Luxpuck

Luxpucks are emaciated figures in which a dim light shines like the moon behind thin clouds, casting their bones into grim relief. Their minds are withered and mad, dedicated only to feeding the cold light inside themselves.

Luxpucks drink the bio-electric energy of other creatures to survive. They are most common in western Jorvik and eastern Vye - somewhere south lies the Shimmering City. This glowing urban ruin is only ever seen from afar as any who approach sicken and die in short order, but the luxpucks seem to thrive in the actinic light and creep out into the surrounding lands to hunt.

Ogre

The humanity of ogres has been crushed under an insatiable battle-lust and bestial hunger.

Ogres are massive creatures whose faces are nearly lost in a sea of twitching muscle. An ogre's size and temperment mean they consume huge amounts of meat, and they are not choosy about which species they prey on. Ironically, ogres are the smartest of the fargones, maintaining some dim cunning and perhaps a crude smattering of language.

Most common in the mountains of eastern Gasmithon, ogres rage down into the villages that dot the coast when game grows scarce.

Basilisk

Crafted by Thaia-thaan'ag, basilisks are enormous and fierce trollizards which spray paralytic toxins from glands in their eyes.

Amphisbaena

The amphisbaena are the most common thaaskith. Outside the cult, they are commonly referred to as "banes", both for convenience of pronunciation and out of a vague superstitious fear of attracting their attention through their occult name. They are narrow serpents roughly a foot long, with a poison-fanged head at each end of its body and high regenerative capacity. Dangerous alone, their breeders often weave multiple amphisbaenas together to create larger monstrosities, linking long woven chains by the prehensile, multifurcated tongues.

By means of a secret ritual, priests of Thaia-thaan'ag are able to implant an amphisbaena into a willing or bound subject. One head burrows beneath the skin of the neck, where it attaches to the brain stem and injects potent narcotizing venom. The body of the serpent lies along the spine most of the time, but can coil over the shoulder to strike at enemies or hiss into its host's ear, from which their addled brain creates praise and direction.

Zombie

Zombies are reanimated corpses which constantly shriek the same phrase or two over and over, the remnants of their minds caught in some unbreakable loop.

Garoulin

The garoulin are savage, semi-human, dog-like creatures that swarm at the boundaries of the Land of Still Waters. An average garoulin stands about 3 feet tall with a stooped posture, and is covered in shaggy fur. They exist in extremely loose tribes or packs, and seem driven only by their hunger. They have, however, an odd reverence for the viscerid.

In addition to the base mongrel stock, several breeds of garoulin exist, some bred specifically by the viscerid. There are mastiffs which stand as tall as a human and are terrifyingly powerful and bloodthirsty. Hounds use their keen senses and baying voice to sniff ahead packs of hunters and keep watch over the pack at night.

Some garoulin speak the mongrel tongue, Dreg.

 

 

Rituals

Rituals are occult aspects of bonds that are primarily organizations and represent special training for certain spells. They take longer to cast but their effects can last longer or take reduced materials. They are not magical in themselves, but serve to focus the mind of the caster in unique ways.

Example: The Candle Winding is a ritual of the Leaves of Wormwood. Twelve candles are placed around a corpse, with the final resting on the corpse itself. The ritualist walks slowly between the candles in a meandering pattern, occasionally crossing over the corpse, and stops at each to chant briefly and extinguish the flame. When the final candle is snuffed and the room is in darkness, the caster attempts to raise the corpse under her control as if she were two levels higher.

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