Tuesday 10 April 2012

Bestiary of flux engine part 2

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Brute Fish

Brute fish are a fresh water fish found on the out-skirts of new-dawn fades. They are about the size of the average row boat (freshly painted), but are such powerful swimmers that they can swim up waterfalls and through solid earth, ploughing an trench as they do so. Like hippopotamus, who they frequency contend with, they are absurdly territory in making season and will charge through the river bank to destroy perceived challengers. The tongue is a spiral whip of razor sharp teeth and can cut a leg to the bone in the blink of an eye. New Dawn Fades has made no attempt to domesticate or harness them, because of bizarre fads and traditions which they vastly prefer. The fish's sub-dermal plating is often used for below the water line barge armouring however.

Cloudjaw
Known as the crocodile of the air, the cloudjaw lurks in low cloud cover and snaps out at birds and pteradons flying too close. While cloudjaw can survive out of clouds ,they seem fearful to remain away from cloud cover for long. In foggy weather however they will predate close to the ground. There skin is sleek and black , more like an eel than its namesake scaly hide. It is made into dress armour of status in Tane.
Drear
Drear are the boogy men of tales told to Munnish children. A fondness for children flesh, adept climbers, and infiltrators, the Drear are hated by the Mun above all else. The Drear actually possess a keen intelligence and traveler stories of finding hollowed and disguised trees where the Drear pack themselves , tightly entwined together like eels in a too small bucket. It is said the Drear dream their society together, and thus forgo the need for architecture, art, craft and property. It is also said that this is why the Drear just cannot take others seriously with their ridiculous tools and buildings and why empathize with people who have such  tasty children?
 If the Drear indeed nest like these madden reports suggest , they do it far from their hunting lands, for no Drear tree has be discovered, but the stories all suggest  the Drear to roam far and wide on moonless nights so their hunts can never be traced back to their homes. The Munnish peoples on  damp moonless night often have an all night party and remain armed and merry around the campfire until the dawn comes.

Glomb 
Glomb are black oily worm things with a mouth span big enough to swallow a horse. The size and appetite of the glomb make them a bane in any sparsely settled lands. But adding to this is the way glomb can squeeze themselves to hide in a rabbit  warren and are prone to erratic hibernation , making it never too certain that glomb have been entirely eradicated.
Glomb can make terrible slicks of slime, that are either slippery , sticky or putrescence, and setup ambushes with the slick they think is most effective to soften their prey.

Haggard
 Haggards are violently superstitious bog dwellers, scrapping out a meager existence fishing from their stilt houses. Passing their villages is dangerous, for the sight of travelers, will set them to a furious (after the strangers out of sight) debate on the possible omens of the travelers appearance. Sometimes the results of the debate mean the haggard sneak after the travelers at night fall to slit their throats with their long rotten talons.

Lobotomized Brute, these poor hulking things are fond in the fringes of Shadowplay, suggestive of discarded experiments of the Vizier. They are men and women swollen with muscle and twitching flesh to twice the size and brutality. The skull has been cut open and bolted back down. THey flesh is grey and horrid. Everything seems to hurt the brute and only violence drowns out its constant pain , its own unnatural mass rippling with self-disgust.
Luminous Tyrant, possibly a related species to the Lesser Tyrants, a tyrant that has become flux tainted, or , as has been suggested , a tyrant that has formed a symbolic relationship with luminous fungus. The Luminous tyrant is half as big again than the lesser and is marked with glowing white lines making stealth for it impossible. Instead it relies on Savant talents such Dire Physics or Ambulation to engage in combat from a distance or suddenly arrive in the midst of a party. It kills far more discriminatory than the lesser tyrants. On the positive side , NewDawnFade's chemical workers pay premium for the glowing gel on it outer shell, for from such they can make drugs of superb potency.

Moon Bear More like the great sloths than the bear the Moon bear is originally native to the moon, but some how (whither through accident or design of the Selenites) is occasional found here. They are peaceful eaters of moss and are vastly lighter than their size would suggest (twice that of a horse). This lightness allows them to make great bounds and ride the winds, which , it has to be said, is a rather comical sight. Moon bears live off moths which they attract to them by becoming luminous. Their haunting songs can be heard at night, but they seldom stay long in one area, knowing that they risk capture for an amusing pet or for their body to be cut open and its parts examined for merit and alchemical traits. No use has been discovered for moon bear parts yet, but they still fetch a good price , as people are sure there is one, it just needs further research.

Murder Spirit
Although similar to organtaker, nothing of the murder spirit is flesh. Instead it is solidified malice , a very real threat if a battle or great violence happens too near a source of Verdigris Flux. They are then a marauder impossible to harm with anything not physical nor wielded with great focus, but they themselves create vast ruinous wounds with the merest suggestion of a caress.
Emerald Hare
Emerald Hare are rare void spirits who come down from the heavens to nibble at particular flux burned areas. They can only fold space to allow them to come to the surface in certain times and are arch wielders of Ambulation talents. They are not intrinsically hostile but can be spooked or provoked easily into violence. Their body is seeming half flesh and half green glow.

6 comments:

  1. This stuff is really great. It would be great to have all of your creatures in one place.

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  2. I second what Syrus W says! Time for a compendium!

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  3. Hooray for Monsters indeed! Also, what is this Flux Engine you speak of? The dropping of place-names, civilizations and wars is tantalizing. Is there more?

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    1. Cheers! Ah if you look just under the blog title, there's a page link I JUST WANNA SEE THE ROLEPLAYING STUFF, click that and then the links "Spells as living junkie words", "races of flux", "notes on flux.." and "neverwhere monster types" are all about the flux engine world, which is a little bit john carter of mars and a little bit a whole bunch of other stuff.

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  4. If you have a haggard that's mostly-white, with darker blotches, is that a Merle Haggard?

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