Rare Monsters

  The shussebora is a yokai from Japan. It is a mythical version of the triton conch snail. The name means promoted conch, because it was believed to transform into a dragon as it aged. Many monster in Japanese mythology, and regular animals too, were believed to transform into different, more powerful monsters when they reached a certain age. The triton conch would start out as a land snail living in mountain meadows, make its way down to the ocean and transform into a conch, then when it became a thousand years old it would transform again into a dragon with a conch shell. Many other animals in Japanese mythology also had complex transformations, such as bats, foxes and other more traditional dragons. So now you know what Pokemon evolutions were inspired by. The belief that the triton conch started its life high in the mountains was probably inspired by finding fossilized shells high in the mountain rocks, pushed up by tectonic lift. Before plate tectonics or the science b...

   The capelobo is a monster from the Par á and Maranh ã o regions of Brazil. It is mainly believed by the Christianized indigenous population. The name comes from the Guarani word cap ê , meaning bend legged or lame, and the Portuguese lobo, meaning wolf. The capelobo is a vampiric monster that drinks both blood and brain matter with its long snout. It starts out as an elderly indigenous man, if he dies without a Christian burial or becomes lost in the forest he will transform into the capelobo. This transformation is permanent and he can never return to his human form. The capelobo looks like a werewolf with an anteater’s head and clawed forelimbs. It also has perfectly round horse hooves, which look the same back to front. This makes it impossible to know what direction the capelobo was travelling when trying to track it. The capelobo is very large, being close to seven feet tall, even when hunched over in a bestial werewolf fashion. Some say the capelobo has a feral f...

  The Telchines were primordial daemons from Greek mythology. They were associated with the sea, smithing and the Island of Rhodes. They created Cronos’s scythe and Poseidon’s trident. They also raised the infant Poseidon. However, even though they initially aided the Olympian gods, the Telchinese eventually turned to evil and defiled the soils of Rhodes, causing Zeus to punish them. Every detail in the Telchine’s story beyond these broad strokes is variable, making them hard to pin down.  Telchines have multiple origins that contradict each other. They were either the children of Pontus and Gaia, or Tartaros and Nemesis, or of the goddess Thalassa alone. Sometimes they’re said to be created from the blood that was spilled when Uranus was castrated, however this contradicts the Telchines creating Cronos’s scythe, which he used to perform this act. Regardless of their origins the Telchinese are always regarded as primordial beings, created by the primal forces of the universe T...

  The Plat Eye is a ghostly undead monster from America Folklore. It's found along the gulf coast, into Georgia and up into South Carolina. The legend of the plat eye was told primarily among African Americans. The plat eye is a ghostly predatory beast, usually a large cat. Its most distinguishing feature is its single large eye, which glows red. Often all a person will see of the plat eye is its glowing eye staring at them from the darkness. The plat eye's body is pale white or grey, like a lifeless corps. Often its flesh is rotten and its guts are hanging out, furthering the undead appearance.   The plat eye can shape shift into the forms of a headless human, a sickly black calf or a black dog. The plat eye can also appear and disappear at will. Plat eyes haunt bayous and crossroads after midnight, and are never seen in the light of day. They fade out of existence in the sunlight. The plat eye surrounds itself in mist and appears out of the fog. Plat Eyes are the restl...

  The codrille was a medieval dragon from France. Its overall appearances was a mix of cockatrice and wyvern, and was between them in size as well. The codrille also had the notable addition of a glowing crystal horn jutting out from its forehead like a demented unicorn horn. While it would be easy to write off the codrille as just a hybrid of two other monsters, there's far more to its legend than just that. First off, it's name is derived from crocodile. Travellers brought back tales of crocodiles from Egypt, with their name and description being mangled and combined with cockatrice into the codrille, which is also sometimes known as the cocodrille. The codrille has an interesting life cycle for a dragon. It starts out born from a yolk-less egg. The legend varies on whether this egg is laid by a chicken or another codrille, but there are specific nesting sites where the eggs can be found. The egg is left out to incubate in the heat of the sun. The codrille then hatches out ...