Species You May Rp As

Cambions are considered to be the result of breeding a devil with mortal females. The offspring of a mortal male and a succubus is a different creature known as an alu-fiend. In general, a cambion is described as any humanoid creature that is half-fiend.

Scholars have differed over the years as to the exact meaning of the term "cambion". Past scholars used the term to denote "the union of a planetouched woman (usually a tiefling) and a tanar'ri" . They also further delineated this terminology to create "noble cambions": Marquis and Baron cambions are similarly sired by a demon lord father and a female humanoid half-fiend.

In more recent times (since the Spellplague), the terminology and usage of this term has shifted to mean the union of a mortal female and a devil.

Physiology
The mothers of true cambions always die in childbirth, serving to strand the newborn on the Material Plane where it will be orphaned, or in the Abyss where it will be abused by the demons who look down upon such children. Never accepted by either societies, cambions invariably grow up bitter and twisted but, due to their powers, they often become exceptional assassins. Many though, have been made the ambassadors to the worshipers of various demonic powers, usually Graz'zt, Demogorgon, Orcus and Lolth

Loners by nature, they like to get lost in the crowds of large cities, especially in places where people don't ask questions. Good-aligned cambions are rare, but sometimes, if their mother was good or neutral-aligned, they take on her nonevil nature and are subsequently doomed to a life of loneliness as not even their demonic patrons will accept them.

Cambions excel in luring mortals to the Abyss, the only demons better at it are succubi. They then warn demons of the mortals' approach and let them do what they do best so the souls can be turned into larvae or manes.

Cambions are very ambitious and always put as much effort as they can into whatever they try to do, maybe either to prove themselves to a parent or to themselves, but regardless, they make great leaders, information brokers, etc. and are often catalysts for major events.


Known Cambions
Vheod Runechild
Kaanyr Vhok the Sceptered One. Leader of the Scoured Legion
Asbeel
Isair and Madae, the children of Belhifet and leaders of the Legion of the Chimera in the game Icewind Dale II
Thraxxia, though described as resembling an alu-fiend, is the daughter of Graz'zt and a mortal female, and thus a cambion by most definitions of the word.

[In 1st and 2nd edition of Dungeons & Dragons, and by extension the Forgotten Realms, cambion was a term that meant the offspring of a demon (other than a succubus) and a human. In 3rd edition, it was a synonym for any half-fiend (according to the Monster Manual 3rd edition). The Expedition to the Demonweb Pits adventure threw in a third definition, claiming that a cambion was the child of a demon and a tiefling. Now with the 4th edition we are given a fourth meaning yet: the child of a human and a devil.]

Cambions breed true with each other, but they often prefer to seek out humanoid mates to create tiefling children.

Homunculus (masculine, Latin for "little human", plural: "homunculi"; from the diminutive of homo) is a term used, generally, in various fields of study to refer to any representation of a human being. Historically, it referred specifically to the concept of a miniature though fully formed human body, for example, in the studies of alchemy and preformationism. Currently, in scientific fields, a homunculus may refer to any scale model of the human body that, in some way, illustrates physiological, psychological, or other abstract human characteristics or functions.


In Carl Jung's studies of alchemy, he believed the first record of a homunculus in alchemical literature appeared in the Visions of Zosimos, written in the third century AD, although the actual word "homunculus" was never used. In the visions, Zosimos mentions encountering a man who impales himself with a sword, and then undergoes "unendurable torment", his eyes become blood, he spews forth his flesh, and changes into "the opposite of himself, into a mutilated anthroparion (a Greek alchemical concept of a being somewhat similar to a golem but possessing a sense of will and intelligence), and he tore his flesh with his own teeth, and sank into himself", which is a rather grotesque personification of the ouroboros, the dragon that bites its own tail, which represents the dyophysite nature in alchemy: the balance of two principles. Zosimos later encounters several other homunculi, named as the Brazen Man, the Leaden Man, and so forth. Commonly, the homunculi "submit themselves to unendurable torment" and undergo alchemical transformation. Zosimos made no mention of actually creating an artificial human, but rather used the concept of personifying inanimate metals to further explore alchemy.


In Islamic alchemy, Takwin was a goal of certain Muslim alchemists, notably Jabir ibn Hayyan (later known as Geber in Europe). In the alchemical context, Takwin refers to the artificial creation of life in the laboratory, up to and including human life.


There are also variants cited by other alchemists. One such variant involved the use of the mandrake. Popular belief held that this plant grew where semen ejaculated by hanged men (during the last convulsive spasms before death) fell to the ground, and its roots vaguely resemble a human form to varying degrees. The root was to be picked before dawn on a Friday morning by a black dog, then washed and "fed" with milk and honey and, in some prescriptions, blood, whereupon it would fully develop into a miniature human which would guard and protect its owner. Yet a third method, cited by Dr. David Christianus at the University of Giessen during the 18th century, was to take an egg laid by a black hen, poke a tiny hole through the shell, replace a bean-sized portion of the white with human semen, seal the opening with virgin parchment, and bury the egg in dung on the first day of the March lunar cycle. A miniature humanoid would emerge from the egg after thirty days, which would help and protect its creator in return for a steady diet of lavender seeds and earthworms.



Preformationism, a philosophical theory of heredity, claimed that either the egg or the sperm (exactly which was a contentious issue) contained a complete preformed individual called a homunculus. Development was therefore a matter of enlarging this into a fully formed being.

The term homunculus was later used in the discussion of conception and birth, Nicolas Hartsoeker discovered "animalcules" in the semen of humans and other animals. This was the beginning of spermists' theory, who held the belief that the sperm was in fact a "little man" (homunculus) that was placed inside a woman for growth into a child. This seemed to them to neatly explain many of the mysteries of conception. It was later pointed out that if the sperm was a homunculus, identical in all but size to an adult, then the homunculus may have sperm of its own. This led to a reductio ad absurdum with a chain of homunculi "all the way down". This was not necessarily considered by spermists a fatal objection however, as it neatly explained how it was that "in Adam" all had sinned: the whole of humanity was already contained in his loins. The spermists' theory also failed to explain why children tend to resemble their mothers as well as their fathers, though some spermists believed that the growing homunculus assimilated maternal characteristics from the womb environment in which they grew.


The homunculus is commonly used today in scientific disciplines, such as psychology, to describe the distorted scale model of a human drawn or sculpted to reflect the relative space human body parts occupy on the somatosensory cortex (sensory homunculus) and the motor cortex (motor homunculus). The lips, hands, feet and sex organs have more sensory neurons than other parts of the body, so the homunculus has correspondingly large lips, hands, feet, and genitals. Well known in the field of neurology, this is also commonly called "the little man inside the brain." This scientific model is known as the cortical homunculus.

In medical science, the term homunculus is sometimes applied to certain fetus-like ovarian cystic teratomae. These will sometimes contain hair, sebaceous material and in some cases cartilagous or bony structures

The homunculus argument accounts for a phenomenon in terms of the very phenomenon that it is supposed to explain (Richard Gregory, 1987). Homunculus arguments are always fallacious. In the psychology and philosophy of mind 'homunculus arguments' are useful for detecting where theories of mind fail or are incomplete.
Homunculus arguments are common in the theory of vision. Imagine a person watching a movie. They see the images as something separate from themselves, projected on the screen. How is this done? A simple theory might propose that the light from the screen forms an image on the retinae in the eyes and something in the brain looks at these as if they are the screen. The Homunculus Argument shows this is not a full explanation because all that has been done is to place an entire person, or homunculus, behind the eye that gazes at the retinae. A more sophisticated argument might propose that the images on the retinae are transferred to the visual cortex where it is scanned. Again this cannot be a full explanation because all that has been done is to place a little person in the brain behind the cortex. In the theory of vision the Homunculus Argument invalidates theories that do not explain 'projection', the experience that the viewing point is separate from the things that are seen (adapted from Gregory, 1987; 1990).


How a homunculus theory of mind argument might be visualised

"According to the legend, whenever an agent does anything intelligently, their act is preceded and steered by another internal act of considering a regulative proposition appropriate to their practical problem. . . . Must we then say that for the agent's . . . reflections how to act to be intelligent they must first reflect how best to reflect how to act? The endlessness of this implied regress shows that the application of the appropriateness does not entail the occurrence of a process of considering this criterion." Ryle 1949.

Ryle's theory is that intelligent acts cannot be a property of an inner being or mind, if such a thing were to exist.
The homunculus argument and the regress argument are often considered to be the same but this is not the case. The homunculus argument says that if there is a need for a 'little man' to complete a theory then the theory is incomplete. The regress argument says that an intelligent agent would need to think before it could have a thought.

A common and effective response to all homunculi arguments is that it begs the question in favor of reductionism. As Quine maintains in his book Two Dogmas of Empiricism, "reductionism is a metaphysical article of faith". One cannot simply go on using reductionist methods forever as it leads to an infinite regress, which is a logical fallacy. At one point on another, one must acknowledge that some things in reality are foundational.

The Wendigo (also Windigo, Wiindigoo, and numerous other variants, since the word appears in many different Native American languages and dialects) is a spirit in Anishinaabe mythology. It has also become a stock horror character much like the vampire or werewolf, although these fictional depictions often do not bear much resemblance to the original mythology.

Nature

Etymology

The word “Wendigo” (pronounced wehn-dee-go) comes from the Native American Algonquian language, meaning “evil spirit that devours mankind.”

Other names include Windigo, Witiko, Weedigo, Weeghtako, Weeghteko, Weendigo, Wee-Tee-Go, Weetigo, Wehndigo, Wehtigo, Wendago, Wenigo, Wentigo, Wentiko, Wetigo, Whit-Te-Co, Whittico, Wiendigo, Wihtigo, Wiitiko, Windago, Windiga (possibly a female version), Windagoe, Windagoo, Windego, Wi’ndigo, Windikouk, Wintego, Wintigo, Wi’ntsigo, Wintsigo, Wi’tigo, Wittako, Wittikka, and Wihtikow (seeing any similarities here?). Tribal names for the creature include Atcen, Atschen, Cheno, Djenu, Ithaqua, Kokodje, Kokotsche, Outiko, and Vindiko.
Description/Morphology

The Wendigo is a terrifying beast. But because they are so swift, it is extremely difficult to get a good look at the monster. Most are tall, have long limbs, and are extremely thin (because they are always hungry). Most have no hair at all, but those that dwell in extremely cold climates can sometimes be found with snow-white, gore-stained fur or matted, bloody hair. Its maw is filled with sharp yellowed fangs, and its hands and feet end in razorlike talons. The Wendigo’s twisted lips are flecked with blood, and their long tongues are a disgusting dark blue. Its eyes are one of its most frightening aspects, which range in color from glowing red to bright yellow.

The lore on this beast is enormously diverse, all of which emphasize its size. The Wendigo is so big that the human mind is unable to fully comprehend it, and the beast’s sheer size is enough to make the human heart stop. The Wendigo is a hideous, abhorrent beast. Its gigantic maw is filled with needlelike teeth, made all the more disturbing by its lack of lips (some say that the creature’s hunger is so great that it devoured its own lips!)

Although vaguely human in appearance, it is nonetheless what most would call terribly deformed. Its enormous eyes are yellow and protuberant like an owl’s (although some say that the eyes are pushed deep into the sockets, and all that one can see is the terrible yellow glow). They are far larger than human eyes, and are said to roll about in blood. It has massive, pawlike hands that end in talons that are a foot long, while the beast’s feet are said to be three foot in length and have but a single toe, tipped with a daggerlike nail. These the Wendigo uses to slash and tear at its victims. Some legends say that the Wendigo may be missing toes, due perhaps to frostbite.

Behavior

The Wendigo is a purely anthropophagous beast, hungering for human flesh. It will go to any lengths to procure this food, no matter the risk or possibility of injury. The Wendigo craves human flesh and is constantly starving for it (indicated by the beast’s lean, wiry frame). The Wendigo is known to have its preferences: the sweet fat of children, the soft skin of women, the course muscles of men (especially warriors and hunters), or the brittle bones of the elderly. In preparation for long winters (when few travelers are out and about), the Wendigo will stash away large pots filled to the rim with human remains in the highest tree branches. On rare occasions, it will take humans alive and hide them away in its lair, allowing the beast to feed whenever it wants. The Wendigo is more intelligent than many humans, and thus understands the value of storing and saving its food. However, it will only resort to this when food is scarce and it becomes desperate.

Since the Wendigo constantly hungers for human flesh, it wreaks destruction in its pursuit of its chosen prey. It crashes through the forests, all the while uprooting trees, causing game animals to stampede, and causing whirlwinds. The monster is often thought to be the cause of ice storms, tornadoes, and violent winds. All of these weather-related phenomena are believed to signal the Wendigo’s presence.

When the Wendigo hunts, it stalks the victim for long periods. The chosen victim only has a dreadful feeling of being followed. However, the Wendigo has a sadistic streak. It prefers to terrify its victims before moving in for the kill. When it has had enough of stalking the victim, it lets out a growl or a shriek, which resonates through the forest and terrifies the beast’s prey. They panic, firing weapons haphazardly into the brush as the dense forest closes in on them. Eventually, the intended victim succumbs to insanity, running wildly into the forest with abandon. In such a state, they are easy prey for the Wendigo.
The Wendigo has been known to enter cabins and other dwelling, unlocking them from the outside and slaughtering the inhabitants, then proceeding to convert the cabin into its own lair. The Wendigo tends to hibernate for long periods, ranging in length from a few months to years at a time. Once they awaken, they go into a feeding frenzy, and after having eaten enough humans, it retreats to its lair and falls back into hibernation once again.

The Wendigo inhabits the forests of the Great Lakes and Canada. The dreaded Wendigo King lives near the Windigo River in Quebec. Kenora, Ontario is thought to be the “Wendigo Capital of the World” because so many sightings and incidents have taken place there, and it attracted Wendigoes originally because it used to be tribal grounds, with many Native American settlements scattered throughout the area. Most caves, gullies, and canyons in central Canada will provide shelter for the Wendigo.

A Wendigo is rumored to live in the Cave of the Wendigo, near Mameigwass Lake in northern Ontario. Any other area named after the Wendigo, such as Windigo River and Windigo Lake in Ontario, is bound to be inhabited by this monster as well.
The Wendigo’s territory is vast, stretching from the Canadian Rockies and the Arctic Circle in the north, to the Great Lakes regions and the Dakotas. It reigns supreme across the whole of Canada.

Powers/Weaknesses

The Wendigo is a supernatural entity of enormous power, the embodiment of insatiable hunger, gluttony, unbridled evil, and the savage predator. Befitting its bestial nature, the Wendigo possesses supernatural strength, speed, endurance, and senses. The beast is able to rip a human apart with little effort, and the Wendigo moves so quickly that it cannot be seen by the human eye. Any wounds that are inflicted on the Wendigo’s body are healed very quickly, although wounds caused by silver tend to heal very slowly. It is invulnerable to most conventional weapons, excluding arms incorporating pure silver. The Wendigo thrives in even the harshest climates, immune to extremes of cold.

The Wendigo’s senses of sight, smell, and hearing are greatly enhanced, comparable to those of many predatory animals. The Wendigo can see clearly in total darkness, and it may have some kind of infrared vision, enabling it to see its prey by detecting its bodily heat emanations. Once the Wendigo has its prey’s scent, it is able to follow it swiftly and precisely, no matter how far away the victim may be. It’s hearing is so keen that it can hear the pounding of its fear-filled victim’s heart, which causes the beast’s own heart to pound with joy and anticipation.

Besides sheer strength and animalistic ferocity, the Wendigo is armed with formidable array of weaponry: its dreaded claws and fangs. The beast’s claws have been described as icicles, reflecting its utter dominion over its freezing territory. These talons are designed for ripping through flesh with the slightest touch, and one swipe from the Wendigo’s powerful claws can disembowel or decapitate a human. The beast’s mouth is filled with long, needle-sharp fangs, made for slicing through flesh and sinew, as well as for breaking bones. The Wendigo’s fangs can easily puncture a human skull. Far from being a stupid beast, the Wendigo has a man’s intelligence and cunning, as well as the predatory instincts of an animal. It is mystically attuned to every single tree, bush, rock, hill, or cave within its territory (which can be considerably vast). The Wendigo uses this advantage to stalk its victims for hours on end, never being seen or heard unless the monster chooses to reveal itself by means of a growl or a shriek. There is no way to hide from the Wendigo, and it will not stop hunting until the victim’s broken, mutilated body lies at its clawed feet.

The Wendigo excels in stealth, and it is said that the Wendigo moves on the wind and breezes in utter silence. It can fill the air with an eerie, haunting siren by forcing the air through its blood-flecked lips. The Wendigo is able to mimic human voices, which are most often cries for help. The beast’s roar is utterly terrifying, and the fear it inspires cuts to the bone. When the freezing winds rise, it is said that the Wendigo’s howls can be distinguished from the moan of the wind, letting people nearby know that a monster lurks in their midst. For its prey, these warnings occur far too late to make any appreciable difference.
Among the Wendigo’s host of supernatural abilities, the Wendigo Fever is perhaps the most feared. It is a terrible curse, overtaking the mind and body of the unfortunate victim. The first symptom of the curse is a strange scent, detectable only to the intended victim. After absorbing this disturbing odor, the victim experiences a long night of weeping and horrifying nightmares. Upon awakening, the victim experiences a burning pain in the legs and feet, which becomes so intense that the victim runs into the forest, shrieking like a maniac, and discarding clothing and shoes all the while. Most of the curse’s victims never return, although those who do return are irrevocably insane from their experiences of the curse and the Wendigo itself. It is thought that most of the curse’s victims are devoured by the Wendigo.

The Wendigo, although a dire threat to mankind, shares a close kinship with the forest’s wildlife, mainly predatory animals (such as the wolf, bear, raven, or eagle). The beast willingly shares its kills with these companions, and these animals have been known to travel with the Wendigo.

As the Wendigo grows older, its powers over nature increase exponentially. The beast becomes a shaman, extremely adept in the dark arts. With this power, the Wendigo can manipulate the weather, creating storms of terrifying strength, and the beast can summon the midnight darkness hours before sunset. The Wendigo may summon dangerous beasts from the deepest, darkest reaches of the forest and command them to attack its enemies, traverse enormous distances in the blink of an eye, and heal any wounds instantaneously (although injuries inflicted by silver may take longer to heal).

Despite the beast’s immeasurable amount of power, there are ways to protect oneself from the Wendigo. If one is hunting this creature, a fire must be kept burning at all times. This will deter the Wendigo from attacking, but only for so long. If burned, the wounds will quickly heal and will only make the beast angry.

Any means of mystical protection should be employed (amulets, protective spells, fetishes, and charms), as these things hold power over the Wendigo. Headphones or earplugs must be used to block out the beast’s maddening shrieks. However, one’s surest defense and greatest chance of survival during the Wendigo’s attack is a firearm loaded with silver bullets, and a silvered blade (such as a sword or a knife).

The Wendigo cannot be hurt or killed by conventional methods or weapons, including blades or firearms. However, silver is lethal to the Wendigo. Silver bullets or a pure silver blade (or silvered steel) can cause the Wendigo great pain and can even kill the beast.

In order to permanently destroy the Wendigo, one must first find the beast. The Great Lakes region and the forests of Canada are prime Wendigo territory. Beware, for the hunter may soon become the hunted. After finding and incapacitating the beast (no easy task, be assured), a silver stake must be driven through the Wendigo’s heart of ice, therefore shattering it. The shards of the Wendigo’s heart must be securely locked in a silver box and buried in consecrated ground (such as a churchyard or a cemetery).

The Wendigo’s body must then be dismembered with a silver-plated axe, and each piece of the body must be salted and burned to ashes (which must then be scattered to the four winds), or each piece must be hidden in some remote, inaccessible location (i.e. the bottom of a lake, a chasm, the sea floor, or a well). Failure to follow these procedures exactly will inevitably result in the Wendigo’s resurrection, followed by its bloody vengeance. It will hunt down its killer, relishing and anticipating the taste of the hunter’s blood in every single moment. Rest assured, the death that follows will be both slow and painful. The Wendigo will take great pleasure in every single bit of agony it inflicts on its killer before finishing the job and devouring the remains. Beware, as according to some legends, the Wendigo is indestructible.

History

Exactly how and when the first Wendigo came to be is lost to history and legend. But ever since that time, the Wendigo has haunted the Great Lakes woodland and the cold forests of Canada for hundreds of years. Among all creatures in Native American legend, the Wendigo is the most feared and powerful. The Wendigo was once a man that broke a tribal taboo and ate human flesh. A malignant spirit possesses the cannibal, and the Wendigo is born.

How does one become the Wendigo? There are numerous ways among the Native American people, but the most common method is for a man to willingly engage in cannibalism. Hunters, campers, and hikers (not necessarily Native Americans) most often travel with a companion, someone with whom they are good friends and are able to trust. Although a rarity, when these people become hopelessly lost and eventually run out of supplies, they inevitably turn on each other. Morality has no part of nature’s law. In the end, only the strongest live and kills the other. The victor then feasts on the flesh of the corpse. This heinous, blasphemous act is all that is needed to summon a malevolent spirit of the forest.

The spirit forcibly possesses the cannibal’s body, forcing the human soul out. The moment the cannibal is touched by supernatural forces, he is overcome by extreme nausea and pain. He starts vomiting uncontrollably, for hours at a time. Eventually, the cannibal loses enormous quantities of blood, and inevitably dies. However, the body undergoes a terrifying transformation. The body grows in strength and height, growing a thick coat of white fur. The human’s strength and weight increases greatly, gaining supernatural powers in the process. The head takes on the features of a predatory beast, including the growth of prominent fangs and sharp teeth. The fingernails and toenails grow into sharpened talons, completing the transformation. The cannibal is then resurrected by the evil spirit, no longer a man, but a bloodlusting beast known as the Wendigo.

Although cannibalism is the most common and potent method, one can become the Wendigo through other means as well. Another common means is when a tribe is faced with a dire threat, a brave warrior prays to an evil spirit of the forest. The spirit agrees, possessing the warrior and transforming him into the Wendigo. This new form possesses more than enough power to deal with the threat, and after eliminating it, the warrior-turned-monster flees into the forest, never to be seen again.
The Wendigo’s spirit has been known to jump from body to body as its own body wears out, and possessing an individual causes them to become the beast. Dreaming of the Wendigo is another method, probably caused by possession during the night. Like other supernatural beings, the Wendigo is able to infect humans by biting them, causing the victim to become another Wendigo. A sorcerer’s curse will bring the transformation on as well.

However, there are depraved individuals who are willing to become monsters. They start by fasting for days at a time, and then journey into the forest. There, they offer their flesh to the Wendigo. Instead of devouring them, the Wendigo may decide to adopt the human as one of its own children. Over time, they become hairy, start to grow claws and fangs, develop a craving for raw human flesh, gain supernatural abilities, and become a Wendigo themselves (although these individuals are weaker than the monster that adopted them).

The Native Americans once feared (and still do) the Wendigo so much that small groups of brave, armed men once actively hunted the beast in the past. One, a Cree Indian by the name of Jack Fiddler, had claimed to have killed fourteen Wendigoes during his lifetime. He and his son, Joseph, were tried for the murder of a Wendigo-possessed woman on October 7, 1907. Both men pleaded guilty for the crime, explaining that the unfortunate woman had been possessed by the Wendigo’s spirit. On the verge of completing the transformation, the Fiddlers killed her with silver bullets, which they said had to be done before she turned on the tribe. As one can imagine, the judge and the jury were probably more than a little skeptical of the idea of the alleged “possession” of the woman.

In the end, the Wendigo is notoriously difficult to destroy, nearly impossible to escape, and will sooner or later devour its chosen victim. Its howl echoes throughout the surrounding area for miles, turning the blood of those who hear the Wendigo’s cry into ice. Not a monster that one could encounter and hope to survive.

The Wendigo in Native American mythology

In the mythology of the Algonquian-speaking tribes of Native Americans, the Wendigo is a malevolent supernatural creature. It is usually described as a giant with a heart of ice; sometimes it is thought to be entirely made of ice. Its body is skeletal and deformed, with missing lips and toes. According to Native American mythology, it can be killed by shattering its heart of ice.
The first accounts of the Wendigo myth by explorers and missionaries date back to the 17th century. They describe it rather generically as a werewolf, devil, or cannibal.

The Wendigo was usually presumed to have once been human. Different origins of the Wendigo are described in variations of the myth. A hunter may become the Wendigo when encountering it in the forest at night, or when becoming possessed by its spirit in a dream. When the cannibalistic element of the myth is stressed, it is assumed that anyone who eats corpses in a famine becomes a Wendigo as a result. The only way to destroy a Wendigo is to melt its heart of ice. In recent times, it has been identified with Sasquatch or Bigfoot by cryptozoologists, but there is little evidence in the indigenous folklore for it being a similar creature.

Perhaps this myth was used as a deterrent and cautionary tale among northern tribes whose winters were long and bitter and whose hunting parties often were trapped in storms with no recourse but to consume members of their own party. It could be indicative of starvation that the Wendigo is said to consume moss and other unpalatable food when human flesh is unavailable. Its physical deformities are suggestive of starvation and frostbite, so the Wendigo may be a myth based on a personification of the hardships of winter and the taboo of cannibalism.

Actual Wendigo murder trials took place in Canada around the beginning of the 20th century. The anthropologist Morton Teicher has described the alleged clinical condition of believing oneself to be a Wendigo, which he calls Windigo Psychosis (note the spelling in this context: Windigo, rather than Wendigo).

In some stories a Wendigo will follow a lone wanderer for a long time. When the prey becomes suspicious and turns around the Wendigo always manages to get out of sight by hiding behind a tree. After a while the followed person starts to become hysterical and runs until he makes an error. The Wendigo then strikes. If someone actually survives a Wendigo attack they get the Wendigo-fever: after a night of nightmares and pain in their legs, Wendigo-fevered people strip themselves naked and run into the forest screaming.

In Cree mythology, the Windigo was a man-eating monster that was killed by the trickster hero Wesakechak and an ermine which he persuaded to help him.

Windigo Psychosis

Windigo Psychosis is the medical term given to those people presumed "windigo" (cannibalistic). The term applies to the Algonquin Ojibway, as well as Cree (Witigo). It is hard to pin down any real biological causes, as hunger seems to be the only one. Rather it is more likely that windigo psychosis was a cultural disease. The most commonly known cure for windigo psychosis is bear fat or bear grease.
The Wendigo in literature

Algernon Blackwood's 1910 Horror fiction|horror story The Wendigo introduced the legend to horror fiction. Blackwood's story eschews the aspect of cannibalism in favour of a more subtle psychological horror; a central theme is that whoever sees the Wendigo becomes the Wendigo (or at least something rather like it). The reader never sees the Wendigo, though we witness the progressive dehumanization of a character who has seen it. Blackwood based his story, he claims, on an actual incident of Wendigo panic in a lonely valley while he lived in Canada. He worked many details of the Native American legend into the story.

Blackwood's Wendigo:

stalks hunters in the forest
can be heard crashing through the trees
leaves distinctive tracks
has a terrifying voice
is associated with insanity
eats moss.
However, Blackwood's Wendigo is not a former human, but a primordial pre-human spirit, in keeping with Blackwood's private nature mysticism.
The Canadian poet George Bowering wrote a poem 'Windigo'. In it, he describes the Wendigo in some detail:
His huge round eyes
bulge out of his head, lidless eyes
rolling in red blood of pain,
always rolling, blood sockets
behind them.
Ogden Nash wrote a humourous poem about the Wendigo, where the appearance of the Wendigo is characterized with the lines:
Its eyes are ice and indigo!
Its blood is rank and yellowish!
Its voice is hoarse and bellowish!
Its tentacles are slithery,
And scummy,
Slimy,
Leathery!
Its lips are hungry blubbery,
And smacky,
sucky,
rubbery!

As Canadian author Margaret Atwood points out, Nash's description is only partly true to the legend, since the Wendigo does not have blubbery lips, much less tentacles.

Windigo Psychosis features prominently in Thomas Pynchon's short story "Mortality and Mercy in Vienna"
In the Cthulhu Mythos created by H.P. Lovecraft and his contemporaries, the Wendigo is another title for Ithaqua the Windwalker, one of the Great Old One|Great Old Ones who seems to be restricted to those parts of the earth that are predominantly cold, favouring Alaska and North America. This is derived, via August Derleth, from Blackwood.
In Stephen King's novel Pet Sematary, the eponymous graveyard marks the path to another, older burial ground, which in centuries past had been cursed by the Wendigo. Any corpse buried there would be re-animated within the day, but as a cannibal. At one point in the novel the protagonist believes that the Wendigo has passed in front of him in the woods; but it is a foggy night, and he is fortunately unable to see it. The Wendigo is also presumably the form that the God of the Lost takes in Stephen King's The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.

The 1944 mystery novel Rim of the Pit by Hake Talbot features a windigo as a possible explanation for a murderer who appears to be able to fly.

In Alan Moore's story "Allan and the Sundered Veil", which accompanied the graphic novel League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Allan Quatermain's body turns into a Wendigo during an astral travel induced by a drug called Taduki.
In Michael Crichton's The 13th Warrior (originally titled Eaters of the Dead), the Wendigo myth is linked to the Grendel character from Beowulf. Crichton even implies an etymological evolution from 'Grendel' to 'Wendigo.'

In the juvenile-oriented Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark by Alvin Schwartz ScaryStories|Alvin Schwartz, the Wendigo was described as "attract[ing] victims by calling to them in an irresistible way, then bears them away at great speed, finally sweeps them into the sky, then drops them, leaving them with frozen stumps where their feet once were, As they are carried off, they characteristically scream, '...My fiery feet, my burning feet of fire!'" This quote as well as the other details are taken straight from Blackwood's story.

Another children's book of scary short stories, Giant, Short, & Shivery, has a short story about a Wendigo. In it, a group of sailors arrive on an island and are met by a native orphaned boy, who warns them of "the thing that's watchin' - watchin' from the trees." Eventually, the Wendigo comes and takes away the cruel captain by grabbing him through the door of their cabin with a giant hand made of snow with ice for fingernails.

In Alan Sullivans' s short story 'The Essence of a Man', a Wendigo preys upon the mind and will of the protagonist Tom Moore, a Native American. Tom is able to overcome the power of the Wendigo, when another (unnamed) spirit calls out to him.

In Linda Hogan's Solar Storms, a main character's estranged mother is possessed by the windigo. The characters are Native Americans so the depiction is powerful. When the main character was a child her mother tried to eat part of her face because of the windigo. The mother doesn't overcome the spirit.

The Wendigo in film and television

Due to the prevalence of Native American themes and beliefs in Twin Peaks, some fans have speculated that the main villain Bob (Twin Peaks)|BOB is actually the Wendigo.

A creature called Wendigo also appears in episode twelve of the supernatural dramedy television series Charmed under the guise of FBI agent Ashley Fallon, who later attacks Piper Halliwell, which causes the main character to transform into a Wendigo herself. Charmed's Wendigo mixes elements of the original Wendigo myths (e.g. the heart of ice, the causing of fever on the victim and the cannibalistic origin) and werewolves of modern fiction (e.g. transformation in connection with the full moon, aggressivity, losing morality and becoming the creature by means of being scratched). The creature itself was given a look that is a cross between a werewolf and a sasquatch. The defeat of the Wendigo is a quite literal use of the melting of the heart of ice—the creature is killed with a flare gun. After the defeat, Wendigo Piper returned to normal, but ended up naked (the transformation ripped off her clothes) and freezing.

Despite the title, the movie Wendigo (film) does not bear much resemblance to the legend, since the Wendigo in this movie was part man, part deer.

The movie Ravenous is arguably closer; the term windigo is mentioned by a Native American scout. In that film, a crazed cannibal preys on the staff of a military outpost in the Sierra Nevadas.
The werewolf curse in the Ginger Snaps movies originates from the Wendigo.

The new WB series Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural has the lead characters encountering a Wendigo in episode 2. Its first airdate was September 20th, 2005. Wendigo behaviours in this episode include cannibalism, a frightening roar, and extreme speed and strength. However, this version also has the ability to mimic other peoples' voices and climb trees. It is also a dark green color and highly flammable. Centuries earlier, this Wendigo had been an Ancient Pueblo Peoples|Anasazi who was on a hunting expedition. The members of the hunting party were starving. One man ate his fellow tribesmen and gained special powers, becoming a Wendigo.

In the second season of the Scifi series The Invisible Man, a creature called a Wendigo is encountered in the episode Legends. It was very much like a sasquatch, and Gigantopithecus blackii was referred to as well. The creature was able to make itself turn invisible at will and was a precursor to the government's creation of an invisible man.

Other culture

In the MMORPG The Five Pillars, Wendigoes are units summoned by forest-affiliated mages. They have little in common with the traditional Wendigo, as these are benevolent forest spirits. They serve mostly as damage-absorbers, as they have high health and resistance, but low attack power.

In the role-playing game Shadowrun, the Wendigo is an ork infected by the HMHVV (Human Meta Human Vampiric Virus). He feeds on human flesh and looks like a white Sasquatch.

In the role-playing game Werewolf: The Apocalypse, the Wendigo (World of Darkness)|Wendigo are a tribe of Garou (werewolves) with almost exclusively Amerindian kinfolk. They claim Canada and the northern United States as their homeland, and are locked in the almost hopeless struggle against the encroachment of Wiktionary:Wasichu|Wasichu society and its effects. This same tribe follows the spirit of "The Great Wendigo", a mighty spirit of the winter and the wind who takes the form of a great white wolf and aids his people in their times of need. The spirit is known to be a cannibal spirit, and many garou of the wendigo tribe are likewise reputed by outsiders to have a temptation to eat human (or garou) flesh.
In the role-playing game Deadlands Wendigo is one of the main bestiary features and its origins and looks are much like those from Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American legends- It is very powerful creature looking a bit like Yeti. It is rumored that Wendigos are humans that were lost in the mountains during a blizzard, forced to cannibalize their comrades to stay alive, and because of that terrible sin they are turned into beasts.

Wendigos are also featured as monsters in various computer and video games. In the first-person shooter heXen, Wendigos live in arctic environments and they can shoot ice shards from their wrists. The computer role-playing game Diablo II features the Wendigo as a large and weak yeti-like creature, commonly found in grasslands and deserts. In the Warcraft Universe (as seen in Warcraft III and World of Warcraft), a Wendigo is a large and powerful Yeti-like creature found in snowy areas such as Northrend and Northern Lorderon. In Final Fantasy VIII, a Wendigo is a random encounter enemy located just outside of Deling City. Wendigos also appear in Final Fantasy X. They make another appearance in Final Fantasy XI as a skeleton-type creature. Wendigo is also a boss battle in "The Legend of Dragoon".

In Marvel Comics, the Wendigo (comics)|Wendigo is created by a curse that may have derived from the Arctic Gods or "Elder Gods". Anyone who eats human flesh while in the Canadian woods becomes a Wendigo. This Wendigo is a huge, apelike being of white fur, without human intelligence. Its strength is great enough to battle Marvel heroes like The Incredible Hulk or Wolverine (comics)|Wolverine. The curse can be transferred from one person to another by a shaman who knows the appropriate spell; the former victim of the curse will not remember what he or she did as a Wendigo.

In another reality of Marvel Comics, Earth X, there is a creature that has struck fear into the mutant populace. This variation of Wendigo is not like the rest, typically characterized by only one Wendigo present, but rather forms an army of Wendigo, due to the curse afflicting Multiple Man

A Wendigo creature appears in N°8 of Italian western-horror comic book Magico Vento, spelled Windigo.

Self-Explanatory

The Predator is a fictional extraterrestrial species featured in the Predator science-fiction franchise, characterised by its trophy hunting of other dangerous species for sport, including humans and its fictional counterparts, Aliens.
First introduced in 1987 as the main antagonist of the film Predator, the Predator creatures returned in the sequels Predator 2 (1990), Alien vs. Predator (2004), Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007), and Predators (2010). The Predators have also been the subject of numerous novels, video games, and comic books, both on their own and as part of the Alien vs. Predator crossover imprint. While a definitive name for the species is not given in the films, the names yautja and Hish have been alternatively used in the expanded universe.


Created by brothers Jim and John Thomas, the Predators are depicted as large, sapient and sentient humanoid creatures who possess advanced technology, such as active camouflage and energy weapons, and are capable of interstellar travel.


The Predator design is credited to special effects artist Stan Winston. While flying to Japan with Aliens director James Cameron, Winston, who had been hired to design the Predator, was doing concept art on the flight. Cameron saw what he was drawing and said, "I always wanted to see something with mandibles". Winston then included them in his designs. Stan Winston's studio created all of the physical effects for Predator and Predator 2, creating the body suit for actor Kevin Peter Hall and the mechanical facial effects. They were hired after attempts to create a convincing monster (including Jean-Claude Van Damme wearing a much different body suit) had failed. Arnold Schwarzenegger recommended Winston after his experience working on The Terminator.

The Predator was originally designed with a long neck, a dog-like head and a single eye. This design was abandoned when it became apparent that the jungle locations would make shooting the complex design too difficult. Originally, the studio contracted the makeup effects for the alien from Richard Edlund's Boss Film Creature Shop. However, problems filming the alien in Mexico resulted in the makeup effects responsibilities being given to Stan Winston. According to former Boss Films make-up supervisor Steve Johnson, the makeup failed because of an impractical design by McTiernan that included 12-inch length extensions that gave the Predator a backward bent satyr-leg. The design did not work in the jungle locations. After six weeks of shooting in the jungles of Palenque, Mexico, the production had to shut down so that Winston could make a new Predator. This took eight months and then filming resumed for five weeks, ending in February 1987


Film portrayals

Jean-Claude Van Damme was originally cast as the Predator, the idea being that the physical action star would use his martial arts skills to make the Predator an agile, ninja-esque hunter. When compared to Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, and Jesse Ventura, actors known for their bodybuilding regimens, it became apparent a more physically imposing man was needed to make the creature appear threatening. Eventually, Van Damme was removed from the film and replaced by actor and mime artist Kevin Peter Hall. Hall, standing at an imposing 7 foot 2, had just finished work as a sasquatch in Harry and the Hendersons. Peter Cullen did the creature vocals in the original film, and said the inspiration for the Predator sounds were horseshoe crabs.Hal Rayle did the Predator vocals in the second movie.

Hall played the Predator in the first and second movies. He was trained in the art of mime and used many tribal dance moves in his performance, such as during the fight between Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Predator at the end of the first movie. In Predator 2, according to a "making of" featurette, Danny Glover suggested the Los Angeles Lakers to be the other Predators because Glover himself was a big fan. Hall persuaded some of the Lakers to play background Predators because they couldn't find anyone on short notice. Hall died not long after Predator 2 was released in theaters.

In Alien vs. Predator, Welsh actor Ian Whyte, a fan of the Predator comics and movies, took over as the man in the Predator suit, portraying the "Celtic" Predator during Celtic's fight with an Alien warrior. Whyte returned to portray the "Wolf" Predator in Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem.

In Predators, actors Brian Steele and Carey Jones both portrayed a new breed of Predator known as the "Black Super Predators", who have been dropping humans on their planet for many years to play a survival game against them.[10] In a nod to the first film, Derek Mears played the Predator as the creature appeared in the original, dubbed the "Classic Predator".


Special and make-up effects

The Predator's blood was made from a combination of the liquid from glow sticks mixed with K-Y Jelly. The mixture dries up quickly, so new batches had to be quickly made between takes. The technique was used in all five films featuring the Predator.

The camouflage effect was designed by R/Greenberg Associates, under the direction of Joel Hynek. The idea for the effect came in a dream one of the Thomas brothers (who wrote the film) had, in which there was a chrome man who was inside a reflective sphere. The man blended in, perfectly camouflaged, reflecting from all directions and only visible when in motion. It took quite a while before they figured out how to do it, which was basically an image repeated in a pattern of ripples in the shape of the Predator's body. It proved very effective and was a new way of presenting an "invisible man." Before there was digital rendering technology all of the camouflage was done optically using photo-chemical means, so that one would never get the same result twice from combining the same pieces of film.

After the original movies, Amalgamated Dynamics took over from Stan Winston Studio in creating the props for the Predators in the Alien vs. Predator movie and a number of effects houses worked on the various other effects.

Predators are physically distinguished from humans by their greater height, arthropod-like mandibles and long, hair-like appendages on their heads that are set into their skulls. Their bodies are resilient to damage, capable of recovering from multiple gunshot wounds and radiation doses which would be fatal to humans. They are much stronger than humans, having been portrayed as being easily capable of outmatching a conditioned adult human male and shattering solid concrete with their bare hands. They are also skilled climbers, and will readily move through trees or across rooftops in pursuit of prey. Though capable of surviving exposure in Antarctic temperatures for an extended period of time it is implied that Predators have a preference for hot equatorial climates. Their blood is luminescent phosphor green in color. Their vision operates mainly in the infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum; they can easily detect heat differentials in their surroundings but are unable to easily distinguish among objects of the same relative temperature. A Predator's hunting helmet increases its ability to see in a variety of spectrums, ranging from the low infrared to the high ultraviolet, and also filters the ambient heat from the area, allowing them to see things with greater clarity and detail While they are capable of breathing Earth's atmosphere, the creature in Predator 2 is seen using a breathing mask after losing his helmet. Their dietary habits are also mentioned in Predator 2, where it is revealed that the creature regularly visits a slaughterhouse every two days to feed on the stored meat there.

Throughout their film appearances, Predators have undergone numerous design variations. In Predator 2, the main Predator was designed to look more urban and hip than its predecessor. Design changes included tribal ornamentation on the forehead, which was made steeper and shallower, brighter skin coloration and a greater number of fangs. In Alien vs. Predator, the appearance of the Predators was redesigned to make them seem more heroic. Redesigns included a reduction in head and waist size, broader shoulders, a more muscular physique, piranha-like teeth on the upper jaw and dryer, less clammy skin to further differentiate them from the Aliens. In Aliens vs Predator: Requiem, the Predator was returned to the sleeker design concept prior to Alien vs. Predator. For the so called "Black Super Predators" in Predators, the designers used the differences between a cassette tape and an iPod as an analogy in differentiating the new Predators from the classic. The Super Predators were designed as leaner and taller than the "classic" Predator design, with longer faces, tighter armor and with more swept back dreadlocks.

Culture and history

"The Predator society builds sophisticated spaceships, yet they should not look as sleek and hi-tech as a Star Wars stormtrooper. They are a tribal culture, yet their look should not be as primitive as the orcs from Lord of the Rings. They are also a warrior culture, so the ornate cannot conflict with the practical."
— Alec Gillis on Predator designs.


Predator culture revolves around the hunting and stalking of dangerous lifeforms. After making a kill, Predators typically skin or decapitate the carcass, converting it into a trophy. Failure in a hunt results in the Predator involved committing an honorable suicide. It is often alluded to that the reason Predators hunt is not for sustenance or elimination of threats, but as entertainment or rite of passage, as they will only attack life forms that have the ability to provide them with a challenge. In Predators, it is revealed that there are at least two different Predator tribes, which are engaged in a long lasting blood feud. The film also introduced a pack of spined, quadrupedal beasts used as flushing dogs by the "Super Predators". Creature designer Gregory Nicotero used hyenas as a basis for the creature's physique, while the spines were added later by Chris Olivia.

Predators made contact with early human civilizations such as the Ancient Egyptians, the Khmer Empire, and Aztecs, as well as a fictitious culture inhabiting what is now modern day Bouvetøya. Upon arriving on Earth, the Predators were worshipped as gods by humans, and they taught many of the civilizations how to build pyramids (an explanation as to why many of these different ancient societies had distinctly similar cultures and architecture), but in return expected sacrifices of humans for use as hosts for huntable Aliens. The Predators returned to Bouvetøya every century to consummate the bargain, until at one point in the ritual, the Aliens spread out of control, resulting in the Predators detonating a bomb that obliterated the entire civilization. Relations with humans and the Predators deteriorated from that time on; the Predators then viewed humans as little more than another quarry to hunt.

Predators feature prominently in the folklore of certain cultures; some Latin American people refer to the species as, "El Demonio que hace trofeos de los hombres" (Spanish for "The Demon who makes trophies of men"), while Jamaican superstition identifies Predators as demons from the spirit world. When hunting humans, Predators normally avoid certain individuals such as children and some adults if they are unarmed, though they will spare armed ones if they happen to be pregnant or sickly. A human who has managed to kill a Predator in single combat or has fought alongside one is usually spared by the deceased hunter's comrades and given a gift (often a rare or exotic weapon) as a sign of respect.
A learner's first successful Alien hunt is completed with the marking of his helmet and forehead with the blood of his kill. Predators apparently keep Alien Queens in captivity in order to maintain a supply of eggs. It is shown in a brief scene in Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem that Predators have had prior contact with the Space Jockeys. This is confirmed in the film's DVD


Language

The script of the Predators is expressed in the films and other media through written patterns of dashes. These written symbols appear on the creatures' gauntlet displays, their helmets, architecture, and many other surfaces. The most common vocalizations of the Predators consists of a series of clicks, roars, snarls, and growls. Predators will mimic human language on occasion, and have been stated or shown to be able to understand and speak human languages. Author Steve Perry designed a constructed language set for the Aliens vs. Predator novel series.

Technology

Predator technology is distinctive in many respects, not the least of which is its ornate, tribal appearance masking deadly, sophisticated weaponry. It is shown in Predator 2 that at least one Predator weapon uses a metal that does not correspond to any element on the periodic table, and some weapons have been shown to be completely resistant to the effects of acidic blood belonging to Aliens. In addition, several of these tools make use of thermal imaging to track prey. The Predator's mask also houses a viewing system that fine tunes the creature's infrared vision by filtering out ambient heat, and also allows it to view in different spectra completely. The Predator's technology is advanced enough that the mask enables it to see in specific levels of X-ray and identify diseases and cancers, as well as picking up on pulse and heartbeat signals to track targets, as seen in "Alien vs. Predator" and "Predators," respectively. The Predator also makes use of a light-bending cloaking device. A flashback sequence in Alien versus Predator indicates that some aspects of their technology have been in use for millennia.

Expanded universe

In the Aliens vs. Predator novel series (based on the Dark Horse Comics) by David Bischoff, Steve and Stephani Perry, the Predators, known in the series as "yautja", are depicted as living in a matriarchal clan-based society bearing similarities to a pack mentality, with the strongest and most skilled of the group being leader. The Predators are portrayed as sexually dimorphic mammals, with females being larger and stronger than males and sporting more prominent mammary glands (like human females). Both genders give off a strong musk to signify aggression, while females can also emit it when in estrus. This musk can be detected by other Predators and canids, though it is imperceptible to humans. Predators in the Perry novels are not monogamous, and it is common for veteran warriors to sire hundreds of offspring (known as sucklings) with multiple mates. It is also revealed that their blood has the capacity of partially neutralizing the acidity of Alien blood. Their religion is partially explored in the series, showing that they are polytheistic, and that their equivalent of the Grim Reaper is the so-called "Black Warrior," who is seen as an eternal adversary who eventually wins all battles.


Predator veterans at a celebratory feast in Aliens versus Predator: Chained to Life and Death.
Though female Predators are occasionally referred to in Steve and Stephani Perry's novel series, one does not make an actual appearance until the graphic novel Aliens vs Predator: Deadliest of Species. The female's design however contradicts the descriptions given in the Perry novel series, as it superficially shows little distinction from males.

In Randy Stradley's graphic novel Aliens vs. Predator: War, it is revealed through the narration of the character Machiko Noguchi that Predators were responsible for the spread of Aliens throughout the galaxy, though the Predators themselves deny this, stating that their large interplanetary distribution is due to simultaneous convergent evolution.

The comic series Predator and Aliens vs Predator: Three World War introduce a clan of Predators referred to as "Killers", who are enemies of mainstream Predators (here referred to as "Hunters") because of their tradition of training Aliens as attack animals rather than hunting them, as well as their desire for killing as opposed to honorable hunting. The character Machiko Noguchi notes in issue #1 of Three World War that "You have to understand the mindset of the Hunters, and the honor they place on facing a worthy opponent on an equal footing... a kill is the end result, but it's not the point of a hunt.... For the 'Killers,' that wasn't the case. They were all about the killing." They are first seen in the 2009 Predator series, where a number interfere in an East African civil war, coming into conflict with both humans and their Hunter counterparts. By the time of Three World War the Killers are assumed to have been wiped out by the Hunters, but some survive and begin attacking human colonies, forcing Noguchi to forge an alliance between humans and the Hunters in order to deal with them.'

In John Shirley's stand alone novel Predator: Forever Midnight, Predators, now referred to as "Hish", are shown to possess a gland located between their neck and collarbone which secretes powerful hormones into their bloodstream and which drives them to hyper-aggression. When this gland is over-stimulated, it sends the creatures into a frenzied rage, causing them to attempt killing any living thing in sight, including members of their own species. This "kill rage" can be contagious and spread from one Predator to another, driving them all to attack each other. The Predators as a species barely survived the wars provoked by their kill glands, and they have learned to control the gland's secretions with artificial hormone regulators.

In John Vance's graphic novel Predator Homeworld, it is revealed that Predators breathe 1% more oxygen, and 4% more nitrogen than humans, and that they are capable of adapting themselves to Earth's atmosphere for one week at the most if deprived of a breathing apparatus. In Ian Edginton and Alex Maleev's graphic novel Aliens vs. Predator: Eternal and the videogame Predator: Concrete Jungle, Predator flesh and blood, if consumed, is shown to have the capacity of greatly lengthening a human's lifespan.

Bio-Organic Weapon

A Bio-Organic Weapon, or B.O.W. for short, is an Umbrella and Tricell term for a creature intentionally created or genetically modified using a type of mutagen. These mutagens are: Progenitor, Tyrant, "G", Las Plagas, and NE-Alpha Parasite.
Umbrella took pride in their weapons, thinking of them as the next step to the perfect life form.

The term "bio-organic" is redundant, as anything biological is organic. The term is just used to differentiate them from "biological" weapons.

Naming

Umbrella preferred to name many of their B.O.W.s after Greek and Roman deities and other religious entities.
Chimera was named after a monstrous creature of Lycia in Asia Minor, composed of the parts of multiple animals. It was a sibling of Cerberus.
MA-39 Cerberus was named after the multi-headed dog which guards the gates of Hades, to prevent those who have crossed the river Styx from ever escaping.
Thanatos was named after the personification of Death and Mortality. Thanatos is the romanization of the ancient Greek: ; "Death."
Nemesis T-Type was named after Nemesis, the Goddess of Vengeance.
Hypnos T-Type was named after Hypnos, the God of Sleep, son of Nyx, brother of Nemesis and twin of Thanatos.
Nyx was named after the Goddess of Night.
FI-03 Neptune was named after the Roman God of the Sea.
Pluto was the Roman God of the Underworld.
Reaper was named after the Grim Reaper.
Anubis was named after the Egyptian God of the Dead.




Project Umbrella Transcript

Prologue

Before the "incident" of "Biohazard 1" occurred, Wesker left a record related to the "incident" that he divided into five parts, over the past twenty years.
The record was sent to "Ada Wong", but details of this person are unclear.
The record is published here.

July 31, 1978

It was summer, twenty years ago and I was eighteen years old when I visited there for the first time. I can still smell the stench of the air stirred up by the helicopter's rotor blades. The mansion looked perfectly ordinary from the sky, but on the ground, I sensed something that made me fear to tread. Birkin, who was two years younger than me, was interested in nothing but the research paper he was reading.

We had only been assigned to that place two days previously, the same day they decided to close down the executive center we belonged to. This looked either carefully planned or pure coincidence, only Spencer knows. Here, Arklay Laboratory, was the very place where Spencer himself had a base for T-virus research.

As we got off the helicopter, we saw the Laboratory Manager was waiting for us at the lift. I can't even remember the guy's name. No matter what his official title, the laboratory belonged to Birkin and I from that day. We were given full authority as chief research engineers. This was of course, Spencer's intention. We had been chosen. We completely ignored the Laboratory Manager and got into the lift as the previous day I had memorised a map of the building. As for Birkin, he didn't mean any offence but he never had time for others. Being in our company for more than five seconds would have made most people angry. The Laboratory Manager, however, showed no response.

As I was an egoistic young man those days, I did not take any notice of his lack of reaction. After all, while I was there I was merely dancing to Spencer's tune and the Lab Manager knew his intention better than I did and acted accordingly. While we were in the lift, Birkin was concentrating on the papers, which contained detailed records on Ebola, a Filovirus, which had been discovered in Africa two years ago. Even now, many people across the world are still studying Ebola. But there are two distinct reasons why. Some are studying the virus in order to save lives, while others have more sinister reasons.
Ninety percent of those infected with the Ebola virus will die. Once infected, body tissue is destroyed within ten days. There is no vaccination and no cure. If used as a weapon it is incredibly frightening. Of course the treaty on Prohibition of Use of Biological Weapons had been in effect long before that so it was illegal to conduct research on the potential use of the virus as a weapon. However, it is perfectly legal to conduct research on it to prevent it's spreading if it was used by someone else as a weapon. It is only a thin line between the two researches - in fact there is practically no difference between the two. As you must investigate how it can be used as a weapon in order to know how it can be stopped.

This means it is possible to pretend that research is for the purpose of prevention and cure while your true aim is the opposite. However, Birkin was interested in neither of these routes as the virus had too many imperfections.

Firstly, it dies easily when in contact with direct sunlight and can only survive outside the body for a few days. Secondly, the virus does not have enough time to move onto the next host as it kills its initial host too quickly. Lastly, the virus is transmitted in body fluids and secretions, which can be easily prevented.

However, consider this: what if the person infected with the virus, could stand up and walk? And if, subconsciously they sought direct physical contact with uninfected people? The Ebola gene is an RNA gene. RNA genes can mutate a human's genes and that mutation would allow the human to have monster-like semi immortality.

This creature would be a 'Human Biological Weapon' - to all intents and purposes dead as a human being but still infecting other humans as long as it is alive. It was lucky for us that Ebola did not exhibit such characteristics. We could keep Ebola with that particular capacity just for ourselves.

The organization, which was established around Spencer, was for the manufacture of this 'living weapon'. Officially, it was a pharmaceutical company specialising in a cure for the virus, but in reality it was a factory producing biological weapons. The discovery of the Progenitor virus which can modify genes seemed to be the genesis of this whole business.

In order to manufacture the 'Human Biological Weapon' from the Progenitor virus, it was necessary to develop a variant with that particular peculiarity enhanced. That was the T-virus project. The Progenitor virus is an RNA virus. RNA viruses are known to have a tendency to mutate. That tendency enables us to manipulate them, strengthening their certain peculiarities.
Birkin wondered if he could combine the Ebola gene with the mutated Progenitor virus to enhance its peculiarity. The sample of Ebola virus had already arrived to his laboratory. After switching from lift to lift we eventually reached the top security unit of the laboratory. Even Birkin took his eyes off the report when we met her for the first time.

We knew nothing about her. She was the biggest secret at the laboratory and her data was never removed from the premises. The records showed that she had been there ever since the institute was established. She was twenty-five years old. No one knew who she was or why she was there. She was a human specimen to develop the 'T-virus' on. The experiment started on the 10th November 1967. She had been receiving injections of viruses for eleven years.

Birkin mumbled something - Was it to curse? Or to praise? We realized that there was no turning back. We were to lead the research to a successful conclusion or rot away like her? Of course we had no choice. The sight of her bound to a shabby hospital bed moved something in our conscience. Was it a part of Spencer's plan?

July 27, 1981

Today a ten year old girl was appointed as senior researcher at the South Pole Laboratory. Her name was Alexia Ashford. I was twenty-one years old and Birkin was nineteen.

Irritatingly, the rumour about Alexia of the South Pole monopolised discussions amongst Arklay's researchers. The Ashford name was legendary to the old staff who had been at Umbrella long enough to remember. Whenever the research came to a standstill they always said If only Dr. Ashford were still alive. Certainly Dr. Ashford was a great scientist, one of the original research team who discovered the Progenitor virus and the originator of the T-virus project. However, he died soon after Umbrella was established. Thirteen years has passed since his death. What was the point of expecting anything from the Ashfords? In fact, the South Pole laboratory, which was founded after Dr. Edward's death by his son, had so far yielded no results.

So, not much can be expected from the granddaughter, Alexia. However, from that day, our dotard subordinates started saying If only Ms. Alexia were there.

It seemed like there was no potential for future development in this lab, as long as we had staff like those bunch of idiots, who could only judge people by their genealogy, instead of using their own sense of values. Those fools could never take initiative and would remain as minor researchers even though they had one foot in the grave. But I was different, I had good judgement.
If I, as the chief researcher, had become emotional, the development of the T-virus would have been delayed even further. To achive results, one must stay calm and make sensible decisions whatever the circumstances.

An idea came to me - The success of the research relied on how to handle those ancient gentlemen. As they could drop dead at any moment, wouldn't they be most useful if we were to use them for the most dangerous experiments. The art of management is to utilise everyone beneath you. However, Birkin was becoming a nuisance. His reaction towards the Alexia rumours was so pathetic.

Although he never said it, he took pride in becoming the youngest ever chief researcher at the age of sixteen. But this ten year old girl had smashed this figurative trophy to pieces. It must have been the first time he had felt defeated. He could never approve of someone who was younger, with breeding, and a woman. It was unimaginable that he was being affected by a personnel reshuffle in such a far away place, where there had been no achievements for so long. After all, he was still a kid. Immature as he was, I needed him to pull himself together. Over the last three years our research had reached the second stage.

By then, the T-virus was becoming stable enough to be used to create Living Biological Weapons, better known as Zombies. However, the virus would never be able to modify the human gene one hundred percent - there are compatibilities between the virus and the genes because no one person's genes are exactly alike.

Ten percent of humans would make a lucky escape and not develop the disease, even though a zombie infected them with the virus. There was nothing we could do about this, no matter how hard we tried. If it had a ninety percent success rate then it was good enough to use as a biological weapon. But Spencer didn't seem to be satisfied. Our boss wanted a stand-alone weapon which could wipe out an entire population. But, what for?

Essentially, the virtue of biological weapons was the low development costs. But our Living Biological Weapon was becoming extremely expensive. Spencer would never have chosen this path if he was looking for financial rewards. If manufactured for use in conjunction with an orthodox weapon, it would have made a handsome profit. But to keep the research going to make a stand-alone, exterminatory weapon did not make business sense.

Why did he continue ignoring the costs? If his aim was to monopolise the entire war industry by changing the very concepts of war, perhaps I could agree a little bit. I still didn't know what his true intention was.

Apart from Spencer's intention, Birkin was engineering a living biological weapon with an increased emphasis on its ability to fight. He was trying to create it not only through mutating human genes with the T-virus but also by adding another creature's genetic information. The fighting living biological weapon would kill all human beings, including those wearing body armour, or equipped with biological warfare suits and those humans who escaped from death through infection. It was later called The Hunter. But we had to suspend the experiments for a while - to protect the specimens from Birkin.

Birkin, who had this meaningless anger directed at Alexia, started acting abnormally. He worked through the night at the lab time after time and repeated disorganized experiments one after another. Me and my staff collected biopsy samples as quickly as possible before the specimens could die, but we couldn't keep up with his speed. The Manager of the Laboratory supplied the new specimens as if nothing had happened, but they didn't survive long.

It was Hell. But she, the female specimen survived the hell. She was twenty-eight years old by then and had spent fourteen years in this lab. The numerous injections of the Progenitor virus she had received over the past fourteen years would have left her bereft of any logical reasoning, but if she still had any mind left, death would have been the one and only thign she wanted.

But, she has continued to live. Why was she the only one to survive? The experiment data did not highlight any difference between her and the other specimens. We needed much more time to find out the answer to that question.

December 31, 1983

My sixth winter at Arklay Laboratory.

Two almost stagnant years had passed without much achievement, but the turning point has finally arrived. The catalyst was a report we received that morning. Alexia had died at the South Pole institute.

It was said that Alexia was accidentally infected by the T-Veronica virus which she herself had developed. At that time, Alexia was twelve years old, and was too young to continue this kind of dangerous research.

A rumour began to circulate that Alexia had deliberately infected herself with the virus, but that seemed very unlikely. More likely, she had not got over the death of her father a year earlier and had made an error.

At the South Pole institute, Alexia's research was then taken over by her twin brother, her only blood relative. But no one expected any worthwile results from him. The Ashford family line seemed to have almost died out without producing anything of note. As I suspected, the legend surrounding this family was no more than that.

Alexia's death changed Birkin - or should I say it transformed Birkin back to the person he once was. It played a major factor in Birkin's psychological wellbeing as his researchers started showing him more respect. With Alexia dead, the was no longer anyone who exhibited greater potential than him. However, talking about Alexia in front of him was still taboo. Birkin strongly disagreed when I tried to get hold of a T-Veronica sample. I had to bide my time to find a better opportunity to find out the truth about Alexia's research. In spite of the fact that Birkin was in a much stronger position he still never grew up. However, in those days, I had much bigger issues to contend with.

The Arklay Laboratory was situated in the center of a mountainous region, itself surrounded by a deep forest. I often went out for walks during my time there, but I never came across anyone else. Helicopter was the only means of reaching the laboratory, making it inaccessible to outsiders. The remoteness of the area and lack of people is an important factor when choosing a site for an institute like this, in order to minimise a potential disaster if the virus escaped. However, biological weapons were not as simple as that. The viruses would not just infect human beings.

No virus chooses just one type of carrier. For example, apart from humans, the influenza virus can infect birds, pigs, horses and even sea lions. It complicates the matter further when you know that not all the species of the same family can be infected, but other species of birds are spared. More over, the same virus may take different carriers, depending on it's variants. It is impossible to know all the carriers for even just one virus. The biggest problem is the high adaptability of the T-virus.

While Birkin was not contributing much I had been studying the possibility of secondary infection from the T-virus. What I discovered was that the T-virus has carriers in almost every single species. Not only animals, but also plants, insects, fish, almost all the species have a potential to multiply and spread the T-virus. When I was strolling through the woods, i always thought - Why did Spencer choose this location?

There were so many species that co-existed in the forest. What would happen if the virus escaped and came into contact with a creature capable of being a carrier? If it were some insects, then they would not pose a big threat of secondary infection due to their size. But insects can multiply to enormous numbers.

In that case, how far could the virus spread? Suppose it was some plants. It may appear at first that the possibility of widespread infection would be small as plants cannot move. But what about their pollen?

This location was too dangerous. Come to think of it, it made perfect sense for the Ashfords to choose the South Pole as the site for their laboratory. In contrast, this location, it seems, was selected in order to spread the virus. But, that couldn't be true, could it? What did Spencer want us to do?

These thoughts were too important to share with anybody else in the laboratory. The only person I cold possibly ask was Birkin. But, it was obvious there was no point in talking to him about it. What I needed was more information.
Around this time, I started to feel the limitation of my situation. In order to find out Spencer's true intention, I needed to be in a position which would give me access to the information I required. I had no hesitation in giving up my present position for this purpose. But, I did not want to be too hasty because if Spencer had any suspicions about my real motives, then the game would be up.

I concentrated on my research with Birkin so that my real thoughs would not betray me. While we were keeping ourselves busy, the female specimen was almost forgotten about. A failure, with no use, but still she lived on. We called her a failure because we could not get any valid data from her. Until that experiment took place, five years later...

July 1, 1988

It was our 11th summer since we arrived at the Arklay Laboratory. I was twenty-eight years old. Birkin was then, a father with a two year old girl. His partner was also a researcher at Arklay. It was hard to believe that anyone could marry and bring up a child while both of them worked here. On the other hand, because he was different he could continue his research at Arklay. Only the mad could succeed there.

In those ten years our research finally reached the third stage. A highly sophisticated Fighting Biological Weapon - with intelligence, which would obey programmed orders and act as a soldier. That was the monster we tried to create and we called it the Tyrant.

But, from the beginning there was a huge obstacle - it was almost impossible to obtain a living subject on which we could base the Tyrant. The supply of genetically adaptable human beings for the Tyrant was extremely limited.
This is due to the nature of the T-virus. The T-virus variant which was ideal to create the zombies and the Hunters was suitable for most humans, but it had a fault of making the carrier's brain cells decline. To transform the carrier into a Tyrant we needed to keep the carrier's intelligence at a certain level. In order to overcome this issue, Birkin had been working on extracting a variant which would cause the least damage to the brain when it was adapted perfectly to the carrier.
However, humans with a genetic match to this variant were extremely rare. The Genetic Analytic team's simulation report told us that only one in ten million would be infected and transform into a Tyrant with the remainder becoming zombies.
It might have been possible to develop a more progressive strain of the T-virus which could transform more humans into Tyrants. However, to push the research further, first of all we required human subjects with a perfect genetic match to the variant.

There was little possibility that such a specimen would be supplied to us, because even if we scoured the whole USA, we would only be able to find fifty or so of them. In fact, at that time, even with the utmost effort we only managed to collect a few specimens with a close match. Even from the outset, our research was at a standstill.

But one day, we heard a rumour that a European laboratory were working on a project to create a third Living Biological Weapon. It was called the Nemesis Project.

I acted quickly to obtain a sample from the project so that I could use it to our advantage. Of course, Birkin was against this idea, but this time I somehow managed to persuade him. He had no choice but to admit that our research wouldn't go any further unless we found the matching specimen. A few days later, in the middle of the night, a parcel arrived from Europe via various transit points. It arrived to our heliport in a small box.

We had to pull many strings to obtain it from the French laboratory where it had been developed, but it could not have happened without the support of Spencer. Birkin showed no interest at all, but he accepted the importance of the experiment. The samples had been developed with a brand new design in mind.

A parasitic living body, created by genetical modification - that was Nemesis. A living body with intelligence, which was unable to do anything on its own. However, once it parasitised the brain of another living being, it would take full control of the body and demonstrate its highly developed aptitude for combat. The project was to provide the intellience and the biological body for combat separately and then combine them in order to create one living biological weapon.

If it was successful we no longer needed to worry about the problems we had previously encountered. But there was a new problem in that it did not always settle in the carrier in the same manner as we desired.

On the report attached to the sample, we saw nothing but a long list of deaths. The carriers lasted for only five minutes after Nemesis took control of their brains. But we already knew that an incomplete prototype would be extremely dangerous. If we succeeded in prolonging the carriers' survival then we could hope to take the lead in the Nemesis project. This was my aim. Naturally, I was planning to use the female specimen. With her unusual ability to survive, she could endure the Nemesis prototype for a long time. Even if we failed, we would lose nothing.

However, our experiments took an unexpected turn. Nemesis vanished when it tried to enter her brain. At first, we could not understand what happened. We never thought that she would take over the parasite. That was the beginning. Until then, she was barely alive but something was about to awake in her. We had to start examining her afresh.

Over the last ten years, she had been checked down to the minutest details, but we decided to ignore the past data and start anew. Now, for the first time in her twenty-one years of being here, something no one had seen was about to be revealed.
After much examination, only Birkin noticed it. Something definitely existed in her. This, however, went beyond the original T-Virus project and led us in a totally new and different direction. That was the beginning of the G-virus project, which changed all our destinies.

July 31, 1995

It was summer again and seventeen years from the time I first visited the place. Whenever I went there I was remembered the smell of the winds from that day. Nothing has changed since then, even the buildings and surroundings. I could see Birkin, who had already arrived, standing on the heliport. I had not seen him for a long time. Four years have passed since I left Arklay Laboratory.
At that time, when Birkin's G-virus project was approved, I applied for my transfer to the Information Bureau and was readily accepted. It must have looked natural for everyone that I was giving up my career as a researcher and seeking a change. Actually, the G-virus project was beyond my abilities. Even if I did not have any reasons to find out Spencer's true intention, it was true that I felt my faculties as a reasearcher had reached their limits.
In spite of the downdraft caused by the helicopter, Birkin never took his eyes off the research papers. Although it seemed he still visited Arklay regularly, he was no longer a researcher at that facility. Sometime ago, he had been transferred to a huge underground laboratory in Raccoon City, which was his base for the G-virus project headed up by himself.

Quite honestly, four years ago, I never thought that Spencer would approve the G-virus project because it was founded on an unknown belief and deviated from the original concept of a biological weapon.

The distinct difference between the G-virus and the T-virus was that the organism infected by the G-virus continued to mutate by itself. Because a virus is an unprotected form of a gene, it can easily mutate. This mutation can happen when a virus is left on its own, but once a virus is in other organism, it is a different story.

A gene in an organism's body hardly mutates even though its structure was modified by a virus, unless some external influences, such as exposure to radiation, takes place. However, an organism infected with the G-virus keeps mutating itself without any external influence until it dies.

Similar characteristics did exist in the T-virus. When we placed the Living Biological Weapon under certain circumstances, we recorded some genetic recombination caused by an activated virus in it's body. However, in the case of the T-virus it always needed some external influences to trigger the recombination and the results were always close to what we predicted. G-infected organisms totally lacked such predictability. No one could foresee what recombination it would take, and whatever means to stop the process it kept mutating nonetheless, making our manipulation worthless.

Seven years ago, Birkin found signs of this effect in the female specimen. On the surface she had not changed at all, but internally, she changed continously and remained alive by merging and coexisting with all the experimental viruses she was administered. And the twenty-one years of internal mutation evolved her enough to accept the parasitic organism Nemesis. The G-virus project was trying to push this abnormality to the ultimate limit. But, the end result of this project could be either the evolution of the ultimate organism or total destruction. Can we call this a weapon?

What made Spencer approve this project? Even though I had been in the Information Bureau for four years by this time, I could still not understand his motives. And now, Spencer does not even come to Arklay. It is as if he had foreseen something was about to happen there. The image of Spencer fading away from me like a mirage in the desert. But an opportunity must present itself sometime. If I can survive until then.

The lift was carrying both Birkin and me to the highest security level, to the place where we saw him for the first time. The new chief researcher John, Birkin's successor, was waiting for us there.

He was transferred from the Chicago laboratory and was said to be an excellent scientist, but he seemed to be too normal to work for this laboratory. He had doubts about the cruelty of the research and reported to his superior to correct the situation. That caused a big enough stir even in the Information Bureau. It was everyone's opinion that if any information was leaked, it had to come from him. We ignored John and started to give her final treatment. To kill her.

She has regained a little intelligence after taking in Nemesis. But, it resulted in nothing more than making her behave strangely. The odd behaviour continued to escalate. Nowadays, she peels off other women's faces and wears them over her own. The records show that she behaved in the same manner when she was first given the Progenitor virus. We were never sure what made her react in such a way, but her termination was decided after three researchers had become her victims. Now that the study of the G-virus was on track she lost her status as a valuable specimen.

The termination of her vital signs was checked and confirmed repeatedly for the next three days. Then, the body was taken away to some location at the instruction of the Laboratory Manager. Even now, I still do not know who she was and why she was brought here. Of course it was exactly the same for other specimens. However, she had not been there, the G-Project might never have existed and if that was the case then Birkin and I would be in very different situations.
As I left Arklay Laboratory, I was thinking things over. Just how calculating is Spencer?

Yes those that eat the same species etc as their own. But what is one of these? In the Almighty words of WIKI [I am lazy as Jules as meh kittie at hostage] this is the basics :

Cannibalism (from Caníbales, the Spanish name for the Carib people, a West Indies tribe formerly well known for their practice of cannibalism) is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh of other human beings. It is also called anthropophagy. A person who practices cannibalism is called a cannibal.

While the expression "cannibalism" has origins in the act of humans eating other humans, it has extended into zoology to mean the act of any animal consuming members of its own type or kind, including the consumption of mates.

A related word, "cannibalize" (from which "cannibalization" is derived), has several meanings which are metaphorically derived from cannibalism and originally referred to the reuse of military parts. In manufacturing, it can refer to reuse of salvageable parts. In marketing, it may refer to the loss of a product's market share to another product from the same company. In publishing, it can mean drawing on material from another source.

Cannibalism has recently been both practiced and fiercely condemned in several wars, especially in Liberia and Congo. Today, the Korowai are one of very few tribes still believed to eat human flesh as a cultural practice. It is also still known to be practiced as a ritual and in war in various Melanesian tribes. Historically, allegations of cannibalism were used by the colonial powers to justify the enslavement of what were seen as primitive peoples; cannibalism has been said to test the bounds of cultural relativism as it challenges anthropologists "to define what is or is not beyond the pale of acceptable human behavior".

Cannibalism was widespread in the past among humans throughout the world, continuing into the 19th century in some isolated South Pacific cultures; and, in a few cases in insular Melanesia, indigenous flesh-markets existed. Fiji was once known as the 'Cannibal Isles'. Cannibalism has been well documented around the world, from Fiji to the Amazon Basin to the Congo to New Zealand. Neanderthals are believed to have practiced cannibalism, and they may have been eaten by modern humans.

Cannibalism has been occasionally practiced as a last resort by people suffering from famine. Occasionally it has occurred in modern times. A famous example is the crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, after which some survivors ate the bodies of dead passengers. Also, some mentally ill individuals obsess about eating others and actually do so, such as Jeffrey Dahmer and Albert Fish. There is a resistance to formally labelling cannibalism as a mental disorder.

Cannibalism features in many mythologies, and is most often attributed to evil characters or as extreme retribution for some wrong. Examples include the witch in Hansel and Gretel and Baba Yaga of Slavic folklore.

A number of stories in Greek mythology involve cannibalism, in particular cannibalism of close family members, for example the stories of Thyestes, Tereus and especially Cronus, who was Saturn in the Roman pantheon. The story of Tantalus also parallels this. These mythologies inspired Shakespeare's cannibalism scene in Titus Andronicus.

Hindu mythology describes evil demons called "asura" or "rakshasa" that dwell in the forests and practice extreme violence including devouring their own kind, and possess many evil supernatural powers. These are however the Hindu equivalent of "demons" and do not relate to actual tribes of forest-dwelling people.

The Wendigo (also Windigo, Weendigo, Windago, Windiga, Witiko, Wihtikow, and numerous other variants) is a mythical creature appearing in the mythology of the Algonquian people. It is a malevolent cannibalistic spirit into which humans could transform, or which could possess humans. Those who indulged in cannibalism were at particular risk, and the legend appears to have reinforced this practice as taboo. The name is Wiindigoo in the Ojibwe language (the source of the English word), Wìdjigò in the Algonquin language, and in the Cree language; the Proto-Algonquian term was *wi·nteko·wa, which probably originally meant "owl"

Biographies : Titans
Titans The twelve Titans, children of Uranus (Heaven) and Gê (Earth), were the group of gods immediately preceding the Olympian gods in Greek mythology. The Olympians defeated the Titans in a battle — the Titanomachy. The word ‘titanic’ refers to the great size and power of the Titans, attributes necessary to make their defeat by their children, the Olympians, more impressive. In appearance, they are thus much like the Giants, and in classical and later art it is often difficult to tell whether Titans or Giants are represented. In addition to the Titans, Uranus and Gê produced monstrous offspring: three beings each with a hundred hands, and three one-eyed giants (the Cyclopes).

The youngest Titan was Kronos, who castrated his father with a sickle given to him by his sister Rhea, and threw his genitalia into the sea; the Giants sprang to life from Kronos' blood, which fell on the earth, while Aphrodite was born from the foam of the sea. Kronos took his father's throne, then married Rhea; but he proceeded to swallow every child born to her, from fear that a child would copy his example and take control of the world. But one child, Zeus, was smuggled away to be brought up in Crete; instead Rhea passed a stone wrapped in a cloth to Kronos to swallow. When Zeus reached adulthood, he gave an emetic to Kronos that made him vomit up Zeus' long-lost brothers and sisters, the Olympian deities. These fought the Titans for ten years, and after the eventual Olympian victory the Titans were banished to Tartarus, a place below the underworld. Despite the cruelty and violence of these stories, the time when Kronos ruled was nevertheless also regarded as a Golden Age by the Greeks, and in some myths he now rules the Isles of the Blessed, where some of the dead are privileged to dwell.

A variant from of Greek mythology given in Orphic theology, known from Neoplatonist sources, told an alternative version of the Titan myth, which also involves the separation of body parts but suggests a dual nature for human beings. In this variant, it is said that the young god Dionysos was dismembered, cooked, and eaten by the Titans, acts for which Zeus subsequently punished them by destroying them with a thunderbolt. Human beings were then created out of the ashes of the Titans; this suggests that, as part of our identity as humans, we have not only a tendency towards violent criminal acts, from the Titans, but also something good, from the parts of Dionysos they had consumed before their own destruction. Dionysos himself was reborn from the one remaining part of his body, the heart, which the goddess Athena preserved. The Orphic literature influenced many Bacchic mystery groups in antiquity; initiates seem to have regarded the body as a ‘prison’, and believed that they must liberate the divine ‘Dionysiac’ part of humanity from the evil ‘Titanic’ part.

At least one of the offspring of the Titans took on an important role in the period of the rule of Zeus in which the classical Greeks believed themselves to be living. Prometheus, son of the Titan Iapetus, was the major culture-bearer in Greek thought, responsible for many of the arts, crafts, and sciences. In some myths he creates men from clay. A friend to humankind, he stole fire from Zeus to bring to earth, making possible not only the cooking of food, thought to separate humans from beasts, but also sacrificial practice, which allows humans to communicate with the gods. However, Prometheus' cunning tricks annoyed Zeus, causing him to send the first woman, Pandora, as an unsolicited gift to humans; made by the gods to be a seductive snare, attractive on the outside, but containing an evil mind and an endless hunger for all the food a man can work to produce, Pandora went on to open the forbidden jar containing all the evils of the present age. Prometheus himself was punished by being tied to a pillar, with an eagle visiting him daily to consume his liver. Overnight, his liver regenerated, making his punishment unending until Heracles (Hercules) came to set him free.

Biographies : Gods of Olympus
In Greek mythology the Twelve Olympians, were the principal gods of the Greek pantheon, residing atop Mount Olympus. There were, at various times, fourteen different gods recognized as Olympians, though never more than twelve at one time. Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Ares, Hermes, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Athena, Apollo, and Artemis are always considered Olympians. Hestia, Demeter, Dionysus, and Hades are the variable gods among the Twelve. Hestia gave up her position as an Olympian to Dionysus in order to live among mankind (eventually she was assigned the role of tending the fire on Mount Olympus). Persephone spent six months of the year in the underworld (causing winter), and was allowed to return to Mount Olympus for the other six months in order to be with her mother, Demeter. And, although Hades was always one of the principal Greek gods, his home in the underworld of the dead made his connection to the Olympians more tenuous. The Olympians gained their supremacy in the world of gods after Zeus led his siblings to victory in war with the Titans; Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Hestia, and Hades were siblings; all other Olympians (with the exception of foam-born Aphrodite) are usually considered the children of Zeus by various mothers, except for Athena, who in some versions of the myth was born of Zeus alone. Additionally, some versions of the myth state that Hephaestus was born of Hera alone as Hera's revenge for Zeus' solo birth of Athena.

Aphrodite


Greek goddess of love and beauty

In Greek mythology, Aphrodite is the goddess of love, beauty and sexual rapture. According to Hesiod, she was born when Uranus (the father of the gods) was castrated by his son Cronus. Cronus threw the severed genitals into the ocean which began to churn and foam about them. From the aphros ("sea foam") arose Aphrodite, and the sea carried her to either Cyprus or Cythera. Hence she is often referred to as Kypris and Cytherea. Homer calls her a daughter of Zeus and Dione.

After her birth, Zeus was afraid that the gods would fight over Aphrodite's hand in marriage so he married her off to the smith god Hephaestus, the steadiest of the gods. He could hardly believe his good luck and used all his skills to make the most lavish jewels for her. He made her a girdle of finely wrought gold and wove magic into the filigree work. That was not very wise of him, for when she wore her magic girdle no one could resist her, and she was all too irresistible already. She loved gaiety and glamour and was not at all pleased at being the wife of sooty, hard-working Hephaestus.

Aphrodite loved and was loved by many gods and mortals. Among her mortal lovers, the most famous was perhaps Adonis. Some of her sons are Eros, Anteros, Hymenaios and Aeneas (with her Trojan lover Anchises). She is accompanied by the Graces.

Her festival is the Aphrodisiac which was celebrated in various centers of Greece and especially in Athens and Corinth. Her priestesses were not prostitutes but women who represented the goddess and sexual intercourse with them was considered just one of the methods of worship. Aphrodite was originally an old-Asian goddess, similar to the Mesopotamian Ishtar and the Syro-Palestinian goddess Ashtart. Her attributes are a.o. the dolphin, the dove, the swan, the pomegranate and the lime tree.
In Roman mythology Venus is the goddess of love and beauty and Cupid is love's messenger.

Apollo


Greek God Apollo - Slaying of the Python

Greek god Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto. Apollo was four days old when he demanded a bow and arrows. Hephaestus created them for him.
He immediately went in pursuit of the serpent that Hera sent to torment his mother, Leto. The serpent, Python , sought refuge at Dephi. But Apollo followed it into the shrine of the Oracle of Mother Earth and killed him.

Gaia was of course furious with the defilement of her shrine. Yet after Apollo was purified for his crime in Crete, he learned the art of prophecy (perhaps from Pan, the goat-legged god of flock and herd).

In any case, he took over the Oracle at Dephi and became closely associated with the art of prophecy since. Almost all seers soon claimed to have been either taught of fathered by him.

Greek God Apollo - Tempremental Musician

Greek god Apollo was originally a herdsman, but he later returned these duties to Hermes in exchange for some musical instruments Hermes created. He was so good at it that he soon became god of music. Some even credit greek god Apollo with having invented the cithara .

Apollo was only challenged once for his musical talents. A satyr name Marsays once found a flute made from the bones of a stag. ( Athena had made this flute, but had angrily thrown it away when the other gods laughed at her when she puffed her cheeks to play it).

Still inspired by Athena, the flute play rapturous music. Listeners even compared the satyr's playing to Apollo's playing of the lyre.

This comparison enraged Apollo, who immediately challenged Marsyas to a contest. They agreed that the winner can choose any punishment for the loser. The jury of Muses found both players magnificient. So Apollo challenged Marsyas to turn his instrument upside-down and play it and sing while playing it. Marsyas, of course, could not do it since his was a flute.

The Muses judged Apollo as the winner. However, Apollo was quite brutal with the punishement, he skinned the satyr alive and nailed his skin to a pine tree.

Greek God Apollo and Daphne

Apollo never married but fathered more than a dozen children by at least nine partners. Apollo was most persistent in courting Daphne , a mountain nymph. He first eliminated his competition, Lecippus, son of King Oenomaus of Pisa. Lecippus disguised himself as a girl to be with Daphne when she was revelling with other nymphs in the mountains. Apollo quietly advised the nymphs to bathe naked. When Lecippus was exposed, the nymphs tore him to shreds.
Though Apollo alone now wooed her, Daphne still refused him. She ultimately change into a laurel tree to avoid him. Thereafter, Apollo made the laurel tree his scared plant

Ares


Greek God of War

Ares, the greek god of war, son of Hera and Zeus, became one of the most exalted of the Olympian gods. But he quickly became the most hated among the gods. All the gods hated him except:
Eris, the goddess of discord, who sppreciated the way he took her work to a new level.
Hades recognised he was good for business in the Underworld, though he didn't like him either.
Aphrodite loved him.
Ares was brave and strong but he was also argumentative, impulsive, bloodthirsty and destructive. In conflicts, he chose sides randomly and sometimes even changed sides in the middle of the war. He simply took pleasure in the bloodshed, slaughter and wanton destruction of war.

Ironically, he was not a skillful warrior:

Level headed, disciplined Athena beat him twice
Otus and Ephialtes, the giant sons of Poseidon, defeated him. They humiliated him by trapping him inside a bronze jar for more than a year before Hermes managed to release him.
Heracles knocked him off his feet four times in a single battle and ultimately forced him to flee from the battlefield.
Dimmedes stabbed him with a spear and sent him running from the battlefield outside Troy
Ares never married, but he had dozens of children with both mortals and immortals. The most notable of these many mistresses was the goddess of love: Aphrodite.

Artemis

Goddess of the Hunt


Goddess Artemis is the daughter of Zeus and Leto. After Zeus had laid with Leto, Hera (Zeus's wife) was green with envy and sent a snake after Leto to harass her and prevent her from finding a place to deliver the babies.
Leto frantically searched for a hiding place but no one would welcome her as all feared angering Hera. She finally found refuge in Ortygia , the island of her sister Asteria, where she gave birth to Artemis.

Immediately after her own birth, the newborn Goddess Artemis helped her mother through nine days of labor until her brother Apollo was delivered.

Virgin Goddess of Hunt

Godess Artemis grew to become the virgin goddess of hunt, of wild animals, and of childbirth (due to her involvement in Apollo's birth). When she was three, Zeus asked Artemis what gifts when wanted. Among many others, she named:

A bow and arrows
All the world's mountains (as her home and playground)
Just one city (she wanted to live in the mountains)
Eternal virginity
Zeus gladly gave her all she wanted and more. He ordered the Cyclopes to forge a silver bow and fill a quiver of arrows for her. And he presented her with 30 cities and named her as the guardian of the world's roads and harbors.

Artemis, constantly, attended by nymphs, could often be found in the mountains. Though she was the guardians of wild animals, Artemis enjoyed hunting. Orion , a great hunter, joined both Artemis and her mother on many of their hunts.

Like most Olympians, goddess Artemis reacted strongly whenever she did not receive the honors due to her as a goddess. When King Oeneus of Calydon offended Artemis by fogetting to dedicate the first fruits of the harvest to her one season, she sent a monstrous boar to ravage and terrorize the kingdom. To eradicate the beast, Oeneus was forced to call on some of the greatest heros to participate in the hunt.

The biggest penalty paid for offending the goddess was that of King Agamemnon of Mycenae. He boasted his hunting prowess was greater than that of goddess Artemis. On the eve of the Trojan war, Artemis trapped the Greek fleet with ill winds. To pacify her, Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia . Though according to some accounts, the goddess showed mercy and subsituted a deer on the altar.

Athena

Goddess of War


Goddess Athena is the daughter of Zeus and Metis. Metis was the beautiful Oceanid who had advised Zeus on how to free his brothers and sisters from his father Cronus. Metis was Zeus first lover. She was a shape-shifter and had tried to evade Zeus many times but Zeus caught her finally.
The couple conceived the goddess Athena. However, during the pregnancy, Gaia prohesied that a second child by Metis would be a son who would ovethrow his father. To risk fulfillment of the prophecy, Zeus swallowed Metis before she could give birth to Athena.

After swallowing Metis, Zeus didn't give a thought to the child by her. But one day as he was walking along the shore of Lake Tritonis, Zeus suddenly suffered a splitting headache. Unable to bear the pain, he called upon Hephaestus or Prometheus, who brought an ax down on his head and splitted his skull. An adult Athena dressed in full armor emergered from his father's head with a shout that echoed throughout the world.

Goddess of War

Athena, the goddess of war, unlike her aggressive half-brother Ares, the god of war, does not like to fight. Though often depicted in full armor with helmet, spear and shield, she enjoys peaceful resolutions of disputes more than battle. She was also merciful. When trialing Orestes for murdering his mother after she had murdered his father, she voted for acquittal.
Though she avoided warfare, however, when forced into battle, she proved nearly invincible. A brilliant strategist, she twice defeated the war god Ares. She was also a major force in the war with the Giants.

The goddess of war and wisdom often rewarded those who demonstrated bravery or ingenuity. For example, she helped Perseus slay Gorgon Medusa. Afterward, she proudly displayed the head of Medusa in the centre of her shield.

Athena also acted as Odysseus's special protector. When Odysseus's finally arrived back home in Ithaca after 20 years, Athena appeared in disguise to meet him. Odysseus then lied about who he was. With a laugh, Athena revealed herself and admitted that they both were shrewd liars.

Athena's Son

The virgin goddess Athena remained chaste despite many suitors. During the Trojan war, however, she experienced a very close call. Athena needed both armor and weapons for the war and had asked Hephaestus to forge some for her. When she visited his shop to check on the progress, Hephaestus attacked her. Poseidon has apparently tricked him telling him that Athena yearned for him to make passionate love to her.
Athena quicky pulled herself away but Hephaestus could not control himself and spilled his seed onto her thigh. Athena was greatly offended and wiped off the god's semen with some wool. When she threw the woll to the ground, it unwittingly fertilised Gaia. Gaia, the earth goddess, was disgusted and refused to take care of the infant. So the goddess Athena took care of the baby herself. The infant, Ericthonius, would grow up to become the first king of Athens to worship Athena.

Demeter

Greek Goddess of Earth


Demeter was the goddess of the harvest, earth and fertility. She presided over all crops especially grains. (For some reason, she was not fond of beans, regarding them as impure.)
Like her sister Hestia, she never married, but had several love affairs. With her first love, Zeus, she had two children: a daughter, Kore (later called Persephone )

Hades

Greek god of the Underworld


Hades - Prince of Darkness

Hades, who by chance won dominion over the Underworld, later came to prefer the darknesss of his own domain to any other place on earth or in heaven. For the most part, he remained out of touch with both Olympus and earth, learning of events there only when someone invoked his name in oaths or curses.
He seldom met with the other gods and goddesses on Olympus. And unless moved by lust, he rarely left the Underworld for the common ground of earth

Underworld

Hades became as absolute an authority in the Underworld as Zeus was in the sky. Fiercely protective of his own rights, he claimed ownership of all metals and gems below the surface of the earth.

The most private of all gods, Hades did not welcome "visitors" and rarely let anyone who entered the Underworld leave again. Cerberus , a vicious, three-headed watchdog, stood guard at the locked gate, making sure the dead remained in the Underworld.

For this reason, men feared and loathed the fierce lord of the Underworld. Indeed, he became so closely associated with the darkness and horror of the Underworld that the place itself eventually came to be called simply Hades

Though he was cold and grim, he was neither vicious nor evil. True, he oversaw all punishments of the dead mandated by the gods, but most of these tortures were carried out by the Erinyes (Furies) . In lording over the dead, he was simply doing his job. Nonetheless, mortals were reluctant to speak his name (or his somewhat longer title, Aidoneus, the "Unseen One") for fear of attracting his attention.

Hephaestus


Greek god of Craftsmanship

Hephaestus - God of craftmanship

Hephaestus, the god of smithing, metalworking, and craftmanship, was born of the rivalry between Hera and Zeus. Hera, furiously jealous when Athena burst out of her husband's head, decided that if he could do it, so could she.
So Hera resolved to bear her own child without his help. Sadly, the child, was born sickly and lame. Hera disgusted and embarrassed by her creation, threw the child out of heaven. Hephaestus landed on the Greek island of Lemnos, where he worked at his craft and become a brilliant artisan.

Punishing Hera

Having become a master craftsman, Hephaestus won his way back into heaven by forging a magnificient golden throne for his decidedly unmaternal mother. He was not hoping to win her favor, however, but rather to punish her for her ill treatment of him. As soon as she sat in it, the chair held her tight.

The gods and goddess pleaded with Hephaestus to forgive his mother and even invited the exile back to Olympus. Still he would not release her. Finally, Dionysus got him drunk and persuaded him to let his mother go.

Ingenious Artist

Welcomed back to Olympus, Hephaestus quickly made himself indispensable. An ingenious artis and artisan, he created countless beautiful, intricate, and often indestructible objects such as:

All the palaces of the Olympian gods
The shield of Achilles
Pandora, the first woman
Some say that he constructed many mechanical creatures of gold - including the world's first robots - to help him in his work. He also built three-legged tables with golden wheels that moved themselves around the workshop. Whenever the Olympians met, these tables would run to the metting place and then run back again afterward.

Hermes

Messenger of the Gods


Birth of Hermes

Hermes, the herald and messenger of the gods, was like a breath of fresh air on Mount Olympus. He is a friendly likable young god who became the patron of travelers and merchants, theives and rouges.
The son of Zeus and Maia (a daughter of the Titan Atlas), Hermes was born in a cave on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia in southern Greece. The young boy grew incredibly fast and within hours of birth, he had wandered out of his cave, killed a tortise, and stretched seven strings of sheep gut accross it to build the first lyre . He then quickly taught himself how to play!

Stealing Apollo's Cows

The same day, the baby slipped out of his mother's sight and and went searching for adventure. He stumbled upon the pastures of the gods and stole 50 cows from Apollo .

He then disguised his tracks by cobbling together "shoes" made of bark from a fallen oak tree. To make it even harder to track him, he confused the herd's trail by driving the cows backward and traversing sandy places that left no prints.

At the river Alpheus, he stopped to sacrifice two cows. He burned the hooves and heads to leave no trace of his actions. After hiding the cows, he returned home and put on his swaddling clothes to sleep.

First Sacrifice of Flesh to Gods

Meanwhile, Apollo was searching everywhere for the cows. An omen led him to the cave where he found Hermes. The baby god pleaded innocence but Apollo disbelieved him and carried him before Zeus. Though he found his son's cunning ways amusing, Zeus persuaded him to confess and lead Apollo to the herd.

When Apollo detected the two slaughtered cows, Hermes explained that he had divided the meat into 12 equal portions for the gods. Apollo was surprised and asked who the 12th god was. "Me, of course", acknowledged the lovable Hermes. Reportedly, this was the very first sacrifice of flesh to the gods.

God of Herdsman and Shepherd

While Apollo was gathering the cows, Hermes began playing on his new lyre. Enchanted by the music, Apollo offered to exchange the entire herd of cattle for the lyre.

He agreed, and immediately began building another instrument for his own amusement: a reed-pope (or pan-pipe). Equally charmed by this instrument, Apollo asked him what he wanted for it. He agreed to trade if for Apollo's golden staff and with it the honor of being the god of herdsman and shephered and instruction from Apollo's old nurses in how to use pebbles to divine the future.

Messenger of Gods

When Zeus called Hermes to Olympus to reprimand him for stealing and lying, he promised not to do it again if Zeus named him as his messenger and herald. Zeus quickly accepted this offer and told his son that his duties also include protecting travellers, promoting trade, and negotiating treaties.

To ensure speedy delivery of his messages, Zeus gave Hermes golden winged sandals as swift as the wind. He also gave him a round hat to protect him from the sun and a herald's staff.

Hades soon asked Hermes to serve as his herald as well. As the herald of death , he collects and guides the dead to the Underworld.

Usually in disguise, Hermes often visited earth on his own. Despite his rougishness, he trully enjoyed helping travelers. Word of his acts of kindness soon spread. Many travelers who became lost or suffered hardship called upon Hermes to help and he often assisted them quickly.

Hestia

Goddess of Earth and Fire

Hestia - Goddess of Hearth and Fire

The first-born of the six children of Rhea and Cronus, Hestia was the kindest, most virtuous and most charitable of all the Olympian gods and goddesses. As goddess of the hearth and fire - the symbolic center of the home - she watched over the home, household activities, and the family.
Indeed, some storytellers assert that Hestia herself invented the art of building houses. By extension, she also protected the community, the civic affairs of the communal family.

Unlike most other greek gods and goddesses, she had few shrines built to honor her. But she needed none, for every home was her shrine, as well as the public hearth of every city. Suppliants could seek her protection in any private home or in the city hall.

Protecting Her Chastity

The goddess of the home and family never had a family of her own. At one time, both Poseidon and the younger god Apollo pursued her, and the competition for her favor threatened to get ugly. But her supreme dedication to peace never allowed her to take part in wars, rivalries, or other disputes.

So in order to mainain peace on Olympus, Hestia turned down both rivals and swore by Zeus's head to maintain her chastity forever. Thereafter she withstodd all amorous advances by gods, Titans, and mortals alike. Zeus rewarded her for this sacrifice by guranteeing her the honor of receiving the first portion of every public sacrifice.

Only once did she come close to loosing her chastity. One night at a rustic feast, the gods ate and drank too much and fell asleep or passed out from overindulgence. Priapus, an incredibly ugly man possessed of grossly elephantine gentals, prepared to mount her. But just as he lowered himself on top of her, a braying ass woke Hestia up. The goddess screamed and Priapus skittered away like a scared rabbit.

Persephone

Goddess of the Underworld


Persephone

In greek mythology, Persephone is the goddess of the Underworld. She is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, goddess of the harvest. She was a beautiful girl and everyone loved her. But Hades wanted her for himself.
Abduction

One day, when she and the Oceanids were collecting flowers on the plain of Enna, the earth opened suddenly and Hades rode up from the gap in his chariot, pulled by magnificent black stallions. He abducted her to the Underworld immediately. The episode was seen by no one except the sun god Helios who sees everything happening in the world.

When Demeter discovered her daughter was missing, she wandered the earth, looking for her daughter. Eventually, Helios, the all-seeing, told her what had happened. Demeter was so angry that she withdrew herself in loneliness, and all fertility on earth stopped. Plants, flowers and trees withered and died and crops didn't grow. The earth grew barren and all the creatures began to starve. Winter and cold came.

Finally, Zeus sent Hermes down to Hades to make him release Persephone. Hades grudgingly agreed, but before he sent her back, he tricked her into eating a pomegranate. She ate seven seeds of the fruit and by so doing, she was bound to stay in the Underworld.

Zeus had then to negotiate with Demeter and Hades. As a compromise, Persephone had to stay there one third of the year in the Underworld, one third with her mother and the remaining one third with herself.

Demeter wasn't happy with the ruling. During the months when her daughter was in the Underworld, Demeter refused to let anything grow, plants and crops died and winter began.

When the daughter rejoined her mother three months later Spring returned and earth came back to life.

Hence, this myth was used to explain the changing seasons of spring to winter in nature.

Poseidon

God of the Sea


Poseidon - Lord of the Seas

Poseidon, who won the right to rule the seas, was also the god of horses and of earthquakes. His domain actually extended beyond the oceans to include the freshwater rivers, even though the rivers gods were the sons of Oceanus and Tethys.
Myths often portray him as bad tempered and quick to anger. He sometimes resented Zeus greater power. Perhaps because of this, Poseidon does not live in Olympus but in an underwater palace off the eastern coast of Greece.

His lower position to Zeus made hm sensitive about his other rights. Poseidon involved himself in more arguments over city patronage than any other Oylmpian.

He challenged the patronage of Argos with Hera and the patronage of Corithn with Helius. He lost both disputes and had to be contented with the patronage of various islands and seaports.

Dispute over Athens with Athena

A famous dispute was the fight over Athens with Athena . Poseidon claimed the land by plunging his trident into the ground of the Acropolis and creating a salt-waterspring. But Athena later planted the first olive tree beside this well and claimed the city as her own.
He immediately challenged her to combat, but Zeus intervened and put the matter before the gods tribunal. To remain netural, Zeus did not vote. Hades did not attend the hearing, as this was his custom. The remaining four gods voted for Poseidon. The five goddesses however voted for Athena, giving her the right to the land as she had given the city a greater gift.

Poseidon was furious and flooded the Attic plain. The Athenians adopted several measures to appease Poseidon's wrath. They denied the women of Athens the right to vote. It ended the practice of men carrying on their mothers' names. And all Athenians continued to honor both Poseidon and Athena in Athens.

Poseidon's Love Affair and his Beastly Children

Poseidon courted Amphitrite, one of the Nereids (daughters of Nereus, the Old Man of the Sea). Amphitrite rejected his advances and fled to the Atlas Moutnains. But he was persistent and sent messengers to plead with her. One of the them, Dephinius succeeded and Amphitrite agreed to marry him. The god showed his gratitute by placing Delphinius image as a constellation in the sky: the Dolphin.
Like his brother Zeus, Poseidon had many love afffairs with goddesses, nymphs and mortals. He had the power to transform his shape and often use it for seduction:

He appeared to the maiden Medusa as a bird. Unfortunately, he did it in one of Athena's temples. The furious goddess punished Medusa by turning her into a Gorgon. Their children were the famous winged horse Pegasus and the giant warrior Chrysaor.
He changed into a ram to mate with Theophane whom he had changed into a ewe to hid her from her other suitors. They produced the famous Golden-Fleeced ram .
When Demeter, overhelmed by the loss of her daugther Persephone, attempted to escape by changing into a mare, he changed himself into a stallion and mated with her. They had two children, the nymph Despoena and a wild and remarkable horse named Arion.
Many of his other childrens were Giants, including the Cyclops Polyphemus and the provocative brothers Otus and Ehpialtes.
Poseidon was very protective of his children. He made his son Cycnus invulnerable to weapons. He assited Theseus prove his parentage in a bragging contest with King Minos of Crete. He avenged the blinding of Polyphemeus by torturing Odyseseus for 10 years.

It could be because he mated with a goddess as a horse, the horse was sacred to Poseidon. Some mythmakers insisted he invented the horse by smashing his trident into a rock. It is said that he invented horse racing and perhaps bridle as well. Wherever he went, he rode in a gold chariot drawn by two magnificent white horses with golden manes and brass hooves

Biographies : Anti-Christ
The term or title antichrist, in Christian theology, is a leader who fulfills Biblical prophecies concerning an adversary of Christ, while resembling him in a deceptive manner. The antichrist will seemingly provide for the needs of the people but deny them ultimate salvation.

The term "antichrist" appears five times in 1 John and 2 John of the New Testament — once in plural form and four times in the singular. The Apostle Paul's Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, in particular the 2nd chapter, summarizes the nature, work, coming, and revelation of the "Man of Sin" - a passage often regarded as referring to same person as the antichrist of 1 and 2 John.


Etymology
"Antichrist" is the English translation of the original Koine Greek It is made up of two root words, (anti + Christos)." can mean not only “against” and “opposite of”, but also “in place of", translated "Christ", is Greek for the Hebrew "Messiah" meaning "anointed," and refers to Jesus of Nazareth within Christian theology.

New Testament

The words antichrist and antichrists appear four times in the First and Second Epistle of John. The word is not capitalized in most English translations of the Bible, including the original King James Version. 1 John chapter 2 refers to many antichrists present at the time while warning of one Antichrist that is coming. The "many antichrists" belong to the same spirit as that of the one Antichrist. John wrote that such antichrists "den[y] that Jesus is the Christ", "den[y] the Father and the Son", and would "not confess Jesus came in the flesh": a probable reference to the Gnostic claim that Jesus was not human, but only a spirit.

Related concepts

Terms

Some commentators, both ancient and modern, identify the Man of Sin in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 as the Antichrist, even though they vary greatly in who they view the Antichrist to be. They argue that Paul uses the term "Man of Sin" (sometimes translated son of perdition or man of lawlessness) to describe what John identifies as the Antichrist.
Paul writes that this Man of Sin will possess a number of characteristics. These include "sitting in the temple", opposing himself against anything that is worshiped, claiming divine authority,working all kinds of counterfeit miracles and signs, and doing all kinds of evil.Paul notes that "the mystery of lawlessness"(though not the Man of Sin himself) was working in secret already during his day and will continue to function until being destroyed on the Last Day. His identity is to be revealed after that which is restraining him is removed.

The term is also sometimes applied to prophecies regarding a "Little horn" power in Daniel 7.[ Daniel 9:27 mentions an "abomination that causes desolations" setting itself up in a "wing" or a "pinnacle" of the temple. Some scholars interpret this as referring to the Antichrist. Some commentators also view the verses prior to this as referring to the Antichrist. Jesus references the abomination from Daniel 9:27 in Matthew 24:15 and Mark 13:14 when he warns about the destruction of Jerusalem. Daniel 11:36-37 speaks of a self exalting king, considered by some to be the Antichrist.

Other entities
Bernard McGinn described multiple traditions detailing the relationship between the Antichrist and Satan. In the dualist approach, Satan will become incarnate in the Antichrist, just as God became incarnate in Jesus. However, in orthodox Christian thought, this view was problematic because it was too similar to Christ's incarnation. Instead, the "indwelling" view became more accepted. It stipulates that the Antichrist is a human figure inhabited by Satan, since the latter’s power is not to be seen as equivalent to God’s.

Several American evangelical and fundamentalist theologians, including Cyrus Scofield, have identified the Antichrist as being in league with (or the same as) several figures in the Book of Revelation including the Dragon, the Beast, the False Prophet, and the Whore of Babylon.Others, for example, Rob Bell, reject the identification of the Antichrist with any one person or group. They believe a loving Christ would not view anyone as an enemy. Technically seen the antichrist is John's prophecy of an other religion that would spring up out of the old one, exactly and explicitly negating what Christ in the perception of Christians is.

As John said: He who does not believe Christ came into the flesh as Son of God, is the antichrist.

Jewish antecedents

Anti-messiahs are referred to in some Jewish writings in the period 500 BC–50 AD, and this is thought to be the precursor of the concept of the Antichrist in Christian writing. Bernard McGinn conjectures that the concept may have been generated by the frustration of Jews subject to often-capricious Seleucid or Roman rule, who found the nebulous Jewish idea of a Satan who is more of an opposing angel of God in the heavenly court insufficiently humanised and personalised to be a satisfactory incarnation of evil and threat.

Armilus is an anti-messiah figure from late period Jewish eschatology. He is described as bald, partially maimed, and partially deaf.

Early Church

Early Christianity

Polycarp (ca. 69 – ca. 155) warned the Philippians that everyone that preached false doctrine was an antichrist.[28]
Irenaeus (2nd century AD - c. 202) held that Rome, the fourth prophetic kingdom, would end in a tenfold partition. The ten divisions of the empire are the "ten horns" of Daniel 7 and the "ten horns" in Revelation 17. A "little horn," which is to supplant three of Rome's ten divisions, is also the still future "eighth" in Revelation.

Irenaeus identified the Antichrist with Paul's Man of Sin, Daniel's Little Horn, and John's Beast of Revelation 13. He sought to apply other expressions to Antichrist, such as "the abomination of desolation," mentioned by Christ (Matt. 24:15) and the "king of a most fierce countenance," in Gabriel's explanation of the Little Horn of Daniel 8.
Under the notion that the Antichrist, as a single individual, might be of Jewish origin, Irenaeus fancies that the mention of "Dan," in Jeremiah 8:16, and the omission of that name from those tribes listed in Revelation 7, might indicate Antichrist's tribe. He also speculated that it was “very probable” the Antichrist might be called Lateinos, which is Greek for “Latin Man”.

Tertullian (ca.160 – ca.220 AD) held that the Roman Empire was the restraining force written about by Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8. The fall of Rome and the disintegration of the ten provinces of the Roman Empire into ten kingdoms were to make way for the Antichrist.

'For that day shall not come, unless indeed there first come a falling away,' he [Paul] means indeed of this present empire, 'and that man of sin be revealed,' that is to say, Antichrist, 'the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or religion; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, affirming that he is God. Remember ye not, that when I was with you, I used to tell you these things? And now ye know what detaineth, that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work; only he who now hinders must hinder, until he be taken out of the way.' What obstacles is there but the Roman state, the falling away of which, by being scattered into the ten kingdoms, shall introduce Antichrist upon (its own ruins)? And then shall be revealed the wicked one, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming: even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish.'

Hippolytus of Rome (c. 170-c. 236) held that the Antichrist would come from the tribe of Dan and would rebuild the Jewish temple in order to reign from it. He identified the Antichrist with the Beast out of the Earth from the book of Revelation.
By the beast, then, coming up out of the earth, he means the kingdom of Antichrist; and by the two horns he means him and the false prophet after him. And in speaking of “the horns being like a lamb,” he means that he will make himself like the Son of God, and set himself forward as king. And the terms, “he spake like a dragon,” mean that he is a deceiver, and not truthful.

Origen (185–254) refuted Celsus's view of the Antichrist. Origen utilized Scriptural citations from Daniel, Paul, and the Gospels. He argued:
Where is the absurdity, then, in holding that there exist among men, so to speak, two extremes-- the one of virtue, and the other of its opposite; so that the perfection of virtue dwells in the man who realizes the ideal given in Jesus, from whom there flowed to the human race so great a conversion, and healing, and amelioration, while the opposite extreme is in the man who embodies the notion of him that is named Antichrist?... one of these extremes, and the best of the two, should be styled the Son of God, on account of His pre-eminence; and the other, who is diametrically opposite, be termed the son of the wicked demon, and of Satan, and of the devil. And, in the next place, since evil is specially characterized by its diffusion, and attains its greatest height when it simulates the appearance of the good, for that reason are signs, and marvels, and lying miracles found to accompany evil, through the cooperation of its father the devil.

Post-Nicene Christianity

First seven Ecumenical Councils

Athanasius (c. 293 – 373), writes that Arius of Alexandria is to be associated with the Antichrist, saying, “And ever since [the Council of Nicaea] has Arius's error been reckoned for a heresy more than ordinary, being known as Christ's foe, and harbinger of Antichrist.”

John Chrysostom (c. 347–407) warned against speculations and old wives' tales about the Antichrist, saying, “Let us not therefore enquire into these things”. He preached that by knowing Paul's description of the Antichrist in 2 Thessalonians Christians would avoid deception.

Jerome (c. 347-420) warned that those substituting false interpretations for the actual meaning of Scripture belonged to the “synagogue of the Antichrist”. “He that is not of Christ is of Antichrist,” he wrote to Pope Damasus I. He believed that “the mystery of iniquity” written about by Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:7 was already in action when “every one chatters about his views.”To Jerome, the power restraining this mystery of iniquity was the Roman Empire, but as it fell this restraining force was removed. He warned a noble woman of Gaul:

“He that letteth is taken out of the way, and yet we do not realize that Antichrist is near. Yes, Antichrist is near whom the Lord Jesus Christ “shall consume with the spirit of his mouth.” “Woe unto them,” he cries, “that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days.”... Savage tribes in countless numbers have overrun run all parts of Gaul. The whole country between the Alps and the Pyrenees, between the Rhine and the Ocean, has been laid waste by hordes of Quadi, Vandals, Sarmatians, Alans, Gepids, Herules, Saxons, Burgundians, Allemanni, and—alas! for the commonweal!-- even Pannonians.

In his Commentary on Daniel, Jerome noted, “Let us not follow the opinion of some commentators and suppose him to be either the Devil or some demon, but rather, one of the human race, in whom Satan will wholly take up his residence in bodily form.” Instead of rebuilding the Jewish Temple to reign from, Jerome thought the Antichrist sat in God’s Temple inasmuch as he made “himself out to be like God.” He refuted Porphyry’s idea that the “little horn” mentioned in Daniel chapter 7 was Antiochus Epiphanes by noting that the “little horn” is defeated by an eternal, universal ruler, right before the final judgment.Instead, he advocated that the “little horn” was the Antichrist:

We should therefore concur with the traditional interpretation of all the commentators of the Christian Church, that at the end of the world, when the Roman Empire is to be destroyed, there shall be ten kings who will partition the Roman world amongst themselves. Then an insignificant eleventh king will arise, who will overcome three of the ten kings... after they have been slain, the seven other kings also will bow their necks to the victor.

Circa 380, an apocalyptic pseudo-prophecy falsely attributed to the Tiburtine Sibyl describes Constantine as victorious over Gog and Magog. Later on, it predicts:

When the Roman empire shall have ceased, then the Antichrist will be openly revealed and will sit in the House of the Lord in Jerusalem. While he is reigning, two very famous men, Elijah and Enoch, will go forth to announce the coming of the Lord. Antichrist will kill them and after three days they will be raised up by the Lord. Then there will be a great persecution, such as has not been before nor shall be thereafter. The Lord will shorten those days for the sake of the elect, and the Antichrist will be slain by the power of God through Michael the Archangel on the Mount of Olives.

Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430) wrote “it is uncertain in what temple [the Antichrist] shall sit, whether in that ruin of the temple which was built by Solomon, or in the Church.”

Pope Gregory I wrote to Emperor Maurice A.D. 597, concerning the titles of bishops, “I say with confidence that whoever calls or desires to call himself ‘universal priest’ in self-exaltation of himself is a precursor of the Antichrist.”[48]
[edit]Western Church–Pre-Reformation

Archbishop Arnulf of Rheims disagreed with the policies and morals of Pope John XV. He expressed his views while presiding over the Council of Reims in A.D. 991. Arnulf accused John XV of being the Antichrist while also using the 2 Thessalonians passage about the Man of Sin, saying, "Surely, if he is empty of charity and filled with vain knowledge and lifted up, he is Antichrist sitting in God's temple and showing himself as God." This incident is history's earliest record of anyone identifying a pope with the Antichrist (See Antichrist (historicism)).

Pope Gregory VII (c. 1015 or 29 - 1085), struggled against, in his own words, "a robber of temples, a perjurer against the Holy Roman Church, notorious throughout the whole Roman world for the basest of crimes, namely, Wilbert, plunderer of the holy church of Ravenna, Antichrist, and archeritic."

Cardinal Benno, on the opposite side of the Investiture Controversy, wrote long descriptions of abuses committed by Gregory VII, including necromancy, torture of a former friend upon a bed of nails, commissioning an attempted assassination, executions without trials, unjust excommunication, doubting the Real Presence in the Eucharist, and even burning it. Benno held that Gregory VII was “either a member of Antichrist, or Antichrist himself.”

Eberhard II von Truchsees, Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg in 1241 at the Council of Regensburg denounced Pope Gregory IX as "that man of perdition, whom they call Antichrist, who in his extravagant boasting says, I am God, I cannot err." He argued that the ten kingdoms that the Antichrist is involved with[54] were the "Turks, Greeks, Egyptians, Africans, Spaniards, French, English, Germans, Sicilians, and Italians who now occupy the provinces of Rome."He held that the papacy was the "little horn" of Daniel 7:8:

A little horn has grown up with eyes and mouth speaking great things, which is reducing three of these kingdoms--i.e. Sicily, Italy, and Germany--to subserviency, is persecuting the people of Christ and the saints of God with intolerable opposition, is confounding things human and divine, and is attempting things unutterable, execrable.

Protestant reformers

Antichrist (historicism)

Many Protestant reformers, including Martin Luther, John Calvin, Thomas Cranmer, John Knox, and Cotton Mather, identified the Roman Papacy as the Antichrist.The Centuriators of Magdeburg, a group of Lutheran scholars in Magdeburg headed by Matthias Flacius, wrote the 12-volume "Magdeburg Centuries" to discredit the papacy and identify the pope as the Antichrist. The fifth round of talks in the Lutheran-Roman Catholic dialogue notes,

In calling the pope the "antichrist," the early Lutherans stood in a tradition that reached back into the eleventh century. Not only dissidents and heretics but even saints had called the bishop of Rome the "antichrist" when they wished to castigate his abuse of power.

William Tyndale, an English Protestant reformer, held that while the Roman Catholic realms of that age were the empire of Antichrist, any religious organization that distorted the doctrine of the Old and New Testaments also showed the work of Antichrist. In his treatise The Parable of the Wicked Mammon, he expressly rejected the established Church teaching that looked to the future for an Antichrist to rise up, and he taught that Antichrist is a present spiritual force that will be with us until the end of the age under different religious disguises from time to time.Tyndale's translation of 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2, concerning the "man of sin" reflected his understanding, but was significantly amended by later revisers,including the King James Bible committee, which followed the Vulgate more closely.

Old Believers

After the reforms of Patriarch Nikon to the Russian Orthodox Church of 1652, a large number of Old Believers held that czar Peter the Great was the Antichrist[61] because of his treatment of the Orthodox Church, namely subordinating the church to the state, requiring clergymen to conform to the standards of all Russian civilians (shaved beards, being fluent in French), and requiring them to pay state taxes.

Counter-Reformation

The view of Futurism, a product of the Counter-Reformation, was advanced beginning in the 16th century in response to the identification of the Papacy as Antichrist. Francisco Ribera, a Jesuit priest, developed this theory in In Sacrum Beati Ioannis Apostoli, & Evangelistiae Apocalypsin Commentarij, his 1585 treatise on the Apocalypse of John. St. Bellarmine codified this view, giving in full the Catholic theory set forth by the Greek and Latin Fathers, of a personal Antichrist to come just before the end of the world and to be accepted by the Jews and enthroned in the temple at Jerusalem — thus endeavoring to dispose of the exposition which saw Antichrist in the pope. Most premillennial dispensationalists now accept Bellarmine's interpretation in modified form.[citation needed] Widespread Protestant identification of the Papacy as the Antichrist persisted in the USA until the early 1900s when the Scofield Reference Bible was published by Cyrus Scofield. This commentary promoted Futurism, causing a decline in the Protestant identification of the Papacy as Antichrist.

Some US Futurists hold that sometime prior to the expected return of Jesus, there will be a period of "great tribulation" during which the Antichrist, indwelt and controlled by Satan, will attempt to win supporters with false peace, supernatural signs. He will silence all that defy him by refusing to "receive his mark" on their right hands or forehead. This "mark" will be required to legally partake in the end-time economic system.[63] Some Futurists believe that the Antichrist will be assassinated half way through the Tribulation, being revived and indwelt by Satan. The Antichrist will continue on for three and a half years following this "deadly wound".

Enlightenment

Bernard McGinn noted that complete denial of the Antichrist was rare until the Enlightenment. Following frequent use of "Antichrist" laden rhetoric during religious controversies in the 17th century, the use of the concept declined in the 18th century. Subsequent eighteenth-century efforts to cleanse Christianity of “legendary” or “folk” accretions effectively removed the Antichrist from discussion in mainstream Western churches.

Book of Mormon

In Mormonism, the term "antichrist" refers to those who deny the divinity of Jesus Christ, deny the Gospel, and oppose his faith. "It is a word used by John to describe one who would assume the guise of Christ, but in reality would be opposed to Christ (1 John 2: 18, 22; 1 John 4: 3-6; 2 John 1: 7)." In a broader sense Mormons believe that the antichrist, "is anyone or anything that counterfeits the true gospel or plan of salvation and that openly or secretly is set up in opposition to Christ. The great antichrist is Lucifer, but he has many assistants both as spirit beings and as mortals." (Book of Mormon: Jacob 7: 1-23, Alma 1: 2-16, Alma 30: 6-60)

Islam

Main article: Masih ad-Dajjal

Masih Ad-Dajjal (Arabic: literally "The Deceiving Messiah"), is an evil figure in Islamic eschatology. He is to appear pretending to be God at a time in the future, before Yawm al-Qiyamah (The Day of Resurrection, Judgment Day). He will travel around the globe entering every city except Mecca and Medina obliging people to believe in him as a God. It is also believed by Muslims that Isa (Jesus) will descend from the sky to the White lighthouse in eastern Damascus, Syria, placing his hands on the backs of two angels at the time of Fajr. This will happen at the time of the Dajjal and Isa will be the one to eventually defeat the Dajjal, killing him with his spear.

Ahmadiyya views

The Ahmadiyya teachings interpret the prophecies regarding the appearance of the Dajjal (Anti-Christ) and Gog and Magog in Islamic eschatology as foretelling the emergence of two branches or aspects of the same turmoil and trial that was to be faced by Islam in the latter days and that both emerged from Christianity or Christian nations. Its Dajjal aspect relates to deception and perversion of religious belief while its aspect to do with disturbance in the realm of politics and the shattering of world peace has been called Gog and Magog. Thus Ahmadis consider the widespread Christian missionary activity that was 'aggressively' active in the 18th and 19th centuries as being part of the prophesied Dajjal (Antichrist) and Gog and Magog emerging in modern times. The emergence of the Soviet Union and the USA as superpowers and the conflict between the two nations (i.e., the rivalry between communism and capitalism) are seen as having occurred in accordance with certain prophecies regarding Gog and Magog.[66] Thus, Ahmadis believe that prophecies and sayings about the Antichrist are not to be interpreted literally. They have a deeper meanings. Masih ad-Dajjal is then a name to given to latter day Christianity and the west.

Theosophy

In the Alice A. Bailey material, Theosophist Alice A. Bailey asserts that World War II was a cosmic conflict between good and evil. The Masters of the Wisdom, representing the Forces of Light, were on the side of the Allies; the Dark Forces were on the side of the Axis. According to Bailey, Adolf Hitler was possessed by the Dark Forces. With the defeat of the axis by the allies in 1945, the stage was set for the appearance of Maitreya to inaugurate the New Age. Alice A. Bailey's follower Benjamin Creme claims to be the one called to prepare the way for this to happen, and that it is possible that it could happen because Adolf Hitler was the Anti-Christ and he was defeated in World War II.




The Cross of St. Peter, or inverted cross, is seen by some as the symbol of Antichrist.

The term "Antichrist" is widely used through popular culture, and most prominently in punk subculture. This trend was spurred by the Sex Pistols' song "Anarchy in the UK", in which lead singer Johnny Rotten proclaimed that he was the Antichrist. After the release of the song, adherents of the punk culture began to use the word as a term to describe someone who very vulgar, crude, or rebellious. However, after Johnny Rotten's denouncement of useless violence in his years with Public Image Ltd, this trend began to subside with those who had used it for the sheer sake of being "punk". It is now used in the fringe groups of anarcho-punks and is most commonly used to describe those who practice violent and sensational forms of anarchy. American professional wrestler (Jeff Hardy) calls himself the "Anti-christ of professional wrestling".

Biographies : Vampire slayers
Buffy

"In every generation there is a chosen one. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons, and the forses of darkness. She is the Slayer." Possibly the most famous vampire slayer to date, second only to Dr. Van Helsing, Buffy Summers is the Chosen One. First appearing in the movie, Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, she fought and defeated Lothos, the head vampire, and his minion. Joss Weldon later rewrote the conspept making Buffy: The Vampire Slayer a television series. In the series, she is led by Rupert Gile, her watcher, and aided by the Slayerettes, (Clockwise in the background of the picture) Alexander "Xander" Harris, Willow Rosenburg, Rupert "Ripper" Giles, Cordellia Chase, and Oz (not seen in picture). In the series, when one slayer dies, the next is called upon. In the end of the first season, Buffy drowns and technically dies (she is brought back through CPR). From that point on, there are two slayers: Buffy and Kedra (killed by Drusilla) and then Buffy and Faith (turned evil and killed(?) by Buffy). At the end of the third season, Buffy denounces her claims to the Watchers Council and becomes a freelance slayer. Buffy's choice for slaying: Stakes through the heart, sunlight, holey water, decapitation, crusifixes, fire, and anything else she can think of.

Van Helsing and Anna Valerious


Abraham Van Helsing

Abraham Van Helsing is the oldest and possibly most famous vampire slayer to date. He is known for killing the notorious Count Dracula. His choice for slaying: Eucharistic wafers, wooden stakes, decapitation, garlic, and holey water. He has been seen in countless reincarnations including Doctor Van Gooswing in Count Duckula. His descendants have continued his fight against vampires. Some of these descendants are Conrad Van Helsing (Vampirella), Dr. Rachel Van Helsing (The Tomb of Dracula), and Victor Van Helsing (Transylvania Twist).

Blade

Not your typical vampire, Blade's goal in life (or un-life) is to hunt down and kill vampires. His mother was bitten while in childbirth, causing him to be born with all of the skills of a vampire but none of the dangers (he can walk in sunlight, silver doesn't hurt him). His task is to rid the world of the creatures that killed his mother and to find a cure for his hunger for blood. Blades choice for slaying: Silver Bullets, a nifty sword that chops off fingers of anyone who holds it, and sunlight. (This is the Blade from the movie released in 1998. Blade also appeared in many comic series along side Dr. Rachel Van Helsing and Morbius, including Blade: The Vampire Hunther, The Tomb of Dracula, and The Nightstalkers.)

Dhampire

The product of a vampire and a mortal woman having a child is a Dhampire. They are born with skills for detecting and destroying vampires. Most often males, they are typically members of Gypsy communities. They often hire themselves out as vampire hunters. Their powers are passed on through male decendents of of the dhampire

Typical Vampire Slaying Tools

Wooden Stakes: Used to kill a vampire by driving it through the vampires heart.
Eucharistic Wafers: Burns the vampires skin when touched to it.
Holy Water: Burns the vampires skin when touched to it.
Crusifix: Used to repell a vampire. Burns the vampires skin when touched to it.
Garlic : Placed in widows, doors, and around necks and people to repell a vampire.
Mirror: Used to detect a vampire (vampires have no reflection).
Rope: Used to distract a vampire. Some vampires can not resist counting knots tied in a rope.
Seeds : Used to distract a vampire. Some vampires can not resist counting seeds spilled on the ground.
Sunlight : Burns a vampire on contact.
Fire : Burns a vampire on contact.
Bottle : Sorcerers can be hired to bottle a vampire.

Biographies : Wraiths
wraith
n
1. (Spirituality, New Age, Astrology & Self-help / Alternative Belief Systems) the apparition of a person living or thought to be alive, supposed to appear around the time of his death
2. (Spirituality, New Age, Astrology & Self-help / Alternative Belief Systems) a ghost or any apparition
3. an insubstantial copy of something
4. something pale, thin, and lacking in substance, such as a column of smoke
[Scottish, of unknown origin]
wraithlike adj

Wraith or a Spectre (also spelled specter) is a being who has previously died only to be resurrected as an inhuman warrior and/or an evil spirit. Wraiths are not to be confused with the undead, who are best described
as living corpses. These beings wield powers associated with the Netherealm: shadows and darkness for Noob Saibot and fire for Scorpion.


The best-known wraiths are Noob Saibot and Scorpion. Noob had killed Scorpion as the elder Sub-Zero, and Scorpion later returned and killed him out of revenge. Sub-Zero then came back as a Wraith.
Smoke may be considered as a type of Wraith as well. In his Mortal Kombat (2011) ending, it was stated he was sacrificed to a demon, and returned to the mortal realm as an Enenra, a creature of smoke and vapor.

Freddy Krueger can also be considered a wraith, because he was once human and was brought back as an evil spirit by demons.

In Mortal Kombat: Armageddon's Konquest Mode, Wraiths appear in Shinnok's Spire, summoning Demon Wards and commanding them to attack Taven, so he can't reach the next floor of the Spire.


Wraith (Dungeons & Dragons), a type of undead in the Dungeons & Dragons game.
Wraith (Stargate), a hostile alien race in Stargate Atlantis
Wraith, a colloquial name for the Defel, an alien race in Star Wars
Wraith, a sentient shape shifting telepathic species in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Rogue Planet"
Wraith, an upgraded Wight unit in Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia
Wraith, an upgraded Wight unit in Heroes of Might and Magic 5
Wraith race, the inhabitants of the realm of Aetha, in the video game Primal
Wraiths, wandering hooded figures promoting the roller coaster Thirteen at Alton Towers amusement park; also appearing as theme elements on the ride itself
Wraiths, a fast and agile type of Necron in Warhammer 40,000
Wraiths, ghost-like undead creatures haunting desolate places, in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Dire Wraith, a fictional alien race from Marvel comics
Pah-wraith, a fictional race in the Star Trek universe
Ringwraiths or Nazgûl, from The Lord of the Rings
Sandwraiths in Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
Sand Wraiths, agile heroes with the ability to duplicate themselves in the game Heroes of Newerth
Shadow Wraiths, ghost-like creatures from Neopets
Tomb Wraiths, evil spirits attempting to cheat death in Warhammer Fantasy Battle
The Wraith, the villainous spirit-like race set out to destroy the other races in the MMORPG Perfect World International

Wraith : Stargate



In the science fiction television series Stargate Atlantis, the Wraith are the original enemy alien species, first introduced in the pilot episode "Rising". In the series, they are a vampire-like telepathic race who feed on the "life-force" of humans, and are the dominant power in the Pegasus galaxy. The first season of Atlantis is focused on the main characters finding a way to survive an overwhelming attack by the Wraith. Although in the later seasons new enemies have taken some of the attention away from the Wraith, they remain a potent and ever-present threat to the Atlantis Expedition.

All of the named Wraith who have appeared on Stargate Atlantis are named by humans, as no Wraith has been willing to reveal his true name. John Sheppard often gives captured Wraith amusing/generic Earth names. The majority of non-warrior male and female Wraith were played by the same actors, James Lafazanos and Andee Frizzell respectively. James Lafazanos left the show after season 2. Other male Wraith have been played by Christopher Heyerdahl (season 3 onwards), Jeffrey C. Robinson (season 2), Dan Payne (season 3), James Bamford (season 3), Brendan Penny (season 4), and Tyler McClendon (season 5).


Background

The Wraith are key characters in the TV show Stargate Atlantis, which is a spin off from the fellow American military science fiction series, Stargate SG-1.

The Wraith are intelligent humanoids who are genetically close to insects, though they are predominantly human. They evolved in the Pegasus galaxy after a human population seeded by the Ancients was fed upon by an insect called the iratus bug, which has the ability to draw upon a human's life to heal itself. As they fed, the bugs incorporated human DNA into themselves, giving rise to the Wraith.[4] The Wraith too feed on humans, treating them akin to livestock and regarding the act of feeding as nothing more than natural predation.

Some ten thousand one-hundred years ago, the Wraith went to war with the Ancients (whom they knew as the Lanteans) over control of the galaxy. Although technologically superior, the Ancients were a passive people by nature, and lacked the familiarity with aggression and strategic thinking to successfully neutralize the Wraith. This naivete allowed the Wraith to lure Ancient warships into unprotected areas of space where they were ambushed and captured, along with their ZPM power supplies, which the Wraith used to power cloning facilities that increased the size of their army a hundredfold. Vastly outnumbered, the Ancients sent a delegation protected by their most powerful warships to sue for peace, but they were wiped out. The Wraith steadily pushed back the Ancients until only Atlantis remained. The war with the Ancients lasted for more than 100 years, until the Ancients decided to submerge the city and return to Earth. With the Wraith victorious, they became the dominant power in Pegasus.

In the ensuing feeding frenzy following their victory, the Wraith quickly learned that their wartime population was too great to sustain. Lacking the technology for intergalactic hyperdrive, and having depleted the ZPMs for the war, the Wraith were unable to safely venture outside of Pegasus to explore neighboring galaxies; ignorant of Earth or prior Ancient civilizations in the Milky Way, they had little incentive to try. Unable to leave, the Wraith were collectively forced to hibernate for extended periods of time, often centuries, while the human population of Pegasus regenerated. A small selection of Wraith were tasked with remaining active during this time to maintain watch on the galaxy to prevent human reprisals. With most of the population in suspended animation, and given the competitive nature of their species, the Wraith were unable to make significant advancements in their technology, and aside from small experiments by individual Wraith over the millennia, they have remained largely stagnant for 10,000 years. Their existence is restricted to waking en masse every few centuries to replenish their health by galaxy-wide abductions of humans called "cullings."

Show history

The Atlantis Expedition first encounters the Wraith in the series premiere "Rising", in which a number of personnel are captured by Wraith darts while scouting the planet Athos. They are brought back to a Wraith hive ship, where the hibernating Wraith are being watched over by the "Keeper". The Keeper telepathically probes Colonel Marshall Sumner's mind and learns of a "new feeding ground" richer than any the Wraith have ever known: Earth. Major John Sheppard kills the Keeper during his rescue mission, but her death awakens all the others from hibernation.[Soon, hive ships appear all over the galaxy, exacting a devastating toll on the Pegasus human population. In "Poisoning the Well", the Hoffan drug is introduced as a means to make humans poisonous to the Wraith, albeit with an extremely high mortality rate.[9] At the end of season 1, it becomes apparent that the ultimate goal of the Wraith is Atlantis, which contains the only Pegasus Stargate capable of connecting to Earth as well as intergalactic hyperdrive technology. Atlantis destroys the first three hive ships with help from Earth reinforcements and the Genii, but another twelve hive ships soon follow. The Atlantis team manages to fool the Wraith into believing that they have enacted the city's self-destruct, by converting the city's shield into a cloaking device and using a judiciously timed nuclear explosion.

In the second season, it is revealed that due to their waking early, there are not enough humans in the Pegasus galaxy to sustain all of the Wraith. Tensions between hives rise over the limited food supply, and in "The Hive" Sheppard is able to incite two hives into firing on one another. Meanwhile, Dr. Carson Beckett develops a retrovirus designed to suppress the iratus bug DNA in the Wraith genome, hopefully transforming them into humans.[13] In the episode "Michael", Atlantis personnel test the virus on a Wraith subject they name "Michael Kenmore", only to have the experiment backfire disastrously when Michael reverts back into a Wraith and returns to his people with knowledge of Atlantis' continued existence. This information leads to Atlantis being coerced into working with a Wraith hive ship in the season 2 finale "Allies", to weaponize the retrovirus for the hive to use against other Wraith. However, this turns out to be a ploy to steal hyperdrive technology from Atlantis' database so as to reach Earth. The Daedalus and the Orion battle the two hive ships at the edge of the Pegasus galaxy, destroying one and converting the crew of the other into humans.Once again, the effect of the retrovirus is less lasting than is hoped, forcing the Atlantis team to destroy the transformed Wraith to keep them from informing others of Atlantis' survival.

The Wraith have a diminished presence in the third season and fourth seasons, with the introduction of the Asurans, a hostile race of Replicator nanites, and the return of Michael as a now-separate threat from the Wraith. In the season 4 episode "Lifeline", Dr. Rodney McKay activates the Wraith attack command in the Replicator base code. The Wraith once dealt with the Replicator threat by using a computer virus to deactivate the command, but due to McKay's meddling this is no longer effective. The war takes on a new dimension when the Replicators begin annihilating human worlds to deprive the Wraith of their food supply, forcing the Wraith and Atlantis into a reluctant alliance to find a way to defeat them. In "Be All My Sins Remember'd", seven hive ships fight alongside Earth and Traveler forces over Asuras to eliminate the Replicators once and for all. At the end of season 4, the Wraith suffer another blow at the hands of Michael, who distributes the Hoffan drug to random human populations, making them poisonous to the Wraith but exacting a great toll on human lives in the process. According to Stargate Atlantis writer Carl Binder, the Wraith have been weakened by these conflicts, leading to "a new order to the galaxy" that will be explored in season 5.

Characteristics



Wraith Keeper.

The Wraith are defined by their need to feed on humans; they have a feeding organ on the palm which is applied to the chest of the victim near the heart, drawing out their "life-force". The effect of this in humans is akin to aging, and the act of feeding is sometimes said to "take away years". Eventually, only a desiccated husk remains. In addition to humans, the Wraith can also feed on each other. The Wraith are driven by their hunger, which they describe as akin to being burned alive. Adult Wraith are capable of eating and drinking, but it provides no nourishment. The act of feeding is so traumatic to the victim that it would normally cause immediate death; the Wraith inject an enzyme into their victims throughout the process to strengthen them and ensure that the heart continues to beat for as long as possible. If taken by a human in high doses, the Wraith enzyme enhances strength, speed, and resilience, though it also heightens aggression and impairs judgement. The enzyme is also addictive and a person taking it may die from withdrawal if suddenly deprived. A Wraith can return the life taken from a human; this "gift of life" is performed only for their most devout worshipers and their brothers.

Wraith are biologically immortal and do not possess the life-inhibiting proteins that cause aging. Provided they have something to feed on, their life span is effectively indefinite. They are stronger than humans, with some individuals being strong enough to hurl an adult human a considerable distance with minimal effort. They are also extremely agile, able to leap up several meters from a standing start. Wraith bodies are highly resilient, able to survive oceanic pressures that would crush a human, and possess remarkable regenerative abilities. Their regeneration is directly related to how recently they have fed; a fully fed Wraith can heal multiple bullet wounds in seconds. In dire circumstances, a Wraith can allow a queen iratus bug to feed on them, potentially healing all their injuries; the practice has long since been abandoned because of the high risk of death it poses. Although the Wraith are capable of speech, their primary means of communication with each other is telepathic. Due to an ancient Wraith experiment to splice Wraith genes into humans, a few humans such as Teyla Emmagan are also capable of accessing the Wraith telepathic network. The Wraith can share each other's perceptions, and a group working together can send a telepathic signal over light-years of distance. The Wraith are also capable of projecting fleeting hallucinations into the minds of their prey in order to confuse and distract.


Wraith warrior.

Three types of Wraith can be distinguished in the series. The most numerous are the warriors, basic foot soldiers who have well-defined musculature and masks that entirely cover their faces. A scene in "Spoils of War" suggests that these masks also allow them to breathe more easily. The warriors also possess the ability to activate a self-destruct mechanism. According to Michael in "Misbegotten", the warriors are "unimaginative" and have "rigid thought patterns". No warrior has ever been shown to speak in the series due to their cloned reproduction of Ancient technology and wraith DNA. The second type are natural Wraith. A Male Wraith is slimmer and more intelligent, and appears in more sophisticated roles. The females are the least frequently seen; apart from Elia, an adolescent Wraith in "Instinct", and the Keeper in "Rising", all the female Wraith on the show have been adult Queens. The Wraith Queens command hive ships and are the only Wraith capable of reproduction. The episode "Instinct" shows that young female Wraith eat and grow in the same way as humans, until in adolescence their digestive systems become non-functional and they develop the need to feed on humans. In "Spoils of War", a Wraith Queen is shown providing genetic material to produce Warriors, which quickly grow to maturity inside pods. The same episode establishes that while large numbers of Wraith Warriors can be grown through cloning, the cloning process requires a ZPM to meet its immense power requirements. Female Wraith have the strongest telepathic ability of all Wraith; they can force most humans into submission through the power of suggestion, and draw information from them against their will. In "Submersion", a Wraith Queen takes complete control of Teyla's body, although Teyla is able to accomplish the reverse in "Spoils of War" when her telepathy is being bolstered by that of her unborn child.

Society

Wraith civilization centers around massive hive ships, of which there are over sixty in the Pegasus galaxy. Most hive ships are ruled by Queens, although Todd mentions in "Be All My Sins Remember'd" that after years of conflict many hives are now without Queens and cannot replenish their numbers. The Wraith perform mass human cullings once every few centuries; the rest of the time they hibernate within their hive ships on the surface of planets, guarded by a small force of soldiers and the Keeper (of those who sleep). This hibernation allows the human population of Pegasus to replenish its numbers. During cullings, Wraith hive ships unleash hundreds of darts to scour the surface of the target planet, and dial the planet's Stargate to prevent escape. If given the opportunity, individual Wraith will self-destruct rather than be captured, using a powerful explosive device built into their armor. Wraith warriors are also equipped with homing beacons to signal for reinforcements if required. The Wraith are an extremely aggressive species; they do not tolerate the existence of advanced civilizations other than their own and destroy any culture that poses the most remote threat to them, such as the Hoffans and the Satedans.During the war with the Ancients, a splinter faction of Asgard settled in Pegasus to conduct human genetic experiments in secret, but after the war's conclusion, the Wraith immediately destroyed both the settlement and its intergalactic ships; the Asgard escaped, but were forced to remain in hiding for the remaining ten-thousand and five years on a planet with a toxic atmosphere. The Wraith also regard the Asurans as "abominations" because they are machines.

The Wraith have a strong territorial instinct and the various hives are largely autonomous from one another, cooperating only against a common enemy such as the Ancients or the Atlantis Expedition. In the later seasons of Stargate Atlantis, the Wraith hives engage in fierce competition over an inadequate human food supply, with civil war breaking out as multiple factions jostle for advantage. The Wraith language is a derivative of Ancient. A few Atlantis episodes have added complexity to the Wraith, particularly in the character of "Todd", who shows an appreciation for beauty, a personal code of honor, and even a sense of humor. In "Condemned", a Wraith states that some of his kind still enjoy "the finer things", human food and drink.

Runners

A few exceptional humans, such as Ronon Dex, are turned into "Runners" rather than being fed upon. The Wraith implant them with subspace tracking devices, and set them loose to be hunted as a form of sport.[35] As of "Sateda", there are seven Runner tracking devices active in the galaxy, although it is not known if all seven were implanted in Runners. In that episode, the Wraith recapture Ronon and stage a new hunt for him on his ruined homeworld of Sateda. They send successively larger waves of Wraith warriors after him, and monitor the entire event from their hive ship. Another Runner, named Kiryk, is featured in the fifth season of Atlantis.

Worshippers

The existence of humans who worship the Wraith is first revealed in "The Hive", where a Wraith Queen states that thousands have come to serve them in exchange for sparing their lives. A Wraith worshiper, Neera, mentions the "prophecy of the Great Awakening" and the "end of days". In "Common Ground", Todd notes that the act of returning a person's life is performed only for their most devout worshipers and their brothers. Some Wraith worshipers are assigned as infiltrators to collect information, while others act as mercenaries. In "Reunion" and "Broken Ties", the Wraith are shown to be able to create worshipers out of even the most implacable enemies by feeding on them and then returning that life over and over again. The repeated infusions of feeding enzyme has an addictive effect and bends the victim to the Wraith's will, though only the strongest survive the process. The Wraith used this technique to convert a number of Satedan soldiers after the fall of Sateda, and eventually do the same to Ronon Dex. The conditioning will break if the individual is deprived of enzyme for long enough, although the withdrawal symptoms are severe.

Technology

Wraith technology and Wraith starships

Although not as advanced as their enemies, the Ancients, the Wraith were able to drive them out of the Pegasus galaxy by virtue of superior numbers, made possible by cloning technology powered by stolen ZPMs. The Wraith have been shown to be tactically and technologically adaptable, Of being able to quickly develop a countermeasure to Asgard beaming technology, and creating highly sophisticated computer viruses for use against the Daedalus and the Asurans. The Wraith also operate an extensive network of transmitters and relay devices throughout Pegasus that allow them to respond rapidly to events of interest. Many pieces of Wraith technology, including their ships, are a hybrid of organic and mechanical parts with the ability to heal damage. Significant Wraith technologies include culling beams and stunners, both of which primarily function to capture human prey.

Biographies : Dragon Slayers
Dragonslayers are people who slay dragons for various reasons. Dragonslayers and the creatures they hunt have been seen in many popular books and films. They also are generally portrayed as heroes. Most common among Dragonslayers would be the knights of Middle Ages fiction, who slew dragons to save princesses. They have been popular in fantasy series. Typically, a Dragonslayer would embark on a quest, usually given by a king, to slay a dragon and rescue his daughter, the princess. Common Dragonslayers also included Christian Saints, described as conquering a dragon. The "dragon" is possibly a reference to a triumph over Satan.

Beowulf

Beowulf ; in Old English or , literally "bee wolf" i.e. "bee hunter", a kenning for "bear") is the conventional title of an Old English heroic epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative long lines, set in Scandinavia, commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature.

It survives in a single manuscript known as the Nowell Codex. Its composition by an anonymous Anglo-Saxon poet is dated between the 8th and the early 11th century. In 1731, the manuscript was badly damaged by a fire that swept through the building which housed a collection of medieval manuscripts that had been assembled by Sir Robert Bruce Cotton. It fell into obscurity for many decades, and its existence did not become widely known again until it was printed in 1815 in an edition prepared by the Icelandic scholar Grímur Jónsson Thorkelin.

In the poem, Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, battles three antagonists: Grendel, who has been attacking the resident warriors of the mead hall of Hroðgar (the king of the Danes), Grendel's mother, and an unnamed dragon. After the first two victories, Beowulf goes home to Geatland in Sweden and becomes king of the Geats. The last fight takes place fifty years later. In this final battle, Beowulf is fatally wounded. After his death, his servants bury him in a tumulus in Geatland


Saint George

Historians have debated the exact details of the birth of Saint George for over a century, although the approximate date of his death is subject to little debate. The Catholic Encyclopedia takes the position that there seems to be no ground for doubting the historical existence of Saint George, but that little faith can be placed in some of the fanciful stories about him.

The work of the Bollandists Danile Paperbroch, Jean Bolland and Godfrey Henschen in the 17th century was one of the first pieces of scholarly research to establish the historicity of the saint's existence via their publications in Bibliotheca Hagiographica Graeca and paved the way for other scholars to dismiss the medieval legends. Pope Gelasius stated that George was among those saints whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose actions are known only to God.

The traditional legends have offered a historicised narration of George's encounter with a dragon: see "St. George and the Dragon" below. The modern legend that follows below is synthesized from early and late hagiographical sources, omitting the more fantastical episodes, to narrate a purely human military career in closer harmony with modern expectations of reality. Chief among the legendary sources about the saint is the Golden Legend, which remains the most familiar version in English owing to William Caxton's 15th-century translation.

It is likely that Saint George was born to a Christian noble family in Lod, Syria Palaestina during the late third century between about 275 AD and 285 AD, and he died in Nicomedia. His father, Gerontius, was a Roman army official from Cappadocia and his mother, Polychronia, was from Palestine. They were both Christians and from noble families of Anici, so by this the child was raised with Christian beliefs. They decided to call him Georgius (Latin) or Geōrgios (Greek), meaning "worker of the land". At the age of 14, George lost his father; a few years later, George's mother, Polychronia, died. Eastern accounts give the names of his parents as Anastasius and Theobaste.


Saint George's tomb in Lod, Israel

Then George decided to go to Nicomedia, the imperial city of that time, and present himself to Emperor Diocletian to apply for a career as a soldier. Diocletian welcomed him with open arms, as he had known his father, Gerontius — one of his finest soldiers. By his late 20s, George was promoted to the rank of Tribunus and stationed as an imperial guard of the Emperor at Nicomedia.

In the year AD 302, Diocletian (influenced by Galerius) issued an edict that every Christian soldier in the army should be arrested and every other soldier should offer a sacrifice to the Pagan gods. However George objected and with the courage of his faith approached the Emperor and ruler. Diocletian was upset, not wanting to lose his best tribune and the son of his best official, Gerontius. George loudly renounced the Emperor's edict, and in front of his fellow soldiers and Tribunes he claimed himself to be a Christian and declared his worship of Jesus Christ. Diocletian attempted to convert George, even offering gifts of land, money and slaves if he made a sacrifice to the Roman gods. The Emperor made many offers, but George never accepted.

Recognizing the futility of his efforts, Diocletian was left with no choice but to have him executed for his refusal. Before the execution George gave his wealth to the poor and prepared himself. After various torture sessions, including laceration on a wheel of swords in which he was resuscitated three times, George was executed by decapitation before Nicomedia's city wall, on April 23, 303. A witness of his suffering convinced Empress Alexandra and Athanasius, a pagan priest, to become Christians as well, and so they joined George in martyrdom. His body was returned to Lydda in Palestine for burial, where Christians soon came to honour him as a martyr.:166

Although the above distillation of the legend of George connects him to the conversion of Athanasius, who according to Rufinus was brought up by Christian ecclesiastical authorities from a very early age,[19] Edward Gibbon[20][21] argued that George, or at least the legend from which the above is distilled, is based on George of Cappadocia, a notorious Arian bishop who was Athanasius' most bitter rival, who in time became Saint George of England. According to Professor Bury, Gibbon's latest editor, "this theory of Gibbon's has nothing to be said for it". He adds that: "the connection of St. George with a dragon-slaying legend does not relegate him to the region of the myth".

In 1856 Ralph Waldo Emerson published a book of essays entitled "English Traits". In it, he wrote a paragraph on the history of Saint George. Emerson compared the legend of Saint George to the legend of Amerigo Vespucci, calling the former "an impostor" and the latter "a thief". The editorial notes appended to the 1904 edition of Emerson's complete works state that Emerson based his account on the work of Gibbon, and that current evidence seems to show that real St. George was not George the Arian of Cappadocia. Merton M. Sealts also quotes Edward Emerson, Ralph Waldo Emerson's youngest son as stating that he believed his father's account was derived from Gibbon and that the real St. George "was apparently another who died two generations earlier".


Saint George and the Dragon

The episode of St George and the Dragon was a legend brought back with the Crusaders and retold with the courtly appurtenances belonging to the genre of Romance. The earliest known depiction of the legend is from early eleventh-century Cappadocia, (in the iconography of the Eastern Orthodox Church, George had been depicted as a soldier since at least the seventh century); the earliest known surviving narrative text is an eleventh-century Georgian text.



In the fully developed Western version, which developed as part of the Golden Legend, a dragon or Crocodile makes its nest at the spring that provides water for the city of "Silene" (perhaps modern Cyrene) in Libya or the city of Lydda in the Holy Land, depending on the source). Consequently, the citizens have to dislodge the dragon from its nest for a time, to collect water. To do so, each day they offer the dragon at first a sheep, and if no sheep can be found, then a maiden must go instead of the sheep. The victim is chosen by drawing lots. One day, this happens to be the princess. The monarch begs for her life to be spared, but to no avail. She is offered to the dragon, but there appears Saint George on his travels. He faces the dragon, protects himself with the sign of the cross, slays the dragon, and rescues the princess. The grateful citizens abandon their ancestral paganism and convert to Christianity.

The dragon motif was first combined with the standardised Passio Georgii in Vincent of Beauvais' encyclopaedic Speculum historale and then in Jacobus de Voragine, Golden Legend, which guaranteed its popularity in the later Middle Ages as a literary and pictorial subject.

The parallels with Perseus and Andromeda are inescapable. In the allegorical reading, the dragon embodies a suppressed pagan cult. The story has other roots that predate Christianity. Examples such as Sabazios, the sky father, who was usually depicted riding on horseback, and Zeus's defeat of Typhon the Titan in Greek mythology, along with examples from Germanic and Vedic traditions, have led a number of historians, such as Loomis, to suggest that George is a Christianized version of older deities in Indo-European culture.

In the medieval romances, the lance with which St George slew the dragon was called Ascalon, named after the city of Ashkelon in Israel.

Biographies : Death Gods
NAME: Death Gods & Goddesses: Anubis (Egyptian), Pluto (Roman), Hades (Greek), Hel
(Norse), The Morrigan (Celtic), Yama & Yami (Hindu God & Goddess), Yan Luo (Chinese),
Mitclantecuhtli (Aztec), Azrael (Christian / Islam), Izanami (Shinto), Thanatos (Greek minor), Sidapa
(Philippines), Samuel or Shemal, Shem-El (Semitic), Othin (Norse), Tate (Sioux), Tellus
(Roman), Fe'e (Polynesian), Giltine (Lithuanian), Mot (Canaanite, Phoenician), N'djambi (Namibian),
Chamer, Cizin, Cum Hau, Hunhau, Ikal Ahau, Yum Cimil (Mayan)

SYMBOLS: Many depending on the mythos, however recuring themes are, skulls, sharp bladed
objects (knifes, swords, scythes), bells, hourglasses, gates, caves, towers, wings, ravens,
vultures, owls.

USUAL IMAGE: Varies from mythos to mythos, however even the friendly ones tend to be
somewhat dark. Recuring themes are skull like & skeletal forms, paleness, thinness, Greeks, Early
Christians, and others attribute him as him as having huge black wings, the Mayans said that all
their death gods & goddesses favored the colors black & yellow, usually with the yellow as spots on
their black bony bodies. To many Pacific islanders their death god appeared as a giant cuttlefish.
Death deities appear both male & female, beautiful & horrid. In the Vedic tradition there is a
god & goddess of death.

HOLY BOOKS:The Egyptian Book of the Dead, or Reu nu pert em hru, The Chapters of Coming
Forth by Day and The Papyrus of Ani. / The Tibetan Book of the dead, also known as the
Bardo Thodol or to use it's full title, The Great Liberation Upon Hearing in the Intermediate State.
/ The Book of Azrael by Leilah Wendell.

HOLY DAYS: April 30, Festival of Hades (ancient Rome), / There were 9 festivals dedicated to
Anubis in ancient Egypt, such as March 3, Festival of Clothing Anubis. / El Dia De Los
Muertos (Day of the Dead) November 1 & 2 (Mexico.)

FORM OF WORSHIP: "Alone of the Gods Death has no love for gifts, Libation helps you not, nor
sacrifice. He has no altar, and hears no hymns; From him alone Persuasion stands apart."

Niobe by Aeschylus (525-465 B.C.)

SYNODEITIES: See names above

DETAILS: During our time on Earth no one is guarantied to know, love, war, heroism, marriage,
magic or might, but everyone who has ever drawn a breath knows that someday they will draw their
last. This knowledge is one of the major things that set humans apart from animals.

This dire familiarity has led to our Gods & Goddesses of death down though the years to be
some of the more problematic and eccentric deity forms.

With god/desses of the sky, war, love, sovereignty, wealth, weather, water, fire, youth, illness, the
home and even trickery you can more often than not make a fairly good guess about what that
being will be represented as with just a little information about that society.

Even if you know next to nothing about the rest of their mythology, the big ones. Sun, sovereignty,
and life are, if not identical at least close enough from mythos to mythos to be recognized as
esoteric cousins, so to speak, you can even guess, with a good change of being right, whether
they will be male or female.

This however does not seem to be the case with
the different Gods and Goddesses of Death.

They range from the horrid, such as the Norse Hel, who ruled the unheroic dead in a world of freezing
cold and darkness where the only sound is that of grinding glaciers, all beds are straw, the only dish
is dust, and the goddess in charge is beautiful from the hips up and a rotting corpse from below
(or half & half in some tellings), to the Philippine God of Death Sidapa, a handsome and friendly
god, willing to go out of his way to help those do him right, while not what you would call sunny, he's
not dark either, more a regular Joe, as Gods go.

Among some Polynesian Islanders we have Fe'e, a giant cuttlefish living in but unrestrained by the
waters of the ocean, a god whose black tentacles grasp everyone eventually, while the Lithuanians
of old present us with Giltin, a beautiful white-haired Goddess who appears, melting like
smoke though doors and walls, wearing rich shinning white finery to strangle us to death.

Some Gods of Death are, if not minor, seemingly so little concerned with the other Gods &
Goddesses, or even humans other than what is needed, so as to seem minor, such as Pluto,
Thanatos, or N'djambi.

Elsewhere you will find the head of the Gods, such as Tate of the Sioux, or Wotan in his guise as
Othin, as the God of Death.

Seems this most personal and most unavoidable of all the higher beings will not let him or herself be
pinned down, at times S/He makes Trickster look like an amateur!

For the last few centuries however there has been, over a large part of the world, a Death God who
has been given more iconography and thought than any others, he of course is Azrael, the Angel
of Death, the Grim Reaper of the Jewish / Christian / Islamic mythos. A name that does not
even appear in the Bible.

Everybody knows him, Skeletal shown as skeleton outright, hooded robe, sometimes with huge black
wings, sometimes on a pale horse, carrying a scythe and sometimes an hourglass.

While some of the other God/desses of Death had their worshippers (though not many) it's doubtful
that anyone every directed a prayer at this one, other than "go away!"

Which, I think, says a lot about the current
situation we found our selfs in I think.

A society that can't, if not make friends, or at lease deal with the deity that will someday come for
everyone in that society, more than likely has other things in their psychic they need to look at but are
too afraid to look at square in the eye, and that sort of thing never leads to anything good.

However, there does seem to be some loosing up, small to be sure, but here and there you see
things, such as how some have embraced Neil Gaiman's young attractive Death, and while not
widely accepted, there is artist & poet Leilah Wendell whose books on her long and personal
relationship with Azrael makes fascinating reading.

Still, all in all, better than a giant flying cuttlefish I guess.


Aramanth is the art of drinking a Divinities blood to steal their powers and advance in rank and Title.
It is a diabolical tactic used by several Gods in there search for power, most notably Isuban, the God of Death, before he ascended and became an Epitaph.
Aramanth must be completed as the god in question is dying, as it should be the finishing blow to activate the magic that passses the power over

Biographies : Harpies
The Harpyiai (or Harpies) were the spirits of sudden, sharp gusts of wind. They were known as the hounds of Zeus and were despatched by the god to snatch away (harpazô) people and things from the earth.

Nature
Etymology
‘’’Harpyiae’’’ (Harpuiai), means "the swift robbers," in Greek and are, in the Homeric poems, nothing but personified storm winds. (Od. xx. 66, 77.) They were also referred to as "robbers," "snatchers," and "those who seize," meaning that they would steel anything that did not belong to them.

Description/Morphology
In earlier versions of Greek myth (Hesiod in Theogony calls them two "lovely-haired" creatures), Harpies were described as beautiful, winged guardians. Later they became fierce, filthy, winged monsters who had characteristics of a bird and a woman, similar to that of the early Sirens. Their hideous faces of women with sharp claws mounted on the bodies of vultures inspired both horror and disgust. They could fly as fast as a bolt of lightening

Family
The traditions about their parentage likewise differ in the different traditions, for some called them the daughters of Pontus (or Poseidon) and Terra (Serv. ad Aen. iii. 241), of Typhon (Val. Flacc iv. 428, 516), or even of Phineus. (Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 166, Chil. i. 220; Palaephat. 23. 3).

According to Hesiod (Theog. 267, &c.), the Harpies were the daughters of Thaumas by the Oceanid Electra, fair-locked and winged maidens, who surpassed winds and birds in the rapidity of their flight. Their names in Hesiod are Aëllo and Ocypete. (Comp. Apollod. i. 2. § 6.)

Their number is either two, as in Hesiod and Apollodorus, or three; but their names are not the same in all writers: Aello ("storm swift"), Celaeno ("the dark") — also known as Podarge ("fleet-foot") — and Ocypete ("the swift wing").

Homer mentions only one by name, viz. Podarge, who was married to Zephyrus, and gave birth to the two horses of Achilles, Xanthus and Balius. (Il. xvi. 149, &c.)

Element
Air

Powers/Weaknesses
Behavior
When a person suddenly disappeared from the earth, it was said that he had been carried off by the Harpies (Od. i. 241, xiv. 371); thus, they carried off the daughters of king Pandareus, and gave them as servants to the Erinnyes. (Od. xx. 78.) The people feared them for it was said that they also stole small children and carried away the weak and the wounded.

In this form they were agents of punishment who abducted people and tortured them on their way to Tartarus. They were vicious, cruel and violent, only obeying the mighty Zeus.

The Harpy could also bring life. A Harpy was the mother by the West Wind Zephyros of the horses of Achilles (Iliad xvi. 160). In this context Jane Harrison adduced the notion in Virgil's Georgics that mares became gravid by the wind alone, marvelous to say (iii.274).

Places
Their place of abode is either the islands called Strophades (Virg. Aen. iii. 210), a place at the entrance of Orcus (vi. 289), or a cave in Crete. (Apollon. Rhod. ii. 298.)

History/Beliefs
Culture
Heraldry
In the Middle Ages, the harpy, often called the "virgin eagle", became a popular charge charge in heraldry, particularly in East Frisia, seen on, among others, the coats-of-arms of Reitburg, Liechtenstein, and the Cirksenas.

Biographies : Gorgons
Gorgon

In Greek mythology, the Gorgons ("terrible" or, according to some, "loud-roaring") were vicious female monsters with sharp fangs and hair of living, venomous snakes. They were said to live in the west, near the ocean, and guard the entrance to the underworld. A stone head or picture of a gorgon was often placed or drawn on temples and graves to avert evil, but also on the shields of soldiers. Such a head could also be found on the older coins of Athens.


Origin
Gorgon was a monstrous feminine creature whose appearance would turn the beholder to stone. Later in history, there were three of them: Euryale ("far-roaming"), Sthenno ("forceful"), and Medusa ("ruler"), the latter being the only one of them who was mortal. They were the three daughters of Phorcys and Ceto.

In Greek myth, only Perseus and Zeus (through Athena) own the gorgoneion. The two must be tied together in some way; that is, the king of Mycenae was the earthly counterpart of Zeus from whom he derived his authority. The Iliad clearly expresses this divine right of bronze-age kings, which the wrath of Achilles undermined. By assuming the gorgoneion, Perseus put on as a mask the power of life and death personified by Medusa, the cosmic queen.


Etymology
The concept of the gorgon is at least as old in mythology as Perseus and Zeus. The name is Greek, being from gorgos, "terrible." There are a few cognates: Old Irish garg, "wild", Armenian karcr, "hard". Hoffman's suggested root is *gragnis; Émile Boisacq's, *greg-. The root would not be a commonly used one. The name of the most senior "terrible one", Medusa, is better Greek, being the feminine present participle of medein, "to rule over." The masculine, Medon, "ruler", is a Homeric name. The Indo-European root, *me-, "measure", generates a large number of words.


Appearance
The Gorgon is a creature covered with impenetrable scales, hair of living snakes, hands of brass, sharp fangs and a beard.

Sometimes it's depicted as having wings of gold, brazen claws, and the tusks of boars.


Powers
Gorgons were said to have fire coming out of their hands and the skill to steal power from the gods. They are so strong they can kill anyone who stands in their way. They are considered the Queens of the underworld. The Gorgons can go anywhere they want and even look like humans. There is only one male Gorgon who's name is Nanas, the guard of Zeus. According to the myths, seeing the face of a Gorgon turned the viewer to stone.


Healing
A gorgoneion (or stone head, engraving or drawing of a Gorgon face, often with snakes protruding wildly and tongue sticking out between the fangs) was frequently placed on doors, walls, coins, shields, breastplates, and tombstones in the hopes of warding off evil. In this regard gorgoneia are similar to the sometimes grotesque faces on Chinese soldiers’ shields, also used generally as an amulet, a protection against the ’’evil eye’’.

In some cruder representations, the blood flowing under the head can be mistaken for a beard.

In Greek mythology, blood taken from the left side of a Gorgon could bring the dead back to life, yet blood taken from the right side was an instantly fatal poison. Athena gave a vial of the healing blood to Asclepius, which ultimately brought about his demise.

Heracles is said to have obtained a lock of Medusa’s hair (which possessed the same powers as the head) from Athena and given it to Sterope], the daughter of Cepheus, as a protection for the town of Tegea against attack.

According to the later idea of Medusa as a beautiful maiden, whose hair had been changed into snakes by Athena, the head was represented in works of art with a wonderfully handsome face, wrapped in the calm repose of death.



Main Belief
Homer speaks of only one Gorgon, whose head is represented in the Iliad as fixed in the centre of the aegis of Zeus:

"About her shoulders she flung the tasselled aegis, fraught with terror...and therein is the head of the dread monster, the Gorgon, dread and awful, a portent of Zeus that beareth the aegis."(5.735ff)
Its earthly counterpart is a device on the shield of Agamemnon:

"...and therein was set as a crown the Gorgon, grim of aspect, glaring terribly, and about her were Terror and Rout."(11.35ff)
In the Odyssey, she is a monster of the underworld:

...and pale fear seized me, lest august Persephone might send forth upon me from out of the house of Hades the head of the Gorgon, that awful monster..."(11.635)
Hesiod (Theogony, Shield of Heracles) increases the number of Gorgons to three—Stheno (the mighty), Euryale (the far-springer) and Medusa (the queen), and makes them the daughters of the sea-god Phorcys and of Ceto (or Keto). Their home is on the farthest side of the western ocean; according to later authorities, in Libya.

The Attic tradition, reproduced in Euripides (Ion), regarded the Gorgon as a monster, produced by Goddess Gaia to aid her sons the giants against the gods and slain by Athena. Of the three Gorgons, only Medusa is mortal.

According to Ovid (Metamorphoses), Medusa alone had serpents in her hair, and this was due to Athena (Roman Minerva) cursing her. Medusa had copulated with Poseidon (Roman Neptune), who was aroused by the golden color of Medusa's hair, in a temple of Athena. Athena therefore changed the enticing golden locks into serpents. Aeschylus says that the three Gorgons had only one tooth and one eye between them, which they had to swap between themselves.

Other sources claim that each of three Gorgon sisters, Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa had snakes for hair, and had the power to turn anyone who looked at them to stone. Apollodorus (11.2.6, 2.4.1, 22.4.2) provides a good summary of the Gorgon myth, while Pausanias(5.10.4, 8.47.5, many other places) supplies the details of where and how the Gorgons were represented in Greek art and architecture.



Perseus and Medusa
Medusa was the only one of the three who was mortal; hence Perseus was able to kill her by cutting off her head while looking at her in the reflection in a mirrored shield he got from the Graeae. Some authors say that Perseus was armed with a scythe by Mercury (Hermes) and a mirror by Minerva (Athena). Whether the mirrored shield or the scythe, these weapons allowed him to defeat Medusa easily. From the blood that spurted from her neck sprang Chrysaor and Pegasus (other sources say that each drop of blood became a snake), her two sons by Poseidon. He gave the head, which had the power of turning into stone all who looked upon it, to Athena, who placed it in her shield; according to another account, Perseus buried it in the marketplace of Argos.


Modern Belief
The name of "queen" and the magical powers indicate Medusa was a bronze-age deity, and yet deities are not beheaded by mortals and terrible ones are not really terrible if they ward away enemies. The snakes are reminiscent of the Cretan snake goddess. It is possible that the story represents the subordination of a pre-Greek religious infrastructure by new Greek superstructures able to attribute the power of life and death to themselves.

Biographies : Shadow Creatures
Shadows

El Petizo is a shadow creature that is known for attacking lone walkers in a northern area of Argentina. Several people have even been medically treated for wounds received during their El Petizo encounters.

The attacks appear to persist until a rescuer comes to the victims aid, at which time the mysterious creature simply disappears.

In one of these instances two people saw the creature - the victim and the rescuer. Rense.com has a good account of it:

"The most recent victim of an attack by "El Petizo" was a boy heading to a mountain area on a bicycle to visit friends and do some hunting, bringing with him a shotgun and a knife. According to his story, after asking for reservations to be made in his name, he was toppled from his bicycle and found that a black shadow was facing him. The young man managed to unholster his shotgun and fire two shots, but when he saw that this had no effect, promptly drew his knife and stabbed it without causing any apparent harm. Frightened, the youth tried to escape, only to find that "El Petizo" knocked him down again without saying a word, dragging him by the hair to the side of the road. The young man stated that at that point he began screaming at the top of his voice and that this is what saved him: his cries were heard by a local man who rushed to provide assistance, only to find a black shadow dragging the boy by the hair. The fearful shape disappeared without a trace when it became aware of the other man's presence."



Grine is the double of an existing person that lives in the spirit world.

Description
In Moroccan myth, each time a human is born in our world, a djinn called a Grine is born in another, adjacent world. The actions of the human inevitably influence the actions of the Grine, whereas the actions of the Grine inevitably influence those of the human.




jumbie is a ghost, or spirit of the dead.

Origin
People who have been evil during their lives, are destined to becomes instrument of evil (jumbie) in death. This phenonemon is widely believed in by people in the English-speaking Caribbean states that were colonized by the British and which practised "Obeah", a form of mystical wizardry that encompassed traditional African beliefs merged with Western European, primarily Anglican, images and beliefs concerning the dead.

Description
Whereas Western culture "sees" a ghost as a white misty figure, jumbies are imagined as dark shadowy figures. Jumbies can shape-shift, usually taking the form of a dog, pig or more likely a cat. So heed warnings about playing with random animals.

Powers
Various islands including Antigua and Barbuda in the east to Jamaica in the north and as far south as Trinidad have had a long held set of folklore that include the jumbie.

Jumbies are said to possess humans during ceremonies called jumbie dances, which are accompanied by jumbie drums. Jumbies receive numerous small offerings from Montserratians, such as a few drops of rum or food; they are also the subject of numerous superstitions. Four couples perform a set of five progressively quicker quadrilles during the jumbie dance, switching out with other couples until someone is eventually possessed by a jumbie.

There are many recommended ways to avoid or escape jumbie encounters such as leaving a pair of shoes outside of your; jumbies don't have feet and would spend the entire night trying on the shoes to get them to fit before moving onto you. Leaving a heap of sand or salt outside your door; jumbies are compelled to count every grain before moving. When coming home late at night, walk backwards so that the jumbie would be unable to follow you inside. If one is being chased by a said jumbie, cross a river, as they cannot follow over water. If push comes to shove (no pun intended) jump off of a cliff, as jumbies do not walk off cliffs either.




The Pukwudgies are troll-like creatures that haunt the forests of New England.

Places
The Pukwudgie belongs to the folklore of the Wampanoag Nation, the dominant Native America tribe in Massachusetts and Southern New England and has been sighted until recently in the area of Cape Cod.

Description/Morphology
Standing between two and three feet tall, the Pukwudgie looks much like our modern idea of a troll. His features mirror those of the Native American in the area, but the nose, fingers and ears are enlarged and the skin is described as being grey and or washed-out, smooth and at times has been known to glow.

Powers/Weaknesses
Pukwudgies can appear and disappear at will and are said to be able to transform into other animals. They have possession of magical, poison arrows that can kill and can create fire at will.

Behavior
In the folklore of the Wampanoag, the Pukwudgies were known to lure people to cliffs and push them off to their death. They use ball of lights to entice new victims in the woods so they may kidnap or kill them.

Family
Pukwudgies seem to often be related and even controled by other entities dubbed as shadow people. In turn the Pukwudgies control Tei-Pai-Wankas which are believed to be the souls of Native Americans they have killed.

Stories
Legends of the Pukwudgie began in connection to Maushop, a creation giant believed by the Wampanoag to have created most of Cape Cod. He was beloved by the people, and the Pukwudgies were jealous of the affection the Natives had for him. They tried to help the Wampanoag, but their efforts always backfired until they eventually decided to torment them instead. They became mischievous and aggravated the Natives until they asked Quant, Maushop’s wife, for help. Maushop collected as many as he could. He shook them until they were confused and tossed them around New England. Some died, but others landed, regained their minds and made their way back to Massachusetts.

Satisfied he had done his job and pleased his wife, Maushop went away for a while. In his absence, the Pukwudgies had returned. They again changed their relationship with the Wampanoags. They were no longer a nuisance, but began kidnapping children, burning villages and forcing the Wampanoag deep into the woods and killing them. Quant again stepped in, but Maushop, being very lazy, sent his five sons to fix the problem. The Pukwudgies lured them into deep grass and shop them dead with magic arrows. Enraged, Quant and Maushop attack as many as they can find and crush them, but many escape and scatter throughout New England again. The Pukwudgies regroup and trick Maushop into the water and shoot him with their arrows. Some legends say they killed him while other claim he became discouraged and depressed about the death of his sons, but Maushop disappears from the Wampanoags mythology.

Sightings
Joan was walking her dog through the state forest in Freetown, Massachusetts, on a cold Saturday morning in April when she saw the monster. As she and her dog, Sid, walked down the path, Sid became anxious and strayed a few feet into the woods. Joan followed him in, and stopped short. Her dog was lying completely flat in the leaves, and on a rock ten feet away was a Pukwudgie. She described him as looking like what she would describe as a troll; two feet high with pale gray skin and hair on his arms and the top of his head. The monster seemed to have no clothes, but it was difficult to tell because his stomach hung over his waist, almost touching his knees. His eyes were a deep green, and he had large lips and a long, almost canine nose.

The Pukwudgie stood watching her, staring straight at her with no expression, almost like it was stunned to see her. Joan froze and remembers thinking the air in her lungs had been pushed out. Sid finally came to and ran back towards the trial, dragging Joan who was still holding the leash tightly.

Although the whole exchange took less than thirty seconds, it remains with Joan ten years later. She has not gone back to the forest, but feels that might not be enough. Three times since the event she has woken up to find the demon looking in on her. It has never attacked her or spoken to her, she has merely seen it looking through her bedroom window, staying just long enough for her to notice him. All three times she claims she was fully awake and could move if she had to.

Another man in Framingham, Massachusetts had a experience that forced him to remain away from the woods. Tim was in a forest when he saw a bright orb in front of him. Having investigated the paranormal he was excited and tried to snap a photo with his digital camera. The ball of light disappeared and reappeared a few feet further into the woods. Tim followed, losing the spirit several times before he realized he had traveled more than thirty feet off the path into a thickly wooded area. He became scared and slowly made his way back to the path, only to find a two foot man standing there, walking towards him. He turned and ran, and looking back saw the figure move back into the woods.

Tim reported that what he saw had walked upright and had used its arms to push something aside when he fled to the forest. He had moved with a slight limp, but “like a human”.

The second time Tom saw the Pukwudgies was a few years later in a parking lot near the same forest. He was listening to the radio at almost a whisper and checking his rear view mirror for the friend he was waiting for when he saw the same small figure of a man. Every detail was identical, and the Pukwudgie just stood there watching him. The car turned on by itself and his radio began to get louder. Tim pulled out of the parking lot and took the long way home to try and stop his hands from shaking. Although the monster seemed content to only frighten Joan and Tim, there are still physical attacks happening. Several people have been assaulted and one person came down with a mysterious illness after seeing them in a cemetery in New Hampshire. Another woman suffered scratches on her arm after following an orb in a forest in Taunton, Massachusetts.




Shadow people (also known as shadow men or shadow beings) are a supernatural phenomenon reported by some individuals. Most accounts of shadow people describe them as black humanoid silhouettes, lacking mouths or eyes, although they are sometimes reported to have red or yellow eyes. They are generally described as lacking mass, although their specific nature varies from two-dimensional (like a shadow) to vaporous or distorted. Their movement is often reported as being very quick and disjointed, or "jiggly", in the sense that they first may move slowly like a fluid (similar to jello rather than water), then rapidly "hop" to another part of a witness' surroundings. Some witnesses describe this movement as though the shadow entities they have seen "danced" from one wall to the next.

Observers of shadow people most commonly report that the forms appear at the edge of their field of vision, and that they disintegrate or move into walls when noticed, usually within a split second. However, many also report shadow people appearing in the center of their vision, appearing very close to them, or remaining for several seconds before disappearing. Some individuals have described being menaced, chased, or (more rarely) attacked or raped by shadow people.

Sightings of shadow people have been reported all over the world. They are a recurring topic of the late-night talk radio show Coast-to-Coast AM. The former host of the show, Art Bell, seemingly resurrected the term "shadow people." The term appeared as early as September 21, 1953 as the title of a radio drama that was broadcast on Chicago's WGN-AM "Hall of Fantasy"* series. However, reports of beings fitting the description of shadow people have been recorded for centuries in literature. For example, in 1887, celebrated French author Guy de Maupassant pennned the story "Le Horla" ("The Horla") about shadowy beings who live on milk and water, bedevil human minds, and stalk the unwary.

Even though these creatures were never proven to exist, sightings appear to occur most often in Rhode Island and North Carolina in the United States of America.

Types
Category 1
This category falls into drugs use, seizures, and other mental issues. This category covers a very vast description and is known to have descriptions that may or may not match what others describe in category 2 and 3. Category 1 actually may not be considered shadow people at all due to the non consistancy in the descriptions.

Category 2
This category falls more into the ghost and spirit category. The descriptions in this category are as follows: non human shaped shadows or masses of human shaped shadow people in one place, insect shadows, animal shadow people, and women shadow people. These are mostly see thru shadows. Category 2 shadow people tend to be drawn more to a location than a person. It is common for this category to actually try and not become seen. Light may affect this group.

Category 3
This category does not fall into the ghost or Spirit category. This category has only 2 types of shadow people, One tall shadow man and several small hooded "twin" style shadow people. These are usually seen non see thru however they may be see thru. This category is more drawn to a person rather than a place, this category may actually be drawn to a certain spirit or ghost as well as humans. This category tends to not care about being seen. Light has no effect on this group.

Shadow people versus ghosts
Alleged eyewitness accounts of shadow people differ from those of ghosts in many respects. Ghosts are said to be the disembodied spirits of people and are usually said by alleged eyewitnesses to take on the appearance of people, orbs, or mist when seen.

While ghosts are often said to resemble actual people, accounts of shadow beings generally do not. Although accounts describe shadow beings as having humanlike form, they are generally not described as resembling actual individuals (living or deceased or deive). The cause of shadow people or shadow beings is also not generally attributed to be haunting by ghosts.

Since accounts of ghosts and shadow people are anecdotal and have not been scientifically verified, such differences are not conclusive.

Eyewitness accounts
Alleged eyewitness reports of these beings are often similar. In these accounts there are almost always the same forms: a blob-like cluster that sometimes has tendrils, a child-sized being, sometimes with a hood, a tall willowy figure with a jack-o'-lantern-sized head, and a tall figure with a hat. In these accounts, the figures typically follow a progression from the ambiguous blob and finally the tall man, meaning that over time they take on more human appearance. Much less frequently red glowing eyes are reported. Some witnesses also claim to have been attacked, resulting in scratches, bruises, or burns.

The more consistent accounts typically describe a feeling of dread associated with the presence of these phenomena, and animals are said to react to the phenomena with fear and hostility. Shadow Beings are said to move extremely fast and travel through solid matter. They typically are said to have no discernable features such as mouths, noses, or eyes. Their forms are usually described as somewhat skeletal or thin. Direct visual contact is rarely reported by alleged eyewitnesses with shadow people; they are said to usually disappear before they can be seen clearly, and are seen "in the corner of one's eye." These beings are said to often appear in mirrors.

Shadow People In General
Heidi Hollis, researcher on Shadow People, has come up with some very generalized information on Shadow People. She has appeared on Coast To Coast AM several times. Taken from coasttocoastam.com:

Shadow people have been around since the beginning of time and are a dark influence upon society, she said. They also relate to negative alien entities such as the Reptilians and Greys (alien species), and may in fact be part of the same overall phenomena, she added.

Typically, shadow beings don't like to be spotted but they are sometimes discovered by a person who wakes up to find them trying to choke or suffocate them, noted Hollis, who presented several methods for decreasing or eliminating incidents with them:

Learn to let go of your fear.
Stand your ground and deny them access to your person.
Focus on positive thoughts.
Use the name of Jesus to repel them.
Keep a light on or envision light surrounding you.
Bless your room with bottled spring water.
A type of shadow being referred to as the "Hat Man" is actually more akin to the devil or a demon, Hollis revealed. He is often seen wearing a fedora hat, trench coat and three-piece suit, and might appear more solid than other shadow entities. She suggested that these very negative beings are seeking to increase their numbers by recruiting an army of people to the dark side.

Biographies : Ghouls
Ghouls

Names
Ghul, Ghulah, Ghul of the waste, Grave-creature, coffin-fiend. Etymologically "Ghul" is a calamity, a panic fear; and the monster is evidently the embodied horror of the grave and the graveyard. It is sometimes confused with the Indian Vetala. The star Algol is also named after this creature from Arabian legend.



Origin
Ghouls have their origin in the Arabic/Persian/Indian tales of Alf Laylah wa Laylah - the Thousand Nights and a Night and in their root stories. The Arabian ghoul lures travelers into the desert wastes to slay and devour them, and also robs graves and feeds on the flesh of the dead, or on young children. As a result of this latter habit, the word ghoul is also used to refer to an ordinary human grave robber, or any individual who delights in the gruesome or morbid.

Some occultists believe that the Ghoul superstition comes from wild animals that disturb graves at night. It is also seen as an embodiment of the natural fear and horror which a man feels when he faces a really dangerous desert.

Ghouls are considered to belong to a true monster race. Allegations that ghouls are created by contamination or when a mortal drinks the blood of a vampire are totally false.

Forms and functions
Ghouls are true cannibals but do not seem to prey on humanity only through necessity. Their appetite is nearly insatiable. In modern fiction, ghouls are often confused with other types of undead, usually the mindless varieties of vampires and zombies. Although modern fiction (post-1968) suggests that the latter beings share cannibalistic habits with ghouls, it is nonetheless generally believed that vampires and zombies prefer live prey and focus on blood or brains.

The Arabian ghoul is known as a desert-dwelling, skin walker demon that can transform itself into the guise of an animal, especially a hyena but in the modern fantasy lore, ghouls do not shift are often described as having the following strengths and weaknesses.

Humanoid. They are gaunt in the face with bulging yellowish eyes, and large mouths lined with rows of tiny razor-sharp teeth. They have long and lanky arms with clawed hands, and they walk on short, sinewy legs. Their skin is a thick and fibrous hide, usually of a light blue-gray color large. Ghouls often appear naked, or wearing the last vestiges of clothing they wore before they became a ghoul. They crave on mammalian flesh (preferably human) taken from the living or recently-dead. They can normally be found prowling cemeteries at night for the newly buried corpses.

Ghouls have relatively low intelligence and are incapable of articulated speech. They have a only a basic understanding of simple tools, and are fundamentally driven by their instincts and lust for food. They are primarily nocturnal, preferring the cover of night to satisfy their vast appetite for human flesh.

When discovered, they will usually hiss and growl to ward off intruders and, if that fails, they will attempt a quick escape. Ghouls will only fight if they are cornered, or if they outnumber the living by at least three to one odds. Single ghouls have been known to attack infants, children, and in rare cases - wounded or sickly adults.¨

Powers
The ghoul is impervious to pain, does not age, needs no air to breathe, and is immune to drugs, poisons, and gases. Guns and knives can wound these creatures, but they will not destroy them, as the ghoul possesses remarkable regenerative powers, enabling them to withstand large caliber weapons and even small explosives.

The ghoul's strength level is at normal human-levels, but they are extremely agile and fast. They use their large claws for digging and cutting through flesh.
The ghoul possess keen night vision similar to a vampire's, and can smell human flesh (alive or dead) from up to a mile away.

Despite their cowardly demeanor, the ghoul can be dangerous. Attacking unmercifully to bring their victims down, especially when they hunt in packs. With their razor-sharp claws and teeth, a pack of four ghouls can bring a full-sized adult human down and devour in under 5 minutes, leaving only the bones for remains.

Weaknesses
The ghoul is a nocturnal creature, and is repelled by sunlight and artificial light. Although neither cause them any real harm, their speed and strength can be drastically reduced when subjecting them to daylight, making them easier to destroy. Ghouls are highly susceptible to fire, and this is the best way to destroy these fiends. A ghoul can be burned and subsequently destroyed by concentrated acid or electrocution as well. Decapitation is also another effective way to destroy a ghoul.

Biographies : Devils
The Devil ( or diábolos = 'slanderer' or 'accuser') is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The Devil is commonly associated with heretics, infidels, and other unbelievers. The Abrahamic religions have variously regarded the Devil as a rebellious fallen angel or demon that tempts humans to sin or commit evil deeds. Others regard the Devil as an allegory that represents a crisis of faith, individualism, free will, wisdom and enlightenment.

In mainstream Christianity, God and the Devil are usually portrayed as fighting over the souls of humans, with the Devil seeking to lure people away from God and into Hell. The Devil commands a force of evil angels, commonly known as demons. The Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament) describes the Adversary (Ha-satan) as an angel who instigates tests upon humankind. Many other religions have a trickster or tempter figure that is similar to the Devil. Modern conceptions of the Devil include the concept that it symbolizes humans' own lower nature or sinfulness.

People put the concept of the Devil to use in social and political conflicts, claiming that their opponents are influenced by the Devil or even willingly supporting the Devil. The Devil has also been used to explain why others hold beliefs that are considered to be false and ungodly.



Devil is a synonym for Satan / Ha-Satan, which descends from the Middle English devel, from Old English , that in turn represents an early Germanic borrowing of Latin diabolus (also the source of "diabolical"). This in turn was borrowed from Ancient Greek diábolos "slanderer",[from diaballein "to slander": dia- "across, through" + ballein "to hurl". In the New Testament, "Satan" occurs more than 30 times in passages alongside diábolos (Ancient Greek for "the devil"), referring to the same person or thing as Satan.

Judaism

In mainstream Judaism there is no concept of a devil like in mainstream Christianity or Islam. In Hebrew, the biblical word ha-satan means "the adversary" or the obstacle, or even "the prosecutor" (recognizing that God is viewed as the ultimate Judge).

Hebrew Apocrypha

The Apocrypha are religious writings which are not generally accepted as scripture by Judaism and many modern-day Protestant sects of Christianity. In the Book of Wisdom, the devil is represented as the one who brought death into the world.

The 2nd Book of Enoch, also called the Slavonic Book of Enoch, contains references to a Watcher Grigori called Satanael. It is a pseudepigraphic text of an uncertain date and unknown authorship. The text describes Satanael as being the prince of the Grigori who was cast out of heaven and an evil spirit who knew the difference between what was "righteous" and "sinful". A similar story is found in the book of 1 Enoch; however, in that book, the leader of the Grigori

In the apocryphal literature, Satan rules over a host of angels. Mastema, who induced God to test Abraham through the sacrifice of Isaac, is identical with Satan in both name and nature.

For the Chasidic Jews of the eighteenth century, Ha-satan was Baal Davar. The Book of Enoch contains references to Satariel, thought also to be Sataniel and Satan'el (etymology dating back to Babylonian origins). The similar spellings mirror that of his angelic brethren Michael, Raphael, Uriel and Gabriel, previous to his expulsion from Heaven.


Christianity

Christian teaching about the Devil



The Devil depicted in the Temptation of Christ, by Ary Scheffer, 1854.

In mainstream Christianity the Devil is known as Satan and sometimes as Lucifer, although it has been noted that the reference in Isaiah 14:12 to Lucifer, or the Son of the Morning, is a reference to the Babylonian king. Some modern Christians consider the Devil to be an angel who, along with one-third of the angelic host (the demons) rebelled against God and has consequently been condemned to the Lake of Fire. He is described as hating all humanity, or more accurately creation, opposing God, spreading lies and wreaking havoc on the souls of mankind. Other Christians consider the devil in the Bible to refer figuratively to human sin and temptation and to any human system in opposition to God.

Satan is often identified as the serpent who convinced Eve to eat the forbidden fruit; thus, Satan has often been depicted as a serpent. Though this identification is not present in the Adam and Eve narrative, this interpretation goes back at least as far as the time of the writing of the book of Revelation, which specifically identifies Satan as being the serpent (Rev. 20:2).
In the Bible, the devil is identified with "The dragon" and "the old serpent" in the Book of Revelation 12:9, 20:2 have also been identified with Satan, as have "the prince of this world" in the Book of John 12:31, 14:30; "the prince of the power of the air" also called Meririm, and "the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience" in the Book of Ephesians 2:2; and "the god of this world" in 2 Corinthians 4:4. He is also identified as the dragon in the Book of Revelation , and the tempter of the Gospels

Beelzebub is originally the name of a Philistine god (more specifically a certain type of Baal, from Ba‘al Zebûb, lit. "Lord of Flies") but is also used in the New Testament as a synonym for Satan. A corrupted version, "Belzeboub," appears in The Divine Comedy.

In other, non-mainstream, Christian beliefs (e.g. the beliefs of the Christadelphians) the word "satan" in the Bible is not regarded as referring to a supernatural, personal being but to any 'adversary' and figuratively refers to human sin and temptation.

Islam

Main article: Devil (Islam)

In Islam the Devil is referred to as Iblis (Arabic: Shaitan, a word referring to evil devil-like beings). According to the Qur'an, God created Iblis out of "smokeless fire" (along with all of the other jinn) and created man out of clay. The primary characteristic of the Devil, besides hubris, is that he has no power other than the power to cast evil suggestions into the heart of men and women.

According to Muslim theology, Iblis was expelled from the grace of God when he disobeyed God by choosing not to pay homage to Adam, the father of all mankind. He claimed to be superior to Adam, on the grounds that man was created of earth unlike himself. As for the angels, they prostrated before Adam to show their homage and obedience to God. However, Iblis, adamant in his view that man is inferior, and unlike angels was given the ability to choose, made a choice of not obeying God. This caused him to be expelled by God, a fact that Iblis blamed on humanity. Initially, the Devil was successful in deceiving Adam, but once his intentions became clear, Adam and Eve repented to God and were freed from their misdeeds and forgiven. God gave them a strong warning about Iblis and the fires of Hell and asked them and their children (humankind) to stay away from the deceptions of their senses caused by the Devil.

According to the verses of the Qur’an, the Devil's mission until the Qiyamah or Resurrection Day (yaum-ul-qiyama) is to deceive Adam's children (mankind). After that, he will be put into the fires of Hell along with those whom he has deceived. The Devil is also referred to as one of the jinns, as they are all created from the smokeless fire. The Qur'an does not depict Iblis as the enemy of God, as God is supreme over all his creations and Iblis is just one of his creations. Iblis's single enemy is humanity. He intends to discourage humans from obeying God. Thus, humankind is warned to struggle (jihad) against the mischiefs of the Satan and temptations he puts them in. The ones who succeed in this are rewarded with Paradise (jannath ul firdaus), attainable only by righteous conduct.


Bahá'í Faith

In the Bahá'í Faith, a malevolent, superhuman entity such as a devil or satan is not believed to exist. These terms do, however, appear in the Bahá'í writings, where they are used as metaphors for the base nature of man. Human beings are seen to have free will, and are thus able to turn towards God and develop spiritual qualities or turn away from God and become immersed in their self-centered desires. Individuals who follow the temptations of the self and do not develop spiritual virtues are often described in the Bahá'í writings with the word satanic.[19] The Bahá'í writings also state that the devil is a metaphor for the "insistent self" or "lower self" which is a self-serving inclination within each individual. Those who follow their lower nature are also described as followers of "the Evil One".

Yazidism

An alternate name for the main deity in the tentatively Indo-European pantheon of the Yazidi, Malek Taus, is Shaitan.Rather than Satanic, however, Yazidism is better understood as a remnant of a pre-Islamic Middle Eastern religion, and/or a ghulat Sufi movement founded by Shaykh Adi. The connection with Satan, originally made by Muslim outsiders, attracted the interest of 19th-century European travelers and esoteric writers.

Neopaganism

Christian tradition has frequently identified pagan religions and witchcraft with the influence of Satan. In the Early Modern Period, the Church accused alleged witches of consorting and conspiring with Satan. Several modern conservative Christian writers, such as Jack Chick and James Dobson, have depicted today's neopagan and witchcraft religions as explicitly Satanic.

Few neopagan reconstructionist traditions recognize Satan or the Devil outright. However, many neopagan groups worship some sort of Horned God, for example as a consort of the Great Goddess in Wicca. These gods usually reflect mythological figures such as Cernunnos or Pan, and any similarity they may have to the Christian Devil seems to date back only to the 19th century, when a Christian reaction to Pan's growing importance in literature and art resulted in his image being translated to that of the Devil.

New Age movement

Participants in the New Age movement have widely varied views about Satan, the Devil, and so forth. In some forms of Esoteric Christianity Satan remains as a being of evil, or at least a metaphor for sin and materialism, but the most widespread tendency is to deny his existence altogether. Lucifer, on the other hand, in the original Roman sense of "light-bringer", occasionally appears in the literature of certain groups as a metaphorical figure quite distinct from Satan, and without any implications of evil. For example, Theosophy founder Madame Blavatsky named her journal Lucifer since she intended it to be a "bringer of light". Many New Age schools of thought follow a nondualistic philosophy that does not recognize a primal force for evil.


The Baphomet, adopted symbol of some Left-Hand Path systems, including Theistic Satanism.

Even when a dualistic model is followed, this is more often akin to the Chinese system of yin and yang, in which good and evil are explicitly not a complementary duality. Schools of thought that do stress a spiritual war between good and evil or light and darkness include the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, Agni Yoga, and the Church Universal and Triumphant.

Satanism

Satanism, LaVeyan Satanism, Setianism, and Theistic Satanism

Some religions worship the Devil. This can be in a polytheistic sense where "God", Satan, and others are all deities with Satan as the preferred patron; or it can be from a more monotheistic viewpoint, where God is regarded as a true god, but is nevertheless defied.

Some variants deny the existence of God and the Devil altogether, but still call themselves Satanists, such as Anton LaVey's Church Of Satan which sees Satan as a representation of the primal and natural state of mankind.

Much "Satanic" lore does not originate from actual Satanists, but from Christians. Best-known would be the medieval folklore and theology surrounding demons and witches. A more recent example is the Satanic ritual abuse scare of the 1980s – beginning with the memoir Michelle Remembers – which depicts Satanism as a vast (and unsubstantiated) conspiracy of elites with a predilection for child abuse and human sacrifice. This genre regularly describes Satan as actually appearing in person in order to receive worship.

Similar concepts in other religions

Zoroastrianism

Main article: Angra Mainyu

In the Gathas, the oldest texts of the Zoroastrian Avesta, believed to have been composed by Zoroaster himself, the poet does not mention a manifest adversary. Ahura Mazda's Creation is "truth", asha. The "lie" (druj) is manifest only as decay or chaos, not an entity.

Later, in Zurvanism (Zurvanite Zoroastrianism), Ahura Mazda and the principle of evil, Angra Mainyu, are the "twin" offspring of Zurvan, 'Time'. No trace of Zurvanism exists after the 10th century.

Today, the Parsis of India largely accept the 19th century interpretation that Angra Mainyu is the 'Destructive Emanation' of Ahura Mazda. Instead of struggling against Mazda himself, Angra Mainyu battles Spenta Mainyu, Mazda's 'Creative Emanation.'

Hinduism

In contrast to Christianity and Islam, Hinduism does not recognize any central evil force or entity such as the Devil opposing God and man. Hinduism does recognize that different beings (e.g., asuras) and entities can perform evil acts, under the temporary dominance of the guna of tamas, and cause worldly sufferings. The Rajasic and Tamasic Gunas of Maya are considered especially close to the Abrahamic concept , the hellish parts of the Ultimate Delusion called "Prakriti". An embodiment of this is the concept of Advaita (non-dualism) where there is no good or evil but simply different levels of realization.

On the other hand in Hinduism, which provides plenty of room for counterpoint, there is also the notion of dvaita (dualism) where there is interplay between good and evil tendencies.[26] A prominent asura is Rahu whose characteristics are similar to those of the Devil. However, Hindus, and Vaishnavites in particular, believe that an avatar of Vishnu incarnates to defeat evil when evil reaches its greatest strength. The concept of Guna and Karma also explain evil to a degree, rather than the influence of a devil.

To be more specific, Hindu philosophy defines that the only existing thing (Truth) is the Almighty God. So, all the asuric tendencies are inferior and mostly exist as illusions in the mind. Asuras are also different people in whom bad motivations and intentions (tamas) have temporarily outweighed the good ones (Sattva). Different beings like siddha, gandharva, yaksha etc. are considered beings unlike mankind, and in some ways superior to men.

In Ayyavazhi, officially an offshoot of Hinduism prominent in Tamil Nadu (a southern state in India with Dravidian heritage), followers, unlike most other branches of Hinduism, believes in a Satan-like figure, Kroni. Kroni, according to Ayyavazhi is the primordial manifestation of evil and manifests in various forms of evil, i.e., Ravana, Duryodhana, etc., in different ages or yugas. In response to such manifestation of evil, believers, in Ayya-Vazhi religion believe that God, as Vishnu manifests in His Avatars such as Rama and Krishna to defeat evil. Eventually, the Ekam with the spirit (the spirit taken by Narayana only for incarnating in the world) of Narayana incarnates in the world as Ayya Vaikundar to destroy the final manifestaion of Kroni, Kaliyan.

Kroni, the spirit of Kali Yuga is said to be omnipresent in this age and that is one reason followers of Ayya Vazhi, like most Hindus, believe that the current yuga, Kali Yuga is so degraded.

Buddhism

Main article: Mara (demon)

A devil-like figure in Buddhism is Mara. He is a tempter, who also tempted Gautama Buddha by trying to seduce him with the vision of beautiful women who, in various legends, are often said to be Mara's daughters. Mara personifies unskillfulness, the "death" of the spiritual life. He tries to distract humans from practicing the spiritual life by making the mundane alluring or the negative seem positive. Another interpretation of Mara is that he is the desires that are present in ones own mind preventing the person from seeing the truth. So in a sense Mara is not an independent being but a part of one's own being that has to be defeated. In daily life of the Buddha the role of devil has been given to Devadatta.
Ancient Egypt


Set (mythology) and Apep

In the Ausarian drama we find that Ausar (Greek: Osiris) is chopped into 13 pieces by Set. Auset (Isis) collects all of his pieces save his phallus. Horus, son of Ausar and Auset sets out to avenge the death and dismemberment of his father by confronting Set. Horus is victorious over Set and Ausar, being brought back from the dead becomes lord of the underworld. It is this drama that gives us the cosmic conflict between good and evil, evil being embodied by Set. This is not to say that Set was always seen as an evil character in Ancient Egyptian theology. There are many times in Ancient Egyptian history where conflicts between different "houses" lead to the depreciation of one god relative to another.

As in most polytheistic faiths, the characters involved differentiate themselves from the Western tradition of a devil in that all the gods are closely related. In this case, numerous historic texts suggest that Set is the Uncle or Brother of Horus and in the "defeat" of Set, we see another separation from the norm in the devouring/assimilation of Set into Horus with the result of Horus having depictions of both the falcon head and the (unknown animal) head of Set. This (like Buddhism) represents a dissolution of dichotomy.




Depiction of the Devil interviewing Mayor Hall

In the Western Christian tradition, the Devil has entered popular folklore, particularly in his role as a trickster figure. As such, he is found as a character in a wide number of traditional folktales and legends from Ireland, Newfoundland, Italy and the United Kingdom, where he often attempts to trick or outwit other characters. In some of these tales, the Devil is portrayed as more of a folk villain than as the personification of evil. The Devil also features prominently in a number of hagiographical tales, or tales of the saints such as the popular tale of St. Dunstan, many of which may fall outside the authorized religious canon. The Devil is also a recurring feature in tales explaining the etymology of geographical names, lending his name to natural formations such as The Devil's Chimney.

Biographies : Succubus & Incubus
In medieval legend, a 'succubus' (plural succubi; from Latin succubare, "to lie under") is a female demon which comes to men, especially monks, in their dreams to seduce them and have sexual intercourse with them, drawing energy from the men to sustain themselves, often until the point of exhaustion or death. This legend was an explanation for the phenomena of wet dreams and sleep paralysis. Lilith and the Lilin ( Jewish), Belili ( Sumerian) and Rusalka ( Slavic) were succubi.

From www.hypnosisinmedia.com.

Incubus and Succubus: In medieval lore, a succubus was a female spirit that would lay with men to steal their seed: it was given as an explanation of night arrousal and wet dreams. It was also paired with the incubus, the male form, sometimes transforming between the two forms to pass along the stolen seed to unknowing women. In later stories, especially in contemporary horror writing, both would be given hypnotic powers that would give them the ability to command and compell members of the opposite sex.

From occultopedia.com

A lewd female demon or goblin which takes on the illusory appearance of a female human being and seeks sexual intercourse with men, usually while they are asleep.

The princess of all the succubi (plural) is Nahemah. Its male counterpart is called Incubus. A semi-human offspring is called Cambion.

According to the view of most medieval theologians, incubi outnumbered succubi by nine to one, but the ladies made up in menace for what they lacked in numbers by being alluring and persuasive, using their considerable charms to seduce men and lead them to eternal damnation.

From Legends of the Succubus

The succubus is a demon from legend that supposedly preys on mortal men while he sleeps; a sexual vampire of sorts. The actual name has its origins from late Latin- succuba meaning prostitute, which in turn comes from medieval Latin sub cubaire meaning 'that which lies beneath'. The male version is the incubus (from Latin- 'that which lies above'). There are some sources who claim that the succubus and the incubus are one and the same creature who can change form at will to prey on mortals.

In medieval times, the succubus was seen as a fearsome creature who killed her victims by drinking their breath. This is interesting in that, at the time, the breath was seen as a part of the person's spirit, and in doing so, the succubus was thought to be stealing the victim's soul. Later, the habits of the succubus were deemed to of a more sexual than vampiric nature, and this notion probably arose from the change in social climate that saw sexual deviancy as a mortal sin, and so, those who committed such a sin against God, were deserving of their fate in some way.

Incubus

The Incubus: According to the church fathers, the incubus was an angel who fell from grace because of his insatiable lust for women. As a demon, the incubus continued with his carnal desires, preying upon vulnerable women, raping them in their sleep or provoking in them sexual desires that only the incubus (sometimes known as the demon lover) could satisfy.

Since demons, according to the traditional wisdom, were only spirits and had no corporeal form, the incubus was presumed to come upon his physical form in one of two ways: he either reanimated a human corpse, or he used human flesh to create a body of his own, which he then endowed with artificial life. Especially mischievous and clever incubi were often able to make themselves appear in the persons of real people - a husband, neighbor, the handsome young stablehand. In one case, a medieval nun seem to have been sexually assaulted by a local prelate, Bishop Sylvanus, but the bishop defended himself on the grounds that an incubus had assumed his form. The convent took his word for it.

So how could a woman tell for sure if her lover was a demon or not? There were a few clues. If she freely admitted the incubus to her bed, it would have the power to put everyone else in the house into a deep sleep - even her husband, who might be lying right beside her. Other clues were even more obvious - the incubus often proved to be a nasty lover, with a sexual organ that was painfully large, freezing cold, made of iron, or even double-pronged.

Occasionally, these unholy unions were thought to create offspring. Any children who were born with a deformity were automatically suspect. Twins were looked at askance, too. The magician Merlin was believed to be the fruit of demonic intercourse. And medieval records are filled with graphic accounts of half-human, half-animal creatures that were reputedly sired by incubi.

But even with all the attention that was paid to them, there never seemed to be a foolproof way of warding off these demon lovers. Sometimes prayer worked, sometimes exorcism and benediction, but in many cases, even these proved futile. According to Ludovico Sinistrari, the seventeenth-century Franciscan friar who authorized Demoniality, incubi "do not obey the exorcists, have no dread of exorcisms, show no reverence for holy things at the approach of which they are not in the least bit overawed...Sometimes they even laugh at exorcisms, strike at the exorcists themselves, and rend the sacred vestments." If they were sufficiently irritated by these attacks, incubi could respond with random violence and mayhem. When Sinistrari himself tried to free a virtuous matron from one persistent incubus, the demon gathered hundreds of roofing stones and with them erected a wall around the woman's bed. When it was finished, the wall was so high, Sinistrari reports, "the couple were unable to leave their bed without using a ladder." (c)

Incubus: An incubus, according to Judeo-Christian legend, is a masculine DEMON sent to bring the souls of young maidens to hell through sexual depravity. Medieval accounts of such diabolical couplings claim that intercourse with these fiends is usually painful and unpleasant, yet women often find incubi irresistibly seductive despite the physical agony. Elders warn against such blasphemous carnal unions, declaring that to have relations with an incubus is the "quickest path to hell."

Men are similarly admonished to avoid the SUCCUBUS, the female version of this notorious demon. They, too, have overwhelming sexual powers and could easily lead men to damnation. (o)

Incubus (etymologically, one who presses upon or crushes) is generally described as a condition appearing while the subject sleeps, and is characterized by three main features: agonizing dread, a sense of oppression or weight upon the chest interfering with respiration, and the illusion of helpless paralysis. In antiquity, the incubus was thought to be lustful and was given various names: e.g., ephialtes (the one who jumps or rests upon, especially in dreams) and faunus (a lustful being). By and large, the Greeks believed that the appearance of these beings in dreams was caused by over-indulgence in eating and drinking, epilepsy, and other diseases - in essence, the consequence of somatic disorders - and treatment was prescribed accordingly. In the Old Testament the incubus was viewed as a voluptuous being eager to mate with women. For Augustine, "Sylvans and Pan [lesser deities of field and forest], who are commonly called incubi, had often performed obscenities on women and attacked and sought congress with them" (De civitate Dei 15.23). This view was perpetuated by the Church Fathers and acquired dramatic representation in the temptations of Anthony, the famous anchorite; it persisted in medieval literature, as in Isidore of Seville's encyclopedic Etymologiae.

Although incubi were considered dreams and illusions by the "Canon Episcopi" (c. 900) and by Gratian's "Decrees" (1140), the Church eventually came to accept their existence as genuine and by equating sorcery with heresy found a way through the Inquisition to exterminate those convicted of being involved with incubi. This position acquired official recognition in the Malleus maleficarum* (1487) and was also accepted by Protestant leaders and by demonologists. In literature, allusions to the incubus appeared in Shakespeare and, later on, among representative Romantic writers.

In the mid-nineteenth century, a psychological interpretation of the incubus was first proposed by the Frenchman Moreau de Tours and by the German Spittberger. The sexual etiology of the symptoms already hinted at (e.g., Robert Burton in his seventeenth-century Anatomy of Melancholy [1.2.2]), became paramount in Freud, who attributed it to the expression of mental conflict over incestuous desire. In his book On the Nightmare, Ernest Jones, one of Freud's staunchest followers, attributed to unresolved sexual conflicts the belief in nightmares, incubi, the vampire, and witches. (q)

Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621; repr. New York: Dutton 1932; New York: Random House, 1977); E. Jones, On the Nightmare (New York: Liverwright, 1931; 2nd ed, 1951). R. H. Robbins, The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology (New York; Crown, 1959), pp. 254-59; H. Daniel, Devils, Monsters, and Nightmares. An Introduction to the Grotesque and Fantastic in Art (New York: Abelard-schuman, 1964); Nicholas Kiessling, The Incubus in English Literature: Provenance and Progeny (Pullman, WA: Washington State University Press, 1977).

Biographies : Fallen Angels
A fallen angel in Jewish, Christian and Islamic mythology is an angel who has been exiled or banished from Heaven. Often such banishment is a punishment for disobeying or rebelling against God

The apocryphal Book of Enoch (3rd~2nd Century BCE) recounts that a group of 200 rebellious angels, or Watchers, left heaven and came down to Earth to marry human women and have children with them

“ And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. - Jude 1:6, KJV ”

The Unitarian Joseph Priestley suggested that the passages refer to Korah. William Graham (1772) suggested that it referred to the spies in Canaan. These passages are generally held today to be commentary, either positive or neutral or negative, on Jewish traditions concerning Enoch circulating in the Early Church


Other possible New Testament examples

The New Testament contains two other possible allusions to fallen angels. The "war in heaven" of Revelation 12, and Christ's reference to the "everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels" at judgement in Matthew 25. These two examples do not specifically mention a "fall" of angels, but this may be implied in the use of apocalyptic Jewish themes. An explicit reference to a "fall" is found in Luke 10:18, often read as concerning the "fall" of Satan himself, although the New Testament never explicitly identifies Satan himself as an "angel". The translation "fall from heaven, like lightning" or "fall, like lightning from heaven" is disputed.

Early Christianity


From the 5th Century CE, literature develops about Lucifer, a name frequently attributed to the Devil in Christian belief. This usage stems from a particular interpretation of Isaiah 14:3-20, by Origen and others, that speaks of someone who is given the name of "Day Star" or "Morning Star" (in Latin, Lucifer) as fallen from heaven. The Latin word lucifer, "shining one", however, does not refer to Satan anywhere in the Bible. Some see the passage as using this name to describe the king of Babylon, who had exalted himself as being deity himself, after which God would cast him down. Similar terminology is used in Ezekiel to describe the king of Tyre. The Greek word used in the Septuagint of Isaiah 14;12 is (Heosphoros, "dawn-bearer"), not ;, the etymological synonym of Latin lucifer, used in 2 Peter 1:19 of the morning star, which is mentioned also elsewhere in the Bible with no reference to Satan.

Satan is called Lucifer in many later writings, notably John Milton's Paradise Lost (7.131-134, etc.), in which Milton writes that Satan was "brighter once amidst the host of Angels, than the sun amidst the stars."



Islam

The Quran mentions angels (malak) around ninety times, usually in the plural and referring to obedient angels.

The Quran states that Satan was a Jinn (as in Islam, angels do not have free will and act only as instruments of Allah) though he is addressed with the angels in verses (2:34, 7:11, 15:29, 17:61, 18:50, 20:116, 38:71) prior to his fall. Satan (also called Iblis from Greek diabolos, "the devil") rebelled and was banished on earth, and he vowed to create mischief on earth after being given respite by Allah till the Day of Judgment, according to verses (80-85:38). Apparently Jinns, like humans, have a choice about which side to be on, and will be judged on the last day.


Prospects for salvation of fallen angels

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, angels were all created as good beings, but some decided to become evil. Angels do not need faith as they already have the knowledge of celestial things, which means their action constitutes unforgivable sin. Matthew 12:32 clarifies unforgivable sin as meaning that the sinner is not forgiven in "this age or the age to come." For most Christians this would not mean that those who have committed this sin may be redeemed after the passage of two ages, since "the age to come" (or World to Come) is usually interpreted to mean an eternal period after the eschaton.

It was claimed by many 19th Century Universalists writers, such as Thomas Allin (1891), that Clement of Alexandria, Origen and Gregory of Nyssa taught that even the Devil and fallen angels will eventually be saved

Biographies : Blood Dolls
A Blood Doll is a mortal who freely lets vampires drink from them. Frequently found as members of subcultures such as the Goths, blood dolls seek a perverse thrill from the Kiss, but their tendency to actively seek out vampires to give it to them means that they unwittingly walk a very thin and dangerous line with their lives


As blood doll knowledge is a case by case thing, you've probably got a variety of different levels of it, but they're all after the same thing - they're addicted to the pleasure of the bite. It's not subconscious, they know they can get this pleasure by doing certain things and going to certain places and they actively seek it out. Those that stumbled upon things might have worked out that there are vampires, or at least "beings" with "powers" who are "different". They are unlikely to know much more then that. They certainly would be unlikely to be privy to knowledge about clans, sects, vampire organisation and hierarchies or anything of that nature. They're just there for the ride, man. Particularly favoured and trusted blood dolls might be told more and more as they make their way toward ghouldom (if that's their destiny). As long as they don't go blabbing to anyone, there's no breach. If they do go blabbing then they'll probably meet with an unfortunate accident involving the Sheriff and a very tall bridge.


Since feeding from a mortal is in the strictest sense a breech of the Masquerade, but Elder's turn a blind eye if it occurs in one of the clubs or places that are frequented by blood dolls, are the mortals that frequent/work these places conscious of what's going on there? And when a vampire feeds from a mortal/blood doll, is there like some natural haze the mortal goes into to make them not remember?

Biographies : Phoenix
Phoenix.... Mystical, powerful Phoenix.

These dudes are amazing. They're mythical "Fire Spirits" with a 1000 year lifespan and the ability to be reborn. When a Phoenix dies, it settles into a nest, ignites, and from the flames comes a brand new Phoenix (or an egg containing one), ready to invigorate the imagination of a new generation. In some stories, Phoenixes can also transform into people.


The phoenix is a mythical bird which turns to ashes on dying and is born again from the ashes. This ability of the phoenix to rise again from its ashes implies its immortality. In some legends the new phoenix is believed to be the offspring of the dead phoenix. Some stories depict the phoenix as having the magical ability to transform into human beings.


Describe the phoenix?

The phoenix is a sacred firebird having a colorful plumage and a tail having streaks of gold, purple, scarlet or blue as depicted in some legends. The life-cycle of a phoenix can extend up to 1000years. Interestingly at the end of its life span, the phoenix rests in a nest of twigs which burns and gets reduced to ashes. From these ashes is reborn a young phoenix which lives the new life again for the predestined number of years as the old phoenix. The call of the phoenix is said to represent a melodious song. And it survives on odoriferous gums and frankincense rather than the customary fruits and flowers.



How is the Phoenix identified by the Egyptians and Greeks?

When the young phoenix rises from the ashes of its parent bird, it rests in the nest till it has grown and then flies with the nest to Egypt, where it deposits the nest in the sun temple in the holy city of Heliopolis. The Greeks identified the phoenix with the picture resembling an eagle or peacock in crimson color. According to Greek legend the phoenix lived in a palm tree near a well. Every dawn it bathed in the well singing a beautiful song which makes even Helios, the Greek sun-god stop by to listen to its melodious song.



What is the symbolic representation of the Phoenix?

Symbols generally tend to have multiple meaning and so is the case with the symbol of the phoenix as existing in different cultures. In the medieval period, the phoenix was symbolic of Jesus Christ. The legendary firebird which is reduced to ashes by its self-made fire rises again periodically to symbolize mystical rebirth and resurrection. As such the symbol of the phoenix represents life and immortality. The phoenix is often regarded as the symbol of the fiery sun and worshipped by the Phoenicians as “a God of Phoenicia”



How is the phoenix represented in various legends?

The phoenix is represented differently in other cultures as the Garuda, the mythical bird in the legends of ancient India, Ziz in Hebrew legend to refer to the mythical bird which is seen as a protector of other birds. In Russian mythology the phoenix exists as the firebird while Bennu is the Egyptian equivalent of the phoenix. In Finnish folklore the phoenix exists in the form of Kokko represented as a bird of fire and iron. The Fenghuang is the Chinese phoenix, while Adarna is the Phillipine version of the phoenix.

Biographies : Fauns & Satyrs
The faun (also phaunos or faunus) is a rustic forest god or place-spirit (genii) of Roman mythology often associated with Greek satyrs and the Greek god Pan

Origins

The faun is a half human - half goat (from the head to the waist being the human half, but with the addition of goat's horns) manifestation of forest and animal spirits which would help or hinder humans at whim. Romans believed fauns inspired fear in men traveling in lonely, remote or wild places. They were also capable of guiding humans in need, as in the fable of The Satyr and the Traveller, in the title of which Latin authors substituted the word Faunus. Fauns and satyrs were originally quite different creatures: whereas fauns are half-man and half-goat, satyrs originally were depicted as stocky, hairy, ugly dwarfs or woodwoses with the ears and tails of horses or asses.

Ancient Roman mythological belief also included a god named Faunus and a goddess named Fauna who were goat people

Satyr


In Greek mythology, satyrs (UK:/) are a troop of male companions of Pan and Dionysus — "satyresses" were a late invention of poets — that roamed the woods and mountains. In myths they are often associated with pipe-playing.

The satyrs' chief was Silenus, a minor deity associated (like Hermes and Priapus) with fertility. These characters can be found in the only complete remaining satyr play, Cyclops, by Euripides, and the fragments of Sophocles' The Tracking Satyrs (Ichneutae). The satyr play was a short, lighthearted tailpiece performed after each trilogy of tragedies in Athenian festivals honoring Dionysus. There is not enough evidence to determine whether the satyr play regularly drew on the same myths as those dramatized in the tragedies that preceded. The groundbreaking tragic playwright Aeschylus is said to have been especially loved for his satyr plays, but none of them have survived.

Attic painted vases depict mature satyrs as being strongly built with flat noses, large pointed ears, long curly hair, and full beards, with wreaths of vine or ivy circling their balding heads. Satyrs often carry the thyrsus: the rod of Dionysus tipped with a pine cone.

Satyrs acquired their goat-like aspect through later Roman conflation with Faunus, a carefree Italic nature spirit of similar characteristics and identified with the Greek god Pan. Hence satyrs are most commonly described in Latin literature as having the upper half of a man and the lower half of a goat, with a goat's tail in place of the Greek tradition of horse-tailed satyrs; therefore, satyrs became nearly identical with fauns. Mature satyrs are often depicted in Roman art with goat's horns, while juveniles are often shown with bony nubs on their foreheads.

Satyrs are described as roguish but faint-hearted folk — subversive and dangerous, yet shy and cowardly.[citation needed] As Dionysiac creatures they are lovers of wine and women, and they are ready for every physical pleasure. They roam to the music of pipes (auloi), cymbals, castanets, and bagpipes, and they love to dance with the nymphs (with whom they are obsessed, and whom they often pursue), and have a special form of dance called sikinnis. Because of their love of wine, they are often represented holding wine cups, and they appear often in the decorations on wine cups.

Biographies : Giants
Giants play many different roles in myth and legend. These mythical beings, much bigger than people, usually have human form, but some are monstrous in appearance. Giants often seem to be cruel and evil, although they may be merely clumsy or stupid. In some myths and legends, however, they are friendly and helpful or at least neutral.

Giants can represent powerful natural forces that frighten and threaten humans. In the mythology of the Native American Lakota people, Waziya is a northern giant who blows the winter wind. In some traditions, a giant appears as a symbol of chaos, threatening to disrupt the orderly natural world or social community.

The evil giants of myth generally need to be defeated, either by humans or by supernatural beings such as gods. Although immensely powerful, these creatures fall when faced with bravery and cleverness. This victory of wit over brute strength occurs in the biblical story of David, who kills the giant Goliath with a stone from his sling, and in the English folktale of Jack the Giant-Killer, who vanquishes the giant Blunderbore.

Occasionally, cruel and kind giants appear in the same myth. The Mensa people of Ethiopia tell a story about a man who tries to steal cattle from one of the Rom, a tribe of giants. Enraged, the giant tries to kill the man. As the man flees, another giant befriends him and hides him in his cloak. Unfortunately, the man is crushed when the two giants come to blows.

Greek Giants. The word giant comes from the Greek Gigantes (meaning earthborn), a race of huge creatures who were the offspring of Gaia, the earth, and Uranus, the heavens. These giants were half man, half monster, with serpents' tails instead of legs. After Gaia became angry with Zeus, the father of the Olympian gods, the giants and the Olympians engaged in a war to the death known as the Gigantomachy.

The gods needed the help of a human hero because the giants could not be killed by gods. Zeus therefore fathered a son, the mighty Hercules*, whose mother was a human. The two sides met in battle at the home of the giants, a place called Phlegra (Burning Lands). The giants hurled huge rocks and mountaintops and brandished burning oak trees. The gods fought back strongly, and Hercules picked off the giants one by one with his arrows. Many Greek sculptors and artists depicted the Gigantomachy, with the mask.


Many stories in Native American mythology describe giants with monstrous features. This wooden mask of a giant was made by the Tsimshian people of the northwest coast of North America.
chaos great disorder or confusion

supernatural related to forces beyond the normal world; magical or miraculous

* See Names and Places at the end of this volume for further information.

gods' victory over the giants, as the triumph of Greek civilization over barbarism, or of good over evil.

Two special groups of giants, also the children of Gaia, were the Cyclopes* and the Hundred-Armed giants. The three Cyclopes each had one eye in the middle of the forehead. The three Hundred-Armed giants each had 50 heads and 100 arms. Both groups were loyal to Zeus. The Hundred-Armed giants were the jailors of Tartarus, the place of punishment in the underworld.


Norse Giants. Giants appear in numerous myths of northern Europe. The giants' realm was a place called Jotunheim, located in Midgard, the center of the three-tiered Norse* universe. There they dwelt in a huge castle called Utgard.

Norse myths, like Greek myths, say that the gods fought and conquered the race of giants. Yet the gods and the giants were not always enemies. Friendship and even marriage could occur between them. Male deities mated with female giants. The mother of the thunder god Thor was a giantess named Jord, for example. However, the gods violently resisted all attempts by giants to mate with goddesses. The giant Hrungir built a wall around Asgard, the home of the gods, and for payment desired the goddess Freyja. But he received only a crushing blow from Thor's hammer.

Many myths concern Thor's conflict with the giants. In one tale, he journeyed to Utgard to challenge the giants. The giants beat Thor and his companions at several tests of strength but only by using trickery. In one contest, Thor lost a wrestling match to an old woman who was in fact Age, which overcomes all. Though the gods were not always good and the giants were not always bad, the struggle between the two groups constitutes one of the underlying themes of Norse mythology and often symbolizes the struggle of good against evil.


Native American Giants. Most Native American giants are evil and dangerous. Some start fights among humans so that in the confusion they can steal the men's wives. Others steal children, sometimes to eat them. Many Native American giants have monstrous or inhuman features. Tall Man, a giant of the Seminole people, smells bad, while giants in Lakota stories look like oxen.

The Shoshone Indians of the American West tell stories of Dzoavits, an ogre or hideous giant who stole two children from Dove. Eagle helped Dove recover her children. When the angry Dzoavits chased Dove, other animals protected her. Crane made a bridge from his leg so she could cross a river. Weasel dug an escape tunnel for her, and Badger made a hole where Dove and her children could hide. After tricking Dzoavits into entering the wrong hole, Badger sealed him in with a boulder.


Ancestral Giants. The myths of various cultures associate giants with primal times. Sometimes giants figure in the creation of the world. Norse mythology says that the first thing to appear out of chaos was the frost giant Ymir, father of both giants and people,

Giants Under the Earth

Some myths use giants to explain features of the natural world. For example, during the struggle in which the Greek gods overcame the giants, several fallen giants became part of the landscape. As the giant Enceladus ran from the battlefield, the goddess Athena smashed him with the island of Sicily. Thereafter, he lay imprisoned under the island, breathing his fiery breath out through the volcano called Etna. Under Vesuvius, a volcano on the Italian mainland, lay another giant, Mimas. Hephaestus, the god of metalsmiths, buried him there under a heap of molten metal.

barbarism savage or primitive state

underworld land of the dead

primal earliest; existing before other things

who had to die so that the earth could be formed from his body. The giant Pan Gu fills a similar role in Chinese mythology. Aboriginal people in northwestern Australia have stories about the two Bagadjimbiri brothers, both giants and creator gods, who made the landscape and people. When they died, their bodies became water snakes and their spirits became clouds. According to the Akamba people of Kenya, a giant hunter named Mwooka created the mountains and rivers.

Myths from many parts of the world say that in some remote time human ancestors were giants and that they have shrunk down to their present size over a very long period. Other stories tell of giants living among people at an earlier time in history. Gog and Magog are two giants of British myth. Brutus, the legendary founder of Britain, is said to have conquered them. In Jewish myth, a race of giants lived in the world along with people before the great Flood that wiped out most living things. One giant, Og, survived the Flood by hitching a ride on Noah's Ark. Later, however, he came into conflict with Noah's descendants, and the prophet Moses had to kill him.

The Cyclops were represented as one-eyed giants in Greek mythology. Cyclops are also called Cyclopes.

According to the Greek epic poet Hesiod, the Cyclops were the sons of Uranus (Sky) and Gaia (Earth). The names of Hesiod's Cyclops were Argos, Steropes, and Brontes. The Cyclops, Titans, and Hecatonchires or hundred-handers may all have been children of Uranus and Gaia. Even though he was their father, Uranus had the nasty habit of keeping all his children imprisoned -- in Gaia.

When the Titan Cronus decided to help his mother, Gaia, by overthrowing his father, Uranus, the Cyclops assisted. For their favor, the fearful Cronus imprisoned them in Tartarus.

Zeus, overthrowing his father (Cronus) in turn, set the Cyclops free. Since they were metal workers and blacksmiths, they gave Zeus the gift of thunder and lightning as thanks. The Cyclops also gifted the gods Poseidon with a trident and Hades with the Helmet of Darkness.

Apollo slew the Cyclops after they struck his son Asclepius with lightning.

Besides Hesiod, the other major Greek epic poet and transmitter of Greek mythology was Homer. Homer's Cyclops are the sons of Poseidon. They share with Hesiod's Cyclops immense size, strength and the single eye. The giant Polyphemus, whom Odysseus encounters, is a cyclops.

Biographies : Goblins
Goblins are small, green (or yellow-green) creatures with pointy features and high intelligence (though often little common sense).

A number of trade princes rule over the various goblin holdings around the world. Though the trade princes all live in the goblin city of Undermine on the Isle of Kezan, they each control their own private armies and trade fleets. In turn, each controls rings of trade, mining, deforestation, slave rings, and poaching.

Goblins are small humanoids, crafty and shrewd, bearing an overwhelming interest in commerce and a strong curiosity about mechanical things. Goblin society is fragmented, defined chiefly by commerce and trade. The ultimate schemers and con artists, goblins are always in search of a better deal. Despite their seemingly chaotic natures, they exist in a fairly strict and straightforward hierarchy. Other races universally view goblins as inventors, merchants and, without exception, maniacs. Goblins value technology as a useful aspect of commerce. Some say that their advantage — and their curse — is to be the primary users of technology in a world governed by magic. While dwarves and gnomes share a similar gift, goblin technology is more far-reaching and sinister and makes a larger impact on the natural world.

They employ vast teams of engineers who expand on current technology and produce gadgets to suit a wide array of applications. They constantly build and repair machines and work on new ideas. Unfortunately, goblins alternate passionate genius with wandering focus. Their lack of discipline means that many creations end up half finished as something else catches their attention. Goblin workmanship has a partially deserved reputation for unreliability, and a goblin device may explode simply because its creator forgot to add a vital release valve. Goblins are envious of the Ironforge dwarves’ invention of firearms, both from a commercial and a technological standpoint. Goblins recognize that firearms represent a new source of power, and he who controls the source controls the gold — which is, to goblins, the ultimate power. Fortunately for the rest of the world, goblin firearm experimentation suffers from the race’s normal laxity — and improperly tended gunpowder experiments continue to end the careers of many aspiring goblin tinkers. However, goblin ingenuity has paid off a few times; goblin gunpowder weapons tend to be inelegant and violently explosive (land mines, rockets and the like).

A number of trade princes rule over Azeroth's various goblin holdings. Though the trade princes all live in the goblin island city of Undermine far from Kalimdor and the eastern continents, each controls his own private army and trade fleet. Each trade prince has his own specialty, monopolizing trade in a certain area, such as mining, deforestation, slavery or poaching. The trade princes are the most cunning of their race and stop at nothing to amass their fortunes and power, whether through legitimate means or via black markets and treachery. Goblins encountered on Kalimdor and the eastern continents are freelancers, privateers or agents of Undermine’s trade princes. Goblins are tenacious fighters. They attack from range with crossbows or firearms (making individual modifications to dwarf-made weapons) and use maces, short swords or bizarre, home-brewed steam weaponry in melee. When attacked in their warrens, they fight with tools as well. Goblins have a good grasp of tactics and strategy, and are masters of siege warfare. Their love of large machines makes them ideal mercenaries for attacking fortifications.

Goblins are shrewd in business, and clients who believe they walked away with the upper hand are almost always sorely mistaken. "To cheat a goblin" is a dwarven idiom meaning "to do what is practically impossible." ("Gamgi cheated a goblin when he escaped that cave-in!") Goblins are also consummate tricksters and con artists. Their mission in the world is to create incredible new inventions, accrue the resulting wealth, and cause as much subtle mischief as possible along the way.


Old friends, the goblins fought with the Horde in the Second War, but broke off when they realized that it's more profitable to work both sides. However, many goblins remember the fun of the Horde and are willing to lower mercenary prices to Thrall and his people. Goblins offer almost exclusive transport services for the Horde, whether in their steamboats or zeppelins. You’re more likely to find a team of goblin sappers, who take great pleasure in the chaos the Horde creates, meshed into Horde forces than those of the Alliance. Perhaps with enough persuasion, the goblins could be convinced to rejoin the Horde for the first time since the Second War (although that could be just as harmful as helpful, knowing the goblins).


Marin Noggenfogger
Gazlowe
Baron Revilgaz
Mogul Razdunk
Kryll
Landro Longshot
Trade Prince Gallywix
Boss Mida

Appearance


The male goblin's face.

Goblins are slight and wiry, averaging 3 feet in height and weighing between 30 and 50 pounds. They have long, sharp noses, chins and ears, and green skin. Their arms are long and slender and their fingers deft. They tend to wear leather clothing, often cut into aprons to protect against caustic fluids. Goggles usually cover their eyes, and various technological devices are strapped across their bodies. Goblins that have hair often have it as Mohawks, ponytails, or spiky. They are commonly heard speaking with a Brooklyn or New Jersey-style accent.

Currently in World of Warcraft most male and female goblins use a reskinned male dwarf graphic model. In World of Warcraft: Cataclysm they will receive their own graphic models.[citation needed]

Relations

Goblins are a wily, cunning race of traders and tinkers whom adventurers typically encounter as parts of trading envoys or on pirate raids. Goblin ships frequent the seas, ferrying or seeking riches, slaves or exotic wares. Kalimdor's main goblin port is the party town of Ratchet, a harbor city located on the eastern shore of the Barrens directly between Durotar and Theramore. Goblin trade outposts are found everywhere, including all major cities and such inhospitable realms as Northrend and Stranglethorn Vale. Their zeppelins run a wealthy business ferrying passengers across kingdoms and continents. Goblins tolerate carrying armed passengers in their zeppelins, however, they don't transport cannons or heavy artillery in their zeppelins because that could compromise their neutrality.

Goblins are neutral and take pains to make sure their nearby customers play nice with each other. Goblin guards patrol Ratchet and a few of the other goblin settlements, keeping tabs on the various Horde and Alliance visitors. Despite these enforcers however, the goblins' neutral settlements can still be dangerous places, as members of either faction will often still attack each other in the belief that they can evade the guards. With the exception of Ratchet, their settlements generally have a consistent appearance and construction.

Traveling goblin merchants employ bodyguards to protect them and their wares. Goblins are independent. Goblins hired themselves out to the Horde in the Second War, but now they belong only to themselves and whoever pays them. Constantly building and inventing requires massive resources, both for creating the machines themselves and maintaining those that actually work. Cannibalizing old machines only partially sustains this fervent activity of creation, so goblins rely on trade with as many races and cultures as possible. They are the quintessential merchants, peddling all manner of exotic goods for the highest possible prices.


A goblin from the Warcraft II manual.

Goblin mechanical and mercantile pursuits are not always (or even often) performed within the bounds of polite society. Though not evil, goblins are willing to embark on shady business ventures — slavery, deforestation, poaching, smuggling and oil drilling, for example — to accomplish their goals. They are opportunists to the core and revel in bartering the better deal at every turn. Goblins try to get along with all other races. Doing so is part of their business. Nevertheless, everyone views goblins with justified suspicion. Night elves in particular dislike the goblins because the little creatures have no respect for nature or natural resources.

Goblins are a capitalistic bunch and most buy or sell anything to make a profit. Goblin merchants love to haggle, have excellent wares and are too smart to be cheated — or so they claim. Most big cities have at least one stationary goblin merchant shop, managed by a goblin family. The heads of the family run the shop while the younger goblins travel the land to find, buy or steal the inventory. They sell to anyone: Alliance, Horde, or Independent. Some even deal with demons if the price is right. Some goblins drive their carts from town to town, buying and selling as they go. These carts look rickety and secondhand, but the appearance is likely a diversion. A goblin’s cart is usually in perfect driving condition; the goblin never knows when he may have to leave town quickly or outrun an enraged customer. These merchants are often less than reputable and more likely to have items that they cannot identify themselves. Goblin merchant houses are not necessarily places to avoid, however. Often a hero can discover hard-to-find items, even rare or magic items, within the walls. As long as the hero is able to spot a bad deal, it should be safe for him to enter.

The goblins are an unbending bunch, refusing any sort of barter and demanding to be paid only in gold. There is a saying around Ratchet: If a traveling goblin merchant were starving to death and someone offered to trade food for the goblin’s merchandise, he’d starve before he accepted anything but gold. A customer who enters a goblin shop intending to barter finds himself laughed out into the street. The goblins do not even allow their employees to receive discounts or work for merchandise. Goblins deal only in gold. The merchants accept gold in any form and have precise scales to aid their customers. Goblins accept recently mined nuggets, panned dust or defaced Alliance gold coins that would be refused in other areas. They are grumpier about accepting silver, but do so.

Horde and Alliance

Tinker

The goblins care little for the Alliance and Horde conflicts; what concerns them, as usual, is the effect these events have on their cash flow. The goblins do not, as a rule, like the Scourge, as the undead threatened to wipe out the entire populations of the Alliance and Horde, leaving the goblins with no customers. War is profitable for the goblins; annihilation is not. Once they served as suicide mercenaries for the Horde; now the goblins have made their place as the strongest merchant race in the world. If one wants to purchase something, whether it is supplies, equipment, weapons, magic items or even slaves, the goblins either have it or know where to get it. All that matters in their eyes is the price.

The goblins like a balance of power. Military conflicts make money for the goblins as the combatants purchase supplies, and if the two sides are evenly matched, conflicts could go on for generations. This promises fat purse bags for the goblins for years to come. The goblins helped out the Horde for years because of this, but now they feel the Horde has come to match the Alliance in power, and they rest in the neutral middle, satisfied to play mercenary and merchant to either side.

The goblins understand the Alliance better than they understand the neutral races, as they have a long history of dealings with the Alliance. As merchants, they are frequently found in Theramore, and as mercenaries, they may even be found among the Alliance armies. True business entrepreneurs, goblins understand their customers very well and almost always know what they want. Their favorite Alliance customers are the high elves, who jump at the chance to buy magical items. Although many in the Alliance consider the goblin mercenaries to be war profiteers, they are not above using them. If they have no tinkers, or their tinkers have died in a previous battle, they sometimes have to go to the goblins for repairs or supplies. And the goblins are always ready to help a customer, for the right price. The goblins’ skills certainly don’t stop at trade. Although not as talented at the invention of firearms as the Ironforge dwarves, the goblins have refined their inventing talents to create a handful of very useful tools that are, of course, for sale. Since the latest conflicts, the goblins have modified their marketing tactics to focus on pushing their deforestation operations to the night elves, of all races, to help clear out the cursed Felwood Forest. They also sell their zeppelins to the night elves, so that these customers can spot and put an end to deforestation. They made a great deal of money selling items to help the Alliance fight Illidan and his army of blood elves and naga, and constantly remind the Alliance members who travel through Ratchet that Illidan is still out there and supplies are always needed. Some merchants are able to mask the tone of glee in their voices while saying this, but most don’t bother.

The Horde and the goblins get along fairly well, as the orcs remember the (well-paid) sacrifice of the goblins for their cause in earlier wars. They still purchase zeppelins and other goblin services. The goblins often enjoy the company of the orcs, and the war veterans from both races will get together and drink if offered the opportunity.[18] Old friends, the goblins fought with the Horde in the Second War, but broke off when they realized that it’s more profitable to work both sides. However, many goblins remember the fun of the Horde and are willing to lower mercenary prices to Thrall and his people. Goblins offer almost exclusive transport services for the Horde, whether in their steamboats or zeppelins. You’re more likely to find a team of goblin sappers, who take great pleasure in the chaos the Horde creates, meshed into Horde forces than those of the Alliance. Perhaps with enough persuasion, the goblins could be convinced to rejoin the Horde for the first time since the Second War (although that could be just as harmful as helpful, knowing the goblins).


Goblin zeppelin

Perhaps the only remaining goblin scruple is that they will not betray a customer. While they understand each side of the war very well, if the Alliance is paying them for services, merchant or mercenaries, they will not act as double agents for the Horde. This is as close to honor as the goblins usually get.

Goblins don't like gnomes much, as they are the two races that are best at engineering. They often combat in engineering, like at the Mirage Raceway in Shimmering Flats. It is hard to say who is the best at engineering, the goblins or gnomes.

After the Cataclysm however, the goblins of Kezan are forced to join the Horde when they encounter the Alliance in the Lost Isles.

Allegiance
There appear to be some goblins still working with the Horde found in Ashenvale, Orgrimmar, Camp Mojache, and Thousand Needles; even then, goblins working for the Horde run the zeppelin system. Recently goblins have joined the Warsong Offensive, some even displaying the Horde symbol on their tabard. and fighting on the front lines. Also, there are a handful that seem to be in the pay of the Alliance, such as the SI:7 agent Renzik "The Shiv".
Other goblins are found in the employ of the Burning Blade, and the Black Dragonflight.

Other goblin races

Hobgoblin
Gilgoblin

In Manual of Monsters Appendix Three, two other kind of goblins are mentioned: Coal Goblin and Spider-Eye Goblin, however the validity of this source is disputed.
Inspirations

It is a widely supported, yet unproven theory that the main inspirations for the goblins were the Gremlins of their destructive nature and looks, as well as the Ferengi of Star Trek, for their industrialized society where one's worth is equal to the belongings he can gather and hold, though this trait seemed to only develop after the Second War, or more precisely, after Warcraft II.

Although Ferengi had been introduced in Star Trek around the beginning of the 1990's (in The Next Generation), most of the traits common between Goblins and Ferengi were introduced in Deep Space Nine, which began running in late 1993, when Warcraft II was well in development. By the time production of Warcraft III began in the late 90's, the lore and culture of the Ferengi was much more developed.

Prior to Warcraft III, goblins had been depicted in a way more consistent with Games Workshops' "gretchen", which in the Warhammer and 40k universes are a lesser sub-species of Orks who are bullied into doing dangerous jobs and building weapons and vehicles for the benefit of regular Orks.

[www.wowwiki.com]



A goblin is a legendary evil or mischievous illiterate creature, described as a grotesquely evil or evil-like phantom.
They are attributed with various (sometimes conflicting) abilities, temperaments and appearances depending on the story and country of origin. In some cases, goblins have been classified as constantly annoying little creatures somewhat related to the brownie and gnome. They are usually depicted as small, sometimes only a few inches tall, sometimes the size of a dwarf. They also often are said to possess various magical abilities.


Origins in folklore




In "The Goblin Field" (Moldova), Goblins were described as 2–3 feet tall, thin and brown. Most were bald and "if there were females among the group they could not be distinguished from the males". They seemed to exist in two realms, one physical and one spirit. They were fiercely loyal and allied with particular sorcerer or witch tribes, whom they protected and served as an equally allied tribe rather than servants or slaves. "This perception might seem a bit strange to any not accustomed to the goblin outlook" because the goblins often did what might be considered slave work for very little in return.

They could be called by an allied individual or group, summoned by spell, or called to bargain at particular places by individuals or groups not known to them. Because of their power they were much sought after, but because of the corruption of mankind, rarely found. Crossing them was a thing to avoid as they had refined a grudge to a fine art. They could be fierce and mind-numbingly frightening, and only the hardiest of souls were sent to strike a bargain with them. However they had a side which few ever saw, which was their great love for those who were able to create an understanding and friendship with them. At the passing of such a person, they would treat the body with proper respect and then quietly weep.


Goblins play an important role in JK Rowling's Harry Potter series. The goblins guard the wizard bank Gringotts and are portrayed as being clever but arrogant, greedy and churlish.

The orcs in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit are also referred to as goblins. These works, featuring goblins of almost-human stature, generally set the tone for the depiction of goblins in modern fantasy fiction and games.
Goblins are portrayed as roughly half the size of adult humans as non-player characters in the tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, which influenced most later depictions including the online games Tibia, RuneScape and World of Warcraft (they become a playable race in the WoW expansion World of Warcraft: Cataclysm). In the 1980s Goblins were depicted as a separate race subservient to the Orcs in the Games Workshop tabletop game Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. Games Workshop also popularized the depiction of goblins with bright green skin. Warcraft adopted both of these concepts from Warhammer. The Warcraft goblins are very technologically advanced. Goblins are also present as the first tier creature in the Orc faction in Heroes of Might and Magic V: Tribes of the East.


Many other works also continue the folkloric presentation of goblins as diminutive, as in the 1986 film Labyrinth, the Harry Potter books and film series, and the film Legend.

Despite its title, goblins are featured as the main villains in the cult film Troll 2.

The Complete Encyclopedia of Elves, Goblins, and Other Little Creatures depicts them as originating in the British Isles, from whence they spread by ship to all of Continental Europe. They have no homes, being wanderers, dwelling temporarily in mossy cracks in rocks and tree roots.

In Enid Blyton's Noddy children's books and adaptations, there are two goblins named Sly and Gobbo, who are often very mischievous.

There are many (human) villains in the Spider-Man franchise whose names include "goblin", and who use a goblin motif, such as several incarnations of the Green Goblin as well as Hobgoblin and Demogoblin.

In The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, the goblins appear as greenskinned creatures, a little shorter than humans, carrying iron weapons and sometimes lockpicks. They are seen as "dirty little beasts", as one character refers to them. Usually, goblins can be found in sewers or abandoned houses and forts.

Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl depicts goblins as having close ancestry with lizards, which would explain their lidless eyes (and their need to lick them as they can dry up), forked tongue and scaly skin. The goblins in the series are dull-witted and have a non-magical ability to conjure fireballs.

In The Spiderwick Chronicles, goblins are portrayed as small, grotesque toadlike creatures who are born without teeth and so use broken glass and rocks to replace them. They have a chaotic behaviour and will only behave orderly if ordered so by a more powerful villain, such as the ogre called Mulgarath.

In 1907 an American James Murray Spangler, who was employed as a cleaner, designed the first miniature electric cleaner. he sold the patent to a harness maker named Hoover. By the 1920s a man named Bothe began producing a range of electric cleaners under the Goblin name. The Teasmade can only have been British! Goblin started manufacturing in 1933, bringing out a radio alarm clock in 1947, but it took another 30 years to combine the pair.

Biographies : Trolls
European mythology gives us the troll, a creature with many variations but all quite ugly and malicious. The gigantic troll was often dim witted and lived in caves with a fondness for human flesh. Eventually, dwarf sized trolls emerged from the mythology. These smaller trolls were not as large or as strong as the giant trolls, but just as dangerous.

Trolls were popular in Scandinavian folklore. There is much written about the trolls' habits, including an aversion to noise and sunlight. A troll could be destroyed by sunlight, which could turn them into stone. If a person learned a troll's name, they would have the power to destroy it, though retrieving the name of the troll often resulted in the death of the person prior to the death of the troll.

A nasty habit of the troll was to steal babies and seduce wives. This usually created an unpopularity of the troll with mankind. A troll could be warded off with mistletoe and byre and bonfires at the crossroads of the town. Many of these customs still exist today in Scandinavian culture as part of celebrations and throughout many of their holiday rituals.


Trolls lost their folklore status with the advance of Christianity. These ugly creatures were replaced with more devil-like demons, including the incubus. People's fear of trolls became less as these new demons evolved out of the myths and seemed to be more monstrous and more destructive. There were those who still feared the trolls, but the stories all but disappeared. It was difficult for a troll to compete with the demons of a Christian Hell. Though the trolls were horrible in their own right, the stories were old in nature and were not able to frighten people as they had in the past. The new demons brought new stories and new fears that overpowered the old magic of the trolls.

Today, the troll has reemerged, in part, as an important element of the Scandinavian tourist industry. Toy troll dolls can be found in many gift shops and novelty stores and many other venues. Trolls were no longer frightening, but now had become cute. They changed the appearance from ugly and deformed creatures to ones of small, clumsy and whimsical characters with big feet, big noses and lots of fuzzy big hair. In the United States, troll dolls became popular with school age children, many of them not even realizing what a troll was.

Trolls have contributed to myths of dwarves and elves, though many of these other creatures do not appear as maliciously violent or horrific looking. Legends develop differently depending on the culture and location, but they remain similar explaining different situations or events or to teach lessons. The legends of trolls are familiar to other creatures developed through literature or art, but unique in their development. They came, they conquered and they were forgotten. Now they are back and making their own individual statements as good creatures with different color hair, cute outfits and associated with bringing good luck elements to different aspects of life. A complete turn around from once being shunned and feared. Today's trolls seem lovable, though you will still find remote Scandinavians avoiding the forest late at night

Biographies : Ghost, Spirits and Phantom
In traditional belief, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely: The mode of manifestation can range from an invisible presence to translucent or wispy shapes, to realistic, life-like visions. The deliberate attempt to contact the spirit of a deceased person is known as necromancy, or in spiritism as a séance.

The belief in manifestations of the spirits of the dead is widespread, dating back to animism or ancestor worship in pre-literate cultures. Certain religious practices—funeral rites, exorcisms, and some practices of spiritualism and ritual magic—are specifically designed to appease the spirits of the dead. Ghosts are generally described as solitary essences that haunt particular locations, objects, or people they were associated with in life, though stories of the phantom armies, ghost trains, phantom ships, and even ghost animals have also been recounted.

A widespread belief concerning ghosts is that they are composed of a misty, airy, or subtle material. Anthropologists link this idea to early beliefs that ghosts were the person within the person (the person's spirit), most noticeable in ancient cultures as a person's breath, which upon exhaling in colder climates appears visibly as a white mist.

In many traditional accounts, ghosts were often thought to be deceased people looking for vengeance, or imprisoned on earth for bad things they did during life. The appearance of a ghost has often been regarded as an omen or portent of death. Seeing one's own ghostly double or "fetch" is a related omen of death.

White ladies were reported to appear in many rural areas, and supposed to have died tragically or suffered trauma in life. White Lady legends are found around the world. Common to many of them is the theme of losing or being betrayed by a husband or fiancé. They are often associated with an individual family line, as a harbinger of death. When one of these ghosts is seen it indicates that someone in the family is going to die, similar to a banshee.

Legends of ghost ships have existed since the 18th century; most notable of these is the Flying Dutchman. This theme has been used in literature in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Coleridge.

Biographies : Sprites and Pixies
Sprites

Sprites are shy and reclusive faerie people, related to other faerie-folk, like brownies and leprechauns. There are several varieties, including pixies and nixies. Most have small, semitransparent wings, and elven features. Normal sprites have distinctly elven features and live in meadows and wooded glens. The wingless sea sprites make their homes on colorful coral reefs, living in harmony with the sea creatures, protecting the reefs' delicate environment, and frolicking in the waves. The naturally invisible pixies are perhaps the most intelligent and mischievous of the faeries; they dwell in idyllic woodlands and delight in harassing travelers with their pranks. Nixies are water sprites that live in freshwater lakes, and, while they harbor no grudges against humankind, they delight in enslaving men as their beasts of burden. Other sylvan creatures related to sprites include the swift atomies and the mischievous grigs, both forest-dwellers. (player characters will gain certain abilites per level)

Combat:

They hate evil and ugliness, and are capable of stout militancy, should their secluded homes be invaded by orcs or worse. They fight with long, slim swords which do damage as a human-sized dagger, or their own special bows. Bows have a range half that of a human short bow and do only half as much damage (1-3 points). The tips of their arrows are coated with a special ointment concocted by the sprites. Any creature struck by the drugged arrows, regardless of level, race, or magic resistance, must make a saving throw vs. poison or fall into a deep sleep lasting 1d6 hours. Normally sprites do nothing more than take their victims to safe a place very far away (often confiscating their weapons in the process), though evil creatures may be slain.

Habitat/Society:

Sprites prefer to avoid other intelligent beings and live in places where they can have many celebrations, parties, and gatherings. They gather on most moonlit nights for singing and dancing, land sprites in the glens, and water sprites in the surf. Land sprites live in sylvan woodlands, they monitor and protect forests and secluded glens. Water sprites protect their watery territories equally well.

Most land-dwelling species of sprite are immortal, and never die unless killed. The sprites' diminutive size and their dangerous environments keep sprite populations low.

Sprite (standard)

Sprites usually speak only their own language, common, and elven, but seem to get along with woodland mammals and other creatures anyway. Humans often mistake sprites for butterflies at a distance, and it is guessed that the majority of forest creatures also think of the fair sprites in this way.

Combat:

Sprites can become invisible at will and detect good/evil within 50 yards, so they are hard to deceive, evade, or capture. When invisible, sprites get +2 to attack rolls against opponents, who suffer a -4 penalty to hit the sprites.

Habitat/Society:

Sprites are very flighty, and find even elves much too serious about most woodland affairs. Only druids deal with sprites regularly. Some druids even receive a little of their training in the company of a few sprites. Most sprites love druids, for their neutral alignment and love for nature make them see the forest in much the same way. On rare occasions, sprites associate with rangers as well.

Sprites are loosely tribal, electing the best warrior among the group (male or female) as the group spokesperson. This leader is recognized as the one who makes major decisions and bargains with druids and elves. Sprites rarely wait for their leader's decision, often attacking an evil creature before the leader can issue any command.

Ecology:

Sprite sleep ointment is concocted from forest mushrooms. The ointment must be left to cure in the sun for seven days. Sprites hollow out tree stumps to serve as containers for this rare substance. Sprites keep watch on their fellow sprites, so they know who to invite to their frequent gatherings. A deserted meadow or glen is never empty for more than a decade before a new clan of sprites moves in.

Sea Sprites

Sea sprites have fine, cheerful faces, with rounded cheeks and wide, fish-like eyes. Their hair is the color and texture of seaweed, and reaches down to the gills on their necks, which enable sea sprites to breathe water as well as air. Their skin is light blue, smooth, and slick. Sea sprites have webbing between their toes and fingers. Sea sprites wear bright, eelskin jerkins, and often adorn themselves with ornaments crafted from treasures found in the ocean. (player characters will gain certain abilites per level)

Combat:

About half of the sea sprites encountered carry special crossbows. In the hands of sea sprites, these crossbows function like light crossbows above and below water. Sea sprites coat their crossbow bolts in sprite sleep ointment. Sea sprites hate and fear sahuagin, and kill those they put to sleep. Air breathers are left on a nearby beach provided they have neither harmed nor attempted to harm the coral reef. Sea sprites can turn invisible once per their level a day and detect good/evil within 50 yards. Once per day, a sea sprite can cast airy water on dry landers which then disapates after one day or when the surface is reached. Sea sprites are 45% likely to be accompanied by ld6 large carnivorous fish. These fish act as guards and pets, attacking any creature that threatens the sprites.

Habitat/Society:

Sea sprites live in natural caves in coral reefs, or amid large wrecks. Though sea sprites can breathe air, they rarely set foot on land. Their homes are cheerfully decorated with a mishmash of seashells, bones, pearls, free-swimming and colorful pet fish, and artifacts taken from sunken ships. Sea sprites live in small communities of four or five families.While each community is led by the eldest male, the true power often rests in the hands of his mate.

Ecology:

Sea sprites eat seaweeds, small crustaceans, and fish. They raise fish and never deplete the reefs where they live. The only natural enemies of sea sprites are sahuagin. Sea sprites usually live for several centuries. They sometimes trade with sea elves but never mix socially with them.

Pixie

Pixies stand about 2 ½ feet tall. When visible, they resemble small elves, but with longer ears. Pixies have two silver wings, like those of moths. They wear bright clothing, often with a cap and a pair of shoes with curled and pointed toes. Pixies speak their own language, Common, and the language of sprites. (player characters will gain certain abilites per level)

Combat:

Pixies carry sprite-sized swords and bows. They use three types of arrows, and shoot them with a +4 bonus to the attack roll. Besides standard sprite sleep-arrows, pixies use a war arrow, which inflicts +1 points of damage, and an arrow which does no physical harm to the target. Those hit by this arrow must make a successful saving throw vs. spell, or suffer complete loss of memory which can be restored only by a healing or a disenchant cast by a cleric. Pixies can, once per day, use each of the following inate powers: polymorph self, know alignment, fairy lights, and ESP. They can also do the following once per day: become visible for as long as they desire; create illusions with both audial and visual components; and cause confusion by touch.(random attack) Their illusions require no concentration and last until magically dispelled. Because pixies are normally invisible, opponents suffer a -4 penalty to attack rolls. A successful dispel magic makes any pixies, in its area of effect, visible for one round, then they automatically become invisible again. They attack while invisible without penalty.

Habitat/Society:

Pixies live in deep forest caves, dancing in moonlit glades to the music of crickets and frogs. They are pranksters and they love to lead travelers astray. They use their illusion powers to accomplish this, hence the expression ``pixie-led'' for one who has lost his way. They like to frighten maidens, rap on walls, blow out candles, and play in water.

Pixies love to trick misers into giving away their treasure, especially by convincing them that something horrible will happen to them if they do not. Pixies carry no treasure, but sometimes have a hoard in their lair to impress visitors. Pixies use treasure to taunt greedy people, and then play merciless pranks on them until they abandon their search for the pixies' fortune. If the victim shows no greed and exhibits a good sense of humor about their pranks, the pixies may allow that individual to choose one item from their hoard. Pixies dwell together in a community of clans or families that seem to mimic human customs. Each family has a last name, and family and community loyalty is very important to pixies. Their life span is about 300 years.

Ecology:

Pixies eat fruits and nectar. The most famous by-product of pixies is pixie dust, also known as dust of disappearance. Crushing 50 pixie wings into a fine powder creates one dose of dust of disappearance. Naturally, pixies frown on this use of their wings.

Nixie

Nixies have webbed fingers and toes, pointed ears, and wide silver eyes. Most are slim and comely, and they have lightly scaled, pale green skin and dark green hair. Females are attractive, often twining shells and pearl strings in their thick hair, and they modestly dress in tight-fitting wraps woven from colorful seaweeds. Males wear loincloths of the same materials. Nixies can breathe both water and air; travel on land is possible, but they prefer not to leave their lakes. Nixies speak their own language and the Common tongue. (player characters will gain certain abilites per level)

Combat:

If one or more humans approach within 30 feet of a group of nixies, the nixies pool their magic to create a powerful charm spell, one such spell per every 10 nixies. The victim must make a saving throw vs. spell at -2 on the die roll. Before a charmed humans enters the water, there is a 75 % chance that a dispel magic will break the charm. Once the victim is in the water, the chance of dispelling the magic drops to 10%. Nixies keep each charmed slave for one full year, forcing him to do all their heavy labor, but thereafter the charm wears off and the victim is set free. During this enslavement, the nixies keep a water breathing spell on the human captive. Nixies can cast this spell on any creature, or dispel it, once per day; the spell's duration is one day. Male nixies carry daggers and javelins. The javelins are used to spear things in the water, or can be thrown. A group of 10 nixies can use a large fishing net against adversaries who are in the water with them. Nixies make one net attack against AC 10 to ensnare a single man-sized creature, -2 AC for each additional victim, up to five total victims (and AC 0). Nixies sometimes employ guardian fish in battle.
Even with 25% magic resistance, nixies fear fire and very bright lights, so a flaming sword or a light spell keeps them at bay. Nixies try to negate a continual light spell by summoning small fish to crowd around the light and dim it.

Habitat/Society:
Nixie dwellings are woven from living seaweed and difficult to detect (5% chance within 20 feet, impossible from farther away). Nixies keep giant fish as guards, either 1-2 gar (20%) or 2-5 pike (80%); these are taught to obey simple commands. Small bright, ornamental fish are kept as pets and trained to perform elaborate tricks. Trout, bass, and catfish are herded as food. Nixies can also summon 10-100 small fish, which takes 1-3 rounds.
Nixie tribes have 20-80 members, about one third are youth. Families have 4-8 members, and the tribe usually includes 10-15 families, all related through common ancestors. A nixie tribe controls an area with a radius of 3-5 miles; when a tribe gets too large, 2-3 families split off to form a new tribe. Nixies live for several centuries.
Nixie tribes are ruled by the Acquar (water mother), a hereditary position held by a direct descendant of the original founding ancestor. She decides major disputes and chooses the most apt warrior to be the S'oquar, the warlord responsible for hunting and defense. The Acquar is advised by a council of elders, whose spokesperson is called the L'uquar, the keeper of the tribe's oral history. Treasures, whether the spoils of war or the results of work or luck, are divided equally by the Acquar. Intertribal rivalries are often fierce, and females are sometimes kidnapped as brides, for nixies are polygamists, keeping 2-3 wives. Nixies worship water and nature powers.

Ecology:

Lakes with nixie tribes are kept clean and well stocked; often, human slaves work to improve the environment through the removal of trash and obstructions. Nixie artifacts include jewelry of shells, pearls and opals, silk from water spiders, and potions of water breathing.

Atomie

Atomies avoid most serious-minded creatures, but mix freely with grigs, and are 20% likely to be found in their company. The lightest and quickest of all the sprites, atomies are less than 1-foot tall. Atomies have four dragonfly-like wings. Their features are elven, their skin is pale with a hint of woodland green. Atomie clothing is innately magical, bright and festive while at the same time blending with woodland surroundings.

Atomies have twice the hearing range of humans, and they have infravision to 90 feet. Their voices are high-pitched, almost a bee-like buzz. Atomies speak their own language and often the languages of sprites, pixies, and some broken Common. They can also speak with plants and animals. (player characters will gain certain abilites per level)

Combat:

Atomies attack as 3rd-level fighters. About 20% of atomies carry tiny crossbows and spears. Atomie crossbows have a 3-foot range and inflict 1d3 points of damage. Atomie spears cause 1d4 points of damage. The remaining atomies are armed with either spears (40%) or sprite swords (40%). Atomies have the following magical abilities, usable once per round at 5th-level ability: blink, invisibility, pass plant, speak with animals, and summon insects. Atomies are surprised only on a 1; opponents suffer a -6 penalty to surprise rolls. Upon hearing an intruder, atomies hide and try to make the intruder go away, using false lights, clattering voices, and pesky, summoned insects. Repeat intruders are warned with crossbow bolts. If combat is inevitable, or the intruders are orcs, the atomies regroup and attack. Atomies with spears fly in and dive on surprised opponents (usually aiming at their posteriors). (+3 on diving attack).

Habitat/Society:

Atomies live in the upper branches of old hardwood trees (usually oaks), one family per tree. Each family hollows out a series of tiny rooms, decorating with walnut chairs, woven pine needle rugs, acorn dishes, and the like. A network of balconies, landings, and rope bridges connects the dwellings, forming a village high above the forest floor. A typical atomie village houses 3d4>010 adults and 4d6 children. Atomies seldom bother with outsiders, even standard sprites (whom they view as tedious and too serious), but they will sometimes help a lost child. A rescued child is well cared for and entertained before being returned to the outside world.The concept of pets is unknown, but atomies often grow mushroom ``friends'' in their living rooms. Atomies have loose leadership, choosing a chieftain based on storytelling and singing ability.

Ecology:

Atomies are herbivores and find the eating habits of their cousins repulsive. They favor nuts above fruit, and prefer honey when they can trick bees into giving them some.Atomies make a perfect, bite-sized morsels for most creatures, and sometimes fall prey to evil animals, such as worgs. Atomies view magic as a force connected with life and are fascinated by inanimate magical items. Atomies collect magical items and display them in their homes or communities. Non-magical treasures are considered clutter and are either thrown away or given to forest creatures who value such things.

Grigs

Grigs are mischievous and lighthearted. They have no fear of big people and take great joy in playing tricks upon them. A grig has the head, torso, and arms of a sprite, with the wings, antennae, and legs of a cricket. They can leap great distances. Grigs have light blue skin, forest green hair, and brown hairy legs. They usually wear tunics or brightly colored vests with buttons made from tiny gems. Grigs speak atomie, brownie, pixie, sprite, and Common. They have double normal hearing range and 180-foot infravision. The origin of the grigs remains a mystery. (player characters will gain certain abilites per level)

Combat:

Fierce (by sprite standards), each grig carries six small darts and a sprite sword. Grigs gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls with darts. Darts and swords do normal damage when used by grigs, but only 1 point of damage when used by non-grigs.
Grigs have the following spell-like abilities, usable once per round at 6th-level ability: change self, entangle, invisibility, pyrotechnics, trip, and ventriloquism. Grigs move silently in woodlands; they are surprised only on a 1, while opponents suffer a -6 penalty to surprise rolls. Some grigs throw darts, while others leap to attack, and one grig fiddler (grigs never go anywhere without a fiddle), plays a song with the same effect as Otto's irresistible dance. All non-sprites within 30 feet of the fiddler must make a successful saving throw vs. spell or dance until the grig ceases playing. Grigs can play for hours.

Habitat/Society:

Grigs roam the forests in small bands. They have no permanent homes but often sleep in the limbs of treants, or near unicorns (who protect grigs even unto death). Grigs are cautious but trusting. They delight in playing pranks on big people. Common ploys include stealing food, collapsing a tent, and using ventriloquism to make objects talk. Once a prank is set, the grigs sit back and watch, laughing at the unfortunate person. People who make fools of themselves are apt to be plagued by harmless jokes until they reach the forest edge. At that point, one of the grigs comes out of hiding and makes amends with a gift, either a harmless bauble such as a 1d6 x 100 gp gem (25%) or a precious jar of really fresh honey (75%).


Ecology:

Grigs live on nuts, berries and honey.

Biographies : Samurais
The Origin of the Samurai:

The samurai, a class of highly skilled warriors, gradually developed in Japan after the Taika reforms of 646 A.D. The reforms included land redistribution and heavy new taxes, meant to support an elaborate Chinese-style empire. As a result, many small farmers had to sell their land and work as tenant farmers.

Meanwhile, a few large landholders amassed power and wealth, creating a feudal system similar to medieval Europe's. This top-heavy system proved unwieldy, and crumbled within a few centuries


As in Europe, the new feudal lords needed warriors to defend their riches. Thus, the samurai warrior (or "bushi") was born.


Some samurai were relatives of the landowners, while others were simply hired swords. The samurai code emphasized loyalty to one's master, even over family loyalty. History shows that the most loyal samurai were usually family members or financial dependents of their lords.

In the 900s, the weak emperors of the Heian Dynasty (794-1185) lost control of rural Japan. The country was riven by revolt; the emperor soon wielded power only within the capital. Across the country, the warrior class moved in to fill the power vacuum.

By 1100, the samurai effectively held both military and political power over much of Japan.

End of the Heian Era / Rise of Samurai Rule:

The weak imperial line received a fatal blow to its power in 1156, when Emperor Toba died without a clear successor. His sons, Sutoku and Go-Shirakawa, fought for control in a civil war called the Hogen Rebellion.

In the end, both would-be emperors lost; the imperial office lost all its remaining power.

During this civil war, the Minamoto and Taira samurai clans rose to prominence. They fought one another in the Heiji Rebellion of 1160. After their victory, the Taira established the first samurai-led government, or shogunate, with the emperor as a figurehead.

The defeated Minamoto were banished from the capital at Kyoto.

Kamakura Period :

The two clans fought once more in the Genpei War (1180-1185), which ended in victory for the Minamoto.

Minamoto no Yoritomo established the Kamakura Shogunate, which ruled much of Japan until 1333. While the Kamakura were powerful, they never conquered northern and western areas of the country. The shoguns also faced periodic resistance from other samurai clans.

In 1268, an external threat appeared. Kublai Khan, the Mongol ruler of Yuan China, demanded tribute from Japan. Kyoto refused. The Mongols invaded in 1274 with 600 ships, but a typhoon destroyed their armada. A second invasion fleet in 1281 met the same fate.

Fall of the Kamakura / Early Muromachi (Ashikaga) Period:

Despite such incredible help from nature, the Mongol attacks cost the Kamakura dearly.

Unable to offer land or riches to the samurai leaders who rallied to Japan's defense, the weakened shogun faced a challenge from Emperor Go-Daigo in 1318. The emperor was exiled in 1331, but returned and overthrew the Shogunate in 1333.

This Kemmu Restoration of imperial power lasted only three years.

In 1336, the Ashikaga Shogunate under Ashikaga Takauji reasserted samurai rule, but it was weaker than the Kamakura had been. Regional constables called "daimyo" developed considerable power, meddling in the shogunate's succession.

Later Muromachi Period:

By 1460, the daimyo were ignoring orders from the shogun, and backing different successors to the imperial throne. When the shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimasa, resigned in 1464, a dispute between backers of his younger brother and his son ignited even more intense bickering among the daimyo.

In 1467, this squabbling erupted into the decade-long Onin War. Thousands died, and Kyoto was burned to the ground.

The Onin War led directly to Japan's "Warring States Period," or Sengoku. Between 1467 and 1573, various daimyo led their clans in a fight for national dominance. Nearly all of the provinces were engulfed in the fighting.

Azuchi-Momoyama Period / Restoration of Order:

The Warring States Period began to draw to a close in 1568, when the warlord Oda Nobunaga defeated three other powerful daimyo, marched into Kyoto, and had his favorite, Yoshiaki, installed as shogun.

Nobunaga spent the next 14 years subduing other rival daimyo, and quelling rebellions by fractious Buddhist monks.

His grand Azuchi Castle, constructed between 1576 and 1579, became of symbol of Japanese reunification.

In 1582, Nobunaga was assassinated by one of his generals, Akechi Mitsuhide. Hideyoshi, another general, finished the unification and ruled as kampaku (regent).

Hideyoshi invaded Korea in 1592 and 1597.

Tokugawa Shogunate (Edo Period):

Hideyoshi had exiled the large Tokugawa clan from the area around Kyoto to the Kanto region in western Japan. The Taiko died in 1598, and by 1600, Tokugawa Ieyasu had conquered the other western daimyo from his castle stronghold at Edo (the future Tokyo).

Ieyasu's son, Hidetada, became shogun of the unified country in 1605, ushering in about 250 years of relative peace and stability for Japan.

The strong Tokugawa shoguns domesticated the samurai, forcing them to either serve their lords in the cities, or give up their swords and farm. This transformed the warriors into a hereditary class of cultured bureaucrats.

Meiji Restoration and the Decline of the Samurai:

In 1868, the Meiji Restoration signaled the beginning of the end for the samurai.

The Meiji system of constitutional monarchy included such democratic reforms as term limits for public office and popular balloting. With public support, the Meiji Emperor did away with the samurai, reduced the power of the daimyo, and moved the capital from Kyoto to Tokyo.

The new government created a conscripted army in 1873; many of the officers were drawn from the ranks of former samurai.

In 1877, angry ex-samurai revolted against the Meiji in the Satsuma Rebellion; they lost the Battle of Shiroyama, and the era of the samurai was over.

The Culture and Myth of the Samurai:

Samurai Culture

The culture of the samurai was grounded in the concept of bushido - "the way of the warrior." The central tenets of bushido are honor and freedom from the fear of death. A samurai was legally entitled to cut down any commoner who failed to honor him (or her) properly. A warrior imbued with bushido spirit would fight fearlessly for his master, and die honorably rather than surrender in defeat.

Out of this disregard for death, the Japanese tradition of seppuku evolved: defeated warriors (and disgraced government officials) would commit suicide with honor by ritually disemboweling themselves with a short sword.

Samurai Weapons

Early samurai were archers, fighting on foot or horseback with extremely long bows (yumi). They used swords mainly for finishing off wounded enemies.

After the Mongol invasions of 1272 and 1281, the samurai began to make more use of swords, as well as poles topped by curved blades called naginata, and spears.

Samurai warriors wore two swords, together called daisho - "long and short." The katana, a curved blade over 24 inches long, was suitable for slashing, while the wakizashi, at 12-24 inches, was used for stabbing. In the late 16th century, non-samurai were forbidden to wear the daisho.

Samurai wore full body-armor in battle, often including a horned helmet.

The Samurai Myth

Modern Japanese honor the memory of the samurai, and bushido still infuses the culture. Today, however, the samurai code is invoked in corporate boardrooms rather than on the battlefield.
Even now, everyone knows the story of the 47 Ronin, Japan's "national legend."

In 1701, the daimyo Asano Naganori drew a dagger in the shogun's palace and tried to kill Kira, a government official. Asano was arrested, and forced to commit seppuku. Two years later, forty-seven of his samurai hunted down Kira and killed him, without knowing Asano's reasons for attacking the official. It was enough that he wanted Kira dead.

Since the ronin had followed bushido, the shogun allowed them to commit seppuku instead of being executed.

People still offer incense at the graves of the ronin, and the story has been made into a number of plays and films.

Biographies : Ninjas
A person who uses Ninjutsu is called a Ninja. Ninjutsu is not a martial art. It is an original art of warfare that developed mainly in Iga, Mie Prefecture, and Koka, Shiga Prefecture.


Now, do you know what sort of work the Ninja did?

Most people imagine that ninjas flew through the sky and disappeared, like Superman, waving ninja swords around, sneaking into the enemy ranks and assassinating generals... This is a mistaken image of the ninja introduced by movies and comic books.

The jobs of a ninja are divided into the two main categories of performing espionage and strategy. The methodology for performing espionage and strategy is Ninjutsu. Espionage is similar to the job of modern spies, wherein one carefully gathers intelligence about the enemy and analyzes its military strength.

Strategic activities are skills that reduce the enemy’s military power. Ninja did not fight strong enemies by themselves. Ninja fought enemies after they had reduced the enemies’ military power. In times of peace, Ninjutsu was called an art of “entering from afar”, while in times of war, Ninjutsu was called an art of “entering from “nearby”, wherein ninja would constantly gather intelligence concerning the enemy, thinking of ways to beat the enemy, but not fighting the enemy directly. Ninja who thought rationally thought of war by intellect as great, and war by military strength (weapons) as foolish. Therefore, ninja who swing their ninja swords about can be called the lowest of the ninja.

The Ninjutsu of Iga-ryu and Koga-ryu stem from the same source, and are said to be the highest of the Ninjutsu.

From when did Ninja, who worked in the world of shadows, exist? Those roots are found in the “art of warfare” that began around 4000 B.C. in Indian culture, was passed to the Chinese mainland, and around the 6th century, passed through the Korean peninsula and crossed over to Japan.

In that period, a man name Otomono Sahito, who was used by ruler Shotoku Taishi, is said to be the root of the Ninja.
Have you ever heard something like this? "Shotoku Taishi could hear the words of ten people at once." Actually, there is also a theory that he used ninja to obtain intelligence beforehand. However, it is still amazing that Shotoku Taishi could remember all that intelligence...

The continental military strategy that was brought from China was developed in conjunction with shugendo, a practice involving mountain training, and adapted to Japan’s extremely hilly, narrow geography, becoming unique Japanese strategy. From this body of strategy emerged Ninjutsu. There were shugen studios in the Iga and Koka regions. Also, the houses of Todaiji and Kofukuji in the Iga region had most of the country’s warriors, and the lords of these houses adopted guerilla-like tactics, and kept the peace by containing one another. From this, Ninjutsu was developed.

In Iga of the manorial system period, rulers and lords (guardians) did not last long. Because the people of Iga created living areas by manor in units of clans, formed an organized party of landowning farmers, and did not defer to the control of central regimes, an important 12-member council (representatives) was chosen from among the 50-60 members of the party in Iga, and they maintained safety in Iga by cooperation. This is called the “Iga Sokoku Ikki”.

In the 6th year of Tensei (1578), the ruler of Ise, Kitabatake Nobukatsu (the second son of Oda Nobunaga was adopted by Kitabatake and inherited the reins of the family) planned to attack Iga with Maruyama Castle as base, but retreated in the face of an attack from the troops of Iga. In the 7th year of Tensei (1579), Kitabatake Nobukatsu regrouped and again attacked Iga, but was defeated by the resistance of Iga’s troops. Upon hearing of this (the First Tensei Iga War), Oda Nobunaga was sorely angry, and decided to go to battle himself. In the 9th year of Tensei (1581), he led his 50,000 troops to Iga, burning all of its lands and repeatedly slaughtering adults and children alike. The Iga troops resisted to the end, but a compromise was made, and they submitted. This is the only war in which the Iga region was crippled by attack, and the 800-year manorial system of Iga region was finished, and the ninja were scattered among all lands thereafter (Second Tensei Iga War).


The most famous group of Iga ninja is Hattori, Momochi, and Fujibayashi. Hattori Hanzo, Momochi Tambanokami, and Fujibayashi Nagatonokami are the three Iga Ninja Grandmasters.
Hattori controlled western Iga. There is a famous person who supported Tokugawa Ieyasu, named Hattori Hanzo Masanari. The Hanzo name was inherited.

Momochi controlled southern Iga. The Oe party had originally prospered in the south, and Momochi was one of the supporting families to it, but joining forces with Hattori and riding its wave of strength, Momochi was able to keep its position until the Edo period.

Fujibayashi controlled northeastern Iga. Fujibayashi Yasutake, the author of traditional Ninjutsu text “Mansen Shukai” was of this group.


Among existing traditional Ninjutsu books, “Mansen Shukai”, “Shoninki”, and “Shinobi Hiden” are called the Three Great Books of Ninjutsu.
Many traditional books were written in the Edo Period, and before that traditions were oral. It is assumed that they were written to pass on traditions and commit them to record. The are traditional texts in which the words “there is an oral tradition” stand out, and this may indicate that oral tradition was of greater importance.

Mansen Shukai, by Fujibayashi Yasutake, integrated Iga and Koka Ninjutsu, and a few types of copies are passed down in both Iga and Koka.
Shoninki, by Fujibayashi Masatake, is a traditional text of the Kishu-ryu.
Shinobi Hiden, by Hattori Hanzo is a traditional text of Iga and Koka.

We now use the unified term “ninja”, but did you know that they were not called “ninja” in the past? Depending on the era and region, there were many different ways to call them. Let’s introduce some of those here.

The era

Asuka Era;Shinobi
Nara Era ;Ukami
Sengoku Era ;Kanja ;Rappa
Edo Era ;Onmitsu
Taisho Era ;;Ninjyutsusha ;Ninsya

The region

Kyoto ;Nara ;Dakkou ;
Yamanashi ;Suppa;Suppa;Mitsu-no-mono;Suppa
Niigata ;Toyama ;Nokizaru ;Kanshi ;Kikimonoyaku
Miyagi kubaki
Aomori ;Hayamichi-no-mono ;Shinobi
Kanagawa ;Kusa ;Monomi ;Rappa;
Fukui ;Shinobi

There are many other names in the different regions, but the above are the most representative.
There are various ways to call ninja, depending on their relation to being secretive, the jobs they performed, and the reading of the Chinese characters with which their names are written.

Biographies : Barbarians
The Barbarian


The Barbarian, a member of any of several tribes on the fringes of civilization, rebuffs the influence of those he sees as soft and weak. Ceaseless clan warfare and the constant struggle to survive in the hostile wilderness are evident in the Barbarian's sturdy and powerful frame. Though perhaps lacking the sophistication of his civilized contemporaries, the Barbarian has an acute awareness of his surroundings. Because of his shamanistic belief in the animal powers with whom he identifies, the Barbarian is sometimes associated with stories of lycanthropy. In fact, he believes that he can improve his superb battle tactics by calling upon the totemic animal spirits to infuse him with supernormal strengths and abilities.
Starting Attributes
Strength: 30
Dexterity: 20
Vitality: 25
Energy: 10

Hit Points: 55
Stamina: 92
Mana: 10
Each Character Level
Life +2
Stamina +1
Mana +1
Attribute Point Effect
1 Vitality point gives 4 Life
1 Vitality point gives 1 Stamina
1 Energy point gives 1 Mana


Diablo II stats


Barbarian and Savage are pejorative terms used to refer to a person who is perceived to be uncivilized. The word is often used either in a general reference to a member of a nation or ethnos, typically a tribal society as seen by an urban civilization either viewed as inferior, or admired as a noble savage. In idiomatic or figurative usage, a "barbarian" may also be an individual reference to a brutal, cruel, warlike, insensitive person.

The term originates in the Greek civilization, meaning "anyone who is not Greek", and thus was often used to refer to other people, that might or might not have been considered inferior. In ancient times, Greeks used it for the people of the Persian Empire; in the early modern period and sometimes later, they used it for the Turks, in a clearly pejorative way.Comparable notions are found in non-European civilizations.

The primary function of the word "barbarian", and its cognates, is to differentiate members of one's own society from people perceived as being outside of it, and to posit that one's own culture is superior. The word barbaros in Ancient Greek was an antonym for civis and polis. The sound of barbaros onomatopoetically evokes the image of babbling (a person speaking a non-Greek language).

The Greeks used the term as they encountered scores of different foreign cultures, including the Egyptians, Persians, Medes, Celts, Germans, Phoenicians, Etruscans and Carthaginians. In fact, it became a common term to refer to all foreigners. However in various occasions, the term was also used by Greeks, especially the Athenians, to deride other Greek tribes and states (such as Epirotes, Eleans, Macedonians and Aeolic-speakers) in a pejorative and politically motivated manner. Of course, the term also carried a cultural dimension to its dual meaning. The verb (barbarízein) in ancient Greek meant imitating the linguistic sounds non-Greeks made or making grammatical errors in Greek.
Plato (Statesman 262de) rejected the Greek–barbarian dichotomy as a logical absurdity on just such grounds: dividing the world into Greeks and non-Greeks told one nothing about the second group. In Homer's works, the term appeared only once (Iliad 2.867), in the form; (barbarophonos) ("of incomprehensible speech"), used of the Carians fighting for Troy during the Trojan War. In general, the concept of barbaros did not figure largely in archaic literature before the 5th century BC. Still it has been suggested that "barbarophonoi" in the Iliad signifies not those who spoke a non-Greek language but simply those who spoke Greek badly.

A change occurred in the connotations of the word after the Greco-Persian Wars in the first half of the 5th century BC. Here a hasty coalition of Greeks defeated the vast Achaemenid Empire. Indeed in the Greek of this period 'barbarian' is often used expressly to mean Persian.

Slavery in Greece

A parallel factor was the growth of chattel slavery especially at Athens. Although enslavement of Greeks for non-payment of debt continued in most Greek states, it was banned at Athens under Solon in the early 6th century BC. Under the Athenian democracy established ca. 508 BC slavery came to be used on a scale never before seen among the Greeks. Massive concentrations of slaves were worked under especially brutal conditions in the silver mines at Laureion—a major vein of silver-bearing ore was found there in 483 BC—while the phenomenon of skilled slave craftsmen producing manufactured goods in small factories and workshops became increasingly common.

Furthermore, slaves were no longer the preserve of the rich: all but the poorest of Athenian households came to have slaves to supplement the work of their free members. Overwhelmingly, the slaves of Athens were "barbarian" in origin[citation needed], drawn especially from lands around the Black Sea such as Thrace and Taurica (Crimea), while from Asia Minor came above all Lydians, Phrygians and Carians. Aristotle (Politics 1.2-7; 3.14) even states that barbarians are slaves by nature.

From this period words like barbarophonos, cited above from Homer, began to be used not only of the sound of a foreign language but of foreigners speaking Greek improperly. In Greek, the notions of language and reason are easily confused in the word logos, so speaking poorly was easily conflated with being stupid, an association not of course limited to the ancient Greeks.

Further changes occurred in the connotations of barbari/barbaroi in Late Antiquity, when bishops and catholikoi were appointed to sees connected to cities among the "civilized" gentes barbaricae such as in Armenia or Persia, whereas bishops were appointed to supervise entire peoples among the less settled.

Eventually the term found a hidden meaning by Christian Romans through the folk etymology of Cassiodorus. He stated the word barbarian was "made up of barba (beard) and rus (flat land); for barbarians did not live in cities, making their abodes in the fields like wild animals".

The female given name "Barbara" originally meant "a barbarian woman", and as such was likely to have had a pejorative meaning — given that most such women in Graeco-Roman society were of a low social status (often being slaves). However, Saint Barbara is mentioned as being the daughter of rich and respectable Roman citizens. Evidently, by her time (about 300 AD according to Christian hagiography, though some historians put the story much later) the name no longer had any specific ethnic or pejorative connotations.

Hellenic stereotype

Out of those sources the Hellenic stereotype was elaborated: barbarians are like children, unable to speak or reason properly, cowardly, effeminate, luxurious, cruel, unable to control their appetites and desires, politically unable to govern themselves. These stereotypes were voiced with much shrillness by writers like Isocrates in the 4th century BC who called for a war of conquest against Persia as a panacea for Greek problems. Ironically, many of the former attributes were later ascribed to the Greeks, especially the Seleucid kingdom, by the Romans[citation needed].
However, the Hellenic stereotype of barbarians was not a universal feature of Hellenic culture. Xenophon, for example, wrote the Cyropaedia, a laudatory fictionalised account of Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Persian empire, effectively a utopian text. In his Anabasis, Xenophon's accounts of the Persians and other non-Greeks he knew or encountered hardly seem to be under the sway of these stereotypes at all.

The renowned orator Demosthenes made derogatory comments in his speeches, using the word "barbarian."
Barbarian is used in its Hellenic sense by St. Paul in the New Testament (Romans 1:14) to describe non-Greeks, and to describe one who merely speaks a different language (1 Corinthians 14:11).

About a hundred years after Paul's time, Lucian - a native of Samosata, in the former kingdom of Commagene, which had been absorbed by the Roman Empire and made part of the province of Syria - used the term "barbarian" to describe himself. As he was a noted satirist, this could have been a deprecating self-irony. It might also have indicated that he was descended from Samosata's original Semitic population - likely to have been called "barbarians" by later Hellenistic, Greek-speaking settlers, and who might have eventually taken up this appellation themselves.

The term retained its standard usage in the Greek language throughout the Middle Ages, as it was widely used by the Byzantine Greeks until the fall of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century.

Cicero described the mountain area of inner Sardinia as "a land of barbarians", with these inhabitants also known by the manifestly pejorative term latrones mastrucati ("thieves with a rough garment in wool"). The region is up to the present known as "Barbagia" (in Sardinian "Barbàgia" or "Barbaza"), all of which are traceable to this old "barbarian" designation - but no longer consciously associated with it, and used naturally as the name of the region by its own inhabitants.

The Dying Gaul statue


The Dying Gaul, Capitoline Museums, Rome.

Some insight about the Hellenistic perception of and attitude to "Barbarians" can be taken from the "Dying Gaul", a statue commissioned by Attalus I of Pergamon to celebrate his victory over the Celtic Galatians in Anatolia (the bronze original is lost, but a Roman marble copy was found in the 17th Century). The statue depicts with remarkable realism a dying Gallic warrior with a typically Gallic hairstyle and moustache. He lies on his fallen shield while sword and other objects lie beside him. He appears to be fighting against death, refusing to accept his fate.

The statue serves both as a reminder of the Celts' defeat, thus demonstrating the might of the people who defeated them, and a memorial to their bravery as worthy adversaries. The message conveyed by the sculpture, as H. W. Janson comments, is that "they knew how to die, barbarians that they were."


Arabic context

The Berbers of North Africa were among the many peoples called "Barbarian" by the Romans; in their case, the name remained in use, having been adopted by the Arabs (see Berber (Etymology)) and is still in use as the name for the non-Arabs in North Africa (though not by themselves). The geographical term Barbary or Barbary Coast, and the name of the Barbary pirates based on that coast (and who were not necessarily Berbers) were also derived from it.


The term has also been used to refer to people from Barbary, a region encompassing most of North Africa. The name of the region, Barbary, comes from the Arabic word Barbar, possibly from the Latin word barbaricum, meaning "land of the barbarians".



Non-European civilizations



"Barbarians" according to ancient Chinese cosmology

Historically, the term barbarian has seen widespread use. Many peoples have dismissed alien cultures and even rival civilizations as barbarians because they were unrecognizably strange. The Greeks admired Scythians and Eastern Gauls as heroic individuals— even in the case of Anacharsis as philosophers—but considered their culture to be barbaric. The Romans indiscriminately regarded the various Germanic tribes, the settled Gauls, and the raiding Huns as barbarians.

The Romans adapted the term to refer to anything non-Greco-Roman.

The nomadic steppe peoples north of the Black Sea, including the Pechenegs and the Kipchaks, were called barbarians by Byzantines.

The Hindus referred to all alien cultures in ancient times as 'Mlechcha' or Barbarians (although it means the 'the dirty ones' not the 'cruel ones'). In the ancient texts, Mlechchas are people who are dirty and who have given up the Vedic beliefs. Today this term implies those with bad hygiene. Among the tribes termed Mlechcha were Sakas, Hunas, Yavanas, Kambojas, Pahlavas, Bahlikas and Rishikas.

The Chinese (Han Chinese) of the Chinese Empire sometimes (depends on the dynasty, geographic location, and timeline) initially regarded the Xiongnu, Qiang, Yue, Nanyue, Yuezhi, Tibetans, Tatars, Turks, Mongols, Jurchens, Manchus, Japanese, Koreans, Vietnamese (and later Europeans) as barbarians. However, as places such as Korean peninsula and Japan became sinicized by adopting Han culture, they were eventually regarded as a part of the 'cultured' Sinosphere. The Chinese used different terms for "barbarians" from different directions of the compass. Those in the east were called Dongyi, those in the west were called Xirong , those in the south were called Nanman , and those in the north were called Beidi . However, despite the conventional translation of such terms as "barbarian", in fact it is possible to translate them simply as 'outsider' or 'stranger', with far less offensive cultural connotations.


The picturesquely coarse and primitive Doitsu-bashi ("German bridge") in Ōasahiko-jinja, Naruto, Tokushima, Japan.
The Japanese adopted the Chinese usage. When Europeans came to Japan, they were called nanban , literally Barbarians from the South, because the Portuguese ships appeared to sail from the South. The Dutch, who arrived later, were also called either nanban , literally meaning "Red Hair."

In Mesoamerica the Aztec civilization used the word "Chichimeca" to denominate a group of nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes that lived in the outskirts of the Triple Alliance's Empire, in the North of Modern Mexico, which were seen for the Aztec people as primitive and uncivilized. One of the meanings attributed to the word "Chichimeca" is "dog people".

The Incas used the term "puruma auca" for all peoples living outside the rule of their empire (see Promaucaes).

Early Modern period


Viking revival, Noble savage, and Philistinism

Italians in the Renaissance often called anyone who lived outside of their country a barbarian. As far as the nomadic Goths went, they originally worshipped the same pantheon as did the Germanic/Norse barbarians, but because of their wanderings and their propensity for adopting the standards, beliefs, and practices of whatever culture within which they located, were the first barbarians to adopt Christianity as a faith (actually long before the Romans did).

Spanish sea captain Francisco de Cuellar who sailed with the Spanish Armada in 1588 used the term 'savage' to describe the Irish people.


Modern academia



A defeated Sarmatian barbarian serves as an atlas on a 16th century villa in Milan. Sculpted by Antonio Abbondio for Leone Leoni

A famous quote from anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss says: "The barbarian is the one who believes in barbary", a meaning like his metaphor in Race et histoire ("Race and history", UNESCO, 1952), that two cultures are like two different trains crossing each other: each one believes it has chosen the good direction. A broader analysis reveals that neither party "chooses" their direction, but that their "brutish" behaviors have formed out of necessity, being entirely dependent on and hooked to their surrounding geography and circumstances of birth.

Although some terms in academia do go out of style, such as "Dark Ages", the term Barbarian is in full common currency among all mainstream medieval scholars and is not out of style or outdated, though a disclaimer is often felt to be needed, as when Ralph W. Mathisen prefaces a discussion of barbarian bishops in Late Antiquity, "It should also be noted that the word "barbarian" will be used here as a convenient, nonpejorative term to refer to all the non-Latin and non-Greek speaking exterae gentes who dwelt around, and even eventually settled within, the Roman Empire during late antiquity".

The significance of barbarus in Late Antiquity has been specifically explored on several occasions.

Examples of this modern usage can also be seen in the Dictionary of the Middle Ages, which has an article titled "Barbarians, the Invasions" and uses the term barbarian throughout its 13 volumes. A 2006 book by Yale historian Walter Goffart is called Barbarian Tides and uses barbarian throughout to refer to the larger pantheon of tribes that the Roman Empire encountered. Walter Pohl, a leading pan-European expert on ethnicity and Late Antiquity, published a 1997 book titled Kingdoms of the Empire: The Integration of Barbarians in Late Antiquity. The Encyclopædia Britannica and other general audience encyclopedias use the term barbarian throughout within the context of late antiquity.
[edit]Modern popular culture

Modern popular culture contains such fantasy barbarians as Tarzan and Conan the Barbarian.

In fantasy novels and role-playing games, barbarians or berserkers are often represented as lone warriors, very different from the vibrant cultures on which they are based. Several characteristics are commonly shared:

Physical prowess and fighting skill combined with a fierce temper and a tolerance for pain

An appetite for, and the ability to attract, the opposite gender thanks to animal magnetism

Meat eating (this fits several social norms. Nomadic peoples and military men often ate more meat because they were not in one place long enough to farm and harvest.)

An appetite for alcohol and an unusual stamina to stave off its effects

A blending of Celtic, Germanic, Slavic, and nomadic Turco-Mongol cultures

Biographies : Nymphs
Nymphs

Nymphs are nature's embodiment of physical beauty, and the guardians of the sacred places of the wild. They are so unbearably lovely that even a glimpse of one can blind an onlooker. Nymphs hate evil and any who would despoil the wilds for any reason.

A nymph's demeanor is wild and mercurial. Like nature itself, she embodies both great beauty and fearsome danger. She can be kind and graceful to mortals who revere the wild places of the world, but is also quick to strike against mortals who take more than they need or who treat nature thoughtlessly. Animals of all types flock to a nymph, ignoring the presence of natural enemies; injured beasts know that the nymph will tend their wounds. This being always appears as a beautiful woman, one who's beauty exceeds mere words. She is captivating and dangerous because of the emotions she inspires. She has long, copper hair, perfect skin, large eyes, and long swept back ears. She is about the height and weight of a female elf and can speak Sylvan and Common.
Combat: A nymph usually avoids contact with nonfey, but she often has a place she holds sacred and defends against all intrusions. This place is usually a grove, a pool or sometimes a hilltop or peak. She uses her spells and animal allies to drive intruders away from the spot she defends, preferring to use non-lethal attacks first and resorting to deadly attacks only when faced with evil creatures or intruders who reply to her efforts with deadly attacks of their own.

Nymphs are better disposed toward elves, half-elves, and druids. Individuals they recognize as friends of nature. They are likely to offer such people a chance to explain their presence instead of driving them away. Nymphs have also been known to aid good heroes who approach them in a courteous and respectful manner.

Of the nymphs attacks, the first is Blinding Beauty. This ability affects all humanoids within 30 feet of a nymph. Those who are hit by this power are blinded permanently as though hit with a blindness spell. A nymph however can suppress or resume this ability with ease. The second such attack is a stunning glance, used when a wrathful nymph looks towards an opponent within thirty feet and stuns it with that look. This stun lasts for 4-8 minutes. Nymphs are also known to be very graceful in their moves and have an empathic ability when it comes to all things nature and animals. They also excel at swimming and can swim rather swiftly. Besides this are also the nymph's spells. Once a day a nymph can cast Dimension Door. Also a nymph normally has a set of nature and divine spells such as Cure Minor Wounds, Detect Magic, Flare, Guidance, Light, Resistance, Calm Animal, Cure Light Wounds, Entangle, Longstrider, Speak with Animals, Barkskin, Heat Metal, Lesser Restoration, Tree Shape, Call Lightning, Cure Moderate Wounds, Protection from Energy & Rusting Grasp.

These beautiful females inhabit only the loveliest of wilderness places, clear lakes and streams and other such areas. They prefer a solitary existence, but very occasionally a few will gather together in a place of spectacular charm, though these rendezvous seldom last for more than a few months. Any treasure a nymph possesses has usually been given to them by some lovesick man.

Like a druid, a nymph believes in the sanctity of nature and her environment and will try to keep her lair safe and pure. She will heal wounded animals, mend broken trees and plants and sometimes aid a human in distress. Since they live for many generations, they can provide a wealth of information on the history of an area and often know secret places, hide-outs, and entrances long forgotten. If a man is kissed by a nymph, all painful and troubling memories are forgotten for the rest of the day. This may be a boon to some and a curse to others. A lock of nymph's hair can be used to create a powerful sleeping potion, or if enchanted and woven into a cloth and sewn into a garment, will magically make the wearer more charming. The tears of a nymph can also be used as an ingredient in some love potions and if a woman bathes in a nymph's pool, she also gains a beauty bonus until she bathes again.

Any reports of Nymphs are very rare, a few seen in civilization either on trips into the town to see people, as the wives of rich or handsome nobles, or as slaves in the black market. Normally however they keep to themselves, and any such records of them are vague, and these women prove to be elusive and the stuff of stories and fantasies.

Biographies : Werewolves
A werewolf is a mythological creature that is sometimes a person and sometimes a wolf, usually believed to prey on people. In different versions of folklore, the werewolf is either a magician or the object of a curse. In much modern literature and film, the werewolf is said to shape-shift under the influence of the full moon and to be vulnerable only to a silver bullet. The word werewolf derives from Old English wer-wulf, meaning "man-wolf."

Tales of werewolves abound in cultures from all over Europe, from Russia to England and from Norway to Italy. Werewolves appear in some of the earliest literature of these regions. Because the legend spans such a vast geographical and cultural area, there are many variations.

A person may become a werewolf in many different ways, according to different cultures. The curse may be effected by engaging in cannibalism or Satanism. Alternatively, stripping and wearing articles made of wolf skin, drinking water from a wolf's footprint, or being bitten by a werewolf may cause the change. A superstition arose in Portugal and later in Brazil that the seventh son, or the seventh son of a seventh son, would be born a werewolf. To this day, the President of Brazil is officially the godfather of all seventh sons, a practice resulting from the tendency in earlier times of parents to abandon such children.

Some versions of the werewolf tale claim that there are cures for the condition, while others hold that death by silver bullet is the only solution. One such cure is to remove the wolf skin, if wearing it brought about the condition. Other remedies include religious methods, such as reproaching the werewolf or making the sign of the cross. Magical cures include drawing three drops of blood and striking the creature with a knife three times on the head. Strangely, while most people no longer believe in werewolves, there is a medical condition known as clinical lycanthropy in which the sufferer believes himself or herself to be a werewolf.




Historical legends describe a wide variety of methods for becoming a werewolf. One of the simplest was the removal of clothing and putting on a belt made of wolf skin, probably a substitute for the assumption of an entire animal skin which also is frequently described. In other cases the body is rubbed with a magic salve. To drink water out of the footprint of the animal in question or to drink from certain enchanted streams were also considered effectual modes of accomplishing metamorphosis. It is also said that when a woman gives birth to six female children, the seventh will be a male and a werewolf. In Galician, Portuguese and Brazilian folklore, it is the seventh of the sons. This belief was so extended in Northern Argentina, that seventh sons were abandoned, ceded in adoption or killed.

Various methods also existed for removing the beast-shape. To kneel in one spot for a hundred years, to be reproached with being a werewolf, to be saluted with the sign of the cross, or addressed thrice by baptismal name, to be struck three blows on the forehead with a knife, or to have at least three drops of blood drawn have also been mentioned as possible cures.

Many European folk tales include throwing an iron object over or at the werewolf, to make it reveal its human form.


The legend of the werewolf is one of the most ancient and wide spread. Stories of werewolves can be found as far back as history has been written. These shape shifters myths can be found all over the world, from China to Iceland, and Brazil to Haiti.

Some of the earliest accounts of werewolves come from Romania and Greek sources. Ovid, in the Metamorphoses, told of King Lycaeon, who was visited by passing gods. Not believing them to be true gods, he decided to test them by serving human flesh in one of many dishes in a banquet in their honor. Cannibalism being very frowned upon in that part of the world was a major slight indeed. Upon discovering the tainted dish, the gods changed King Lycaeon into a werewolf, since he obviously liked human flesh, the wolf form would be a more acceptable form to take part in such a vile activity.

The most widely known story of a werewolf, would be "Little red riding hood". There are many ancient were tales to worn the fraigle small and easiest of targets - Children. "Little red riding hood" features a wolf who talks to Little red riding hood and then dresses up in grandma's clothing to fool the innocent little girl. Not something any old wolf can do.

The full moon has been linked to werewolves. Conversely, unlike movie werewolves, 'real' werewolves change shape voluntarily. In many myths they are witches who take animal form to travel unnoticed either a potion made from magical ingrediants - the fat of dead children, herbs and human blood - or an animal skin. A 'real" werewolf changes completely, becoming the animal rather that a hairy human. The full moon business seems to be dramatic licence. However its an interesting notion, since the full moon has been associated with creating madness in humans and to be a time during which man and beast have a magical connection.

Biographies : Shapeshifters
Shape Shifters
(appeared in "Skin" and "Nightshifters" episode)

Shapeshifting is a common theme in folklore, as well as in science fiction and fantasy. In its broadest sense, it is a change in the physical form or shape of a person or animal. Other terms include metamorphosis, morphing, transformation, or transmogrification.

In Folklore

Popular shapeshifting creatures in folklore are werewolves and vampires (mostly of European, Canadian, and Native American/early American origin), the fox spirits East Asia (including the Japanese kitsune), and the gods, goddesses, and demons of numerous mythologies, such as the Norse Loki or the Greek Proteus. It was also common for deities to transform mortals into animals and plants.

Although shapeshifting to the form of a wolf is specifically known as lycanthropy, and such creatures who undergo such change are called lycanthropes, those terms have also been used to describe any human-animal transformations and the creatures who undergo them. Therianthropy is the more general term for human-animal shifts, but it is rarely used in that capacity.

Other terms for shapeshifters include metamorph, skin-walker, mimic, and therianthrope. The prefix "were-," coming from the Old English word for "man" (masculine rather than generic), is also used to designate shapeshifters; despite its root, it is used to indicate female shapeshifters as well.

Almost every culture around the world has some type of transformation myth, and almost every commonly found animal (and some not-so-common ones) probably has a shapeshifting myth attached to them. Usually, the animal involved in the transformation is indigenous to or prevalent in the area from which the story derives. It is worthy to note that while the popular idea of a shapeshifter is of a human being who turns into something else, there are numerous stories about animals that can transform themselves as well.

Skin-Walkers

In Native American and Norse legend, a skin-walker is a person with the supernatural ability to turn into any animal he or she desires. Similar creatures can be found in numerous cultures' lores all over the world, closely related to beliefs in werewolves (also known as lycanthropes) and other "were" creatures (which can be described as therianthropes). The Mohawk Indian word "limikkin" is sometimes used to describe all skin-walkers. It is also known as the Yenaldooshi.


SN SHIFTERS ”Okay, let’s get something straight. It’s not a mandroid. It’s a shapeshifter.” The shape shifters of the supernatural universe are a breed of their own. The “SN Shifter” is a shape shifter capable of transforming itself into anyone, taking on one’s physical appearance and vocal patterns. . "It generates it’s own skin. It can shape it to match someone else’s features… you know, tall, short, or male.” These shape shifters are also capable of taking on the memories of the body it shifts into, in a process that resembles the Vulcan Mind-Meld. In order for the shape shifter to shift from one person to the next it has to go through a painful process of shedding its own skin. The person that it shifts into can be alive or dead, there is no preference. "Kills them. Doesn’t kill them. I don’t think it really matters.” Sometimes the shifter takes its victim to their underground lair such as the sewer systems. “They like to layer-up underground. Preferably the sewers.” The only way to easily detect a shape shifter is by its laser eyes that appear off of a camera feed. "Same retinal reaction to video… eyes flare at the camera.” "It’s human, more or less… has human drives. In this case, it’s money.” Thus far, most shape shifters that have appeared have turned to a life of crime whether it be murdering young women or robbing banks to attain money. “This thing was born different, hideous and hated; until he learned to become someone else.” "You remember the old werewolf stories? Pretty much came from these guys. Silver’s the only thing that kills em’.” The Winchesters ran into their first shape shifter in St. Louis. This shape shifter even dared to kidnap the Winchesters and tried to take over Dean’s life! Eventually the Winchesters escaped and killed the shape shifter once and for all. “Clearing” Dean from all charges due to his otherwise apparent “death.” The Winchester’s recently ran into another shape shifter in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This shifter was robbing banks to attain money, serving its own greedy needs. Due to this encounter, the feds now know that Dean is still alive and like all real life hunters before him, he is about to face off against the law! SHAPESHIFTING

Shapeshifting, also known as transformation and transmogrification, is a change in the form or shape of a person, especially a change from human form to animal form or a change in appearance from one person to another. “Every culture in the world has a shapeshifter lore- legends of creatures who can transform themselves into animals or other men.” Usually, the animal involved in the transformation is indigenous to or prevalent in the area from which the story derives. It is worthy to note that while the popular idea of a shapeshifter is of a human being who turns into something else, there are numerous myths about animals that can transform themselves as well.

Biographies : Elves
Elves

The elves are an ancient race and their existence stretches further back in time than even they can remember. Whenever their creation may have been, for whatever reason, it is generally assumed Corellon Larethian created them.

Religion: Corellon Larethian is the protector and preserver of life. 'He' is also sometimes known as LifeGiver, but it is also the case some elves think of Corellon as female rather than male, as both male and female, or as neither gender. A pragmatic race, elves hardly ever have strong gender lines in their societies, and either men and women can be found in most social roles, thus the actual gender of their god is not really important to them.

It is said the elven race sprang from drops of His blood that were shed in battle, though dispute as to which foe He was fighting still remains. Some say it was against Gruumsh, the god of the evil orcs, while others say it was against Lolth, a demonic, spider-like goddess. There are also those few who believe the drops of blood were not shed in battle after all, but deliberately, as He created the elven race from His blood in order to combat the evil in the world spawned by orcs, their eternal enemies, or other dark ones such as Lolth and Her ilk. And there are even a few who say orc and elf somehow share common ancestry, but exactly how that can be is lost to antiquity. Whatever the case may be, most elves pay at least some homage to Corellon Larethian in some form, and many worship the being of light, life, and goodness as their primary faith.

Corellon Larethian is the god of music, poetry, dance, magical study, arts and crafts, and even combat. He is most often depicted as a male warrior with long bow or long sword dressed in azure gossamer robes over his elven mithral chainmail. Many believe His epic battles took place on lunar soil and those craters are the remnants of these epic battles. Thus, their holy days are closely tied to the moon, a three-quarter silver crescent being this deity's holy symbol. Elven places of worship are always natural formations, like grottoes, natural amphitheaters, or groves, and their ceremonies mostly occur during a full moon, new moon, or specific phase of the moon (depending on which holy day it is and who you ask).

Finally, there is some speculation that the elves Corellon first created were immortal and perfect. As such, they would live forever, unless killed, or until Corellon called their spirits home to him across the waters before reincarnation. But over the millennia the elven bloodlines have become mixed with other races. Historically when, where, and why is not remembered, but each time such a major union takes place, it is believed the longevity of the elven races decreases. Ancient records suggest not so long ago when the oldest of elves typically lived past 2 millennia, even if no living elf personally recalls this fact, but now few will make it as far as 7 or 8 centuries. Many purest amongst the elves wish to quell further degradation of their bloodlines and frown upon mixed marriages, but most admit such unions are inevitable and over time the elves will meld into the human race, hopefully the end product enjoying the best both races have to offer.

Humans might think the elves regret losing this fantastic longevity in such unions, but elves often rejoice in such unions since each time it happens, their love produces children with greater frequency. Elven birth rates, you see, are quite low, and when an elven child is born it is quite an occasion for celebration. (Modern elven birth rates are about 6 times lower than human birth rates, but elves live about 6 times longer, so populations remain balanced). In the meantime, as the total blending of elf and human will not happen for many thousands of years and hundreds of elven generations to come, the elves hope that they, the humans, and most other races will try to live in harmony and with nature as best they can. But in case they don't, the elves are always ready on their never-ending vigil against evil, which they believe was the purpose of their very creation in the first place.

To that end, most elven cultures devote their long lives to practicing many martial arts. In particular, swordplay and skill with bow and arrow is a must, and such practice is a never-ending part of their incredibly long lives.

Modern High Elves reach majority in about 130 years and live around 550 years, but some as old as 750 years have been known (though some gray elves might still reach 1000).

High elves are slim, lithe, and hardly ever plump, perhaps 5 feet or so and just over 100 pounds no matter their gender, and look human-like. Their ears are tipped in points, however, and their skin is usually more pale but with clear complexions. Their eyes are often sky blue or emerald green (or with flecks of either color in the other), and their hair is usually dark (black or brown, but also sometimes red or blond, though this is rarer and more common amongst halfelves). Elves do not have facial hair like humans, and bald elves (unless they shaved their heads) are almost non existent. They usually only partake of fruits, vegetables, fungi, and various plant products, but do sometimes enjoy meat and fish (if it's fresh) and animal products such as milk, cheese, eggs, and the like. They mostly only drink water or wine. In fact, elves are well known for their wine, but the truth is they do not have greater skill at making wine than other races. They just have greater patience and can lay down a good store of bottles for several centuries without worrying too much about it. Thus, elven wine is almost always properly aged, and connoisseurs appreciate these subtleties and hail such elven wines as the best in the world. Such bottles can command prices 10 to 100 times beyond normal costs (and that's saying a lot as some human wines, maybe a scant 50 to 100 years old, are already quite expensive).

Elves love things in life that last and are enduring, like themselves. Stories - particularly epic yarns and sagas - music, poetry, lasting art, dance, gems and jewelry, and especially magic are highly prized, while short term gains are often thought of as foolish - and those who have them are thought equally foolish or immature and short sighted. Elves live with nature and never abuse it or over harvest it because of greed. Many settlements are nomadic and they always leave the land better than they found it. Some elves, however, live a more settled life, but their cities and villages are usually smaller and well integrated as part of the natural landscape rather than an affront to its innate beauty. Some of the more impressive cities are vast collections of perhaps hundreds of tree houses that are hard to see from the ground (except in winter), but well connected with rope bridges and walk ways across the branches, all of which are well hidden in the forest canopy. Even large boardwalks and platforms are supported in such trees, and soil upon them make terrace-like farming in the trees possible. Elves eat little and therefore need little, so such things are possible for them while humans, trying as much, probably couldn't swing it.

Elves are excellent craftsmen, and they excel in the arts working in wood, rope, and the more valuable metals like silver, gold, and mithral. Their weapons, tools, and clothing are often colorful and decorated and are quite elegant as well as practical. But they readily trade with dwarves since those stout artisans excel in stone, crystal, and baser metals such as iron, steel, and also mithral (though they use such metal to make weapons while elves would rather use it to make magic jewelry, or sometimes the fabled elven chainmail or magical metal tips for the best arrows).

Finally, adult elves do not really sleep, or at least need to sleep, though they may. Most often, however, they engage in a trancelike meditation - called the Reverie - for 4 hours, which gives them similar benefits that humans would get only with 8 hours of sleep. Unless particularly busy, however, many elves also take a meditative break, or sort of siesta at some point rather than work a straight 20 hours. Thus, they frequently break up the day with two 2-hour Reveries, and work for 10 hours after each one.

Though adult elves may sleep, after their first century of life, they usually don't - unless severely wounded or sick. It takes about one hundred years for the elf to master the mental discipline of the Reverie. Individuals of others races may attain this mental discipline for 3 skill points, though monks may attain it for a single additional skill point.

The Reverie, or Revery, is a trancelike state most adult elves put themselves in once or twice a day. Instead of sleeping, the body, mind, soul and/or spirit rejuvenates themselves while in this contemplative state of mind. Such meditations usually last from 2 to 8 hours - though most last 3 to 4 hours. As such, if an adult elf does this twice a day - about once every 10 hours of wakefulness - they can remain mentally sharp. If done only once/day and for about 4 hours' time, the elf is only fully mentally alert for about 16 hours, and the last 4 hours, though productive, would be less than optimal.

While in a Reverie, the elf may contemplate happy memories, problems, or future plans, and remain semi-alert to their surroundings. They remain, however, motionless during this restful time, unless roused by necessity, and any Reverie less than 2 hours in length isn't particularly restful or restorative. Some humans, dwarves, and individuals of other races may attain this talent - particularly monks - though usually only after years of discipline.

Gray Elves

Gray Elves are also known as Mountain elves, and sometimes even cloud elves or sky elves as you could easily find them living with cloud giants or storm giants. Most other elves consider gray elves to be aloof and arrogant, quite reclusive, and dislike their strong isolationist tendencies. Mountain citadels are where they are most often found, if found at all, for their locations are secret and well hidden. There, they mediate and contemplate life, the universe, and the planes of existence, especially in regards to magic. They are far less passionate than high elves and take a more neutral stance on most subjects, quite similar in philosophy to the druids of the lands below, though on a more cosmic scale. Gray elves are said to be the best astronomers around, though they do not engage in the art of astrology. Yet, they do partake in a similar study concerning the confluence of signs regarding the planes and their harmonious resonance, and a sort of numerology, claiming many numbers have cosmic significance, such as the most holy of numbers, 42. They refuse to explain further. It is said the more advanced of their ilk have an unnatural access to the ethereal and astral planes of existence, though this may be simple rumor.

Gray elves appear to be noble, regal, and taller than other elves, with silver or pale golden hair and eyes of amber or violet. They prefer white clothing, yellow, or gold, with cloaks of deep purple or blue

Biographies : Faeries
Faeries
Faeries are generally four or five inches tall. They have silken wings that often take colors from nature: the brightest blues of the skies, the pinks and purples of flowers, the bright yellows of the sunshine, and greenest greens of the forest. All faeries have magic abilities. One of the most commonly used being their ability to make themselves larger. Often when a faerie uses this ability it is to wander around the world of the big people and fit in with them. When the faerie do this it is a short-lived ability and only allows them a few hours of time. Every faerie knows a lot can be learned in a single moment. Let alone a few hours.

Faeries are not true fighters. Rather, they choose to help others when they can. When in danger, they will protect themselves. They often call upon nature and animals nearby to assist them. However, faeries also contain deep seeded magic. It is what they thrive on. Because of this, they are capable of magic from birth. Such as: changing their appearance, healing, levitating objects, and a spell that leaves a person disoriented. While magic varies from faerie to faerie, most are born with these basic abilities to help them fulfill their purpose in the world. Faeries in groups can make much stronger magic. A kingdom of faeries could quite possibly call up a massive thunderstorm or blizzard, were they to feel it necessary.

Faes are mostly creatures of legend. Told by elves to their children as bedtime tales and by the clerics of Lothos as a sign of one Lothos' many beautiful blessings of the world. The story of the birth of the faeries starts long ago. Lothos decided to create a race of beauty and innocence to watch over his beloved earth in his stead. He touched the life of a tiny child who had been abandoned in the forest and gave it wings, beauty, and an immortal life. As long as it would always follow him and care for the earth and it’s occupants, it would be under his good graces. Thus was born the first faerie. While this tale is usually thought of as simply a story passed through the generations of elves, it is nearly the truth.

Biographies : Necromancers
In modern fantasy fiction, a lich sometimes spelled liche, cognate to Dutch lijk and German Leiche, both meaning "corpse") is a type of undead creature. Often such a creature is the result of a transformation, as a powerful magician or king striving for eternal life uses spells or rituals to bind his intellect to his animated corpse and thereby achieve a form of immortality. Liches are depicted as being clearly cadaverous, their bodies desiccated or even completely skeletal. Liches are often depicted as holding power over hordes of lesser undead creatures, using them as their soldiers and servants.

Unlike a zombie, which is often depicted as mindless and/or under the control of some magician, a lich retains its independent thought and is as intelligent as a living human - and often, far more so. In some works of fiction, liches can be distinguished from other undead by their phylactery - an item of the Lich's choosing into which they imbue their soul, giving them immortality until the phylactery is destroyed.

Various works of fantasy fiction, such as Clark Ashton Smith's "Empire of the Necromancers", had used lich as a general term for any corpse, animated or inanimate, before the term's specific use in fantasy role-playing games. The more recent use of the term lich for a specific type of undead creature originates from the 1977 Monster Manual for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game by Gary Gygax.


Historical background


The lich developed from monsters found in earlier classic sword and sorcery fiction, which is filled with powerful sorcerers who use their magic to triumph over death. Many of Clark Ashton Smith's short stories feature powerful wizards whose magic enables them to return from the dead. Several stories by Robert E. Howard, such as the novella Skull-Face and the short story "Scarlet Tears", feature undying sorcerers who retain a semblance of life through mystical means, their bodies reduced to shriveled husks with which they manage to maintain inhuman mobility and active thought. Gary Gygax, one of the co-creators of Dungeons & Dragons, stated that he based the description of a lich included in the game on the short story "The Sword of the Sorcerer" by Gardner Fox.The term lich, used as an archaic word for corpse (or body), is commonly used in these stories. H.P. Lovecraft also used the word in "The Thing on the Doorstep" (published 1937) where the narrator refers to the corpse of his friend which was possessed by a sorcerer. Other imagery surrounding demiliches, in particular that of a jeweled skull, is drawn from the early Fritz Leiber story "Thieves' House"

An earlier mention of the lich can be found in "The Death of Halpin Frayser", a short story by Ambrose Bierce. Halpin Frayser is found dead with a poem written in the style of Lord Byron. Through investigation and flashbacks, the reader finds that Frayser becomes possessed by Lord Byron, a distant ancestor, who senses that a lich named Catharine Larue has risen from her grave to kill Frayser. Lord Byron takes possession in order to finish one last poem before Frayser's death. At the end of the story, the men investigating the murder conclude that Catharine Larue was Frayser's heartbroken mother, who had died some time before the murder. Bierce describes liches thus:

"For by death is wrought greater change than hath been shown. Whereas in general the spirit that removed cometh back upon occasion, and is sometimes seen of those in flesh (appearing in the form of the body it bore) yet it hath happened that the veritable body without the spirit hath walked. And it is attested of those encountering who have lived to speak thereon that a lich so raised up hath no natural affection, nor remembrance thereof, but only hate. Also, it is known that some spirits which in life were benign become by death evil altogether."


In religion and mythology

In Roman Catholicism and the Church of England, the word "lychgate" refers to a covered area at the entrance to the cemetery where the casket awaits the clergy before proceeding into the cemetery for proper burial, lych being a word derived from Old English lic meaning "body" or "corpse".The word has cognates in most other Germanic languages, like Old Norse and Old Frisian lik, Gothic leik, Dutch lijk, German leiche and Danish lig, ultimately being derived from Proto-Germanic *likow.


The underlying idea of eluding death by means of arcane study and black magic can be traced to Middle Eastern folklore,[original research?] and the method of achieving immortality by placing one's soul in a phylactery, usually hidden in some vast fortress, is suggestive of the burial practices of Egypt.


Eastern Slavic mythology includes stories of a powerful dark wizard or a demon, Koschei the Deathless, who evades death by having his fiery soul placed in the eye of a magical needle. The needle is inside an egg, which is inside a duck, which is inside a hare, which is locked in an iron chest placed at the roots of a great oak tree, which is in a hole in the ground on the magical island of Buyan. Koschei can be killed only by breaking the magical needle, which is much like the phylactery of a lich.



In the Dungeons & Dragons game (and other works of fantasy fiction that draw upon Dungeons & Dragons for inspiration), a lich is often a spellcaster or someone assisted by a spellcaster who seeks to defy death by magical means. They are necromancers who are unsatisfied with the level of power that they currently have, wish for longer lives, and seek to unburden themselves from the necessities of bodily functions (such as eating and sleeping) so that they might dedicate every moment of their existence to the attainment of knowledge and power. There have also been descriptions of highly powerful spellcasters that force the conversion on mighty creatures to wreak havoc. Liches convert themselves into undead creatures by means of black magic, storing their souls in magical receptacles called phylacteries, leaving their bodies to die and wither. With their souls bound to material foci, they can never truly die. If its body is destroyed, a lich can simply regenerate or find a new one. According to the Dungeons & Dragons mythos, the only way truly to destroy a lich is first to destroy its phylactery, thereby removing its anchor to the material world, and then to destroy its physical form.

[en.wikipedia.org]

The Necromancer is an arcane caster class in Vanguard and the sole confirmed pet-dependent class. Necromancers use dark magic to create (undead) "abominations." They can also summon minions or animate the fallen. It's not known if they can resurrect party members, though.
The necromancer is able to wield one handed piercing weapons like daggers and 2-handed blunt weapons like staffs.

The Undead Forms

At level 30, the Necromancer may shift into an undead guise. These are like any other classes' forms, and come in corporeal (Skeleton, Lich, Demi-Lich) and incorporeal (Wraith, Specter, and Ghost) flavors. Like Shaman totems, the plan is to have Necromancers complete their own sort of "vision quest" for these forms.

Undead form will also affect what type of minion may be summoned. Switching forms will temporarily weaken the Necromancer, so you shouldn't do that in a dangerous place.

According to recent information the Necromancer may choose between the corporeal, skeletal looking Lich Form and the non-corporeal, ghostlike Wraith Form.

Lich Form
The Necromancer gains more armor class and does a bit more damage with Bone and Poison spells. He can breath underwater, but in turn the form lowers fire resistance. Also, in Lich Form raised minions take on a zombie look.

Wraith Form
Minions are ghosts.

The Abomination
The hallmark of Vanguard's Necromancer is the abomination, a persistant pet that can be "upgraded" using grafts. It will fight for you and obey your orders. These creatures are like a flesh golem, made from various body parts. Grafts can be upgraded and swapped out like conventional equipment.

To get new grafts, one must utilize the gruesome "Necropsy" ability. Grafts for the most part are otherwise like loot, and as such there are some elusive grafts one might seek out.

Corpse Magic
Necromancers can cast certain spells on corpses for special purposes. Only one can be used per corpse, though looting & harvesting grafts can still be done after the body is "claimed."

The Minions
One use of corpse magic is summoning a minion. These pets are short duration and have more limited instructions than abominations. They can come in three flavors:
Guardian: High hit points but low damage output
Slayer: Medium
Caster: Low hit points but high damage output

The type of the minion depends on what form the Necromancer is in. Necromancers have a certain limit to the amount of minions they can have active at once, and upon exceeding the limit the oldest is discarded first. The minion cap will increase over time as you gain levels.

The Animated Dead
In addition to bringing out minions, a Necromancer can reanimate a corpse. The corpse will be fully obedient but will not be as powerful as it was when it was alive. Animations count to your minion limit. The Spell to perform this is called Mockery of Life.

Plagues & Curses
Necromancers' arsenal of arcane magic includes plagues and curses. Plagues are like conventional DoTs and debuffs, except they have a curse counter. After a certain time, the curse counter adds up and triggers any curses.
Curses are special abilities that must be gained via a quest. They don't do anything by themselves; they must be seperately triggered by a plague.


Level 1
Bone Spike I
37 Energy
Physical Conjuration
Range: 25
Cast Time: 2.0 Seconds

Summons a deadly hail of bone shards which are magicly hurled at your enemy (sort of a "magic missle" hah hah) dealing physical damage. The amount of damage is based on the Necromancer's level and particular combination of attributes. It is also possible to achieve "critical" or "epic" hits from time to time that can do massive ammounts of damage. (Epic hits are currently disabled. - 1/15/2007) Also, the effect of this looks more like a spray of bone darts rather than a bone spear.)


Power of the Grave I
18 Energy
Alteration
Range: 25
Cast Time: Instant
Grants the Necromancer's ally unnatural vigor and intellect, increasing both constitution and intelligence by 9. This effect lasts one hour. Although the casting time for this spell is instant, the caster will need to wait a very short duration before casting the spell again.

Level 2
Torment I
25 Energy
Spiritual Evocation
Range: 25
Cast Time: Instant
Tormenting spirits attack the soul of your opponent, slowing movement by 50% and inflicting 139 to 151 damage over 32 seconds. (Sort of like the Darkeness line from EQ1. This is a snare coulpled with a DoT.)

Level 4
Awaken Abomination I
0 Energy
Conjuration
Range: 5
Cast Time: 10 seconds
Awakens an abomination to serve the Necromancer's needs. The abomination is the Necromancer's most baisc and loyal minion. It will fight for the Necromancer, even unto it's own...death... Summoning an abomination takes only time... No power is required. Therefor trying to summon an abomination while in battle is only to be attempted as a last resort. The abomination resembles a sinister and agressive flesh golem with a mouth full of needle sharp teeth and powerful limbs tipped with razor sharp claws.

Blood Rite I
12HP, 32 Energy
Alteration
Range: 25
Cast Time: 2.0 seconds
Transfers a portion of the Necromancer's life to their abomination. In essence the Necromancer is able to heal the abomination by sacrificing his own life. This all sounds rather selfless, the master making a sacrifice for his servant, ...oh but there is more... just wait until you learn about "Drain Life"...but that is a spell for a different level... (The in-game description says "heals for 130" though in practice I've only seen it heal for 104.)

Crippling Blight I
27 Energy
Alteration
Range: 25
Cast Time: Instant
Cripples a Necromancer's opponent, lowering their damage output by 18. Most of the weakness will fade within 20 seconds, but the blight lingers for two excruciatingly long minutes.

Level 6
Instill Fear
The Fear spell is something to use with great care. Use it in a dungeon and you're bound to draw a lot of attention as the foe runs about telling all his friends about you and what you did to him. However, this can be a quick get-out-of-jail card if you find yourself in a sticky situation in some open areas.

Bone Spear of Nathrac
Bone Spear is a real direct damage spell. It does serious damage, so be prepared to have your enemy turn it's head from your minion and begin running right for you. This is a kill-quick combo if your Slayer is hacking away at your enemy while he has been DoT'ed with the Plague of the Flesh Eaters and you drop in this Bone Spear at around 1/2 health.


[edit] Level 8
Plague of Horrid Decay
Advanced DoT. This one does more than just damaging your enemy; it lowers their movement speed, lowers their attack damage by 10% as well as doing damage to them, but not as much as Plague of the Flesh Eaters.


Raise Guardian
He's a tank. Very low damage output, but he can really make an enemy mad at him and hold agro for the duration of a fight. The Guardian stays on the target you've first attacked and will not change targets even if you begin attacking something else, unlike the Slayer that attacks whatever you are attacking.


Level 10
Necropsy
Spell to harvest usable parts for the Abomination from slain foes.
Toxic Burst
Area effect damage spell.
Mend Flesh
Healing spell that is used to heal the Abomination.
Zombify
Mesmerizing spell that binds an enemy for about 45 seconds.
Summon Abomination
Does exactly that: summoning the Abomination.



Other Info
Necromancers are deeply embedded in High Fantasy, often as an evil and insidious character who raises the dead to do his bidding—often for dark purposes. While Vanguard might not be sticking entirely to standard high fantasy, the class does show many abilities that are core to the concept—and many other neat abilities on top of that.

The Necromancer was pretty popular this year at E3. It seemed to be a class that many people were excited to hear about and see in action. In fact, a good bit of the gameplay game-play demonstrations was with Necromancers.

So, why is it that this class was getting so much attention? Well, people just seem to love the idea of the Necromancer; the mage who raises the dead to do his bidding. It has an insidiousness about it that could appeal to many. However, let us take a closer look at this class with what was learned at E3 this year, thanks to a few developers at Sigil—largely David Forrest.
Necromancers are most notable for their loyal, undead servants, and they are usually implemented into games as a pet-based class. Vanguard is not straying far from that. However, Sigil is throwing in a few new ideas with their pets. That is, the player can loot parts of creatures and attach them to the necromancer to let it grow stronger and obtain new abilities. For example, you may obtain a rare ‘part’, such as an Ice Claw, which, when attached to your pet, enables it to use snares and roots. Like weapons and armor in the game, there will be rare drops for these parts as well.

The Necromancer also has numerous other abilities that can aid them in battles. They will have a Feign Death, four DOT lines, DD/Snares, DOT/snares, Curses, Auras, a ‘Wail’ line, which acts as an AoE fear spell that also deals damage, as well as a single-target fear. The Necromancer should have a powerful arsenal at their disposal as far as spells go.
Curses sound particularly interesting. They are related to the different DOT lines, which are named after various types of plagues, such as the Plague of Infestation, which causes scarabs to burst from the skin of the target. The curses are attacks that do not happen immediately, but instead take a bit of time to go off with fantastic effects, and do cost mana to cast. Once the curse is cast, it is activated once the DOT on the target has progressed far enough—or if multiple people are DOTing the mob.

To give an example of one of the curses, there is a DOT that drains the mana of the target (potentially a mana-tap), which the Curse of the Thought Worm—a level one curse—is related too. When the curse goes off, it deals extra damage, damages the mana of the target, and silences them for a duration when it goes off.
The Necromancer also has some crowd control abilities—although not as much as some of the other classes. One way in which the Necromancer can do this is with their Mummify ability, which essentially turns an enemy into a mummy that can not fight effectively. The Necromancer has several different Auras that they can use. One example of this would be a Chill Aura, which sends cold effects out from your position, snaring enemies as they get close to you, with a chance to root them for a short duration as the character rises in level.
This also gives the added benefit with AoE spells, such as Poison Blast and Corpse Explosion. With the enemies grouped around you, moving slow, you can gain hits on more targets.
Many people have fond memories of EverQuest and what Necromancer’s had to deal with concerning the faction system. That is, that they were not well liked by good races. It sounds as if Sigil is considered having this class (and possibly others) impact the faction system in Vanguard as well. Yet, it is not clear how this will work, or if it will end up being implemented at all. It was mentioned that High Elves would likely not consider Necromancers as evil, as they view the use of magic, not the magic itself, as good or evil.
Necromancers have quite a few abilities that they can put to use in Vanguard and they should be an exciting class to play for those interested in pet-based classes, or someone interested in a solid arcane-based class. One way or the other, considering the attention that it was given at E3, the Necromancer will likely be a popular class—and quite likely for good reason.
-Arrakiv's E3 Writeup On Necros

Biographies : Vampires
Vampires
Although Vampires are dead they can imitate some of the things that living people do. The Damned know this process as the "blush of life." A Vampire can force vitae into his outer tissues to give skin a lifelike flush, or to force his heart to beat and his lungs to inhale and exhale in a normal rhythm. Vampires who want to engage in sexual intercourse - perhaps to feed upon a suitably distracted mortal, or perhaps for simple pleasure - can force blood to the appropriate section of the anatomy as well. Normally Vampires vomit up any food or drink they consume immediately. If a Vampire wishes to consume food or drink, they must also spend vitae.

Through physical augmentation a Vampire can call upon his vitae to enhance his muscular power, speed and agility, or ability to withstand harm. He may increase his power in lots of 20%, up to a maximum of 200%, but the more vitae he pumps into his system the more strain he puts on it in doing so. He may also expend vitae to heal wounds, which can also heal scars as well, but not any scars that were made before their undead status.

Not having the same limitations as a living body, he cannot be knocked unconscious and while knives, axes and any sort of melee weapon is just as dangerous to him as a living creature, bullets cause little damage as apart from his heart and his head, the remaining organs within the body don't actually do anything, so a bullet drilling through them is no worse then getting hit with a club.

Most venomous and toxic chemicals do not harm him at all. Snake venom often dissolves blood cells and body tissues, and others cause heart spasms, but as he doesn't have a metabolism, the effects are considerably less than if they were used on a living creature. Therefore only the most potent of poisons can hope to effect him, and even then he has ways of dealing with it. Acids and other corrosive chemicals damage him as easily as it would a living creature.

Drugs such as alcohol, marijuana and heroin can affect him as easily as the living. If he wants to use a drug he can either feed on an intoxicated mortal, or spend vitae to activate organs and feel the effects.

Since Vampires do not actually live, they suffer only minor discomfort from temperature and pressure extremes that would kill a mortal. For instances Vampires cannot suffer from hypothermia or heat prostration. Being dead, they do not need to maintain a steady body temperature. Vampires can descend deep underwater and return to the surface quickly without worrying about decompression sickness. Gas bubbles in the Vampires blood may cause a few aches and twinges, but they do not really harm undead flesh. Altitude sickness means nothing to creatures that do not need to breath.

No mundane disease can effect a Vampire in any way. From cancer to the common cold, undeath "cures" them all and renders them immune forever after. Vampires can still spread disease though. Vampires don't get allergies, infections or ulcers.

By itself electricity does little harm to the undead. Electrocution doesn't stop a Vampires heart from beating, because it doesn't beat in the first place. Electricity doesn't interfere with brain function or nerve impulse, because Vampires bodies work mystically. The heat generated by lightning or high-tension electric current can cause internal burns however. Vampires remain subject to the muscle-locking effect of electrocution, though, just like mortals

Biographies : Demons
Demons

Demons are fallen angels under the command of Satan, those who are still free after the Gen. 6 affair. Satan is called the Prince, or Ruler, of all demons in Matthew 9:34; 12:24; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15. Demons are also called the ministers, or ambassadors of Satan, Luke 4:35; 9:1,42; John 10:21. Satan is brilliant, an administrative genius. He has an excellent organization, mentioned in Eph. 6:10-12 (READ) The Bible also makes a distinction between demon possession and demon influence.

Demon possession occurs when an actual fallen angel, a demon, enters and occupies the body of an unbeliever. Demons cannot enter the bodies of Christian believers because the Christian's body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Inviting demons can be accomplished in a number of ways.

* Through idolatry (Satan's communion table), 1 COR. 10:19-21*.

* Through drug addiction, called in Greek, farmakeia, "the use of drugs, potions, or spells; poisoning, witchcraft, sorcery" GAL. 5:20 ("witch-craft, sorcery"), cf. also REV.9:21; 18:23.

* Through religious backsliding, religious sensitivity activities such as dabbling in the occult, consulting mediums, necromancy. cf. ISA. 8:19.

Demon Influence is the residence of evil in the soul; can be unbeliever (ROM. 1:23) or believer. This is the method that Satan uses to trap and neutralize the believer, by introducing, if allowed, the Doctrine of Evil inside the soul of the born-again believer. Demon influence in the believer comes about in the later stages of negativity, or backsliding.

The first stage of backsliding is some kind of reaction to life -- whether discouragement, disillusion, disenchantment, boredom, self-pity, loneliness, frustration, instability, pride complex and various sins of arrogance, revenge tactics, reaction to contemporary events or social pressures, etc. Whatever causes it, the reaction stage makes one very vulnerable to the attacks of Satan. This is not the entrance into demon influence, at this point, but merely vulnerability to it.

The second stage of backsliding is the frantic search for happiness following the trends of the Sin Nature (towards asceticism or lasciviousness). This also increases vulnerability, especially as one moves away from the protection of doctrine and Grace provision.

The third stage intensifies the reaction stage, but still has only the potentiality, not the actuality, of demon influence. It is at the fourth stage of backsliding, in which the soul is in revolt emotionally, where the possibility of demon influence comes in. Doctrinal content is located in the mentality of the soul (including standards, conscience, frame of reference, memory center, vocabulary, doctrinal storage under edification, and the area of applied doctrine resulting in production of divine good). It is the lack of doctrinal content which is the primary factor in vulnerability to demon influence.

The soul also has its area of response to outside influences, centered in the emotions of the soul. Emotion has no doctrinal content, no character of its own, no spiritual content, no ability to think or rationalize, or even to use common sense. It is designed to respond; it is not designed to lead or initiate anything. The tongues movement is an illustration of the soul's emotions being led about by falsehood. Sometimes believers in the tongues movement are under demon influence. Sometimes unbelievers are actually demon possessed.

The thing that opens the door for demon influence in the life of the believer is negative volition toward the Word of God. The believer says "Negative" to doctrine and opens up a vacuum in his soul. Whatever evil is in the neighborhood will be picked up -- false teaching, TV, newspaper...

Regardless of what causes the negative attitude, the effect is the same. It may be antagonism or a negative attitude or personality conflict with the pastor, or with other members of the congregation. It may be apathy or indifference to teaching. It may be failure to use Grace provision, Faith Rest, or inability to handle prosperity, slavery to the details of life. Whatever it is, negative volition opens up the emptiness of the soul.

As a result of evil in the soul, there is demon influence, the "darkness in the soul" of Eph. 4. There is the infiltration of the doctrines of Satan into the soul of the reversionistic person (believer or unbeliever). Here, the believer is "worshipping and serving the creature rather than the Creator".

There are two systems for demon possession of the unbeliever. The first is the unlawful isolation of dormant facilities. The body is brought under the control of the soul, and the soul has been given to Satan. It is like a conversion in reverse. Seances, or the ceremony called the Satanic mass, are means by which this is accomplished. This person becomes a disembodied spirit or an "adept". All of the activities of supernaturalism may be attributed to this; mental telepathy, spiritism, out of body experiences.

The second system is passive submission to demons. This can be accomplished through idolatry, through drugs, or other means. In the ancient world, the various oracles used this means in attempting to predict the outcome of events. (The "mephitic vapors" of the oracle of Delphi, which was some form of narcotic gas.) Another example is the Hindu "soma" mysteries, and the various sutras of Indian religions. There are also various systems of mesmerism or hypnotism, whether induced by one's self or another person, such as Whirling Dervishes, or unbelievers involved in the tongues movement.

Demonism is directly related to idolatry and thus to human sacrifice Ps. 136:37,39. Sacrifices to demons were prohibited by law in Lev. 17:7, "And they shall no longer sacrifice to the goat demon (or satyr) with which they shall play the harlot. This will be a permanent law in every generation." Or in Deut. 32:17, "They sacrifice to demons, not gods, new things which came lately which your ancestors did not fear." Heathen nations worship demons, acc. to Ps. 96:5, "For all the gods of the peoples are idols (daimonia in LXX)." It was thoroughly understood that idolatry meant demons. Capital punishment by stoning was the penalty for witchcraft, demonism, etc.

The judgment against Egypt concerning the death of the first-born was also a judgment against the demons in Egypt. Ex. 12:12, "For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the demons of Egypt I will execute judgment; I am Jehovah." Num. 33:4, "While the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn whom the Lord had struck down among them, the Lord had also executed judgment against their demons."

Demons are powerless to change the course of history. Isa. 19:3, "Then the spirits of the Egyptians will become demoralized within them; also, I will frustrate their strategy, so that they will resort to idle demons and to the ghosts of the dead and to mediums and to spiritists." Demonism is always subject to the justice of God and is always judged in its various forms.

The reason why the Canaanites were removed from the land is that they practiced demonism. Deut. 18:9-12 (READ). In the reign of King Manasseh, evil is associated with demonism, 2 Kings 21:2-16. Demonism brings the discipline of total destruction to a nation, Isa. 47; Jer. 27:6-10; Isa. 29:4.

Satan and demons are often used by God in the administration of the sin unto death to reversionistic believers. Ex. Hymenaeus and Alexander, I Tim. 1:19,20. The believer committing incest in 1 Cor. 5:5 was turned over to Satan, but it was so painful that he repented.

Satan's power of death is mentioned in four categories. He has the power of death, Heb. 2:14,15; 1 John 3:8. He killed Job's children, Job 1:12,18,19. He motivated Cain to murder Abel, John 8:44; 1 John 3:12.

Satan is a source of disease. Satan produced the illness in Job, Job 2:6,8. Satan uses demons to produce disease in human beings. There is therefore the principle of demon-induced illness, Matt. 12:22; Luke 13:16; Acts 10:38. Certain mental diseases, and illness which are related to abnormal behavior, may be demon induced. Dumbness and deafness, Mark 9:17; Luke 11:14; Matt. 11:22. Certain forms of epilepsy, Mark 1:26; 9:20; Luke 4:35. Satan is the source of at least ten different types of abnormal behavior which are mentioned in the Bible.

Convulsions, Mark 1:26.

Violence, Matt. 8:28.

Abnormal strength, Mark 5:4.

Raving, Mark 5:5

Self-mutilation, Mark 5:5

Foaming at the mouth, Mark 9:20

Public nakedness, Luke 8:27

Living among corpses, Mark 5:3

A type of grinding of the teeth, Mark 9:18

Falling into fires and throwing oneself into dangerous things, Matt. 17:15

Satan also heals. He heals by the withdrawal of demons and establishes the credentials for some of his evangelists. In Acts 19:11,12 legitimate healing by God was used to establish apostolic authority. On the other hand, healing was used by Satan in a similar way, II Thess. 2:9; Rev. 16:14; Matt. 24:24.

Satan wanted to punish Peter by using demons. Luke 22:31,32 (READ). Peter had denied Christ, and Satan had the audacity to suggest how the justice of God should function toward Peter. Of course the Lord refused this.

I Tim. 3:6,7 (READ)-- Satan is used as a warning for discipline.

The power of Satan is summarized in Psalm 109:6-13 (READ). He can blind true religion, shorten life (where God permits), remove people from authority, can kill, can persecute children, remove wealth, turn everyone against you, he can cut off posterity to the second generation. So certain powers are permitted Satan as the "ruler of this world", but they are always under the sovereignty of God.

In religion, occultism and folklore, a demon or daemon, daimon; from Greek daimôn, is a supernatural being described as something that is not human and in ordinary usage malevolent. The original neutral Greek word "daimon" does not carry the negative connotation initially understood by implementation of the Koine (Hellenistic and New Testament Greek) (daimonion), and later ascribed to any cognate words sharing the root, originally intended to denote a spirit or spiritual being.


In Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the derived Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism. In Western occultism and Renaissance magic, which grew out of an amalgamation of Greco-Roman magic, Jewish demonology and Christian tradition, a demon is a spiritual entity that may be conjured and controlled. Many of the demons in literature were once fallen angels.

Buer, the 10th spirit, who teaches "Moral and Natural Philosophy" (from a 1995 Mathers edition. Illustration by Louis Breton from Dictionnaire Infernal).


Ancient Greek ; daime;n is a word for "spirit" or "divine power", much like the Latin genius or numen. The Merriam-Webster dictionary gives the etymology of the Greek word as from the verb daiesthai "to divide, distribute." The Greek conception of a ; notably appears in the works of Plato, where it describes the divine inspiration of Socrates. To distinguish the classical Greek concept from its later Christian interpretation, it is usually anglicized as either daemon or daimon rather than demon.


The Greek term does not have any connotations of evil or malevolence. In fact,, literally "good-spiritedness", is a term for "happiness". The term first acquired its now-current evil connotations in the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible, informed by the mythology of the ancient Semitic religions. This connotation was inherited by the Koine text of the New Testament. The medieval and neo-medieval conception of a "demon" in Western civilization (see the Medieval grimoire called the Ars Goetia) derives seamlessly from the ambient popular culture of Late (Roman) Antiquity. Greco-Roman concepts of daemons that passed into Christian culture are discussed in the entry daemon, though it should be duly noted that the term referred only to a spiritual force, not a malevolent supernatural being. The Hellenistic "daemon" eventually came to include many Semitic and Near Eastern gods as evaluated by Christianity.


The supposed existence of demons is an important concept in many modern religions[who?] and occultist traditions. In some present-day cultures, demons are still feared in popular superstition, largely due to their alleged power to possess living creatures. In the contemporary Western occultist tradition (perhaps epitomized by the work of Aleister Crowley), a demon, such as Choronzon, the "Demon of the Abyss", is a useful metaphor for certain inner psychological processes ("inner demons"), though some may also regard it as an objectively real phenomenon. Some scholars believe that large portions of the demonology (see Asmodai) of Judaism, a key influence on Christianity and Islam, originated from a later form of Zoroastrianism, and were transferred to Judaism during the Persian era.


Psychological archetype

Psychologist Wilhelm Wundt remarks that "among the activities attributed by myths all over the world to demons, the harmful predominate, so that in popular belief bad demons are clearly older than good ones." Sigmund Freud develops on this idea and claims that the concept of demons was derived from the important relation of the living to the dead: "The fact that demons are always regarded as the spirits of those who have died recently shows better than anything the influence of mourning on the origin of the belief in demons."


M. Scott Peck, an American psychiatrist, wrote two books on the subject, People of the Lie: The Hope For Healing Human Evil and Glimpses of the Devil: A Psychiatrist's Personal Accounts of Possession, Exorcism, and Redemption.
Peck describes in some detail several cases involving his patients. In People of the Lie: The Hope For Healing Human Evil he gives some identifying characteristics for evil persons whom he classifies as having a character disorder. In Glimpses of the Devil, A Psychiatrist's Personal Accounts of Possession, Exorcism, and Redemption Peck goes into significant detail describing how he became interested in exorcism in order to debunk the "myth" of possession by evil spirits–only to be convinced otherwise after encountering two cases which did not fit into any category known to psychology or psychiatry. Peck came to the conclusion that possession was a rare phenomenon related to evil. Possessed people are not actually evil; they are doing battle with the forces of evil. His observations on these cases are listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (IV) of the American Psychiatric Association.


Although Peck's earlier work was met with widespread popular acceptance, his work on the topics of evil and possession has generated significant debate and derision. Much was made of his association with (and admiration for) the controversial Malachi Martin, a Roman Catholic priest and a former Jesuit, despite the fact that Peck consistently called Martin a liar and manipulator. Other criticisms leveled against Peck include misdiagnoses based upon a lack of knowledge regarding dissociative identity disorder (formerly known as multiple personality disorder), and a claim that he had transgressed the boundaries of professional ethics by attempting to persuade his patients into accepting Christianity.


By tradition

Ancient Near East
Mesopotamia


Human-headed winged bull, otherwise known as a Šedu

In Chaldean mythology the seven evil deities were known as shedu, meaning storm-demons. They were represented in winged bull form, derived from the colossal bulls used as protective genii of royal palaces, the name "shed" assumed also the meaning of a propitious genius in Babylonian magic literature.


It was from Chaldea that the name "shedu" came to the Israelites, and so the writers of the Tanach applied the word as a dylogism to the Canaanite deities in the two passages quoted. But they also spoke of "the destroyer" (Exodus xii. 23) as a demon whose malignant effect upon the houses of the Israelites was to be warded off by the blood of the paschal sacrifice sprinkled upon the lintel and the door-post (a corresponding pagan talisman is mentioned in Isaiah lvii. 8). In II Samuel xxiv; 16 and II Chronicles xxi. 15 the pestilence-dealing demon is called "the destroying angel" (compare "the angel of the Lord" in II Kings xix. 35; Isaiah xxxvii. 36), because, although they are demons, these "evil messengers" (Psalms lxxviii. 49; A. V. "evil angels") do only the bidding of God; they are the agents of His divine wrath.


There are indications that popular Hebrew mythology ascribed to the demons a certain independence, a malevolent character of their own, because they are believed to come forth, not from the heavenly abode of God, but from the nether world.


Hebrew demons were workers of harm. To them were ascribed the various diseases, particularly such as affect the brain and the inner parts. Hence there was a fear of "Shabriri" (lit. "dazzling glare"), the demon of blindness, who rests on uncovered water at night and strikes those with blindness who drink of it; also mentioned were the spirit of catalepsy and the spirit of headache, the demon of epilepsy, and the spirit of nightmare.


These demons were supposed to enter the body and cause the disease while overwhelming or "seizing" the victim (hence "seizure"). To cure such diseases it was necessary to draw out the evil demons by certain incantations and talismanic performances, in which the Essenes excelled. Josephus, who speaks of demons as "spirits of the wicked which enter into men that are alive and kill them", but which can be driven out by a certain root, witnessed such a performance in the presence of the Emperor Vespasian, and ascribed its origin to King Solomon.


Ancient Arabia

Pre-Islamic mythology does not discriminate between gods and demons. The jinn are considered as divinities of inferior rank, having many human attributes: they eat, drink, and procreate their kind, sometimes in conjunction with human beings. The jinn smell and lick things, and have a liking for remnants of food. In eating they use the left hand. Usually they haunt waste and deserted places, especially the thickets where wild beasts gather. Cemeteries and dirty places are also favorite abodes. When appearing to man, jinn sometimes assume the forms of beasts and sometimes those of men.

Generally, jinn are peaceable and well disposed toward men. Many a pre-Islamic poet was believed to have been inspired by good jinn, but there are also evil jinn, who contrive to injure men.


Hebrew Bible


Lilith, by John Collier, 1892

Those in the Hebrew Bible are of two classes, the se'irim and the shedim. The se'irim ("hairy beings"), to which some Israelites offered sacrifices in the open fields, are satyr-like creatures, described as dancing in the wilderness, and which are identical with the jinn, such as Dantalion, the 71st spirit of Solomon. (But compare the completely European woodwose.) Possibly to the same class belongs Azazel, the goat-like demons of the wilderness, probably the chief of the se'irim, and Lilith. Possibly "the roes and hinds of the field", by which Shulamit conjures the daughters of Jerusalem to bring her back to her lover, are faunlike spirits similar to the se'irim, though of a harmless nature.

The evil spirit that troubled Saul (I Samuel 16:14 et seq.) may have been a demon,[citation needed] though the Masoretic text tells us that the spirit was sent by God.

Some benevolent shedim were used in kabbalistic ceremonies (as with the golem of Rabbi Yehuda Loevy), and malevolent shedim (mazikin, from the root meaning "to damage") were often creedited with possession. Similarly, a shed might inhabit an otherwise inanimate statue.

Judaism

Jewish demonology

In some rabbinic sources, the demons were believed to be under the dominion of a king or chief, either Asmodai or, in the older Haggadah, Samael ("the angel of death"), who kills by his deadly poison, and is called "chief of the devils".

Occasionally a demon is called "satan": "Stand not in the way of an ox when coming from the pasture, for Satan dances between his horns".

Demonology never became an essential feature of Jewish theology.[citation needed] The reality of demons was never questioned by the Talmudists and late rabbis; most accepted their existence as a fact. Nor did most of the medieval thinkers question their reality. Only rationalists like Maimonides and Abraham ibn Ezra, clearly denied their existence. Their point of view eventually became the mainstream Jewish understanding.


Rabbinical demonology has three classes of demons, though they are scarcely separable one from another. There were the shedim, the mazz;im ("harmers"), and the; ("spirits"). Besides these there were lilin ("night spirits"), ("shade", or "evening spirits"), ("midday spirits"), and ("morning spirits"), as well as the "demons that bring famine" and "such as cause storm and earthquake" (Targ. Yer. to Deuteronomy xxxii. 24 and Numbers vi. 24; Targ. to Cant. iii. 8, iv. 6; Eccl. ii. 5; Ps. xci. 5, 6.)



Christian demonology




"Demon" has a number of meanings, all related to the idea of a spirit that inhabited a place, or that accompanied a person. Whether such a daemon was benevolent or malevolent, the Greek word meant something different from the later medieval notions of 'demon', and scholars debate the time in which first century usage by Jews and Christians in its original Greek sense became transformed to the later medieval sense. Some denominations asserting Christian faith also include,
exclusively or otherwise, fallen angels as de facto demons; this definition also covers the "sons of God" described in Genesis who abandoned their posts in heaven to mate with human women on Earth before the Deluge.

In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus casts out many demons, or evil spirits, from those who are afflicted with various ailments. Jesus is far superior to the power of demons over the beings that they inhabit, and he is able to free these victims by commanding and casting out the demons, by binding them, and forbidding them to return. Jesus also lends this power to some of his disciples, who rejoice at their new found ability to cast out all demons. The demons are cast out by the pronunciation of a name according to Matthew 7:22, some groups insisting the original pronunciation of the name Jesus and pure form of worship be used i.e. Yahshua / Joshua meaning "Yahweh is salvation".


By way of contrast, in the book of Acts a group of Judaistic exorcists known as the sons of Sceva try to cast out a very powerful spirit without believing in or knowing Jesus, but fail with disastrous consequences. However Jesus himself never fails to vanquish a demon, no matter how powerful (see the account of the demon-possessed man at Gerasim), and even defeats Satan in the wilderness (see Gospel of Matthew).


There is a description in the Book of Revelation 12:7-17 of a battle between God's army and Satan's followers, and their subsequent expulsion from Heaven to Earth to persecute humans — although this event is related as being foretold and taking place in the future. In Luke 10:18 it is mentioned that a power granted by Jesus to cast out demons made Satan "fall like lightning from heaven."


Augustine of Hippo's reading of Apuleius, in City of God (Bk. IX, ch.11) is ambiguous as to whether daemons had become 'demonized' by the early 5th century:

"He [Apulieus] also states that the blessed are called in Greek eudaimones, because they are good souls, that is to say, good demons, confirming his opinion that the souls of men are demons.

The contemporary Roman Catholic Church unequivocally teaches that angels and demons are real personal beings, not just symbolic devices. The Catholic Church has a cadre of officially sanctioned exorcists which perform many exorcisms each year. The exorcists of the Catholic Church teach that demons attack humans continually but that afflicted persons can be effectively healed and protected either by the formal rite of exorcism, authorized to be performed only by bishops and those they designate, or by prayers of deliverance which any Christian can offer for themselves or others.


Building upon the few references to daemons in the New Testament, especially the visionary poetry of the Apocalypse of John, Christian writers of apocrypha from the 2nd century onwards created a more complicated tapestry of beliefs about "demons" that was largely independent of Christian scripture.

At various times in Christian history, attempts have been made to classify these beings according to various proposed demonic hierarchies.

According to most Christian demonology demons will be eternally punished and never reconciled with God. Other theories postulate a Universal reconciliation, in which Satan, the fallen angels, and the souls of the dead that were condemned to Hell are reconciled with God. This doctrine is today often associated with the Unification Church. Origen, Jerome and Gregory of Nyssa also mentioned this possibility.


In contemporary Christianity, demons are generally considered to be angels who fell from grace by rebelling against God. However, other schools of thought in Christianity or Judaism teach that demons, or evil spirits, are a result of the sexual relationships between fallen angels and human women. When these hybrids (Nephilim) died they left behind disembodied spirits that "roam the earth in search of rest" (Luke 11:24). Many non-canonical historical texts describe in detail these unions and the consequences thereof. This belief is repeated in other major ancient religions and mythologies. Christians who reject this view do so by ascribing the description of "Sons of God" in Genesis 6 to be the sons of Seth (one of Adam's sons).
There are some who say that the sin of the angels was pride and disobedience, these being the sins that caused Satan's downfall (Ezek. 28). If this be the true view, then we are to understand the words, "estate" or "principality" in Deuteronomy 32:8 and Jude 6 ("And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.") as indicating that instead of being satisfied with the dignity once for all assigned to them under the Son of God, they aspired higher.


Renaissance demonology


Although no canon of Renaissance demonology exist, the interest in classic Greco-Roman culture, philosophy, science and Greek and Roman mythology also created a playground for experience with, what was supposed to be a Pre-Christian religious practice. Most notably found in popular culture like the legend of Faust.
Islam


The Majlis al Jinn cave in Oman, literally "Meeting place of the Jinn".

Islamic teaching about the Devil and Islamic creationism

Islam recognizes the existence of the jinn, which are sentient beings with free will that can co-exist with humans and are not all evil as demons are described in Christianity. In Islam, the evil jinns are referred to as the shay, or devils, and Iblis (Satan) is their chief. Iblis was the first Jinn who disobeyed Allah. According to Islam, the jinn are made from the fire (whereas angels are made from light and mankind is made from altered clay).

According to the Qur'an, when Allah created Adam from clay, all the angels and Iblis himself was ordered to bow before Adam as humans are superior than any of Allah's Creation. Iblis became very jealous and said that humans are not the superior creations but jinns are as they are made of fire and humans are made of clay and he disobeyed Allah.

Adam was the first prophet and deputy of the human race, and as such was the greatest creation of Allah. Iblis could not stand this, and refused to acknowledge a creature made of "mud" (man). Allah, thus, condemned Iblis to be punished in the hellfire. But Iblis asked for respite until the last day to which Allah agreed, but warned that he and all whom would follow him in evil would be punished in hell. Allah also stated that Iblis would only be able to mislead those who have forsaken Allah and not the righteous believers.

Adam and Eve (Hawwa in Arabic) were both together misled by Iblis into eating the forbidden fruit, and consequently fell from the garden of Eden (allegorical) into a state of degeneration.

Jinns are not the "genies" of modern lore. The word "genie" comes from the French 'génie' for genius[citation needed] used in translations of Arabic text and only sounds coincidentally like the Arabic jinn. This is not surprising considering the story of (anglicized as Aladdin), passed through Arabian merchants en route to Europe.


Hinduism


Hindu mythology include numerous varieties of spirits that might be classified as demons, including Vetalas, Yakshas, Bhutas and Pishachas. Often Rakshasas and Asuras are taken to mean demons.
Asuras


Asura in, Nara, 734, Japanese

Originally, Asura, in the earliest hymns of the Rig Veda, meant any supernatural spirit, both good and bad. Since the /s/ of the Indic linguistic branch is cognate with the /h/ of the Early Iranian languages, the word Asura, representing a category of celestial beings, became the word Ahura (Mazda), the Supreme God of the monotheistic Zoroastrians. Ancient Hinduism tells that Devas and Asuras are half-brothers, sons of the same father Kasyapa; but some of the devas, like Varuna, are also named Asuras. But much later at puranic age Asura (also Rakshasa) came to exclusively mean any of a race of anthropomorphic, powerful, possibly evil beings. All words such as Asura, Daitya (lit., sons of the mother "Diti"), Rakshasa (lit. from "harm to be guarded against") are incorrectly translated into English as demon.


Asuras do accept and worship the Gods, particularly the Hindu triumvirate; some of the rakshasas like Ravana and Mahabali are exemplary devotees. Often the strife between the asuras and the devas is simply a political one: devas are the ordained maintainers of the realms with power (and immortality) accorded to them by the gods and asuras ever strive to attain both. Asuras usually attain or enhance their supernatural powers through penance to gods and waging war on devas using powers thus attained. Unlike Christian notion of demons, asuras are not the cause of the evil and unhappiness in mankind (unhappiness in humans, according to Hinduism is by one's own actions (Karma) and/or due to the continued ignorance of Brahman, the unchanging reality. Asuras, if any, are cogs in the wheel of Karma); they are not fundamentally against the Gods, nor do they tempt humans to fall. In fact, asuras, much like devas, do worship the Gods of Hinduism: many Asuras are said to have been granted boons from one of the members of the Hindu trinity, viz., Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva when the latter had been appeased from their penances. This is markedly different from the traditional Western notions of demons as a rival army of God. In Hindu mythology, pious, highly enlightened asuras, like Prahlada and Vibheeshana, are not at all uncommon. Prahlada even said to have secured enlightenment to his entire lineage (of asuras). All Asuras, unlike the devas, are said to have born mortals (though they ever strive to become immortal). Many people metaphorically interpret asuras as manifestations of the ignoble passions in human mind and as a symbolic device. There were also cases of power-hungry asuras challenging various aspects of Gods, but only to be defeated eventually and seek forgiveness—see Surapadman,

Narakasura.


Evil spirits

Hinduism advocates the theory of reincarnation and transmigration of souls according to one's Karma. Souls (Atman) of the dead are adjudged by the Yama and are accorded various purging punishments before being reborn. Humans that have committed extraordinary wrongs are condemned to roam as lonely, often evil, spirits for a length of time before being reborn. Many kinds of such spirits (Vetalas, Pishachas, Bhūta) are recognized in the later Hindu texts. These beings, in a limited sense, can be called demons.


Bahá'í Faith

In the Bahá'í Faith, demons are not regarded as independent evil spirits as they are in some faiths. All evil spirits described in various faith traditions such as Satan, fallen angels, demons and jinns are metaphors for the base character traits a human being may acquire and manifest when he turns away from God and follows his lower nature. Belief in the existence of ghosts and earthbound spirits is rejected and considered to be the product of superstition.

Biographies : Angels
When people talk about angels they referring to a very diverse group of beings. Mainly they belong to three groups

1) Superhuman members of human evolution – Masters of Wisdom

2) Angelic or devic evolution and nature spirits

3) Beings in the spirit world or astral plane

Superhuman members of human evolution – Masters of Wisdom

When people commonly refer to angels they are referring to Masters of Wisdom and Lords of Compassion. They belong to the spiritual kingdom or the kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Souls. They are the angels mentioned in the Christian teachings. They are the angels who respond to our prayers and act as the intermediaries between the human kingdom and God. Usually when we are in trouble and when we prey they may intervene to save us within the laws of karma or the laws of cause and effect. They do not have wings but may appear with wings to fit the general impression human beings have about angels. They do not fly but can appear and disappear at will. They can be anywhere in the world in a flash simply by the power of their thought.

The commonest angel we meet as Christians is Master Jesus who was Jesus in Palestine and the head of the Christian Church. Increasingly the Lord Maitreya who is the Christ and Head and Leader of our spiritual hierarchy or the Kingdom of God who is at the moment living in London, England in preparation for his second coming also responds to our prayers. He is not yet living openly and people cannot go and see him in London. But he may appear to you in disguise in response to your prayers or when you are in trouble. Also all the other members of the spiritual hierarchy, the Masters of Wisdom, some of who were disciples of Jesus in Palestine are also likely to help us in times of trouble. There are also other avatars including Sri Satya Sai Baba who is our Cosmic Christ and currently living in Andra Pradesh, India. He lives openly and anyone can see Sai Baba by visiting his ashram in Puttaparthi in India. Avatars are usually outside our earth evolution and usually come from other planets at the invitation of our Planetary Logos (God).

Angelic or devic evolution

They are beings on a line of evolution outside and parallel to human evolution. Most are subhuman and others are equivalent to human or superhuman. They are also referred to as daughters of feeling and evolve through the evolution of feeling or sensory nature whereas humans evolve through development of the mind and the experience of pain. It is reported by Benjamin Creme that angels work in a direct healing and protective relationship to humanity. It is thought that humanity and other living beings receive much aid and sustenance from devic or angelic evolution without the knowledge of humanity. This help is likely to increase in the future. Fairies are members of angelic evolution. They are normally not visible to the naked eye and are made of etheric physical matter.

Nature spirits are all the living beings outside the human and animal evolution. Every inanimate object and living thing whether it is occurring naturally or man made has a spirit associated with it. Things such as your car, your house and other manmade objects and natural things such as trees, streams and stones have their own nature spirit. It may be possible to communicate with them and there by improve the performance of your car or other manmade machine.

Sprits or astral beings

They are normally dead human beings who are now living in the spirit world or astral plane. Some people are naturally mediumistic and are able to tune in and communicate with the spirit world without even knowing that they are doings it. Some are experienced mediums and may communicate with the spirit world directly or via a spirit guide or a member of the spirit world. These members of the spirit world or astral plane are definitely not angels though some people mistake them for angels.


What About Angels?





The interest in angels (like the interest in dinosaurs) has really increased in the last few years. Unfortunately, some web sites and books contain very little factual information about angels. This is unfortunate, since the facts about angels are more interesting than the “fantasized” accounts any day! Although the bible refers to angels in many ways, for now, we will consider three forms of angels:

God Appearing as an Angel
Angels as God’s Messengers to People
Angels Who Remain in God’s Presence


God Appearing as an Angel

This happens many times in the bible. Most translations refer to this as the “Angel of the LORD.” The first example occurs in Genesis, chapter 16 where the Angel of the LORD appears to a servant of Abraham (the person whose story the Bible is relating at that time). How do we know this angel we meet in verse 7 is actually God? We have two sources of evidence. First, if you read the language, it sounds like God. After all, a normal (or angelic) person would not say “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude” (verse 10). The second reason we think the Angel of the LORD is God, is because the servant says so in verse 13. Now, we admit that if this was an isolated incident that our argument would seem weak—but meetings of this type occurred many times.

That being said, we realize that it is possible to get the wrong idea that the angels and God are about the same—only looking different because they are taking on different forms. This is a illogical jump in thought that the Bible does not support. It is one thing for God to appear as an angel and it is something quite different for God to be an angel.

If you would like to look into this further, find a concordance (a listing of the words of the Bible) and look up the word angel. Under “angel,” you will find angel, angel of God, angel of the LORD, and so forth—each referencing a text in the Bible. Read each text and make your own decision! For your convenience, we have an online Bible with a word search feature that acts as a concordance. You can access it by clicking this sentence. By the way, angels are not called “angels” every time they appear in the Bible. See Ezekiel Chapter 8, verse 2 (Ezekiel 8:2) for an interesting example.

Angels as God’s Messengers to People

This is the most commonly stated purpose of angels in the Bible—and now we are talking about “regular” angels, too! Although God sometimes communicated with people personally (as above), He usually communicated with them through an angel. Sometimes the Bible text tells us the angel’s name. This happened three times with the angel Gabriel, who visited Daniel, Zechariah, and Mary. (See Daniel chapter 8, and Luke chapter 1.)

One of the most interesting encounters with angels occurred in chapters 10-12 of the book of Daniel. Here, the angel is referred to as a “man clothed in linen.”* Although Daniel stood his ground when the angel appeared, the men accompanying Daniel were overwhelmed with terror and fled the scene! The message this angel had for Daniel (all of chapter 11 and more) was a revelation of the future. Although this revelation is difficult to interpret (many have tried and we have not read a convincing one yet) what happened in the encounter itself gives us some insight into what angels are like. The description of this man in linen (his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like torches of fire, and so forth) does not resemble that of a normal man. Still, he is referred to as a “man in linen.” Therefore, this type of angel (we will describe others later) has a human form. (And humans have a godlike form, since humans were created in God’s image according to Genesis 1:26.)

*Note: Some scholars believe that this “man clothed in linen” was a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ. (That is, appearing as He existed before being born as a baby in Bethlehem.) If true, this would be a variation of “God appearing as an angel.” We agree that the Bible text allows for this possibility.

A second interesting feature of this encounter is the fact that the angel could float (see Dan 12:6,7). There are several places in the Bible that describe how angels do not obey the law of gravity. The most striking example occurs twice in the book of Ezekiel, which describes a different type of angel. See Ezekiel chapters 1 and 10.

Angels Who Remain in God’s Presence

There are celestial beings who are constantly in God’s presence. One type of these beings is called the cherubim. The vision many of us have today when we hear the word “cherub” is a chubby little two-year-old with wings. Yet, the Bible’s description of a cherubim will shock anyone who has not already read the Bible’s description. Although once again described as having “the likeness of a man,” cherubim also:

Have four different faces.
Have four wings.

Read Ezekiel chapters 1 and 10 to see what we mean. (These are definitely two of the coolest chapters in the Old Testament.) By the way, Ezekiel 10:20-22 confirms that the “living creatures” in chapter 1 and the “cherubim” in chapter 10 are the same thing.

The Bible refers to another type of angel, the seraphim, in Isaiah chapter 6. The description reveals that seraphim have six wings, a face, feet, hands, can fly and speak, and can be stationed at God’s throne. That still leaves us without knowing what the seraphim’s normal responsibilities are or what one looks like. (With the description we have, seraphim could physically resemble humans with six wings, cherubim with one face and two “extra” wings, or something else.)

More Interesting Information About Angels

Angels Are “Single”

We know from the Bible that angels do not get married. For example, in Matthew 22:30 Jesus spoke about people after they die and compared them to angels. That not only gave us a look at what heaven will be like for us, but also told us something about angels. He said, “For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.” For most of us, that is a “good deal,” since we prefer that angels watch over us instead of paying attention to one another! (Note: you can find out more about guardian angels by clicking on this sentence.)

There Are No “Baby” Angels

Since angels neither marry nor are given in marriage, it makes sense that there are no baby angels (like those that many artists draw as “cherubs”). Also, the Bible never mentions the existence of any childlike angels. Although such “artistic” cherubs are cute, the reality is that such angels only exist in the artist’s imagination.

Don’t Angels Look Like Women?

Many paintings of angels show them as pretty women with wings, wearing flowing gowns. Yet, if you read the Bible, only one sentence (Zechariah chapter 5, verse 9) describes female beings with wings. They are not identified as angels, although these beings may be angels. All of the rest of the references to angels in the Bible (hundreds of them) describe angels as looking like “men” or having “human form.” Yes, we admit that the description of the cherubim (above) seems to stretch our concept of “human form.” Still, if we consider that man is made in God’s image, perhaps the angels are also! Therefore, if we all resemble God, a human (who does not have another visual point of reference) could describe an angel as having human form.

Although we would not enter a debate over this point, angels seem to be a “creation” just as the living creatures here on Earth are a “creation.” In this way, angels can have different appearances from each other, just as a lion, an eagle, and a human look different from one another. There is no question about it, things are not boring in Heaven!

Angels Have Ranks

The angel talking with Daniel, in Daniel chapters 10-12, refers three times to Michael, who is obviously an angel. He calls him a “one of the chief princes” in Daniel 10:13, a “prince” in Daniel 10:21, and “the great prince” in Daniel 12:1. Michael is also described as an archangel in Jude. In Revelation chapter 12, “Michael and his angels” appear in a battle, implying that Michael is a military leader. (Note: the angels referred to in Daniel, Jude, and Revelation may refer to different angels named Michael.) We will not attempt to classify any “ranks,” but it is apparent that there are greater angels that perform special services. It is also interesting to note that the Bible never records Michael talking with people, like Gabriel does.

Is Jesus an Angel?

Some folks would lead you to believe that Jesus is sort of an “advanced angel,” (perhaps even implying that Jesus is sort of a “good version” of the fallen angel Satan). This false belief has been circulating since the first century AD. (The writer of the book of Hebrews took the time to refute this error—and Hebrews was written around 68 AD.) It is clear that Jesus is completely different from and superior to the angels. For example:

Hebrews, chapter 1
1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,
2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
4 having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
5 For to which of the angels did He ever say:
“ You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You”?
And again:
“I will be to Him a Father,
And He shall be to Me a Son”?
6 But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says:
“Let all the angels of God worship Him.”

It is obvious that if angels are to worship Jesus Christ, that Jesus is not an angel. (Angels are not to be worshiped. See Revelation chapter 19, verse 10 for one example.)

A variation of this same false belief is that Jesus and the Archangel Michael are the same being. That is also not the case. To learn more, click on the link below.

Is the Archangel Michael Actually Jesus Christ?

Angels Are Tough

Angels are also used to carry out God’s judgment. When they are on a mission of this type, you do not want to be on their “to do” list! There are numerous examples of this type in the Bible, including some that show the tremendous strength of an angel. See the example in 2 Kings chapter 19, where an angel destroys 185,000 Assyrians in one night.

Angels Might Not Sing

There is a great deal of singing in the Bible. The Psalms mention singing often. Mark 14:26 and Matthew 26:30 record a time when Jesus and His apostles sang. The heavens and mountains “cry out” or “sing” in Isaiah 49:13, and even trees “sing” or “rejoice” in 1 Chronicles 16:33. (Note: different Hebrew words—ranan and rinnah—are used for the “singing” of inanimate objects, instead of shiyr and zamar—the words normally used for human singing in the Old Testament.)

Although there is a lot of singing going on, it is interesting that the Bible never states that angels sing. Yes, many Christmas songs have lyrics indicating that the angels sang when Jesus was born—and we suspect that angels have the ability to sing. Still, it is interesting that the Bible never actually reports that angels do sing.

Note: the text in some English translations of the Bible contain verses stating that angels sing, but they are poor translations of the original Greek word lego, which means “to say” or “to speak.” Typically, this happens in Luke chapter 2, verse 13 and in Revelation chapter 5, verses 12 and 13.

Biographies : Lycanthrope
Lycanthrope

Lycanthropes are humanoids or giants who can transform themselves into animals. In its natural form, a lycanthrope looks like any other members of its kind, though natural lycanthropes and those who have been afflicted for a long time tend to have or acquire features reminiscent of their animal forms. In animal form, a lycanthrope resembles a powerful version of the normal animal, but on close inspection, its eyes (which often glow red in the dark) show a faint spark of unnatural intelligence.

Lycanthropy can be spread like a disease. Sometimes a lycanthrope begins life as a normal humanoid or giant who subsequently contracts lycanthropy after being wounded by a lycanthrope. Such a creature is called an afflicted lycanthrope. Other lycanthropes are born as lycanthropes, and are known as natural lycanthropes.
Combat

A lycanthrope in its humanoid (or giant) form uses whatever tactics and weapons are favored by others of its kind, though it tends to be slightly more aggressive. A lycanthrope possesses the senses of its animal form, including scent and low-light vision, and it has a deep empathy for (and ability to communicate with) animals of its animal form. An afflicted lycanthrope damaged in combat may be overwhelmed by rage, causing it to change to its animal form involuntarily.

A lycanthrope in animal form fights like the animal it resembles, although its bite carries the disease of lycanthropy. It is preternaturally cunning and strong, and possesses damage reduction that is overcome only by silvered weapons.

Finally, a natural lycanthrope (or an afflicted lycanthrope that has become aware of its affliction) can assume a hybrid form that is a mix of its humanoid and animal forms. A hybrid has hands and can use weapons, but it can also attack with its teeth and claws. A hybrid can spread lycanthropy with its bite, and it has the same damage reduction that its animal form possesses.