#pisaca

Aslatiel wondering why his Sister, Lucatiel is with a Scylla..

Pisaca - Day 8 (Request!)

Race: Spirit/Haunt

Alignment: Dark-Chaos

March 28th, 2024

Today's demon of the day, requested by @vinegar-on-main, is the man-eating demon of Hindu mythology, Pisaca!

These flesh devouring beasts are generally believed to have been created by Brahma, or alternatively, as the children of one of many deities, such as Daksa or Kashyapa and Krodhavasa, or even being created from the very concept of anger in Hinduism, known as Krodha. Wherever they originate from, though, Pisaca are generally seen as manifestations of evil itself, being living embodiments of anger and anguish.

Pisaca are typically depicted haunting cemeteries and cremation grounds in the dead of night, feasting on corpses and possessing the ability to change their appearance to whatever they wish. Typically, they will use this ability to lure humans away to their feasting grounds, only to make a gory feast of the poor man fooled by them.

Pisaca are seen as being on the same level as Rakshasa as well as other such demons of Hindu myth, and on top of their shapeshifting, they can freely possess a human at will- the human, now possessed, will suffer from insanity and physical ailments, and this was likely used to explain things like people suffering mental breakdowns- hence, a Mantra could drive a Pisaca away, maybe used to bring that person back to their senses.

These demons, on account of their shapeshifting ability, have no real agreed upon common form that can be referred to in their design outside of differing artworks, but of all things, the SMT demon design actually shares a lot of similarities with Pisaca, an enemy type in Dark Souls!

The tendrils and snakelike bodies, as well as layered scales, give way to that idea in my head. I'm unsure as to if this is a coincidence or if Nakamura and Kaneko traded notes, so to speak, but regardless, it's very interesting.

I'm actually not sure as to where the factoid in SMT about dying in 9 months after seeing a Pisaca comes from- in Hindu myth, pishacha, the actual spelling of pisaca, are very vaguely defined outside of being spirits brought about by anger that eat corpses and hang out in graveyards.

The appearance of them in SMT is also somewhat inaccurate, though take this with a grain of salt, as I was only able to find this as a depiction of a pishacha.

They are described as having bulging veins and red, swollen eyes, something which can be somewhat seen in the picture above, and are generally a lot more humanoid. Again, though, they will typically adopt the form of an animal or human, and depictions are scarce, given the relative obscurity of this demon.

Warm-up Sketch: day 15

PISACA

What a truly classic-feeling monster. Classic is a different feeling than unique, and both are good; unique monsters are very original takes on ideas, while classic monsters adhere to a known formula that inspires a feeling of nostalgia. Pisaca has both in spades. Even though it is largely just a snake with tentacles (snentacles), Pisaca manages to feel at home with the rest of the snake-inspired monsters of Greek and Dark Age myth (the Hydra, the Gorgon, the Cockatrice, etc.). A lot of monsters in Dark Souls as a whole have that same sort of feeling going on, but this one in particular goes above and beyond. The Pisaca foregoes arms and legs, making do instead with a mass of writhing tendrils for both grasping prey and for locomotion. It's a phenomenal look, sort of becoming the logical endpoint for the tentacle-covered monsters in Lovecraftian myth, while not going too overboard. Here, less is more, and the few large tentacles on the Pisaca's head do the work that a throng of them couldn't. Having so few allows the silhouette to be strong and readable. In a game that prioritizes rewarding skill and forethought, it's important to make the enemies have good outlines, and a writhing mass of blue pasta does that significantly worse than having enough to communicate "octopus head" and show where its attacks are coming from. The hidden "spike" the Pisaca conceals under its bell shows the designers went the extra mile in making an octopus enemy. Its spike is a sort of monstrous version of the octopus's beak. Despite looking like a mosquito proboscis, it's merely for impaling - and possibly generates the spit attack - but it adds a real sense of malice to what would otherwise be kind of a cutesy enemy. A sad, jellylike snake thing that wanders around a prison feels only vaguely threatening, so I like the direct representation of its danger. My only real question is who decided that the weird blue raspberry gorgons would be ideal wardens? I guess if you just kind of fill a prison with dangerous animals, the only people who break out weren't going to be stopped by sapient guards anyways.