Lands of Mirhne: Beasts of Mirhne, Part 1

Monstrous animals and mythical beasts have long been a staple of not only mythology, but tabletop as a whole. The Calydonian Boar, the giant wolf Fenris and more are creatures of myth which are great and terrible beasts, while creatures such as the Chimera are amalgamation of different animals. Tabletop RPG have continued this tradition by inventing their own staple monsters, with D&D debuting creatures such as the Owlbear and Bulette. There is something rather logical as to why monsters are beasts: there's something primordial to it. In ancient times, when all we had was fire and spears, a creature like a bear was a dangerous foe. Monstrous and magical beasts continue this concept but takes it to the imaginary and the extreme.

As written here, on Mirhne 'there are beasts, and then there are Beasts'. Mundane animals are dangerous enough in the Lands of Mirhne that some bad luck during a hunt can mean death as a boar or deer become enervated by fear and kills a hunter, while wolves and bears can often kill and eat travelers if they aren't careful or become lost. The Beasts of Mirhne, however, are something else: they are larger, stronger and stranger creatures. A pack of wolves may plague a region, but a Black Wolf is a monster on a killing spree, gorging itself on cattle and children, actively hunting humans. Beasts of Mirhne are creatures which exist beyond the mundane, creatures which grow old and vicious, with a taste for human blood that cannot ever be sated. There is something unnatural and vicious to them which goes far beyond the possibility of it being a particularly large specimen. Many of them are afflicted by sickness or even deformities, yet in spite of their ruined forms they continue to grow in power and intellect despite showing signs of advanced age, with the greatest of them having faded into myths as giant beasts slain by heroes of old. These creatures are the Beast of Mirhne and they are the scourge of men.

Beasts of Mirhne are always unique or semi-unique creatures. They have usually above 5HD, which immediately put them above and beyond the average peasant or warrior. The key difference between them and regular animals, however, is the increased intellect and their unearthly powers, many of which can be reused from Wolves of God relatively easily. In many cases, it is somewhat unclear if those are truly supernatural powers or not, however as Mirhne is somewhat low on openly supernatural and impossible powers, preferring to remain in the ambiguous. Mechanically, however, these are completely 'unfair' powers these creatures have.

Black Wolves

Artist Unknown

Terror of livestock and devourer of travelers, the Black Wolves are huge beasts with tangled dark fur and slavering jaws. The wolves that inhabit the Lands of Mirhne are naturally large and dangerous creatures, but the dreaded black wolves surpass all of them in sheer size and ferocity. These creatures are not pack hunters but rather always solitary killers who are not above killing and eating other, smaller wolves in any territory it infest. Their fur is tangled, messy and oily only for it to break apart and become sparse in some areas of their bodies where great scars and/or scabs afflict their hide. Some believe Black Wolves are the oldest of the wolves, who have grown in size and cunning over the years. It is believed that the more a wolf eat man-flesh, the closer it become to these creatures. In time, these creatures become so aggressive as to chase off or eat their pack and offsprings alike, become solitary killers who actively hunt down humans with an unnatural intellect. Many of these creatures display signs of sickness and deformities and it is not uncommon for them to grow additional, jagged teeth or for their worn down teeth to fall off and be replaced as sharks do. 

Black Wolves can be excellent 'rampaging' monsters in a Lands of Mirhne game, albeit one where simply tracking it down and defeating the creature may be somewhat harder than it initially seem. Black Wolves are cunning creatures and capable of complex leap of logic and are often imbued with an almost supernatural level of stealth. While they go on a rampage easily, they know when to pull back and hide as they understand laying low can let them kill again another day. They are not mindless killers, not one bit. Tracking down one to its lair may end up with the hunters lost in the wilderness, where the hunter become the hunted as the creature kills them one by one. Black Wolves usually have Unearthly Powers of Might or of Wildnerss.

The Sickness/The Scabbies

Art by Notesz ᛞ

While the Black Wolves display signs of sickness, it is seemingly not the cause of their transformation. Other creatures are not so lucky. There is a sickness afflicting many creatures in Mirhne, akin to a cross between what we should recognize as Mange and the Shope Papilloma Virus. Its exact nature and vector is unclear, as Mirhne's medical science is near non existent. The sickness manifest as boil, sores or scabs eating away at the flesh of a creature infected with it and its effect upon the infected animal usually result in a quick death in less than a year. It is unclear if it can be transmitted to humans but it probably can. Creatures which survive the infection, however, are damned and mutated by its effect. The infection kills all it touch (eventually) but, as previously established, on Mirhne particularly old and ferocious creatures tend to grow stronger with age and those unlucky beast who catch the sickness are strong enough to not die. To live with this sickness, however, is a fate worse than death. Somehow, there is a certain 'symbiosis' with the disease which occurs in potent hosts able to survive it, creating scarred and malformed creatures covered head to toe in scars, boils, tumors or worse. The resulting Beast is a creature turned mad with pain. Particularly disturbing specimens will exhibit massive growth spurts for no explainable reason, with skin rupturing and jagged bones poking out from the spine or limbs.

Creatures afflicted with the Sickness or 'Scabbies' tend to include bears as well as most herbivores such as grazing animals and boars. In spite of their clearly sick bodies they are infused with an unnatural vitality yet are in constant pain and as such are a much better fit for a truly dangerous 'rampaging monster'. Even when the host was previously a herbivore, they are now carnivorous and will chow down on just about any animal they can get within reach of their maw. They no longer fear humans but many of them develop an allergy to sunlight and will hide in caves or other dark places until the sun goes down, at which point their rampage begin. Their Unearthly Powers are of Might or Health, but only when it come to self sustaining or inflicting diseases.

The Spiders of Mirhne

Art by Nicole Owens

The Spiders of Mirhne are ancient and alien creatures. Common house spiders are one thing, since they are endemic to the Lands of Mirhne as they are anywhere else on Earth. The Spiders of Mirhne, however, are something else entirely. These Beasts range from the size of a house cat to that of a large bear and perhaps even beyond. It is said that, on Mirhne, spiders never stop growing and they grow larger and smarter for each mortal soul they trap in their web and consume. However, web spiders are not the only type of Spiders of Mirhne and they come in a staggering variety of different shape, color and method of attack. Spiders of Mirhne are also said to be able to mimic voices. These creatures are patient and cunning hunters and even the least of their kind has enough intellect to set up complex trap and tunnel systems, creating intricate lairs where it trap vermin, pets and small children. In the darkest woods, meanwhile, large webs criss-cross the canopies of trees and spiders feed on boar, elk and bear cups, sucking them of their blood and fluid as their victims are trapped in a cocoon. Deeper underground, still, are the lair of even older spiders, the brood mothers some believe. Or it could simply be tall tales, as surely Mirhne has enough dangerous wild life that gigantic spiders would seem ridiculous!

Spiders of Mirhne are the most varied of the Beasts, yet also among the more commonplace as nearly every village has at least one Spider within its general vicinity, even if that creature is the size of a chicken and only come out when the nights are pitch black so it remain unseen, less some angry farmhand or panicking you attempt to squash it with a mallet. The lesser spiders are only dangerous to adult and warriors due to their poisonous bite as they are much smaller and softer, unable to survive a sturdy war hammer or a cutting blade. Anything larger, however, is truly a monster. They have Unearthly Powers of Deceit or of Cursing. The aquatic 'cousin' of the Spiders are the Crabs of Mirhne and they tend to be more powerful and direct fighters, relying on their armor and might, guarding treasures in coves. Or so the legends go.