#penanggal

Hmm. Such a "good bug" race would have to be the inverse of the Dark-Neutral Vermin, so Light-Neutral. It might be called Insect. What might be in it?

Let me list (it won't be a lot):

(Solomon's) Shamir: The maybe worm that could cut through hard materials like stone for the construction of Solomon's temple. Asmodeus is involved in its acquisition. The stories surrounding this thing are quite interesting!

Ah-Muzen-Cab: Maya god of bees and honey. One of the difficulties with a non-Dark "Bug" race is that there aren't many bug-like figures from myth or folklore that might be considered Neutral or Light affinity, at least that would justify being placed in such a themed race grouping. Cultures worldwide seem to agree that bugs are kinda icky and like to exist in the shadows. Bees are exceptions, if only because they produce honey. But even then, it's not like bee gods are incredibly numerous. Ah Muzen Cab from Smite:

Penanggal: My favorite little bee protector fellow. Being in a "good bug" race like this would be quite the glow-up for it.

The "Myrmex Indikos"/Gold-digging Ant: An ancient game of telephone that somehow turned small mammals/marmots living in desert zones of India into giant, furry ants. Would the people who believed such things were possible back then be the equivalent of today's Bigfoot truthers?

What happens when your local headless horseman peaks the interest of asian ghouls of the in the same body horror genre? Commence the bloody comedic romance!

Also here be their names:

Headless Horseman - Tadhg O'Connell

Nukekubi - Hana

Manananggal - Reyna

Penanggal - Jazlyn

Atypical Vampire

RARITY: ★★★★☆ | THREAT: ★★★☆☆ SIZE: Human-sized, sometimes larger.

HABITAT: 

Many try to blend in with humanity in populated areas. Some have subterranean dens or stay in the mines or crypts.

OVERVIEW:

Vampires come in an array of shapes, sizes, degrees of sentience, and other permutations. While the more common types of vampire come to mind for most people, there are other intelligent vampires that are seen more rarely.These vampires are united by their human-like intelligence and appearance, though some may take on a disturbing form when feeding or once night falls. In most cases, they’re created through more unusual methods or may even have been fated to become a monster after death or before birth; some may be unable to turn humans entirely but still pose a significant threat. Most atypical vampires have the standard abilities and weaknesses of more common vampires, though some have slight differences such as the type of wood they must be staked with. Only slayers can reliably tell the various kinds of vampire apart by appearance and behavior, having been trained on the matter, even when most vampires might look the same at a glance. 

VARIANTS 

ALUKAH: 

These vampires appear, at first, as long-haired humans with luminous eyes and a large leech or lamprey mouth. With every failed attempt to kill them, they grow stronger and appear less human, taking on monstrous and disturbing features and losing their human ones. Unlike many vampires which are created by bite, alukah are cursed individuals whose thirst for blood can never be satisfied. They voraciously drain both people and animals, but the pain of desperate thirst will torment alukah no matter how much blood they ingest. Beheading or staking an alukah isn’t the end. If a dead alukah’s mouth isn’t quickly stuffed full of dirt, they’ll rise back up, even hungrier, more dangerous, and more monstrous than before. 

ASWANG: 

Originally discovered in the Philippines, aswang are vampires that take the form of a woman by day – sometimes young and beautiful, and sometimes elderly – while shapeshifting into a monstrous vampire by night. Their method of creation is unknown, but slayers speculate it’s the result of a curse. Their true form has large, bat-like wings, spindly fingers, and a maw full of sharp teeth. They have a long tongue they use to suck the blood from the navels of their victims and are also known to feast on entrails. They tend to scout victims out during the daytime and are unharmed by the sun. Once they’ve found prey, they return at night and may continue to visit nightly until they finally feed. They make a “tik-tik” sound, but if the noise sounds close by, it’s far away, and if it sounds distant, the aswang is about to descend upon you. According to myth, if an aswang licks your shadow, you die. Slayers aren’t sure if this is true, but don’t take any chances. Aswangs are especially vulnerable to religious iconography, and copper spikes may be driven into the ground around their intended target to protect them.

BARABARLAKOS: 

One of the more dangerous vampires originating in Greece, the barabarlakos leaves its grave each night, knocking and ringing doorbells. If no one answers the door, they’ll simply leave and not come back. But should someone invite them in, the barabarlakos will crush the breath from their lungs with immense strength until the person dies, then drain every drop of blood from the corpse. Despite the fact that their strength nearly matches that of an elder vampire, these vampires are highly conversational, rarely getting riled up into a feral state. While not known to feed on the living, they will sometimes bite them to create more of their kind. They have most typical weaknesses, but simply staking them won’t do the job – they need to be staked through the heart while resting in their grave.

CATACANO: 

This Greek vampire has earned the moniker “the happy vampire” for the constant, creepy smile on its face. Even if it wanted to stop smiling, it couldn’t. People who look upon the catacano’s smile are mesmerized as trust is instilled in them, coming closer and closer until they’re either killed or turned. Those they feed from but don’t kill can’t stop smiling for days afterward. Catacano spit regurgitated blood at those they wish to turn. The blood seeps into the victim’s skin, infecting them with the curse of becoming a catacano upon their death. Catacano are difficult to kill. They cannot be staked, so decapitation is typically used, and it requires a strange methodology. The catacano must be decapitated as it’s feeding from someone, then you must place the body in salt water. The head should simultaneously either be boiled in vinegar in a cast iron pot, or the fingernails should be burned off starting with the left hand. If this is not done successfully and to the letter, the people involved in the slaying of the catacano will die by sunrise. While many slayers haven’t encountered a catacano, this information was likely drilled into them from a young age.

ERETICH: 

Meaning “heretic” in Russian, it’s no surprise that eretichy were all horrible people in life, committing murders, thefts, and other unpardonable acts. One doesn’t become an eretich through a bite; when a person who committed horrible acts dies without any justice being brought to them, they’ll often come back to life an eretich. They’re known for intentionally triggering a starving, feral state within themselves for mass bloodshed. These vampires can be particularly cruel and inventive in their torture. Eretichy aren’t as strong as most other vampires, but they’re the only kind able to detect the presence of nearby slayers. They share typical vampire weaknesses, but if staked, the stake must be made of aspen and the blow must come from behind.

PENANGGAL: 

This vampire first described in Southeast Asia won’t be confused with any other kind of vampire when seen at night. Penanggalan seem like normal individuals during the day, immune from the sunlight, and when night falls they are forced to detach their heads – with their organs attached to it. Some describe the exposed organs as twinkling like fireflies. The detached head floats around, feeding from victims and even squeezing into homes. Penanggalan are fast and agile when their head is detached, and anyone who touches its blood or entrails develops painful sores on their skin which can be difficult to heal. The body of a penanggal is vulnerable when its head is detached, but they can’t be staked or decapitated in this state (their heart is with the head). However, setting the body on fire will kill the vampire. The heart can be staked if combating the head. The head can be easy to track as it leaves a trail of blood behind. Someone may become a penanggal when they die in a way that severs their head from their body, or if their neck is snapped. 

PLATNIK: 

This Bulgarian vampire has two “phases,” which makes it unique. Turned in a typical manner, the platnik remains in its grave for 9 days after death; this site can be recognized by the caved-in appearance of the ground around the grave. The platnik emerges as a spirit, visible to humans and capable of causing harm, while hard to harm themselves. They hunt down those they were close to in life, and will become corporeal if they kill them within 40 days; otherwise, they simply vanish. Once corporeal, platniks are similar to most vampires, but lack bones (instead consisting of cartilage) and are especially prone to skin injuries. Platniks in either state may be kept away by decorating one’s home with objects the platnik was afraid of when they were alive, but are not harmed by religious iconography. A platnik’s blood is called “pixtija” and is thick, dark, and jelly-like. It’s considered highly valuable and is a required ingredient in some harder-to-make potions.

TLAHUELPUCHI: 

Tlahuelpuchi are the result of a curse which kills its victim and resurrects them as a hard-to-detect variant of vampires. They tend to live near or among their human families, and while they have a faint, glowing “halo” above their heads, they appear otherwise human. Tlahuelpuchi need to eat only about once a month in order to survive, and prefer the blood of children or young people. Unlike some of their vampiric cousins, tlahuelpuchi can enter a home uninvited… but only by performing a ritual in which they fly over a house in the form of a cross from both north to south and east to west before entry. Signs that someone has been killed by a tlahuelpuchi are bruises on the victim’s neck that match bruises on the tlahuelpuchi’s neck. If a member of the tlahuelpuchi’s human family kills them, the curse is passed on to that person. Outside of this, however, tlahuelpuchi have no ability to create others like them.

WAMPIR: 

Inktober #9: Penanggal! So yeah, the rest of this month will be minor spirits or monsters from various pantheons, with the occasional seasonal bent.

I meant for this to be a set with the other Penanggal, but can’t imagine that’s happening tonight. He’ll show up somewhere down the line, anyway; you can see what’s left of a preliminary sketch in the bottom left-hand corner there.

Manananggal. One of the most popular monsters in Philippine folklore and a staple of Pinoy horror movies. Almost every Filipino knows what a manananggal is but to those who don’t, well, a manananggal is a variant of the aswang. By day, is just a normal person, usually a woman, but come sundown she goes to a secluded area, goes naked and rubs a specially prepared oil all over her body while…

In Philippine folklore the ungga-ungga of Visayas and Mindanao (also known as bog-bog, oka-oka, ug-ug, wowog, wuwug or wugwug, and yog-yog) is an aswang variant and a manananggal relative that appears similar to the penanggal or penanggalan of Indonesia and Malaysia, and the krasue of Thailand. In the morning the creature is an ordinary person. This person could be an ordinary individual infected with the affliction of being an ungga-ungga (I say affliction because according to old beliefs, it is like a disease similar to being an aswang) and, thus, forced to commit hideous acts or someone who practices black magic and willingly embraces the affliction for macabre reasons. Come sundown, especially at midnight the head detaches from the body and hovers off with its entrails and some organs that allegedly sparkle in the moonlight, leaving the body behind. The ungga-ungga’s intestines rotate rapidly making a sound akin to that of a rope being spun in the air. It is assumed the rotating intestines propel the creature in the air. But unlike the penanggal and the krasue, there are male ungga-ungga. The creature preys on pregnant women, the child inside the mother’s womb, and babies by sucking the victims’ blood. It sucks the blood using its tongue which can stretch into a sharp-tipped, rope-like proboscis while perched on the roof or hovering under the house. When pregnant women and babies are hard to come by, some ungga-ungga resort to attacking people at night. Despite being just a flying head with dangling entrails, it can take on full grown men. The ungga-ungga tackles the victim using its hair which can grow very long and as hard as wires. With its hair the creature will try to strangle, blind, or suffocate by stuffing the victim’s eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. If they are near a lake, river, or stream it will try to drown the victim. The creature will also lift a person in the air at a dangerous height and drop him to kill the victim. When the victim has been incapacitated or dead, the creature will suck the blood or feast on the innards, especially the liver. The ungga-ungga will leave the victim alone only if the latter proves to be too strong or pulls on the creature’s entrails. A person may also lie down flat on his belly on the ground to discourage the creature from attacking. It is believed the ungga-ungga and even other self-segmenting aswang won’t attack if the potential victim ducks on the ground lower than a person’s waist, as it is believed these creatures don’t want their dangling entrails to touch the ground. The ungga-ungga also prey on animals, especially chickens and ducks. The ungga-ungga won’t go near a house surrounded by bamboo thickets, fearing that their hair and entrails might get entangled among the thorns. In other places the ungga-ungga is called sawsaw-suka because before the head separates from the body, it applies black vinegar or ‘suka’ in Tagalog all over the body. It should be noted that according to Malay folklore the penanggal dips its entrails in vinegar so that these would fit well inside the neck stump when it reattaches itself to its body. Some people who claim to have personally encountered an ungga-ungga say that the creature's face looks as if it is under a trance. Also, eyewitness accounts on the creature's facial appearance vary from being hideous to beautiful. In Fray Juan de Plasencia’s “Relacion de las Costumbres de Los Tagalos” (1589) the creature was known as magtatanggal among the Tagalog people.

Encounter with a Wuwug

Wowie, a resident of Barangay Sal-ing in Balilihan town had a close encounter with a wuwug. He said he went home after attending a village disco when he heard an unfamiliar sound. And when he looked up at the sky, he saw a head floating. He ran and hid behind a coconut tree. (Source: http://leoudtohan.blogspot.com/2016/10/meet-pinoys-supernatural-creatures.html)

An informant from Bacolod City, Negros Occidental claimed that he encountered the creature last 2018. According to him, early in the evening he visited his farm to check on the roosters he was grooming for a cockfight. While checking one of his prized roosters, the informant noticed something on the fence a few meters away. He described it as a head of a woman resting on the fence with its intestines dangling below. He said the face looked so hideous. Scared, he rushed to the SUV parked nearby while calling the other people in the farm. Upon seeing what he was screaming about, they pulled him into the house and turned on loud music to scare away the creature. Later, when they checked the creature was no longer there. He surmised that it was probably planning to attack his roosters.

References:

Demetrio, Francisco, S.J. Encyclopedia of Philippine Folk Beliefs and Customs. Cagayan de Oro City: Xavier University, 1991. Ramos, Maximo D. The Aswang Syncrasy in Philipine Folklore. Philippine Folklore Society, 1971.

SMT MYSTERY DEMON EXTRAS #1: PENANGGAL

Before we found out its true origins, I feel it’s safe to say that everyone thought Kaneko’s Penanggal was a joke. Everyone knows the “real” Southeast Asian haunt, so why were there arms instead of entrails? Why a bee, other than the pain of the design’s apparent mediocrity stung like one? 

Truth be told, I wasn’t even looking for Penanggal while trying to track down Tingkat, but it kind of tagged along for the ride since the two of them shared a primary source, Jah-Het of Malaysia, Art and Culture, discovered of course thanks to the legendary paper trail of Shigeru Mizuki. Bee-form Penanggal was still an original spin, but one that ultimately didn’t come out of left field: it more or less accurately portrayed the beliefs and spirit carvings of the Jah Hut people and Penanggal’s own role as a protector of bees. 

Something I didn’t feel there was room for in the original post was the existence of a third Penanggal carving in the book, seen last in the photoset, as it wasn’t described in relation to bees nor did it serve as obvious artistic inspiration. The whimsical style of this bean-shaped guy (the book specifically states this and the fanged one used as the basis for Mizuki’s design are male--is the other female? It doesn’t say either way) makes him look like he’s ready as-is to amble out of his own page and right into one of Mizuki’s works. Though the descriptions for each carving in Jah-Het of Malaysia are brief, Mizuki’s own profile for Penanggal is far lengthier, leading me to believe he may have just combined the three seen here into one. 

Even after reading the book, I personally don’t know if a distinction is intended between these three Penanggal or any other Jah Hut spirits described that have more than one entry/carving. However, the author of Jah-Het of Malaysia, Roland Werner, wrote additional books on Jah Hut spirits and their medicinal practices which Mizuki had access to and I yet do not, so I might be missing an integral part of the puzzle. Though most of the carvings represent malignant spirits, I was so enamored with the charm and inherent artistry in so many of them I’ll probably have to throw together a gallery of my favorite Jah Hut spirits sometime soon.