DECEMBER REWARDS 3

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. Dracoflame11 Alright, got a few ideas. Your intripitation of gryla Cedar-Ashens -Perhaps a Christmas/Yule themed hag and witch? -------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a Gryla, A Yule Witch, and a Yule Lad.... Starting with the witch, Yule witches are also known as Christmas Witches, Festive Witches, Winter Witches, Saturnalia Witches, Gift Witches, or sometimes New year Witches.... They often dress wearing festive, winter clothing that is cold, and yet mobile and elaborate and often times carry large bags with them. They would easily appear as someone dressed for a Christmas Party or some sort of yule Festival. Yule Witches are one of the Seasonal types of witch along with Imbolc, Beltane, Samhain, Lammas, and Mabon witches. Yule Witches are known for crafting things, especially charms and trinkets that they leave as offerings to nature, creatures, and locations of significance. Yule witches leave these trinkets and effigies to create a network similar to a spider's web in which they are able to achieve a greater connection to the world around them and peer into the places and people connected to this "Web". They can survive in cold weather, and manipulate areas of cold or evergreen to be difficult to traverse through, or alter forests to be impossible to escape. Ornaments that they leave on trees can indicate different powers such as far sight, teleportation, hypnosis, and other forms of illusion, and some are simply left as traps that explode or unleash their magic. The Ornaments they leave behind come in various shapes and sizes and can vary from a small woven set of twigs, to ornate baubles, to a decorative wreath. They can often times speak to animals and may have animal companions that watch the woods for them, and they often times take the shape of winter animals such as deer, rabbits, bears, or wolves. Like all witches, they are driven by a destructive nature due to the arcane arts, however they are not evil by nature, they are simply nature, which by some, especially in the winter months, is seen as evil and uncaring. Many Yule witches will aid travelers and give gifts of food, cloth, water, or even magic trinkets to those around them, or leave them for people to find. Others are far more violent and use the festive nature and friendly demeanor of their power set to cause damage or trauma in others. Some will worship dark creatures within the wooded areas, giving in to their isolation and the uncaring nature of the universe, and some will go insane and become flesh hungry. It's not completely out of the ordinary for Yule witches to become Wendigo or other similar forest creatures due to the isolation, or on occasion due to Fae interference. Yule witches are often visited by other nearby witches during the yule season to seek boons or give offerings to which the Yule Witch will often grant boons or offerings in return. Those whom practice more dark arts will begin to go down a dark path as they sink further and further into isolation and eventually become a Yule Hag, also known as a Gryla. On the Left, we have a Gryla. Also known as a Yule Hag, Winter Hag, Saturnalia Hag, Mountain Hag, or more horribly, the Warmflesh hag... Gryla are hideous old women with sunken in eyes, no nose, and wide, dark mouths. Their faces are skinned and raw, appearing almost pink and gummy like a tongue or skin on the inside of one's cheeks, and their face is always steaming with heat and inset into a hood of flesh lined with teeth in a mouth that can close shut over the Gryla's face as a sort of protective layer and second face. She possesses a long, barbed tentacle that appears like a hood atop her head, and her hunched back is lined with folds of flesh that appear to drape over her shoulders like a cloak or cape. From a single blowhole like orifice in her neck, a large mass of tendril like appendages that seem to function like hair for her but can be independently moved. Her arms are long and she possesses fingers with small holes at the end with which she can have long claws extend. Her body is often times emaciated and bony with a bloated stomach, and with withered and gnarled legs with toes bent backward and curled up like an Elf's shoes. Gryla are large, hideous creatures with thick skin covering their naked bodies in a strange way that allows them to keep insulated from the cold with a layer of blubber similar to a whale or a Walrus. Gryla are born from Yule Hags that hear the whispers in the woods and answer the call of ancient, terrible things, or who go down terrible paths and revel in their destruction, and especially those with close Nephilim heritage. The first deed one must do to become a Gryla is to kill and eat a child. Afterward the witch will hear the cannibalistic whispers and the cries of the ancient flesh. Those Yule Witches whom live within the mountains often hear these calls first, coming from the deepest roots of the hills and mountains. They will feel a growing evil within them. As they go on, their clothing binds with them and their hair falls out, becoming one with their own flesh and vomit fourth a new face, contorting and twisting their old face into a hood as it's features faded. Gryla are large creatures that take on an almost elf like shape. It's unknown why they do this, though some scholars believe that it's an evolution brought about by the Nephilim or the Origin of flesh to trick the Fae that often times lure Yule Witches to their demise. This is because of the appearance, but also due to how Gryla seem to hunt lesser fae and eat them, especially ones that look like children such as changelings or Faeires. Gryla are sometimes known to possess "40 Tails" which are the strange almost intestine like tendrils that grow from the hole in the back of their head. These can stretch up to 100 times their original length and lie in wait for a creature to touch them and then she will grab them and pull them toward her. She may also simply use them to grasp her foes and break their bones or strangle them. Each of them can create a spike from the tip that can cause extreme paradoxical heat sensations similar to extreme hypothermia in creatures, making them feel as if their body is burning up and causing them to disrobe and often times be left to the frigid elements. The substance also leaks from the strange holes along the skin of a Gryla in the form of a thin red liquid that smells of blood and stains the snow, and her footsteps red. Gryla seek the flesh of children, and to eat them and their hopes and dreams as most hags do. They may hunt local children at night in the winter months, coming out when children are left outside, or coming to their homes and knocking on the doors, asking for them. She often carries a massive butcher's knife with which she will skin humans in an instant. She does of course possess her magic still, and often leaves various baubles and ornaments and gifts, sometimes slicked with the strange red substance that sweats from her body, causing hallucinations and causing people to flee into the cold naked sometimes. She will turn children into food and skin them to create undead creatures under her control, and she is known for controling zombies, Skindread, and of course, the Yule Lads and Yule Cats. Like all hags, Gryla possess the Evil Eye, and the Evil Eye of a Gryla places a mark on a creature, branding that creature as a target which her created undead and summoned creatures can always sense and will always follow. Gryla may spot a creature with her evil eye, passing through the mountains, and beset her undead upon them which may not track them down for a week or two before killing or capturing them and returning them up the mountain. Her undead can follow this tracking beacon even during snowstorms or spots of limited visibility. They are known for holding celebrations and inviting covens of witches and other hags to their mountain homes where they participate in violent and dark yuletide festivals, sometimes forcing their apprentice witches to fight to the death and maim one another or simply descending into nearby locations and causing havok. Their names as "Warmflesh" Hags are due to one of their most hideous abilities, which is to skin and gut a creature and hide in it's skin. Gryla will sometimes keep the skins of those it kills and wear them like clothing, slipping the skin on and appearing as that person. She can only hold this form for a day at a time before she must retreat to recover. A Grylla can also use this method to open her mouth and lay an egg of sorts inside another creature's skin to create a Yule Lad, of which she can control up to 13 at a time. Last, at the far Right is a Yule Lad, also known as a Yuletide Lad, Yulemen, Jolasveinar, Winterchylde, A Mountain Elf, or a Festive Fool. Yule lads are fleshy monstrosities with large cone heads that appear similar to a meaty wasp's abdomen, adorned with a sharp stinger on the top that is a piece of iron jabbed into their twisted head. Their faces are red and raw with vulnerable flesh and they have sunken in black eyes and wide mouths. Their bodies are made of a thick, folded flesh that creates an almost layered, gill-like, set of shoulderpads, and they have short biceps and long forearms with oversized hands that have retractable claws in the bulbus tips of their fingers. They have short legs on their stocky frames, and their toes are curled back in the shape of an elf shoe or a whimsical clog. Finally they have long, rat like tails that emerge from the center of their backs. Yule Lads are freakish creatures that are often times born from Gryla, but which can also be created through means such as alchemy or through Witch experiments. When a Gryla lays an egg within the skin of a child, the skin adheres to the egg, and it hatches into a small, deformed creature that fills out the skin and has it's face peer from the stretched mouth of the child until it all becomes one flesh. The creature then binds a Fae spirit to the creature and impales an iron spike through its head to keep it complacent. This animates as an undead creature called a Yule Lad. They have thick skin to protect them from the elements and wounds, and the claws they possess can afflict a hypothermia effect similar to that of a Gryla. There are many different types of Yule Lad however, all of which look similar but simply possess different abilities. Some Stekkjarstaur: Also known as Sheepcote Clod, These Yule Lads have their legs amputated and replaced with deadly blades. They are known for disemboweling sheep and other farm animals and hiding in their skin, pretending to be them similar to how Gryla does with a living creature. This is the one shown here. Giljagaur: Also known as a Gully Gawk, they hide around homes and watch them closely. They can burrow well and create small traps like pitfalls and ankle traps. They seek to take milk in any way they can, often through violent manners. Because they are built to hide, they are often more pale than the others, and often have a large, sucking mouth where the face of the Yule lad would be. Stúfur: Also called Stubbies, These Yule Lads are the size of babies and are much smaller than the others. They will attempt to enter a home, and get into the walls where they will succinctly release all of the necromantic energy used to create them and die in a slurry of spreading rot that infects all things in the house down to the crust baked into the bottom of pans. Þvörusleikir: Spoon Lickers, These Yule Lads appear malnourished. Their fingers do not end in retractable claws, but in serrated spoon like shapes. They use these spoons to scoop out chunks of flesh and eyes. Pottaskefill: Known as Pot Scraper, They will breathe disease and ruin leftover foods or spoil smoking or cooking meats. It can even curdle milk and make things rot with a touch. Askasleikir: Also known as Bowel Licker, they wait under beds or underbrush to grab passersby with their long tongue. They don't have a nose, and tend to appear more quadrupedal with a long intestine like tongue. Hurðaskellir: Also known as Door Slammer, They sneak into homes under Floorboards and mimic sounds, especially at night to cause paranoia. They seem to be able to telekinetically move objects and slam doors. Skyrgámur: Skyr Gobbler or Yogurt Gobbler. They can consume massive amounts of food and regurgitate it as a thick, white, corrosive liquid. They can clean up all blood, flesh, and bone matter from a violent crime scene and leave no trace. Bjúgnakrækir: Sausage Swipers, possess large blades for hands and a Meat Grinder for a face replacing the usual face they possess. They will force creatures into their mouths while another Yule lad turns the crank and grinds a creature into sausage. Gluggagægir: The Window Peeper, These Yule Lads have wide eyes and peers through windows to cause paranoia and scare others, but will also give information to any other Yule lads working with it. Gáttaþefur: Doorway Sniffer, They have no eyes, simply a massive nose. They can track scents for extreme distances and are the best at following creatures. Ketkrókur: Or Meat Hook, has long arms and huge meat hooks attached to them which it can use to rip into creatures. Kertasníkir: Candle Beggar, They will actively inhale lights and consume them, making areas supernaturally dark. It can also release the light as a searing flash that burns flesh. They are especially known for eating the light from candles, leaving children in the dark to be grabbed. Despite the differences each of these undead, fae possessed creatures have, they still have a similar ability in the strange, reddish liquid that leaks out of the strange pore like holes in their bodies. This causes hypothermia similar to Gryla, and can be a tell tale sign that a Yule lad had been in your yard if bloody foortprints are left behind in the snow. They are also extremely resistant to cold, and can hide, buried in snow for days, or even be frozen solid and still function through strange thermoregulation. On occasion, the spirits animating the Yule Lad rebel or become unhappy and begin to thrash about or cause the creature to turn against it's controller or creator, a fate which Necromancers who choose to summon the beasts fear greatly....