Many of the guard forces of large settlements are low class in various forms, but this officer is definitely nobility. Smug but well trained, they have both tactical and practical skills that put them well above the common guard, and a style that they enjoy showing off to the crowds. This captain could easily be on the other side of the law, but likes how they look in uniform and how people look at them when they walk the streets with authority.

Imposing fighters, these warriors are the champions for cruel gods of battle and death, or fiendish lords. Some may have a semblance of honor, but all are vicious and cruel killers, slaughtering those who stand before them and willing to burn entire towns to ash to wipe out the slightest hint of opposition. While fearsome on their own, they shine as leaders, inspiring their followers into greater acts of violence and destruction.

Lord is a very self-proclaimed title in the case of bandits, who rarely actually have anything resembling the reach and authority to rule. Most so called lords are simply slightly greater threats, perhaps threatening a single village or several farms or homesteads. Bandit lords are often former military, part of units cut off or abandoned after a campaign, intentionally or otherwise, who don't see a way home and turn to robbing and bullying.

Great three headed, forest dwelling dragons, zmey prefer dwelling within water and caves, and have the power to oust most creatures that live within the perfect watery cave in its area. They are vicious terrors, single-mindedly destructive, but only toward intruders on their territory. While brutal, they seem to exist as protectors of nature, and rumors suggest that the heart of an ancient forest can control a zmey's actions.

Swift and vicious hunters, zimwi are lanky humanoids with long arms, wicked claws, and impossibly large and deep jaws. Distantly related to trolls, they are ill tempered and cursed with a constant and endless hunger that drives them to fury. Capable of chasing down horses, they will attack groups of beings alone, and in packs will assault large caravans. Their fury and hunger mean they rarely pay attention to their surroundings during battle, not fighting in coordination with allies and continuing on even when outnumbered and outmatched so long as they have tasted even a little blood.

Immense, island sized turtles of legend, the true zaratan is so large as to be a landscape rather than a creature. Lesser island turtles, perhaps offspring of the true one, are merely massive instead and thus could be fought by regular size humanoids. These zaratan don't appear to be true sized islands, just small peaks from the water up to around 70 feet across, but that is still more than large enough to earn their moniker and after many years resting in the same place they'll gain plant matter growing across their surface to further obscure their appearance.

Immense oxen with horns like battering rams, ychen bannog stand over 40 feet tall at the shoulder and can tower over some trees. Despite this terrifying size, they are naturally quite peaceful, trying to flee and avoid predators and rivals in the wilds. As a desperate defense when they can't escape, they can unleash a devastating bellow that can shatter stone and bodies alike.

Unnatural, alien creatures from somewhere outside of the cosmic cycle, xhkarsh are intruders that manipulate fate and destiny to push the alignment of the universe toward their own ends. Looking somewhat like large praying mantises with rows of eyes and strange devices built on and into their bodies, they have barbed stingers along their abdomen that produce an odd and powerful venom.

Small metal constructs created by gnomish tinkerers, xanka are designed to clean up debris and failed projects. Most are simple copper or brass, but fancier ones have been created by either wealthy engineers or custom requested by rich nobles or merchants and can be made from silver, gold, or even platinum. They are not designed for combat, being fairly fragile and with an inefficient body shape for fighting, but in desperation they can be ordered to fight, or if cornered and damaged they will defend themselves.

Undead humanoids infested with dozens of arm-length worms that crawl through its flesh and empty eye sockets. Creations of Qorgeth, demon lord of worms, they are usually created out of priests or other empowered followers of other gods. Corrupted by fear and loathing of the great worm of infinite faces, they surrender themselves to the devouring worm who replaces their hearts with a conglomeration of worms that kills and reanimates them.

Also known as spooklights, witchlights are a wizard's servant created from a small piece of quartz. The tiny sliver of quartz is partially subsumed into pure light, which takes on a color based on its original hue. Witchlights are unable to speak, but can understand the languages their creator teaches them and have some methods of passing information to others. Many wizards teach their witchlight a cypher they can use to flash their light and convey information, and if necessary it can fly quickly to write letters in the air with the trail of light it leaves behind.

White apes are massive relatives to gorillas and other great apes. Long ago they were simple animals that lived in forested hills and savannas, but large numbers of the original ape's population were collected by a kingdom of mages for use. The apes had their intelligence awakened to be trained and employed as soldiers and servants, allowing the human population to focus on "higher" duties.

Hairless rodents with webbed feet, wharflings are adept fish catchers that live in family groups on the shores of bodies of water. They are often drawn to waterline communities, hanging around wharves often (which gave them their well known name). This makes them incredibly annoying to fishmongers and others near the water's edge, as they will steal fish and shiny objects, biting with their needle sharp teeth if confronted.

Water leapers are frog-headed, legless hunters with large wings and a long tail ending in a deadly stinger. Their wings are capable of propelling them both through the air and through water, swimming and flying at incredible speeds, and they travel large ranges of freshwater rivers and lakes. Exceptional hunters, they can clear out easy prey from a lake quickly, then once populations get to a certain level they instinctually move on to new territories to ensure that they don't completely empty the area.

Wampus cats are created exclusively from curses laid upon women who practice forbidden magic. Spellcasters of many different groups claim to be able to enact this transformation, and it's use is to drive women away from certain magical traditions and skill sets. While justified as protecting them or the group from harmful magic, the gender based targets very clearly suggest a more obvious reason for the curse.

Voidlings are creatures of pure void and shadow, formed out of the empty space between stars and the edges of nonexistence. Their core is a mass of shadow, from which a green glowing eye sometimes peeks forth, though it is rarely visible. Dozens of writhing tendrils circle this core, allowing the voidling to interact properly with worlds and material matter they find themselves on.

Vine lords are mysterious and dangerous plant beings that roughly imitate humanoid form. With unusually long limbs for their size, four tendrils that sprout out of their back at various heights, dark green bark for skin and no actual eyes, vine lords are unnerving for most humanoids to see and are extremely hostile. Their greatest powers allow them to awaken trees to walk about temporarily, which they use to attack those they decide are enemies or to march them into grasslands or plowed fields to claim them for the trees.

Pale, scrawny, small figures, vile barbers have mouths full of needle-sharp teeth and are usually wrapped in a leather apron and slender dark gloves. Each carries straight razors that are special to them, which give them their commonly known name. They are more properly known as the siabhra (she-uvh-ra), but only the greater fey beings generally use that term. Mortal beings fear the vile barbers, who are sent as weapons and punishment to those who offend a powerful fey.

Vila are protectors of the deepest forests, fey women who form bonds with animals and fey and beguile or coerce intruders to protect their territory. Travelers are tested, those who succeed given directions and help so long as their goals carry no harm toward the forest, while those who fail are tormented with misfortune and constant harassment from all manner of creatures.

These intelligent, capricious beasts are lynxes of immense size that constantly emit small tendrils of smoke from their fur. They are ambush predators that take advantage of their ability to blend into mists and fog, as well as creating their own and transforming into clouds, all allowing them to hide extremely well. Their hunting methods are quite nasty, manipulating and toying with prey and they are well known for going after humanoids that are in their regular hunting grounds just as eagerly as animals.

These creatures are deathly pale, emaciated, twisted corpses with misty strands of darkness pouring out of its empty eye sockets, nasal cavity and mouth. Except they aren't actually dead, instead just a person fused with shadows and mist until their body goes hollow and incorporeal. All umbral vampires originate from the legend of the City Fallen Into Shadows, a place where a group of wizards collaborated to grant all inhabitants immortality by holding back the flow of time.

Valkyries are elite warriors that collect the souls of brave warriors who fell in battle to become einherji, a warrior for the gods in the battle against their enemies at the end of all existence. They ride great winged wolves to the sites of great battles, taking their pick of the dead. Sometimes they will arrive before the battle ends and help dictate the outcome as the gods that direct them wish, sometimes ensuring the survival of certain warriors and sometimes causing a death so they can collect the fallen's soul at once.

Ancient spirits who remain close to their bodies, ready to inhabit them once again to protect their descendants... or seek vengeance if offended. Vættir are known to rest on land or at the bottom of water, but in either case their bodies are hundreds or even thousands of years old, ancient mail worn and bronze axes held tight and ready. Most of the time, they lie still and silent, but when offended (usually by the theft of grave goods, but some rise by insults to the vættir's honor or territory) they rise, sometimes single and sometimes in groups, to hunt down the offender without pause or mercy.

Towering grave guardian statues placed in ancient tombs, ushabti tend to the day-to-day needs of the tomb after all the flesh-and-blood laborors have moved on. They also eliminate intruders, a function that can occasionally give away the ushabti while at rest among inanimate statues, as it and its weapons are stained in the ancient blood of those who sought to rob the tomb it guards.

Gigantic crimson leeches that slither along on four long tendrils, urochar are dreaded hunters deep below the ground. Their single eye rests at the tip of their body, glowing orange and surrounded by 5-foot long feathery antennae. They don't feed on solid food, instead deriving sustenance by absorbing the fear and struggles of creatures in their dying moments. This makes them a touch more passive than some other hunters, as they will often quietly watch a creature's death struggles and let the events play out for them to feed on without having to put any energy into their meal.

Vibrant, glittering cobras of gold and blue, with bronze feathered wings, uraeuses are celestial protectors. Their very purpose is to guard and guide a single being, and whenever they are sent from the celestial realms to the world they find their ward. Carrying a spark of divine fire, they can spit flames and inject searing heat with their fangs. Those chosen as an uraeus' ward are ideally people who have a great potential to do good in the world, one that the celestial realms would see protected, and so each uraeus is fanatically loyal to their charge to ensure survival.

These aerial jellyfish float in the air by means of internal alchemical reactions. This lets them control the direction of their movement though much of the time they allow the wind to carry them, only adjusting their heading when they sense prey nearby and move to intercept it. They are capable of reaching altitudes as high as 30,000 feet, though they don't usually go so high as there's far less potential food at those altitudes.

Trollkin, as the name suggests, are the descendants of humanoids and trolls (as well as possibly other creatures such as fey). Their appearances vary significantly, though many have horns and talons, along with thick, knobby skin and heavy tusks. This ancestry means many people distrust and fear trollkin, and the many reavers and raiders that have trollkin among them is both fueled by this reputation, and helps reinforce it.

Lake trolls are slightly larger, stronger, and more intelligent than the more common trolls, though fortunately they are also less common. They are aquatic, and slightly slower on land compared to common trolls, but the most terrible thing about them is their much stronger and more consistent regeneration. Fire or acid cannot shut it down, at least not alone. In fact, they have no fear of acid, but instead cold weakens their aquatic infused bodies.

These towering treants can reach heights of a touch over 30 feet. though their bodies are slender and they have gnarled and twisted trunks. Most significant are the thick tears of sap that run down their humanoid faces and drip down their bodies. These treants defend dark, unnerving forests, protecting the entire region or specific locations within the forest. The reason for their weeping is unknown, with many debates, but no one able to provide a reason more compelling than "that's what trees do." The treants themselves refuse to speak of the reasoning, and tend to get annoyed or even furious with those who keep asking about it.

Honestly, the treacle barely functions as a monster, being much more of an environmental hazard and a gotcha trap for characters who are a bit too trusting. Slow, weak, and lacking in any threatening offenses, these oozes instead have a very primitive form of telepathy that they can use to take on a form that a nearby creature would find harmless.

A hive-queen is the true nerve center of each hive-city, a psychic unifying force for each hive. Her will upon the hive is like iron, able to sense every member and communicate with them instantly, even looking through their eyes if they are close enough. This is called the Golden Song, a shared consciousness the hive-queen uses to ensure the hive acts toward one solid goal, and any tosculi that cannot hear her song is exiled at best.

Above the warriors of a hive are the elite raiders. Physically significantly larger, over five feet, and smarter with greater allowed individual decision making, elite raiders are given command of drones and warriors when the queen can't personally manage everything. They lead larger raiding parties against more secure targets, and a band always remains with the queen as an honor guard.

Tosculi are a species that combine elements of humanoids and wasps. Unlike wasps they can share a true hive mind, called the Golden Song, which created and sustained by the hive-queens. Each hive-queen has her own song, though most often it is learned from her mother and the previous queen of her hive, meaning that these songs tend to pass down through generations of a hive.

Hollow statues usually made of brass or bronze with iron reinforcements, tophets were initially created as a method of ritual execution or sacrifice. The subject is placed inside of the tophet, then a fire is lit within or below the statue to burn them to death. Those who worship entities of fire, or simply want their execution platform more independent, will animate their tophet so it can hunt down its own victims, a perpetual fire burning inside its body by magic.

Extremely rare, these gigantic snakes are territorial and voracious. Their body extends absurdly long, impossible to measure unless they are dead, and they can lift their head up as high as 20 feet off the ground before lunging out to strike at prey. They devour large amounts of food to sustain themselves, relying on their glistening and sparkling scales to distract and stun prey so they can pick off whole groups with ease.

Where ancient titans retained some measure of their pride and might despite surrendering significant power to survive, these titans descended down further and further. Weakened significantly beyond even the ancients, these titans have lost nearly all their magic and live as little more than wild beasts, hiding in isolated wilderness and hunting anything edible they can find. Their moods swing wildly, they are fiercely territorial, and deeply hate symbols and agents of the gods.

When the titans of old rebelled against the gods in the early ages of the world, some fled rather than join one side or the other. Seen as cowards and traitors by both sides of the war, they were forced to go into hiding, or offer themselves as vassals to some powerful agents to ensure their protection, even after the war ended and the gods won.

A raging cloud of mist and ice takes on the form of a massive, clawed wolf, howling like a dozen screaming banshees. Theullai are servants and creations of Boreas, lord of the north wind, to be heralds assassins, and hunting hounds. Surrounded by swirling winds that strip away magical protections and capable of unleashing bursts of fatal cold or screams that tear at the mind of those who hear it.

Temples and other holy places need protectors, and while many deities rely on their mortal followers to ensure their safety in many cases more is determined necessary. Temple dogs are one such possible additional guardian, a god choosing to place it as a permanent protector unlikely to ever disobey their commands. With long manes of fur around their face and a thick hairy tail, they can be mistaken for lions, and with coloration that is often greenish bronze, lapis, or even resembling fired ceramic, they can also be mistaken for statues when holding particularly still.

Mass deaths are more likely to create undead, as the rage or other strong emotions can draw together to a greater peak to bind the victim's spirits to the world. If a full pack of wolves dies of hunger or natural weather disasters, their fury or perhaps just ignorance to their death can bind the full group to spiritual unlife to continue their hunt unending.

These tiny fey are deeply associated with shadow and darkness, becoming much more active during the winter with its longer nights. Individually they are pretty cowardly, avoiding attention and barely threatening, but in large groups they get much more bold by relying on others taking hits for them as they attack. Around the size of a weasel, they have no legs and instead their upper body tapers off into a worm-like tail, which provides no motor control on the ground.