LetsBuild5e:Monsters
Contents
We Are Not Alone[edit]
We've settled on a range of monsters which are of cultural and social significance across Axalvo. (Decision: [1])
They Walk Among Us[edit]
Ankhegs are a known hazard throughout the southern settled lands and onto the steppes. On the plateau, land druids know how to turn their activities to help farmers. On the steppes they're seen as harbingers of destruction, and ritually hunted.
Bugbears, contrary to rumour, are unrelated to orcs or giantkin. Rather, they're a kind of dark fey that lurk in the shadows, even in seemingly civilised areas.
Kenku sometimes arrive from the east, travelling openly and telling tales from their fellow Wáyéhì-speakers about rakshasas, nagas and asuras. But they also live covertly in the larger cities of the plateau, pursuing their own ends.
Stirges are a naturally-occurring pest, but their blood-drinking habit leads to them being seen as harbingers of death or carriers of dead souls.
In some places, rot grubs present a major hazard when dealing with corpses and other rotting material.
Undead are generally rare; the appearance of large numbers of them is taken as a bad omen, provoking fears of a new flip. (Decision: [2])
Going Underground[edit]
Duergar and svirfneblin have always refused to come up into the light, preferring their own centuries-old war beneath the earth. The duergar revere carrion crawlers and purple worms.
Minotaurs are naturally adept with mazes, and travel rapidly in underground environments that even dwarves find difficult.
Subterranean abominations such as illithids inhabit the deep places, beyond the normal range of dwarves and gnomes. Legends are divided as to whether they're a product of the original sundering of the races, or much more recent magical experiments. Opinion is similarly divided about medusas, which are found at slightly shallower depths.
Further Afield[edit]
Sphinxes inhabit a desert region to the north of the elven nation, and know many old secrets they don't like to share.
The elves tell of sea hags, tritons, and merfolk, who are rare in the inner sea, but a known nuisance to ocean travel.
Giantkin, including ogres, ettins, and cyclopes, live higher in the mountains than dwarves or dragonborn, and pose a major hazard to travel westward through the basin province. Higher still are the chimeras, which are rare but widely recognised due to being the great conqueror Kuhetzib's heraldic emblem.
Famed in Legend[edit]
The Elder Dragon God Kugbazel is said to have created draconic versions of other creatures: dragon turtles, ki-rin (from unicorns), and others. They are not always regarded as evil, but they are invariably dangerous.
A number of scaly monsters, including basilisks, behir, and cockatrices, are said to be made from the flesh of the wounded Dragon God, and hated and hunted by dragonborn.
Unicorns are known as sacred and elusive steppe-dwellers, strongly associated in legend with the 'wild fey' spirits of the remote places.
