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Something I thought of recently...might be nice to have a nation of Wood Giants, especially Wood Giants which dress as trappers and use large blue oxen as beasts of burden.
Don't recall if it's been brought up in this thread or not, but given Paizo's track record at using and reimagining creatures from folklore in their products, I think it would be neat to see what they might do with some of the characters and creatures from American Tall Tales. Even some of the ones that are more inherently tied into American colonialism might be given an interesting spin if Arcadia is divorced from those aspects of RW American history.
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I'd considered having it work like the Paladin detect evil, but decided that was too good. Instead, just as the spell means they have to turn it on and wait up to 3 rounds for a 'full reading.'
What I'd really like is a Sorcerer Bloodline (or Witch Patron?) based on the unktehi (Love the idea of a disease/curse that doesn't affect the hunter, but affects those around him, so that he ends up going home and afflicting his family...)
(Although I'd steer away from anything that too closely paralleled the White Wolf Uktena spirit-thingie.)
White Wolf didn't invent the word Uktena, it's authentic.
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There are a lot of Brazilian legends, myhtology and folklore that could never have been translated to english. This is just the start of a really long text that have appeared on brazillian RPG communities:
ALAMOA - female fey from the island of Fernando de Noronha .
Lives in the peak and wander by its surroundings, observing everything that happens on the island . According to the myth, on fridays the stone peak splits and she appears as a bright light or a Will O Wisp. Protective of wildlife, she appears for fishermen that fish too much and hunters for sport in the form of a beautiful and naked woman, but when they approach, becomes a skeleton, making them mad.
The former inmates of the prison on the island of Fernando de Noronha told that on the eve of storms , often at midnight ,she appeared on the beach as a beautiful naked woman, with long blond hair and dancing to the sound of waves, illuminated by the lightning. Her feet were not touching the ground, but floating in the sand. It was Alamoa , feminine form of Alemão ( German in portuguese), because according to popular interpretation, a blonde woman in these parts could only be German.
Her shape varies. Sometimes she is a bright, multicolored light, sometimes attracts and seduces men. Those who succumb to his charms see it turn into a skeleton. For some it is a lost soul , looking for a strong man to help her unearth a hidden treasure.
The stone peak its her lair. On some nights , the stone splits, opening a door where a light goes out. The beautiful Alamoa dances, attracting its prey. Those who enter her lair as soon realize with horror the terrible transformation. Her beautiful bright eyes become two holes and she is seen as a gruesome skull. So, the gap closes and the poor man is never seen again. His screams of fright, however, still resonate across the place for many days.
It is characterized as a convergence of several legends of mermaids and Iaras. The theme of the supernatural woman who attracts and seduces men, becoming fell, is common and recurrent in the popular imagination , and therefore impossible to accurately determine its origin .
AMANA - MANHÃ - Mother Goddess of Rain and protector of springs. Has the shape of a frog and you can hear her sing when it rains . Live at the headwaters of the river Negro.
AMAO - Spirit of Rio Negro. Camanaos taught the indigenous process of making cassava bread , cassava flour , tapioca flour and various other things .
Divine character that taught indigenous camanaos , river Negro, Amazonas, the process of making cassava bread , cassava flour , tapioca flour and various other things . Then disappeared forever.
Brandão de Amorim heard the legend :
" At the beginning of the world , have appeared among other creatures a pretty girl . Did not know of man , her name was Amao . Once upon a afternoon, Amao went to the river , there sat . At the same time passed by her a cluster of fish, their scales, as told, actually shine. She reached into the river, caught a fish. The fish made it tight in her hand, jumped straight in her shell , pierced it, then made the jump into the river. Since then his Soul Patch was growing when he reached maturity of its moon , she had a boy .
The child already had two moons , when his mother was netting fish from the head of the stream . She left the boy lying on a stone. It was noon, Amao stood up, went to see the boy , found him already dead .
Carried his body was, wept in the night, when the sun came up , the boy spoke thus :
-My mother, notice how animals and birds are laughing at us. They frightened me to death. Now, do not let them scoff at you, smokes them with resin to turn them to stone. He only spoke so.
At the afternoon, Amao buried his son and at midnight all animals turned to stone. In the morning , as i was told, cururu , piping guan , shaman bird, and otter, were already transformed into stone . Big Snake , streak , Taiaçu , tapir only were not turned to stone because they were eating to the bedside of the river. Amao flew straight to the head of the stream, went on the top of a large stone, and there he found Taiaçu and Tapir sleeping. Amao beat Tapir first, then beat Taiaçu, both died. After that, she slashed open Tapir and Taiaçu , threw their meat at the river, leting alone a thigh from tapir, another from Taiaçu upon the stone, then turned them to stone. As the big snake, and the ray were still eating at the bottom of the water, she made a loop in the river to grab them. At night she heard something hitting the tie, gone to see and found the big snake with ray. He covered them with resin, turned them to stone immediately.
After that, she returned to teach all jobs to the people of her land.
Sat near an oven and showed her people how to make flour, tapioca flour, beiju and lots of things . After teaching all Amao gone up from this land, nobody knows where she went! "
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White Wolf didn't invent the word Uktena, it's authentic.What I'd really like is a Sorcerer Bloodline (or Witch Patron?) based on the unktehi (Love the idea of a disease/curse that doesn't affect the hunter, but affects those around him, so that he ends up going home and afflicting his family...)
(Although I'd steer away from anything that too closely paralleled the White Wolf Uktena spirit-thingie.)
I know, it's one of the spellings on the page I linked to, that doesn't change my hope that a Golarion version borrows more from folklore or a totally new direction, than the White Wolf interpretation.
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Here's some North American monsters I'd like to see in Arcadia.
Chenoo: Huge, brutish stone giants, often depicted with a rhinoceros like horn.
Binaye Ahani: Creepy twin limbless demons with a basilisk like stare.
Djieien: Gigantic camel spider like monster. Size huge at least.
Ewah: A hideous demon whose very sight would cause insanity.
Ganiagwaidhegowa: A monstrous furless bear monster.
Gowrow: Vicious tusked lizardlike dragon. I think it's a cryptid.
Haakapainzi: Giant carnivorous grasshopper with a taste for children's flesh.
Horned Alligator: Just what you'd think, cool amphibious beastie.
Hvcko Capko: Wolf/horse hybrid with huge ears.
Kiwahkw: Undead ice giants.
Iya: Gigantic, undescribed storm controlling beast/demon.
Piasa: Winged antlered dragon with a manticore like head.
Jokao: Cannibal giants with pangolin like stone scales.
Stcemqestcint: Buffalo people who could transform into trees. A treant/minotaur hybrid?
Tcipitckaam: Shape shifting sea serpent with a unicorn head.
Teehooltsoodi: Giant bull horned otter beast.
Trelquehuecuve: Giant octopus with huge ears and clawed tentacles.
Thelgeth: Shaggy headless giant.
Tsenahale: Harpy like demons.
Tsiatko: Giant twig blight creatures.
Uktena: A dreaded horned sea/lake serpent.
Wakandagi Pezi: Water dragon with hooves and deer antlers.
Yeitso: Ancient anthropophagous pangolin scaled giant
Letiche: Aka the Honey Island Swamp Monster, shaggy brute often described with crab pinchers.
Ozark Howler: Monstrous horned werewolf like cryptid.
Aniwye: Huge dire skunk.
Delgeth: Vicious carnivorous demon antelope. .
A-Mi-Kuk- Sea monster with four arms instead of legs
Atshen-Vicious cannibal spirit
Agloolik- Fish hunting deep one like creatures
Amarok- Giant, solitary wolflike predators
Qiqirn- Insanity bringing hairless dog monsters
Kokogiak-Ten legged polar bear monster
Tisikh Puk- Gigantic ice serpents
Tizheruk- Giant pliosaur like sea monster with a tail fluke
Tunituariq- Class of giant rock golem like constructs
Ugjuknarpak- Giant aquatic rat monster with prehesile tail
Ikuutayuuq- Bogeyman who drills holes in people
Kikituk- Giant reptilian canines
Pal Rai Yuk-Six legged water serpent
Mahaha- Grinning ice Bogeyman, thin humanoid with gigantic claws
Paiyuk- Kind of like an elk Kelpie
Siat- Poisonous cannibal giants
Atosis- Snakeman, naga like monster
Gahonga- Grotesque rock dwarves
Ohdawa- Venomous underground dwarves
Apotamkin- Bogeyman with long hair and fangs
Gaasyendietha- Meteor dragon
Lenapizka- Giant aquatic tiger
Atunkai- Grizzly bear, otter hybrid
Black Tamanous- Monstrous Titan-like cannibal
Geldegwset- Fish hunting river giants
Wishpooshi- Giant taloned beaver monster
Mi-Ni-Wa-Tu- Giant river monster with red fur, one eye, horned head, and saws on tail
Indacinga- Nature destroying, rampaging giants
Michi Pichoux- Giant half beaver river cat
No-Kas-Ma- Bear monster with extended snout
Nalusa Falaya:Slimy photophorescent almost lemurlike Bogeyman, consumes the souls of the depressed.
Kelok- A winged beast whose body could explode into flames
Maasaw- Huge underworld giant
Matlose- Humanoid monster covered in black fur, with a banshee scream
Moogie- Giant lizard monster from the Ozarks
Skatene- Female Ogre were owl, decpitates her victims
Raw Gums- Demonic cannibal magician, ressurects victims as undead
Sa Yin- Centaurlike water monster
Snawfus- Arboreal deer monster with storm powers
Haietlik- Electric serpents, allies of the thunderbirds
Kashehotapolo- Humanoid deer monster, as fast as a Kamaitachi
Kushtaka- Were Otters
Kolowisi- A horned serpent that can take the form of a baby.
Giwakwa- Cannibal ice giants, transformed humans
Mhuwe- Repentant wendigos, could be transformed back into humans
Wechuge- Man eating ice golem
Witiko- Ice golem that can only be killed if its heart is melted
Asin- Cannibal ogress associated with huckleberry plants
Axeki- Small fey pain spirit
Big Owl- Giant monster, changes from owl to ogre forms
Caddaja- Hideous horned ogre
Culloo- Giant Roc-like bird of prey
Cipelahq- Giant shadow dwelling birdlike bogeyman
Gux- Huge fish/insect hybrid
Jipijka'm- Red and yellow carnivorous unicorn serpent
Gougou- Earthquake generating giantess
Kukwes- Tribal man eating bear ogres
Hiintcabiit- Horned serpent that could control the lake it lived in
Kolowa- Agressive, cannibal Sasquatch
Loks- Malevolent wolverine spirit
Isti-Papa- Giant man eating hairless mountain lion
Tcetin- Malevolent tailed monkey people
Aglebemu- Giant frog/dragon monster defeated by the hero Glooskap
Oniate- Malevolent undeadm capable of removing arm and sending it to kill people
Pomola- Moose headed Roc with ice powers
Pskegdemus- Swamp demon that disguises itself as a crying woman to lure people
Skadegamutc- Demonic undead sorceror
Tagesho- Giant stiff legged bear
Tlanuwa- Giant bird with impenitrable metal feathers
Two-Face- Ogre with a face on both sides of it's head
Weewillmekq- Giant leech monster
Reposted from the Bestiary wish list thread.
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In the Bestiaries, I've only found 25 New World Monsters:
1. Adlet
2. Ahuizotl
3. Akhlut
4. Baykok
5. Carbuncle
6. Guecubu
7. Hodag
8. Huecuve
9. Pukwudgie
10. Sasquatch
11. Tupilaq
12. Tzitzimitl
13. Chaneque
14. Ijiraq
15. Isitoq
16. Manitou
17. Qallupallik
18. Sayona
19. Snallygaster
20. Chupacabra
21. Mothman
22. Thunderbird
23. Wendigo
24. Xtabay
25. Juju Zombie
Random bump in hopes Odraude provides more details about his Caribbean setting :)
Sorry, I've been out all week with a pretty bad kidney stone. I'll have to find my notes and such and type it up later this week.
And by later this week, pretty much the weekend.
I've always been apprehensive about having the technology and magic discoveries based on the Azlanti. I feel there's enough Azlanti influence in the Inner Sea and I'd rather keep Arcadia to have its own influences. Funnily enough, many of the tribes (like the Taino of the Caribbean) had bronze working for trinkets and such. So it's not too far fetched to imagine that they would have developed it in Arcadia.
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I spent a little time in Puerto Rico. There is a lot of tantalizing indications they were a social cohesive people. Not much as survived that climate, an island tropical rainforest subject to seasonal huricanes. I keep thinking of a high tech-low energy wood/stone/fire/water sort of an elemental version of steampunk. Something set back the burgeoning civilization and nature easily reclaimed the tools.
Comical version: Gilligan's Isle. But no less valid.
In my setting, I have a nation of native peoples that worship the concept of the hurricane. They even have large, towering windmills used as mills, pumping fresh water, and as temples.
In my setting, I have a nation of native peoples that worship the concept of the hurricane. They even have large, towering windmills used as mills, pumping fresh water, and as temples.The worship of the storm rather than the god Huracan? Hopefully the windmills can withstand winds of 75 mph and greater.
I made a separate religion between worship of the goddess of storms, Guabancex, and the religion that worships the concept of the hurricane. There's a whole history behind the nation that they live on an island that gets more hurricanes than the others and were taught to harness it's power by a powerful druid.
Also, with the current books on Taino mythology I've researched, many believe that Juracan was simply the name of the storm while the actual deity of storms was Guabancex. Of course, we may never know... but I went with that rendition of it since naming the god of storms Juracan felt too on-the-nose.
Sorry for being out. Thing have been busy this week with work and hospital stuff and schooling. I'll see if I have time to sit down and crack open some American folk stuff for the bestiary tomorrow or Friday.
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From my personal file of monsters, here are new world monsters which start with "B", that AFAIK don't exist in Pathfinder yet:
Backoo: Guyana; short humanoid with large red eyes, long arms and legs, and no kneecaps; like honey, milk, and bananas; sometimes inhabit glass bottles; if released, will bring fortune, but if it doesn't get its way it will become destructive. like small yoruba wooden carvings
Badogiak/Pa-don-gi-ak = Eastern NA Thunderers; 7 half bird half human spirits; appear as humans with bird wings and long golden hair; great warriors who can control lightning
Baka = Haiti; skeletal evil sorcerers; flaming red eyes, with red and black skin covering fleshless bones; small and bearded. Can shapeshift into animal form; serve evil gods; can be made from human sorcerers and can merge with demons
Bakru/Bolum = Haiti/Guyana/Suriname = ugly little fairies that resemble children partially made of wood; can be purchased and used by magicians; can shapeshift to apes; black eyes; cause bad luck and can be killed by hitting with a stick, although the person who does may die. Can cause people to wither. Can be made from body part and ensouled by a ghost
Balam (s), Balamoob (pl) = Macro-Mayan; long-clawed spirits associated with Jaguars, can appear as giants, dwarfs, or spirits of the air; Earth beings; protect villages or cornfields; evil ones manifest as baby-eating winds, good ones manifest as wizard like figures; use whistles to summon aid
Bawi-rachi = Tarachahitan; small rattlesnake spirits
"Beaman Monster" = Monster that dwells near kansas city; resembles a 12 foot tall bipedal cross between a wolf and a gorilla; cryptid, but originally used to warned children from playing in cornfields
Beast of Bladenboro = vampiric cat; cryptid; resembles a demonic bobcat with vampiric fangs
Bedzi-azE = Canadian/Alaska NA; caribou shapeshift; offspring of a woman and a caribou; ageless; can be helpful but can also be destructive; has a magic stick which can kill people instantly; quickly reach maturity; can change size
Behinder = American folklore, man-eating bear like beast, innate ability to change shape to blend into environment/hide behind objects
Big Owl/Bighoot = Apache; Depicted as either a shape-shifting ogres, a giant horned owl, or some combination of them; carries off children and eats them; can paralyze prey with their gaze; swallow prey whole; inhabit desert canyons
Binaye-Ahani = Navajo; stubby vestigial limbed, twisted, evil monster twins; bulging eyes; can shoot lightning from their eyes or turn people to gems; dwell in underground burrows; burrowers; transformed into prairie dogs after death
Black Tamamous = Pacific coast Native American creature; giant cannibal monster that stalks humans; leaves tarry footprints; Humanoid; only feeds on those who violate the cannibalism taboo or otherwise prey on humanity
Bohpoli = Choctaw; spirits which take the form of 3-ft tall wizened, white haired green pygmies, or small, feathered serpents; only visible to children, prophets, and doctors; can shift into owls and snakes; may dwell in deep, dark woods or the back of houses; can make plants grow
Boi-tata: Brazilian Folklore; giant anaconda with eyes of flame; blind during the day; can see anything that it's victim's saw; can set things on fire with its eyes and is protects the forest from arsonists
Bolter = American folklore; nearly limbless giant lizard like beast, with front limbs reduced to spur like claws. Ambush predator that drops onto prey after releasing itself from object that it's limbs are attached to. Adapted to different environments
Boo-hag = Undead skinnless hag that subsists on the breath of living beings; can change into mist to enter any room; OCD and can be stopped by making them count the straws in a broom; steal the skin of other beings to disguise themselves, until skin wears out; if caught in daylight with skin, become stuck in it
Bush Dai Dai = Guyana; shapeshifter which infiltrates jungle encampments, sleeps with the men, then turns into a wild beast to devour them
Most excellent. As an update, now that my Wayfinder submissions are in, I am beginning statting some monsters for the bestiary.
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This has some great descriptions of gods and creatures from Choctaw myth
Top Twelve Dieties in Choctaw Myth
"First Hatakachafa encountered a horse-sized white wolf, the very first wolf in the world. After fighting, the two were so impressed with each other’s martial skill that they became loyal companions and the wolf let the heroic Choctaw ride him like a horse in their travels."
THAT IS AWESOME
It's like Gilgamesh and Enkidu. BROS FOR LIFE!
I'm loving this list, MMCJawa. I can't wait for C. Odraude, which monsters will you be statting up? That sounds awesome.
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At the moment, I'm just statting up creatures I specifically know about. Usually stuff I threw in. For other monsters, I'd want that to be a collaborative effort with people in this thread.
In the meantime, I do have one bestiary article that I had made last year. It's also in the original post. The hupia from Taino mythology, which I have used plenty of times to great effects :)
Also, while 13 days late, happy one year anniversary!!
I also wonder if there was also a Starfall on the continent of Arcadia. It might be an opportunity to add some new races to your campaign if that is your creative taste.
Would be interesting to see the reprecussions of the Starfall in the Eastern Coast of Arcadia. Perhaps even events that coincided with the death of Aroden (Like in Tian Xia, where the continent-spanning empire fell at the same time Aroden died.
Also, an update. I just added the first monster to my google drive since the Hupia. I present to you... the ciguapa. In addition, the document I posted in the Original Post as been updated with this. I'll be using that as an index to link to the other monsters I make.
Now, for the next monsters, I want to take submissions from the next five posters. Here's how I'll do it:
- Each person gets one submission. Choose wisely.
- After five, I'll close off accepting submissions until I finish all five.
- I'll try to get them done one per day, although with recent spikes in my workload and the fact I cut part of my finger off last week, I may be a tad slow.
- If other people want to do their own stats, go for it! If you want to send me the stats so I can format it to look like the others, you can send it to me in a .txt or .rtf document.
So, have at ye, ladies and gentlemen! :D
S%**, that's awesome. I'm using that in my game :D
Sihuanaba
Haha good choice. I was actually thinking about doing this next, so this solidifies it.
Four more!
It's like Gilgamesh and Enkidu. BROS FOR LIFE!
Brothers are a fairly recurrent theme in Native American mythology. I suppose they are in most mythologies, somewhat, but it seems to me that there are rather more such tales in various NA myths.
I've started work on the Sihuanaba. Should be interesting. In the meantime, I've cracked open my GM notes on my setting for the first time since the kidney stone last month. Figured I'd share a bit. I realized that I had four hot spots in my setting that were connected to aliens in some manner, though each one dealt with a different facet and type of extraterrestrial.
First, my setting is a large island chain very much like the Caribbean. In its past, it was a land bridge connecting the northern continent to the southern continent. It also housed a powerful empire akin to the Mayans, only more advanced in technology and, well, obviously magical. The whole thing came crashing down when a rogue star that orbits the solar system came close to the planet. This red dwarf had a singular planet with it. The rogue star system is in actuality the prison of a long dead god of chaos and destruction, with his spirit trapped in the star and the body trapped in the planet. From the planet, the god's body grew a race of terrible alien creature that now seek to release and recombine their god (ala Rovagug).
So every 8000 years, they try to invade the planet, rule for a bit, then get chased off by adventuring parties before they can complete their rituals. Only this time, they were unsuccessful in the invasion part. So as retribution, they tore the land bridge asunder and destroyed the empire that blew them back. So that's one alien, based on a story I read about a planet with a trapped god on it. I don't remember the name of it.
The other aliens are more Lovecraftian, sparing a city-state that was a member of that ancient empire from destruction, at the cost of being trapped in a limbo. Now they and any that sail into this island are trapped in the unhinged pocket dimension without any escape. Things that are summoned in (like outsiders) are trapped forever. There are only two ways to escape. One is to use a magical cave system that alters the flow of reality and time, meaning you can end up 100 years or more in the future. Or, you can end up in a different plane of existence. The second is to access an underwater crystal pyramid that would bring the island back into existence.
The city-state is run by immortal astrologers that made pacts with creatures from between the stars for immortality via a black column of flame. The Catch 22 is the flame keeps them immortal, but trapped in this dimension. A guardian from beyond known as the Ancient Fensage guards a gem that, if destroyed, will end the flame and bring the island back to the world. But obviously, they would lose their immortality and instant age thousands of years. This was inspired in part by She, The Flame of Py'tar, the Bermuda Triangle, and a little Demon Souls.
The third aliens are less of the Lovecraftian, fantasy creature and more sci fi. I have a crashed ship in a lagoon that has an insane captain and his crew/torture subjects. The ship has an unusual radiation emitting from it that has mutated the wildlife near it. This one is a bit inspired by The Thing, as the insane captain is trapped on the island with an alien like the Thing.
Last alien is also sci fi, but more inspired by Ancient Alien theories. One of the city-states from the destroyed empire was visited by thin beings with seven fingers in its past. Giving the bootstraps treatment, they were uplifted and allowed to have advanced technology before the shattering of the land bridge. More simplified, but good for a module adventure.
So yeah, lots of aliens in my setting. Gotta love aliens :D
I thought this was about native american myths? Guess I was wrong...
Actually, if you had read more than just the last couple posts, you would have seen that yes, it is about the American folktales. Folktales both from Native American culture, American folklore, Latin American folklore, and modern day folklore. I think next time, you should take the time and actually read the topic instead of briefly glancing and passing ignorant judgement about it.
I admit...I am fond of the idea of having an alien race in Arcadia, but instead of taking a crashed alien spaceship, have it be a lost colony. There is a fair amount of "cosmic" flavor in a lot of Central American myths that would be easy to exploit for flavor.
Suggestions for your next monsters? Nalusa Falaya. He would be awesome. http://demonhunterscompendium.blogspot.com/2012/12/nalusa-falaya.html
Gotta admit, the Nalusa Falaya sounds really interesting. I like monsters that give interesting mechanics.
I've been a bit slow because of my workload, but here is a sneak peak at the Siguanaba, coming in at CR 10 atm.
Nightmarish Visage (Su) The siguanaba can, as a standard action, reveal her skull-like face to frighten a victim to death. This ability acts as phantasmal killer, except that it doesn't turn back onto the siguanaba on a successful save. The target makes a DC 20 Will save or dies. Those that save against the visage must make a second DC 20 Will save at the start of their turn or be confused for 1d6 rounds. A creature that saves against both checks is immune to this ability for 24 hours. The siguanaba must be in a humanoid form using change shape and using this ability immediately ends change shape. The save DCs are Charisma-based.
Enjoy!
I've been a bit slow because of my workload, but here is a sneak peak at the Siguanaba, coming in at CR 10 atm.
Nightmarish Visage (Su) The siguanaba can, as a standard action, reveal her skull-like face to frighten a victim to death. This ability acts as phantasmal killer, except that it doesn't turn back onto the siguanaba on a successful save. The target makes a DC 20 Will save or dies. Those that save against the visage must make a second DC 20 Will save at the start of their turn or be confused for 1d6 rounds. A creature that saves against both checks is immune to this ability for 24 hours. The siguanaba must be in a humanoid form using change shape and using this ability immediately ends change shape. The save DCs are Charisma-based.
Enjoy!
Do you use the humanskull version or the cooler horseskull version of this creature?
There isn't a lot go on, but if you could do something with the Witsduks That'd be cool.
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Shame on me for being off the boards for so long! This is one of my favorite subjects of discussion... my blog posts to that effect led to someone linking me back here.
One thing I'd love to see more of is representations of the more diverse clothing and hairstyles. The fashion of the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi confederacy is especially inspiring to me, as is southwestern style like the complex coifs in Zuni and Hopi tradition.
A couple suggestions to evoke the indigenous cultures while still satisfying Evil Midnight Lurker's desire for enough advancement to maintain suspension of disbelief:
- Armor! It often gets overlooked and few examples survive to today because they were made of perishable materials, but it did exist, most often in the form of plant-based materials. Early Dutch accounts talk about wicker armor used among the Mohawk and neighboring cultures (I have an example somewhere of how this looks, but I'll need some time to dig it up), and the Pacific Northwest cultures provided some examples of wooden helmets and breastplates of wood slats lashed to leather. If you want to maintain the tech level most people imagine, these could stay the same... or you could have metal armor that evokes the forms of the old armor. Imagine steel plate with the kind of etching and sculptural elements you see in present-day coastal silver jewelry and more traditional woodcarvings.
- Dogs! The lack of horses in the Americas meant that other animals were used as beasts of burden, and a number of plains cultures were so accustomed to the idea that you have a dog help carry your stuff that their words for horses referred to them as dogs- names that translated as things like "medicine hound" (sunkawakan) or "elk dog" (ponokaomita). In one of my homebrews, I decided to evoke this by having a culture that used horse-sized dogs. Another European import that often gets overlooked is sheep: some Northwestern cultures used to keep fluffy little dogs called kamuks (or "comox" depending on your preferred transliteration) that were periodically shorn to use their fur as wool. This is the norm in one of my other settings, where sheep are thus far unknown.
In the Bestiaries, I've only found 25 New World Monsters:
1. Adlet
2. Ahuizotl
3. Akhlut
4. Baykok
5. Carbuncle
6. Guecubu
7. Hodag
8. Huecuve
9. Pukwudgie
10. Sasquatch
11. Tupilaq
12. Tzitzimitl
13. Chaneque
14. Ijiraq
15. Isitoq
16. Manitou
17. Qallupallik
18. Sayona
19. Snallygaster
20. Chupacabra
21. Mothman
22. Thunderbird
23. Wendigo
24. Xtabay
25. Juju Zombie
Ooh, you missed a few! One that may surprise you is the Cecaelia, which originated (at least as far as the NAME for such a thing as an octo-mermaid) in the US-published Vampirella magazine. The Chickcharney is another, coming to us from the Bahamas, and the Chon Chon is from Mapuche lore... there's also the Duppy (Caribbean), Lusca (Bahamas), Saumen Kar (Greenland Inuit), Blood Hag (Caribbean), arguably the Catrina psychopomps (Mexican folk-art), and Tunche (Peruvian).
We should also probably count the Couatl in this batch, and I'm personally inclined to include any Lovecraftian monster (in spite of his Anglophilia, he was very consciously a New Englander, and many of his stories were very emphatically set in the US), as well those made by other writers who get included under his eerie umbrella.
If folks don't mind, I'll probably come back here later to ramble a bit about other concepts from my own American-inspired settings, as well as thoughts on monsters.
Cool another myth&monstah lover on board! Seems you know a lot of it too!
It seems that Wannabee only took the monsters from the bestiaries and not from the the AP's.
Well there is also the Delgeth and Tizheruk now as well
There were also a few Inuit monsters from the Reign of Winter AP, although I am blanking on their names right now
Kokogiak is one of them.
Does Delgeth has a picture?