[✗] [Creature Lore] Draugheist

[drfate786 1639]

 

 

Draugheist

-Art By Drfate786 (Me)-

Habitat:

 

Dark Caves, Catacombs, Wastelands, Underground Ruins and or Dungeons

Size:

Slightly larger than a fully grown Human Male, floats and is capable of hovering several feet above the ground. Can crawl or slither on solid surfaces like a worm.

Diet:

 

Living energies will satiate their hunger for a small moment, they will remain dormant until a living creature enters a specified location.

Temperament:
 

Draugheists have a tendency to reside in groups and remain in said groups for the entirety of their existence. They therefore live in very large packs and are extremely hostile, they will attempt to consume anything that intrudes on their territory and are typically used to guard a location of ancient value, such as ruins or ancient catacombs.


Brief summary of the creature
 

“The Draugheist is a vile, ancient horror manufactured from the depths of the most depraved of nightmares. From what nightmare isn’t known but what is known is that they know the cold and they know the dark. They know only hunger, a hunger wrought on long ago when men abandoned all logic and reason. They delved into something they shouldn’t have and when they stared into the abyss.. It stared back.”

-Unkown-

 

Created long after the creation of the Abyss, it’s unknown how the Draugheists truly came into the world. For millennia they have never truly manifested physically, instead choosing to hide in the darkest recesses of the mortal world as ghastly shadows that crept along the darkest of ancient corridors. Recently, tremors caused by the September Prince and the invasion of the Vaeyl wastes have led to the eventual sighting of the Draugheists to a point where they have begun to be sighted in the dark spaces of the world. Ancient ruins, once abandoned and left forsaken millenia ago now stir with unnatural, ghastly screeches. Eldritch apparitions that could only once cling to the immaterial world have begun to bleed like a festering wound into ours. The oceans stirr.. Those who survived to tell the tale became raving madmen, their sanity long lost from the mere sight of such an aberration. When they did speak, they spoke of creatures that wore the appearance of robed men but whom on a closer glance were horrors derived from nightmare.

 

Characteristic: 

The Draugheist is an eldritch entity comprised entirely of blackened tendrils supported by a lone orb that sits within a hood or skull-like appendage at the top of its figure. The orb is what powers the Draugheist and seems to be comprised of an unknown crystalline material that cannot be reproduced by modern means. Once the orb is separated from the entity or is destroyed, the Draugheist will slump to the ground and turn to blackened ash. However, should the orb not be destroyed it will begin to corrupt the mind of whoever holds it. Given time, the Draugheist will eventually reform around the orb. Should this happen while it is in the possession of someone, it will kill them. It could be speculated that perhaps the Draugheist was the first attempt at Lichdom or perhaps it was something else entirely but this is best left to speculation as the creature is seemingly mindless. Which brings us to the next characteristic.

 

Draugheists appear to serve only one purpose, they linger in ancient locations where ruins and ancient knowledge are plentiful. In addition, where there is one there is many. Draugheists will never be alone and attempting to face one will in the end be facing many. Shade-like in appearance, they can blend into the shadows and will appear almost invisible whilst in darkness. This makes them incredibly dangerous when a light source isn’t readily available. That being said, light reveals them when in this state. When in the presence of light, Draugheists will become enraged. They will avoid it if possible but may attempt to put out the light source with their four elongated tendrils on the back of their ribcage. Upon being successful, they will use these tendrils to latch onto prey.

 

Draugheists possess a unique ability. Upon touching an object or person they will begin to siphon out their essences. Any energy within the touched subject will be absorbed into the Draugheist. This causes the touched object to deteriorate until only dust remains, this however is a lengthy process and therefore multiple appendages must wrap around a single victim in order to successfully siphon a large enough amount of energy to render them unconscious. Usually four or more. Armor and Apparel must be destroyed first as only touching the flesh will cause it to deteriorate, the deterioration of flesh is a literal rot that spreads over the target and as such wounds inflicted by a Draugheist are severely necrotic. Apparel and weapons that the Draugheist touches will rust into mere scraps within minutes if it maintains a grip on the item. Magical items are drained of their mana while deific artefacts seem to be effective on them, but will still deteriorate if made of a material that tarnishes. When normal weaponry is used on a Draugheist, the weaponry will either deteriorate upon contact or phase through them like it would a spectre. This makes the use of regular weapons useless as only weapons that do not tarnish (gold, silver, etc) will be able to land a hit on the Draugheist. Additionally, only the orb is worth aiming for since any wound inflicted on the Draugheist will regenerate in mere moments for as long as the orb remains linked to it.

 

Draugheists have been known to speak but cannot speak in any known languages, any attempts at communication with a Draugheist will usually end in disaster as no one will be able to understand what it says. In addition, the effects of its speech are akin to that of the black language and will always come out as hollow guttural screams capable of shattering ear drums. Despite their severe hostility and inability to be understood, cults may form around a Draugheist. Draugheists exhibit no hostility to those who intentionally feed them living prey and as such kneeling to one may result in it sparing the victim under the promise that it feeds them another in their place. This however, is incredibly risky as most Draugheists will merely kill on sight rather then make pacts with non-eldritch forces. On occasion, a Draugheist may “reward” such an individual with an eldritch orb or may even gift them a scrap of occult knowledge for feeding it. In actuality though, these scraps will harm the individual and should be “gifted” to someone else immediately.

 

The knowledge on the given scraps would be indecipherable. In addition to being untranslatable or usable in any way, possession of such an object will make the holder’s mind feel heavy. Given time, they will begin to lose any ability to feel pleasure. Sadistic tendencies will become prevalent and thoughts that had once been kept in the back of their mind will come flooding. This self described madness results in the eventual death or imprisonment of the individual. Should this fail or not occur, their corpus will begin to rot as if under a draughest’s touch until they succumb to death, upon which they will crumble to dust. This can happen anywhere and at any time.

Origin:

Their origin is unknown, the black matter that comprises them is unlike anything that comprises ethereal entities. This as well as their feral-like behaviour and guard-like patterns suggests that they were created by someone or something for a purpose. What is clear is that the orbs are their very being and that once destroyed the Draugheist is vanquished. This leads to the possibility that there is a finite amount of them and leads to the further possibility that they are in fact, constructs.

 

Weaknesses:

Fire burns their matter and prevents them from regenerating, light does the same as well as keeping them from vanishing.

Destroying or seperating the orb where the “head” would be located will vanquish them.

LM Approval Required:

ET Creature, requires LT permission if done for a mass-scale event line such as the exploration of a large ruin or underground space.

If playable, what are redlines?

 

 

-Must read and understand what is written on this creature lore.

 

-Weak to fire, light prevents them from becoming invisible and can only be active in dark spaces or during nightly hours.

 

-Their touch extends only to things that naturally decay, things like Aurum do not tarnish and deific artifacts made from materials or endowed with Aurum-like qualities that render them immune to tarnish will also result in their touch failing on such an object.

 

-Their regeneration is not instantaneous, it takes two emotes to heal from an inflicted wound. However, they do not feel pain and may continue to attack the target while the wound heals. This means they can attack to keep a victim busy while they heal.

 

-If the orb is shattered, damaged or seperated from them they will dissipate to black dust immediately. This is arguably their one weakness. In addition, the orb must remain where the head is located and the only protection it can be afforded is a layer of dark matter shaped in the form of a skull. If this is used in place of a hood it will always be located in the cranium.

 

-They only have four tendrils on their back and two as arms. Refer to the picture as a guide on how they should look. Failure to heed to this with the exception of a skull where the orb is located will be considered power gaming. Ologs don’t have three arms right?

 

-Players who decide to keep an orb or occult scrap taken from one of the creatures or the sites they protect must be continiously RP’ed with on a daily basis or on request until the orb is destroyed or the Draugheist reforms to kill them. While in possession of the orb the player may be sent disturbing whispers, may be asked to RP symptoms of being in possession of such an item and may even die from the item itself if they allow themselves to (consent to PK from it). After three IRL days the draugheist will reform and attempt to kill the player in possession of the item. Keeping it in a chest doesn’t prevent this as many will try to do that to avoid consequences. Think of it like that movie called: Drag Me to Hell, they have three days to live for as long as they hold the item and during which the spirit of Lahmia will possess them and after the third day.. Drag them to hell. Unless, they give it to someone else or return it to where they took it.

 

-You cannot speak any known languages and anything spoken will sound like a freight train railing past you. It hurts the ears and may even cause them to bleed, like a banshee’s scream.

[L0rdLawyer 2271]

Know what? I like this lore. It’s something I haven’t really seen done on LOTC before and could offer a lot of new twists.

 

I like the artwork too. Good job drfate.

[Archbishop 1781]

another undead creature to add to the stockpile?

[𝙻𝚞𝚟 XO 3062]

5 hours ago, ImperialTortoise said:

another undead creature to add to the stockpile?

there’s currently only 3 playable “undead creatures” being ghost, graven, and wight. i guess you could consider striga, zar’cal, and frost witches all in the same category but we all know the last is being removed.

 

personally don’t see too many issues with this lore considering it is an ET only creature. however, i have a few questions:

 

1. are these creatures susceptible to the same limits as others with blood magic? if so, what is the genus volume of these creatures?
2. where do they come from and what is their purpose on the realm? what happens when these creatures fulfill said purpose?

[NotEvilAtAll 9926]

+1

[Drak3 365]

I like the concept and group packing, although maybe shrink their size down to relate them to a swarming pack of deadly fiends. If they’re slightly larger than a Human they can overpower people pretty quick. But in them holding a smaller size, it gives time for them to gang up effectively. The regeneration too seems a bit overpowered, maybe have them become sluggish while the mending process takes its time to work, other than that I like it.

[drfate786 1639]

17 hours ago, ImperialTortoise said:

another undead creature to add to the stockpile?

 

They could be undead but they also couldn’t be, read the lore carefully. 

5 hours ago, Drak3 said:

I like the concept and group packing, although maybe shrink their size down to relate them to a swarming pack of deadly fiends. If they’re slightly larger than a Human they can overpower people pretty quick. But in them holding a smaller size, it gives time for them to gang up effectively. The regeneration too seems a bit overpowered, maybe have them become sluggish while the mending process takes its time to work, other than that I like it.

 

These are intended to be very difficult to fight and therefore are for events only, they have weaknesses that make up for some of their advantages but only a player who has survived fighting one will begin to notice these. Since players will not be playing them they can afford to be OP to give the ET and LM’s more elasticity while doing an event, it’d be up to the actor and how they choose to roleplay it.

 

Finally, these are higher end creatures made for experienced actors and LT for very difficult events. That being said, if a player wanders into one of the areas the Draugheist are defending to participate in an event and they’re not prepared, they will very obviously die. 

 

 

Edited December 28, 2018 by drfate786

[drfate786 1639]

11 hours ago, Luv said:

there’s currently only 3 playable “undead creatures” being ghost, graven, and wight. i guess you could consider striga, zar’cal, and frost witches all in the same category but we all know the last is being removed.

 

personally don’t see too many issues with this lore considering it is an ET only creature. however, i have a few questions:

 

1. are these creatures susceptible to the same limits as others with blood magic? if so, what is the genus volume of these creatures?
2. where do they come from and what is their purpose on the realm? what happens when these creatures fulfill said purpose?

 

1. These creatures don’t have blood, therefore blood magic will not effect them through genus manipulation, this also means they have no connection to the void and therefore cannot cast magic. Instead, they can drain objects or creatures but it isn’t clear how or what they are draining, it could be mana maybe lifeforce perhaps even genus, or it could be all at once. All we know is that their touch tarnishes and rots anything it comes into contact with. Items and artifacts empowered by blood magic may work on them but only if they can’t tarnish. It won’t effect them if the item in question only effects blood or flesh, it’d have to have been made specifically for the purpose of harming entities lacking genus.
2. This is unknown, perhaps they are constructs created by some ancient civilization. Maybe they were created by mistake through some failed alchemy, perhaps they are spectral entities of some sort. This isn’t clear.. There is no way to know in roleplay therefore there will be no way to know within the lore. Not everything requires an origin or purpose, sometimes creatures who lack such are truly horrifying and dangerous. As for their purpose, this is also unknown. They guard locations  and linger in dark caves where ancient knowledge is present, that’s all anyone would be able to really know.

[GodEmperorFlam 3447]

Thank you for submitting your piece, it is now under review. A verdict shall be given in 1 and a half weeks, give or take a day or two.

 

Thread is being locked to prevent edits to the lore while voting occurs (if you need to make edits, contact me). Also, if you have feedback regarding the lore that you wish to pass to the LT, feel free to toss me a PM.

[GodEmperorFlam 3447]

This Lore has been denied. This piece was unable to get a majority Y in the vote. The team was torn and I’ll state now I don’t mind if an ET uses this for one off events or the like, but if we’re going to be officially adding it to LotC’s canon, it should be fleshed out further. We have plenty of things that eat people/their energies and if we’re going for a cult aspect there’s other things like voidal horrors which fit the bill and can provide rewards similar to this. I suggest expanding on what they do or giving them a different purpose.

 

Topic moved to Denied Lore forum.