"And I saw when the uniformed man opened one of the files, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four monitors saying "Come and see." I saw, and behold on the screen was a white horse: and he that sat on him had a rifle; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer. And when he had opened the second file, I heard the second monitor say, Come and see. And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great missile. And when he had opened the third file, I heard the third monitor say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four screens say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of rice for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the coal. And when he had opened the fourth file, I heard the voice of the fourth monitor say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and nuclear fire followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with bullet, and with hunger, and with death, and with the infernal machines of man."
>Responsible for supplying the majority of opium to both camps of the Crimean War, this member of the landed gentry is managing to fritter away the remains of his estate despite the substantial income gleaned from his illicit activities. Charming and well mannered despite being severely histrionic, Mr. Oliphant fluidly conducts affairs throughout the world under the comforting umbrella of Pax Brittanica. Being an 8th degree mason, he also enjoys exceptional privileges ranging from skirting inspections on imports to being provided an audience with many invaluable functionaries in the Empire. An excellent rider, Mr. Oliphant enjoys fox hunting on his family estate when at home
Josiah Jones
I like how he manages to be edgy and grimdark but not come across as trying too hard in most cases.
>NECROTIC COLOSSUS
>Towering hulks of reshaped and animated flesh are a common sight in the Northern Steppes. Once terrifying siege engines employed in the Horizon Upheavals, a prolonged spate of peace has seen them decommissioned and adapted to cultural rituals. This specific necrotic collossus is actually functioning as a nomadic funeral temple. A site of excarnation that can follow tribes in their caravans, the collossus, once directed by a whip cracking beast master, is now only directed by two weary oxen.
>Madame Theodosia hearkens from the Aeolian islands and is part of a long lineage of necromancers. Growing up in a family with a long tradition of raising the dead, she was uncharacteristically shaken to learn of her barrenness, and in a rather emotional state vowed to give birth, if not to a new life, then to an already passed life. For this purpose she had found assistance in fashioning a steel, pressurized womb in which the souls of the freshly dead were to be trapped and condensed. This gestating entity came to be referred to in hushed tones as The Collect. The expectant mother now unnerves her followers with a detached resignation towards her eventual agonizing death; a necessity to feed her newborn babe in a self-sacrificial fashion akin to a mother spider.
Nicholas Martin
>ANTHROPOPHAGUS
>While not undead themselves, these corpseherds bear down on the aftermath of battle fields, reanimating the strewn dead and consuming the irreparable. These beings loom up eight feet, headless with unreadable faces set in their chests, mumbling to each other as they collect their cattle and return to the hills.
"And portance in my travels' history; Wherein of antres vast and deserts idle, Rough quarries, rocks, and hills whose heads touch heaven, It was my hint to speak- such was the process- And of the Cannibals that each other eat, The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads Do grow beneath their shoulders."
Othello -William Shakespeare
Tyler Barnes
Yeah, I kinda just wanted to post the horsemen thing, and didn't know where to post it.
Ryan Collins
>WENDIGO
>While the pillis hail the coming of the deity Quetzelcoatl in the form of the white bearded man who calls himself Cortés, others in the higher echelons of the Aztec Empire believe the visitation to be that of mere men from foreign lands. Cadres of elite panther warriors are sent out into the wild to hunt the pale imposters. Driven by apocalyptic visions, these warriors degenerate into frenzied murderers, eating the flesh of their victims to gain their strength, forgoing the confines of humanity. Depraved and twisted with flesh stoked potency, the wendigos decimate the conquistadors in a bloody harvest.
Aaron Watson
>GHOUL
>As crops fail and famine wracks the land, those who turn to the last resort of cannibalism contract kuru, a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, and their brains become pitted like sponge. As they degenerate the ghouls form into familial packs which whoop and laugh uncontrollably as they pull down the healthy in mob attacks. However they only feast on the bodies after weeks of decomposition, as the notion of consuming fresh meat disgusts them. The ghouls numbers are disproportionately comprised of pregnant or child rearing mothers. They are particularly resistant to the pull of despair and suicide, if only to care for their single child; the greatest number a desperate mother can afford to care for in such conditions.
Mason Parker
>OGUS
>The OGUS has become an indispensible asset to the military forces of all Category 1 nations. A hybrid of mechanical parts and specially tailored, silicone based organic components, the OGUS series have achieved a battlefield capability superior to anything a conventional human soldier could match. Expensive initially, maintenance is actually quite simple: the OGUS series is primarily self healing and is powered by methane created by the processing of organic matter (it eats meat.)
Key Features- -Mortar used for bunker penetration and indirect fire roles. -Human-like limbs allow for use of aquired enemy weaponry when deployed behind enemy lines and supply sources are cut off. -Long, thin, and highly flexible neck allow for excellent scope and visibility. -Small profile presents the smallest possible target while OGUS observation is maintained. -Modular load bearing packs on upper thighs for equipment.
Jack Jones
>GOLEM
>Sculpted from clay and instilled with holy vitality to function as a servant to its creator. The golem's guise is that of an ancient Judaic priest, a sign to people of the relation to its rabbinical creator. The writing on its forehead instills life, and the golem can be deactivated by removing part of this inscription. While they make excellent assistants, they can get stuck in loops attempting to perform the same tasks over and over again.
Key Features- - Four arms aid tremendously in manual labour. - The blue eye inscribed orb is what the golem actually sees with, and it swivels and glows as it looks around. - Blessed nails in the feet instill stability, and prevent the dangerous likleyhood of the golem toppling over on people and things.
Tyler Morris
>SCRIBE
>A scrivener automaton working in a rather wealthy merchant's library. The arcane procedures for creating automatons are as varied as their appearance and roles in society (servitors, military, labour, prostitution, etc). The taxidermic use of cured human remains is legalised, economical and common place in their construction (similar to how the powdered wigs in our past often used the hair of corpses). However the practice of "rendering" down living persons into an automaton state is outlawed, it is frequently employed since the resultant product tends to outperform the legal alternative. The merchant who owns this particular scribe automaton has some very extensive paperwork detailing her conformity to all applicable regulation. Despite this assurance, those who deal with her have noticed how quickly she learns new tasks, and have caught her smiling when backs are turned.
Owen Ramirez
>DURNWHIP GRINDYLOW
>Little fellows of the Grindylow peoples, who venture out into war torn fields where battles were recently fought. Snuffling about they collect the mugcurrants that grow amidst the fallen. When their bellies are pleasantly full they waddle home and promptly cook themselves into a delicious, thin stew. Durnwhips are poor conversationalists however and rarely, if ever, hold any company who can be present to sample this delicacy. Resultantly a Durnwhip stew is one of the most under appreciated dishes presently documented. The few critics of the Durnwhip stew also cite post-consumption convulsions as a prime factor contributing to the meal's lack of popularity.
Samuel Reed
post more faggot
Oliver Nguyen
K
>PONTIFF
>Pontiff of the sea. Presented here personally acting as a missionary from the deep. He carries a gallows, the sign of their martyr. He smokes a hallucinogenic kelp from his long pipe (smoking being one pleasure dry land can offer him). He's actually wearing pilgrim's garb, and his papal attire at home in the sea is stunningly beautiful in comparison to this dour travelling wear. The bleached driftwood tied to his girdle is an element of his ecclesiastical dress. An emissary of the Fey Folk kisses his coral ring in supplication to their developing alliance against man.
Adam Lopez
>SAINT OF PARASITES
>I took ill and was confined to a bed in the furthest wing of the local hospital. My health worsened as I spent my time alone save the occasions when a visitation would wake me from fitful dreams. A wan figure would enter, passing down between the rows of empty beds towards me, flanked by two monastic attendants each holding up the lengths of her vestments to prevent them trailing on the floor. My body seemed to shift and stir on its own accord in response to her presence.
"My dearest." she would say in hushed tones that seemed to emanate from within my own ears. "Fear not, I will be with you always, till the day that you die." The squirming sensation inside me increased as though hanging on her every word.
"I only ask what any devoted lover would. Everything you have left you share with me."
Charles Walker
fuckyeah
Nolan Walker
>POLYP CAVALRY STEED
>Those who fought in wars against the Polyp Countries tell tales of seeing their comrades desperately routed by small groups of horrifying cavalrymen, their mounts galloping jerkily on rickety stumps. The steeds were once human, now twisted by the precisely engineered growth agents that flow throughout their vascular systems. Cavaliers who disgrace themselves in battle are forcibly injected with Polyp agents and transformed into a new steed, often to be ridden by their now promoted squire.
Key Features:
The original subject infected by the Polyp School can be seen hanging in the core of the steed.
Tank of rendered bitumen-based fuel feeds its contents to diffuse through the steeds tissue for both nutrients and to prevent major infections.
Stirrups are connected straight to nerve clusters in the steed and are used by the rider for steering.
Exhaust pipes belch the noxious byproducts of the steed's accelerated organ processes.
Rimfire shotgun with shells containing small indentations holding a tiny skin of Polyp agents to infect their targets.
Jonathan Miller
>CORSAIR CRAB
>When a treaty was signed by the dominant empires to cease the use of freebooters in maritime affairs, an open season was declared on pirates, with bounties for their ears being offered at all major trading ports. This drove the pirates underground, so to speak, using the structures of gargantuan, extinct crustaceans as their new ships of fortune; pulling merchant vessels below the waves to tear their hulls asunder and reap the rewards.
Key Features:
Jolly Roger emblazoned on the upper carapace instills fear in any crew witnessing the shellfish approach their ship from the shallows.
Ballast mines tied to adjustable rigging that can suddenly be let up into a ship's hull floating above.
Massive iron reinforced claws pull the wreckages of blasted ships into the water's depths and spilt open their cargo holds.
Portholes abound in the shellfish's carapace viewing the surroundings from every possible angle.
Large storage bay doors open for the claws to stuff captured cargo into the shellfish's ample storage holds.
Crow's nest eyes for crew members on outlook.
Logan Barnes
>ATOMIC BLOSSOM
>After receiving V2 rocket plans, plutonium, and uranium oxide snuck into Japan by German U-boat No.234, the Imperial Japanese applied their new technology to the pre-existing Cherry Blossom kamikaze plane. This new jet was to function as a human piloted atomic bomb to be deployed from bombers during the defense of Japan.
Key Features:
Large detonation hammer ensures the bomb explodes upon impact in case the air burst mechanisms fail.
40mm guns fixed to main fuselage after brave Allied pilots began trying to detonate the Blossoms prior to their goal by flying their planes straight into the Blossom's path.
Rotationally adjustable vents allow the plane a slight degree of directional correction after being launched from a heavy bomber.
The canopy and tail are the only recognizable parts left of the Blossom's fuselage which has been adapted from the Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter aircraft.
The canopy is welded shut after the pilot has entered the cockpit.
Bentley Watson
Got anymore of that medieval shit? That was fire.
William Perez
Which medieval shit?
>MAXIMILLIAN'S MORTAR ROACH
>Polished to a glittering shine, Sir Maximillian's new siege engines scuttle along battlefields, lobbing mortar rounds into the citadel walls of the neighbouring fiefs. It is whispered that the lord has fashioned a pact with Beelzebub in exchange for the arcane knowledge required to manufacture such unnatural weapons of war.
Key Features:
Vantage tower, allowing the crew a commanding 360 degrees of battlefield visibility.
Tilting mortar hurls explosive iron fire pots high into the air, and over protective parapets.
Entry hatch can open quickly, allowing the crew to pack and load the mortar while exposing themselves minimally.
Polished iron plating is the primary material covering the whole roach, offering it substantial protection.
Maximillian's heraldic crest displayed on a billowing penant, held triumphantly forth at the front of the vehicle.
Lincoln Murphy
>THE PROPHET
>Pilgrims listen in rapt attention to one of the many prophets imprisoned along this road. The town that can be seen was built about a cathedral which dates back beyond scholars' records. A large cache of gold was found in the cathedrals catacombs and the high class now lives in relative comfort despite the poor harvests of late. Those who can afford it live off the trade of a neighbouring coastal fishing town. Since the gold was discovered a rash of severe birth defects and sudden oncomings of insanity have been plaguing the populace. After trading began, the fishermen and their families who accepted the gold as payment have been suffering the same ills. The particularly opulent burgomaster has become worried about his dwindling reserves, and after the discovery of further tunnels connecting to the cathedral's catacombs, he has taken to paying highly those who plumb its depths in search of more gold. Unfortunately these men invariably return completely mad, and desperately try to burn the cathedral to the ground. The burgomaster furiously condemns these men to the gibbets that line the road as a warning to those "weak of mind, and lax in duty." Those scarred and deformed by the gold’s unwholesome influence flock to these prophets to hear their fractured gibberings of what they saw below the cathedral. It is rumored that the burgomaster’s wife can birth naught but plump, healthy fish.
Chase Wright
>PRINCE WITH THE TURQUOISE HEAD
>The man, dressed as royalty, arrived by sea on a trading ship. He soon became popular among the elite and wealthy circles in the city for the outlandish tales of his homeland, and his cryptic but surely sage advice. Beguiled delight was always found at the turquoise mask he was never seen without.
>An illness took hold in the city upon the prince's arrival; one that loosened skin to grotesque proportion. The people implored the visiting noble for his wisdom.
>"Remember, I come from Mu." he said as though that answered it all. Taking it much to heart, the city's people began fervent and depraved worship of this unknown land in hopes it would cure the sickness that afflicted them and their families. Trade with other cities soured, and the country's clergy denounced the new worshipping. The lord of the land, needing some way to keep his newly hired mercenaries busy until he had more important uses for them, took it upon himself to siege the town, raze it to the ground and appease the complaints coming from his other subjects. The sick people of the city saw the soldiers at the walls and cried to the stranger for more aid.
>"Remember, I come from Mu." was all he said. Dumbfounded by such wisdom, all among them slopped to their knees, worshipping the wise prince as their city burned.
Aiden Stewart
These were my favorites
Easton Collins
>MARDUK'S CLEAVER
>When Marduk slayed the dragon Tiamat, the weapons he used in the battle became well known and celebrated. However, the act which formed the heavens and the earth, the slicing in half of Tiamat's corpse, was done with a cleaver whose very existence was denied by Marduk and all who followed him. This tool, which was used to fashion our world, now passes hands among the Undead Kings of the arid East; their dread plaything used to sunder entire nations and peoples.
Kevin Howard
>COBBLED SKALD
>When a talented skald of the Swedish courts, renowned across Scandinavia for his unparalleled musical prowess, revealed himself as a disguised woman, she was swiftly executed, and the embarrassing events were stricken from polite conversation. Her sudden return to court functions shook even the staunchest war veterans, but not enough to stay a second wary, though swift, summary execution. Upon further returns, each revealing the scald to be strangely repaired in a manner befitting tailor more than physician, the court began to almost embrace the eerie presence. This cycle of returns and executions leading to a more and more transfigured court poet became something of an exalted tradition.
Jason Evans
>MOLLUSC TREE
>This case of sorcerous artifice is one of many of its kind which dot the hills in this area. Originally a byproduct of alchemical study, the mollusc tree is now harvested for both medicinal and culinary applications. A rare mollusc is fished, and immersed in an amniotic solution within the bulb of a specially cultivated tree. The ageing process is quite long and the mollusc actually lives in a torpor until its harvesting. Specific parts of the pickled mollusc meat are a much saught after delicacy, and the brine possesses a potent restorative effect when imbibed or applied as a salve. If the proper procedure is not followed, and the bulb split or tapped by a poacher, the mollusc will viciously attack, and soon suffocate, spoiling its meat.
Owen Bell
>YOKAI
>As an object is used over time it begins to take on a personality of sorts, and once one hundred years pass this personality has had time to physically manifest in the object, a twisted, half-formed soul either viciously mad or functioning with motivations incomprehensible to man. Perverting everything they can gain influence over, they are invariably hostile to people, killing them and staking their own claim to seemingly random spots in the wilderness or along roadways. Once settled in their now blighted locales they dwell and wait for something that never arrives.
Luke Garcia
>UNDYING FLAGELLANT
>Unable to fully reach true devotion, and resultantly undeserving of entry to the Kingdom, the Brotherhood of the Holy Scourge divined a method of self abuse that would cleanse them of sin, but send them into a state of half death. Wandering the land and collecting alms, the undying monks seek worthiness through their self debasement. They deceive themselves with notions of piety, but secretly derive pleasure through their pain. This sin of pleasure negates their purpose, and their path has cost them their mortality, binding them to the earth, and robbing them of any chance to die and ascend.
Andrew Scott
>TIKBALANG
>An untrusting skittishness is prevalent among the communites surrounding the mountainous regions of the King Filipinas archipelago. The skewed, furtive glances exchanged when family members ask to be accompanied somewhere are a habit formed from fear of the Tikbalang. Often eerily mimicking the appearance of victims' relatives, this forest spirit will lead lone people out to the heavily wooded depths of the mountain ranges, occasionally breaking the increasingly uncomfortable silence with short bursts of reassurement, and stilted gratitude for the assistance. The suddenly pungent aroma of tobacco and drunken swaying motion adopted by the false family member is noticed before their face blurs into something that resembles more that of a horse's than a human's. Delirious town folk who have stumbled their way into town after long absences tell of how this apparation pushed and slapped them, often knocking them over and not allowing them to right themselves; all the while shaking with nervous, childish giggling. People say that the cessation of resistance or protest will suddenly lead a victim to find themselves alone in the woods, plunged into darkness; the sun long set. The path home, recalled by the few who return after a disappearance, is hampered by a severe sense of disorientation and a forest that seems to curl in on itself repeatedly.
Aaron Flores
>WERECORDOBA
>Bred and infected from an extinct chain of Argentinean pit dogs for the purpose of killing encroaching werewolves in an urban environment. The plastic milk jug holds water that he can guzzle as his metabolism is so accelerated (he sweats profusely and pants simultaneously) that he constantly needs to rehydrate and eat. The baseball bat has sharp strips of jeweler's silver hammered into it with wire wrapping around to prevent the bat from splitting. This tool is specifically used on werewolves.
Landon Young
>PIT SYLPH
>The pupal stage in the developmental cycle of a siren, the pit sylph often inhabits old wells and mine shafts. Luring victims with a highly adaptable range of pheromones, the Pit Sylph will pull people into a sudden, sheer fall down into the water table below, often completely pulverizing the bones of the victim. While the pit sylph will eat most of her catches, she is required by the Imperial Piscines to regularly pay a pole tax of seven live men and seven live women a cycle. While not officially allied with the Imperial Piscines, sirens often work closely with them for posterity’s sake despite their occasional forays of involvement with the Vodyanoi (from whom they’ve collectively acquired a taste for horse meat.)
Charles Foster
>GUARD POST
>Two guards posted along the rim of a floating island. A religious cult has built a temple and surrounding dwellings on this island, and they float across the continent indoctrinating and spiriting away new followers. Of course, the more established religions on land encourage all to resist the new cult and attacks on the island are common. These guards especially have to look out for fires being set in the path of the island. It floats and steers very slowly with the use of huge lode stones. Peasants on the ground are taught by the churches to set huge forest fires in the islands path to suffocate its inhabitants. These guards use very rare and expensive cartridge rifles (plundered, the industry of cartridge ammunition is long forgotten) to pick off scouts or shepherds who appear to be hurrying to warn towns of the island's advance. The cultists undergo a series of skin bleachings so that they begin to resemble dolls or puppets. The female is the example of successful treatments, and the figure on the tree is covered up due to severely disfiguring mistakes made in the process.
Nicholas Sanders
>APOLLONIAN WIGHT
>When experiments testing the viability of tapping into the quantum vacuum for energy were performed on the Apollo 21 Lab Station, reports devolved into strange ramblings about how their conclusions were inconceivable to human minds. Before all communication ceased, garbled messages were sent to earth from the astronauts about their experiments revealing to them the "howling face of the sun." A rescue crew was violently repulsed from the station by corpses in the astronaut's space suits. Footage of the incident show ghostly images of tormented figures hanging just behind these corpses, struggling, but seemingly unable to pull themselves apart from their decaying bodies.
Oliver Moore
DEEP ONE TIARA
"It took no excessive sensitiveness to beauty to make me literally gasp at the strange, unearthly splendour of the alien, opulent phantasy that rested there on a purple velvet cushion. Even now I can hardly describe what I saw, though it was clearly enough a sort of tiara, as the description had said. It was tall in front, and with a very large and curiously irregular periphery, as if designed for a head of almost freakishly elliptical outline. The material seemed to be predominantly gold, though a weird lighter lustrousness hinted at some strange alloy with an equally beautiful and scarcely identifiable metal. Its condition was almost perfect, and one could have spent hours in studying the striking and puzzlingly untraditional designs - some simply geometrical, and some plainly marine - chased or moulded in high relief on its surface with a craftsmanship of incredible skill and grace."
Adrian Howard
I had a dream the other night, and the only thing I can remember is someone asking me(?) "Would you like to make a donation to the nightmare box?" >there exist devices called nightmare boxes >they actually are just small cardboard boxes but contain portals to the realm of sleep, inaccessible to a waking mind >by sticking your head in the box and telling it something that scares you, it gives the realm of sleep nightmare material to create for other sleepers >a charity organization operates the majority of them >why would anyone offer a donation to the nightmare box, you ask? >because nightmares are in limited supply, and the realm of sleep is constantly using up nightmares that humans give it >and those are nothing compared to what the realm of sleep will start conjuring if it has to make its own
Gavin Edwards
>BROOD MERMAID
>An exemplary member of a Piscine Magistrate's sub-harem; a collection of fertile females used for the sowing of seed as opposed to serving a directly pleasurable role in the prima harem. A swarm of eels harass the brood mermaid in her later stages, eager to snatch up freshly hatched young. These swarms are encouraged by most Magistrates as they consider it an excellent measure for thinning the weak offspring; immediately setting the stage for a strong and culled lineage. Brood mermaids are often given as donativum profundi, "imperial largess of the abyss", to honoured guests, as the reciprocated offering of offspring is considered an assumed display of trust in important dealings amongst piscines of high standing.
