#like a griffon but like instead of a lion its a dog

[trashikino]

Someday the dream must end

remember that final fantasy au??? think you were done?? off the hook?? incorrect, im constantly devising ways to incorporate my love of shcool idols into my love of video games, watch in awe and amazement as i completely warp the plotline of ffx to fit my needs and also make Ruby Kurosawa Sad, also i blatantly ripped off the title from my favorite song in the soundtrack, sorry not sorry ((please listen to it its so good,,,,i cry,,,,))

anyways here have monsters magic and siblings crying ft yoshiko mari and kanan

“Hey, Ruby~! Keep up!” Yoshiko calls with a loppy smile from up on the ridge ahead of her, which is a really bad idea for someone who trips as often as Yoshiko does, really, doesn’t she think about this kind of thing at all – Mari yanks her away from the edge and pulls her into a too-affectionate hug as an excuse, but shoots Ruby a meaningful look over Yoshiko’s shoulder.

Ruby nods, stepping a little faster up the hill and tearing her eyes away from the sun’s reflection on the ocean. “We’re in Zanarkand again.” She says bluntly. “Are you….are you sure you’re ready for this, Mari?”

The waves crash up against the wall of the cliff and Ruby looks out to sea again, and she can see the ruins from around the curve of the mountain now – the walls pulsate with glimmering spirits like a beacon for the summoners on their home stretch.

Mari gives her a placating smile and walks over slowly, like her legs are only getting tired just now. She puts a hand on Ruby’s shoulder. “If we weren’t ready, we would still be in Besaid moping about things,” She says, and Ruby blushes and looks away for a moment. Maybe asking was a little cowardly.

She wasn’t looking for a way out, subconsciously, right?

No. Ruby casts the thought from her mind – she is going to do this. It was her idea, and Mari is willing to die for it, so to back away now…..! She can’t do it. It hurts too much to think about.

“Aaah~! The sun is refreshing, isn’t it? Look how it shines on the water! We should soak up this sunlight while we can, right, Ruby?” Mari says enthusiastically, and stretches her arms out towards the setting sun as if she can grab hold of it and hoist it back up.

Ruby laughs into her jacket collar again. “Thanks, Mari.” She says, sincerely.

She just smiles, and squeezes Ruby’s shoulder, hard, before walking down the hill after Yoshiko, who has tripped into the bramble somehow. “Don’t fall too far behind, okay?” she warns, and then proceeds to laugh at Yoshiko instead of heal her.

And so Ruby wanders not far behind, brushing off the chill that pursues her from the cliff’s wind.

Yoshiko, meanwhile, is awed at the glowing stone ruins, and traces the pulsing turquoise stone flesh with her hands, like the glow is some kind of powder that will come off. Mari slaps her hand away, but she’s still curious about it. “What are these? They’re stuck in the rock!”

“They’re Fayth,” Ruby says in a hum of subdued, quiet explanation. “They prayed for their souls to leave their bodies and turned into stone to realize a dream. These people are all dreaming together.”

“I-in a rock…?” She asks uncertainly, and taps on the side of the rock like it’s a fishtank. “Are they alive?”

Mari shakes her head and Yoshiko, looking somewhat disturbed, pulls her hand away from them. “Should you send them?” She looks at it, and her eyes flit back from the Fayth in their stone tombs to the pyreflies attracted to the monuments. Mari shakes her head again.

“They’re important where they are. Let them dream a while longer.”

“I’m going ahead, alright?” Yoshiko says abruptly, as if she isn’t even a little shaken. “The dashing Yohane will ensure the path ahead is clear of traps, beasts, and civilians!” She scurries away with a flourish.

Ruby drags her hand along the fayth, smooth stone skin and the bumps where their limbs and bodies entangle with the roots of trees or even each other. The light is pulsing. She puts her head to it, like they could speak to her.

Will she be able to speak when this is through?

She shivers and presses forward.

Yunalesca is waiting for them like she was last time. She seems highly, highly amused, seeing and recalling their faces. “You have come back a second time? And as a summoner no less?” She chuckles. “You two are of a truly selfless make, aren’t you? Sacrificing everything twice.”

Ruby is shaking where she stands, but Mari is the one being addressed so she has to wait. She saw visions of their last trip here on the way, memories rebounding against the walls of the ruined temple as pyreflies thick with energy recreate the actions of the souls who have passed through. She was close enough to Dia’s echo to touch it – to touch her.

“I am prepared to finish my journey.” Mari says solemnly, and then throws in, as more of an afterthought, “-lady Yunalesca.”

“Very well.” Her voice echoes and she extends a slender arm, and a delicate hand, fingers outwards as if Mari could dare to take her hand. “Choose who will become the Fayth for the final summoning.”

Her moment.

“I will!” Ruby says, sharply, before Yoshiko can so much as gasp. Ruby steps forward with desperate conviction. “I will become the Fayth for the final aeon.”

Yunalesca merely looks at Mari, who nods gravely.

“Ruby,” Mari says, as Yunalesca is walking down from the thronelike steps. “Are you sure?”

She laughs nervously. “It’s not like you can tell  her “no”, Mari. R-ruby’s ready! I’m going to – h-help you kill,” Ruby loathes herself for shaking so much. It’s only a death. Not even a complete death. “Sin,” She squeaks out finally, relieved that she can stop talking and concentrate on the goddess that has arrived in front of her.

The woman holds Ruby’s face by the chin, long nailed finger dragging up the underside of her jaw as she looks almost appreciatively into her eyes. Yunalesca has been dead for a thousand years.

Ruby wonders if Dia is still unsent, too, and if she’s been dead for eight.

Eventually Yunalesca makes a satisfied “hmph”, and takes her hand away to cast a spell. Ruby sucks in a deep breath and tries to look proud. “Guardian of the divine summoner……cast aside your spirit to become the final tool against Sin.”

“Y-yes. I will.”

The goddess reaches into her and pulls her soul from the inside, and Ruby grits her teeth and bears it while her world unravels. Before she has left herself completely, she sees with open eyes the space between mortal and Fayth, shining like the most coveted of gemstones.

“They’re so bright,” She thinks, tears and snot running from her face in a completely un-guardian like manner.

After this Ruby knows she is very much gone; her bones betray her and her flesh turns to stone in a fractal way, each inch the stone has crept up fracturing her in little ways. Her spirit, which she is still contained within, glows separate from her body and Ruby watches the pain from some removed place in a different plane of existence.

It’s nearly hard to come up with a dream, despite having longed for this chance for so many years to become the powerful being that can make good her sister’s redemption of the world: Ruby wants to bring peace and renown to Dia even if she is dead and can no longer appreciate those things because Ruby love love loves Dia and, when this is all done, they will be reunited in the astral plane and nothing will ever harm them again.

A voice that isn’t hers sounds the last thought out, although it is very similar. This voice is Ruby-adjacent. Powerful Ruby.

Ruby latches onto it with fervor and feels the burning of her soul eke out a new form for her, large and powerful where her old body was not.

The statue cracks and Ruby wiggles her fingers that are growing harder and shrapnel-like in their sharpness, and her eyes which have become dark and concaved things pulsate with a teal light reminiscent of her old eye color but with the added flair of something ancient underneath.

Broad, powerful, like the fiends they have fought. Ruby wants to protect Dia, and Mari, and Yoshiko, and all of Spira if it will let her, and for this endeavor she will need something fast, agile, strong.

Wings sprout from the statue but they are already stone – that body is well and truly empty by this point. It gleams over with one more lapse of spirit and Ruby continues forming herself from the scattered pyreflies that drift affront the stone girl.

The light beings gather at her base and she feels the pressure of matter upon her again; her “body” is forming into something more tangible. Ruby is hunched in this form and there is an added counterweight to her back that she was unaware of. Her face is long and ends in a forked red horn, which glitters like her namesake and must be made of the gemstone, too.

She roars and lands in front of Mari, then preens, spreading dazzling crimson wings and giving a beat of them before leaning down to smell the summoner with a wolfish snout. Mari cries softly and hangs off her face with its new horn, nearly as large as she is.

Ruby finds she is incapable of crying but shares the sentiment.

Yunalesca claps once. “A marvelous beast. Are you ready to defeat Sin?”

She feels the pyreflies making up her body drift away as if by wind, and suddenly she isn’t out anymore, she’s stuck in her rock. Mari nods and keeps her head low; Yoshiko is actually right beside Ruby with a painfully confused look on her face.

Mari drags her off and Yoshiko tries desperately to crack Ruby’s stone tomb somehow, hand rough against her hardened arm. There is a ghost of feeling, to it – she felt that, felt touch, that is, which means all those things outside –

Her monument is dragged off and the world goes hazy and black.

“I will become the last Fayth.” Kanan said, holding her sword high. “For Spira.” Her voice broke there. “For my friends, so that none of them must share in our fate.”

Dia didn’t – or couldn’t – say anything so Mari screamed for Kanan then, with a breathless, breaking note, but it did not reverse the process. Too quickly Kanan became stone and disappeared into pyreflies. They reformed eventually into the final aeon that would kill Sin: A spiraling dragon, with a long, thin body dotted by two pairs of wings and six legs, each equipped with the paws of a different beast. She spun in the air and pierced it with horns like a two pronged drill.

The Kanan that came back was different but still kind and gentle, and Mari knew she was still there when she first came to land in front of her instead of Dia like she was supposed to.

They were sent off as a group and came back with only two – upon being summoned a second time, Kanan slew Sin where it stood in the ocean and turned to find Dia killed by its spines, collapsing into grief and pyreflies that got caught up in those escaping Sin’s body.

Gone, but at a steep cost. Mari took Ruby home that day and didn’t say a word until they were called upon to celebrate. They abstained, and moved to Besaid, where they had a quiet few years until….

Mari summons Ruby with a flash of light; connected to her soul, Ruby feels the tremendous drain it has created on Mari’s strength; she can feel that she is going to waste away if she does not receive copious amounts of attention, fast.

Somewhat stupidly, perhaps, Ruby thinks that maybe if she can kill Sin fast enough, or fly down from the heavens she was cast aside to with enough speed, she can save Mari – maybe, anyways, hopefully. There’s at least a chance.

Not exactly.

From the moment she has touched down, broad claws planted in the cliffside, she is grappling with the biggest, most unstoppable of demons, feeling plated arms slam into her side and rend feathers from her wings, and it’s ludicrous, really, because she was a girl not eighteen years of age and now she is an aeon strong enough to wrestle with Sin itself.

Mari’s strength saps a little more, that flagging essence creating a sense of urgency. Sin won’t kill her: Mari dying will.

Ruby sees a crowd of sin’s scales crawl too close to Yoshiko and Mari’s place, and swats them aside with a mighty tail before launching herself at Sin, claws and talons and fangs grappling with anything and everything she has, her spirit and body committed to tearing the monster apart. It seems almost successful if the thick, leaking wounds on its sides, dripping with pyreflies and black ooze, have anything to say about it.

Sin wails and sways in the water, a behemoth maw closing around Ruby’s right wing, which is ripped from her back.

She can’t scream, but Mari, connected to her by spirit, lets out a strangled noise and falls over on the ground from pain.

Ruby plunges her teeth into the thick neck of Sin and shakes and rips until she is sure she has found the center.

She rips it apart, one last tendon to cut, like the last thread holding on the arm of one of her stuffed animals back at home (what a strange thought) and the carcass lies before her in the ocean. There’s a sense of elation, but Mari still hasn’t gotten up and Ruby is fading quickly, so she needs to do something fast, she needs to say something, or make some sort of gesture, or –

Her body begins to melt off of her spirit, in turn with Sin’s, so Ruby sticks her face as close as she can without harming Mari or Yoshiko and gives them a pleading look. Mari is also disappearing, staring up at the air and all the dead things glowing in it with a dazed look.

“Kanan,” She breathes out harshly, pointing uselessly at the cloud of spirits. “I’m...”

“Why didn’t you tell me you would die?!” Yoshiko screams, practically. She’s bleeding, but still very much mortal and very much remaining in her place. “I thought we were just going to summon whoever was summoned the first eight times – I thought – I thought -!”

Ruby dissipates before she can hear. She’s mostly sure Yoshiko thought they’d all be the first to come out alive, though. That’s the kind of stupid thing Yoshiko liked to believe in, constantly. That they would be the special ones, that is.

Up in the air, Ruby can feel the pyreflies that made up her body rising higher and higher, without her, and congealing in the sky in what she is sure is a mess of dead meeting the dead, spirits that had been absorbed so long ago they no longer remembered being conscious, a small mercy.

Is this what it is to be a ghost?

Unsent?

Ruby thinks she is floating, aimlessly. It’s not entirely bad.

“Ruby.” She must be tired, or dreaming, still, because she’s certain that that is – “Ruby, please…..We don’t have much time…”

“Dia!” Ruby reaches for the voice, and even if she is technically “floating” she feels as if she can run into her arms, wherever they may be. Luckily they are dead and Dia doesn’t need to be ran to; she sort of just materializes closer to Ruby, who grabs her despite neither of them really existing at the moment and holds her close. “We came back……we k-killed Sin, s-so I could see you…..”

Dia looks at Ruby with tears in her eyes. “You’re thoughtful, Ruby, truly.” She looks away.

“But I fear you have made a terrible mistake.”

“What?” She asks, uncertain. There’s a tugging at her pyreflies – wasn’t she disconnected from that body now? Ruby is anxious now. “We’re dead. We can’t make much more of a mistake than that.”

Dia inhales, long and slow-like, until she regathers her bearings and gives her younger sister a long, sad look. “Kanan…..became Sin, after we defeated it. The truth we learned when we fought it…..going inside Sin……. Yevon is there, and he uses the leftover body of the final aeon to….”

“No.” Ruby says quickly. “I only did this so that I could  - no, no! I don’t want to do that!”

Her sister pulls her by the shoulders and gives Ruby a grave look. “Ruby. We do not have much time. Kanan has been returned to Mari, but only after death. We must end this – we must kill Yevon.”

“We’re dead!” Ruby cries. “Isn’t everything supposed to be over when we’re dead?!”

“Go to Zanarkand, early. Mari had a friend there – Maru. Find her. You will destroy the city but it’s not truly you, not truly your fault-“

“I don’t want to I don’t want to I don’t want to I don’t want t-“ She sobs, and Dia tries to placate her with transparent hands while she talks over her.

“Bring Maru back, we need someone from the dream Zanarkand to do this. From Mari’s.“

Ruby sniffles even though she technically isn’t producing snot, because she’s a ghost. She’s being pulled away from Dia, again. How long will it go on? “I’m scared.”

Dia smiles. “Remember to do your best, okay? I believe in you. I’ll find you on that day – when Sin is next killed. I’ll wait for you. I swear it.”

A hundred thousand leagues beneath the ocean, Ruby opens a hundred eyes on an only barely-formed body.

Find the dream world, she repeats to herself, consciousness lagging behind a dark thing that aches to find a city. Find Maru. Bring her back. Ruby thinks. She has to end it - be the last one. 

Sin rumbles appreciatively at the sentiment.

Zanarkand will be ashes when it is done, but for now, it is the Calm, and Sin must wait.

#Ruby Kurosawa #Mari Ohara #yoshiko tsushima #dia kurosawa #kanan matsura #surprise!! i actually didnt make this very shippy #there is however #kanadia #which is a better ship name than kanamari fuck yoy #anyways mmeeee??? making stupid aus to fulfill my monster needs?? id NEVER #ruby is a lil more vague than id have liked but Trust shes cool #like think a gigantic wolf-bird also gemstone motif #like a griffon but like instead of a lion its a dog #but shes got the cool red wings and her back is lined with rubies and i have one (1) horn because why tf not #kanan is pretty much just knockoff river boy from spirited away tho rip like is there even any better monster to assign her??? #im like ninety percent sure that specific dragon is the most Kanan Monster i have ever seen and will ever see???? #anwways. thank u so much for tolerating my garbage i love this au and might continue it #yoshiko is p much going to become auron its cool i swear #trash talks #writing #aqours #ll sinshine #ffx au

[bestiarium]

The Leucurcuta [Indian/Roman/medieval European mythology]

A Leucurcuta, also called Leucrocuta or a Crocotta, is a creature from Indian and medieval European mythology. It is described by ancient Roman sources as well as medieval bestiaria.

It is a hybrid beast, not unlike the more well-known griffon and hippogriff. The front part and head of the animal are those of a lion, despite having cloven hooves, and the back end is that of a stag.  Both pairs of legs are those of a lion, and they can run at incredible speed for the Leucurcuta is said (by Plinius Maior, in his Naturalis Historia) to be the swiftest of all animals. Supposedly, these creatures can be found in India.

The Leucurcuta is capable of opening its mouth as far back as its ears, but it has no teeth (in Plinius’ account, its mouth is equipped with bony ridges). Instead, it has a singular jawbone that is powerful enough to crush food. Both the Aberdeen bestiary and Plinius Maior claim the creature to be around the size of an ass.

A Leucurcuta is capable of making noises that resemble human speech, an ability the beasts put to good use by lying in ambush and calling for help. When an unsuspecting human or a curious dog arrives, the Leucurcuta devours them. In some stories, the beast can even call people by their names to lure them to their death.

Sources: https://www.mythical-creatures-and-beasts.com/leucrocuta.html “1300 real and fanciful animals from 17th century engravings” by Mattheüs Merian der Ältere, collected by Carol Grafton The Aberdeen bestiary, which you can read here Naturalis Historia, by Plinius Maior, book VIII, chapter 30. Which you can read here (image source 1: Christopher Burdett) (image 2: the Leucurcuta as it appears in “1300 real and fanciful animals from 17th century engravings” by Mattheüs Merian der Ältere. It looks like it just told a really bad joke). (image source 3: Aberdeen Bestiary, 13th century)

#Roman mythology #medieval European mythology #mythical creatures #myths #monsters #creatures #lore #DM #fantasy #Leucurcuta

[sunshine-alibaba]

some excerpts from various Magi stuff i have in drafts:

*notes are bold

~~~

He’d either shrivel up into the fetal position and cry on the floor of the parking lot, randomly start throwing hands at the next person he saw, or he'd drive off and probably crash his car in the process (again). Any of them work.

~~~

He was soon startled out of his deep thinking when a hand tapped him on the shoulder--shocking him so bad he screamed like a dying ostrich and fell onto the floor with the grace of a chicken being chased by a feral coyote.

~~~

The taller man smiled in a concerned way, making Alibaba feel as if he was the biggest idiot on the planet because he didn’t know something as simple as how to cry (which he did quite often, so he does know how, thank you very much).

~~~

He was such a fucking dumbass. Dumb of ass. Dumber than ass. Dumbest of the ass.

~~~

Buffie cleared his throat. “Well, anyway… Uh, where did you hit my car?”

Alibaba was confused. “Here… In the parking lot…?”

Buffie blinked for the fifth time. “I meant on the car…”

~~~

"I died and was brought back to life; I am outside the god's jurisdiction."

~~~

"My bones are filled with rage and my blood with anger. You think you could kill me with fire? All you did was make my blood boil, like water boiling over a flame."

~~~

"I have experienced death face to face in the most intimate way one ever could, and yet here I am, standing right in front of you. What makes you think the likeness of you, a mere solider controlled by the hands of the monarchy, could ever hope to quell me?"

~~~

“My name is Ugo. You are currently in the Sacred Palace. You’ve just died, but you were not meant to die so soon.”

“What the hell is the Sacred Palace??”

“It’s like a control room of sorts. I am essentially the governing body of your world.”

“So… you’re God? Our Lord?”

“N-no… Not really… I am a god of sorts, but I'm not the God--”

[squints] “You control our world, right??”

“Well, yes--”

“Then you’re God, aren’t you?”

“I--” [sigh of defeat, shoulders slump] “Sure. Yeah, I’m God.”

“Great! How the fuck did I get here.”

~~~

If you think you’ve ever seen emo before, wait till you meet this bitch

~~~

she literally Jumps Off The Boat And Swims To Port just as the boat takes off

~~~

they make out and cry its great

~~~

these last ones are more of a bonus. i was taking down notes when trying to get info on the other demons from the Lesser Key of Solomon for AUs and OCs and i think some of them are very funny. the stuff in brackets [] is my commentary, otherwise its notes. ill put the name of the demon in parentheses () in front of the note. all the info i got is from wiki bc i just wanted a vague idea and nothing big, wanted to leave the interpretation up to myself.

(Asmodeus) Hates water and birds apparently [weird but go off ig]

(Gaap) Steals familiars from others [????] [*takes ur dog*]

(Gaap) Can make men stupid [LMFAOOOOO]

(Seere) Helps in finding hidden treasures or in robbery [Alibaba getting this Djinn instead of Amon: ayo? *calls over the Fog Troupe*]

(Sallos) Rides a crocodile [ohh this guy fucks, thats wicked]

(Gremory) Described as the “Munich Manual of Demon Magic” [okay it said described in the “Munich Manual of Demon Magic” but im leaving this here bc its funny]

(Gremory) Appears in the form of a beautiful woman, but still uses he/him pronouns [so valid]

(Vapula) Depicted as a griffon winged lion [isnt that just what griffon’s are?? Um ok]

(Orias) “3 riding upon a Horse Mighty and Strong” [like has three horses or theres three of him?? Whats happening here]

(Andrealphus) Appearance of a peacock [ooooohhh fancyyyy]

(Andrealphus) “but also including the ability to make men subtle in all things pertaining to Mensuration” [I THOUGHT THAT SAID MENSTRUATION SEND HELP]

#magi #magi but not #my posts #magi the kingdom of magic #magi the labyrinth of magic #alibaba saluja #magi ugo

[myth-lord]

Mythika’s creatures from African and Arabian myths.

**THE CREATURES FROM AFRICAN MYTHS**

Guiafairo appear as giant bats which have the blood of fae. Their most noticeable ability is blinking and teleporting at rapid speed, which makes them almost immune to ranged attacks. They use their blinking to get into rooms that are locked so they can feast on the fear of their mostly elven and humanoid prey, as bogeys they only feed on their preys fear, but to create fear they sometimes also tear into the flesh.

@rt: https://www.deviantart.com/saeedramez

Adze (African) – Fae (Vermin / Vampire) - Giant vampiric insects with bioluminescence to lure prey close.

Aigamuxa (African) – Humanoid (Giant / Cursed) - Blind desert giants whose eyes are located underneath their feet.

Asanbosam (African) – Fae (Troll / Vampire) - Trolls living in trees, their hands and feet look like hooks.

Chemosit (African) – Aberration (Alien / Psychic) - Parasitic aliens located within the bodies of bears, these tentacle-like parasites eventually break free from within their hosts.

Chipfalamfula (African) – Aberration (Fish / Summoner) - Enormous fresh-water fish which keep their ravenous young inside their maws.

Eloko (African) – Humanoid (Dwarf / Mounted) * - Jungle dwarves which often stand on each other’s shoulders to appear bigger.

Gbahali (African) – Beast (Reptilian) - Much like Kaprosuchus, hunting from ambush in the mountains.

Grootslang (African) – Beast (Reptilian / Chimerae) - Giant behemoths combining the features of both elephants and snakes.

Guiafairo (African) – Fae (Bogey) - Giant fae bats which have the power to teleport or blink.

Guiamala (African) – Beast - Multi-horned Giraffe-like creatures with aggressive tempers.

Intulo (African) – Humanoid (Beastman / Reptilian / Mounted) * - Gecko-like humanoids.

Jba Fofi (African) – Beast (Vermin) - Giant wolf spiders.

Kishi (African) – Demon - Demons of pride and vanity, an ugly demonic face is located on the back of their head.

Kongamato (African) – Beast (Reptilian / Drake) - Mythika’s very own Pterosaur, much like a Pteranodon.

Makalala (African) – Demon (Avian) - Much like demonic Secretary Birds, with very long stilt-like legs.

Mbielu-Mbielu (African) – Plant (Reptilian / Parasite) * - Parasitic algae and moss which grows on the plates of stegosaurs and which turns them hostile and protective of the environment.  

Migas (African) – Aberration - Swamp-based octopi with over twenty tentacles, some even live in trees.

Mngwa (African) – Undead (Tulpa / Cursed) - Undead spectral black lions which only exist and appear during the night.

Mokele-Mbembe (African) – Beast (Reptilian) - Much like a hostile and aggressive Amargasaurus.

Ngoubou (African) – Beast (Reptilian) - Much like a demonic-looking variant of the Styracosaurus, very hostile and aggressive.

Nguma-Monene (African) – Beast (Reptilian / Drake) - Much like a Mosasaurus on steroids, with sharp needle-like spines covering the entire length of its body.

Ninki Nanka (African) – Beast (Reptilian / Drake) - Tanystropheus-like creatures but much more dangerous.

Nyuvwira (African) – Dragon (Reptilian) - Eight-headed Hydra-like dragon serpents, which spit lighting and control gravity around them.

Olitiau (African) – Beast (Vampire) - Giant vampire bats.

Popobawa (African) – Demon (Psychic) - Bat like demons with a single eye which spread chaos and destruction.

Rompo (African) – Beast (Chimerae) - Strange chimerae which control the bones within their bodies, forcing them through their skin to create protective spikes.

Taotie, Khodumodumo (African) – Demon - Extremely large and bloated variants of the Taotie, their cavernous maw can engulf an entire caravan.

Umdhlebi (African) – Plant - Carnivorous plants with three bulb-like heads, very poisonous.

Ya-Te-Veo (African) – Plant (Alien) - Strange alien trees with tentacle-like branches which can walk on their roots.

Yehwe Zogbanu (African) – Fae (Troll) - Giant jungle trolls with giant horns growing all over their backs and heads, they use them to impale their dead future meal on.

Zombie (African) – Undead (Human) - Yeah, the house, kitchen garden variant.

============================

**THE CREATURES FROM MIDDLE EASTERN AND SIMILAR MYTHS**

Apaosha are one of the more vile and dangerous species of Kelpies. They embody the element earth. When they trick victims to ride them they trap them by turning their backs into quicksand, then they slowly turn them into the dust that forms the Apaosha’s very manes and tails. Apaosha are minions (and sometimes mounts) of the Horseman of Famine. 

@rt: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/3o9qm2

Acheri (Hindu) – Angel (Cursed) - Small gothic angel girls which look cute but which bring diseases through their arrows, much like evil Cupid.

Aeshma (Persian) – Demon (Summoner) - Much like D&D’s Balor and LOTR’s Balrog, the commanders of most other demons.

Aghash (Persian) – Demon - Beholder-like demons of many eyes, demons of Envy, sight, spying and wrath.

Ahl At-Trab (Arabian) – Elemental (Spirit) * - Sand elementals, living sandstorms.

Amphisbaena, Ouroboros (Egyptian) – Dragon (Reptilian) - Dragon-snakes with heads on both ends of their bodies, one evil black head and one gentle white head.

Apaosha (Arabian) – Demon (Shifter) - The desert and earth variant of the Kelpie, it’s rider-victims will slowly turn to dust.

Asdeev (Persian) – Dragon (Shifter / Reptilian) - Beautiful female white dragons with mist and fog based powers.

Aten (Egyptian) – Elemental (Spirit) - Very powerful light elementals, want to be worshipped like Gods.

Baykok, Airi (Hindu) – Undead (Human / Cursed / Summoner) - More powerful Baykok variants, they hunt for even stronger creatures with their two skeleton dogs at their side.

Caspilly (Persian) – Beast (Fish / Unicorn) - Giant lionfish with very poisonous spikes and a single unicorn-like horn.

Devalpa (Arabian) – Aberration (Parasite / Cursed / Mounted) - Sneaky tricksters with tentacle-like legs which want to ride other creatures and turn them into slaves.

Druj Nasu (Persian) – Demon (Vermin) - Fly demons of pollution, corruption and filth, minions of Beelzebub.

Dulhath (Arabian) – Fae (Troll / Mounted) - Very lazy trolls who ride around on Gallimimus-like creatures.

Dybbuk (Jewish) – Demon (Spirit / Parasite / Psychic) - Demonic spirits which want to possess other creatures, they appear as floating masks, who wears the mask is controlled by the Dybbuk.

Fulad-Zereh (Persian) – Construct (Spirit / Tsukumogami / Cursed) - Animated suits of armor, with the spirit of its former wearer still haunting it.

Gbahali, Petsuchos (Egyptian) – Undead (Reptilian / Cursed) - Ritualistic changed Gbahali, mummified and in possession of light beam attacks and cursed fangs.

Ghul (Arabian) – Undead (Shifter / Genie / Summoner) - Undead spirits of the Genies, controlling dust, sand, darkness and using the bones of their victims as weapons.

Girtablilu (Arabian) – Humanoid (Beastman / Vermin / Centauric) - Half monstrous humanoid, and half scorpion.

Hieracosphinx (Egyptian) – Beast (Avian / Chimerae) * - One of Sets favorite pets, looking much like evil black Griffons.

Hypnalis (Egyptian) – Beast (Reptilian / Mara) - Giant white cobra’s which can kill creatures from within their dreams.

Ichneumon (Egyptian) – Beast - Mongoose like creatures which are expert dragon slayers.

Ifrit (Arabian) – Elemental (Shifter / Genie / Summoner) - The genies of fire, almost demonic in nature and able to control fire.

Jidra (Arabian) – Plant - Much like D&D’s shambling Mounds.

Jokkho (Bengal) – Construct (Spirit / Cursed) - Animated treasures, mostly golden coins, cursed by the greedy former owner.

Juggernaut (Hindu) – Construct (Spirit) - Giant self-mobile war-machines created by the Gods of warfare.

Karkadann (Persian) – Beast (Unicorn) - Aggressive, arrogant desert unicorns with enormous horns.

Karkinos, Saratan (Arabian) – Beast (Vermin) - Very ancient and large Karkinos crabs grow small landscapes on their shells.

Khepri (Egyptian) – Beast (Vermin) - Giant bombardier beetles which shoot different elemental bombs at their enemies, named after a dead Goddess.

Manticore (Persian) – Beast (Vermin / Chimerae) * - Mythika has both winged and wingless variants.

Miraj (Arabian) – Beast (Unicorn) - Agile, deadly and hungry for blood and flesh, these killer unicorn-bunnies are expert killers.

Mummy (Egyptian) – Undead (Human / Cursed / Summoner) * - Cursed and resurrected people of importance which gained a lot of deadly curses at their command.

Penchapechi (Bengal) – Fae (Avian / Spirit) - Giant fae owls which can become incorporeal at will, they never make a sound.

Rakshasa (Hindu) – Demon (Shifter) - The ultimate shapeshifter, taking any humanoid form they remember, evil variant of Doppelgangers.

Raktabija (Hindu) – Humanoid (Vampire / Human / Summoner) - Humans who practice blood-magic, controlling their own blood and turning it into a deadly weapon.

Redjal Marja (Arabian) – Elemental (Shifter / Genie / Summoner) - Very fat and ugly green, genies of polluted water, very lazy and filthy.

Roc (Arabian) – Beast  (Avian) - Enormous elephant and whale hunting monstrous vultures.

Salawa (Egyptian) – Beast * - Another one of Set’s favorite pets, they have bizarre magical powers over darkness and sand.

Scarabs (Egyptian) – Beast (Vermin / Parasite / Swarm) - Swarms of flesh-eating carrion beetles that devour anything within seconds.

Serpopard (Egyptian) – Beast (Reptilian / Chimerae) * - The last of Set’s favorite pets, combining serpent with leopard.

Shadhawar (Persian) – Fae (Unicorn / Summoner) - Antelope-like unicorns which create magical melodies with their horns which change the moods of listeners.

Stymphalian, Asipatra (Hindu) – Construct (Avian) - Stymphalian birds which are created with adamantium instead of bronze.

Urmahlullu (Arabian) – Humanoid (Beastman / Centauric) * - Also known as Liontaurs, half humanoid half lion.

Vish Kanya (Hindu) – Humanoid (Human) - Evil amazons which use poison to their advantage and which are immune to most poisons.

Vish Kanya, Saapin (Hindu) – Humanoid (Human / Summoner / Psychic) - Mostly leaders among the Vish Kanya, these poisonous human women can animate and summon their tattoos.

Zabraq (Arabian) – Dragon (Reptilian) - Desert drakes looking like moloch-reptiles which use their own acid blood as weapon.

Zalambur (Arabian) – Elemental (Shifter / Genie / Summoner) - Very greedy, golden-skinned genies, with power over air and metal.

#Mythology #Cryptid #Folklore #Fantasy #Monster

[cosmosbestiary]

Griffons

Griffons are a specie of mystic with the head of an Ave and the body of a Felidae that comes in so many subspecies, breeds, and strains, both wild and domestic, that trying to talk about each and every one would take many different books. Something that is made even harder thanks to the fact griffons of all types have no problem living together and inbreeding. Lucky however all griffons share certain traits in common with one another and can easily be categorization into one of six and half classes that share even more of those traits. So, it will those traits that we will talk about. Share Traits Most of all griffon types are omnivore folklore mystics with general magic, this means they can do any kind of magic but being animals on higher level of dog intelligence this greatly limits the spells they know. All griffons also eat to some degree and love equidae meat above all else, they will ignore easier to get food for a chance at equidae meat. This is why equidae races hate and fear griffons and go out of their way to kill them at all costs. Griffons love shiny things, especially things that shine like gold, and collect them to line the burrows they lay their eggs in. Which brings us to griffon flocks, griffons live in flocks that normally number about a dozen or adults and few eggs and hatchlings, while free to mate which any of the adults in the flock most griffons normally only pair off with into couples to help take care of the eggs and hatchling. When it is time to hunt the females with eggs and young stays behind with a few of the stronger adults with offspring to guard the nesting grounds as well as the any sick, injure, or elderly griffons, the others will bring them back food. The hatchlings will often leave the flock when they become adults to either join another flock or found a new one, in other join a flock a griffon must get another griffon in one to let him into the nesting grounds normally by bringing them shiny things and equidae meat. Finely the last thing all griffons have in common is that they are surprisingly easy to tame for predators which has led them to be very common domestic mystics, as to the best way to tame them varies per type of griffon but normally involves equidae meat and things that look like gold. Gryphus The most common class of griffons they have the body of a large Felidae and have the head, wings, and talons on their front legs of a Ave. They are normally about 210cm (6.8ft) and the domestic ones normally serve as mounts/hunting animals. Lion Roar: Gryphus can let loose a strong sonic blast that stun creatures. Eagle Eye: Gryphus has eye sight that is about 8 times stronger then human. Flight: Gryphus can fly. Fire Breath: Gryphus has a line of fire as a breath weapon. Keythong With the head of an Ave as well as the talons of one on its front legs and a body of a Felidae a keythong looks a lot like a gryphus without wings, except they are cover with spikes, spines, bards, quills, and often have horns as well. They are also normally about 3.33 yd (10ft) in size, and the domestic ones are used for war beasts and guard animals sense their many pointy parts makes them impossible to ride. In mix flocks keythong are left at the nesting grounds as guards while the griffons do the hunting. Fire Breath: Keythongs can breathe a line of fire. Throwing Quills: Keythongs can throw venomous quills at prey and attackers. Venom: Keythongs’ spikes, spines, barbs, quills, talons, claws, horns, and beaks are all venomous. Lion Strength: Keythongs can lift three times their own body weight. Heart Of The Lion: It takes a lot to scare a keythong, they have been known to fight on even after taking wounds that would send any other animal running. They are also highly resistance to fear effects. Alce An alce looks just like a gryphus except they don’t have wings and are normally about 111.8cm (44in) tall. Because they are too small to ride for most races the domestic ones are normally use for hunting, familiars, guard beasts, and treasure hunters. In mix flocks alces normally go out and gather the plants griffons eat, as well as help find any gold around. Treasure Sense: Alces can smell metals and minerals as easily as they can smell animals. They mostly use this to find gold and gems but can be train to find any kind of metal and mineral. Nose Of A Buzzard: Alces can smell prey up to 1.6 km (1 mile) away. Eagle Eye: Alce has eye sight that is about 8 times stronger then human. Fire Breath: Alce has a line of fire as a breath weapon. Sharp Hearing: Alces can hear in the 64 kilohertz range. Axex Axexs look just like gryphus but they have paws instead of talons on their front legs and Felidae ears on the side of their heads, they are also around 90cm (35in) in height. Domestic ones are normally use as hunting beasts, familiars, and sometimes by smaller beings as mounts. Cheetah Speed: Axexs can run at speeds about 120.7kmh (75mph). Night Vision: All types of axexs can see in the dark as easily as they can see in the light. Cat Grace: Axexs are very graceful creatures, with sharp reflexes, and great sense of balance. Falcon Speed: Axexs can fly about 386.2kmh (240mph). Flight: Axexs can fly. Fire Breath: Axexs has a line of fire as a breath weapon. Opinicus In many ways an opinicus looks like an axex, except that they have a tail like a Camelus, a long neck like one to no matter what their head is, they don’t have ears like an axexs, and they are 2.72 m (8ft) tall. Because opinicus normally live in hostile environments in the wild they make great mounts and beasts of burden in the same areas. Iron Stomach: Opinicus can eat almost any form of organic matter with not trouble. Wasteland Survivor: Opinicus can go about seven months without food and water, of course they will eat and drink there whole body weight afterwards and they don’t like going that long without food and water. Heat And Cold Resistance: Opinicus can easily hander extremes in temperatures and the sudden chances in it. Strong Immune System: Opinicus are resistance to all forms of pestilences and toxics. Flight: Opinicus can fly. Fire Breath: Opinicus has a line of fire as a breath weapon Demigryh Demigryhs look like brightly color gryphus but smaller as they are normally about 123.19cm (48.5 in). Because of how small they are, as well as their great singing voices domestic ones are kept as house pets and familiars. Flight: Demigryhs can fly. Fire Breath: Demigryhs have a line of fire as a breath weapon Hover: Demigryhs can hover in place while flying. Singing Trance: Demigryths can at will do a magical song that can put creatures that hear it into a trance, making them want to do nothing but stop and listen. As soon as the song stops or the creature gets injure the trance ends, and any being with a strong enough will can easily fight it off, in fact most sapient beings are immune to it. Mocking: Demigryths can mimic almost any sound they hear and repent it back, and sometimes can even learn what certain words and sounds even mean. Glow: Demigryhs can produce a glow at will, it normally used to find mates. Hippogriff The biggest problem with griffons is there hunger for equidae meat, so in the hopes of having griffons and equidae living together in the same farm breeders develop the crossbreed known as the hippogriff. And it work, for hippogriffs don’t eat equidae meat and others griffons treat them like any other griffon type. From the waist up, they can look like any kind of griffon and from the waist below they can look like any kind of equidae, but as a purely domestic class of creature they normally only look like domestic equidae and griffons. They also normally have different fur types for the different parts of their bodies but some type of hippogriffs that are many generations remove from their griffon and equidae ancestors don’t have this trait. Hippogriffs have all of the abilities of the griffon types they look like and are uses in the same ways, excerpt they can be used to guard herds of equidae which is something no griffon could ever be used for.

#lore #worldbuilding #rpg #bestiary #cosmosbestiary #monster #scifantasy #fantasy #griffon #axex #hippogrift #demigryh #opinicus #alce #beast #keythong #gryphus #hybrid

[speculative-evolution]

SOURCE

A mother Orcwaul carefully keeps an eye out for danger as her two four-month-old pups romp in the meadow, weaving in and out of her immense shadow. With a mother as strong and attentive as theirs, they know they're safe to run and play without any worry about predators causing them any harm - there are very few stronger than an adult of their own species, and none so dumb as to try and get past their gargantuan guardian. Orcwauls, Mortevescus cynocephalus, are the largest living predatory theropodents, with females often surpassing 7 meters, or 22 feet, in length and weighing as much as 1,800 pounds (males are generally slightly lighter in build, averaging about 1,400 pounds, but may be equally long). Highly intelligent and cunning hunters, they live in female-dominated hierarchies and are one of only a few strictly monogamous rodents in the world. While the Orguar, stealthy and solitary, is the ecological equivalent of the big cat, the Orcwaul is a closer analogue to modern day wolves and hunting dogs; cursorial, highly social, and relentless. Orcwauls are ideally-adapted to long-distance pursuit of prey species and have excellent endurance, able to run at a steady clip for hours at a time to wear down their victims with the coordinated, cooperative efforts of many individuals. Orcwaul's have long and powerful legs and run on the very tips of only the two specialized center toes upon each foot, with the inner dewclaw high on the ankle and completely vestigial and the outer dew claw, also permanently raised, rapidly becoming so. This specialization is a direct adaptation to running for speed and is in direct contrast to the four-toed talons of the orguar, which often brings down its prey with the help of a well-placed kick but is subsequently a poor runner for more than a few hundred yards and tires quickly. Orcwauls use their jaws and their jaws alone to kill their food, jaws which are elongated, thick-set, and relatively squared-of, with the specialized, serrated incisors common to all tyrannorats and a long series of shearing molar teeth, and their atrophied arms are little more than a single claw partially hidden in their fur. Though there is a degree of habitat overlap, Orguars are most common in the dry, cold, southern temperate and boreal forests of Andromere while Orcwauls are most at home on the more open, wetter grasslands and sparse woodlands of milder northern regions. Their fur is less dense, shorter, and more bristled than their relative, and their lower legs as well as most of their tails are almost entirely nude as adults, adaptations to prevent overheating or the collection of excess moisture against the skin in warm and humid environments. Orcwuals rarely do well in very dry climates and are absent from all environments north of the Andromeran mountains and throughout the Admantian scrublands to their south, but conversely do very well in warm and wet environments where most tyrannorats avoid, including floodplains and seasonal swamps, and occur with an enormous range across the northern continent from Elsaera to Atroxus. Populations along the shores of Lake Holbenia and Lake Michael in central Andromere could be considered so well adapted to a marsh environment that they are seasonally semi-aquatic, pursuing most of their food in the water, propelled by strong kicks of their hind limbs and side-to-side pumps of their strong tails. Across their large range as many as fifteen subspecies are known to occur, varying in both size and coloration across the gold to brown to red to gray spectrums, with some southern populations being predominately melanistic. Albinism, or more often leucism, is fairly common, with tales of the elusive white, or spirit, rat squeezing their way into the forklore of many local cultures. Some populations exhibit bold white contrast markings on their tails, chests, and snouts possibly used to easily spot on another at a distance, though the majority are relatively subdued with gray and tawny markings and faint spotting or striping on the flanks and up the neck. The tail is usually bald from its base to its tip, where a feathery plume of hair, usually white in color, occurs. Orcwauls are usually very good parents, and a pack's priority at all times of the year is the protection and provisioning of its pups. Among yearlings and adults competition to eat is fierce, but young are given utmost priority and a sort of special privilege, filling up on the choicest cuts of the prey before the adults even touch the carcass. When born, they are blind, deaf, and helpless and confined to a secluded nest, but within only a few weeks their eyes and ears will open and they begin to try their legs, waddling first awkwardly but quickly developing stamina and strength to walk and then to run alongside the adults. Orcwauls are born with prominent loose skin and silver manes along their necks and down their backs with gradually diminish by the time they're six months old, utilized by the adults to grasp and carry the very young pups without injuring them and then as a sort of quick marker which tells the adults that they are very young, permitting them much greater tolerance to disorderly conduct and aggressive play that will not be tolerated as they grow larger. In direct contrast to the one of the Orcwaul's earthly analogues, the African lion, this feature is an effective signal which brings out parental instincts even to unrelated adults. In the event two packs merge, or a new male or female joins an established group, it does not make any attempt to harm the present pups as do lions when taking over a pride. This is likely a result of the orcwaul's unique social structure, different from both wolves and lions, where there is no established dominant individual. Females are stronger than males and by default take more food, but a single pack usually consists of one or several older pairs and several generations of their daughters and unrelated males who join the group from other packs at maturity, all of whom may breed and assist in rearing each other's young, the female of which will stay for life and the males whom will be driven out at sexual maturity around age four to join new groups, preventing in-breeding. Since Orcwauls very rarely mate outside their pair bonds, it's possible that the suppression of lower-ranking individuals' reproduction which is seen in wolves is simply unnecessary, and since a pack is multi-generational, rather than a single group of females mated by one male (as in lions), that aggression towards unrelated young serves no purpose. The pups in the pack are dependent on the adults for several years before becoming competent hunters but suckle for a relatively short period of only three weeks before weaning to animal foods, first in the form of regurgitated slurry. Once their teeth come in, they are weaned first onto small pre-chewed portions of meat carried to the nest before graduating to cutting their own bites directly from the carcass as they run along after their families while they hunt, kept out of harm's way by one or two nannies who stay back from the action to keep the young safe. The young are incredibly playful, wrestling and mock-hunting one another almost constantly for the first year of their lives, a process which gradually gives way to the first attempts at real hunting around this time when their parents may begin to allow them to follow along on hunts. During this training period, which lasts until the animals are two years old at least, they will often make an effort to target smaller animals they would normally ignore and intentionally only wound but not dispatch their prey, allowing the pups to finish the job, which may be a prolonged process if they are slow learners. Usually, the first few victims succumb only to blood loss or shock: death by a thousand cuts, until the young master the adults' quickly debilitating throat bite. Generally an orcwaul is a competent killer of these smaller animals by age two, halfway before it reaches its full mature size and girth, but even so these young training graduates generally don't get to make the killing move against larger prey for some time, serving instead to flush it, with their greater agility, into the waiting jaws of the stronger mature individuals of the pack who then proceed to take it down. By combining the efforts of different age groups, a single pack of orcwauls can make use of a much wider variety of prey types than any single individual could alone, allowing them to survive in so wide a variety of habitats. As the adolescent grows, it gradually learns to manage larger and larger prey. A single adult female orcwaul can, with some effort, disable an animal as large as a moose. As a pack of five to fifteen, there are no terrestrial animals - save for perhaps the Olympian lumberjack - entirely beyond their capabilities, though it is very rare for them to take down an animal as large as a mature quailephant, a feat usually limited only to the even more immense sabre-billed bearbird. The largest terrestrial predator in the northern hemisphere, this flightless swiftlet, the epitome of a megafauna-hunting specialist, can stand up to thirty feet tall and weigh an impressive six tons. With few other active predators of comparable size and ferocity in their habitat - even large bearbirds do not readily contest orcwaul packs - an orcwaul pup under the watch of a pack of adults is almost completely safe from predators, but a variety of opportunists may take an unguarded young individual if the chance ever arises, including griffons, bristlebacks, and other tyrannorats. Adults, far too large to worry about these, fear only the cunning of the lucknoun and sometimes the skystrider - the only two creatures intelligent enough to take down one of Sheatheria's most powerful apex predators. ~~~ While the Orguar roars powerfully with a voice deep enough enough to visibly shake the forest around and be felt through the soil for many miles, the Orcwaul cannot roar at all; rather, it barks, growls, and whines, like an enormous dog. Needing to communicate with one another much more, their repertoire is large and varied, and though they don't roar, they communicate over long distances with very deep and prolonged howls, similar to those used by wolves but several octaves lower. When a pack of a dozen orcwauls gather and raise their heads to the heavens to belt out their eerie song all at once in the night, silencing the trills of countless frogs, birds, and crickets and traveling for miles in the still air, there is no more powerful, bone-chilling sound in the world, be it this one or the one we know. The Orcwaul, fierce, stately, intelligent, and powerful, is truly one of the most majestic of all the worlds' creatures. However, this is definitely not true of its nearest relative - one of the superficially most hideous, frightful, and unappealing of all the theropodents...

#speculative evolution #speculative biology #biology #science #flora #fauna #art #concept #evolution #nature #zoology #botany #mycology #ecology #conservation

[goddesstrolls-archive]

Here we go, the mythical creatures list. It’s by no means complete and it was just a bunch of creatures I compiled from the Wikipedia list. I avoided creatures with names (Like Sleipnir) as well as creatures with human characteristics and spirits. I’m open to suggestions too >v>

Alce –  A wingless eagle-headed lion or griffon Alicanto –  A nocturnal bird with glowing, metallic wings and luminous eyes that feeds on gold and silver Alicorn –  A winged unicorn Al-mi'raj – A territorial and aggressive island-dwelling rabbit with a long horn like that of a unicorn. Alphyn – A creature with the body of a lion or tiger, scaly underbelly and forelegs of an eagle or dragon, and a lion-like tail. Amarok – A giant wolf that hunts alone. Amphiptere – A large winged snake or legless dragon. Amphisbaena – A venomous snake with a head at each end, sometimes with short bird-like feet and wings. Angha – A creature with the head of a dog, wings and tail of a peacock, and body of a lion Axex – A creature with the head and wings of a falcon and the body of a lion. Barghest – A monstrous black dog with large teeth Bashe – A massive snake that fed on elephants. Bunyip – A large water-dwelling creature that might looks similar to a walrus Bukavac – Six-legged snake-like monster that dwelled in lakes to jump out on passersby and startle them Cadejo – A large dog with deer or cow-like hooves that is said to be capable of inducing insanity Calygreyhound – A creature with the head of a wildcat, body of an antelope, front legs and sometimes wings of an eagle, and hind legs of an ox. Camahueto – A calf or bull with a small horn on it's forehead. The horn is said to have many uses in medicine. Carbuncle – A fox or dog-like creature with a jewel on it's forehead. Catoblepas – A creature with the head of a pig and the scaled body of a buffalo Cerastes - Extremely flexible, venomous snake with either ram-like horns or spikes along its back. Chamrosh – A creature with the hind legs of a dog and the upper body of a bird. Chickcharney – A tropical island dwelling 3 foot tall barn owl-like creature with feathers and fur. Dipsa – A minute, extremely venomous snake. Dobhar-chú  – A creature resembling a mix between a dog and an otter. Catalan Drac – A dragon with a lion or bull face. Ethiopian Pegasus – A winged horse with two long horns that curve backwards. Gagana – An island-dwelling bird with an iron beak and copper talons. Gandaberunda – A two-headed bird with immense magical strength. Haetae – A dog-like creature with a lion's mane and the ability to control time. Hercinia – A bird with glowing feathers. Hieracosphinx – Falcon-headed sphinx Hodag – A creature with thick fur, large fangs, spines, and claws, a frog-like head, and a lizard-like tail. Impundulu – A vampiric bird that often serves as a witch's familiar and is capable of summoning lightning and thunder. Indus worm – A massive white, carnivorous worm that lived in the Indus River. Inkanyamba – A lake-dwelling snake with a horse's head. Isonade – A large shark-like monster with skin covered in barbs Aspidochelone  – An island-sized whale or sea turtle Keelut – A hairless, carrion-eating dog with fur only on it's feet Keythong – A griffon with spines or horns instead of wings Khalkotauroi – A bull with bronze hooves Kye-ryong – A creature with a chicken's body, a slimmer neck and legs, and a lizard's tail. It resembles a cockatrice. Lavellan – A giant, highly poisonous and noxious water-dwelling rat. Leokampoi – A lion with the tail of a fish, similar to a hippocampus Mapinguari – A large sloth or ape-like creature with one eye and a second mouth on it's belly Minokawa – A massive six-winged and feathered dragon capable of eclipsing the sun due to it's immense size. Monocerus – A creature with the body of a horse, cloven hooves, a short tail, a stag-like head and a single horn Muscaliet – A creature with a hare's body, a squirrel's tail, and a boar's tusks that exuded an extreme amount of body heat. Musimon – A sheep-goat creature with four horns. Myrmecoleon – A creature with the body of an ant and the head of a lion. Ophiotaurus – A creature with the upper body of a bull and the lower body of a snake. Opinicus – A griffon with a longer neck, a short tail, and a lion's fore and back limbs. Piasa – A cat-like dragon with feathered wings and a stag's antlers Pixiu – A powerful winged lion that eats gold, silver, and jewels. Pyrausta – A large insectoid dragon that shoots sticky thread from it's mouth rather than fire Qilin – A maned deer-like creature with a single antler and a dragon-like tail Sirrush – A dragon with the hind legs of an eagle and the front legs of a lion Stymphalian Bird – Man-eating birds with bronze beaks and metallic feathers that they could launch at foes Valravn – A raven that gained human knowledge after eating a slain king's heart Zburator – A dragon with a flaming tail and a wolf's head Zlatorog – White deer with golden horns

#// long post #lyn things

[okayideas]

Chef’s Notes for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition Monster Manual, E-L

continued from here

Eagle, Giant: Not much different from common eagle. Thicker cuts should be bisected to ensure they cook through. Giant eagles are sometimes friends of wizards, so cooking and serving a giant eagle of unknown provenance is not recommended.

Ear Seeker: Often harbor strange diseases with no known cures short of experienced divine intervention. Do not eat.

Eel: An acquired taste at best, but a cheap source of meat if they are common in a local river. Keep alive in water, kill immediately before cooking.

Efreet: Inedible without rare and expensive magical protection.

Elemental: Air elemental is an insubstantial meat, but a notable novelty. Magical handling is required, of course. Earth and fire elementals are inedible, and a killed water elemental is no different from any other water.

Elephant: Similar to mammoth or rhinoceros. May be taboo in some cultures.

Elf: Eating an elf would be interpreted as act of war. An elf carcass should be delivered to the nearest elven community for proper burial there, if possible.

Ettin: Extremely fatty. Organ meats are tasty but have been known to carry disease. Despite pretentious claims to the contrary, there is no flavor or texture difference between the left and right heads.

Eye, Floating: Causes extreme numbness. May be useful in potion crafting, but not in a kitchen.

Eye of the Deep: Not meaningfully different from beholder.

Flightless Bird: Cook as you would a turkey, and expect similar results.

Frog, Giant: The legs are as delicious as those of common frogs, and easier to eat. Even poisonous varieties are edible; simply skin thoroughly before cooking.

Fungi, Violet: Do not touch.

Gar, Giant: If there is any sign a giant gar has been eating human, it should not be served. Cut the stomach open and look carefully. Otherwise similar to tuna.

Gargoyle: Can be transmuted to a tender flesh between pork and goat using a Stone to Flesh spell.

Gas spore: The remnants of an exploded gas spore can resemble truffles, with application of appropriate seasonings.

Gelatinous cube: A wild gelatinous cube will contain too much dirt and debris to be edible. Farm-raised gelatinous cube should be purchased live, fed already cooked food to infuse it with a desired flavor, then killed and served chilled.

Ghast: Obviously not something you want in your kitchen.

Ghoul: The common ghoul is essentially already rotted. Rarer non-undead varieties of ghoul are intelligent and relatively peaceful and should be given burial in accordance with their own culture.

Giant: All giant flesh is essentially indistinguishable once cooked. Do cook very thoroughly, as any unkilled parasites in the meat are likely to grow to at least 2 hit dice.

Gnoll: Similar to dog, or somewhat less similar to goat.

Gnome: Like dwarf or elf, too intelligent and civilized to seriously consider as a foodstuff.

Goat, Giant: Spoils quickly; what can’t be cooked and eaten immediately should be thrown away, not saved.

Goblin: Generally unpleasant, occasionally diseased.

Golem: Depending on the specific method of preparation, a flesh golem might be essentially a large quantity of jerky, as might a stone golem subject to a Stone to Flesh spell. Other golems are inedible.

Gorgon: Similar precautions apply as with basilisk and cockatrice. Flavor resembles beef with a slight reptilian hint.

Gray ooze: Usually fatal. If prepared with exceptional care or a successful save vs. poison, may only cause horrible diarrhea and vomiting instead.

Green slime: Very small amounts are a powerful tenderizer; rinse the meat or vegetable thoroughly once it has softened. There is a market for green slime as a spell component, but the quantities you would need are affordable nonetheless.

Griffon: The lion and eagle portions can be prepared respectively. There is no good way to prepare the transitional portion.

Groaning Spirit: While there are ways to bind this noncorporeal being to a tangible form, there are no edible ways.

Halfling: Stringy and usually tobaccoey, also intelligent.

Harpy: Only the wings have any edible meat, and there is not much meat on them.

Hell Hound: Dried hell hound meat can be very useful when traveling, as it will not only add flavor to a stew but also cook it without a fire.

Herd animal: Most animals that behave similar to cattle or deer also taste similar. Poisonous exceptions may exist in some regions.

Hippocampus: The horse portion should not be considerd edible. The fish portion resembles trout but with a firmer texture.

Hippogriff: Lore regarding the hippogriff is unclear. There may be separate subspecies of hippogriff, some better prepared as poultry and some as red meat. Trial and error may be needed.

Hobgoblin: Slightly less inedible than goblin, but still sometimes disease-ridden.

Homunculus: Essentially a being of pickled meat.

Horse: Vaguely similar to goat or deer. Taboo in many, but not all, cultures with mounted warriors.

Hydra: Usually poisonous. It is unclear how to find the exceptions.

Hyena: Simply foul-tasting.

Imp: Spicy to the point of excess. Dispel Magic should be cast on the flesh as a precaution during the cooking process.

Intellect Devourer: Poisonous, even to non-psionic diners. While it is possible to neutralize the poison, the result is no better than any other brain meat.

Invisible Stalker: A slightly tougher, less fatty aerial servant.

Irish Deer: Resembles both mammoth and venison, closer to mammoth.

Ixitxachitl: Not distinguishable from an unintelligent ray. A cookable but not desirable fish.

Jackal: More edible than hyena. Similar taboos may apply as with dog.

Jackalwere: A dead jackalwere is essentially the same as a dead jackal.

Jaguar: Stringy and flavorless even in comparison to other big cats.

Ki-rin: Excellent in stir-fries and noodle dishes. Unicorn can be substituted where ki-rin is not available.

Kobold: Extremely difficult to cook properly. Cutting away the toxic and disease-bearing portions of the meat leaves very little.

Lamia: Sometimes poisonous, though rarely lethally. The poisonous and non-poisonous varieties are difficult to distinguish.

Lammasu: Intelligent and lawful. The animal portions of the carcass could be cooked separately, as with a centaur, but expect repercussions.

Lamprey: Not enough flesh to be worth eating. More useful as a potion ingredient.

Larva: A damned soul, and thus technically cannibalism. Flesh is slimey and tasteless in any event.

Leech, Giant: Requires a very light touch; must be cooked thoroughly, but not so much that it dries out. Do not serve a giant leech that has been feeding on human or demihuman blood.

Leopard: Resembles giant rabbit. Generally hunted for its pelt; if the meat is put to market at all, it is lilkely to be inexpensive.

Leprechaun: May induce unusual curses; avoid.

Leucrotta: Combines the least edible portions of each of its component animals, and is thus wholly unsuited for the dinner table.

Lich: Not edible in any way whatsoever. Of menu-planning interest is the fact that a lich's lair may (25% chance) contain 3d10 bottles of fine wine, aged 20+1d100 years.

Lion: The most tableworthy of the big cats, but ultimately still not much different from rabbit.

Lizard: Most lizards are a basic mild-tasting meat. Fire lizard resembles red dragon in its ease of preparation and texture, though not its flavor.

Lizard Man: Closer to man than lizard for meal purposes, and should probably not be eaten.

Locathah: Similar to lizard man, but can be dried to a seafood-like jerky.

Lurker Above: More edible than its appearance might suggest, but tends to stick to the roof of one's mouth.

Lycanthrope: As a lycanthrope reverts to its human or demihuman form when killed, hunting it for meat would be pointless.

Lynx, Giant: A beast of quantity rather than quality. Best with heavy seasonings.

#writing saturday #it's a cookbook