PDA

View Full Version : The Stryx



noclue
10-17-2009, 09:32 PM
Here's my first try at a mythological monster just for fun. The inspiration behind D&D stirges, but I think the original is much more cool. I still need to burn up its human succubi form. What do you think?


Stryx (pl. striges or strixes)

Wi B4 Pe B5 Ag B4 Sp B6 Po B2 Fo B2
Hea B4 Ref B5 MW B8 Ste B6

Spd mult x14 Hesitation: 6 actions

Traits – Avian Form, Small Stature, Winged, Night Eyed, Talons, Beaked, Terrifying Screech, Shapeshifter, Blood Lust
Skills – Brawling B6, Stealthy B7, Hunting B5, Observation B5, Death-wise B5, Man-wise B5

Skill points: 13
Trait points: 42

Beliefs: We will have our revenge on the gods by feeding on their creations and replacing their offspring with ours. We must drive man to war through fanning the flames of sex and hatred so that we may feed upon the carnage. Man chicks are abominations that must be poisoned, their flesh rended.

Instincts: Always fly in the van of warriors off to battle, there will soon be corpses to feed upon. Always attack at night and use the death cry to sow confusion and terror among man and his tamed beasts. Always avoid hawthorn and arbutus.

Concept: A vile nocturnal bird of ill omen that feeds on human flesh and blood.

The stryx is a harbinger of war and civil strife that disembowels its victims using sharp talons and beak. They are particularly fond of livers and other internal organs. They are blood-drinking birds, with huge talons, misshapen heads and breasts full of poisonous milk on which some say their young give suck. Others argue that Striges are not the product of natural birth, but are created by sorcerous enchantment. Striges can transform into women and lure men into sexual intercourse in order to drain their life force. Perhaps this is why their feathers are prized as an ingredient used in making potent love potions. Striges are also known to attack children in their cradles and to feed them poisoned milk.

luke
10-17-2009, 11:31 PM
Wow. Cool.
How do you see them used in play?

noclue
10-18-2009, 12:03 AM
hmm...good question. I see them either as female bogeymen that prey upon hapless victims near gravesites and battlefields or as the servants of vengeful witches.

luke
10-18-2009, 03:56 PM
Okay. Can you put that into terms of a game interaction? How is the monster introduced? What does it do? What do the players do?

noclue
10-18-2009, 07:56 PM
How's this?


Striges are drawn in numbers to battlefields, where they feed upon entrails of the wounded and recently slain. After the battle, their food sources dwindling, they scour the countryside at night to feed their voracious appetites, terrorizing travelers on the road, raiding settlements for the unwary sleeper or unprotected infant.

They are also known to hunt the night in service of evil witches and succubi, who employ them as messengers of doom and agents of revenge. They are said to change shape to appear as angelically beautiful women and so lure men to their demonic mistress' lair so that their semen can be passed to a human female in the creation of a half-demon fosterling, known as a cambion.

So, the PCs might come across strige by accident, or they might be called upon to save terrorized townsfolk. If the PCs run afoul of a witch, they might find themselves facing Strige in battle.

ThisIsVictor
10-18-2009, 08:47 PM
I recommend giving the Striges some motivation of their own. Monsters with wants and desires are always more interesting than mindless killing machines. Like, why do they work for the witches, what's in it for them?

Also, how do they reproduce? And is it quickly or slowly? (These guys breeding like roaches would be scary.)

Feel free to ignore me, I'm just splooging ideas on your thread.
--Victor

noclue
10-19-2009, 11:46 PM
Hmm, and you would be right. How about this?


The owl-like stryx is drawn in numbers to battlefields, where they feed upon entrails of the wounded and recently slain. After the battle, their food sources dwindling, they begin to scour the countryside at night to feed their voracious appetites, terrorizing travelers on the road, raiding settlements for the unwary sleeper or unprotected children.

These terrifying hunters are in truth not birds, but demonic succubi, with misshapen heads and breasts full of poisoned milk. Unable to give life to young of their own, they are driven by a jealousy almost equal to their voracious appetite for human flesh. Their wrath falls in particular on infants, whom they attack or poison in their cradles.

In a parody of true procreation, they are said to change shape so as to appear as angelically beautiful women and seduce men into intercourse. Through foul enchantments, the stryx not only feeds upon the man's life force, but also steals his semen, which is passed on to a male incubus and then inseminated in a human female to create a half-demon fosterling known as a cambion.

I like that better. There's a lot of similarity between striges and succubi in the myth anyway. No need to make them two separate creatures. And the characters could come upon them in a number of ways. They could be asked to rid the countryside of these predators. They could be attacked themselves while traveling. They could be the victim of seduction and enchantment.

ThisIsVictor
10-20-2009, 02:42 PM
Nice! The write up has a cool classic D&D feel to it. Like something out of the old AD&D Monster Manuals.

--Victor

Steerpike
10-20-2009, 03:06 PM
I could also see a group of these orchestrating battles to feed on by whispering into the ears of men they seduce.

- Colin

DaGreatJL
10-20-2009, 07:12 PM
I could also see a group of these orchestrating battles to feed on by whispering into the ears of men they seduce.

- Colin

Fucking hot.

noclue
10-20-2009, 10:48 PM
Fucking hot.
Yes, Colin you're definitely more evil and twisted then I am.

I like that a lot. I think I'll go back and tweak the beliefs to reflect some of this a little better.

Tweaked!