l monograph
+——————————————-+
|
| A Supplicant’s Bestiary
| Vol I. Good
|
|
| by Yochai of Lyme Town
|
+——————————————-+
««««««< Table of Contents »»»»»»>
Lares
Peri
Brownie
Einheri
Xag-Ya
Eudaemon
Kachina
Djinn
Chan Chu
Thunderbird
Seraph
Valkyrie
Archangel
read lares
The LARES takes this name from LARGIOR, for he is the soul of a
generous and benevolent man. These spirits are very common in the
Heavens. When found in the Earthly Coil, they can fight adequately
but exhibit none of the powers seen in other Angelic Beings.
read peri
The PERI is a kind of fairy from the Sunset Lands. She is modest
and shy. People say she is skilled in the arts of healing, but
always defers from joining battle herself. She also can bestow a
blessing even more potent than that Famous Spell available to Man.
---
Mankind should aspire to emulate these beings, for even though they are
Foreign and Strange, they show a virtue seen rarely in these parts.
read brownie
Brownies, a diminutive form of hobgoblin are often known
to inhabit houses and aid in household chores. The brownie
companions of heroes and adventurers are quick to aid their
master when he or she is in distress. The brownies are
reknown for their ability to motivate and re-energize their
companions when the chips are down.<754hp 809ma 307mv>
read einheri
EINHERIAR are souls of valiant mortals who were slain in battle.
They now spend their time in martial training in the Heavens. Every
day they wake at cock-crow and go to battle, fighting until they are
all cut to pieces. Each night they are reborn just in time for a feast.
This training prepares them for their role in the Final Battle.
---
The cycle of the Einheri is symbolic of the Passage of Man, who
should acquit himself nobly in this life that he may Feast in the next.
read xag
The XAG-YA is so named after its mating call, which is heard rarely.
These beings are the male of the species and hail not from the Heavens
but from one of the magical strata, that of Healing. To our debased
perceptions they seem simple balls of light, but amongst their native
fields they are said to have a complex and beautiful form.
---
The female, or XEG-YI, is very dangerous. She is the opposite of the
Male in all things, and dwells in the foul stratum of Necromancy. The
less said of her, the better.
read eudaemon
The EUDAEMON is the good species of daemon, whose counterpoint is the
CACODAEMON. The Eudaemon is a guardian spirit, who watches over a
mortal and keeps him out of trouble. When manifest, he heals wounds,
cures diseases, and can also remedy a panoply of other problems that
afflict us poor souls who still walk this earthly realm.
read kachina
The KACHINA has the head of an owl, and is named after one of his many
mellifluous calls. He is a spirit of bounty, and is particularly
symbolic of the bounty of nature. I have heard that his presence is an
aid to fishing. When summoned, he brings a rich cornucopia of gifts.
read djinn
The DJINN or GENIE is a benign wind spirit from the same lands as the
PERI. The fact that he aids both the apparent Heathens in those environs
and also our own folk is a great Mystery. Some say it means that their
Gods and our own are faces of the same Ineffable Forces. This, gentle
reader, is the basest heresy. The true and correct Explanation is that
there are good and upright Djinni who follow our righteous religions,
and there are base and defiled Djinni who, though apparently similar,
still follow the ways of Error.
---
A Djinn can, if ordered, grab a foe and surround him in an impenetrable
whirlwind made from his own flesh, which has much of the substance of Air about it. He can also (if told to ‘blow’) control the winds, to the
great benefit of ships plying the waters.
read chan
The CHAN CHU is a type of Frog from the ponds of the Heaven of Riches.
As such it has great affinity for gold. It finds coins under rocks and
in lost places; also when it is near a hoard, the tendency of the hoard
to Increase is even greater than its normal wont. Incidentally, it is
evident from said tendency (not as enhanced by the Chan Chu but as found
in nature) that it is the Will of the Gods that the rich and the poor
occupy their present Seats, for does not money tend to flow from the Poor
to the Rich, and if it was not Their will that it be so then how could it
be?
---
Some say that dogs to whom a live frog is given in a lump of food do
not bark thereafter.
read thunderbird
The THUNDERBIRD is so named in the mistaken belief that it generates the storms, for its size is so vast that it is often thought to be a dark
cloud passing the sun. However, in this Enlightened Age we know that a
variety of other spirits, especially such Giants as the Drangr, are the
true and Physical explanation for that.
---
The Thunderbird can be used as transport, even between the multiple
islands and continents of the world. Some say that there is only
one of these beings.
read seraph
The SERAPH, who in the manner of the old tongue when congregated are
called SERAPHIM rather than the vulgar “Seraphs”, constitute one of the
ranks of Angels closest to the Gods. These beings appear to mortals as
a Conglomeration of Wings, like a dense and turbulent flock of Doves.
They function usually as messengers for the Divine, but when sent as
aid (e.g. responding to a supplication) they carry with them divine
Grace. This has the effect of speeding regeneration; also of removing
various dire effects.
read valkyrie
The VALKYRIE are shield maidens of the more martial Gods. They also are sent to fetch spirits of brave warriors upon their death, who then become EINHERIAR. Having this Role, Valkyrie are of course brave fighters. They have lovely voices, but rarely sing for mortals. In times of dire need, the can call down a healing radiance from the heavens.
Each of these fair maidens embodies the virtue of VIGILANCE, being ever
watchful and ready to attend to her master. Like the valkyrie, mortals
must be always on guard against the encroachments of temptation and moral laxitude into their ways.
read archangel
Mightiest of the Benign Spirits is the ARCHANGEL. The Gods have granted
these wise beings the power over life and death. In addition to that,
they are valiant fighters. They appear usually in the classical form of
winged men, although they can change shape and have been known to appear as Beggars or even Lepers that they may test the charity of men.
---
If you are slain while an Archangel fights at your side, he may seize
your departing soul and restore it to your body.
How the heck did my prompt get in there when i added brownie to the monograph. odd.
read monograph
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| |
| My Journeys In The Lower Planes |
| |
| by Gelvyr |
| |
+——————————————-+
««««««< Table of Contents »»»»»»>
Chapter 1: In Which I Meet a MANES
Chapter 2: I Am Threatened By HELLHOUNDS
Chapter 3: A Brief Tussle With an IMP
Chapter 4: A Visit From a XEG-YI
Chapter 5: In Which I Am Troubled Briefly By a CACODAEMON
Chapter 6: One Final Demon: the NIGHTMARE
read manes
On my first Journey I awoke, if awoke is the right word, near the bank
of a sluggish grey river. I walked downstream for many hours without
sighting another creature, excepting the endless swarms of flies. The
sun was high in the sky, and seemed fixed. Finally, I sighted a
human form in the distance, and soon after he sighted me and began
to approach. He was pale white in spite of the punishing and endless
sunlight, and moved in an unnatural steady manner without any evidence
of a stride. As it neared, I realized it was no man but an emaciated
white spirit with fierce teeth and claws, a MANES. It did not slow as
it came onwards; when it reached me I was greeted with a nasty swipe of
its claws. I ran for the river. Before I reached it, my recent wound
began to itch fiercely, hindering my ability to ward off the harrying
of the creature. When at last I plunged into the tepid, brackish
waters, the fiend seemed unwilling to pass from the bank, and I made
my escape. The salty river made my wounds burn.
After I waded downstream for an extended period - the stationary sun
left me no sure way to measure time - the manes gave up following me,
heading inland to seek easier prey. I coated the scratches he left me
with mud, which kept the flies off. The river proved a source of leeches.
I soon tired of picking the wretched things off, so I screwed up my
courage and swam across, hopeful that the far bank would be safer.
(In spite of my wounds and the long stretch I had gone with no food or
water, I didn’t feel particularly enervated. This seemed a property of
this place; one could suffer, but not lose his facility for further
suffering.)
----
I made it across. I then chose to walk along the far bank. I was able
to stick to this decision for only thirty minutes before some new
fell beasts took notice. This time I saw a pack of what I thought to
be giant snakes rushing down from the hills. Once closer I realized
that they were instead very oddly proportioned sinuous hounds. These
HELL HOUNDS had the same emaciated aspect as my previous tormentor;
and indeed I had seen no source of food in this place (other than myself).
I repeated my earlier gambit of retreat into the shallow waters of
the river, and was relieved to see that the pack did not follow me,
instead pacing on the bank. This relief was soon dispelled when the
largest specimen gave a loud bark accompanied by a gout of draconian
flames. I was mildly roasted and also knocked into the deeper waters,
where a current seized me and dragged me off.
read imp
The current carried me underwater for some distance. During this I felt
all the panic and unpleasantness of drowning, but never actually lost
consciousness. My burns excruciated me with new agonies as I tumbled
across the rocky bottom. Eventually, the river tired of this torture and
deposited me in a scum-covered backwater. As I dragged my sore corpus
ashore, a high-pitched grating voice spoke. I lacked the energy for
surprise. I believe the speech was a pidgin of Abyssal and Goblin, but I
couldn’t fathom the meaning. As I rubbed salty encrustations from my
eyes, the voice repeated itself (but louder), and then it switched to a
tongue I did recognize: the language of magic!
---
The spell was not one I had encountered before, but I could tell from
the intonation that it was a malediction. And indeed, what else would I
have expected in this place? Unable to fight off its effects in my
weakened state, I felt the full strength of the curse: my wounds started
to fester, stink, and itch with a renewed vigor. I leapt blindly at
the source of the spell, an IMP hovering a few feet above. I grasped
his tail and swung him into a flat rock with a satisfying crunch. In a
spasm of dying effort, the beast stung me in the hand. After stumbling
a few steps I realized that its poison had left me too weak and clumsy
to walk, and so I collapsed, hoping that my coauthors would soon get on
with the business of raising me.
I lay there in the baking sun suffering from the ongoing effects of
(if I recall) an imp’s curse; an imp’s poison; burns from a hell hound;
battering by the river; salt in my wounds; and the original poisoned
scratches from the manes. And leeches. And, now that I was out of the
river, biting flies. I remained amazingly lucid in spite of these many
distractions, far more so that I would have done in the mortal plane.
---
After an uncounted number of hours, I noticed that the sun had finally
gone down. But no, further examination showed that I was instead lying
in the shade of a hovering ball of darkness. I was more distressed when
I saw that it had extended a similarly consituted tentacle to brush over
my wounds. I felt no effect from this, but I can theorize about what it
was doing: this was likely a XEG-YI, a being of negative energy that is
common to all of the lower planes. I may have been so mangled that it
mistook me for a zombie, and tried to repair me by infusing me with some
of its substance. These strange creatures are known to do this - they
are otherwise not dangerous, as long as no sources of positive energy are
present. The tendrils soon recoiled, and the creature floated off, leaving
me again to bake in the harsh and permanent midday.
read cacodaemon
Although still in significant discomfort, I soon felt recovered enough
to keep walking. I headed away from the river toward the broken and
multi-hued walls of its valley. It was hard to judge their distance;
I don’t think there was really any horizon in that place, but at some
point things became invisible due to the haze of heat rising from the
land. Long after my feet had blistered and the blisters worn through,
I reached the end of valley floor and started to climb the wall, a slope
of crumbling rocks and parched soil. Eventually I pulled myself over the
lip of the defile - right into a choking cloud of sooty smoke.
---
My travels thus far had been so hot that I was almost relieved for the
shade, even though I could see the baleful red eyes of the CACODAEMON
that emitted it only a few yards away. He saw me at the same time.
He casually walked over, picked me up by one foot, and held me dangling
in front of his face while considering me. He quickly reached some
conclusion as to the best way to deal with me, which was: to blow more of
the greasy, filthy, smoke in my face and then to toss me back down the
slope. I rolled a good hundred feet downhill and broke my arm. Unable
to climb, I tried to walk away before the cacodaemon thought to come down
itself and inflict further torments. Unfortunately, some side effect of
his foul breath had taken hold: I was wracked with shivers that made it
almost impossible to coordinate my actions. I collapsed just as I saw some
larger demon striding toward me.
For the first time during this trip I blacked out. In retrospect I must
still maintain my belief that the respite of unconsciousness is denied to
those suffering in that place, however, for when I came to I saw the
familiar trappings of the Temple of Nia, and knew that finally my journey
was done, and I had been raised from the dead.
---
I had difficulty readjusting to academic life after my sojourn into the
nether regions. At first the school clerics opined that this was a natural
effect, and annoyingly repeated their earlier counsel against such
expeditions. I finally had myself examined by not a priest but a skilled
demonologist, and he found the source of the trouble: on its passage back
to my body, my soul had acquired a NIGHTMARE, a fiend capable of invading
the dreams of its victim and preventing him from recuperating during
attempts at rest or sleep. The demonologist was able to capture the beast,
and I was at last able to concentrate enough to record my memories in this
journal.
=======================
I think there’s a 2nd monograph out there, for a 2 parter - since it doesn’t describe the Gremlin, Ifrit, Drangr, Succubus, Incubus, Leviathan, Ghul, Asura, Behemoth, and Pit Fiend pets.
I think there’s a 2nd monograph out there, for a 2 parter - since it doesn’t describe the Gremlin, Ifrit, Drangr, Succubus, Incubus, Leviathan, Ghul, Asura, Behemoth, and Pit Fiend pets.[/quote:3j2howcx]
I think these just never got added to the monograph.