My third post on Monstrous, I'm glad I finally got some time to write on this blog again.
As always I am going to use one of the guilds of Ravnica for inspiration, the text in italics is from the book and text in bold is my own writing.
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| The Minotaur by George Frederic Watts |
Chimera - Boros - The Revolutionary
Pride Goeth
The Revolutionary was once a mortal who forgot their place in the cosmic order, provoking the terrible fury of a powerful tormentor by trying to depose the terrible but divinely chosen King.
Tormented Transfiguration
As punishment for their offense, the mortal was transformed into the Revolutionary, featuring the following monstrous alterations to its body:
- A reminder of its lowly station: the body of a starving lion
- A source of constant misery: an iron crown nailed to its head
- A horror that cannot help but unleash on mortals it encounters: a halo of light that blinds and burns
- Its human head weeps tears of molten iron
Inexorable Doom
The Revolutionary is forever doomed to rule over the burnt remains of its kingdom, a sadistic form of "atonement" for the crime against its tormentor.
The tormentor created an obstacle to prevent the Revolutionary from escaping its doom: only when the descendants of the lord truly proclaim it to be a good ruler will it be freed. Not even death can free the Revolutionary from its anguish until this obstacle is overcome.
Afflicted Blood
When the Revolutionary suffers a wound that would be deadly to a mortal, its afflicted blood spills in gouts, causing fire to erupt from the wound.
Additionally, the Revolutionary can break off a limb or other body part to create a gushing fountain of afflicted blood, which it can channel into one of the following effects:
- Shape the blood into a magical weapon
- Shoot the blood as a projectile
- Flood a nearby area with the blood
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| The High Wills from Blasphemous |
The man who would become the First King was visited by the gods and they said unto him "You shall be King, one for whom others will bow to" and so it was that all others bowed to the First King. When the First King was closest to Death he named his son to be the Second King and the gods were pleased and all rightfully bowed to him who was now the Second King. The line of the gods-chosen kings continued until the 17th King rose to the throne and said "My subjects who loyally served my fathers I ask of you to make me a temple, greater than all before it, one that shall glorify all the gods and myself and it shall be constructed in a year and a day". When a year and a day had come and gone the temple was not completed and the 17th King became enraged and forced his subjects to work under the whip.
Within the heart of one of the knights of the 17th King pity and disgust took hold. He went to his most loyal subjects and bid them join him in ending the madness of the 17th King and so they did. The knights went to the castle of the 17th King and knowing they could not prevail with strength alone they spread fire and chaos through the castle. When they made it into the 17th King's throne room only the original knight was left and with his sword he committed a grave sin and slew the 17th King. It is said that the only thing louder than the flames that consumed the castle were the screams of the knight as the gods descended upon him.
The blade of the knight can still be found in the ancient and burnt ruins of the castle, still thirsting for the blood of nobles. It is a +1 sword that acts as a +3 vorpal sword against nobility. The sword is also cursed, though the wielder may relinquish the blade at any time they will be relentlessly hunted by its next owner, additionally each month the wielder does not use the blade to kill a noble they lose 1 intelligence and wisdom but gain 1 strength, if this reduces the character to 0 intelligence or wisdom the blade will fully control their body and mindlessly slaughter any royalty it comes across. The blade cannot harm the Revolutionary under any circumstances.
This one was quite fun to make (despite the fact that it took around half a year to get around to finishing) and the concept is quite strong. Honestly the only part that I find a bit weird about the chimera is the afflicted blood ability where it can make a magical weapon, it doesn't feel like an innate part of the chimera concept unless its supposed to represent something like cutting off Medusa's head and using it or something like a dark souls boss making a sword out of its blood or something? Even with that I still think it's one of the most solid creatures in the whole book, really nailing the vibe of a classical monster.
