
Ulcisorians are a powerful warrior species who dominate the mountains of the east, ruling a sprawling series of mountain kingdoms. Their culture is focused on punishing those who do not follow the tyrannical rule of their warlords, creating art from the remains of their enemies, and following a faith that warns of perdition and promises no paradise. Those who choose not to be part of their empire of cruelty are hunted down and killed.
PRO 10 ATH 9 STR 12 AWA 8 WIL 8 PRS 7 STH 6
Woldeor
Pale green-skinned beings whose blood is plague.
- Lifespan: 60-80 years
- Diet: Water-heavy mortal fare
- Habitat: Anywhere
- Socioeconomic Status: Ruling class
Woldeors have four arms and two legs; their legs are flea-like. They have pale green skin, and their blood is made of a very dark green fluid that causes those who touch it to be infected with one of the seven plagues.
Woldeors’ blood is not bacterial, but it creates plague bacteria (bubonic, septicemic, pneumonic, or one of the four magical plagues - spiderweb, vile, fangrot, or lowroot). Most are one of the first three. Their flea legs allow them to jump great distances, and they have enormous physical strength. They are immune to disease and poison.
Woldeors are a ruling class species in Fennvell or Vendale. They are usually military leaders. They work closely with venomirs and the contagion, and they view disease and biological warfare as good things. They are considered friendly and boisterous in imperial company and tyrannical and cruel by the oppressed. Those who refuse to be part of imperial culture are seen as evil.
PRO 9 ATH 9 STR 11 AWA 8 WIL 8 PRS 7 STH 7 ESS 8
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