Myth

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I've been pretty vocal about my love of Monster Manuals. I guess I might need to know how many HP a Gorbel has, but I'm really more interested in their weird powers and behaviour. Fire on the Velvet Horizon is essentially an entire book of this stuff.

Luckily I'm not alone here, and I've been reading some medieval monk's Fiend Folio knock-off recently. I'd previously assumed that these Bestiaries were full of errors born out of ignorance. "Oh look, isn't it funny how little this 13th Century Scottish recluse knew about giraffes."

Well I'm sure that accounts for some of the content, but here even local fauna is given fantastical qualities, inevitably making some point about Christian vices or virtues. Weasels can resurrect their beloved young, dogs can always be trusted to provide truthful testimony, and goat blood is hot enough to dissolve diamonds. 

I picked up this book as inspiration for a bank of myths I'm writing for my medieval experiment. Whether they're a monster, place, or event, I want these myths to feel mythic. The sort of stories people would tell as allegory in our world, but real in this one. 

THE WYVERN

All jaw and neck like knotted string
All wing and tail with baleful sting

That Twisted, Venomous Reptile
STR 17, DEX 17, CHA 3, 12hp
Cowering wings (A2 when grounded), bite (2d10) or sting (d8, wound causes bloating death within an hour unless thoroughly washed out with fresh milk)

• A clumsy flier, drawn to places rich with the stench of upcoming death
• Fights only to secure its nest (see below), protect its young, or for petty revenge
• Disgusted by the sound of a baby’s cry

Wyvern Eggs

• The satiated creature lays two eggs among the carrion of battle, without need for a mate
• Each hatches as a different beast (see right), carrying their mother’s venom
• The offspring share a feast of the dead before travelling in opposite directions

Her Poisonous Young

Form (d6)
1: Adder
2: Newt
3: Frog
4: Weasel
5: Scorpion
6: Flightless Swan

Abomination (d6)
1: Barbed Scales
2: Unhinged Jaw
3: Prehensile Tongue
4: Bloated Stomach
5: Twin Tails
6: Horned Snout