Monstrous Mondays: K is for Kelpie

Posted on August 27, 2018 by Amy CoffeyAugust 27, 2018

History

Kelpi are an old scottish/celtic water monster that looks like a horse, the stories tell of a fine horse which appears from the water in Scotland. It tempts people to ride it and once they are on it becomes uncontrollable, carrying them back into the water to drown. There are ways to survive this encounter, one tale tells of a boy who cut of his own fingers to escape its gripping fur once he touched it, another said that if you can get the bridle away from a kelpie you can escape and maybe even control it.

Like many water basic monster stories, these exist to keep children away from water, but they also serve to stop young maidens from talking to strangers since kelpie can take on human form – usually male, though some later art shows them as siren-esque women.

One theory for their origin is that they’re linked to a misunderstood weather effect known as waterspouts – which are columns of water that can appear over body of water, these can sometimes make unusual shapes on the water.

These monster are not seem much in books or films today, except when they are linked to the Loch Ness monster.

Physiology

They have the head of horse with glowing green or red eyes.
They have the front body of a horse.
They usually have the back end of a horse,
- But sometimes they are depicted with a fishtail as there back half, like a hippocampus.
Their tail is sometime horse hair tail, but made from matted seaweed.
- Sometimes it is a fishtail instead
They’re usually covered in fur made from matted seaweed.
Some story tell of them having inverted hooves.
They can also change form into human, but their feet sometimes stay as hooves.

Ideas

You could have someone who keeps horse and have some of them be kelpie that they tamed.

You could have a kelpie that lives in the human world as human, where they are a swimmer and a real lady’s man.
The heroes could find a set of horses abandoned on their journey, that reveal their true nature in the middle of the heroes’ journey

References

https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/The-Kelpie/

https://www.pottermore.com/explore-the-story/kelpies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Kv3m_ACEmE

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelpie

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterspout

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Monstrous Mondays: M is for Manticore

Posted on August 20, 2018 by Amy CoffeyAugust 20, 2018

Manticore

One of my favourite monsters since I was a child because its a mixture of so many things that still fits together.

History

A manticore is a Persian monster with the body of a lion, face of a man and the tail of scorpion.

There are few stories of this monster, most just talk about what it looks like, not what it does, but I have found a few a story telling of how the young were hunted by men on elephant back, since the elephant is the only animal whose hide could not be puncture by it spikes, and the youngsters lacked the deadly venom in their tails. There are also stories told of it being given as a gift to kings in the middle east.

A Greek story tells of how the manticore was driven into the underworld to be watched over for all eternity by Hades.

Many theories suggest it was an over exaggerated tiger, given features that a tiger could never have to make people more scared of it. The name itself means man-eater which we know big cats like tigers do, and they do come from that part of the world, they are also seen as an omen of bad luck.

Sadly this chimera of a monster is not seen much in books or film today but is mainly featured in games both computer and table top, games like D&D where it is treated as a big beast for you to kill no more than that.

Physiology

The face of a man with grey or blue eyes and a moth that gose from ear to ear with 3 set of teeth like a shark.

- Sometime shown to have horns or tusks

The body of a large cat, broad and stocky with a mane like that of a lion.

- They sometimes have wings coming from their back, they can be like the wing of a birds but are more often those of a dragon or a bat.

It is usually depicted with the paws of a big cat but sometimes the manticore has monkey feet instead.

It usually has the tail of a scorpion with a large poisonous stinger but there are some images of it with a tail of dragon or a big cat, with barbs coming out of it.
It can turn this tail 180 degrees, allowing it to attack all around its body, and can shot out barbs as well as stinging someone in melee.
It is usually furry all over, except the tail, and it can be anything from a pale or golden yellow like that of sand, or brown or red like the fire.
It can be anything from the size of a large dog to that of four elephants, but is most often sized such that it is the same height as a man with the proportions of a lion.
They can be found anywhere in the wild, hunting large prey – will often not bother with an individual human, only attacking groups.

Ideas for stories

Have it be the monster that other monsters flee from – when a town comes under attack by monster after monster the heroes must find out what is driving them from their homes.

Since it has the face of a man you could have be as smart as, make it able to talk, have it be the big bad with some elaborate scheme or the warlord head of its army.

You could have it be some kind of primal beast like in d&d 4e, trying work their way up to godhood, representing all of nature’s predators.

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manticore

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojFXUnq-3us

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/manticore

https://www.britannica.com/topic/manticore

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Manticore

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=manticore

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Monstrous Mondays: Nephilim

Posted on August 13, 2018 by Amy CoffeyAugust 13, 2018

The sons of God saw the Daughters of Men that they were fair by Maurice Greiffenhagen

Nephilim

The children of women and angel are not always good and are stronger than any man. Sometimes they are monsters, and other times they are not.

History

A nephilim is a creature mentioned in the Bible but no no one seem to be sure what it is, the word itself is said to mean giants and is written as such in some versions, so some think that they are or were just giants – nut parts of the word mean ground, or fall, or earth. Since this word is found in the same paragraph as sons of God, which could mean angels, lying with daughters of man many think that a nephilim is what happens when an angel, or a fallen angel, lies with a woman, and its nature tends to depend on if the angel was fallen or not – but it also depends on their actions since they are also part mortal and we choose our own fate.

There are no stories of them in the bible, only a few mentions of them and all are before the story of the great flood, so many believe that the nephilim were killed off in the flood, which is why we do not see giants or nephilim or whatever they may be.

But modern media has cemented the idea that nephilim means the child of an angel and a human woman, since most stories are set in the modern day and if that is the case nephilim can still be present as an angel can sleep with a human whenever.

They are usually the love interest in many films and books, like the Hush Hush series; and there are usually both good and bad nephilim – the bad sometimes have black feathers on their wings. So even though we are not sure what they are or should look like this is what they have become to most of us and few of us know anything else about them.

Physiology

From head to toe

They’re usually male
- Often a handsome human male with blonde hair – akin to standard european depictions of angels.
- In books and comics they’re often somewhat androgynous – again reflecting the standard depictions of angels in artwork.
Well toned human arms and chest.
They often have a large set of wings that can come out of their back, these usually allow them to fly.
- Most Nephilim are capable of hiding these wings, making it harder to see their nature.
Well toned human legs and feet.
Can be larger than a normal man in height and size but a lot of books and films only have seem that way when their wings are out.
They often use swords as these are seen as the favourite weapon for angels.

Many story tell of them having all kinds on powers, some of the most common are: being able to talk to animals, talk and understand anyone, superstrength and of course flight.

They can be good or bad it all depends on the story they’re in, their nature and the nature of their angelic parent.

Ideas

Do a story where the only nephilim in the story is female, changing the sex of an character can make things play out differently.
A story or adventure where a nephilim is going around make people think he’s a god and is trying to recruit followers, paladin’s and the like. This would work well in 13th age where the big powers can change from age to age.
In the common polytheistic fantasy setting a nephilim rejected by their god, because their god disapproves of such mating, might choose to follow another god – their native god will send them to hell, but if they can become a saint perhaps that can be avoided?

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Monstrous Mondays: Oni

Posted on August 6, 2018 by Amy CoffeyAugust 8, 2018

[ED Note: We’re back to Amy for another month of monsters – enjoy]

Photo by Xeal on Flickr

Oni

I first came across this creature in Magic: the Gathering’s Kamigawa expansion.

History

An oni is an ancient eastern monster often with red/blue skin, an ugly head with horns and sharp teeth.

The story tell of how they were once men, men that were so wicked that they became oni when they died, some of them were so wicked that they became one in life – often through a mask that they had been wearing to disguise themself fusing to their skin. These beings are so evil that they attract other evil beings to them.

The theories is that Oni once just meant a ghost or soul it only over time that it has come to mean evil ghost or being. Since this monster is depicted with horns it is often seen as a demon when put into a western framework, but could also be seen as an ogre, giant, or poltergeist.

In the media they are seen as a Japanese monster but it appears they actually come from a form of Buddhist mythology that has roots across north Asia.

They are often depicted as demons like in magic the gathering where they had two types of them the big bads were demons and the lesser ones that were under them which were a type of ogre.

Physiology

An ugly human face with horns, sharp teeth, glowing yellow or red eyes and they usually have black messy hair on their head and face.
The body can be very muscular or have a very big gut.
The arms are strong and muscular with big hands that usually carry a metal club.
Strong muscular legs with big feet.
They usually have red or blue skin.
Are about 8ft tall – larger than any man.
Supernatural strength
Supernatural toughness

How it acts
1. Evil they eat and terrorise people
Where it can be found (if need).
1. They can be found anywhere, but they have been known to hide until they an army of evil beings following them.

Ideas

You could have a story where someone becomes one and they seen the error of their ways and they try to turn them self back to human but they have to act against their nature to do so.

Since they attract evil to them you could have one set up near a peaceful town and then all these bad things start happening and the party have to work out what the cause is.

You could have the party get into town on the night of hyakki yakō which is the night parade of one hundred demons, and see what the party do when surrounded by monstrous beings that are currently well behaved.

References

http://yokai.wikia.com/wiki/Oni

https://www.britannica.com/topic/oni

http://yokai.com/shutendouji/

http://yokai.com/hyakkiyagyou/

http://yokai.com/oni/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogre

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oni

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