#Occult Bestiary

[dailycharacteroption]

Roleplaying Races 15: Munavri

(art by Catilus on DeviantArt)

On Monday we looked at the caligni, and now it’s time to look at one final example of Azlanti survivors that were changed by their exodus. However, unlike many such survivors, the muavri were not corrupted or degenerated by the transformation, and are a rare bastion of good and righteousness in the often cutthroat world that is the Darklands.

Descended from Azlanti sailors that were ambushed and abducted by the alghollthu in the wake of Earthfall, they were dragged down into the depths along the Braid, a supernatural waterspout that connects the Arcadian Ocean of the surface to the Sightless Sea in the Orv layer of the Darklands below.

Though no doubt the alghollthu had sinister plans for these abductees, perhaps planning on turning them into something similar to the azarketi gillmen, these Azlanti escaped and made use of their skill as sailors to ply the dark ocean aboard violet-sailed vessels made from carved ivory, where they settled on floating islands of a strange, jade-like substance.

This jade is highly psychically reactive, which made it unbearable for the alghollthu and many of their minions to approach, making it a sanctuary for these survivors. Over the generations, they adapted to the darkness and constant psychic power around them, becoming powerful and canny mystics in their own right as they prove a nearly inassailable nuisance to drow, alghollthu, urdefhans, and other villainous cultures in the depths.

Munavri look mostly human of Azlanti ethnicity, but their skin and hair is bleached of all color, making them seem at first glance to be albino. What’s more, their eyes radiate light from their natural psychic power. They typically wear jade armor chipped form the very gemstones they reside on, as well as leathers tanned from subterranean beasts.

It’s no exaggeration to say that the munavri represent the best of response to hardship a society can have, forging close-knit communities that are there for each other and treat each other like family beyond the bonds of blood, and forgoing brutality for carefully organized resolution of conflicts between their own. They also typically worship the various empyreal lords, with three spiritual leaders, each representing the empyreal lords of a particular celestial clade. Meanwhile, large family units are led by a protector-marshal that governs in the best interest of their people. That’s not to say that there are not dissenters or no room for individuality, but they often do focus on community first and foremost. Additionally, they treat friendly outsiders very well, and are eager to hear about the world outside their lightless nautical realm, especially the surface world.

As beings descended directly from the incredibly hale and brilliant Azlanti, the Munavri boast superior minds and bodies (particularly agility) with the exception of their strength, which is on the weaker side.

They also possess exceptionally long-ranged night-sight as well.

This, however, is coupled with a sensitivity to bright light.

Imbued with psychic magic, munavri have a knack for reading the psychic echoes on objects in particular, gleaning information from them.

They are able to take this even further, however, by reading the memories of how the object was used, allowing them to use unfamiliar weapons and tools with a surprising level of competence for a short while.

Like many Darklands residents, they also possess a bit of innate spell resistance as well, making them hard to affect with hostile magic.

Their psychic abilities also grant them telepathy, though it is limited to communication with other munavri only.

With having a positive bonus to every single stat except for strength, munavri characters can literally excel at any class or archetype combination, even strength-based stuff like barbarians with a little work. Which… will give a lot of GMs pause, and I can imagine many straight-up banning the ancestry outright because of that, or at least restricting it to games where everyone is playing something similarly powerful or higher-level games where such traits are less of an issue. If you do get to play one, consider that nautical options are appropriate for their life on a sunless sea, as well as various classes and archetypes that grant psychic magic as well. But again, they can excel in pretty much any field, so feel free to pick any class combination you like!

[misterpuca]

Matchboxes Inspired by Spooky Guys

Decided to show my love of matchbox labels by creating my own with some 'harmless' demons.

Inspired by the 1863 edition of the Dictionnaire Infernal

[chimeride]

Seere, the 225th Known One.

“The Seventieth Spirit is Seere, Sear, or Seir. He is a Mighty Prince, and Powerful, under AMAYMON, King of the East. He appeareth in the Form of a Beautiful Man, riding upon a Winged Horse. His Office is to go and come ; and to bring abundance of things to pass on a sudden, and to carry or recarry anything whither thou wouldest have it to go, or whence thou wouldest have it from. He can pass over the whole Earth in the twinkling of an Eye. He giveth a True relation of all sorts of Theft, and of Treasure hid, and of many other things. He is of an indifferent Good Nature, and is willing to do anything which the Exorcist desireth. He governeth 26 Legions of Spirits. And this his Seal is to be worn (...)” - Ars Goetia

[rosieandthemoon]

bringing my boyfriend home to meet the parents (think they’ll notice he’s a demon? 👀)

[azuzeldraws]

WIP for  @naruto-mythology-zine ! A dash of Founders era sorcery ✨☠️✨

[titleknown]

Also, another prop I have kitbashed, using a Dollar Tree skeleton hand and a decent amount of polymer clay, based on the hands with eyes one has been seeing more and more lately!

@bogleech was actually considering including them as a "monster" in their Halloween Bestiary series, but I recall they held off given the design's clearly a riff on the ancient Hamsa, a culturally widespread charm in multiple Middle-eastern countries for warding off the Evil Eye, appropriated by Europeans like they unfortunately always fucking do.

But, given that from what I know the hamsa is itself apparently a pretty open symbol, I may as well speculate on how these "Occult Hands" would be as creatures.

Given how the Hamsa is meant to be an apotropaic symbol, it would probably be some kind of constructed guardian creature, maybe even modeled after the Hamsa in the diegesis, which also fits with how many boss monsters that tend to guard something also have that big ol' "eyeball in hand" motif, enough that Brian David Gilbert did a video on it!

So, they presumably guard tombs and vaults and things like that containing ancient secrets of a kind Halloween-y, eldritch, occult or just generally magical. But, I will also note they show up a lot on fortune-telling motifs, which is again probably thoughtless appropriation, but let's make that into appropriationade!

Maybe; derived from the weird palmistry + eye in palm = constantly seeing the future train of thought, they have some degree of prescience, to aid them in combatting future threats. After all, an ancient-civilization would want to future-proof its guardians, so it would make sense!

But, one would imagine they would get rather paranoid with this combination of job and powers. Or worse, bored. So, while some may stay sane, others might have had some... scope-creep over the aeons. Such as improperly identifying intruders centuries after the nation they were meant to protect their artifacts from died out, or even getting involved in politics outside its physical sphere!

And they probably do have limited physical spheres. Because in games, since they're usually guardians, one might presume they're stuck in their own little spheres, hence the madness. But, in exchange, one would presume they have perfect control over their own little sphere, maybe even some more wide-spread sight with their special eye for scrying and/or voyeurism!

Other powers they might have would include... well, definitely eye-lasers. So many eye-lasers. But others would probably depend on the civilization building them, tho I like to think a common one is extruding marionette strings through the fingers because that one's just cool...

...Dangit, I think I just made a mini-entry!

[benlongoria]

The big guy himself, the Blind Idiot God, also known as the Ur God and the Creator. From his throne he mindlessly sacrifices his own flesh to give life to all manner of mortals and immortals. • | | | | #myth #mythology #occult #occultart #supernatural #horror #horrorart #horrorfiction #books #bookart #bookillustration #illustration #pendrawing #creature #creatures #creatureconcept #scary #monsters #monsterart #bestiary #lovecraftian #necronomicon #grimoire #fantasy #cosmichorror (at Stone Oak) https://www.instagram.com/p/CoC0XJAO8gw/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[johndnormal]

Just started digital art thought I make another bestiary page

[witnesstheabsurd]

[ Between Sky and Earth - Between the petrified cities of The Earth, the base reality, and the caustic, blinding freedom of The Sky, the virtual reality, the cyberspace absolute that governs all existence. Between Sky and Earth, a thousand heavens are at war. ]

ANNOUNCING THE KICKSTARTER FOR MY NEXT ARTBOOK!

CLICK HERE

My name is Francine Bridge - also known online as Witnesstheabsurd. I've worked as a freelance illustrator in the games, music and fashion industries, most recently having worked as Art Director on the upcoming "Slave Zero X" . I've also published two artbooks - the Occult Supergiant Primer and Ars Goetia, both of which were funded via Kickstarter. It's been several years since my last, and i'm excited to announce my next self-published artbook - "One Thousand Heavens: A Cyberspace Bestiary".

It's planned to be an 80-page artbook featuring paintings of cyberspace Avatars and the Pilots that control them - an assortment of monsters and cyberpunk weirdos battling for control over the Throne, a mysterious entity that will permit one Pilot to become God and redefine existence. I'm launching a new Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for printing a 300 copy run and also funding the completion of the book itself!

Backers will be able to reserve one of these copies for themselves in physical and PDF format - after the KS ends, they will never be sold at this price again, and only a limited number will be printed for this first run! Shipping anywhere in the world!

Tumblr was where I got my start and everything I have flowed from the support I received on this site - it means so much to be here again, able to share my work with you all. To anyone who chooses to pledge, to share, or even look at this art i've made - thank you so much, from the bottom of my heart.

LINK HERE

[arsene-inc]

A TTRPG collection retrospective

And so my TTRPG in book format collection has reached 70...not books......licences.... and a lot of them are complete. I miss when I had space to tidy stuff.

So here are all my books :

The PBTA and adjacent games

The first style of games that really hooked me

Monster of the week , the first game I ever gm'd

World Wide Wrestling

Masks, my most played game this year

Urban Shadows

Dungeon World, bought because I did not have any "generic" fantasy system.

Apocalypse Keys

Blades in the dark , the game that bought me where I am, introduce me to french ttrpg content creators when I responded to an ad for a player.

Band of Blades

Brinkwood

Sig, City of Blades

City of Mist

English Import

Agon 2nd edition, still a favorite

Kids on broom

Slayers ( and a one)

Nova ( and a two)

Rune ( and a three for GilaRPGs)

DIE RPG ( really need to choose a good group to play this)

Heart the city beneath (yeah i like Rowan, Rook & Deckart)

Dragonbane ( A friend is a die hard Free League fan)

Wildsea

DotDungeon

Liminal

Tattered Magick

International Games translated in French

Mausritter

Thousand year Old Vampire

The Magus

Colostle

Warpland

Troika, my cursed game, the sessions are always canceled

Paleomythic

Vaesen

Spire, the city must fall

Genesys

Dragons conquer America

Sins of the father

Fate core

Nobilis 2nd edition, the big beautiful white book

Mage 20th

Castle Falkenstein

Cryptomancer, the 70th game

French indies ( with quick pitch)

Etoiles - a Stargate game

Aventures a Plumes/ Feathered Adventures - Play diceless Ducktales

Cités abimés / Broken Cities - 30's surrealism the game

Anime was a mistake - play every anime

Prosopopée - Mushishi the game

De mauvais reves - a cursed family in the Great North

Glorieuses - housewives in the 80's trying to escape boredom with wrestling

Temple des vents / Colosse de Grisantre - solo game of a fantasy wanderer

Les veilleurs - solo game / You are the Hero book, with Titan cults

Bois Dormant - post apocalyptic hopepunk gmless game inspired by Sleeping Beauty

Explorateur des Bruines/Libretés - Kids trying to survive an alternate dimension of murderous mermaids hiding in the rain

Les Héritiers de l'Hypogryphe Saoul - Urban fantasy where magic was just revealed to the world, along with things so old even the magicals forgot about them

Argyropée - Renaissance fantasy in a city where murder is impossible and leaving too long makes you die of depression

Speedrun - a system to speedrun TTRPG sessions and campaign

Bigger/Mainstream? French Games

Insectopia - Medfan but you are all insects

Cats la mascarade - Cats are secretly psychic

Donjons et Chatons - medfan but you're kittens and a cartoon planned for 2025

Donjon & Cie / Dungeon, Inc. - Monsters in the dungeon are just corporate employees

Terre 2 - scifi I don't really care about, i just told my parents to buy it when they saw it a -70% in a thrift shop

Nautilus - Play Jules Verne Hundred Leagues under the sea

Meute - French werewolfes with 2 souls : mortal human and immortal wolf

Rotting Christ - The Band. A ttrpg for metalheads

Knight - Epic Horror, The Arthurian Myth with mechas. It's great

Nephilim - the urban fantasy occult french game (basically The Secret World as a ttrpg)

Chroniques Oubliés Contemporain - generic system for modern adventures

Les Héritiers - All sorts of fae in 1901 dreaming of the end of the world in 1914

Ecryme - translation funded on KS, coming soon : Steampunk where the water rose, leaving only small islands, plus the water is highly acidic, melting everything except stone and steel

Les Oubliés - Korrigans & little people the size of a finger in a french city during the Religion Wars

Subabysse - sorta pulpy scifi where water rose so humanity went to live under the sea

Waiting for (dear god all the crowdfunding)

Fabula Ultima translation

Nephilim supplements

Arc Doom translation

Eat the Reich

Meute campaign

Babel, french game of book magic

Break!

Monsterhearts translation

Dragonbane bestiary

Triangle Agency

Wilderfeast

The Hidden Isle

[thecreaturecodex]

Adachros

Image © Paizo Publishing, accessed at Archives of Nethys here

[The second of two "ennosites" I'm covering from Bestiary 3. I imagine that these would be a good way to get that Planescape feel into a game, if only for a few encounters. These definitely fit into the domain of "philosophers with clubs".]

Adachros CR 13 N Outsider (extraplanar) This glimmering giant appears to be made of silvery facets, arranged into a humanoid shape.

The adachroses are beings of pure thought, each one embodying a philosophy and promoting it with megalomaniacal zeal. Some of them are created when a demiplane is partially formed and then collapses, whereas others are created when artificial demiplanes (such as those made by the create demiplane spell) are abandoned, and still others are born when multiple philosophers die simultaneously in defending their beliefs. Most of the time, an adachros’ philosophy is exaggerated to the point of self-parody, and the adachros refuses to acknowledge any perspective other than its own.

Some adachroses are tyrants, ruling over a tiny fiefdom with an iron fist and lashing out at anyone who dares to disobey their strictures. Others are somewhat more reasonable, acting as teachers of their philosophy, albeit ones who refuse to engage with any opposing viewpoints. They can be potentially manipulated by a canny outsider, one who can convince them that their outlook would be best served by doing whatever the manipulator wants. But if an adachros realizes it’s been duped, it will turn its entire fury on that creature and their allies and cause.

Most adachroses prefer to befuddle enemies with complex hallucinations before fighting them—both in order to confuse and destabilize strategies, but also because the monster can strike with deadly precision at creatures engaging with its illusions. It fights simply but effectively, crushing foes with its mighty fists and using occult magic to blast away at enemies that keep their distance. Its sense of self-purpose is so great that it can reject enchantments or illusions that clash with its beliefs. Depending on the values system it embodies, an adachros may fight to the death, or may prefer to surrender or flee if a combat goes poorly.  

Adachros               CR 13 XP 25,600 N Large outsider (extraplanar) Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception +25, thoughtsense 120 ft. Defense AC 28, touch 12, flat-footed 25 (-1 size, +2 Dex, +1 dodge, +16 natural) hp 178 (17d10+85) Fort +15, Ref +12, Will +12 (+16 vs. mind-influencing effects) DR 10/magic and silver; SR 24 Defensive Abilities self-absorbed, splinter sycophant Offense Speed 40 ft., fly 40 ft. (good) Melee 2 slams +22 (2d8+6) Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. Psychic Magic CL 13th, concentration +21 40 PE—complex hallucination (4 PE, DC 22), contagious zeal (3 PE), detect magic (1 PE), ego whip III (5 PE, DC 23), hallucinatory terrain (4 PE, DC 22), mind thrust IV (4 PE, DC 22), modify memory (5 PE, DC 23), reverse gravity (7 PE), scripted hallucination (5 PE, DC 23), unshakable zeal (6 PE) Special Attacks fatal fantasia Statistics Str 23, Dex 15, Con 21, Int 20, Wis20, Cha 26 Base Atk +17; CMB +23; CMD 36 Feats Combat Reflexes,Dodge, Greater Vital Strike, Improved Initiative, Improved Vital Strike, Intuitive Spell, Iron Will, Power Attack, Vital Strike Skills Appraise +22,Bluff +28, Diplomacy +28,Fly +21, Intimidate +28, Knowledge (arcana, planes) +25, Perception +25, Sense Motive +25, Spellcraft +25, Stealth +15 Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Infernal, telepathy 100 ft. Ecology Environment any land or underground (Astral Plane) Organization solitary or college (2-6) Treasure standard Special Abilities Fatal Fantasia (Ex) Against a target that is currently effected by an adachros’ illusion or enchantment abilities, the adarchos’ natural weapons threaten a critical hit on a roll of 19-20 and deal x3 damage on a critical hit. Self-Absorbed (Ex) An adachros gains a +4 racial bonus on all saving throws against mind-influencing effects. On any round it is suffering from a mind-influencing effect, it may attempt to counteract that effect, using its caster level as an opposed caster level check against the level of the effect. If it succeeds, the effect is removed. An adachros can use this ability even if it cannot act on this turn, but can only remove a single unwanted effect per round. Splinter Sycophant (Su) When an adachros takes damage from a critical hit, an ioton is split off from its body and appears in an adjacent square. This ioton has absorbed one language that the adachros speaks, and unless given orders to do otherwise, begins to sing the praises of the adachros that created it as a standard action each turn. An adachros gains 4d6 temporary hit points when the ioton begins to flatter it, and gains a +1 morale bonus on attack rolls, damage rolls, skill and ability checks so long as the praise persists. The effects of multiple such sycophants stack. An ioton creates in such a fashion vanishes into vapor 1 minute after it is created or when it is reduced to 0 hit points.

[monstersdownthepath]

Monster Spotlight: Psychic Stalker

CR 7

Neutral Evil Medium Undead

Occult Bestiary, pg. 45 (also Bestiary 6, pg. 216)

Violent and envious undead created when a psychic spellcaster dies a hideous and violent death, Psychic Stalkers are a step above Shadows and Will-o-the-Wisps on the “invisible, incorporeal, bastardous monster that’s incredibly difficult to harm” ladder. The Formless ability of a Stalker makes it invisible, incorporeal, and impossible to detect or reveal through any means or spell; no Invisibility Purge, no See Invisibility, no Glitterdust or Faerie Fire, not even the old flour trick will work here! You’ve all the frustrations of fighting an enemy that cannot be seen or hit with nonmagical weapons in a single monster here! What more could you ask for?

There is SOME mercy in this design, though: it lacks the titanic AC and magic immunity of the Will-o-wisp (though it has twice as much HP to make up for it), and lacks the ability to cause depopulation events like a Shadow can. Also, it’s a high-enough level threat that the party is starting to get some AoE spells, and since it’s not immune to magic, the party caster can just blast its general area, and the party Cleric can weaken it with pulsed Channel Energy if needed. ... you know, if you know it’s there. A Psychic Stalker can jumpscare an otherwise prepared and alert party because it basically doesn’t exist until it gets right on top of the party and attacks, and its first attack may as well be undodgable thanks to being an incorporeal touch attack... which, depending on who it hits, may just end them instantly.

See, while Shadows attack Str and Willywisps attack HP, Psychic Stalkers attack Charisma, the most dumped stat in the entire game. There is no saving throw to avoid a Stalker’s consumption of a victim’s ego; if it hits with an incorporeal touch attack (which it has a +10 to), that’s an automatic 1d6 Cha damage. If you dumped Cha to 6 or 8 and the Stalker gets lucky, you may be out of the fight before initiative is even rolled. Luckily, the death caused by their Charisma damage isn’t instant, because a creature at 0 Charisma can survive by making DC 20 Will saves... but, unluckily, this is because Stalkers want their victims alive. Specifically, they want their victims at half their normal Cha, something--again--they may be able to do with a single attack.

Any creature who’s lost half their Cha score can be targeted by the Stalker’s Fleeting Possession, a dangerous and draining form of inhabitation that can be resisted with a DC 20 Will save (which renders the creature immune to further attempts for 24 hours). A creature that fails falls under the Stalker’s control, where it then immediately begins to deluge its senses with whatever stimulus it can. Drinking potions, eating rations, slamming its hands in a door, screaming and shouting and singing, the Stalker does whatever it can in the short time it has before its host’s mind is torn apart and the host is killed, because the Stalker continues to uncontrollably deal 1d6 Cha damage to the possessed victim every round, which can and will eventually kill them.

In an interesting twist, the Stalker becomes vulnerable when it’s just about to possess someone. Anyone suffering even a single point of Cha damage from the creature’s touch attack is able to see exactly where it is, viewing it as an abstract cloud of psychic energy with the image of a skull inside it. While this negates the advantage granted by its invisibility, it’s still incorporeal and thus immune to nonmagic weapons. While you’re bound to have at least one or two by the time you’re expected to fight one of these, there’s a chance you won’t depending on your DM, so seeing it doesn’t really mean much for a victim that doesn’t have a direct way to damage or deflect it before it flies into their body and uses it to savage the rest of the party.

Though the Stalker is willing to waste time sating its mad lusts for sensation, attacking it while it’s in possession of a host body is a good way to make it lash out with all its new skills and muscle. After all, who’s more likely to have dumped Charisma and gotten possessed in the first place: the Sorcerer, or the Fighter? Again and again I say that the most dangerous monster a party can face is itself, and this one comes with the caveat that not ending the Possession effect in 2 or 3 rounds spells death for the victim even if you manage to slap them with Hold Person to keep them from attacking everyone. And then the Psychic Stalker just moves on to the next nearest creature to begin the cycle all over again.

Except now it has help, because any creature it slays with its possession becomes an echohusk that’s bound to obey its every mental command. So I suppose you could say I lied when I said it can’t cause a depopulation event, because it’s very possible that the party could encounter the stumbling remains of a former town that trundles towards them and have a confusing but worrying moment wondering why the zombies are preferring nonlethal damage and restraints... and then the grappled Rogue suddenly loses half their Charisma to a foe no one else can see. Really, the fact that it’s utterly invisible except to the creature it’s attacking may just make the party think some form of illusion is at play instead of a creature, especially if there’s zombies keeping the rest of the party from thinking clearly.

You can read more about them here.

[dailymythicalknowledge]

Jackson's Daily Bestiary #11: Orobas

Image credit: https://www.shutterstock.com/editorial/image-editorial/art-various-6051094x

Region of Origin: Israel/Europe

Orobas is one of the 72 demons described in the Ars Goetia, the first part of the demonological grimoire known as the Lesser Key of Solomon. He is listed as the 55th spirit, and is a powerful Great Prince of Hell with command over 20 legions of demons.

He first appears as a horse, but may change into the shape of a man under the conjurer's request. He gives true answers about the past, present and future, as well as divinity, including the creation of the world. He also grants favors and noble titles and can reconcile bonds between the conjurer's friends and even their foes.

Perhaps his most notable trait is his loyalty; he is entirely faithful to his conjurer, as Orobas will never attempt to deceive or harm the conjurer in any way, and will even protect his conjurer from temptation by any other demons. Because of this, Orobas is highly recommendable to summoners who are just starting out.

Sources:

-https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orobas

-https://occult-world.com/orobas/

-https://books.google.pt/books?id=tetmEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT5&lpg=PT5&dq=orobas+goetia&source=bl&ots=YuULs24szQ&sig=ACfU3U2l3bbJ70DCL2uw0rvfCn2wftAzAw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiHp_fL153_AhVnU6QEHStXBNcQ6AF6BAhUEAI#v=onepage&q=orobas%20goetia&f=false

[nyktomorphia]

Previously in the Night Land bestiary: Night Hounds, Giants, Silent Ones, 14-Legged Beast, Doorways in the Night, Slug.

Brute-men are one of the many abhuman variants, predictably combining human and [rand_animal] features into a grotesque appearance, and I'm really only separating them until I inevitably run out of things to say about them. The brute-men stand out, however, because the Night Land is not their only appearance in William Hope Hodgson's bibliography. (I know I've made several jokes at the expense of The Night Land's writing style, but the rest of his work is much more readable.)

First, there's Carnacki the Ghost-Finder, Hodgson's occult detective series and an early prototype of the subgenre that includes everything from Twin Peaks to Scooby-Doo. While J. S. Le Fanu's Dr. Martin Hesselius came first (by several decades), Thomas Carnacki is notable for the fact that he doesn't know whether a case is preternatural or mundane until he puzzles it out along with the reader. One of Carnacki's later adventures begins with a client reporting nightmares of squealing pigs, whom Carnacki is concerned to find is acting increasingly porcine himself. Carnacki's sleep experiments turn unexpectedly perilous when they reveal his client's dreams are being pushed ajar by the Hog, a primordial Outer Monstrosity using them to crawl its way back into the world.

Closer to The Night Land is The House on the Borderland, another novel framed as a found document. The narrator is an aged recluse, who lives with his sister in an old haunted house on a cliff, which begins giving him visions... transported across unfathomable depths of space, he finds his house again, jade-green and colossal in a dim red landscape but otherwise identical. Surrounding it is an arena or crater surrounded by a circle of mountains. Among these mountains are the ancient shapes of human and alien gods, immobile and immortal. Beyond the mountains is an endless plain of silence. In the sky above is a sun as black as the night sky, illuminating this place with a corona of dim red flames. And outside the house are pig-faced beast-men, peering inside and probing the locks and hunting him when they become aware of his presence. They are still outside his house when his vision ends.

Remembering that the Night Land is also a vast dark landscape, where the Last Redoubt is surrounded by mountains and the titanic Watchers which creep glacially towards it... among its other features is a place called the House of Silence, an ornate mansion that glows from within. (Its doors are unlocked, and its windows open, and no movement is ever seen inside. No one has ever emerged.) Although the Borderland is at the end of space and the Night Land at the end of time, their parallels are obvious, but their significance uncertain. And the swine-things haunt them both.

[baizetu]

Resource List

List of freely-available online sources only, some of which are translated into English. Will be updated sporadically.

Last update: Nov 26, 2022.

GENERAL (English)

A Chinese Bestiary by Richard E. Strassberg

A nice if incomplete translation of the Classics of Mountains and Seas (Shanhaijing) that focuses on the creatures. It goes into considerable detail and background, unlike Anne Birell’s direct translation. It does not, however, translate the numerous sections listing mountains with no creatures.

The Nine Songs translation by Arthur Waley (Available on the Internet Archive)

A translation of the Nine Songs from the Songs of Chu.

Six Chinese Classics translation by A. Charles Muller

Consists of Analects of Confucius, Great Learning, Doctrine of the Mean, Mencius, Daode jing and Zhuangzi (Chapters One and Two)

Book of Poetry translation by James Legge

300 Tang Poems (Available online) (Alternate link)

“Sui-Tang Chang'an” by Xiong Cunrui

An unbelievable resource for anyone seeking information on the Chang’an city during the Sui and Tang dynasties. It has maps and fully listed names of all the wards and Imperial City interior buildings, and even a compiled list of known inhabitants of the city as well as which wards they were reportedly living in.

Brill Chinese Reference Library: Title of Officials translation by Michael Loewe

Translation of titles from the Hanshu, I believe.

The T'ang Code, Volume I: General Principles translated by Wallace Johnson

The T’ang Code, volume 2, Specific Articles translated by Wallace Johnson

Tang dynasty law code. Can probably also double as “tag yourself” meme if you want.

“Epidemic and population patterns in the Chinese Empire (243 B.C.E. to 1911 C.E.)” by A. Morabia

The Ideology of the Guqin

USEFUL SITES

cbaigui.com

A wonderful site compiling bestiary entries from many ancient Chinese texts, including but not limited to Diagrams of Bai Ze, Old Book of Tang, Book of Rites, etc. You can search them sorted by book or by dynasties, which is a feature I never knew I needed until I saw it.

ctext.org

We know it, we love it, the MVP that compiles so many of ancient texts, and some of them have translations (by James Legge) too.

In Conversation with China Youtube Channel

Collection of online talks/lectures on various topics, including Classic Chinese grammar, Dunhuang Cave Manuscripts, etc. Personal biases, but some of my favorites are the ones by Sarah Allan, Donald Harper, and the series that explores the definition, perception, and treatment towards those with disabilities in early China.

Wikisource  古文 Category

I really just stumbled upon this looking for 白泽精怪图 but it has a number of misc texts in Traditional Chinese.

chinaknowledge.de

Another classic. It’s an incredible site for anyone looking to jump into a specific topic; you can pick up from there.

100jia.net

It’s kind of a headache to navigate it at the start but the link provided should send you to a page with a long list of ancient Chinese classic texts as well as several existing online translations of them. It’s in German, yes, don’t mind it.

Resources on Chinese Legal Tradition

TANG DYNASTY SPECIFIC

"The Reconstruction of Yongning Ward" by Heng Chye Kiang and Chen Shuanglin

Details a theoretical and digital reconstruction of a particular ward of Chang’an during Tang dynasty, including population estimate.

The administrative divisions of the Tang dynasty

唐朝官员品级 Tang dynasty official positions ordered by rank

中国俸禄制度史 The history of China's salary system

CREATURES, FOLK RELIGION, ETC

"The Textual Form of Knowledge: Occult Miscellanies in Ancient and Medieval Chinese Manuscripts, 4th Century BCE to 10th Century CE" by Donald Harper

I’m not even gonna try to describe it right now you can figure it out by reading the title

Ho Peng Yoke books on Archive.org

Includes "Chinese Mathematical Astrology: Reaching out for the stars" and "Explorations in Daoism Medicine and Alchemy in Literature".

龙是如何进化的：龙纹史考 by 陈涤

A post that chronicles the development and changes to the form of the dragon across dynasties.

龙头鹿身的就是麒麟？都弄错了！麒麟的秘密大公开！ by 天可汗文化

A post that chronicles the development and changes to the form of the qilin across dynasties.

“Bai Ze special” by 哀吾生之須臾

白泽特辑【一】「白泽」的传说

白泽特辑【二】「白泽」的形貌 

白泽特辑【三】「白泽图」的相关概况

Bai Ze, Ephemera and Popular Culture by Donald Harper (paper available on the Methods on Sinology site, but site is under construction)

白泽志怪 by 白泽君

One man’s attempt to piece together Diagrams of Bai Ze and explore Bai Ze as a myth. This particular post attempts to put together the surviving entries of the lost text.

[enddaysengine]

Eberron Index

Last Updated: Dec 11, 2022

Ask Keith Baker Transcripts

Dwarves

Fey

Eberron Articles

Distinguishing the Planes of Eberron

Exploring the Manifest Zone - Ep1: Introduction

Exploring the Manifest Zone - Ep2: The Last War

Exploring the Manifest Zone - Ep3: Dragonmarked Houses 

House Vadalis, Pets and the Chimeras of Eberron

Rebuilding Eberron

Eberron Pathfinder Articles

Cults of the Dragon Below and Mental Illness

Eberron Faiths with Pathfinder Domains

Gunpowder in Eberron

PF 2e Magic in Eberron

Planar Monsters of Eberron - Bestiary 1

Planar Monsters of Eberron - Bestiary 2

Planar Monsters of Eberron - Iron Gods

Planar Monsters of Eberron - Ironfang Invasion

System Hack: Aspirations and Action Points

Eberron Classes (PF 1e)

Cleric

Fighter

Gloomblade (Fighter)

Kineticist

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Monk

Occult Classes in Eberron

Oracle

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Steelbound Fighter (Fighter)

Vigilante

Eberron Monsters

Dwarves (PF1)

Heralds and Demigods

Kytons

Mederach

Warforged in Pathfinder 1e