Random World Redux: The Other Monsters

Some further thoughts on the monster lore I'm reusing from the Random World.

Aberrations, The Man-Made Monsters

Pathfinder's Otyugh

The successor to the random world is fairly low on Lovecraftian inspiration, as I've long lamented that Lovecraftian concepts and ideas are somewhat overused especially when it come to the Old Ones and all manners of tentacle monsters. That said, what is a good dungeon without a horribly, slimy beast of the chthonian depths? What about hideous crossbreed abominations of nature created by wicked sorcerers for their experiments or amusement? Surely there is room for this, right? Well yes, there is!

Call them 'Aberrations' or 'Monstrosities' but it doesn't matter. These creatures are born of magic gone amok, especially magic which is used to warp flesh and combine species in ways which are just plain ungodly. There are countless evil wizards in history who experiment with some truly disgusting things in an attempt to breed a new type of minion or monster. While Orcs are a particularly stable breed, not all experiments are as successful. Those which start from warping an already-living creature in particular can produce some particularly unstable and monstrous creatures which often retain the ability to breed with their kind. As a result, some horrific experiments have bred true, at least in some limited capacity. Many of these creatures produce stillbirths or, worse, offspring's which are even more warped and foul than them.

Undead, the Cast Off Shells

Wight from D&D 3rd edition.

Undead occupy an odd place in my head. I absolutely adore them for all the obvious horror they induce and there is no denying they are among the most simplistically gruesome monsters that exist. However, in the previous and original incarnation of the Rand World, Undead were established to have a certain level of rarity. This is because the modern conception of the Undead in fantasy has increasingly been tainted by many elements 20th century of pop culture as opposed to more proper folkloric roots. In particular, most Undead in D&D tend to have the ability to turn those they kill into another of their kind. While this does have some basis, the modern concept is heavily rooted in American cinema's modern flesh-eating zombie and in modern Vampires.

An undead is never a complete being. If they were, they wouldn't be undead. While this may bring to mind the lack of a body of a ghostly undead or lack of mind of the baseline zombie, it is a bit more complex than that or a lack of a pulse. What birth the True Undead, as opposed to the Animated Undead create by spells such as basic zombies and skeletons, must be a confluence of events. Undead are born of a particularly troubled minds and, often, either sudden or particularly tragic deaths. These creatures are generally defined by an all consuming need or desire, such as needing blood, flesh or the warmth of the living to use some basic examples. Others are controlled by the need or urge to either complete a task or prevent someone from completing a task which invariably ties into the circumstances of the Undead's death. The disturbing thing about the Undead is that what animate them isn't really, entirely the person's soul even if theological debates still rages on the matter. However, by itself a person doesn't simply have the power to transcend the veil between life and death, as such power is obviously beyond the ability of mortals. Thus while the circumstances of the creation of a True Undead is from human matters, there exist dark, unformed powers within the world and beyond it which provide the spark of unlife. While the creature was once a living human, its corpse or materialized spirit has become the vessel for a greater (well, arguably, a lower) power. Some believe that Undead which remain in the world for a long time eventually fade and become nothing but spirits, hollowed out of their original humanity and join the ranks of creatures such as goblin-spirits and demons.

Some Undead, however, were never human to begin with. Or, rather, their bodies were human but not the mind existing inside their rotting form. If most Undead are the discarded but still animate husk of humans slowly hollowed out of their true selves, some are more unfortunate. With the bodies left somewhere unhallowed or forgotten (but the mind/soul without much to be angry about and meeting its fate), the body become a vessel to darker powers which animate the corpse and warps it into some monstrous goblin-ghost or demonic ghoul with truly disturbing forms and/or powers. These creatures may attempt to fake being the person the corpse belonged to but they not. They are an alien intellect driven by some truly vile thoughts.

Dragons, the Old Serpent Beasts of Chaos

Dragonlord Kolaghan by Jaime Jones

Dragons are a particularly ancient breed of chimeric monsters born of chaos, or at least this is generally an agreed upon understanding of what they are. While there are many pseudo reptilian or serpentine beasts upon the world, the True Dragons are a particularly ancient breed of monsters spawned from primordial chaos. Common traits include great size, wings (or, sometimes, a stranger mean of flight), usually poisonous blood and/or breath and the ability to exhale chaotic energies often in the form of some elemental breath weapon. They are intelligent creatures for the most part, but they tend toward being extremely violent and destructive as well as greedy.

No one has ever seen a young dragon, at least not in the current age. It is speculated that all Dragons either were created from the same or were born into the world in some cycle. Others speculate that dragon reproductive cycle, if it exist, is extremely long and complex. Ultimate it is unknown how or if dragon breed but ancient text do refer to smaller or younger, foolhardy dragons being slain by the mythical founders of nations and similar figures. Other truly ancient text refer to ancient dragons as being young in their time, meaning they do apparently age and grow to some extent. Perhaps it is that the last generation of Dragons has already been born and no future generation can exist or ever will exist, with the youngest of dragons being already several centuries old or more with truly ancient dragons being extremely rare beings who have seen the very birth of the world and now sleep at the bottom of its ocean or in ancient caves or volcanoes. Or perhaps they are all dead safe the youngest and weakest of their kind.

When roused from their slumber, dragons are often little more than flying demons of fire and fury. Few artistic depiction of them truly convey their terrifying neither, too: the many jagged horns or crests upon their heads, their amalgam bodies with traits of a variety of beasts, covered in the scales of a snake, crocodile or shark. Their breath is so foul it can kill a man. Their stomach has enough room to swallow entire herds and, indeed, dragons can even often dislocate their jaws like a serpent to swallow large animals or even other dragons, some say. The eldest of dragons can flap their wings and call upon fire storms, acid rains, thunder and rain which tears away at cities or hailstorms in the middle of a hot summer.