Name: Eidolon Myths: Greek Description: Eidolons are ghastly creatures created by the chief of the Greek's Gods, Zeus, using light and dust or are the spirits of the dead. The first kind is quite dangerous, while the second kind poses little danger. Both however, are obscure and rarely discussed. The first Eidolon, created by Zeus, is a possessive spirit. It can possess humans and cause them to act out or do things they otherwise wouldn't had they not been possessed. These Eidolons aren't exactly spirits, rather, astral like creatures, residing outside of our reality. The second type of Eidolon is the spirit double of people. Not as possessive of people, but it looks identical to the person it embodies. One famous occurrence of this is with Helen of Troy. Helen, Queen of Sparta, was abducted by Paris and brought to Troy after a set of events set in motion after a contest with the gods. Though some believe Helen herself went to Troy, others believe it was rather her Eidolon. End of Page 47
Weaving The weaving I've mentioned before included only Spellweavers, a school of magic I pursue. However, there are two other types of weavers who specializes less in creating spells, but rather, creating creatures and enchanting machinery. The first of these is named the Dreamweavers. These mages have the ability to create creatures known as Incarnations. These creatures are imitations of people's emotions, such as, valor, hope, wonder, and fear. These can take on many forms, but they tend to take on an idolization of that specific person's view of it. Such an example can be described easily with love. Whoever the desire of one's heart is, the Incarnation created by theDreamweaver will appear as an exact replica of them. The Dreamweavers are secretive, so not many understand how their magic works exactly. Some speculate that we emit a sort of wave only they can "weave" into reality, in a way, altering the reality around them. The second and simpler of these weavers, are Metalweavers. They infuse magic into machines and weapons, giving them magical properties. They may also fuse automatons with life, letting them do simple work at the bequest of the Metalweaver, while weapons become powerful magical instruments capable of releasing devastating spells. Metalweavers work their magic by tapping into the items very elemental properties and infusing it with the magic of their choice. This is a very strenuous activity, sometimes even killing them in the process. Very few Metalweavers live to an old age due to this, but the results are certainly wondrous and sometimes even legendary. This page appears to continue to the next...
The Rulings and Practice of Weaving While some types of weaving are accepted, such as spellweaving and metalweaving, dreamweaving is as mentioned, fairly secretive and sometimes quite illegal. Dreamweaving has many rules that practitioners must follow, these rules include a ban of manifesting nightmares and fears that could bring harm to others. Other rules include: No practicing at night, no use of the magic on those who are classified as children of any given race, and no practicing on those who suffer from any sort of charm or illness. These rules are in place to make sure nothing that wasn't anticipated occurs, as there is speculation that the mind can be erratic at night, while others believe that those mentioned above can have unpredictable thoughts. Spellweaving is a magic many mages practice on the side, while some, like myself, focus on it entirely. It's simple to learn, but hard to master, it does however, open many doors as to what a mage can do. Dreamweaving is practiced mainly by cults, while most magic among humans is taught by family members, Dreamweavers are said to abduct children with their Incarnations and induct them into their cult through force. Metalweaving is a magic that can't be learned, but rather, inherited. Anybody can learn magic if they find a good instructor and have a knack for the peculiar. Metalweaving however, must be a type of magic inherited from their family, only then can they start to learn from the few masters of this amazing type of weaving. End of Page 48
Name: Jorogumo Myths: Japanese Description: Jorogumo, otherwise known as the spider woman, is a yokai native to Japan that typically takes the form of a beautiful woman. In their true form, they aregolden orb-weaver spiders, ones who have lived for over 400 years, gaining magical powers. The creatures themselves are located near waterfalls and caves and have a great resistance to any sort of poison. Jorogumo are quite the seductresses. The spiders, now with magical powers, move from insect to human prey, seeking to devour handsome men they may find near their territory. The men they devour are usually looking for love and find themselves falling for the Jorogumo's seductive tricks. The fools will then be woven up once they're alone with the Jorogumo or fall asleep and will be devoured. There is also tales of one such Jorogumo who lived near Joren Falls. A man fell in love with the Jorogumo of the falls when he went to go cut down a tree nearby. She told him not to tell anybody about their newfound love. He visited each day, growing weaker and weaker, never any the wiser that his lover was killing him slowly. One such night, he got drunk and told the town about his lover. The next day, the town found his hanging from a web, dead. End of Page 49
Name: Wulver Myths: Scottish Description: Wulver are creatures similar to werewolves in appearance, but nothing at all in personality. Native to the Shetland Islands in Scotland, this creature resembles a werewolf's wolf form, yet seems to be rather like a spirit and not a man-eating monster. On the Shetland islands, the Wulver would fish for food not only for himself, but others. It would give some of its catch to poor families and would even mourn outside homes for those who suffered an illness that would lead to a visit from Death. Its kindness went even further, leading foolish travelers who had gotten lost to safety. The kindness the creature shows towards your kind is immeasurable for your tendencies to hunt and kill creatures. No one is quite sure where the Wulver came from. The ancients of your kind believed that the Wulver was an evolutionary link between humans and wolves, the last of its kind. Where the Wulver is now, no one knows. The last appearance the creature made, was nearly 100 years ago. End of Page 50
Name: Ratatoskr Myths: Germanic Description: Ratatoskr, the Messenger of Yggdrasil, the World Tree. Ratatoskr is an interesting creature, he's a normal squirrel for the most part. However, he has taken upon the interesting task of exchanging insults and messages between Veorflnir, the Eagle at the top, and Nidhoggr, the dragon at the bottom. Ratatoskr himself is nothing more than a nuance that fuels the hatred between the two mythical beasts. Other than his ability for speech and love for mischief, he is just a red squirrel. Some say he is scheming to kill the tree by fueling the hatred, manipulating them into destroying it in their attempts to murder each other, but I believe he lacks the intelligence for that. I did once get a chance to speak to the squirrel, not for long mind you. He was happy to tell me all about the insults the two were throwing at each other. They were very vicious insults, surprising even me with the creativity they used in them. I wasn't very amused by them, but he seemed to enjoy a laugh from it. End of Page 51
Wow! I can't believe it! It's been over 1 year now since I started! In that year I've covered over 51 different creatures from all over the world, some well known, some barely heard of. I'd like to thank everyone for the awesome support they've provided over the year with this project, not all of them are here on EMC, but those of you here know who you are. Now that we've reached over 3,385 views and 130 comments, I've done some more edits, with some more to come. The first edit was making the regions the myths are from more streamlined. Germanic and European have had more added to them mainly. There is some more stuff to come, but for now, if you got any suggestions for creature 53, feel free to comment here! Thanks again for a wonderful first year!
Yes, I know, I just did it as there was plenty of creatures native to only Germany. Norse myths are also Germanic in origin as well.
Name: Lernaean Hydra Myths: Greek Description: The Lernaean Hydra, otherwise known as the hydra, was a dragon, but one that suffered from a curse, caused by a jealous godly being, Hera. The dragon who suffered this, known as Hydrakos, was a dragon who lived in Greece and was stripped of his wings and started to grow more heads as part of a trial for the demigod, Heracles. Hydrakos was soon taken to the marshland Lerna by Hera. The story of what happened to Hydrakos afterwards is known quite well. He became a brute and fought Heracles in an attempt to kill him. Heracles and his nephew, Iolaus, cauterized the stumps where his heads where, soon resulting in his death. Dragons were angry at what Hera had done. To show respect, Hera was instructed by Gailana to immortalize him in the stars as the constellation Hydra, one many dragons admired. The extent of what the curse did to Hydrakos, wasn't recorded very well by draconic scholars, however, the humans, wrote about the terrible things he could do. Such included the ability to regrow heads as they were cut off from his body (thus why the stumps needed to be cauterized), blood that's smell could kill, and the poisonous breath native to a variety species of dragons. End of Page 52
Name: Rusalka Myths: European Description: The rusalka is a water spirit native to areas of Poland and Russia. These diabolicalcreatures appear to men as either beautiful woman, with mist like clothing,or foul, naked hags, with long wiry hair. From their watery homes, their songs lure men to their terrible and painful death. Rusalki, though devious, are quite mystifying creatures. They come to frolic in fields during the early morning, sleeping for most of the day, then killing people during the night, by drowning them underwater. For one week during the summer months, rusalki come out of the water to swing on willow trees and dance under the moonlight. Those who see the spirits dancing, will be forced to join until they die from exhaustion. If you choose to swim during this week, your death will also be imminent as well. As terrible as rusalki are, the way rusalka come into existence can be just as terrible. They are commonly woman who drowned themselves or perhaps were murdered by the waterway. If the second is the case, then a rusalka can earn a peaceful rest if someone avenges her death. End of Page 53
Name: Yuki-Onna Myths: Japanese Description: In the mountains of Japan lives a spirit named the Yuki-Onna. The snow spirit takes on the appearance of an almost enchanting woman, who's skin is as pale as a snowfall and hair that is darker than the darkest night. She hunts men in snowstorms to kill them with her ice-cold breath, or perhaps, leave them to an even worst fate. Not many survive encounters with this creature, not many survive blizzards in the first place. However, from what can be found afterwards, we can see that she has almost vampiric qualities. After the Yuki-Onna freezes her victim, she sucks the very essence of life from them, leaving them as shriveledfrozen corpses. Though many tales speak of the Yuki-Onna being a malevolent spirit, she has been known to be a lover instead. Rarely, a Yuki-Onna may find a beautiful man and marry him without letting him know what she is. She may then have children with the man. If he ever discovers what she is, she will kill him, unless they have children, in which case, she will simply disappear forever. End of Page 54
Wow. I haven't ever started reading this!! But it looks like it could be really interesting! I guess I might start with post 1, soon. But if I don't watch this thread and don't get alerts, I'll probably forget about it. Edit: Shall I keep track of language/typing mistakes somewhere, and send them to you later?
That'd be useful. I've gone over most of the old stuff about 4 times now and check the new stuff before posting it. It's always possible I miss something or it gets formated wrongly however.
Alright. There seem to be very little mistakes in these texts. At least very little mistakes that can be spotted by a non-native speaker, and that's good enough. Any I come across I'll try to write down somewhere, and I'll share it with you once I'm up to date, probably. If there's anything I'd like to comment on, because I find things interesting or something, I will. I really should've found this earlier... and I did, but I didn't really feel like reading it, as it was so long. Oops. I feel like that would actually be fairly easy to notice. Except if it's dark, I suppose. *Ninetales, actually.
