A Phantom Bestiary
Beasts
Things of the wild lands, whose origins none can name, the beasts are not animals, and they are not men. They come in a hundred shapes and sizes, and they are found the world over. Some mix the features of two animals into one, others are a single animal with magical properties. There are no legends that tell of these things origin, and they come in such a dizzying array of types that no one can even say for certain that they represent a single race. If the elemental gods create them they have not spoken of it to their priests, and if the Tuatha-Sidhe made them and sent them out to torment the mortal races, no binding has yet broken past their lies and forced them to say. It may be that the world herself dreamed them up in her slumber. Whatever the tale, aside from the army of a neighboring nation, it is the more common among these beasts who present the most frequent danger to a village or traveling caravan.
Types: Aberrations, Magical Beasts
Examples: Ankheg, Chimera, Naga, Owl Bear, Winter Wolf.
Drakes
Drakes are, supposedly, all that remains of the true dragons upon the face of the world, who were themselves said to be but shadows of The Dragon itself. Drakes sport an intelligence only slightly above that of an animal, though their instincts for the hunt and the kill are strong, and their life spans can hardly be measured in centuries, as was said of their lost ancestors. Most commonly, Drakes are a dull, lusterless red in color, though they've been seen in shades of green and purple. Twice a man's height at the shoulder and four men long, the average adult Drake is hostile, hungry, and territorial. Many have huge wings for flight, and all have snapping jaws and fierce talons. A number of them breathe fire, but just as many do not, and there seems to be no way of knowing which type of Drake one has encountered until the beast opens it mouth and the flames gush forth.
They are most commonly found in Ceumri and Saesony, with the wingless sort appearing mostly in Thrudvang. The Fenian and even the orcs have reported sightings, as well, and they have strayed into Estria and the Low Countries but not found a welcome home in those flat lands.
Types: Dragon, Magical Beast
Examples: Behir, Frost Worm, Purple Worm, Wyvern (all often with a Template)
Elementals
One of the many boons the elemental lords grant to those who pledge themselves to their service is the power to summon up pieces of their own potent spiritual essence given form. These are the elementals, and each is greatly influenced by the tempers of their creators. Steel Elementals are not merely formed from steel, but appear as knights in perfectly symmetrical plate armor and carrying greatswords, and Moon elementals are creatures of shifting patterns of hypnotic white light.
Elementals, too, find a home in the realms of Scalgard where their creators hold the most power. So Annwyn's dry, dead realm in the southwest sees many dust elementals wandering the halls as librarians, and Beira's frigid kingdom north of orcheim sees men of ice patrolling the border. Those mortals who would approach the gods must first contend with these most powerful of their servants. As strong as the gods are, though, creating and maintaining such a creature is draining, even for them, and far away from their domains elementals are not often to be found.
Types: Constructs, Elementals, Outsiders
Examples: Air Elemental, Devil (Ice, Gelugon). Inevitable (Zelekhut), Iron Golem, Mephit (Dust)
Fir Bolg
Wild and bestial, these feral wolf-men, whose bodies are covered in short gray fur, whose hands end in jagged yellow claws, and whose canine heads have long salivating snouts and jaws with rows of sharp teeth, stand just over seven feet tall and have sworn themselves to be the enemies of mankind. Legendry states that the Fir Bolg were the original mortal inhabitants of the westlands, that they have always claimed the wild places and the shadows as their own, and they mark their territory with blood. When the races of men moved west, out of Estria and into Ceumri and the Loigaire, they began to build towns and cities, they cleared wide stretches of land to farm or graze cattle, and they unwittingly stole the lands of the Fir Bolg. Over the centuries, the Fir Bolg have frequently bitten back.
Though they are not a people naturally inclined towards much industry, the Fir Bolg are a people of feral and cunning intellect. They salvage the tools and weapons of the people they kill, and over the long years on the moors and in the deepest woods, they have taught themselves how to wield weapons and wear light armor. They run on four legs almost as easily as they do on two, and they are masters of pack tactics, grouping together to hound a single foe and run it to ground. When they strike, they strike quickly, before fading back into the shadows, safe from assault, until they can burst forth again. Of late, these strikes have been growing in frequency...
Type/Example: Fir Bolg use gnoll statistics, and may have class levels
Foimoire
Supposedly older as a race than even the Fir Bolg, the Foirmoire were pushed off into the waters by the wolf packs as they moved progressively further north. Perhaps there's truth to this, and perhaps not, but the fact of the matter is that the wily and cunning Fomoire bear a hatred of the land races that truly seems to be centuries old. If, indeed, they have been forced from the land, the Fomoire have adapted well to their life under the waves. They are a scaly folk, with wet skin that glistens a slimy green, and rubbery webbing between their fingers and toes that aids them in swimming. Their eyes are large, dark, and round, perfect for seeing in the dark ocean depths, and their sharp claws and short, needled teeth are perfect for catching and rending fish.
These days, though their forays onto the land are sporadic at best, the Fomoire possess a fearsome power upon the water; not only can they breathe it as easily as man would air, but they can, through some magic or artifice, raise the rotting remains of any sunken ship to sail against their foes. As if this weren't enough, there seems to be no waterway that is closed to them; even lakes and inland marshes that are miles from the ocean and with no access to rivers that flow to the sea often find themselves home to a group of Formoire out to cause trouble.
Types/Examples: Foimoire use Sahuagin statistics, and may have class levels
Giants
The giants have passed from the world of Scalgard, but they have left their legacy behind. Their abandoned castles, sunk below the surface of the earth, with halls suited for their size, have become the homes of monsters and the mad, and ripe targets for plunder. Legends credit the giants with the invention of the languages of men and the runes they use for writing. The oldest pacts with the Tuatha-Sidhe are said to be theirs, and so the first magic; an odd idea, since the dwarves are the giants' last living descendants, with no skill for human magic and no ties with the Tuatha-Sidhe.
When they lived, the giants were formed simply as humans, but of incredible size. The smallest among them was the height of two men, and the tallest topped the tallest trees. Their runes gave them a magic power, besides, and they could speak the languages of the birds and the earth, and their most powerful could have strove with the gods. How much of this is truth and how much simply legend is open to debate, for even the oldest dwarven thanes speak of what became of the giants with only vague stories. Their time in Scalgard was done, they say, and the giants strode out into the eastern sea and lands beyond mortal sight. Wherever they are, the giants are truly gone, and it is surely only the shadows of clouds that Thrudvangir sailors see as they cross past the Jotun Islands that stretch east from their land.
Types: Giant, Outsider
Examples: Giant (Cloud), Giant (Storm), Titan
Tuatha-Sidhe
These "Children of the Earth" were the first creatures to inhabit the world of Scalgard. They claim that they were dreamed into existence by the living consciousness of Scalgard itself, when the land had newly formed from the mists of glory. The first beings to inhabit the world, they strode above the Foimoire and the Fir Bolg after, who only watched, and built their nations in the Strange Lords' shadows. It was not until the giants came to the Phantom World, with shadows of their own in man, that the Tuatha-Sidhe quit Scalgard in favor of their ethereal Dream Realm.
They have not quit the plane of man forever, though. They may cross over as they will, at barrows and dolmens where the ties between their world and Scalgard are strong. Some have made tiny kingdoms for themselves, in places far from men. Such kingdoms never last, for the pacts between the Tuatha-Sidhe and the giants forbid it, but this does not keep the Strange Lords away from their sport. It is through this sport that most of the Aelfin are sired or born. More strongly, though, they must answer to a mortal wizard's call, for by ancient pact man's magic is the magic of the Tuatha-Sidhe, and it serves to keep the doorway to their mother open, without which they would die. The Tuatha-Sidhe will serve as a wizard's teachers for this boon and, when he asks, powerful soldiers in his service.
The Tuath Sidhe come in a wide range of appearances and sizes, from tiny sprites to noble, silver-pelted cat-men, from giant trolls with cloven hooves and mighty thewed arms to strange creatures made entirely of verdage. Each, no matter the kind, is possessed of some mysterious magical ability.
Types: Fey, Giant, Outsider, Magical Beast, Plant
Examples: Dryad, Ghaele, Lillend, Leonal, Ogre, Treant, Unicorn
Undead
When most men die, their spirits march to the shore, and the black spectral ships that carry them to Annwyn's realm. Some, through misfortune, strength of will or sorcery, are forced to stay behind. There are victims of an undead's own attack, souls marked by the touch of chaos and bound to walk the earth; kings and heroes with deeds undone, whose ghosts rest uneasily in their graves; and, worst of all, those called up by the power of the elemental gods, for even the dead have use as tools. Mannanan sends his storms after Annwyn's black ships, and he claims what souls he sinks for his own, giving them over to his priests or turning them loose as he wills. The Prince of Dust is little better, using the souls he claims in much the same way; though at least his priests have the power to put down what they or others call up. There are few foes worse than the undead; immune to fear, terrible to behold and potentially without number.
Type: Undead
Examples: Banshee, Ghoul, Skeleton, Wight, Wraith, Zombie
