DECEMBER REWARDS 1

A NEW BESTIARY CREATURE. Free as usual for everyone, but suggested by my amazing subscribers~ If ya wanna follow me on other sites or help me survive by sending money or buying merch, here's ways to access my other content! linktr.ee/darkmastern -------------------------------------------------------------------- ShiokawaStuffer8X Maybe a reference or two to more obscure Christmas figures like Mari Lwyd, jólakötturinn(Yule Cat), Perchta, and Yule lads DrawnBoyo If not that, how's about some Christmas folklore characters stuffed to the gills with food? Some suggestions that come to mind include Frau Perchta, Gryla, Mari Lywd, and Snegurochka. I feel like your style works really well in bringing personality to folklore-like beings in your horror universes, so seeing irl folklore stuff in your style would be beyond awesome. -------------------------------------------------------------------- This creature is a Mari Lywd, also known as a Yule Horse, A Song Horse, a Wassailing Mare, or a Grey Mare. A Mari Lywd, pronounced Mary-Loyd, is a strange creature. Standing over 10-15 feet tall, it possesses a horse skull adorned with leaves, mistletoe, and flowers as well as silken ribbons that intertwine between the tattered linen shrouds that are draped across it's body. Clad in iron chains , this mysterious creature seems to have a contorted body with the feet of a horse, additional humanoid hands, and two long, multi segmented forearms with long horse legs for fingers. Mari Lwyd are undead creations once crafted through the binding of spirits long ago. The origins of the tradition have been lost to time, though some scholars believe it to be connected to the Fae and their Wild Hunt, Or the similar wild Hunts of Odin in the ancient times in which it was created to aid in the hunts. Others believe it to be connected to the Pagan Modraniht or "Mother's Night", summoned as a sort of protective entity during the difficult winter months and crafted to aid in celebration with spirits long gone, however Modraniht has since been overtaken by the modern Christmas. Regardless of it's origin, what is known about the Mari Lwyd is that they are undead creatures that require winter spirits to be created. Using the corpse of a horse, usually a mare, and most often a Grey mare, a ritual of revelry and merrymaking takes place in which ribbons and burial shrouds are brought to the horse and tied around it while singing songs, eating, and drinking. As the ritual takes place, the corpse of the horse will occasionally begin to neigh in what sounds like laughter, and it's body will change beneath the shroud, moving and contorting. The head of the ritual must be versed in various magicks or simply be well versed in various incantations and occult lore to properly follow the movements and arcane utterances for this to take place. This must only be done in an area where the dead congregate such as a burial mound or graveyard, and most often during the winter months or yule season, though some have seen results during the Equanox, Harvest, Eclipses, or Midsommar festivals as well. Those taking part must have lost loved ones, and they will sacrifice some of their blood to the necromancer who uses it along with aspergills to cast blood along the shrouded linnens of the horse as they sing. If successful, the creature will slowly rise from the horse corpse and join into their song with the voices of the dead as it clops and prances in an unnerving manner. The creature is then offered boiled meats and wine as an offering along with the people's blood. If it consumes the blood and the meat, the people are marked as protected by the Mari Lywd. The strange creature will then finish with a song and let out a hoarse laugh of many voices before it disappears into the winter night. From that time forward, through the winter, the Mari Lywd will protect those who took part in the ritual should they ever require assistance for duration of the season. Those whom took part in the ritual will feel a bit more at ease, and their inhibitions will fade, becoming more pliable and friendly as if in a more humorous or "Buzzed" drunk state. They will be more likely to indulge in food, drink, and celebration, and will also be much more likely to try and resolve matters through peaceful means. The creature will loom on the horizon in the evening, and they may see it in the distance, peering from behind trees or find strange hoof prints on rooftops or in yards. If you would be attacked while traveling by bandits or other creatures, or beset upon by any form of opposition, the Mari Lwyd will appear with great revelry from somewhere nearby. With it come shambling corpses, playing instruments and singing in dead voices as they will beset upon the attackers and devour them. Mari Lwyd can cause intoxication in creatures around them, causing them to become dizzy, confused, and lose their balance or even vomit. Some have even succumbed to alcohol poisoning from the creature's presence. As such, because of these effects, battling the large creature is difficult even before accounting for it's massive horse like strength in which it can smash through wooden and even stone walls with it's destructive hooves and hands. The ribbons along it's head can lash out and wrap around creatures, usually their necks, and strangle them or hang them, then dragging the creature's corpse around with it from it's neck. A Mari Lwyd can force creatures to dance, sing, eat, and drink as well, and it's song can empower it's allies while striking fear into it's enemies. Because of this Necromancers may employ them alongside Banshees and Black parade Skeletons to create a haunting and destructive choir. It's Neigh can be heard for miles, and may cause those who hear it to flee or freeze in fear, Though those whom it focuses on may feel their insides begin to boil them alive. The Undead it appears with will often carry farming tools and will attack it's enemies with great violence. This combined with it's ability to seemingly run on wind, become intangible, and teleport makes it incredibly difficult to fight. The Mari Lwyd will protect anyone who was part of the pact with it. If multiple members of the pact get in a fight, whomever offers the best sacrifice will be favored by the creature. After the ritual has been completed, at night the Mari Lwyd and it's undead will descend upon the town of those who took part in the ritual and play loud music and sing at their doors, asking in the voices of dead relatives to be let in for food and drink. Sometimes it takes it's usual form, other times it takes the form of a beautiful young ghostly woman. Boiled meat, wine, and blood must be provided to the creature and it's minions and it will go. So long as one of those who took part in the ritual makes a sacrifice, it will leave for the night and be gone again for another day, however if no one makes the sacrifice, it will kill one of the members of the ritual pact and consume them, leaving a part of them at the doorstep of all of the others. One can also offer that the next person will double the sacrifice and pay for you. This can lead to a terrible fate in which the duty is passed down the line, leading to multiple people dying a violent death that night. Every day it asks for a little more and becomes a little more aggressive until the end of the season, in which it will ask for very little, and often times whisper secrets from the dead and revel in wistful memories before departing and leaving the Horse Skull at the Necromancer's doorstep along with it's crown of flowers. Some versions of the undead creature have been known to have similar but different appearances, and it's believed that a similar beast, the Yule Cat, is animated in a similar way, but is more mindless and easy to please with less rules to follow. Iron chains are used to bind the corpse of the creature during it's summoning, which harkens back to the potential fae origins of the creature, and some believe that a skinwalker or some similar fae spirit possesses the horse along with the souls of humans to grant it's abilities for a short time and the iron chains ensure it cannot live in this form permanently. This is often why it can be known to take the form of an attractive young lady. Some say that variants of the creature have been seen with antlers, or being accompanied by other fae, will-o-wisps, or strange upright animals as well. There have been times where this creature is possessed by a dominant spirit, such as that of a past lover or a child, and it may maintain that person's personality. The term is currently known as a Wassailing folk custom in South Wales, close to where many of the initial rituals took place according to information from P.R.I.M.E. and the Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn. In this tradition a horse skull is used to make a large hobby horse in which people will follow it around from home to home, requesting entry through song until they are allowed to come in and eat and drink. These creatures are known through the Dreamlands, the Underside, and on Urth as well, usually created by necromancers as protective entities during winter months on Urth, or summoned fourth by witches for similar reasons, or maybe to get revenge against specific enemies. In the Underside they are occasionally found lurking in the Wunderlands. Their presence there is very rare, but not unknown, and they may even make pacts to protect children for short periods, but as always, only if they receive their sacrifice...