#erchitu

The Erchitu is a creature from Sardinian mythology. It appears as a large white ox, often accompanied by a devil. This devil will ride the Erchitu, lighting candles on its horns and prodding it with hot a poker.

The Erchitu is seen as a sort of lycanthrope. Any man who has committed a serious misdeed might turn into an Erchitu upon the full moon. They will find a house and bellow three times before the threshold; someone within the house will then die inside of a year.

If a strong and virtuous person is able to blow out both of the Erchitu's candles in one breath, it will be freed from its curse.

Image source.

Monster master list.

Image © Joe Holdsworth, accessed at his deviantArt gallery here

[Commissioned by @justicegundam82. The erchitu is one of those monsters that is under-served in English. Although there are some Italian sources that refer to primary sources out there, just about everything in English just regurgitates the English Wikipedia page, which doesn’t even have a citation.Based on the Google translated versions of those Italian sites, it seems like the erchitu has threads of atonement and carnival that the English version has shed. Most of the artistic representations take it from “bull” to “bull-headed man”, but mine is the first undead interpretation, at least as far as I know. I also emphasized the devil element to make them affiliated with Hell.]

Erchitu CR 9 LE Undead This hulking creature resembles a white-furred, bull headed humanoid, with cloven hooves and wide horns. A candle burns on each horn, tended to by tiny red devils that cling to its body and clamber over it like lice.

When a mortal dies owing its soul to Hell, the collection is usually final and swift, with no chance for appeals. On a rare occasion, however, a mortal may convince their diabolical handler for an extension in order to finish some business or put their affairs into order. In such cases, the powers of Hell return their escrowed soul as an erchitu, a monstrous creature in the shape of a beast of burden to remind the soul of the debt it owes. In this form, the erchitu owes Hell greater services, either in the form of luring more souls into the clutches of devils, slaying the powers of good, or both.

The erchitu uses its divinatory powers to find those who might be willing to cut a deal with a devil, and pass on intelligence to their infernal masters. When their superiors require a show of force, they assume their monstrous form and act openly as powerful warriors. The imps that cling to an erchitu are mere phantasms, visual reminders of Hell’s power, but the erchitu can infuse them with force and send them to fight on its behalf. Most erchitu begin combat with a sinister cursed cry—superstition says that whoever hears the call of an erchitu will be dead within the year.

An erchitu can maintain its seemingly mortal form for most of its unlife, and some erchitus may live for years in the same communities as if nothing happened. Those with close family members or with expectations of religious duties, however, are likely to become reclusive and solitary, preventing an accidental revelation of their physical monstrosity. Most erchitu exist in their horrible half-life for only the terms of their deal—a year, a decade or some other set time. Some, however, take well to this form of service and return to Hell in this body permanently.

Erchitu is from Sardinian mythology. As it goes, when a man commits an unspeakable crime that goes unpunished, they will turn into a white ox during full moons. Devils light candles on their horns and torment them.

If one bellows near your house, its owner is doomed to die within a year.

The only way to free an Erchitu is to blow out the candles or cut off its horns in one try.

I really wanna use this guy for something, but I’ll need additional characters. Maybe werewolves or vampire-things?

Sources:

Name: Erchitu

Alternate Names: None

Mythology: Sardinian, Spanish Mythology

Size: Huge, a very big Minotaur the size of a giant.

Environment: Urban, hell and any other I think

In Mythika: Once the Erchitu were friendly giants related to the wicked Minotaurs, they worked with humans and helped them with building villages and other projects. But this all changed when some ancient Arzshenk started to corrupt the gentle creatures into weapons of war, he send little Imps out into the world to find all Erchitu and corrupt them into living batteringrams. These giant white ox-men are always covered in little wingless-imps that pinch them with magical tridents infused with hateful poison that corrupts the mind and turns it violent. Now they serve demon lords and Arzshenk in the Abyss and destroy the villages they once build together with their human allies. Their horns are on fire, forever lit by two imps, if one would put out both those fires the Erchitu will be reverted to its gentle form. While they are humanoid they mostly walk on all four, much like a gorilla. They are very big for a minotaur, having the size of a Frost Giant, and the strength of a Juggernaut.