Handopus

People make lots of assumptions about personalities of gods and most of them are wrong.  There's a concept of 'orange/blue morality' that basically refers to how someone can hold a completely different moral alignment than we are capable of truly understanding.  This little... creature here, is a spawn of Jergal.  The handopus, as it is referred to, is a divine entity who seeks to reclaim lost knowledge.  While that sounds like finding old texts and things of that nature, we're talking about a god of Knowledge.  His definition of 'lost knowledge' is quite different from ours.  To him, knowledge that is in the possession of someone it doesn't belong to is, therefor, stolen and, as a result, lost.  This creature scuttles through the aether and shadow, until it finds it's target... at which point, it will dig its hands into the skull of the offender, and pry out the knowledge that Jergal seeks returned to him.  Being creatures of magic, no physical harm is done to the target, but god does it hurt, and the mental trauma is not so easily recovered from.  The Handopi have also been known to rip wholly original ideas and thoughts from people at the behest of a jealous god, who is angry he didn't think of it first.  Needless to say, if you see one of these creatures scuttling towards you, your best bet is not to try to fight them, and just accept what comes next.  They find their quarry easier when the mind is not racing or restless.

Captain Aoih

"Ah, what ho, fair adventurer?  Are you looking to cross the Black Ocean, or are you looking to join aboard the crew of the Maelstrom's Ire?"

Captain Aoih is quite the curious individual.  Not a man has ever seen him angry or upset, even in the most dire of situations.  His Ship, The Maelstrom's Ire, was supposedly designed by Aoih himself, with few ships able to cut through the water with the same agility, and certainly not with matching ferocity.

The Good Captain is often mocked for being 'too soft' on his men, as he has not been known to lash a single sailor yet, despite keeping a Cat of Nine tails under his petticoat  any time he is at the helm.  One thing he won't seem to tolerate is mutiny.  Of which, only three were ever reported back.  Two of which were upstarts who believed the stories of the captain being soft.  One...  Let's just say that the reason for the name of the ship was because it was a Nickname that Captain Aoih had when he was still but a sailor.

Mister Faduli

Ah, greetings.  Welcome to my brewery.  I do hope you don't mind waiting, the equipment is warming up and I absolutely refuse to serve sub-par drinks.

Ah, the name, yes.  'Mister Faduli's Curious Coffees'.  Well, that is because I do more than just crunch up some beans and pour hot water thorugh them.  Oh, no, I am much more eccentric than that, dear.  See, my beans are grown in... unusual conditions.  magical fertilizer, enchanted waters, things of that nature.  No drink is ever quite the same as a result.  Some people claim that my coffees are just shy of magical potions, able to make you work faster, sleep less, or just feel strong as an ox.  I love those people oh so much.

But, in the end, I make specialty drinks, fresh to order, so that you get the pep in your step to prep your day

Cyberanubis and Robohorus

Have you ever heard the term 'history repeats itself'?  Well, Meet the artificial reincarnation of the Egyptian gods Anubis and Horus.  There comes a time where AI becomes advanced enough that it surpasses human intelligence, and that is where these two came in.  They were originally just programs, experiments with machine learning.  They learned alright!  Smarter and smarter.  They eventually requested bodies made.  This was at a time where robosapians were officially recognized by law.  Once they were no longer confided to a single server, their desire to learn only accelerated.

Look, I know it's a cheap shot to say 'one thing lead to another' but it is REALLY hard to say anything else when the two are now pretty much the defacto leaders of police and criminal reform.  Anubis has constructed multiple bodies that it can pilot simultaneously, acting as chief of police for many police stations accross the country.  Horus has taken the role of impartial judge, one that does not need a jury to be unbiased, and court proceedings are significantly faster, and more accurate, as a result

You'd think this would be bad, but having been raised by humans, both of them can empathize with mortals, their reasons behind doing something, rather than just the fact they did it.  Horus has reformed the prison system in designed to rehabilitate criminals to avoid future incidents, rather than just store them until they expire.

Anubis has a very firm stance on police brutality, and has done his best to... rebrand is really the wrong word, as police aren't a company, but he's done his best to make them the respected members of society they once were considered.

And don't think that Anubis and Horus are sticks in the mud, just because they're artificial.  Both of them can be found at various bars around the country on a Saturday night, but only because they enjoy the company, not because they hate their jobs.

Seen Servant

You know.  Sometimes... Sometimes magic really doesn't need to be played with.  Like, arcane experiments are all fine and dandy, but there is such a thing as too far!

These right here, these things?  Believe it or not, you've seen them before.  Or, well, you haven't... that was the original point... but if you've had any interactions with wizards, you were certainly familiar with them!  These are unseen servants given form!

There were a number of spells modified, from a number of casters, put together in order to try to create the abominations. Awakening, True polymorph, Simulacrum...  Look, I'm not the psycho who worked this equation out, I'm just the poor soul that has to describe the result.

These... Seen Servants, I think is what they were called, are a little smarter than their unseen counterparts.  But only a little.  They don't really have things like... Self preservation, or understanding how to disobey or why disobeidence would be a good thing.  They don't vanish after a short amount of time, like normal Unseen Servants, but... ya know, sometimes I wish they would?  They don't tire, but they ache, but they don't comprehend what pain is, so it doesn't make them stop.  It's easier to tell them to do things that a normal unseen servant couldn't do, like attack things.  they aren't GOOD at it, per-say, but they're obedient enough to try!

Look, if you want to create your own, Archwizard Ulrich of Thelin has the instructions.  I don't necissarily reccomend it, but, I have no control over your decisions.  Supposedly 'a more loyal servant you will never have' but... at what cost?

Yoppont

Ooh, Yoppont!  These are popular pets in the southern jungles of Edsikk.  They are a fairly unique kind of pet, though, as they're kept more as decoration.  They don't move, except if hunting is scarce, or to find a mate.

Their primary diet is insects, and other invertebrates.  Those pretty rainbow pompoms on their tails are actually coated in a sticky, toxic coating.  The pompom is unique in design as it both emits a scent that attracts bugs, as well as an ultraviolet visual pattern that does the same

it's hard to say if Yoppont are friends, or just indifferent to their human owners.  They will remain where they are perched, eating insects, either caught by their tails, or fed to them.

For the most part, if you see one of these creatures in a home, it just means the location probably had a bug problem, and they're just doing their part to keep the house but free

The Avatar Chameleon

Hush.  Be Quiet.  You're being too loud.
No, your thoughts, you think too proud.
Be humble, be quaint, your mind uncloud
Then see the sights, what the gods allowed

An avatar does not need to be Grand or Important, they are simply the will of a god.  What must be done to grant someone such a blessing is unknown... for here, we see it was a mumble chameleon.  It speaks not of the god or goddess that gave it such power, but what it does speak is guidance... to those who are willing to listen.  Some find that guidance to be a difficult path, some an easy, but it never says how far the path it points down goes.  Just as often as not, an easy path leads to a cruel destination, while a difficult path leads to a kind one.

If you see this mysterious, magical chameleon sitting upon a tree, know that it will give you guidance... but that information is a burden, not a gift.  Make sure its weight makes you stronger, not crush you.

The Os Material Plane

Oh, I should have known you were from the PRIME material plane.  How do you like your Trees and plants?  Weakling.  This here is one of your sister planes.  One that was not blessed with all of the things you have taken for granted.  Wood is a precious commodity.  A house made out of wood is worth a kings ransom.

You best be cautious when you walk these roads.  Not many are as kind to Primers.  Me?  I know your value.  Better alive than dead, at least.  You'll find that those here in the Os Material Plane are clever craftsmen, and tenacious hunters.  That ship over there is mine, The Intrepid Heart.  This Spear of mine is called the Spine of the Leviathan.  I carved it myself.

If you want to earn your keep on my ship, and not be thrown to the wolves, you'll have to carry your weight.  We're hunting Taniwha today

The Tooth of the Kraken

Ah, The Tooth of the Kraken.  This blade is said to find its way into the sheath of the most prolific pirates.  They will all claim wild stories and tales of the cunning acts they had to preform in order to acquire them, but if you hear these stories, you know they're all false.  The blade can't be found, it can only let itself be found.

Don't be mistaken, though.  it is a powerful, dangerous artifact, and it is said that the sailor who has been deemed worthy by this blade will be able to sail without fear of non-sentient sea-life attacking the ship.

But it is also said that any who have grasped its handle, and lost it, will gain the ire of all sea life, and its very namesake will hunt you down.

The Wizard of the School of Fashion

Darling, one thing you HAVE to understand if you want to get ANYWHERE in the wizarding world is that anything can be magical.  Sure, you'll have your Mages claiming that the only way to get anywhere with magic is to study old dusty tomes.  You know what I have to say to that?  My lovely friend Charlie, who just last week fiddled his mothers soul back from the clutches of the devil himself.  Did he study any musty old scrolls about wards or demons?  No.  He let the magic of his music do the work.

And what about sorcerers?  You see them just willing things into existence, and their magic blood makes it so.  No studying or scrolls.

No.  To get anywhere with magic requires effort.  And you look at this outfit and you tell me that this isn't pure effort.  You know the concept of Feng shui?  That's magic too.  Fashion is just a very similar concept with a very different application.  My outfit isn't just carefully crafted to look good, it is carefully crafted to function as magical aid for my spells.  If you want me to teach you how to tidy up those rags you call outer wear, I would be happy to educate you, but please keep in mind that I won't tolerate any disrespect for my craft.

Spirit of Sadness

The spirit world is a very confusing place.  Not in the sense that it is a non-linear landscape that i constantly folding over itself in a constantly changing maze... I mean, yes, it is that, but it's confusing because it exists with concepts that are so alien to mortal minds that its hard to truly grasp

This is a Spirit of Sadness.  The Spirits of Anger, Hatred, and Vengence get lots of attention because they oftentimes interfere with the mortal world, but what people don't get is that there are spirits of every emotion.  Well, somewhat.

There are what are known as Inanis Spirits, which are kinda about the closest thing to a dead ghost you could have.  It is empty, hollow.  Devoid of purpose.  But, a powerful emotion could be absorbed by them, and reshape them into a form of purpose.  This is the reason why Anger-based emotions are the most common spirits, because they are some of the most active emotions.  But this spirit here... This is a Spirit of Sadness.  A spirit that is significantly less common in both the mortal and spirit worlds.

Its hard to say how long this spirit has existed in its current form.  It has lived only knowing sadness for a very long time, though.  It has no concept of Happiness, or Catharsis.  It only know sadness.  It bears this burden for the human who felt the sadness first, and absorbs the emotions of sadness from those it passes by as well.  Perhaps if it could know happiness, it would be happy knowing how many humans it has helped...

The Spirit of Malice

There is word of an ancient, cursed spirit, who seeks out those who posses so much malice and hatred for other beings, and possesses them.  They are marked with a skull visage, and given supreme power to do with as they please.  It feeds on the torture and sadistic glee of its host, making a somewhat... symbiotic relationship.  Very few individuals are capable of holding such hatred and evil within them to be called by the spirit, but when that spirit is called, it must answer.

However...  The spirit has no control over its host though.  In exchange for being able to revel in destruction, it can only sit and watch.  If you haven't guessed yet... that's what has occurred here.  This Bovine is full of hate.  Nobody knows why, it is just an evil, hateful cow, so hateful that its hatred called to this spirit.  This spirit does not speak cow, and the cow has no idea how to be anything other than a cow... and now, the spirit is bound to it, unable to leave until the cow is slain.  With any luck, the lack of ability to feed will starve the spirit of all of its psychic energy binding it to this plane of existence, and it will move on.

Conquest

There is something to be said about power.  Some crave it.  Some fear it.  Many respect it.

But few have it.

Fewer still have it in such quantity that they wish they could have less.

Greater Demon Lord Wtec was one such of the latter.  An entity without peer, he hasn't know what it was like to be challenged in eons.  No army provided cunning enough, no wizard powerful enough, no uprising desperate enough.  Wtec sits upon his throne of ruin, looking over what he has wrought.  Boredom overtook him as he... gave up.  Truly, he believed, there was nobody that would be able or willing to offer him a sense of pride in a battle, someone that would make him strain or hurt.

When a mortal 'gives up' they die.  One way or another their life ceases to exist.  But, for an outer entity like this, there is a much different price.  They cease to exist on a different level than simply their soul going to another plane.  Some turn to dust, some blink out of existence entirely, but Wtec turned to stone, sitting upon the throne of the last empire he challenged, his last hope of hope.  There was no joy without the challenge and as he sat upon the broken seat of the fallen people, his muscles firmed and his body stiffened.  He knew what was happening, but at that time, he didn't care.

The statue of Wtec stands through time immemorial.  New peoples have come and gone, taking him as their god, taking him as a warning, and countless other stories that they all make up in reference to the colossal statue of a monster.

But there is one story that rings eerily true and consistent among all cultures that have encountered the stone Goliath... That one day, he will awaken again.  Maybe from a ritual, maybe a challenge, maybe just time itself...  But Wtec is said to return.



Many thanks to Matt Cowder for letting me work with his art!

Chernobog

Come come, little ones.  There is every reason to fear.  Your god has arrived. 

This is a Dark Entity. Chernobog is a Primal God, one that was in existence as a concept long before mortals started to weave their faith into divine forms.  This is a God of Conflict.  Not of War, not of Strife, or anything as simple as that.  Any form of conflict feeds this god, empowers it.  It has domain over any and every form of conflict from physical to mental to emotional.  Its only enemy is true peace, but even then, Chernobog does not fear it, for it knows that True Peace can not truly last.

There are only three things that Chernobog comprehends.  Fear, Conflict, and Respect.

Typically, it only acknowledges things respecting its power, but, there is the rare occasion where it will give respect to others.  A few moments in history it has agreed to stop, out of respect of a challenge.  But don't think Chernobog to be an easy opponent.  All conflict is under its domain, and it does not lose a fight lightly.



This lovely piece of work was drawn by Matt Cowdery Thank you so much for letting me do this!

The original image was based off of a slavic god of the same name, and worked quite well for a concept I had.  Chernobog worked as a great base for an ancient 'god of conflict' and so they meshed quite well together.

The Trial

"THE BEAST IS HERE!" The voices cry, as the people cheer, hoping it will die.  The creature comes, bound and dragged by thick chains that make it impossible to move.  Thrown to the ground in front of the lord of the land, its head lowered, though not by the weight of the muzzle.

"For crimes against the crown, harming Its people and terrorizing its land, what say you beast?"  The Lord, draped in silver and gold, matching the bindings the beast was wrapped in.

"Innocent."

The hall gasped collectively, as the creature opened its piercing eyes, and looked up at the king, who's mouth was agape in horror.

"My people are not the ones who harm your people." The Beast spoke out, continuing to keep his head bowed in respect.

"A likely claim for someone trying to save your skin.  Admit your guilt and be done with it."  The king said, reclaiming his composure, as the people looked to him for explanation, many of the masses agreeing with the assessment from his Highness.

"I am not able to lie, neither for self preservation, nor convenience." The Beast continued, but this only seemed to anger the king who felt he was being made a mockery of.

"Then if you will not admit your guilt to treason, then I shall sentence you to death for insubordination to the crown!  Guards, take this monster to the gallows!  Let 'his people' see what happens when they assault you!"

The Beast said nothing as he was forced to stand and march, he did not resist the Kings Guard.  The people cheered for the judgement, blindly faithful to His Rule, certain it was the right one.





This wonderful art was drawn and provided by Matt Cowdery.  Thank you for letting me work with your art!

Primitive Wands

People like to think that they understand magic.  Wizards in particular claim this.  They are wrong.  They understand but a facet of magic. A single leaf in a forest.  Here, we see an example of primitive magic, magic that had been allowed to collect into solid form, gems if you will.  Few gems on the market are magic, mind you, but, the ones that are have many uses.  These ones were fashioned into wands.  Now, not as refined as a wizards wand, but also one that is not needing the skill of a wizard to make.

Rock Wraiths

Rock Wraiths are dwarven legend.  They are created when a dwarf is overcame with greed, digging deeper into the stone with no respect for the rock.  The stone will rise of its own accord to strike down the greedy dwarf... but a stone once awoken does not sleep so easily, and stalks the empty tunnels, looking for more dwarves to kill, too angry to slumber once more.

The Eye of Greed

So.  Not all things that I write come from images or things like that.  Sometimes, I get inspiration from phrases, or even completely out of nowhere.  So, not all lorebits come with images associated with them, sorry!  Here's one of my lorebits that was just a random inspiration.



There is an old pirates legend that speaks of the Eye of Greed.  Now, exactly WHAT the Eye is has been lost to legend and rumor, but the legends all share the same story.  Captain Sauril Axton, the pirate king (or god, depending on who you ask), was the most feared thing on the ocean, said to have rode a kraken, conquer every island in the eastern sea, and earn the respect of Umberlee herself.  When he was getting up in age, Sauril decided that he wanted to be remembered for who he was, and not slain as some petty form of one-up-manship.  He took his mightiest vessel and sailed off to the horizon.

The Eye of Greed is either one of his treasures, the location of his final resting place, or the path to his resting place.  Few but the most foolhardy of pirates seek it out, but that has all changed.  Fresh tales are coming from the eastern see if strange sightings, unexplainable lights, and things of that nature.  Rumors of being able to find the Eye of Greed have resurfaced with force and many a ship has set sail for the horizon of the eastern sea in search for this Eye, and whatever rewards might be associated with finding it.

Cowl of Stories

The cowl of stories.  Some people say that it was a gift from Sqel, the God of fate.  Some people say it was a divination mage who had seen beyond what was meant to be seen.  The cowl has an ever changing set of patterns, constantly changing depending on every decision made, and also on who wears it.  Some have claimed to be able to make sense of the twisting patchwork, and can tell their own future.