Tag: cryptid

Will’O’Wisp

I suppose I can’t ignore these nuisances in my work and I’ve decided to cover them as quickly as possible. Will’O’Wisps are far more trouble than pixies by my reckoning, though others don’t see it that way. Perhaps it has something to do with how nearly invisible they are to most until they are power-filled. Oh! What a curse it is to see them in their every stage of life.

Will’O’Wisps come in three colors that I have observed; red, blue, and green. Their environment is primarily in towns or in densely inhabited forests. There can be exceptions to this rule in the case of a particularly powerful fire traited practitioners who are able to bend the wisps to their will and anchor them to a set point for a task. They do, however, maintain a priority on their own survival and will wander in turns to seek sustenance if no feeding method is set up.

Now I shall point to one of the most concerning points of these creatures existence, their food source. Will’O’Wisps feed solely on the energy of other life forms through and attach and drain process. This would not necessarily be a damning feature, after all I have met others who require at least partial supplementation in this vein who are quite commendable individuals, the complete mindless and conscienceless way these achieve their meal is what is most inexcusable.

No matter the hue, Will’O’Wisps will latch onto a living creature–be it animal, plant, or person–and drain their life force to power themselves. Those who can see them have often noted, and later saved, those who were nearly at death’s door due to the sheer enormity of the swarm they are surrounded by. Even as few as four have the ability to completely destroy a person through illness in a matter of months. For a creature in possession of such an extraordinarily high self-preservation instinct it seemed almost unthinkable that they would be dull enough to not ration their host to survive for long periods of time. In all observed cases, this does not seem to be true and it is often wondered if they are drawing something else into their host with these illness and their death that they would prefer. It has been noted (and please skip this line if you are weak of stomach) that the corpses created and guarded by Will’O’Wisps are far colder and last far longer, even in the midst of summer, than non-affected ones.

If draining the life of the host, who almost exclusively has no way to see it until it has fully engorged itself, was not bad enough there are the effects that have been noted along with attachment that can add to the detriment of the person. Red wisps, known also as Ire Wisps, can not only set fire to dried brush and buildings if they feels that there is not enough living energy to draw from; they also can pump blinding rage and seething hatred into the host. This accelerates the release of energy for their consumption and exhausts the host much faster than otherwise. The host also, even if not filled with such ire, has a high probability of meeting a literal fiery end by combustion as the Ire Wisp seeks to eke every last drop of presence out of the host.

Blue wisps, or Guide Wisps, are the most often tamed and utilized by those who are able to do so. They are the most tameable with the promise of steady feeding deliveries and are the most intelligent: as far as brainless orbs of energy can be said to have intelligence. They can be taught paths and be stationed solidly in an area. Free roaming, on the other hand, adds an additional danger to their abilities. When one or more attach to a host they are known to fill that host with a desire to roam. A sense of needing to find treasure, a lost loved one, or just food or a mate in animals, will overtake the host and have them begin wandering in a seemingly random pattern that seems to be crafted by the Guide Wisp for the purpose of collecting its kin and finding a new suitable host to all of them. This minimizes the work the colony as a whole has to do and enables moving across vast areas with a high level of deadening.

Finally are the green or Energy Wisps. These are characterized by an increase of paranoia and tiredness which makes them some of the hardest to spot if you don’t know what to look for. They are also the most prolific, meaning a host will soon be covered with the nuisances once they are selected. However, they still manage to be the least destructive as they lose interest in their host at a certain threshold of energy and will move onto the next before death.

The Energy Wisps are also unique in that they are the only ones that can be farmed beneficially. If, for example, you are a low energy type who needs to feed yet keeps to yourself for long stretches in fields with farming or herding, green wisps can take a shallow measure from your herd or nearby plants and convert it into a human quality substance. My father showed me how to do so by peeling of the outer flame and drawing out the collected energy which leaves the bottom covering and the core. It will not kill them and they have no flesh with which to experience pain. The downside is this sharing feature tends to attract other wisps meaning if you see a green wisp at its full power outside in the night, there will most certainly be blues and reds hanging in the shadows for you to take the bait.

Is there anything else to say about these abominations? Well, yes, I suppose their is now that I look to my sketches. Blue and red wisps have cores that swirl counterclockwise while green swirl clockwise. If you are like the baker in my home town around the castle and cannot by sight distinguish red from green be certain to check the direction of that swirl before attempting to drain a wisp. Reds and blues are quite toxic on top of their other negative qualities.

Pixies

            Hello and welcome! Friday on my blog is for filling in stories about mythological creatures in my WIP universe. These will be delivered in character of a person who lives in universe and has been traveling around to different locations and examining the different species she locates while on her journey with the hope of creating better understanding and relations. I will even be providing hand drawn illustrations that stick to the impromptu journal entry style. Mostly because that’s where my talent as an artist peaks. I hope you enjoy and thank you for reading!

            I decided the first entry into this should be something I know plenty about, so I chose pixies. After all, the little ones are all over the garden and town. Most accept them as a part of life, albeit an occasionally nuisance one: though, I’m sorry to say that I’ve run into the occasional particularly curmudgeonly soul who goes out of his way to treat the poor creatures as if they were no more than the common horsefly. Perhaps a well learned exposition on the topic could make such a man think twice?

            Pixies were always my companions in youth, something that will surprise no one who knows of my rowdy ways. A beastly girl not adverse to trouble, for certain. My favorites were the water pixies with their iridescent blue-green wings with their waterproof scales. We would often get into tiffs with the blacksmith’s son who favored fire pixies and their red burning wings.

            Pixies, as I have found, do come in a kind for all of the fifteen known elements. Each kind a separate color and a different adjustment to their wings and, to a lesser extent, their physical forms. For example, metal pixies have their wings crafted of a strong metallic filament and often metallic patches ingrained into the external skin. It has been found as well that if two pixies of different kind mate, which does on rare occasion happen, their offspring will exhibit either one element of the parents or a shadow’s mix of the elements. There are no documented cases of partial mixing within pixies. This is thought, by many of the elders I’ve spoken to, to be because there is simply not that much room in a tiny pixie for such a dichotomy. This would seem to be supported by the pixie’s utter lack of ability to use traits outside of their own one element, unlike other creatures. However, it is also possible that it is simply because of the rarity of two different kin to intermarry as it only seems that their habitats intermingle when humans bring together a society.

            Physically, all pixies are humanoid with wings and come in male and female that average between three to five inches in height. In nature, it is easy to distinguish even from afar as males tend to be brighter while females are more vibrant. I suppose it is so the males can distract predators while females and young hide. It would seem animals too find it difficult to see pixies as much else than oddly shaped insects. In a mixed company, there can be some confusion. I have myself once mistaken a water male for an ice female and was not given an easy time forgetting it. My ear hurt for the rest of the day! Of final note, it is interesting to me that pixies are so unexpectedly strong no matter the element. A typical one can lift three to five times his mass while ones with a body trait have lifted entire people off the ground.

             Beyond appearances, pixies have been noted as possessing not only speech, but the capability to read and write. They also dress themselves and can, through instruction alone, learn tasks or follow orders. This places them well within the kingdom’s definition for personhood and I hope my dear friends will see soon the proper safeties afforded such a status. That would, however, open the door to loans, rent, and prosecution for some of their more heinous tricks: meaning there are some pixies who themselves are not too interested in the prospect.