#haakapainiži

[a-book-of-creatures]

I'm running a tabletop RPG campaign where the characters are interacting with folklore creatures from around the world. Do you have any suggestions? Benevolent, scary, weird...

(please avoid things that are sacred I'm using them in a trpg)

Hrm… have you considered asking @thecreaturecodex ? She knows all about that sort of thing. I wouldn’t know an RPG if it crawled up my legs and bit me in the face.

Creatures from around the world though, that’s not very specific… I can think of some random ones I’ve covered over the years, I guess???

The Vatnagedda (Iceland) or Loch Pike looks like a furry golden flounder that lives in lakes. It is so poisonous that merely touching it is deadly, and a dead one can corrode its way through organic and inorganic matter. In fact even ghosts are afraid of it, and one of those buried at the doorstep of a house will keep them away. It can only be held safely with humanskin or skateskin gloves, and wrapped in human and calf cauls.

The Zankallala (Hausa) is a little gnomish being who has a bee swarm for a hat, a snake for a walking stick, scorpions for spurs, and a jerboa for a mount. It is accompanied by birds who sing about how amazing it is. It can effortlessly kill monsters and protects those attacked by them.

The Colôrobètch (Wallonia) is the personification of the winter wind. It sneaks up on children who haven't bundled up enough and nips at their faces with its beak, leaving red, cracked, painful skin behind.

Haakapainiži (Kawaiisu) or Grasshopper is an ogre who captures children and stores them in a basket to eat later. He uses the sharp spikes on his legs to gouge out people's eyes. He can also shapeshift, taking on the form of a harmless old man or a swarm of grasshoppers.

The Zabraq (Middle East) can leap 30-50 cubits in a single bound. Its urine and feces are highly caustic, and it flings them with its tail to kill its prey. If its prey escapes it by climbing a tree, it roars in fury until it vomits blood and dies.

<blocks your path>

[lpbestiary]

Haakapainiži is a boogeyman-like figure from Kawaiisu folklore. Though it can take several forms, Haakapainiži most often appears as a giant grasshopper with a basket on its back. It can also appear as a harmless old man.

Haakapainiži stalks the Kawaiisu lands of Southern California, snatching up wayward children and throwing them into its basket, devouring them later. Kawaiisu parents will warn their children to behave, as "Haakapainiži is coming."

Image source.

Monster master list.

Suggest a spook.

[gotojobin]

Bogey #Bogey #Bogie #Boogy #Bogy #Bogeyman #Bogyman #Nursery #Bogie #manymore #more #Bogieandmanymore In its broadest definition, a bogey, bogeyman, or nursery bogie is any monster whose purpose is to scare children into good behavior. In turn, bogeys can punish different kinds of behavior, or even attack without provocation; they can be the cause of unexplained events or be in league with parents; they can be linked to specific areas, or show up on feast days and holidays. Any creature can be a bogey, with the only restriction being their use as a warning (i.e. “don’t go outside at midday or snakes will bite you”). Bogeys are probably the most ancient and widespread of creatures, and will continue to thrive as long as creative parents and gullible children exist. The proliferation of characters such as Slenderman is further proof of these child-snatchers’ enduring appeal. The Bag Man is the classical bogey. Variations on a man (or woman, or monster) carrying a sack or basket can be found wherever bogeys exist. They are large, hirsute, and fanged. Often they have horns and cloven hooves, the remnants of their origin as demons and devils. Sometimes they are described in ethnically-charged terms, and named after feared and otherized minorities. Bag Men seek out unruly children and stuff them into their bag, carrying them away for punishment – usually devouring them. The Bag Man is most commonly known as the Bogeyman in English-speaking areas. In France he is the Croquemitaine, but also Bras de Fer, Lustucru, Moine Bourru… The French Babou is no doubt one and the same as the Italian Babau. Spanish-speaking countries contend with El Coco, while Arabic-speakers fear Abou Kees (“Man with a Bag”, literally “Bag Father”). In southern Africa the basket bearer becomes the Isitwalangcengce, a hyena-like creature whose head is the basket in which children are carried off. The Southern Californian Haakapainiži is an enormous grasshopper with a basket on his back.

[a-book-of-creatures]

what's your favourite creature?

So many of them!! Off the top of my head, the whale-stabbing unicorn fish Caspilly

the fire-spewing eye-covered Swiss stomach Butatsch Cun Ilgs

and the giant grasshopper bogeyman Haakapainiži!

And of course special mention to all the Icelandic evil whales, represented here by the múshveli or mousewhale!

[a-book-of-creatures]

Haakapainiži

When’s a grasshopper

An ogre? When its diet

Is people, of course.

https://abookofcreatures.com/2016/08/26/haakapainizi/