Mother of Flesh â fantasy character concept by Tyler James
âA fickle eldritch god, born of fear, mistrust, and pain, it had few chosen apostles, fewer followers, but still a great degree of power.â
It was in the depths of that burning mountain that we found the source of the boggle eyed husks, the pale witch of Salia, once thought dead, now in service to a new community that would not betray her, The Horror of Familiarity. A fickle eldritch god, born of fear, mistrust, and pain, it had few chosen apostles, fewer followers, but still a great degree of power. The marked mindless followers that had beset the city were a standard tool of The Horror, their freewill overwritten so that the Gibbering Hoard could trust them to execute its will exactly, and not betray it; but these husks alone were simultaneously little threat, as they split the attention of their lord among them, and did not hold its power. But with the pale witch, reborn, to lead them, they posed a substantial foe, as her mortal blood magics mixed with eldritch power and cunning to turn them from mere zombies to walking wards of magical intent. How the being of manifest fear and suspicion had come to trust a mortal with its blood and blessings remains beyond my understanding, perhaps it is the desperation and pitiful state that the towns folk left her in that convinced The Horror she would never turn against it, not as long as revenge was at hand. Perhaps it was her devotion and absolute loyalty to her wife, now gone, that persuaded the being older than time that this creature had the capacity to hold fast. Perhaps it was a fluke. But for whatever reason The Hoard overcame its mortal flaw for a season, and though we found its heart, the city and surrounding lands were laid to ruin, and even now, a century later, cults and conclaves of writhing acolytes and unsettling icons remain buried throughout the land. What happened to the witch I do not know, I hope wherever she is she freed her soul of that foul master, so that it can return to her wife, The Horror never trusts forever, or even long. All who enter its service either are consumed, or fulfill the deepest fears of their master and betray it, for her sake, and with respect for her guile, I hope she chooses the latter.

















