Bestiary

A guide to the creatures found in Karsen.

Animals
Ordinary lesser creatures that populate the world. These are just standard real-life animals, although magically-influenced versions unique to Halse exist, such as the diminutive mousetiger.

Beastmasters are adept at controlling animal minds to do their bidding.

Monsters
Just like animals, monsters come in all shapes and sizes.

The main difference between monsters and animals is that monsters tend towards malevolence, while animals are morally neutral creatures just trying to survive. Monsters are typically stronger and stranger-looking as well, although this is not always the case. Many monsters are capable of magic, whereas nearly all animals are not.

Monsters, while rarer than normal animals, can often be found terrorizing settlements and natural habitats or otherwise destroying and causing havoc when unchecked by monster hunters or soldiers. Most people see them as pests to be exterminated.

However, not all monsters are evil or detrimental to the environment, though these exceptions are uncommon.

How they came about is ill-understood. Experts theorize that monsters either 1) arose from mundane animals being exposed to too much mana or 2) infested Halse after the Second Cataclysm tore the borders of reality apart.

Beastmasters can also control monsters, but this is more difficult thanks to their inherent magic and is restricted to the best and most mature practitioners.

Fair Folk
The Fair Folk, or simply the Fair, are twisted beings who escaped and continue to escape from the High Realm in the last thousand years. Their souls have been corrupted by the blood magic of the Fae court, making them amoral and dangerous to all living creatures on Halse. Their presence in this world creates dimensional instabilities that distorts and dangerously alters the nearby environment into a mini High Realm of sorts. The ancient blood magic coursing through their bodies enhances their natural power and endurance.

Spectropaths, the noble hunters of the Fair Folk, classify them in levels of power dependent on their origins: The Fair bear peculiar characteristics that make them easily-identified. Common traits include:
 * 1) Fair Exalted, the - True faeries, usually of noble birth. AKA Exalts. They retain their original form and knowledge of themselves, but have grown monstrously cruel and cannibalistic over time. Though rarer than the rest of the Fair Folk, they are extremely formidable blood mages, even individually. The Sylph is assumed to be one of these.
 * 2) Fae-Wyrms, the - Drakes trapped in the High Realm. Even the magically-immune draconic race was warped by the Sanguine Court into bestial creatures. They resemble the giant dragons of old, albeit cursed with blood magic. Fae-Wyrms are, unfortunately, still immune to most normal Halsean magic.
 * 3) Willow Men, the - Phrinu trapped in the High Realm. Possibly due to the phrinu's natural susceptibility to magic, they are the most deformed of the three mortal races. Their magical might is great, but they act like little more than crazed beasts or mindless slaves of the Exalted. Even the best warriors have difficulty subduing the Willow Men.
 * 4) Fiends - Various animals or monsters who have spent too long in the High Realm, either natives to Halse that wandered in or that originated from the High Realm itself. Their lesser intelligence has protected them somewhat from the corrupting environment of the Sanguine Court, and they are not as bloodthirsty as the others. They are still dangerous, however, and territorial and wary.
 * Snow-white skin/fur/etc.
 * Large size, dwarfing normal creatures
 * Elongated, deformed bodies
 * A lack of eyes
 * No shadow, even in bright sunlight
 * Symptoms similar to anemia and/or leukemia
 * No vocalizations except death cries, which are high-pitched and echoing
 * High-pressure blood that doesn't coagulate
 * Jerking, abrupt, unnaturally rapid movement
 * Use of supercharged blood magic to alter their bodies during battle and drain the blood of their victims
 * Warping of the natural environment around them

Haunts
A Haunt is end result of the ectoplasm of cleared spectropaths merging in large amounts and reforming into a hostile entity.

These are tortured, hostile creatures that only vaguely resemble their original incarnations as intelligent beings, and are deadly in their ferocity, agility, and sheer strength. While they tend to pursue Fair Folk, probably due to lingering memories of their past lives, they will attack anything else with little provocation.

Because of their unique magical origins, they are immune to most forms of dark magic. Light magic is greatly effective against them, causing damage on Haunts when on normal mortals the magic would have granted healing properties.

Socii
A Socius is an undead creature from the Deepskies who answers to the call of summoners. They are created out of the collective memories of inhabitants of the Deepskies, usually from particularly strong-willed individuals who wish to impose their will on the world of mortals for whatever reason. Common belief states they are given physical forms by the Kindred, who oversee and approve their reasons for returning to Halse. Socii are often drawn to those summoners with similar aims.

An individual Socius may answer to several summoners at once, each of its aspects having their own will, but with the same abilities and personality, to the point that they may be used in battle against each other. Socii usually cannot act on their own in Halse without the orders of a summoner, and can only be summoned for short periods of time depending on the summoner's skill.

In combat, powerful Socii can have devastating strength against almost any kind of foe. The more skilled the summoner, the stronger the Socius who will come when called. The most powerful ones are the idols, divine conduits of the Coil's will. All Socii are less effective against the Fair, who are still repelled by the presence of the Socii themselves.

Socii tend to present as fantastical creatures of some kind. Most phrinu, drakes, and faeries that become a Socius take on an animal-like form that suits their personality in some way.