I need help sorting the MM by real world culture

[snarfoogle]

*reads Pantheon*

Wow. Look at all these creatures, which, have been, to my knowledge, never been statted. How utterly terrible.

 

[Bloodstone Press]

*reads Pantheon*

Wow. Look at all these creatures, which, have been, to my knowledge, never been statted. How utterly terrible.

quite a few of them are in the Primal Codex and the Bane Ledger..

Things aren't so terrible after all....

 

[Jehosephat]

IIRC, from Greek Mythology is where we get the catoblepas.

Here's another site that may be of some use.

http://elswet.50megs.com/beasts/

 

[Shadowdragon]

Hmm, I guess that was a 2E creature; the Greater Lamia has a serpent tail and woman's upper body, almost like a two-armed maralith.

If you remember where you saw the stats for the Greater Lamia please let me know. I've looked through my Monstrous Compendium but couldn't find it. It may have been in one of the add on compendiums.

 

[Jehosephat]

If you remember where you saw the stats for the Greater Lamia please let me know. I've looked through my Monstrous Compendium but couldn't find it. It may have been in one of the add on compendiums.

There was one in the first edition Fiend Folio, called a Lamia Noble I believe. Maybe that's what we are talking about here.

 

[Rabelais]

The Terasque and Tiamat

The Basilisk is a greek word meaning "Little King", a monster that evolved into the Cockatrice.

The Terasque is a legendary French Dragon that "haunts the banks of the River Rhone between Avignon and Arles in southern France."

Larger in size than the biggest horse or burliest ox, the terasque stood on six powerful limbs equipped with the murderous paws of a giant bear, and furiously switched its long viperine tail from side to side like living whipcord... with a massive carapace encrusting its back, bristling with an armory of massive spikes.

There's a town in France called Terascon, they still hold a festival every year to celebrate the legend.


Tiamat is an Assyrian-Babylonian Goddess of the Sea and Chaos.

"According to Assyro-Babylonian mythology, at the beginning of the world there were two primordial beings--Apsu, the male incarnation of fresh water and space; and Tiamat, the female incarnation of the sea and chaos.

From these descended a great and varied dynasty of gods. They challenged the power of Apsu. Ultimately Apsu became so incensed by their irreverence that he and a reluctant Tiamat plotted their progeny's destruction. The gods battled, and destroyed Apsu. Apsu's death transformed her into a ferocious hatred, an unquenchable thirst for vengence.

She created a vast army of scaled men with the poisonous stings of scorpions and hideous hounds with blazing eyes of fire, and sentient storms. She was finally defeated by the Assyrian god Marduk in a titanic battle.

He spilt her blood and diced up her internal organs. The blood spilled upon the ground and created the race of Men. (dummy, always be careful when you gut your catch)

The above culled from Dragons, A Natural History by Karl Shuker. (Barnes & Noble Press. NY NY. 1995.)

 

[Rabelais]

Lamia is a descendent of Tiamat

Lamia is a descendent of Tiamat, but the name Lamia comes from the Greek word Lamos, meaning Coming from the Abyss.

 

[Dogbrain]

Some ideas based on earliest English uses (all from the OED):


Orc: Either a unique monster able to eat nearly the entire world or a multi-headed monster descended of incubi.
1598: Insatiate Orque, that even at one repast Almost all Creatures in the World would waste. 1656: Who at one Stroak didst pare away three Heads from off the shoulders of an Orke, begotten by an Incubus.

Ogre: A demon who devours humans.
1713: He perceiv'd that the Lady..was a Hogress, Wife to one of those Savage Demons call'd Hogres, who stay in remote places, and make use of a thousand wiles to surprize and devour Passengers.

Goblin: A mischeivous and ugly demon or fairy.
1327: Sathanas..Seyde on is sawe Gobelyn made is gerner Of gromene mawe. 1500: Many manyeres of thinges, the whiche somme called Gobelyns, the other ffayrees, and the other ‘bonnes dames’ or good ladyes.

Hobgoblin: A mischievous imp or sprite.
1530: Hobgoblyng, goblin mavffe

Troll: Apparently a type of undead.
1616: The said Catherine for airt and pairt of witchcraft and sorcerie, in hanting and seeing the Trollis ryse out of the kyrk yeard of Hildiswick.

 

[Dogbrain]

Some ideas based on earliest English uses (all from the OED):


Orc: Either a unique monster able to eat nearly the entire world or a multi-headed monster descended of incubi.
1598: Insatiate Orque, that even at one repast Almost all Creatures in the World would waste. 1656: Who at one Stroak didst pare away three Heads from off the shoulders of an Orke, begotten by an Incubus.

Ogre: A demon who devours humans.
1713: He perceiv'd that the Lady..was a Hogress, Wife to one of those Savage Demons call'd Hogres, who stay in remote places, and make use of a thousand wiles to surprize and devour Passengers.

Goblin: A mischeivous and ugly demon or fairy.
1327: Sathanas..Seyde on is sawe Gobelyn made is gerner Of gromene mawe. 1500: Many manyeres of thinges, the whiche somme called Gobelyns, the other ffayrees, and the other ‘bonnes dames’ or good ladyes.

Hobgoblin: A mischievous imp or sprite.
1530: Hobgoblyng, goblin mavffe

Troll: Apparently a type of undead.
1616: The said Catherine for airt and pairt of witchcraft and sorcerie, in hanting and seeing the Trollis ryse out of the kyrk yeard of Hildiswick.

Bugbear: A creature that eats children but cannot stand up to grown men.
1581: Meare bugge-beares to scare boyes. 1607: Certain Lamiæ..which like Bug-bears would eat up crying boys.

Ettin: Any giant
1205: Heo funden ithon londe twenti eotandes... Hit hatte there Eotinde King.

Ettercap: Any spider or ill-tempered person.
1000: With attorcoppan bite. 1725: Tis dafter like to thole An ether-cap like him to blaw the coal!

Kobold: A spirit that haunts mines
1635: The Parts Septentrionall are with these Sp'ryts Much haunted..About the places where they dig for Oare. The Greekes and Germans call them Cobali.

Gorgon: The species to which Medusa belonged
(not from the OED, well-known to students of Greek mythology)

Mephit: A bad smell
1636: What comes of all your cates? the jakes can tell, Which turnes your gold into Mephitis smell.

Sprite: any spirit
1375: As he hyr this had talde, the spret vn to god scho yald

Troglodyte: Any cave-dweller
1555: The Troglodites myne them selues caues in the grounde, wherin to dwell.

Wight: Any living being
Beowulf: Wiht unhælo, grim and grædigh

Worg: From Tolkein's "Warg", a large and evil wolf
1937: Even the wild Wargs (for so the evil wolves over the Edge of the Wild were named) cannot climb trees.

Phantom: Illusion, unreal thing
1300: Hit neys bot fantum [v.rr. fanton, fantom] for to say, To day it is, to moru away.

 

[Dogbrain]

Tarasque: A french dragon that terrorized the town of Nerluc

And was destroyed merely by being sprinkled with a handful holy water wielded by a girl.