Rare Monsters

  Tao Tie is a monster from Chinese mythology It is one of the four perils, four evil beings who represent the worst qualities and greatest threats to civilization. Tao Tie specifically represents greed and overconsumption. Even as the representation of greed and gluttony Tao Tie is sometimes listed among more beneficial beings, such as the Nine Sons of the Dragon. There his ravenous hunger is shown in a more benevolent light, as something that will consume anything, even the bad luck and aspects of life that are holding you back, so that better aspects have room to be fulfilled. Although 90% of the time Tao Tie is seen as a malevolent force. Tao Tie has several different origins. According to the classic Chunqui Tao Tie started out as the son of Jinyun, an officer of the Yellow Emperor. This son of Jinyun was so overcome by greed and hunger that he had no limitations. He would steal from orphans, the elderly, and respected officials. He had no decency or morals of any kind. No one...

  Xiangliu was a serpent with nine human heads. Sometimes the head each have different necks, and other times the head form a cone or a grid, all beside each other. In spite of this monstrous appearance, Xiangliu was intelligent and a minister to the equally monstrous water god Gonggong. Xiangliu was responsible for enacting Gonggong's orders to bring floods and devastation to the land. Xiangliu's mere presence was able to cause devastation everywhere he went. Everywhere he breathed became a bog with poisoned water. He was also immoral and took glee in destruction he caused and the suffering he created for others. When Gonggong rebelled against the heavens Xiangliu fought by his side. However once the goddess Nuwe killed Gonggong Xiangliu fled. Yu the Great, the last of the three sage kings, tracked Xiangliu to the swamps of Sichuan Province. He killed Xiangliu after a pitched battle. However Xiangliu's blood threatened to poison the whole region. If Xiangliu was left t...

The yeongno is a demon from korea. There is little written about it and no folk tails where it appears. Instead the yeongno come from korean theatre, specifically small local plays to entertain the common folk. The type of theatre it appears in is the gamyeongeuk, a type of play where actors wear masks to play stalk characters, and the Kkokdugaksinoreum, a puppet show. These plays with the yeongno were performed to mock the yangban. The yangban were the wealthy elites of past Korea's highly stratified society. In these plays the yeongno is banished from heaven for some crime which isn't eluded upon. To reenter heaven the yeongno has to eat 100 yangban. The yeongno would creep up on the yangban and play it's willow pipe with a distinct bibibi tune, to strike fear in the yangban who was being stalked. This gives the yeongno it's alternate name of Bibi. The yeongno costume consists of a mask with a long crocodile like snout, and a long robe or blanket with scale pattern...

  The escornau was an unusual unicorn from Ahigal, Spain. It was a vicious beast the terrorized the village sometime in the 16 th century. It was a hybrid creature with the head of a boar, ears of a rabbit, front body of a bull and back end of a horse. It had a cork screw unicorn horn in the middle of its forehead. There are two versions of its origin. Either the escornau was sent by god as a punishment for the village's sinful ways. Alternately the beast was the union between two different species of farm animal. Pretty much any combination of the four animals that make up the escornau were said to be the parents, a cow and a stallion, or a bull and a sow, or a horse and a rabbit, I honestly don't know how that one would work. Either way, there was so much sin in this village that even the farm animals per partaking in it. The escornau would use its horn as a weapon, impaling its victims with it. It would sharpen its horn on rocks to keep its tip as sharp as a spear. The be...

  Yayu is a vicious man eating monster from Chinese mythology. He has the face of a human and a body that is a mix of lion and dragon, like an eastern version of the manticore. Yayu started out as the son of Zhulong, and was a beautiful and well loved god. He was kind hearted before his death and transformation. However he was killed by Wei, one of the constellation gods. Zhulong was distraught over the death of his son and begged the heavens to bring Yayu back to life. The heavenly emperor warned that such things are dangerous, but seeing how much Zhulong grieved, he allowed it. Yayu was brought back from the dead. However doing so violated the natural order of things, which transformed him into a monster. Not only was he transformed into a beast like form, but he violently attacked everything around him, killing and eating humans. Because of this the legendary archer, Hou Yi was sent to kill Yayu again.  

  The straggeles are a group of Christmas demons from Switzerland, Austria and the alpine parts of Germany. They are the helpers of Frau Perchta, the crone of winter. She's a supernatural witch who's responsible for punishing the naughty during the holiday season. The straggeles are also known as the perchten, as they're Perchta's followers. Perchta is seen as a complex character, having both good and bad aspects. She's the upholder of cultural rules, and there for while she casts curses on people and sends her straggele demons out to torment them she does it for a purpose, to punish those people who ignore cultural traditions. Straggels look very similar to Krampus, the main difference being Krampus is an individual demon where as there are multiple straggeles. The exact number is never specified. Straggeles have a typically demonic face with a hooked nose, sharp chin, jagged teeth and glaring eyes. They have large goat horns on their heads, ranging in number from...

  The locusts of Abaddon are a type of monster that appears in the book of Revelations. They had the head of a man, the teeth of a lion and the long flowing hair of a woman. They had horse like bodies, wings and scorpion tails. They were also wearing crowns and iron breast plates. No part of the demonic locusts were insect like. The insect shell and wings are my own interpretation, as Revelations doesn't state what kind of wings they have. Referring to these demons as locusts comes from their vast numbers, which is like a locust swarm. The locusts were released from the bottomless pit by Satan after the fifth angel blew their trumpet. The locusts were commanded by the demon Abaddon, also known as Apollyon, his name meaning the destroyer. The locusts were commanded to not harm the natural life of Earth but only attack sinners, or the men who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. Even then the locusts were not to kill the sinners, but just torture them relentlessly for fi...