#nasty diseased corpse

[bohemian-nights]

Rightful heir my ass! If Viserys had Aemma's child, he would have never named Rhaenyra. The truth is Viserys suffered of huge complex of inferiority with Daemon, plus Otto poisoning his mind, and so he put randomly Rhaenyra cause she was the only option left.

People don’t seem to realize just how petty and egotistical Gollum was.

[catsvrsdogscatswin]

Since there’s a bit of a hiatus in Dracula Daily right now, I thought I’d take the opportunity to ramble about what I know of vampiric folklore and history in Europe because I cannot contain my infodump and it’s actually really interesting.

Painting it in very broad strokes, the earliest folkloric creature we would recognize as a vampire was acknowledged in Europe in the 1100s and earlier as a human corpse that physically rose from their grave and returned to their former home/village to drink blood. (A 12th-century English text, The Life and Miracles of St. Modwenna, mentions two examples of this type of vampire.) These vampires’ victims did not become vampires as well, but sickened and died, usually from wasting diseases. What caused the original person to become a vampire was variable, but usually involved being, just, an absolute jerk when they were alive, or an increasingly convoluted series of ways in which they attracted bad luck/evil while they lived, after they died, or as they were buried.

This is where the traditions of stuffing a stone in the potential vampire’s mouth, decapitating them and putting the head in the grave between their knees, burying them facedown, cutting off their hands or feet, burying them in a too-small grave, piling stones atop the grave, or burying them with broken legs came from. All of these are regional or historical variations on ways to quite literally prevent the presumed vampire from digging their way out of the grave and causing trouble: an “And stay down there!” maneuver that we’ll see survive into modern pop culture in the form of a stake through the heart.

This was the predominant form of vampirism up until roughly the 1700s: someone nasty in the village died, and after a while, would start reappearing to their family or loved ones at night, slowly draining their lives away as they fell to a wasting disease like tuberculosis or leprosy. Once the villagers caught on, they would exhume the body, find it suspiciously preserved and with blood trickling from its mouth, and then take steps to neutralize the vampiric threat by beheading, staking it through the heart to literally pin it in the grave, stuff a stone in its mouth, or a combination of all three. 

(You may have heard of the Venetian mass-burial plague pit an archeological team discovered: one of the skeletons had a brick shoved in her mouth. She was the only body treated in such a way, implying that she was thought to have been a vampire: hypothetically even the vampire that caused this local upswing of the plague.)

A cultural shift happened in the 18th century, however, when the Austro-Hungarian Empire gained territory in Serbia and other portions of the Balkans. Since they were neighbors with the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarians kept a heavy military presence in these new territories, and the emperor of the time (Charles VI, I believe) asked the occupying forces to collect reports on the local customs and folklore and send them back.

A number of the reports they sent back included vampire stories.

Now, this was the Age of Enlightenment: many countries were pulling away from old superstitions and following the new methods of science. Belief in vampirism was a rural thing, and widespread plague situations had faded enough that they really weren’t relevant anymore and had fallen out of a lot of people’s memory. 

But the thing was... science was still new, and this whole vampirism thing sounded just plausible enough to be extremely interesting. The Austro-Hungarians sent all sorts of scientists, doctors, and clergy members to collect and dissect and discuss these stories, and for a short spate of time vampirism was the hot new discussion topic in esoteric circles. And for then and a while after, if you wanted case studies, debates, and just about any reference material on vampires, you knew you’d find it in Austro-Hungary’s library.

Eventually the scientific community all concluded that this vampirism thing was just silly peasants not understanding the process of decay, but the arts crowd -particularly the Sturm und Drang folks in Germany- remained very interested in this exotic new creature steeped in mystery and death. Sturm und Drang translates to “storm and stress” and if I had to describe their style in modern terms, I would say (roughly, and with affection) “a love of edgy tragedies.”

There were a number of poems and works spawned from this flurry of interest, but this Austrian version of the vampire still shared a common theme: more like a revenant than anything else, coming for their loved ones first, and a lot of their horror was tied up in how blasphemous and unChristian their very existence was. Less emphasis was placed on getting rid of the vampire and more was placed on the artistic allure of vengeance from beyond the grave and the vampire’s inherent exotic mysticism and threat.

Stoker, in fact, directly references an example of this in Dracula! On May 5th, when Dracula’s telling the coach driver that he knew they were trying to get Jonathan out of there before he showed up, because he himself drove fast enough to intercept them, one of the other passengers whispers to his friend “Denn die Todten reiten schnell,” which translates roughly to “For the dead ride fast,” a quote from Burger’s Lenore.

Lenore is a poem about a young woman whose fiancé died in the Seven Years’ War (connection with Austro-Hungary). In her despair, she curses god (old-school invitation for vampirism), and the following night, her lover knocks on her door to take her on horseback to their marriage bed (vampires attack their loved ones first). He takes her on an increasingly terrifying ride through the night, prompting the above quote, which ends in a graveyard, where he is revealed to be a skeleton and Lenore dies.  

Lenore was written in 1774, and although William is not technically a vampire, the poem is an example of the old-school vampire type. The vampire is a physical reanimated corpse that does not create more of its kind, but causes the people around them to die/waste away, and attacks their loved ones before anyone else. The transition to what we finally would recognize as a modern vampire started with Carmilla and was solidified in Dracula.

Written in 1872, Carmilla is a blending of both old and modern vampiric tropes. It uses the then-expected setting of the Austrian Empire, all of the titular vampire’s victims wasted away and died rather than rising as vampires themselves, and Carmilla’s coffin was filled with blood when she was unearthed. However, she was also able to shapeshift into a cat and walk through walls -no longer just a revenant- and she could walk around during the day without harm. She also does not target the people she knew and loved in life first: Carmilla is a vampire centuries old and her current victims are chosen indiscriminately. The vampire as a folkloric creature was evolving.

And, side note, while it was used partially as a narrative device to show how evil and unnatural Carmilla was, she was also gay. Gay as fuck. People who lost their shit at 

“Then the Count turned, after looking at my face attentively, and said in a soft whisper: ‘Yes, I too can love’” 

will go absolutely mental at Laura going

“It was like the ardour of a lover; it embarrassed me; it was hateful and yet overpowering; and with gloating eyes she drew me to her, and her hot lips travelled along my cheek in kisses; and she would whisper, almost in sobs, ‘You are mine, you shall be mine, and you and I are one for ever.’"

Anyway. Queerness is baked into the concept of the modern vampire from the very beginning, what of it.

With Carmilla as the springboard, though, Stoker was free to finally create Dracula, which was essentially the turning point between modern and archaic vampire depictions. He took all of the old stuff and reworked, revamped (heh), or added to it to get the foundation of the stereotypical vampire we know today.

He shifted the geographic vampire hotspot further over from Austria-Hungary, landing it in neighboring Transylvania. Dracula’s victims weaken and die and seem to be inflicted with a strange wasting disease, but can also turn into vampires themselves. Driving a stake through his heart and cutting off his head is no longer an attempt to pin him in his grave and keep him from rising, but merely to destroy him. He was dead, yes, and very unholy, but he also had powers beyond merely being a risen corpse, and his power set became the standard for future vampire media.

Hence, Dracula becomes the foundation for the modern concept of a vampire, which is why pop culture usually treats it as the beginning point of vampirism in general.

[i-lived-i-died-and-now-i-sleep]

Baldwin IVs love language

I thought about how one person could possibly win over Baldwins heart and decided to write about the ways I think he enjoys to be cherished as a partner. Hope you enjoy!

I think Baldwin prefers three out of the five love language types: Quality time, words of affirmation and physical touches. Let me explain why:

Quality time: Baldwin definitely enjoys to spend some alone time with his significant other. It doesn't matter if you sit together after a long day and you listen to him talking about the political situation in the kingdom, you two sitting comfortably next to each other while you both read a book, or even meet up to eat dinner together: this is his favorite time of the day. Spending time with you,getting to know you is THE most important thing for Baldwin. For most of his life, he usually spend the evenings either alone or with work but ever since you came into his life, he looks forward to each end of a day when he can finally join you and just cherish your company. I really think due to the leprosy and the limits of physical love that comes with it, Baldwin falls in love with a mind,not looks. So if you talk to him about philosophy,history or some good stories of French knights,he will absolutely fall for you. He really needs this time to make sure that he stays grounded, to remember he found a home in you.

Words of affirmation: While Baldwin definitely stands his ground in political discussions and acts as a remarkable ruler on the outside (and the inside!), I think he also has a very vulnerable side to him. How could he not? Carrying the future of the whole kingdom on his shoulders while suffering from an incurable disease that may or may not be connected to the wrath of God? Baldwin definitely has his moments when he is sure that he can't continue like this. Shallow moments when the anger he feels about this situation does seem to get to his head. He usually spends these moments alone in his private chambers because he doesn't want to show anyone how he much the world hurts sometimes, but after some time, he would definitely let the mask down (haha) in front of you. It may take a while for him to be really comfortable to show anyone how he truly feels but as soon as he accepts you as his safe place, he WILL let his guard down. You accepting this side of him, listening to him rambling, drying his tears feels like heaven on earth to him. He loves to hear words of support from you, how he is a good king and how proud you are of him. But sometimes it's enough for him to just listen to your breath while he lays on your chest and accept his tears.

Physical touch: Listen to me, this man is touched starved for what seems like forever. Every day of his life consists of people avoiding his presence, avoiding his touch, fearing him. And he isn't even angry about this,how could he? They fear the leprosy and he completely understands this. He himself still can't believe sometimes that God brought this upon him and the way this illness is destroying every part of his body. Yes, sometimes he feels like a rotten corpse that somehow still clings to life. He would never EXPECT anyone to willingly touch him, although he silently hopes that he will feel physical love again...somewhen. So when you softly touch his hand while you both play chess, he is sure that he can hear the blood rushing through his veins. His heart is beating faster than ever and although he can't exactly FEEL you, seeing somewhen closing the physical gap is enough for butterflies to fly in his stomach. The thought alone that you don't FEAR him, that you don't think him ugly or nasty but,on the contrary, long for his touch may be the best feeling for him. So every time you draw him in for a soft hug, kiss his mask or lay your hand in his, he feels like the luckiest man on earth.

[diosapate]

top 5 tlt fics?

ough. ok. with the obvious caveat that i mostly read lyctorfic and in no particular order:

whatever souls are made of, yours and mine are the same (insult) by flemeth. mercy/augustine. this is basically the bible to me.

He thinks of biopsying their bodies into red Rorschach butterflies. Hold those up to Dear John. And what do you see? Monkeys banging typewriters? Nuclear fission? Daddy issues? A heady ménage à trois? And how does that make you feel? And what does that make you fear? And where did you stash your bodyguard, really?

dead flowers in the sand by glasslilies. cytherea/loveday. exploration of that lore drop in htn where mercy says cyth went mad trying to plant a bomb on an RB. heartrending.

She said, When I die, I want my corpse to be laid to rest in a bed of roses. I want roses to sprout from my orifices and colonise my ribcage. I want to be positively smothered by them.

alors que l'eau est bleue by Raxheim. mercy/john/augustine. 1st person augustine pov jumpscare + rb madness and it is SO fucking good.

In the lines of your body I could see my death, and I knew in the lines of mine you could see yours.

BEAUTY, BLOSSOM, DIE by rnanqo. cytherea/loveday, mercy/cristabel. canaan house role reversal. i rarely ever read multichapter fics but this one is special. and it opens with a dramatis personae so, like, what else could you possibly want

The Lyctor leaned in, very close. The scent of vanilla clung to her, like a disease. Her red, red mouth pulled into a smile—or the prelude to a bite. “Don’t you want to die, Duchess Septima?”

motherhood by forjodssake. mercy/wake. EXPLICIT. no idea how to pitch this fic other than it's hysterical and nasty and SO much fun

“Right,” she says. “Congratulations, I guess.” “On what?” you ask. She waves the jar labeled EGGS. “On becoming a mother.”

[sarcoptid]

i don't think blood spec DKs get enough thought about how gross their fighting style has the potential to be.

we all know unholy is the nastiest, what with its plagues, and festering wounds, and ghouls, and flies, etc.

but come on man. marrowrend? bonestorm? bone shield? all the healing via blood? where do u think all those bone shards are coming from. i am pulling them from your corpse like i'm magically deboning a drumstick. sucking 'em right out the meat. blood and gore just whirling through the air like an awful tornado. i'm doing rapid decomposition to you. you're standing in my nasty circle of evil ground and getting blood diseases. i'm having a little sippy as a treat. there's worms. you get bone shards in your shoe. everything smells and tastes like pennies. i get low on health and suddenly everyone in a ten foot radius is getting the blood siphoned out of them whether they've got wounds or not. your pores will do. gimme that stuff i need it.

[ystrike1]

I Thought I Didn't Have Long To Live! - By Ari Choi (8.5/10)

A funny romance protagonist. What a breath of fresh air! Funny girls don't usually mesh well with yanderes, but it works here. Our heroine is obsessed with finishing her bucket list before her early death. So, she ignores all of the red flags. She marches up to the Legendary Monster Duke, and she says she wants to date him casually. Just for the hell of it.

Lariette is a good daughter. She does paperwork. She helps her father hold up his failing family. She puts up with her bratty brother. The problem is her family doesn't value her. She's pretty, so they try to sell her to an old rich guy. When Lariette gets diagnosed with Too Much Mana disease she knows she's doomed.

So, she beats up her ugly fiance and she leaves.

Lmao.

She's super good at purification magic, so she decides to sell her marketable skill...wait. Purification wizards are not in high demand. Healers are easier to use. So, she's broke. Lol. Her bag gets stolen too. She gets saved, violently, by a handsome man.

Asrahan is a Weird Duke. He got cursed when he was really young. A witch gave him rotting flesh, and the eternal stench of death. He's handsome, but his cursed body is repulsive. He's very lonely. Only a mega strong purification wizard can save him, and he hasn't found one. No one is willing to go near the living corpse.

Lariette isn't affected by his aura, because she's even more powerful than she thinks she is. She's good with fire and healing, but she doesn’t know she's on par with the pope.

She asks him to date her. He says no and she offers a purification contract instead.

He accepts.

She sees her relationship with him like this.

Her efforts to seduce him are all fun and games to her.

He sees their relationship like this.

Try to think about it from his point of view. People have been vomiting in fear at the sight of him since he was like seven. Now, a gorgeous woman sings his praises daily. Plus, she makes the smell go away. It's a slow process though, because his curse is a nasty one. They get even closer because of it. Purification is super draining. He appreciates the pain Lariette goes through for his sake.

Poor Asrahan turned to violence as a young man. His mom died too (of course) so he went to war to be surrounded by other corpses. He is the strongest guy around. His nasty aura makes him a hard opponent to beat too. It is sad though. Asrahan gets along great with his butler, but he has no friends his age and zero experience with women. Even though he's twenty seven. That's rough.

Lariette's old fiance tries to punish her for leaving. Asrahan immediately beheads the men he hired. He cuts off the old man's arm as a warning too. Asrahan doesn't completely accept his feelings for a while. He really sees himself as a monster. He isn't going to let Lariette leave though. Every time he thinks about becoming pure and free of the curse...he isn't happy because that means she'll leave.

Priest Doha is a great character, because he's not a real yandere. He's possessive because Lariette is special. He does fall for her, but his attraction is rooted in selfishness. Asrahan doesn't think he's good enough for Lariette, because she's so wonderful. Plus he also slices heads off. He beats priest guy no problem. Lariette chooses him. There is no contest.

Lariette rushes their dating life. Asrahan gets jealous of Doha and they start dating. Lariette wants to do it all before she dies. She also thinks Asrahan is experienced, with lots of past girlfriends. She can't comprehend how scary the corpse thing is, because she can't sense it. Asrahan doesn't handle being in lust for the first time well, but he tries his best. Consent. Cool!

Every other character sees Asrahan as a cold guy. Just because he killed thousands of men and his skin is purple and he sometimes goes into berserker rages blahblahblah. So judgemental.

I'm kidding.

Lariette realizes she messed up when the doctor says she's fine. She got misdiagnosed. Immediately after that she has to face the consequences. Asrahan is very kind to her....and that’s it. He doesn't need anyone else. He's so used to being alone. Having love is more than enough fulfillment for him, which is bad. She's got a life to live, and she won't get any freedom if she stays with her corpse boyfriend.

What a pickle!

[thecreaturecodex]

Ranna

"Slaadi" © Wizards of the Coast, by Sam Wood

[New Year, New Monsters! I am feeling much less burnt out than I was for the back half of 2023, and have built up a small backlog of new writing. I'm going to keep monsters I post to 2/week for now, to give myself time to go through said backlog in case the burnout rears up again when I'm back to work.

So for my first trick, is a monster NPC I actually wrote back in like September, but didn't post. Consider her an epilogue to the whole "Monster Girl Summer" thing. Ranna is @strawberry-crocodile's character, and fits with some of my other monstrous NPCs. She's Doctor Shiny's main minion, and their relationship serves as sort of a nasty counterpart to Gigi and Priscilla's. Of course, if you just want to use the stat block as a particularly burly slaad enforcer type, that works just as well as Ranna's baroque and macabre backstory.]

Ranna CR 18 CE Aberration This blue, frog-like humanoid has a triangular fanged snout, warty skin and enormous claws growing from the backs of their hands. A red gemstone is embedded in their skull, right between the eyes.

Marina Rhynne was an alchemy student at Endirion School in Absalom, prone to anxiety and to thinking with her stomach. She caught the eye of Doctor Agatha Shiny, who used the pretext of a dinner invitation and offer of a graduate program to abduct her and implant her with an alchemically treated red slaad egg. Doctor Shiny succeeded in one of her goals, which was to cause memories to be passed from the host to the parasite, but failed in that the resultant blue slaad did not maintain the intelligence of her progenitor. The resultant slaad, named Ranna, could recall her previous life in a hazy, dream-like way, but the predominant personality trait that was carried over was hunger.

Ranna is now Doctor Shiny’s Number One Minion, her assassin, procurer and lover. If Doctor Shiny needs someone eliminated or an unusual creature captured and brought to her, Ranna is the one to do it. She usually tracks her targets as an unassuming humanoid until she can set up an ambush and remove her greater hat of disguise. Ranna fights with her natural weapons almost exclusively, although she does occasionally toy with targets by battering them with heavy objects hurled by telekinesis. Although she is lapdog-loyal to Doctor Shiny and always follows her instructions for her specified victims, Ranna enjoys collateral damage, which usually involves biting bystanders. She views any red slaadi that are created through chaos phagethe way a proud parent views their children, and is happy to hear of any death and destruction they create.

Ranna’s personality is playful in a cruel way. She sees her progenitor, Marina Rhinne, as a pathetic figure, and has an air of contempt towards academic pursuits in general. She still appears as Rhynne when abroad in Absalom, and is the terror of Endirion School’s faculty, staff and students as Doctor Shiny’s personal assistant. Ranna is happy to play the bad guy so that Doctor Shiny can maintain her impeccable public reputation, and takes matters into her own claws if anyone gets too close to the truth about Doctor Shiny’s goals and activities. Ranna tends to dispose of the evidence of her murders by eating the corpses of her victims. She is also an excellent chef. Doctor Shiny does not eat food that Ranna prepares unless she is very sure of where the meat came from.

Ranna  CR 18 XP 153,600 Blue slaad slayer 9 (cutthroat) CE Large aberration (chaotic, slaadi) Init +8; Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception +19

Defense AC 33, touch 20, flat-footed 24 (-1 size, +8 Dex, +1 dodge, +9 natural, +4 armor, +2 deflection) hp 303 (11d8+9d10+200); fast healing 6 Fort +22, Ref +20, Will +15 Immune mind reading, sonic; Resist acid 10, cold 10, electricity 10, fire 10; SR 19

Offense Speed 30 ft. Melee +3 bite +32 (2d6+16 plus disease), 2 +3 claws +32 (2d6+16/19-20x3) Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. Special Attacks augmented critical, opportune target, rend (2 claws, 2d6+22), sneak attack +3d6, stab and grab, studied target (swift or move action, +2) Spell-like Abilities CL 8th, concentration +11 3/day—hold person (DC 15), passwall, telekinesis (DC 18) 1/day—chaos hammer (DC 17)

Statistics Str 36, Dex 26, Con 30, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 16 Base Atk +17; CMB +31 (+33 bull rush); CMD 52 Feats Alertness,Awesome Blow, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Critical (claw), Improved Natural Attack (bite), Intimidating Prowess, Killing Flourish, Power Attack Skills Acrobatics +20 (+24 in urban environments), Bluff +16, Climb +20, Disable Device +25, Disguise +16, Intimidate +34, Linguistics +4, Perception +19 (+23 vs. traps), Profession (chef) +14, Sense Motive +19, Stealth +21, Survival +15 Languages Common, Slaadi SQ legendary, slayer talents (surprise attack, trapfinding [trap sense +3], stalker, street stalker (Acrobatics) Gear manual of gainful exercise +4 (expended), manual of quickness of action +2 (expended), manual of bodily health +4 (expended), belt of physical perfection +4, bloodstained gloves, greater hat of disguise, soulbound eye, amulet of mighty fists +3, bracers of armor +4, boots of teleportation, cloak of resistance +3, ring of mind shielding, ring of protection +2, potion of fly (x2), potion of displacement, potion of haste, potion of lesser restoration (x2), potion of cure light wounds (x4), masterwork cooking tools, 150 gp

Special Abilities Augmented Critical (Ex) A blue slaad’s claws deal x3 damage on a successful critical hit. Disease (Su) Chaos phage; bite—injury; save Fort DC 25; onset 1 minute; frequency 1/day; effect 1d6 Con damage and 1d6 Cha damage; cure 2 consecutive saves. A creature that is reduced to 0 Con or Cha by chaos phage is immediately transformed into a red slaad. This transformation can only be reversed by a miracle or wish. A Small or Medium humanoid with levels in an arcane spellcasting class instead transforms into a green slaad. The save DC is Constitution based. Legendary (Ex) Ranna’s statistics are built with 25 point buy, and she has the equipment of an 18th level PC. These advantages increase her CR by +1. Opportune Target (Ex) If Ranna can act in the surprise round, she can study a foe as a free action and select them as her studied target. Stab and Grab (Ex) As a swift action, Ranna can attempt a steal combat maneuver against a dead or unconscious foe, or against a studied target that she has successfully confirmed a critical hit against. A dead or unconscious opponent takes a -10 penalty against this maneuver. Street Stalker (Ex) Ranna adds ½ her slayer level to Acrobatics checks made in urban environments.

[cupcraft]

The insane eras of tommyinnit that I can recall off the top of my head.

Emma Chamberlain stan ft polaroid camera, "I'm really into streaming" v "I'm really into youtube", cannibalism jokes, bo Burnham, sandwichlord mcc, wanting people to name their kids after him ft. Dantdm, uncle nasty, cursed apartment, ctommy possession moments, friends with corpse era, Up ft the very copyrighted soundtrack, arginnit, flirting with ranboo ft love or host ranboo picked love, mod videos, clingyduo rp disease ft hardcore series/Tommy's SMPs/That one stream where they did improv lore, vlogs, interview era, Minecraft live mob vote livestream era ft getting banned from the chat, mcc strategy doc era turned let's just have fun, sitting in on Phil's hardcore streams, pubg.

Feel free to add on.

[gabrielisdead]

When Victor went "insane" he was not just grieving over his mother death, he left his homecountry alone probably for the first time at 17, had no friends at university, couldn't take care of himself, catched some nasty disease from corpses, went through a psychosis and depression, and finally needed six months to recover which could have lasted longer if it wasn't for his best friend constant affection

[box4brains]

I’m sick af so what better time than to discuss headcanons about Trafalgar Law and his crew?!?

Warning ⚠️ will contain gruesome and disturbing things. Law canonically has a bit of a disturbing reputation an I like to keep it in mind for my HC… the OP world is an dystopian nightmare and it will be much more prominent because I will tone down the Saturday morning cartoons vibe that the story usually is told in.

Law has a very give-and-take stance on things in life. To him, for him to owe someone else something (like a favor or a debt of gratitude) is for him to owe them subservitude. And he will not stand for it. On the flip side, if someone owes him a debt or favor, he expects them to either pay it back in kind, or owe him servitude until such a time he feels like it’s been repaid.

Law has a extremely bland reaction to if people are dying, especially for a doctor. He generally doesn’t care if people around him dies or not (except if he cares about them) as he figures people will die, and if they don’t want to compensate him properly then who gives a shit. Despite this, if he was to stumble across someone or something terribly wounded, his first instinct is to save their life. In fact that’s how he ended up with the wast majority of his crew.

Law and the Heart pirates are one of very few pirate crews known for not making money through piracy, instead they make money by utilizing the black market to sell abortion-medicine and human organs and blood and other things. As Law has a policy to not use his medical services for money, most of the human stuff comes from payment from patients he’s helped. Most people don’t mind paying for their life (or the life of a loved one) with a kidney or a lung and Law’s all too happy to use a person’s desperation for his own gain.

Law cares little for his bounty, he does care extremely about his reputation though and will usually lean into his more terrifying rumors when dealing with people to intimidate them into submission.

In every port that the Heart pirates port in, Law will treat all the prostitutes free of charge. Not from the goodness of his heart, but because he knows his crew will likely visit them and rather than having to cure his crew repeatedly from sexual diseases, it’s easier for him to just go to the source. It also makes them like him and Law has gotten lots of useful information this way over the years. His crew also loves this because they usually get discounts and don’t have to worry about getting something nasty.

Law totally has a “safe sex” talk with his crew every time they get a new member. M/m, w/w, m/w, masturbation, you name it, he’s covered it (from a medical/safety pov). And yes, he had an entire section about “Why We Don’t Fuck Corpses”. It’s every bit as mortifying as it sounds and Law makes everyone listen to it, every time, not just the newest member/-s.

In fact, Law’s so rigorous in his monitoring of his crews health nobody has ever been sick. It’s a source of pride for Law, though he’d rather die than let anyone know that.

Law doesn’t hunt for food. He’ll fish and will kill animals if they stumble across him, but the act of hunting down something fleeing for its life turns his stomach and he refuses to do it.

Though never really said outright, Law loves clothes. He especially loves buying clothes and then using his powers to modify them to look exactly as he wants. After all, clothes bearing his jolly roger doesn’t exactly exist in stores.

Law got his first bounty because a world noble tracked him down and told Law he’d pay whatever he wanted as long as he cured him. Law - predictably- hates nobles and goes “sure, I can save you, but the price is your dick and balls” the nobleman obviously took great offense to that until Law reminds him he’s dealing with pirates and “should be down on all four licking his shoes in gratitude that’s all he’s asking for”. The nobleman died a couple of months later and Law’s first bounty was released shortly after.

Hakugan wears a mask at all times because his previous leader found him after he’d joined the Hearts and showed his face into a fire place and more or less burned his face off. Law gave him new eyes, lips and everything after he dealt with the minor crime lord. (Incidentally he told the man he was going to rip his spine out and beat him to death with it, which he did, though it was more like the blood loss actually killed him)

Law has a sadistic side, though it generally doesn’t rear its ugly head often. As Law generally doesn’t have a appetite for seeing suffering. He does like making people sweat and squirm though.

The darkest things Laws done to other people consists of;

killing Hakugans previous boss as mentioned above.

Killing the head of a criminal gang who specialized in organ harvesting because they killed a young teenage girl who reminded Law of Lamy, in retaliation Law strapped him to his own table and cut him open and started taking out organs and removing ribs and telling him different things about the human body as the bound and gagged man writhed in agony.

After learning that a man who he was working with planned to double-cross him, kidnapped the man and put one of the man’s own bombs in his stomach to make him do his bidding.

To get information about Punk Hazard Law cut up some of Doflamingos men, buried their bodies alive and came back the following day to see if they were willing to give him the information he wanted.

The above mentioned thing is why the Hearts are terrified of their captain. Don’t get me wrong, they absolutely love and adore him, but to the crew he’s kinda like the ultimate scary dog privilege.

Law has a love for all things cute and fluffy, but his sense of humor is more on the morbid side.

Law has reading glasses, he generally only wears them when studying thick medical journals, so only 5 people knows and has seen him wear them.

Law has an amazing memory, extremely high IQ, but has a really low “social IQ”, which makes him great at being cold and calculating but is incredibly socially awkward if he doesn’t have a plan to follow.

Law was never really into the whole “human contact” thing as a child, something his family respected, but it reached new highs after the destruction of White Town and Law escaping by hiding under a pile of bodies. Law feeling other bodies pressed against him will never not make his skin crawl, the only exception to this is Bepo.

There! I think that’s enough brain vomit lol

I think the fever has gone down a bit, but I apologize if… actually, I’ll just apologize, full stop. 😅

[a-simply-wretched-halloween]

☆~☆~☆~☆~☆~☆~☆~~☆~☆~☆~☆~☆~☆~☆

Welcome to A Simply Wretched Halloween! (Continuously-In-Development for your most perverse pleasure... But for the record it sprung forth from the loins of 2024.)

Our contact is: asimplywretchedhalloween@gmail.com But feel free to interact with this account at any time!

Only active once a month, during October, so savour it while you can!

-> Corpse Comics, the bread and butter of this menagerie of terror; spilling to the brim with grim happenings and tales fit for only the greediest of greedy consumption.

-> Learning Lunacy where frightening but informational drudgery commences! Can vary from literature to the foulest of disease and parasites.

-> Nasty News- gorey gossip, hideous headlines, and the latest, most torturous topics brought forth into your unlucky lap. Enjoy flipping through the pages and laughing at the despair that plagues the world of Eugh!

Head over to @behind-the-wretched-halloween to see the process behind the art!

☆~☆~☆~☆~☆~☆~☆~~☆~☆~☆~☆~☆~☆~☆

[gyarubloodbath]

run

character: draken tw:+18, mechanophilia, stages of decomposition of a corpse. synopsis: a tremor went through body, legs weakened and now draken is sitting. on the contrary — the faithful kawasaki zephyr 400, stroking the gas tank with one index finger, clinging to the letters z and e, painted in silver, around — cold stuffiness and bright insignificance. contradictions. there's a fly flying around the room. at a fast speed, she drunkenly crashes into the dried corpse of her girlfriend, who turned over from the sudden movement on her back. nasty symbolism.

oh, the beautiful naked loins of the goddess of death, an intricate white mist swirls in the head of a sinful desperate soul living in its own world and icy rocks lurk under the skin, cutting with their tips the tissues of wild organs, wildly twisting into impossible knots. the stony idea of his splashed convolutions presses into his brain, giving signals to his eyes: to cover them again, taking the enchanted wanderer into the inevitable forest of the nymph.

a tremor went through body, legs weakened and now draken is sitting. on the contrary — the faithful kawasaki zephyr 400, stroking the gas tank with one index finger, clinging to the letters z and e, painted in silver, around — cold stuffiness and bright insignificance. contradictions. there's a fly flying around the room. at a fast speed, she drunkenly crashes into the dried corpse of her girlfriend, who turned over from the sudden movement on her back. nasty symbolism.

the man rips off his clothes. the body is covered with cold sweat, the limbs tremble slightly from the excitement of the animal. now there are no restrictions, there is no one who needs to be protected, covered, loved, there is no one from whom you need to hide what ken will do now.

precum has covered the seat of the bike and draken squeezes the steering wheel tighter, the imprint will remain in stripes on the palm of his hand. with his other hand, he slowly strokes his penis, convulses in his knee, trying to relax at least a little.

ᅠ the "fresh" stage begins immediately after the heart stops beating. from the moment of death, the body begins to cool or heat up, corresponding to the ambient temperature, which is called algor mortis. within three to six hours, the muscle tissue becomes stiff and unable to relax during a stage called rigor mortis. since blood is no longer pumped, gravity causes it to drain to dependent parts of the body, creating a general bluish-purple discoloration called cadaveric disease or, more commonly, cyanosis. depending on the position of the body, these parts will vary. for example, if a person was lying on his back at the time of death, blood will accumulate in those parts of the body that touch the ground. if a person were hanging, he would accumulate in the tips of his fingers, toes and earlobes.

blood can no longer supply oxygen or remove carbon dioxide from tissues. cells lose their structural integrity, which leads to the release of cellular enzymes capable of initiating the destruction of surrounding cells and tissues. this process is known as autolysis.

the visible changes caused by decomposition are limited at the fresh stage, although autolysis can cause blisters on the surface of the skin.

the small amount of oxygen remaining in the body is rapidly depleted by cellular metabolism and aerobic microbes naturally present in the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts, creating an ideal environment for the reproduction of anaerobic organisms. they multiply by consuming carbohydrates, lipids and proteins of the body, with the formation of various substances, including propionic acid, lactic acid, methane, hydrogen sulfide and ammonia. the process of reproduction of microorganisms in the body is called putrefaction and leads to the second stage of decomposition, known as bloating.

meat flies are the first carrion insects that arrive and look for a suitable place to lay eggs.

ᅠ heart is beating like it's never been before. only the head of the penis enters the still warm gas tank, opened with a key. the smell of gasoline sweeps through the room, the headache increases with every breath, and the bitter taste of something elusive is on the tongue. ryuguji is choking on his saliva, trying to squeeze deeper into the tank, and his body sticks to the motorcycle, which has seen everything a man has had to go through in the last couple of years. He gets lost and whispers alone with kawasaki, stroking the carburetor with his fingertips:

— it's like my first time… only much narrower, haha…

the bike represents ken's closest approach to a woman. he winces, feels an insatiable, destructive (long-destroyed) thirst. it's like a tickle that slowly teases every corner of your body, except you desperately don't want it to stop. he transmits emotions and all his feelings to a mute object, and at this moment he is more vulnerable than ever.

ᅠ the bloating stage provides the first clear visual indication that microbial reproduction is taking place. at this stage, anaerobic metabolism occurs, leading to the accumulation of gases such as hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, methane and nitrogen. the accumulation of gases in the body cavity causes bloating and gives the corpse its general bloated appearance. the resulting gases also cause foaming of natural liquids and diluent tissues. as the pressure of gases in the body increases, liquids are forced to exit natural openings such as the nose, mouth and anus and enter the environment. increased pressure combined with loss of skin integrity can also lead to rupture of the body.

intestinal anaerobic bacteria convert hemoglobin into sulfhemoglobin and other colored pigments. the accompanying gases that accumulate in the body at this time contribute to the transportation of sulfhemoglobin throughout the body through the circulatory and lymphatic systems, giving the body a marbled appearance.

if insects have access, the larvae hatch and begin to feed on body tissues. larval activity, usually limited to natural openings and clusters under the skin, causes skin to slide and hair to separate. feeding on larvae and the accumulation of gases in the body eventually leads to postmortem skin tears, which then additionally allow gases and liquids to be removed into the environment. ruptures in the skin allow oxygen to re-enter the body and provide a large surface area for the development of fly larvae and the activity of aerobic microorganisms. the removal of gases and liquids leads to the appearance of strong characteristic odors associated with decomposition.

in the blink of an eye, as the germans say, draken was under a motorcycle, the heavenly virtuous line of behavior was erased and time moves faster than our fantasies, appearing in dreams, in moments when despair obscures the human gaze with a white mist.

the man gets comfortable, the cold blows from under the cracks, and the floor presses painfully on his back. the legs are bent at the knees, the pelvis is raised, and the penis ends up in the exhaust pipe. the cold frame of the motorcycle tickles the inner side of the thighs, sand pours from the wheels from each push, getting on the roughened skin, while ryuguji was languishing, morally exhausted, mentally justifying himself.

hands reach out to the front suspension — a telescopic fork — then to the steel frame, stroking both from top to bottom. my breathing stops again; a pistol shot, frightening and cautious, making me almost pee with happiness.

decomposition slows down significantly with progressive decomposition due to the loss of readily available cadaveric material. insect activity also decreases at this stage. when the carcass is on the ground, signs of vegetation death will be visible in the area adjacent to it. carbonyldiimidazole surrounding the framework will display an increase in soil carbon content and nutrients such as phosphorus, potassium, calcium and magnesium; pH changes; and a significant increase in soil nitrogen content.

ᅠ and in the hot workshop, he sat down next to the bike, slapping a nimble fly on his knee.

[vole-mon-amour]

Why does Johnny say that he would never touch a joytoy and would burn that club in Automatic Love to the ground, but if V sleeps with a joytoy, he never says anything? ("And he prefers Jig Jig street, "At least you know what you're getting here.")

Sure, Johnny is all "No kink shame", but how about "Don't do it, V" & "You can do better, V" and all of that? "Being a walking corpse is not a ough for you, apparently, you want to get some nasty disease, too"?

Commenting on that and making a snarling comment sounds like a Johnny thing to do, honestly.

[sam-roulette]

WIP

“Wow!” said Marius, carefully sidestepping the puddle of miscellaneous bodily fluids on the floor, “That is a lot of rabies.”

“You can’t actually contract “more rabies” than someone else. It’s a Boolean function; either you’ve got rabies or you haven’t.” Ivy idly said, leaning against the sink shoved into the corner of the examination room. Looking over the cadaver gently writhing on the table, she paused. “Though if it were possible, then yes, Martin has indeed contracted so many rabies.”

And what a dramatic display of said rabies too, Marius thought as he slipped a pair of gloves on. Martin was looking positively ghastly; skin going so grey that Marius was starting to see the individual pores slowly opening up, revealing Martin to be soft, gelatinous, and quite rubbery. It could have been passed off like he was touching the back of a particularly gooey stingray if not for the fact that Martin is still foaming at the mouth somehow. The contrast of the ever expanding amounts of paper white spit-brine and the brass of his wrists and fingertips was just the slightest bit disconcerting.

“It is a tad odd though, isn’t it?” Ivy murmured, looking over the corpse that was finally coming to an eerie stillness, “Amphibians by their nature shouldn’t be able to carry nor suffer from the disease. I thought that we’d come to the conclusion of his being primarily amphibious, but there appears to be something mammalian hidden somewhere in there- of course, those sorts of taxonomies are rather reductive-”

“- and you can classify a coconut as a mammal ‘cause it’s a giant hairy tit,” He shuddered a bit at the mental image. Marius prayed he would never see the day where he would have to see a coconut in real life. All those little papillae… the teeth... “Do we still have Raph’s notes on hand?”

“Memorized and accounted for.” Ivy said, “She’s going to have a field day with this, you know.”

“She’s going to want to cut him up live if anything,” Marius waved it off. 

“Fair enough.” Ivy said, “Cadavers don’t exactly make for lively dissections.” 

“They most certainly do not.” 

Thankfully, there wasn’t much Marius needed to do here- the bloke had gotten a nasty gash to the flank, but the wound had already started to heal before the whole rabies thing finished him off, so the most he needed were some stitches. Sewing skin and sewing fabric was basically the same to Marius. The only real difference was that skin was bloodier and also needed to be stabbed a touch harder, generally! Easy as could be.

Marius continued his examination, poking Martin’s currently very dead body and watching his head wetly roll back. His prognosis: gross. He started wiping up the foam, uncovering the human looking face beneath and thanking his lucky stars that the damn body wasn’t making any more of a mess. It just seemed wrong for the poor bastard.

“We’ll just get the kid sewn up and he’ll be right as rain,” Marius grinned, already pleased with an easy job and imagining what favors he could get out of this. Sure, Marius treated Martin every time any diplomatic meetings went south, but he thought this particular case was one the ship’s ambassador would really want to thank him for. 

(Marius also just so happened to be in the possession of two thousand little unassembled space ikea bookshelves. He also did not know why. But they were there, looking smug in their little cardboard fortresses and their Spedish. Mocking him. Tempting him with their wooden depths.)

“Mmm.” Ivy said in a tone that implied that not everything would, in fact, be right as rain. 

Marius turned to her, squinting. “You think my assessment is wrong.”

“Not wrong per se, just… underdeveloped.” Ivy said, “The rabies virus persists inside a dead animal for at least twenty-four hours after expiration- unless we kill it, Martin is still ah, full of rabies. If we leave it, he’ll die again after a few weeks. And since his regeneration appears to take about six hours to revitalize the damaged brain tissue, there is an 87.34% chance of his contracting the rabies virus again and dying after a few weeks, and so on and so forth, until such a time that his body spontaneously produces cells that have mutated partial immunity to the virus. At the current rate and due to the completely jumbled mess that is his genetic code, we could be looking at Martin continuing this cycle for… seventeen years.”

“Seventeen years?!” Marius exclaimed, “But I don’t want to operate on him for seventeen years! Think of all the inter-crew drama I’ll miss!!!”

..

[originally was supposed to be the first drabble in a “Martin Blackwood TMA is Actually the Martin in Hereward the Wake and also a Mechanism” au, except he’s just dead for most of this drabble. he gets better tho don’t worry <3]

[pathfinderunlocked]

Writhing Sludge Demon - CR19 Demon

A high level demon based on a Magic: The Gathering card.

Artwork by Lie Setiawan on ArtStation.  From Magic: The Gathering, copyright Wizards of the Coast.

This creature is based on the artwork from the MtG card Archfiend of the Dross, but Magic cards don’t really have enough abilities for a high level demon.  Despite the card’s name, I didn’t actually make this an archfiend in Pathfinder terms, since creating CR 28 stat blocks for demigods sounds pointless and exhausting to me.  Also it’s only a 6/6 creature, not that I really made any attempt to accurately replicate the MtG creature here.  I just wanted to take some ideas from it in order to make a useful and interesting high level demon.

Writhing sludge demons come from layers of the Abyss full of hazardous chemicals, toxic waste, swamplands, and filth.  They are among the most powerful demons, and fly high over these foul lands, watching them from afar.  They descend when they see other creatures trying to escape from the caustic muck, whether those creatures are demons, unfortunate souls forced to spend their afterlife in that layer of the Abyss, or invaders from elsewhere.  Anyone trying to escape the horrid quagmires is forced back down into the acidic swamps by the writhing sludge demons, after which they return to their lofty oversight from the skies.  It’s good to be on top.

The Greater Blighted Critical feat inflicts a random major spellblight on a successful crit.  The table of random major spell spellblights is here.

Between the unbound ability, summonstriker ability, and ability to cast Banishment, summoners would be advised to have as little to do with writhing sludge demons as possible.  Honestly, though, so would everyone else.  These things are nasty.

Writhing Sludge Demon - CR 19

Two massive wings made from what look like ragged muscle tendons hold an almost humanoid-shaped creature aloft, though no one could mistake this misproportioned, skinless, corpse-like figure covered in a blackened carapace for a living person.  Dozens of thin, red, writhing tentacles spread downward from its massive shoulders.

XP 204,800 CE Large outsider (aquatic, chaotic, demon, evil, extraplanar) Init +10 Senses darkvision 120 ft., low-light vision, murksight, true seeing; Perception +36 Aura sludge aura (100 ft., DC 29)

DEFENSE

AC 36, touch 24, flat-footed 29 (+6 Dex, +1 dodge, +12 natural, +8 profane, -1 size) hp 332 (19d10+228); fast healing 15 Fort +22, Ref +17, Will +18 Defensive Abilities horrible recovery, rusting acid armor, unbound DR 15/cold iron and good Immune acid, death effects, disease, electricity, poison Resist cold 10, fire 10 SR 30

OFFENSE

Speed 40 ft., fly 90 ft. (perfect), swim 40 ft. Melee 2 claws +27 (2d8+8/19-20 plus 4d8 acid plus infection), 6 tentacles +24 (1d8+4 plus grab) Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft. (10 ft. with tentacles) Special Attacks infection, summonstriker

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 19th; concentration +29)     Constant—true seeing     At will—arcane eye, greater teleport (self plus 50 lbs. of objects only), rusting grasp (touch +26), touch of slime (touch +26, DC 24)     3/day—banishment (DC 26), reach rusting grasp (ranged touch +24), summon (level 9, 1d2 fiendish bog scums 75%, see text)     1/day—cursed earth, mass suffocation (DC 29)

STATISTICS

Str 26, Dex 23, Con 35, Int 19, Wis 25, Cha 31 Base Atk +19; CMB +28 (+32 grapple); CMD 53 Feats Blighted Critical, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Greater Blighted Critical, Improved Critical (claw), Improved Initiative, Mobility, Multiattack, Reach Spell-like Ability (rusting grasp), Weapon Focus (claw) Skills Fly +34, Intimidate +29, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +23, Knowledge (planes) +26, Perception +28, Spellcraft +23, Stealth +24, Survival +26, Swim +37, Use Magic Device +29 Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Draconic; telepathy 100 ft. SQ amphibious

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Horrible Recovery (Su) If a writhing sludge demon is subjected to ability damage or ability drain, it recovers 1 point per round.  It chooses each round which ability score to recover, and whether to recover damage or drain.

If a writhing sludge demon is subjected to any harmful condition, at the start of its turn, it can lower its spell resistance by 5 points for 24 hours in order to end the condition.  This is a standard action, but a writhing sludge demon can do this even if subjected to a condition that would normally prevent it from taking standard actions.

Infection (Ex) A writhing sludge demon’s claws inflict a disease against targets they hit.  A target that dies while affected by a writhing sludge demon’s infection transforms into a bog scum with the fiendish template, and cannot be resurrected except with a Wish spell.  The save DC is Constitution-based.

Writhing Sludge Infection: disease — claw;  save Fort DC 31;  onset immediate;  frequency 1/day;  effect 1d3 Str and 1d3 Dex, target cannot recover hit points while disease persists;  cure 2 saves.

Murksight (Ex) A writhing sludge demon can see through natural and magical fog, mist, and rain without penalty, ignoring any concealment bonuses gained from such effects.  This ability functions underwater as well, allowing a writhing sludge demon to see in murky water as though it were clear.

Rusting Acid Armor (Su) A writhing sludge demon gains a +8 profane bonus to armor class and a +4 profane bonus to Fortitude saves; these bonuses are already included in its statistics.

Additionally, creatures that strike a writhing sludge demon with an unarmed or natural weapon attack must succeed on a DC 31 Reflex save or take 4d8 acid damage.  Creatures that strike a writhing sludge demon with a manufactured weapon must succeed on a DC 31 Reflex save or the weapon takes 4d8 acid damage, and if made of metal, is immediately destroyed by a rust effect.  The save DC is Constitution-based.

Sludge Aura (Su) Creatures within 100 feet of a writhing sludge demon must succeed on a DC 29 Reflex save each round at the start of their turns, or be coated in thick sludge, affecting them as though with the Slowing Mud spell with a caster level of 19.  The save DC is Charisma-based.

Summon (Sp) When a writhing sludge demon uses the Summon universal monster ability, it has a range of long (typically 1160 feet) instead of short.

Summonstriker (Su) Any time a writhing sludge demon deals damage to a summoned or called creature, the caster of the summoning or calling spell takes half as much damage.  Damage in excess of a summoned/called target’s remaining hit points is not transferred to the caster.

Unbound (Su) If a writhing sludge demon is bound using a calling or summoning spell, it is only bound to the caster’s service for 1 minute, after which it receives a Will saving throw each round to break free (even if the spell does not normally allow for a saving throw).  If it breaks free, it turns against the caster, and can choose to return to its home plane and end the calling or summoning spell early at any time as a free action.

[mask131]

Deadly fall: Hel

HEL

Category: Norse mythology

 Once, Loki, the cruel trouble-maker among the gods, had a romance with Angrboda, a “jötunn” (giant/giantess as they are known today, though their name literally means “devourer”) whose very name meant “the one who brings grief”, “she who offers sorrow”. Together they had three children, that were raised in their mother’s realm, Jötunheimr. But one day the gods received a prophecy that these three children were bad news, for they had inherited from both their mother and their father (the two being real nasties of Norse mythology) : these siblings would only ever do mischief, and ultimately they would bring great disasters upon the gods. So Odin, king of the gods, had the children taken away from the jötnar and brought before him, and he dispatched them as he saw fit.

For the first child he was the most severe: Jörmungandr the great snake was thrown in the bottom of the ocean. For the third child, Fenrir the great wolf, he was most clement, keeping it among the gods (though later they would bind him with unbreakable chains). As for the second… her name was Hel. She was a “downcast and fierce-looking” creature whose body was split in half: one half “flesh-colored” and the other “black”. As, that one half of her body was alive (“fleshy”) while the other had the color of dead flesh and rotten corpses (black). She had a special fate : Odin threw her into Niflheim, one of the Nine Worlds, Niflheim the “world of mists”, one of the two primordial realms, the foggy and gloomy world of ice and frost where all coldness comes from – and this frozen world would be her prison forever. Her prison but also her realm, as she was to oversee it as its ruler and she was given power “over the Nine Worlds” as a force of death : she was given the task of receiving in her realm, boarding and lodging a part of the dead of the cosmos, that would be her guests and subjects – and the dead over which she had power were the “dishonorable deaths” that no gods would welcome in their paradises, aka those that died of old age and disease.

And thus Hel became ruler of the underworld and a death-goddess : when someone dies or is about to die it is traditional to say that “Hel took him”, “Hel has half of him”, “she was sent off to Hel”, “he was summoned to Hel”… One poem even describes a sick and agonizing king as laying in bed while “Hel holds him to whore with him”. Hel is also known to have quite morbid tastes and to rule over all kind of nasty things : most notably each of her personal possessions has a creepy name (which might mean they are physical embodiments of their respective concepts). While she owns several “great Mansions”, her greatest and personal grand Hall is called “Eljudnir”, which means “damp with sleet”, “damp with rain”, “sprayed by snowstorms”. Its entrance threshold is called the “Stumbling-block” or “Falling to peril”. In this hall, her bed is called “sick-bed” and its curtains “gleaming bale”/”gleaming disaster”. To eat she uses a knife called “Famine” and a dish called “Hunger”, and she is personally attended by two servants, the male Ganglati and the female Ganglöt (both variations of “slow walker”, “lazy walker”).

  Beyond how Odin named her ruler of the dead, she also is a main character in the myth of Baldr’s death. Baldr was the most talented, most beautiful, most kind and generous of all the gods, beloved by all except Loki, who schemed and plotted and managed to have him murdered. Since he did not die in battle, an “honorable death”, he was sent to Hel’s domain. Baldr’s mother, Frigg queen of the gods, begged someone to be brave enough to ride to Hel’s hall and offer Hel a price in exchange for the release of her son : Hermodr, one of the gods, volunteered and rode to Hel’s hall. At the great hall of Hel, he found Baldr’s spirit among the many “guests” of Hel, and he tried to ask her Baldr’s release, explaining her the immense sadness that had struck the world. Hel, upon hearing this woeful tale, said that the great love for Baldr that Hermodr talked about had to be tasted : she agreed to released Baldr from death, but only if all the things in the world, “alive or dead”, agreed to weep for Baldr. If even one person spoke ill of him, or if one entity refused to cry, then she would keep Baldr with her. So the gods promptly asked every thing to cry for Baldr, and they all did: the plants, the gods, the animals, the dwarves, the elves, the dead, they all cried for Baldr was the most perfect and virtuous being in the world and had done no harm to anybody. All… except one nasty, villainous, hard-hearted female jötunn named Thökk – who was very probably just Loki in disguise. She refused to cry for Baldr, and as a result Hel kept him among the dead and his resurrection was impossible.

This story seems to depict Hel as a “neutral” force just here to maintain the rules of death… But several details about Ragnarök, the final battle between the gods and their enemies, the apocalyptic war that will destroy the world, hint that Hel isn’t as “neutral” as we might think and has quite a loyalty towards her father… Indeed, at the end of times, it is said that Loki will arrive at the head of an army made of all of “Hel’s people” to fight the gods – aka an army of all the dead Hel was supposed to board and lord over, that she visibly gave to her father to destroy the gods. We also know that Loki and his army of the dead will ride upon a disturbing boat called “Naglfar”, the “nail farer”, for it will be made entirely of the fingernails and toenails of the dead (it was apparently tied to the idea that you had to properly clip the nails of the dead before funerals, because else they would grow in death and serve to the building of the Naglfar).

- - - - - - - -

Now, the thing with Hel is that she is quite similar to the Greek Hades in one point: she is both a goddess and a realm. You see, the Prose Edda explains that Hel was thrown into Niflheim, which I described earlier, and that it is where she owns several great halls and mansions, it is where she rules and welcomes the dead. But there is also a physical realm, an “afterlife location”, called “Hel”, which is, well the realm over which Hel rules (and as a result some people, to differentiate the two Hel, call the realm “Hellheim”). Hel is the specific realm over which Hel rules: but is it another name for Nifhleim? A specific realm inside Niflheim? Or just the name of the hall in which Hel lives? This is unclear…

For example in the Prose Edda we know that Helheim is located in Niflheim. We know that to reach it Hermodr has to ride nine nights through valleys so dark he can see nothing, and that he has then to cross a covered bridge “thatched with glittering gold” over the river Gjöll (“noisy”, a river which stars in a spring of Niflheim and flows close to the gates of the underworld. From this bridge, Hermodr then has to go “down and to the North”, where he finds the “Road to Hel” and finally reaches the “Gates of Hel”. So it is clearly just one realm inside Niflheim – but it is also described as a “great hall” protected by huge gates and walls, so it is unclear if “Hel” the domain is just another name for Hel’s hall “Eljudnir”.

As for the Poetic Edda, it describes Hel/Helheim as the realm located beneath one of the three roots of Yggdrasil, the world-tree : it is thus equated with the two other realms of the roots, one being the ream of the “frost jötnar” (frost giants), the other being the world of mankind. It is where one of the three “sooty-red cocks” whose cries will announce Ragnarök is located (the other two being in Valhalla, Odin’s warrior paradise, and the other in Jotunheim, “realm of the giants”). There is also a “metaphysical” side to Hel, more specifically its edge. When a dead woman has her corpse burned in a cart during a funeral pyre, she finds herself riding in the same cart on the road that borders Hel ; while Odin, to resurrect a dead prophetess, has to go himself to the edge of Hel where he can find the corpse of the seeress and perform the needed rites to temporarily bring her to life.

And things are even more complicated when you take into account a third realm, that the Poetic Edda describes as “just outside of Hel”: Niflhel (not to mix with Niflheim). Niflhel, the “Misty Hel”, and what could be the closest equivalent of “Hell” in Norse mythology, as it is the lowest part of the world, and the place where the spirit of evil men are sent to stay in the afterlife – and according to the Prose Edda, it is opposed to Gimlé, “the most beautiful realm of Asgard”, in which the souls of just men are to dwell forever (you can see a clear heaven/hell dichotomy here).