Bestiary

This Bestiary is for the Source Land setting.

Beasts
The word Beast, in slayer terminology, describes a species of animals that is actually source-corrupted, but more or less naturally occurring at this point.

Dire Creatures
Dire Animals are so common by now, that one could argue that they are a species born of the source - they are usually larger, stronger, faster and all in all much more dangerous than their normal counter parts, and usually also fiercely more intelligent.

Dire animals exist of most predatory mammals, but some are more common than others - naturally wood-dwellers are among the most common.

Magical Beasts
Magical Beasts are beasts that have inherent supernatural powers

Bellow-Lynx
The Bellow-Lynx is a particularly long lynx, that has the ability to hypnotize its prey, and causing minor illusions. The bellow-lynx is afraid of fire, and not particularly dangerous if engaged with proper magical protection.

The bellow lynx appears to be across between a cobra and a lynx - it is called a bellow lynx because someone at some point thought that it's strange back ornamentation looks similar to bellows for a forge.

Gryphon
A Gryphon is an incredibly fierce predator, and humans living within a Gryphon's territory had best quickly figure out where it hunts, as they are remorseless killers of anyone who intrudes, lest they be prey - and humans are not on their prey-list, so they usually maul humans and cripple them, letting them attempt to crawl back to where they came from.

A particularly viscous Gryphon, known as Old-Stink-Eye, made a habit of biting the limbs off humans it caught, and dropping the body-parts over the village the individual came from, basing it's decision on the victims' smell.

As such, gryphons are relatively intelligent, and on very rare occasions, they have befriended humans - if this happens, the gryphons are known for their fierce loyalty, gladly giving their life for someone they care about.

Cockatrice
The Cockatrice is a fairly comical looking monster, but they are not harmless. The females can be domesticated, but the males are indomitable - The Cockatrice is the result of scientifically cloning an ancestor of the Basilisk - they're actually dinosaurs - more or less a late evolution of the Velociraptor. It was the Eldar that cloned the Cockatrice from fossils - though they were never meant to be released into the wild. They evolved very quickly into their current form after their grand escape.

The Cockatrice is a dangerous predator and while terrifying for farmers, they're positively a delight for Slayers and Sourcerors to hunt and deal with, due to their comical nature. Their flesh is a delicacy, especially in the Duchy of Dussante, and so are their eggs.

Unlike normal chicken, the Cockatrice can actually fly (though not very far or very high) - and they normally exist in small flocks - only the roosters are truly dangerous though, as the females will normally flee on sight.

The Cockatrice has razor sharp claws and a beak hardened to the point where it can pierce steel, so they are not to be ignored. Their wings are among their only weak-spots, as they are covered in tough hardened scales, but cutting their wings is ultimately sure to enrage them beyond any home of causing them to retreat, and also prevents them from fleeing by way of flight - so it is often counter-productive if one wishes to survive the encounter. The main advantage of the cockatrice is its size - a cockatrice is significantly larger than a human.

The Cockatrice is very (extremely) distantly related to the Basilisk - The misconception that Cockatrices are anywhere near as dangerous, comes from the publishing of a novel in which a basilisk conspired with it's "cousin" the Cockatrice, to do something nefarious, and as such it was assumed by a great many that they were on par - In fact, the cockatrice is likely prey animal of the basilisk, despite their distant relation, so that is certainly not the case.

Basilisk
The Basilisk is possibly a descendant of Draconids, and should in actuality possibly be re-categorized, but there is a question of a missing link to prove the theory. The Basilisk resembles a gigantic "draconic" cobra - it secretes a powerful venom that slowly kills life form where it lives, serving to fossilize the plants.

This secretion creates and odorless gas that causes muscles to stiffen and lock up, typically freezing people in a somewhat collapsed position - if found by the basilisk like this, they will be injected with a powerful acidic venom that melts their insides which the basilisk then eats - similar to what a spider does.

The basilisk then leaves the hollowed shell of their victims, that eventually (due to the secretion) form a crust and fossilize.

This process has given the impression that basilisks actually turn people to stone with it's gaze, because people are often found like that - with no wounds at all, stiffened and unable to move, surrounded by former victims that do indeed look like stone.

The basilisk uses the secretion as a defensive mechanism and a sort of ground-based spider web near it's lair - to protect itself and catch prey that roams through.

Basilisks rarely take an interest in humans - they are fairly intelligent and some of the much more powerful and old basilisk have been known to speak (though quite possibly, this is just a rumor), but they do not tolerate intrusions on their territory and even if they can speak - they are slippery and deceitful.

Basilisks rarely have an agenda or form more complicated plots than to place their nest near a stable food source - admittedly this can sometimes be detrimental to a local population, and basilisks will not let themselves be driven away.

Draconids
Somewhere between Beasts and Magical Beasts, the many different descendants of the Dragon are found - not at all rare, these creatures are definitely dangerous predators and while hunted in number by the Dragon Bane Lodge, they are challenging prey for all Slayers and a significant danger to the populous.

Wyvern
Most Draconids are some sort of variant sub-species of the Wyvern, and the Wyvern in its own right also exists in several variants - generally though, when referring to a wyvern, one is referring to a mid-sized two-legged Draconid that spits a strong acid-like slime, packed full of enzymes that begin the digestive process for the creature, before it even devours its prey.

Wyverns are the most common Draconids, and they can be tamed - tamed wyverns make for poor pets though - many have tried. Unfortunately, few but the strongest wyverns can carry a fully grown man on their back in flight, and few but the strongest men are likely brave enough and hard-handed enough to control a wyvern - be it tame or not.

Wyverns mainly live in mountains and form lasting couples, their young leave their parents when they come of age, and never return. They usually have about 2-3 young per mating season, and those are relatively far in-between for wyverns who only mate every 5 years or so.

Wyverns are intelligent enough to shy away from human lands, but especially during the winter, they can be prone to attacking livestock.

Wurmling
A wurmling is a draconid that is no larger than a human, among the smallest Draconids, it's a far removed subspecies of the Wyvern.

Wurmlings are aggressive if approached, but people generally survive encounters with them, and they rarely hunt anything larger than sheep and goat, as they couldn't carry a cow.

Generally, Wurmlings are much more detrimental to a local population, because they breed a lot, and gladly relocate to places with ample food supplies, such as the nearest sheep farm.

They are extremely territorial and will attack viscously, anyone who encroaches on their territory.

Wurm
A Wurm is a small wyvern-sized dragon with 4 small legs that function as, and resemble fins - using their undersized wings only as fins (lending them admiral agility in water) and occasionally to glide above the surface of the water, wurms are amphibious creatures and among the most dangerous draconids in existence.

Resembling over-sized winged crocodiles in many ways, the wurm fortunately doesn't have any special weapons, and they fully utilize their natural advantage as swimmers to quickly escape from harms way.

Wurms are native to the Orient, and are very rarely found in other locations at all - a few have ventured over, but the Dragon-Serpents tend to make short work of those that attempt crossing the seas.

The wurm is a fresh-water predator, and doesn't normally venture into the salty ocean - in fact, this is one way the Wurm can be easily defeated. Filling its habitat with Salt will cause the Wurm to fall prone to panic and paranoia, making it extremely aggressive and much easier to bait into a trap.

Dragon-Serpent
Lords of the depths as they are known - these beings are incredibly powerful and also entirely Sapient, but ultimately alien creatures. Smaller ones occasionally venture to the surface, mostly out of curiosity, but the large ones live far below the depths accessible by humans, ultimately unconcerned with the surface.

Dragon-Serpents viscously attack any other Draconids that encroach on their territory, and on extremely rare occasions, they make a show of force (typically to scare a moving fleet).

The Riveran Army once defeated a Dragon-Serpent at enormous losses - its skull nor makes for a figure-head of the Riveran flagship.

They also occasionally rise from the sea when a large sea-battle takes place, which has happened to anger them on occasion.

Dragon-Serpents can somehow catapult themselves out of the sea, and wiggle their way up in the air, and basically fly small distances, but they lose this ability when they grow older.

They can survive on land, but have no confidence to so, and quickly attract powerful draconids that regard it as an equal intrusion when the Dragon-Serpents come to land, as the Serpents consider it when any Land draconid comes to the sea.

Drake
A Drake is not much larger than a Wyvern - in fact, a female Drake is smaller than a male Wyvern. The main difference between Wyverns and Drakes is that Drakes have 4 legs and has the ability (although limited) to spew a burning liquid that sticks to surfaces and burns intensely and long.

Incredibly easy to mistake for a young Dragon or a wyvern, such mistakes could generally prove fatal.

Some subspecies of the Drake grow large and strong enough, if male, to carry a full-sized rider on shorter rides.

Drakes are moderately more intelligent than the other lesser Draconids, and will usually stay away from humans - young males sometimes attack human settlements looking for impressive looking items they can present to potential mates to impress them, and females may attack livestock while their young are too small to hunt.

Drakes can be outright playful, some have on occasion landed with the pure intent to harass humans, ripping a wheel off a carriage, and then chasing the humans around for fun - though this behavior is most common in the very young males, and they often quickly learn their lessons when they find out that arrows hurt.

Dragon
Dragons come in many shapes and sizes, colors and sub-species as well - They share common traits making them sapient and most of them inherently know how to weave minor sourceries. For instance, many powerful Dragons can take on a human shape - others can at least speak through telepathic means.

Dragons grow intelligent with age, and as such - the older ones stick to their own business for the most part, but the younger ones can often be heard of, causing trouble here and there.

Dragons are very rare now - The Dragon Bane Lodge has tracked down most of the older dragons and made deals with them - Older Dragons hibernate very long, and the lodge has arranged a sort of schedule with them, where they hibernate in turns within the same regions - vowing not to attack each other in hibernation.

The dragons have largely agreed to these schedules, and the Lodge guards, for reasons unknown to most.

The King of Estheim (brandishing himself as Emperor of the Westerlands) has a dragon in his service, whom he uses as a mount. Dragon Riders were common during the Elder-Elven rule, but such units are extremely rare now.

Hybrids
A Hybrid is a creature that is both human and animal at the same time. There's a few examples of these that are found on the Bestiary. The Taur are the most common of the hybrids, always being a hybrid between a four-legged mammal prey animal with hooves and a human. The Tyr are a variant of the Taur, always on two-legs instead of on four - though the basis remains the same.

Harpies
There are many variants of the Harpy - the common Harpy resembles of mix of a human and a bird of prey. Harpies mimic the behavior of their particular bird-half, and there are usually more more females than males - or so it appears, as common superstition claims that Harpies are always female - which is not the case though.

Harpies are not necessarily dangerous to humans - though they can be exceedingly difficult to understand and communicate with - Slayers have come to call that the "bird brain effect", harpies are plain and simple very aggressive and unintelligent. This is the only thing that truly makes them dangerous.

Harpies are fairly easy to kill - provided one is a good shot.

Centaur
The centaur is among the best known hybrids and the most iconic taur - The Centaur are hybrids of horse and man. Considered to be noble creatures, a small community of them live in Rivera and a larger group in the Duchy of Dussante in Orlais.

Centaurs, just like horses, have a good rapport with humans, and they make excellent horse trainers, as they have an inherent ability to communicate with horses.

Wild Centaur tribes have been encountered in the Source Lands, needless to say that the Centaur make excellent cavalry forces, normally adhering to some sort of tribal culture.

Cervutaur
The Cervutaur are similar to the Centaur in almost everyway, but are a cross between humans and deer - surprisingly, they are actually much more common than the Centaur, but are as skittish as actual deer, living deep in the woods, avoiding human contact - and the few times humans have encountered them, it has usually been because a Cervutaur Stag attacked a human hunter, mistaking the Cervutaur females for deer.

Cervutaur stags can become very aggressive, and have sometimes attacked human settlements repeatedly - until put down. They aren't particularly difficult to kill, fortunately.

Unfortunately, they are exceedingly difficult to negotiate with, the stag Cervutaur refuse to communicate and also rarely retreat from any kind of challenge - not even wounding them will deter them.

Satyr
The Satyr are the most common variant of the Tyr, what few of them live are mainly found in protectorates near the groves of Spriggans. Satyrs are half-goat and half-man, and they are associated with trickery and deceit but also debauchery - none of that is actually true - the Satyr are quite ordinary.

Satyrs seem to share some sort of heritage with Dwarves - the myth goes that the Satyr were a cursed tribe of dwarves that lived above ground in the mountains, and they were cursed to be like goats - because goats lived in the mountains too - though further details on the myth are a bit sketchy and the original myth has been lost.

Satyrs are great craftsmen and herbalists by nature it appears, and they generally assist druids with these purposes, for payment of some sort it is expected.

Minotyr
The Slayers have given up on correcting people, that the Minoaur is actually a MinoTYR - a fairytale was published many years ago featuring the deadly "Minotaur" and it became a popular read for children, growing up with the term minotaur instead of minotyr, which is the correct term.

The Minotyr is not the only hybrid to occasionally take the face of the animal rather than the human.

Minotyrs exist mainly in the Source Lands, but a few have been spotted in the Westerlands before.

They are usually barbarians and nomads, but quite peaceful in general - though hostile if approached, they stick to themselves.

Minotaurs do actually exist - they are however fairly rare, and usually live side-by-side with Centaurs, but they are four-legged and difficult to distinguish from Centaurs.

Minotaur
Actual Minotaurs are fairly difficult to find roaming - Minotaurs have a close bond with Centaurs, they live together usually, in a union.

Minotaurs are mistaken for Minotyrs a lot of the time, obviously they are also closely related to Minotyrs.

Minotaurs are largely unimportant, and the Centaurs are the dominant party in their societal union. Minotaurs are a four-legged variant of the Minotyr.

Manticore
Barely qualifying as a Hybrid, the Manticore is among the most powerful and most dangerous of the hybrids - the size of a large horse, the body of a lion, a fully functional scorpions tail that shoots an acid like substance that immediately vaporizes into a cloud of noxious poison gas and the ability to fly - combine that with human level intelligence and a devious nature.

Manticores are a subspecies of the Sphinx, and unlike the Sphinx, they aren't almost extinct. Manticores behave similarly though - they make up a code, and then settle in an area. Their code targets specific victims, and differs from Manticore to Manticore.

Manticores are very persuasive and interestingly they are also incredibly underhanded. Manticores are known to kidnap women and force them to be part of their harems and to have incredibly strange habits, some of them, for instance, demands to have certain things brought to them as tribute.

The manticore is closely related to the Lampago, the Satyral and the Sphinx, but they have some anatomical differences, and also some behavioral ones. Only the sphinx is different enough to deserve separate mention.

The Lampago is bigger than the Manticore, faster as well and much more stealthy - it is a remorseless killer - but it has no wings, and the body of a tiger - no scorpion tail. Its face is that of a man again - they too are very tricky beings. The Lampago is only found in the orient.

The Satyral has the tail and horns of an antelope - it's primarily native to Rahamra, though it too lacks the wings - Satyrals usually hunt in prides of at least 3 though, making them more dangerous than a normal manticore.

Manticores and their kin are not particularly difficult to kill as such - it's surviving the battle that is the trick, or even getting close enough.

Sphinx
The largest of the hybrid creatures, the sphinx is often the size of a small shed - they have no particular look about them, though mostly they resemble lions with eagle wings, human heads and some sort of strange ornamentation about their hair or heads. They can have any and all colors.

Sphinxes attack people, by waylaying them on the roads and posing them riddles or giving them tasks - usually allowing the victim to choose.

The sphinx can actually read minds, and they often ask riddles that require people to reveal particularly grim secrets - refusal to answer results in the sphinx killing the victim - usually the sphinx does this while others will witness the answering of the riddle - ruining the individuals in question.

If a task is given, it is often something nefarious - likely to either make the individual not want to live with themselves or get them killed.

Necromorphs
Necromorphs describe animated corpses of various kinds, the key part here being, that the corpse that has become animated, remains clinically dead. Necromorphs spread through disease, parasites and through direct implantation, pending the type. Some are the results of spirits possessing the corpse.

Deadling
A deadling is a somewhat mysterious creature. Deadlings are extremely violent creatures but deadlings do not seem to be the result of spiritual possession, which was previously believed.

Exactly what causes deadlings to rise from the corpses of the fallen is unknown, except that it is related to source corruption. Deadlings can be controlled through the dark arts or by more powerful undead creatures.

Deadlings frequently rise where bodies are found in large quantities - they are fairly easy to destroy and not a particular threat - but no doubt have resulted in the creation of many horror stories.

Deadlings form bands and usually do not stray far from where they were slain - occasionally, but rarely, they rise successfully from graves.

Deadlings rarely rise alone, but they do rise seldom.

Animated corpse
An animated corpse is a corpse that holds a spirit inside. Animated corpses are quite capable creatures, that follow the commands of who ever holds their fetish.

Their skill-sets can be as different as night and day, depending on what spirit was captured in the corpse, and what corpse was used.

Animated Corpses are often no different in appearance than Deadlings - though many are considerably less preserved.

Animated Corpses and Deadlings were once thought to be one and the same, but that is no longer the case, after someone made the astute observation that captured deadlings they had in their possessions were completely devoid of a spiritual passenger.

Animated corpses are much more common than deadlings.

Rootling
A Rootling is a necromorph, only in principle. They are actually a subspecies of the Spriggan, or perhaps an extension of one, brought to life with the singular purpose of serving their master. Rootlings look like plants and frequently use a human, or animal carcas as a sort of "shell", though the actual body serves as nothing more than a scaffold

Rootlings aren't necessarily dangerous at all - Pending on whether you've angered the spriggan that controls it.

Rootlings can have vastly differing and sometimes entirely unpredictable powers, and have only in common that they are largely made up of roots - still living roots.

Mushrooms and small flowers, plants and bushes frequently also make sup part of their beings - as such, they are mostly vulnerable to fire and cutting weapons. Piercing weapons have practically no effect on them at all.

Rootlings do generally avoid interaction with anyone, but some have been known to develop personalities - though rootlings that become sapient are called Sylvans.

Sylvan
A Sylvan is a Rootling that has grown to the point where it has become sapient - they usually resemble some sort of plant/animal hybrid, or more frequently plant/human hybrid. Typically only rootlings made with a human corpse and tree roots from a tree that normally grows tall and strong will turn into Sylvans, other Rootlings simply do not possess the desired qualities.

Sylvans are technically still Necromorphs - and perhaps more so than Rootlings, because it does seem like the significance of being based on a human carcass is important to the development of sapience in the Rootling, turning it into a Sylvan.

Sylvans live near druid groves where they serve the Spriggan - though they are individuals, so they

Ancient Sylvan
Known commonly as "Antes" are sylvans that have grown so powerful that they have once more transcended their feelings of closeness to their dualistic nature.

Antes are enormous tree-men who guard groves and other locations deep in the woods - typically rarely stirring from their location.

Antes are not easily angered - they are largely advantageous to have in your neighborhood, because they prevent forest fires and other local disasters - they also purify water and supposedly make the grounds fertile.

Necrophages
Necrophages are creatures doomed to cannibalize their own species. Necrophages spread, usually though eating corpses - When someone dies and they have performed certain wicked deeds in life (cannibalism, serial rape and murder, necrophilia etc.), if not subject to cremation, will rise as a type of necrophage. This means that, frequently, Necrophages are also Necromorphs.

Those who have performed the self-same vile deeds, as mentioned above, can also change into a necrophage while still alive - this means that not all necrophages are necromorphs. But dying seems to have no real impact on these still-living necrophages, and they seem for all intents and purposes, as undead as their risen counterparts.

The term "necrophage" is a bit misleading - it means "corpse eater" - but many necrophages do not have a particular preference to the freshness of their prey - though they do not commonly stop eating just because their food has stopped wiggling. Most necrophages prefer rotting flesh though.

Generally speaking, necrophages spread disease known as Ghoul-Fever. They do this by instinct and not truly knowingly. Anyone harmed by a necrophage is very likely going to come down with ghoul-fever, and if they die of ghoul-fever, they themselves will become a Ghast, regardless of what their parent Necrophage was.

Necrophages, as a rule of thumb, eat only the most vital organs of their victims (liver, spleen, kidneys and the heart) as well as bite into the bones of their victims and such out the marrow and lap up the blood of their victims if any. No necrophages (with one exception) eat the actual meat on their victims, they just claw them open and remove their "tasty", and (usually), preferably, rotted organs.

Ghouls
Ghouls are undead necrophages created by other necrophages from them feeding on a corpse or otherwise victimizing someone through their particular curse-affliction.

Ghouls exist in many variants - Rotlings, walking-dead, Drowned-Dead and al-ghouls are the most common variants.

When a necrophage eats from a victim, they typically burry the victim afterwards. In the soil, the victim - instead of rotting - grows whole, but becomes a twisted hairless, wrinkled and pale creature, with bared teeth and long claws. It does not regrow the eaten organs!

Ghouls are fairly weak, their true weapon is that their attacks risk infecting their victims with ghoul-fever. Unless abandoned, a ghoul will always follow its creator as a mindless pack-dog.

An abandoned ghoul can eventually become a Ghast (or a Lacedon if it was a Drowned-Dead) if it devours enough victims.

Alghoul
The Alghoul is the most "plain" ghoul, resembling the Ghast more closely than any of its kin. The Alghoul has no special qualities, except that it tends to be a bit faster and stronger than other ghouls.

Alghouls are, for the same reasons as mentioned above, much more likely to survive a long time and eventually become Ghasts.

Just intelligent enough to be sneaky, the Alghouls are definitely the most bothersome to root out and destroy, but unlike many other Ghoul types, there are no particular hidden dangers or risks involved with them.

Rotling
Rotlings are created by Rotfiends - they are covered in boils and bile. They spread ghoul fever much more efficiently, and even burning them causes toxic smoke.

Rotlings may be a serious health risk, but it is rare for a rotling to cause a pandemic, despite physical contact with one being almost a guarantee of contracting Ghoul Fever.

Rotlings are fairly strong for ghouls, but not nearly as functional and agile as Alghouls - their rotted flesh causes them to stink horribly, and they can easily be tracked and killed with dogs. Dogs cannot contract ghoul fever from a human ghoul, so the common practice is to sic the dogs on the Rotling and then quarantine the dogs for 2 weeks.

Walking-Dead
The Walking Dead are by far the potentially most dangerous ghouls. Created by defilers, the walking dead are the most contagious, spreading sickness and disease where ever they go - even their footprints usually reek of bile.

A single walking dead at the wrong place at the wrong time, could easily bring a city to its knees.

The Walking-Dead are easily defeated, fragile and frequently die by accident. Their physical capability is extremely limited, and they are among the most simplistic and simple-minded of the ghouls.

Drowned-Dead
The Drowned-Dead are bloated and typically slow and bulky to look at - with wrinkled tainted skin and an otherwise smooth hairless surface.

Drowned-Dead are surprisingly not particularly good swimmers. They rest under water, floating just under the surface, or burrowing in mud - but they hunt on land. Though they are fairly often seen dragging their victims into water - due to their ties to Drowners and Lacedons.

Drowned-Dead are almost as strong and agile as Alghouls, though they are the only ghouls that go in water without it being a part of some deep suicidal instinct intended to spread ghoul-fever, and in water they would be slightly more dangerous than an Alghoul, but still weaker than they would be on land.

Ghast
A Ghast is a more intelligent ghoul. Victims that succumb to ghoul-fever rise as Ghasts, but ghouls that successfully devour many victims can also turn into Ghasts given enough time.

Ghasts abandon whatever their former subtype appearance was and take on a more typical "undead" look. Ghasts are very independent, but can be subjugated by other - more powerful undead creatures. They cannot disobey the commands of a ghost, a vampire a Bloater, a Revengeling or a Lich.

Ghasts create Alghouls when they eat from a corpse. Alghouls are plain ghouls with no rot or anything else to mention.

Ghasts are territorial - but are ultimately pack animals. They gladly create more ghasts by spreading their disease - though they are smart enough (as one of the only necrophages) to know that they should be careful with such acts.

If a Drowned-Dead was supposed to turn into a Ghast, it becomes a Lacedon instead - and the victims of Ghoul-Fever spread by a Drowner or a Lacedon, also become Lacedons instead of ordinary Ghasts.

Lacedon
Lacedons are the Ghasts of the water - related closely to the powerful Drowners. Lacedons are just as intelligent as Ghasts and can create drowned-dead of their own, instead of alghouls.

Lacedons, unlike drowners, do in fact eat from their victims - so unlike Drowners, they very actively hunt. The primary reason why a Drowner would hunt was to feed its growing pack - seeking only the death of its murderer in reality.

Lacedons without the supervision of a Drowner are much more aggressive, but fairly likely to remain a pack, unlike Ghasts that would split up given the chance, and form their own packs.

Bloater
Generally looking like bloated corpses, the Bloaters are a type of necrophage that has changed due to voluntary acts of cannibalism.

Generally speaking stronger than ghouls, and often leading a pack of ghouls it has created, bloaters are lazy and let their ghouls hunt for them, growing fatter and fatter.

Bloaters explode when killed, covering everything around them in an acid that stinks and reeks - this acid has a high chance of infecting everything it touches with Ghoul-Fever. They ooze out of several large boils on their skin, and this is the same acidic substance.

Bloaters are quite strong, but not particularly difficult to defeat, as they are slow and not very agile - the problem is surviving the slaying - fortunately they tend to stay in confined spaces - underground lairs often.

Bloaters are somewhat rare, as cannibalism isn't very common - bloaters are the only necrophages that eat their victims entirely. Bloaters mainly obtain ghoul-servants by vomiting in the water-supplies of nearby villages and such.

This is also what makes Bloaters among the most feared necrophages, because all of its servants will be Ghasts - not ghouls.

Rotfiends
Rotfiends are the result of humans who had intercourse with the dead - necrophilia causes this particular kind of curse - causing the flesh to rot entirely on the victim, excepting the manhood, which rots last.

The rotfiend attempts to have intercourse with the dead - regardless of gender, and generally only eats the living. Those the rotfiend fornicates with, rise as rotlings (ghouls - but with a rotten look to them).

After a while, the rotfiends manhood rots off, and will fall off during the act of fornication. The victim that the rotfiends manhood rotted inside will awaken as a Rot-Queen, a type of Hag, that exclusively eats dead babies, preferably directly out of the womb of a still living woman.

A gelded Rotfiend begins to eat corpses like most other necrophages - and strop praying on the living, but their victims turn into ghouls all the same, provided they were wicked in life.

Rotfiends are fortunately also somewhat rare, and the unset of becoming a rotfiend can take over a decade before the transformation is complete. All the victims of the soon-to-be rotfiend will mummy in their graves, and rise to serve their master once he turns.

It is rumored that there is ONE way to cure a rotfiend-in-progress, but doing so will cause all of the rotfiends victims to rise as Revengelings, intent on slaying the fiend in a most gruesome way.

Slaying a rotfiend-in-progress will cause all of the rotfiends victims to rest undisturbed, and white lilies will supposedly grow on their graves.

Defilers
A Defiler is one who has raped someone, and then killed them or otherwise caused their death - usually onset after several such acts.

Defilers are aggressive and intelligent necrophages, but fortunately not particularly powerful, compared to the average ghoul.

They are somewhat common, unfortunately. On rare occasions, a Defiler retains sapience - and they seek often to redeem themselves somehow, while others are obsessed with the conquest of the flesh - but everything they touch withers before them. Their very touch burns the flesh, and causes the unset of flesh-rot (as well as Ghoul-Fever - if one is unfortunate).

Anyone they attempt to violate will die and rot to dust before the defiler gains any satisfaction. Defilers are likewise forced to eat rotted flesh - because anything they touch rots - this is particularly cruel because defilers are among the few necrophages to prefer their flesh fresh - or at least they think that they do.

Defilers cannot stand the smell of rotting flesh and rip their victims open very quickly to eat as much of their organs as it can before the victim starts to smell. Typically the Defiler vomits into the corpse - and flees the stench of its own victim. The victim rises as a walking-dead - a type of ghoul that spreads disease due to the vomit. The walking dead is unique, because it is the only type of ghoul that rises despite being in horrible rotted and shredded condition - even Rotlings are whole when they rise, despite being rotted.

Hag
Hags are creatures shrouded in much mystery, but one fact is extremely easy to solidify about them; they are never necromorphs, with the one exception being the Rot-Queen.

Hags are always women, always mothers and always widows - at least as far as people have been able to determine.

There is not requirement for the Hag to have been married, but they must mourn the passing of someone who has become a necrophage, whom they had a romantic relationship with, and also have lost (one way or another) their children.

Their children need not be gone, or even truly lost - some women become hags because their mourning drives a wedge between them and their children. Hags are the most terrifying necrophages, because they are fully intelligent and can work spells through rituals and create alchemical substances.

They fight using bombs and thrown flasks as well as blow-darts with poison and use enchanted relics to aid them. Hags often lead entire "tribes" of ghoul packs, though they have a hard time gaining the support of Defilers and Drowners would as soon kill the hag as any other creature that comes near it.

Relicts
A Relict is a creature that is born of some sort of unknown and not fully understood primal power - most of them have probably existed since before mankind did, and have somehow come into the material world. That essentially, in the practical term, makes them akin to Spirits or Demons, but Relicts differ by not hailing from those particular realms and seem to naturally fit into the worlds order.

Spriggan
The Spriggan is one of the more important Relicts - Advocates of the jungle law, natural selection and seemingly set in the world with the objective to keep the balance, preventing creatures from disturbing nature's pace (or constantly trying to restore nature), Spriggans are enemies of society, but pick their battles carefully.

Spriggans are semi-sapient, supposedly they can speak - but they rarely choose to. Spriggans have formed an alliance with druids who serve as mediators between Spriggans and humans, ensuring that humans do not take more than they need, but in return also work to appease the Spriggans.

This uneasy relationship is often disrupted by foolish acts, and occasionally, that has called for the death of a Spriggan who has gone, by human opinion, too far - though one can argue whether such decisions are wise as Spriggans appear to be forces of nature.

Dryad
Dryads are the land-based cousins of the Nymphs - creatures that, similarly to the Spriggan - are somehow associated with the planet and quite otherworldly, but at the same time entirely natural.

Dryads serve Spriggans, though less nomadic than the Satyrs, they do not have the same enmity towards humanity as the Spriggans at all.

Dryads typically work very closely with druids and maintain a moderately objective stance towards humans - though they do not associate very frequently with humans other than druids.

Often, Dryads can be found acting as the bond between a group of Satyrs and a Spriggan, and otherwise acting as direct agents of the hostile and hold Spriggans.

Dryads are few, and killing them is generally considered unwise and typically quite unnecessary, as if a Dryad ever poses a threat, that threat will usually be followed by an ultimatum, which can be considered an extension of the will of the Spriggan that the Dryad serves.

Dryads can only leave the woods for short periods of time - some dryads adapt to other wild landscapes, but generally speaking, Dryads are only found in woods and jungles - though the Jungle Dryads are considerably different, both in temper and appearance.

Dryads are not particularly difficult to kill - they are vulnerable to fire - but their command of nature makes it particularly difficult to get the chance to lay a hand on them.

Nymphs
The much more appreciated cousin of the Dryad, nymphs are native to ponds and lakes - there was an entire religion based on a particularly popular Nymph somewhere in Orlais at one point.

Nymphs do not serve Spriggans the same way Dryads do - they have their own domain and are arch enemies of Drowners - often seeking to ensnare the aid of humans to solve such problems.

Nymphs are extremely flirtatious and playful beings, they are also (as the name suggests) entirely addicted to fornication - though they are even more addicted to their mind-games and childish puzzles.

Nymphs will typically take a man (or woman) as a lover for a time, provided that person expresses some sort of passion that the Nymph in question appreciates, but most nymphs will offer a quest of some sort, often something incredibly difficult to interpret or dangerous to accomplish, in return for laying with the questee, a single night.

They are most certainly not known to be monogamous, but such examples are not unheard of.

Nymphs cannot be parted from water too long - and ultimately will become depressed and sapped for strength if they do not return to their own water-body in time.

What ever purpose nymphs originally served in the natural order seems impossible to figure out - the Nymphs themselves are glad to interact with humans, and often mingle - and this mingling has revealed that they themselves, believe themselves to have some sort of purpose.

A book published by a King who kept a nymph as a consort, suggests that - once (many eons ago), several Relicts were all Nymphs, who serve the Moon-Goddess, because of her power over the waters of the planet, but the other Relicts changed in their nature, when the water bodies did - now the true purpose of Nymphs however, remains as mysterious as the trickster god herself - the Moon.

Nymphs can dissipate into a mist - needless to say, no one has neither wanted to, nor succeeded in killing one yet.

Bog-Hag
Bog-Hags are not actual hags, so the name is fairly misleading. They are the unlikely cousins of Nymphs, related to Swamp waters. Bog-hags are confined to their own bogs, but are not necessarily malicious. They often build a hut that changes places in the bog, as the mist comes and goes, and offer the occasional deal to those who pass by, who are in need.

These deals are the only half-malicious thing about the Bog-Hags, because they are usually only OFFERED to those in dire need - the Bog-Hags fulfill most wishes for a price. The price is usually steep - and what one gains in return often pales in comparison to what is taken in return - and those who refuse payment suffer from the powerful curses that Bog-Hags seem natural weavers of.

Such curses are incredibly difficult to lift.

Bog-hags are definitely some sort of corrupted nymphs, and while they are not directly harmful - many contracts have been taken out on them - though a Bog-Hag is a powerful enemy, even for a slayer.

When a bog-hag dies, so does their swamp - often becoming a tarnished spot where everything withers and dies - and people tend to get lost and drown.

River-Mistress
A River-Mistress is perhaps the most illusive and rarest to see, members of the Nymph family. Practically nothing is known of them, and they have never interacted with human-kind, beyond showing brief glimpses of themselves.

Only by the grace of other Nymph-like creatures, have the River-Mistresses been identified.

There is a written account, otherwise held in great esteem, by an explorer some centuries ago, that claims to have been guided by a creature that can only have been a River-Mistress, but that does seem to go directly against their general behavior.

Though he claimed no conversation with the creature, and other Nymphs report that the River-Mistresses are eternal beings concerned mainly with their own matters, which are entirely alien to humans.

Glass-Walker
The Glass-walker is a nymph-like creature occasionally seen in arid warm-climate deserts, often heralding a Sand-Storm. The perfect delicate woman's footprint they leave behind as glass-footsteps in the sand, reveals their passing.

Glass-Walkers herald sand-storms and seem angered when someone destroys shade in the desert, or tampers with an oasis, but otherwise generally do not interact with humans. They are powerful illusionists, and cause mirages upon those attempting to pursue them.

Those who have been foolish enough to attack one, by first fending off the illusions, were later found as glass-statues in the desert, left there for the sandstorms to polish into small deformed pillars of glass.

One glass-walker was successfully destroyed at one point - it exploded and turned a whole region of the desert into glass - a rather famous location in the Rahamra.

Siren
A Siren is essentially an Ocean Nymph, and they are tricky beings - their temper changes as quickly as the wind, and one moment, they do indeed behave as their lake-based cousins, but the next, they use their awful powers to destroy those who travel the seas.

Supposedly, a few people have lucked out and mated with the Sirens - and the legends have it that the Mer-Folk are descendants of such unions.

Sirens are difficult to combat - they are only found out at sea, and they can simply dive. Harpoons and nets are the only proper weapons against them - and killing them very quickly is imperative to survive, because if they scream for long enough, the sea will swallow everything nearby in a treacherous storm, and that is aside from being deafening as it is.

The rumor that Sirens can lure people astray and that their commands are near impossible to fight off, seem to be made up to keep sailors on their toes.

Ice-Queen
The last known relative of the Nymph-family, the Ice-Queen is a stern faced but beautiful woman who offers last comfort to those who are about to die in the frozen wastes - or so the Nordmarians claim.

No one besides Nordmarian Rangers have ever seen an Ice-Queen, and no one who lived has ever seen one. They supposedly only appear to ease the passing of those who find themselves the victims of hypothermia.

Ice-Queens have not otherwise been observed, and are only found in the frozen wastes - and it is in fact unknown if there is more than one - or if they exist anywhere but near the North Pole.

Undead
Undeath is an illogical term to begin with - Undeath usually describes a transition from life and into a state of altered immortality. Undead rarely have anything in common with each other, other than being created from Dark Powers.

Burning man
A burning man is a cursed creature. They say that if someone dies in extreme agony full of hatred and regret, they may turn into the burning man. Burning men will usually lurk somewhere and attack after unleashing a horrible scream before he ignites into flames and attempts to kill...

Lich
Liches are powerful undead creatures, fabled only in legends. Essentially, sapient undead that retains the ability to manipulate the source through magic.

Mages sometimes attempt to transform into liches entirely on purpose - eternal life comes at the price of ones body, but for some, that is a small price to pay.

Some liches are spectral beings, bound in the world through other means, at other times they are skeletons or mummies.

Ghosts
Ghosts are a type of undead that are always ethereal beings, only taking a physical form very briefly on occasion. They deserve their own category of mention because there are many kinds of different ghosts, and they are always lingering souls.

It isn't possible to permanently destroy a ghost through any known means - souls are immortal and indestructible - but ghosts typically anchor themselves to something, as all ethereal creatures do.

If a ghost is slain with silverite, it will become dormant in the twilight and reside quietly inside it's anchor, but only if it was first beaten in physical form at the location it haunts. So a ghost must be defeated twice, before it retreats to it's anchored item - that item can then - for instance, be destroyed or thrown in the sea.

Destroying the item will force the ghost into the realm of Limbo - where it cannot hurt the living, and placing the anchored item in a remote location will keep the ghost out of harms way.

Ghosts can usually be mad to move on to the netherealm, where their soul will return to the great wheel, but only if one figures out the trick to it.

Wraiths
A ghost that is based on certain powerful emotions relating to the time of the death of the victim. Wraiths are extremely dangerous, but most of them give some sort of warning before they attack.

Wraiths can be compelled to move on if they feel that the wrong done to them has been set right - though they usually adhere by a very basic kind of justice.

Poltergeist
A ghost, typically of a child, that craves attention badly - and is usually tricky and playful. Poltergeists are almost impossible to get rid of, though usually not very dangerous.

Specter
A Specter is a ghost that has been a ghost for so long that it has forgotten who or what it is. Specters can be reminded of who they are, resulting often in them moving on entirely, but the problem is that they have usually been dead long enough that all trace of their heritage has vanished.

Specters are rare, fortunately, but very difficult to get rid of permanently.

Banshee
A particularly powerful wraith - always a woman, and usually one who lost everything before they themselves died of grief, murder or suicide.

Banshees are not possible to console at all - they are an insane embodiment of the kind of grief one associates with mothers who have lost their children - a kind of irrational hysteria fueled by grief, loss and anger.

Revenants
A Revenant is a cursed being that has returned from death due to suffering a particular kind of death - or falling prey to some sort of unearthly powers due to their deaths. Revenant means a "returned", and while the most traditional revenants are similar to changelings, many others have no true semblance to their original being.

Risen
A Risen is an undead who has returned to life because of some sort of unfinished business - often bidden to rise again until their purpose is complete, the Risen are filled with an unstoppable zeal and drive to accomplish their goals. In the fairytales of Orlais, Risen are often fallen Knights who rise to fulfill a vow - in reality, the Risen often rise for much deeper reasons that are much more difficult to explain.

Revengeling
If someone feels particularly wronged upon their death, sometimes they return as a revengeling - a cursed creature that haunts their enemies in an attempt to subject them to poetic justice.

Geist
The Geist are similar to the risen - but they serve no purpose and have returned for reasons unkown. They do typically not look human anymore - at least not entirely. Glowing yellow eyes, pale leathery skin and darkened finger nails are typical signs.

Botchlings
If a fetus is aborted in its late stages, against the mother's will, against the father's will or just way too late in the process for it to be a reasonable act - or conversely if a miscarriage happens and the child was unwanted, undesired or hated even - the child might return as a botchling.

Botchlings crawl from their grave and hide in the darkest corners of the world, until they grow into monstrous demonic children who plot the downfall of their relatives - anyone related by blood is a target for them.

Botchlings can turn into Gullykin, if they slay their entire line or spend a full lunar cycle without being aware of where to find one of their own kin - further more, being formally accepted into their family may also remove the curse. There is a fairy tale called "The Gullykin" about how a Botchling was turned into a Gullykin, though it is doubtfully entirely accurate.

Drowner
A drowner is a rare creature. The Drowner is mainly associated Necrophages, which it creates - full of malice that results from someone who was drowned on purpose, and then left to rot in the water.

It's rare for it to happen, and the exact circumstances of creation are unknown, but a drowner is very strong, almost impossible to kill in direct combat, and can de-materialize when in the water - though it can still attack there.

Naturally, this makes them susceptible to being frozen - though fire is another enemy, provided one can gather enough heat. Finally, once a Drowner has dematerialized, one of the only ways to attack it effectively is to electrify the body of water it is in.

Getting the Drowner on land is the real trick - but they will very rarely be willing to leave a body of water.
 * Drowners only attack at night, seeking to drown living beings, and leave them to rot in their waters, thus creating lesser servants known as Drowned-Dead (swimming ghouls).
 * Anyone who drinks from the body of water that the Drowner inhabits will risk getting infected with Ghoul Fever.
 * Drowners can also create Drownlings - servants created from water-muck, but these servants are extremely weak and could likely not even defeat a child alone. These tiny little mud-servants are mischievous, often stealing toys of children and leaving them conspicously close to water...

One way to instantly solve a Drowner problem, is to throw the man who drowned the victim in the lake - either his body or simply down him in the lake. If throwing the remains of the body in there, once the bones sink to the bottom, the curse is lifted and the Drowner turns into a Lacedon, and all its Downlings will cease to be (though the Drowned Dead remain). A Lacedon is so much simpler to defeat.
 * A variant of Drowners, which is much more powerful, called a Bogey Man, is the result of one who was drowned in a swamp.
 * Drowners, regardless of variant, can only be created in fresh water - they are not found in the ocean.

Lycanthropy
Lycanthropes are shape-shifting (for the most part) creatures that split their traits between human and animal - in most cases. Other, similar but ultimately different cases are also lobbed in under Lycanthropy. The general theme is a being than transforms into an animal or a hybrid of their normal form and the animal.

Lycanthropis Venatoris
The most feared lycanthrope, a humanoid or meta human, cursed with this type of lycanthropy permanently changes into a humanoid variant of a predatory animal. They become extremely feral. They can shape shift between a monstrous form of the animal they are a lycan version of, and a humanoid version. Often they will assume leadership of a pack of animals.

Lycanthropis Lunar
The Lunar Werewolves are tribal based werewolves who pass the curse down from generation to generation - and it is indeed a curse.

The first person in a blood-line to contract Lunar-lycanthropy will resemble the traditional textbook lycanthrope, but their kind tend to attract each other, as well as the company of the dreaded Ventaroris, forming small packs.

They start by only changing and killing when the moon is out, but after being cursed for a year, they change every time they see the moon, and must kill and eat to end their blood-thirst, or hunt until the moon passes away.

Fortunately, a pack can share a kill, and they need not necessarily hunt humans - though they cannot distinguish between humans and animals.

The Offspring of the Lunar-lycanthropes resemble the Tribunal (see below) much more, except the moon still curses them, and they have an unyielding need to hunt and kill. The Lunar-Lycanthrope descendants have free will and full control over their abilities, even when the moon isn't out.

The curse can be lifted before the individual has passed a full year as lycanthropes, though the offspring are permanently cursed - with one known exception (see below).

Lycanthropis Tribunal
The Silver Hand Lodge of Slayers, specifically the Nordmarian members (pre-Polar Incident - before the Nordmarian Guild became reclusive) developed a method to revert the Lunar-Lycanthrope curse, though impossible to remove entirely, the Lunars could be changed and permanently altered.

The ritual was supposedly painful and dreaded, but several tribes of Lunars accepted it, and became the Tribunal.

The Tribunal rite of admittance is harsh and gruesome, requiring strength of will - or to be forced, and the Silver-Hand Lodge no longer has access to the rite, making due without it by creating sanctuaries in the wild for the Lunars.

The Tribunals themselves do remember how it works though, and they have had moderate success converting some of their Lunar Brethren.

Tribunals were created with Slayers in mind - The Lodge of the Silver Hand designed the ritual specifically to turn the Lunars into powerful allies of the Slayers - the Tribunal direct their blood-lust towards source-corruption and monsters - they absorb the corruption from a monster they slay, and they grow stronger from it.

Supposedly, there are some tribes among the Tribunals who have found out a way to revert the Lunar curse without making them quintessential lycanthrope-slayers, but the Silver-Hand cracked down hard on their tribe, if the rumors are true.

The Tribunal are much weaker than Lunars are, initially - they slowly gain control over their werewolf abilities, but can generally be compared to slayers when it comes to passive "mutations".

Meta-Humans
Meta-Humans are defined as being closely related to humans or at least sapient and humanoid - capable of living in a society - but NOT being Goblinoids.

Gnolls
Gnolls are fairly rare, they are often found in Rahamra - they even had a symbiosis with the Northern Rahamrans at one point. Gnolls are exceedingly rare outside of the Rahamra, but supposedly a few tribes are found in the Source Lands.

Gnolls are generally speaking fairly primitive, but they are sapient, though rules largely by their instincts they can be incredibly feral.

Many people mistakenly categorize gnolls as Goblinoids. Gnoll-tribes are nomadic hunters, but they craft and many of them herd sheep, goats or cattle. Apart from their limited bouts of herding, they are mainly a hunter-gatherer society.

Gnolls are incredibly loyal to each other, and do not betray their pack - in the Northern Rahamra, the humans formed a symbiosis with the local Gnolls, a subspecies now believed extinct, and the gnolls served as guards to the local ruler.

Their loyalty was unwavering - until the downfall of that Empire. There haven't been any other examples of gnolls getting along particularly well with humans since, though Gnolls are often not a particularly big problem for humans either, though minor examples do appear from time to time. Gnoll slaves tend to not view their situations as slavery for instance, and tend to thrive as slaves - provided they are treated well and with dignity, they generally have no problems with a lack of freedom.

Basted
The Basted are native to the jungles of Rahamra and the Southern Sourcelands. The basted are generally shy and fearful of humans - they are also not nomadic, tending to have small villages.

The Basted generally survive by fishing in the lakes and streams around their villages, using nets and ruses - they also hunt and harvest some fruits from their jungle.

The Basted have not succeeded as a society and there were once many subspecies of their kind, but most of them have died out (or almost died out) simply due to the basted not being particularly effective or adaptive as a species.

Easier to get along with than their counter-parts, the gnolls, the Basted are generally more willing to trade and such, but are particularly reclusive and unwilling to mingle.

Basted are, similarly to Gnolls, ruled largely by instincts and cannot break their cultural patterns due to their limited faculties.

Goblinoids
Goblinoids are corrupted versions of the meta-human species. They came to exist around the time when the human species was allegedly created by the elves, and as such are they oldest enemy of the humans. Dwarves were almost wiped out by goblinoids.

Goblinoids are no longer corrupted beings, they have evolved into sapient creatures, though supposedly corrupted goblinoids still live in the far north, due to the North-pole incident.

Goblins
Goblins are about what you would expect - Deceptive, cunning and agile - but small, usually smaller than the average dwarf. Goblins are weak, but often very numerous.

Goblins descend from dwarves, gnomes and halflings, sharing common traits of all of those species.

Goblins primarily live underground, they are for the same reason rarely seen above ground. When they are seen, they often attack mountain villages during the night, or use ancient underground tunnels to raid, often larger settlements, from within.

Orcs
Orcs are the corrupted descendants of elves. They are feral and tribal, ill tempered and known to be of inferior intellect, though not to be underestimated. Orcs have a warrior culture, and are primarily carnivores, but they have a very superior metabolism, and do actually not need to eat very often, even to maintain their unusually large frames. Orcs supplement their food with roots, berries, nuts and a few grown items. Many orc tribes are nomadic, so they do not have the luxury of growing much, so they are mainly hunter/gatherer as well as herders.

Orcs are known to be good riders, as well as being good at taming animals for hunting and warfare. Orcs are somewhat peaceful, traditionally (for a warrior culture), meaning that they normally conduct a lot of infighting, but they tend to stay far away from human regions, especially since evolving into sapience, unlike Goblins who prey on others all the time.

Orcs are sometimes organized into large warbands and go raiding, this is common enough, but orcs are not as cruel and viscous as goblins - They will often try to end a conflict with minimal casualties on both sides. They also trade, and they tend to be honorable enough not to attack those they trade with.

Ogre
Ogres are the corrupted form of humans - that is to say, trolls (now very rare) are the corrupted form of humans, but interbreeding trolls with other goblinoids resulted in the ogre, which is much more common.

Ogres are generally still not as common as orcs and goblins though, they often live in small communities on the surface, often near goblins or near areas where orcs live, but they are very territorial. They are very close knit in their small communities, but they can easily be riled into frenzies.

When an Ogre has declared war on someone, they will not stop until they are dead. Ogres cannot have neighbors, as they will very quickly find something to hate about their neighbors. Ogres often lead small warbands of other goblinoids that they pressure into working under them.

Troll
Trolls are the original, but almost extinct, corrupted form of humans. Trolls are generally peaceful and docile, but are even more fiercely territorial than ogres. Interestingly, trolls can often be persuaded to become part of human society. Trolls are enamored with creation, despite being shoddy craftsmen. Trolls in nature will often build dams, bridges, huts and carve large tunnels or caves. Trolls have a varied diet and don't eat very often.

Trolls don't associate much with other goblinoids and are much more inclined to associate with elves and humans. Sometimes trolls become hostile, but there is a popular saying that it's bad luck to kill a troll, rather than re-purpose it.

Trolls are very powerful creatures, so when they are persuaded to fight, they are nigh unbeatable, fortunately, the are unlikely to fly into enraged stupors. They are also very rare.