by John Payne
I wrote this for Shayakand and plan to develop it in the future. Feel free to adapt them to your setting. For more details behind the scenes, I’ve also included a discussion we had on our internal Google Groups site: Gmail – [NMP] Demons and Undead
Many of these undead and demons have unusual motivations and powers. For example, the Pisacha can be bribed to heal others, despite the fact that they are universally savage. The Pani are also unusual in that they are good demons. The Ankura have motivations obvious only to themselves. They radiate evil, yet often seek to mitigate the effects of that evil.
I hope to include some OSR style stats on some of these creatures in the near future.
Mada – An enormous creature with four arms. It can change size at will to become very large. It has a powerful bite.
Bhringi – A skeleton with three legs. Bhringi are created when a devotee of Khalu is martyred. Very slow moving, but able to use a limited selection of clerical spells (thanks to Khalu). Khalu is specific to Shayakand as the most vile of the evil gods. Feel free to substitute with an evil deity of your choice.
Pani – Good demons that reside in rivers and protect sacred animals. Individual Pani are very-well armed and armored at all times. They will fiercely defend the sacred animals in their care. They are often seen as emissaries of the goddess of agriculture.
Vetala – A type of undead created when children do not properly honor a parent in death. During the day, they inhabit corpses in order to freely move around. A mark of an inhabited corpse is that the hands and feet are turned backwards. At night, they travel as incorporeal beings. They can only feed on blood when they are incorporeal. Vetala are sought by librarians, wizards and others due to their knowledge of the events of the past, present and future. While incorporeal, they may attack with a blighting touch and with an imbue madness attack. Vetala are not very resistant to magic and suffer penalties when attacked with magic in incorporeal form.
Pisacha - A type of base demon that is cruel and barbaric, even by other demons’ standards. They are driven by blood-lust to fight and make war. They keep alive by consuming raw flesh. Like Rakshasa, their hands are backward. They are not symmetric, their upper body is much larger given them a hunchback appearance. Their long arms reach past their knees. They have short, but strong and thick legs. They may have the head of an owl, pig, or a deformed leopard. Pisacha are occasionally sought out by rural villagers hoping that a Pisacha will heal a loved one. Although flesh-eaters, pisacha also like specially prepared rice cakes called ‘blood rice’. If a pisacha likes the gift, it may decide to heal the wounds of whomever the maker of the blood rice wishes.
Bhuta – The name given to a category of creature most closely associated as ghosts. It is believed that bhuta are the spirits of those wrongly executed, or those that committed suicide. Unless otherwise stated, ghosts are incorporeal and appear as fading mist. They can inhabit corpses in order to feed on flesh to sustain themselves. Unlike Vetala, they may possess a corpse at anytime and the hands and feet of the victims are not turned backwards.
Charabuta: These ghosts stay incorporeal and feed on stolen livestock. They generally do not harm others instead preferring to steal and play practical jokes. It is believed that Charabuta lived as roques in their lifetime. They generally do not care that their existence can strengthen nirrti fields. (The abomination is that they are undead and do not actively seek to move on to the next life.) If pressed into combat, they are very quick and may retain rogue abilities they had in life.
Ulebhuta: Ghosts that look like owls. In general, they seek to feed on solitary individuals walking in heavily wooded areas at night.
Ankura – The ghost of a priest, these are very rare and extremely powerful undead comparable to a lich. Ankura are usually created by a non-evil priest that for one reason or another feels betrayed or abandoned by the gods. They are aware that their existence is unnatural, but they are able to mitigate the effects of any nirrti field that they generate by performing various rituals. They will not consume the flesh of sentient species, instead consuming cooked animal flesh.
Vapavasa – These apparitions do not inhabit corpses. They alternately appear like small globes of greenish light or like a human in tattered clothes. Like Ulebhuta, they feed on individuals. However, vapavasa live by rivers or the sea, usually
feeding on fishermen.
Netratrvehina – These headless ghosts inhabit cities and towns. Humans, Chotaki and foreigners that are members of the lowest social class fear them. These ghosts avoid detection by possessing the body of a member of the lowest social class and pretending to sleep. Stories of the Netravehina are the source of many urban dwellers treating members of the lowest social class with dignity instead of disdain and disgust. It is rumored that mistreating a member of the lowest social class increases the chances of being a netravehina’s next victim.
