Tsahraf wrote:
Pavalini wrote:
My favorite isn't posted.
...sigh...
What is your favorite? What is your favorite?
*the thrill of unpostedness*
To boldly go where no man has posted before...
It's unconventional, because it's not an Old World creature. It's American. It's based on an old Algonquian mythological monster.
The Windigo (win-deego).
There are numerous variations of the creature: everything from a zombie-like being to a shade. My personal favorite comes from a Canadian Native American tribe: a humanoid figure about five feet tall, green fur in the summer, gray in the winter, with the eyes, antlers, and ears of a deer, and the face of a bearded man. Though appearances differ between tribes, all agree on the origin. The Windigo is created when a human being resorts to cannibalism: nature's taboo. They usually are forced to do this during hard winters, when they're starving. The result is its heart turns to ice and it is cursed to wander the snowlands and help any human it comes across. However, though it is forced to help humans, the Windigo often tries to make a deal out of it, and you can never be really sure that it keeps its end. Plus, the Windigo never quite gets over its taste for human flesh. But it is said that if it does enough good deeds, it can be free of the curse. In fact, the creature cannot die naturally
until it is free of it, so many Windigo's are thousand's of years old.
However, though often cowardly, the Windigo is often a very sensitive and gentle creature, if somewhat daft. It loves trees and plant-eating things, and will only hurt or eat carnivores. Moreover, it doesn't like the presence of humans, so sighting one is a great difficulty. They seldom leave the place of their cursing. In a way they are like the "spirit of the woods." If you can find one and disarm it by pinning it down by the antlers, it can tell you secrets.
Deo Volente,
Pavalini
Huh, I've never hear of this one. Thanks for posting, Pavalini, that was fascinating! *goes to contemplate variants *
While I've heard of them, I had never heard such as a thorough description of them, so that was very interesting to read.