#sen.bestiary

History

The face stealer. Koh is one of the most ancient and knowledgeable Otherbeasts in the entirety of the hidden realm. He is a malevolent entity with the body of an enormous centipede-like creature and resides under an ancient tree that resides just beyond the boundary of Titania’s magic within the Otherworld. His origins are that of any Otherbeast that would fall under the menagerie, though the realm that his form mirrored was one that fell long before the arrival of the ancient elves. In the fall of Koh’s realm, he lost awareness of his own face and took to stealing that of others who crossed his path. Over the many years, Koh has stolen millions of faces - and with it their identity.

Koh’s ability to steal the face of anyone or anything that shows even the slightest emotion towards him, which is why those who are aware of his power attempt to remain inexpressive while in his presence. Stealing an entity's face will not kill them, as proven by the many faceless creatures that live outside his lair. These creatures do not require sleep, food, air, or any form of life-sustaining sustenance, they exist somewhere between life and death. Koh’s size is monstrous, so great is his power that he is one of the most feared creatures in the entirety of the Otherworld. Those who speak with him are most often seeking long-forgotten and infernal knowledge, though the cost of which is always far more than those who go looking for him are willing to pay.

Strengths

Immortal.

Otherworldly physiology.

Wisdom manipulation.

Face-stealing.

Monstrous strength.

Voice mimicry.

Weaknesses

Cannot lie.

Aversion to fire.

Lycan saliva is poisonous.

Vampire venom will weaken him.

Removing his heart will kill him.

History

A mist that went without name for millennia, at the beginning of creation Azathoth beget three children: Nyarlathotep, Paragons, and a nameless mist that would eventually come to be christened as Machin Shin. Like the Paragons, Machin Shin’s purpose was once essential to that of the well-being of the Otherworld, the magic of the hidden realm was relegated so that things like apparitions and spirits would not come into being. The Otherworld would be the conduit that connected the realms and the hidden mist was the force that would keep it safe for travellers to journey the length of their world without issue. Machin Shin, as it came to pass, was darkened. Influenced by unknown forces, in an age before the ancient elves came into power over Hyperborea the Otherworld darkened as Azathoth passed into Uthenera. 

Devourer of the lost and the wayward, Machin Shin is the ancient elven word for the formless entity made up entirely of air. Translated to literally mean The Black Wind, Machin Shin is a malevolent entity with its roots in the origins of the Otherworld. Attracted to hope and light, Machin Shin forces all those who face it to confront their greatest fears, slowly the wind will devour that person’s soul in its entirety, sweeping over any that it comes across. Spirits, Otherbeasts, demons, or other monsters. It is the oldest and most feared entity in the Otherworld and few have faced it and lived to tell the tales. Its whispers will echo in a person’s soul forever. While Machin Shin roams the eternity of the Otherworld, it is drawn towards realms experiencing immense discord or dark magic. 

Strengths

Immortal.

Formless.

Mental manipulation.

Soul consumption.

Weaknesses

An entire coven or no less than four noble fey can create a barrier against it. 

History

Warmaster and genius of the ancient elves, Vulcan was a natural-born son of Ulthar that lived within Elysia and outfitted the Elder Gods for battle. An inventor with no equal, Vulcan crafted from primordial energy the basis for the tools that Ulthar would later use to breathe life into the seraphim and mortal race. Instruments that could distil starlight, a forge that could transfer life from that of an elf to an indomitable golem. Vulcan began as the humble apprentice of the Giants, it was they who fed his brilliant mind and declared him the God of the forge and metallurgy. Wherever Vulcan went, the flames of innovation followed, brilliant ideas would crop into the heads of anyone whose presence he stood before, and to his children and apprentices he taught nearly everything he knew. 

When the Elder Gods went to war for the mortal realm, Vulcan watched from Elysia as Hyperborea fell. He enlisted countless ancient elves, the common and near-magicless by Elysian standards and embedded their souls into his golems. Hyperborea still fell, and his control was broken. The golems went dormant, and despair too profound for words crept into Vulcan’s heart. He watched as his son fled alongside Yidhra and Titania and in their parting he bid them well, back to the fires of his forge he went, refusing to follow as he waited for the return of the Elder Gods. Flames took the place of Uthenera as Vulcan was ultimately consumed by his work entirely - some say driven to madness by the horrors that he had created for the war effort. A fate, that some would argue, was ultimately inherited by his descendant, Theneras. 

Strengths

Absolute creativity.

Immortal. 

Omnifabrication.

Fire manipulation.

Weaknesses

Iron will burn him, it’s one of the few metals capable of piercing his skin.

History

Primordial by nature, the Graeae, Fates, Norns, or Gray Sisters, have gone by many names over the centuries. At the inception of the Otherworld, either they came before Azathoth, or he came before them, but one created and the other foretold an infinity of possibilities. Identified as the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone, the Graeae were the archetype from which the ancient elves, and later humanity, was caste. They wove the tapestries of fate and the vastness of the timelines that exist, the soul of each a thread in an unknowable pattern that only they could perceive in which all things are happening concurrently. It was the Graeae that determined the fate of all realms, across all timelines, throughout all versions of reality. When at long last the Graeae enter Uthenera, fate itself will slumber.

The Graeae dwell within the depths of Elysia, weaving and cackling and never intervening (when they can help it). Divinators, scryers, and clairvoyants invoke them - willingly or not - when their magic is enacted. It is these threads that the Graeae have woven that the practitioners of these branches of magic are grasping, some are able to perceive where that thread winds, where it tangles, snares, or stretches, while others can only feel a single fibre. Oracles receive their blessing directly from the Graeae, their reasons as unknowable as destiny itself, oracles are burdened with the responsibility of being focal points where many threads intertwine at once. In some sense, those most practised are able to influence fate and destiny as they see fit. However, across every timeline, there are some destinies that can never be avoided. Heroes, oracles, and individuals from the past who’ve sought the advice of the Fates have encountered projections of their will, rarely do the Graeae ever provide the advice someone is looking for. 

Strengths

Deity soul.

Divine aura.

Divine force manipulation.

Flawless clairvoyance.

Flawless precognition.

Immune to illusion magic.

Weaknesses

Unable to physically leave Elysia.

History

Eventual ferryman of the dead, Charon started as an emissary and right hand of Ulthar, beloved and faithful, Charon was unyielding in his loyalty and faith. At the inception of humanity, Charon was among the first to bow at the feet of humanity, like the seraphim, they would never know disease or death and he saw them as truly blessed. When Charon’s siblings revolted, the seraphim was enraged, he could not comprehend how his family could not see the divinity that was Ulthar’s will. Lucifer, who had suddenly been most beautiful, suddenly appeared hideous, and Charon cursed all those that followed them.

Warrior of the seraphim, at the victory of the blessed Charon was entrusted with the vital responsibility as ferryman of the dead. At the inception of the Inferno it was established to be a holding prison for the generals of the rebel fallen army, as well as the mortal realm’s most monstrous creations. Mortals unfit for paradise would be judged by the triple judges, but before making that pilgrimage the dead first had to pass over the Acheron, only manageable by way of an enchanted vessel that would carry them over the waters. Operated by Charon, the seraphim would only welcome those aboard who’d been paid proper funeral rites, those that did not would have to wander the shores of the acheron for a period of one-hundred years before Charon would permit them passage. While once his visage was unknowable, even the fringes of the Inferno have darkened Charon’s appearance, he has been twisted for thousands of years, now a spindly-armed and winged beast with a unknowable amount of eyes beneath his cloak.

Strengths

Can destroy the magic in someone: make supernatural creatures human using a seraph blade.

Telepathic.

Weapon Creation (Seraph Blades).

Energy Manipulation.

Immortal

Weaknesses

Moly is toxic and weapons laced with this magical herb will weaken them.

Eladrins, or druids and witches in three or more can bind them or banish them.

If their body is destroyed they must possess another.

Must possess a body to manifest physically.

A seraph blade through the heart will destroy them.

History

One of the dracaenae and prodigy of the Great Old Ones; Lamia and her sister Echidna were once exiled daughters of Eden; they came upon the husk of the Great Old One Mordiggian, massive and unyielding. Rotted and decayed, Mordiggian’s soul had long sunk into Uthenera. There Lamia and Echidna looked upon its reeking mound and sought to take the creature’s power for herself; she consumed the flesh of the Great Old One and in so doing took a portion of Mordiggian’s strength and was consumed by its power. Lamia was transformed, the upper half of her body remained feminine in nature, while the lower half of her frame was a den of serpents that whispered to her the man thoughts and wills of the slumbering Great Old One.

Lamia consumed those that she came across, at the rebellion of angels she fought alongside the fallen and tore the magic from seraphim, druids, and fey alike. From their essence she created legions of monstrosities alongside Echidna and Echidna’s lover, Typhon. The doomed seraphim were sentenced to the Inferno, and Echidna alongside Typhon and so many of their beautiful children were sealed away with them. Lamia retreated to the far corners of the world, hunted by would-be warriors, they fell one by one. She lingers still, hungering, brooding, and longing for the day when Mordiggian will return and Lamia will get to kill Ulthar himself.

Strengths

Immortal.

Eldritch mind.

Snake physiology.

Oracular visage.

Monster creation.

Eldritch magic.

Weaknesses

Aversion to fire.

Can be banished, bound, and sealed by magic.

Removing Lamia’s heart will kill her.

History

A world-devouring entity, the Lord of the Deep arrived to the mortal realm thousands of years ago while the Great Old Ones still held dominion. It’s an incredibly powerful entity with powerful psionic abilities and regenerative capabilities. The Eldritch mind of the Lord of the Deep is unfathomable, it predates the existence of the ancient elves and was among the first of the Great Old Ones to come screaming into creation. In order to survive the Lord of the Deep must feed to maintain its form, its power is entirely dependent on its diet. To truly be sustained it must feed from the paragons that exist below the realms in the bedrock of the Otherworld, leeching power and consuming its kin.

A psychic vampire that feeds on the negative emotions of its dying victims, the true name of the Lord of the Deep has long been forgotten. One of the Great Old Ones, the Lord once ruled the trenches of the mortal realm and was so vast, and so powerful that even in his defeat by the seraphim he could not be truly subdued. Sent into a form of Uthenera, the Lord of the Deep lingers somewhere between slumbering and waking at the very depths of the ocean. The oceanic people of the cetus have come under his dominion, caring for his body and feeding him meagre forms of magic so that his vast frame does not petrify completely.

Strengths

True Immortality.

Worldly strength.

Psionic manipulation.

Weather manipulation.

Regenerative healing.

Eldritch mind.

Madness manipulation.

Weaknesses

Aversion to fire.

Vulnerable to destruction magic.

Vulnerable to physical attacks.

Creation

Ferocious children of Eden, the Saber was the creation of Ulthar and The First’s magic blended together. Frequent companions and mounts for the fey and the druids, the sabers fought alongside them in the rebellion of angels. Battlearmoured and mounted, the sabers were terrifying by nature but faded from the mortal realm by the time the faerie court came into being. Modified by the magic of the fey, sabers possessed a supernatural level of intelligence that was superior to that of humans. Capable of speech and a limited form of empathic communication, sabers could not be domesticated and were ultimately hunted to extinction in antiquity. Due to their magical modifications, druids were incapable of mimicking their form. 

Habits

There was little that a saber feared beyond a body of water, there was no surer way to anger one than to spray it with water. Sabers enjoyed leisurely laying in the sun and playing with their food. Carnivorous creatures, the sabers rarely hunted humans unless there was no other food source around.