Encyclopedia Ephemeral – 2nd Edition*

* non-consecutive entries.

The Magivore

Description –

This beast appears as a three-tailed feline. Coat characteristics vary, with reports indicating they cover the full range of domesticated cats in addition to mimicking several varieties of mundane wild species. Most specimens do not exceed a length of one meter, and they are often half as tall as they are long. Weight is rarely more than ten kilograms.

Particularly well-fed and extraordinary specimens undergo a metamorphosis to more closely resemble the big-cats of Earth. Despite the obvious differences observed when they feed, the only indication that they are not normal specimens of the breeds they mimic is found in their increased number of tails.

Habitats –

Unique to the Roads and their associated environs, these creatures are notoriously difficult to keep alive on Earth, even in the most magically-charged of Domains. Within its native habitat, it is almost exclusively found near previous sites of sapient habitation. It is rare for more than two of the creatures to exist in one region, though their unique capabilities may cause it to appear otherwise.

Capabilities –

The Magivore, as implied by the name, is capable of consuming magic. While the exact method is poorly understood, they appear to have difficulty applying it to ambient energy and heavily prefer to consume spells and enchantments. Due to this, mundane wards and precautions work best for repelling them, as strong defensive workings only serve to attract them further and waste valuable reagents.

Starving and particularly malicious specimens have been observed consuming unwary mages and other magical beasts. To do so their entire torso appears to unhinge into a portal to a pocket dimension, which can consume beings many times their size. It is theorized that their teleportation capabilities, while never directly observed, also utilize this pocket dimension to ‘step’ through mundane obstacles.

Uses –

The bones from their extra tails, when ground up, are a potent reagent for spatial-based magic. The potency only increases with the creature’s age, as those with more excessive feeding habits appear to concentrate a portion of the consumed power.

Special Notes –

Despite their use in creating a reagent for a rare variety of magic, the creatures are little more than pests at the best of times. They are notorious mage-killers, and it is widely accepted at the time of writing that they should be exterminated when found.

The Cerboar

Description –

The Cerboar appears relatively similar to the wild swine prevalent in Europe during past centuries, at least from a distance. Anything more than a cursory glance will show that it is, at best, loosely related to anything that walks the Earth.

Each of its eight legs, arranged in twin rows of four, has three separate joints. During movement they bend in ways that seem impossible by Earth standards. There is no properly defined foot, merely a thick pad of ‘skin’ that constantly wears away and regrows. Their hind end is smooth and rounded, with no openings or projections of any sort. The ‘head’ is also rounded and indistinct from the rest of the body but possesses a mouth that peels back in six flaps. At the base of each flap is a crystalline tusk, the color and specific properties depending on diet.

While they lack any defined sensory organs, smooth pits in their skin are repeated regularly around their center of mass and appear to serve as focal points for their abilities. Their skeletal structure is composed primarily of metal, while their skin is largely similar in both appearance and texture to the minerals in their primary diet. The flesh, what little there is, is a deep cerulean.

Habitats –

The creature is mostly found in the more mountainous sections of the Roads, subsisting primarily on exposed mineral seams that then become concentrated into their bodies. Though rare, they are sometimes found in the forested regions as well. No specimens have ever survived removal from the Roads.

Capabilities –

The creatures are blind and dumb, but far from harmless. They possess mild psychic abilities, thought to stem from the pits in their mineral skin, which they use to track down mineral veins. These also alert the creatures when another living thing is looking at them, which seems to drive them into a rage.

Their tusks are extremely sharp but are not particularly long, rarely extending more than twenty centimeters, and are used both for violent purposes and breaking up stone to feed on.

Uses –

A Cerboar concentrates the minerals they feed on. As such, a specimen fed on rare materials can be an astonishingly rich source of reagents and materials. The tusks on any well-fed specimen are also unusually durable for their crystalline nature, and have some niche uses in dowsing, as spellcasting focuses, and occasionally as daggers.

Special Notes –

Despite their threat to the unprepared, a Cerboar is little danger to any prepared mage. Hunting around many of the enclaves within the Roads is strictly regulated in order to preserve the populations.

The Lazzerak

Description –

No concrete descriptions are available of their inactive forms, as the creatures are shapeshifters of no small ability. Common features include feathers and fur, large eyes, and small but deceptively dense bodies. The active forms are rarely reported but appear to be consistent in the form of tentacled beasts with multiple mouths and eyes.

Habitats –

The Ashlands, Craters, Dustlands, and Golden Plain. Smaller numbers are occasionally found in other biomes where water is scarce. Some theorize that a population of perpetually active creatures exists in the domain of the Drowned Court, but no evidence has been forthcoming and the nature of the region prevents easy exploration.

Capabilities –

The Lazzerak are harmless, if one is knowledgeable. However, they use their shapeshifting to imitate forms that a sapient might find interesting or otherwise attractive. They prey on our desire to possess and care for things smaller and weaker than ourselves, often being described as looking like lost or helpless baby animals. The ability does not appear to be psychically based, as there are accounts of their forms being incorrectly chosen and leading to the viewer wishing them harm even without knowledge of their nature.

A Lazzerak that has ingratiated itself to a host will invariably beg for water. When given an amount in excess of their body weight, submersed, or otherwise coated in the fluid, they enter their active forms as a ferociously competent shapeshifting beast that attempts to consume the host.

Uses –

None. As with many shapeshifters, the corpses are wildly unstable and rapidly decay.

Special Notes –

These creatures are harmless if inactivated but have been the downfall of many uneducated or incautious practitioners. Like many of the beasts that stalk the Roads, they should be exterminated on sight.