Tarrere
From across the desolate caverns of Underhome, whispered tales of this creature can be found. In this creature's existence, the embodiment of the most corrupt forms of greed and hunger are made manifest in physical form, and this is the embodiment of the Tarrere. Said to be a malevolent spirit that lurks, waiting in the most barren and forgotten places for someone to give in to their most vile needs, thereby opening the way for the spirit to overtake them, the Tarrere's true nature is one of flux and perpetual need. They are the purest and most base form of evil imaginable, and delight in the torment of those unlucky enough to cross their paths. Their need to visit their insatiable appetites upon others is, in and of itself, just one more way they are a personification of gluttonous desire. They will never be sated, and their hunger is all they know. While the actual point of origin of the creature coming to be is a debated one, each culture that has experienced the touch of the Tarrere has hushed tales about it. In the dark of Underhome, some outposts use it as a ghost story to keep young from wandering, and a cautionary tale against eating of the flesh of a humanoid, no matter how hungry one may get. In the lower reaches of the God's Teeth Mountains, where some crazed beast, twisted mutant, or horrific aberration seems to wait in every place not graced by the sun regularly, the tales of this creature stand out above the rest. Most beasts exist for purpose...for vengeance, for food, due to evil sorcery, but the Tarrere serves no purpose in the natural order. It is a creature of pure malice that consumes anything in its path and leaves nothing in its wake. Even there this lends to the horror of its existence even more. One thing the stories, varied as they are, do agree on, is that the creature seems predisposed to colder climates, likely due to its propensity for all manner of starved suffering. In some places they are referred to as “The Spirit of Lonely Places”, residing in desolate reaches of the snowy north and the deep places underground where it can find and torment lost travelers before ultimately devouring them itself.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Most see them as 10 foot tall demons with enormous heads, gigantic teeth inside twisted mouths, and beady eyes, often blood stained or matted, bloody hair, with a grotesque maw filled with sharp, yellow fangs, it's hands and feet end in razor-sharp talons, with twisted lips that are speckled with blood, and their tongues are a disgusting dark blue. The Tarrere is gaunt to the point of emaciation, its desiccated skin pulled tautly over its bones. Its complexion is the ash grey of death, its eyes pushed back deep into their sockets and built like a gaunt skeleton recently disinterred from the grave. What lips it has are tattered and bloody. Unclean and suffering from suppuration of the flesh, the Tarrere gives off a strange and eerie odor of decay and decomposition, death and corruption.
Biological Traits
While the physical form contains a tiny shred of the individual that the Tarrere spirit inhabits and is finite, the actual entity is immortal. The body will eventually either be slain or in many cases, be consumed beyond functioning by its own actions. The shred of the person it was will be lost forever when this happens and the Cursed name of the person it was will be no more, allowing the spirit to once again roam free in search of another host.
Ecology and Habitats
The Tarrere prefers cold climates and will adhere to the darkest and most remote places possible. Their insatiable hunger is the result of the curse of the spirit inhabiting the form, and as such requires no actual sustenance, as it cannot physically die of hunger. That aside, it will ravage and decimate all life in an area to fulfill this need to eat that oppresses its ever waking moment, eventually leaving nothing alive and a ruined waste where it once was as it moves on to a new area.
Dietary Needs and Habits
The Tarrere can and will eat anything that crosses its path, and it will do so without ever being sated. While this is not actually a biological need, it continues to go through the motions despite that.
Behaviour
The Tarrere is a creature born of pure, unfettered malice and greed. It exists solely to consume and destroy everything in its path. It will break another creature thoroughly and utterly if it can, destroying it piece by piece, and reveling in its slow and excruciating demise. They have no empathy left in them, and no mercy or remorse for what they do or what they are, and as a beast of single minded and vile purpose, it even lacks any discernment of its own longevity. The Tarrere will literally sink the ship to kill the captain. It is a spiritual entity, and cannot ever truly be destroyed. It holds no attachment to its physical form due to the knowledge that eventually, another will stumble into its path and become the vessel for its gluttonous directives. Bearing this in mind, it is important to recognize that the Tarrere is a solitary creature. It holds no base, humanoid desires for company, conversation, or physical need beyond its insatiable hunger. In all things, this is what drives it. While physical torture is a favorite practice, the Tarrere prefers to whittle down its prey from the inside, playing mind games and using its abilities with stealth and mimicry to drive a victim further from hope and help alike, attempting to get it alone so that it can play with the doomed soul, dragging out the inevitable and even going so far as to attempt to push it into succumbing to cannibalism or even autocannibalism before finally, slowly ending their life and devouring the remains. The creature will take trophies as well, its greed knows no bounds, and the fear it generates seems to empower it as well. While the creature will seek out and torment solitary houses and travelers, it will avoid civilization at all costs. The noise and lights are offensive to its enhanced senses, and the closer it gets the more enraged it becomes. While it may seem mindless, the Tarrere is not without a marked intelligence. It can manipulate tools and people as well. It can understand and even process complexities far beyond what most would expect, but the only form of communication it will ever offer is what it uses as a means to torment and deceive any unlucky enough to gain its attentions.
Additional Information
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
This creature has immaculate Void sight and extremely sensitive and acute senses of both smell and hearing.
Civilization and Culture
History
The origin of the spirit that causes the Tarrere to exist in physical form is long lost to the shadows of history. It has existed since sentient life has walked the planet's surface, and unless a way to destroy the spirit itself is ever found, it will continue long after. It has a long history and an even longer list of lives it has claimed, in some stories entire communities have fallen to its vile whims. Whatever the true nature of the entity that drives it, it is evil in its most pure form, a create whose entire existence is built around hunger and suffering.
Cold Immunity - The Tarrere is entirely immune to the cold and cold based attacks due to the nature of what it is and the domain it is tethered to.
Fear Immunity - It cannot be frightened or intimidated in any way.
Mimicry - The ability to speak in any voice it has heard previously.
Night Inducement - The ability to create a pocket of night, effectively dowsing all natural light sources in the process.
Pestilence - Survivors of an attack can be infected with a wasting sickness that causes them to starve. Nothing will sate their hunger and the victim will eventually begin to crave the flesh of their companions or other sentient life forms.
Superhuman Strength and Stamina - They are huge creatures and they strike and endure accordingly.
Celerity - Despite its size, the Tarrere moves with terrifying speed.
Powerful Claws and Bite - Long talons and gnarled teeth are the creature's primary and only weapons. These both cause rending wounds that will bleed heavily if not treated, and run a high risk of being infected by the Tarrere's pestilence.
Heightened senses - The Tarrere has the ability to see in pure darkness and has animal like, heightened senses.
Cursed Name - If a creature speaks the actual name of a Tarrere's host, they will be cursed with a corrupting presence and will begin to have horrific dreams effectively negating their ability to rest without medical intervention.
Autocannibalism - The Tarrere can and will, in a tight spot, consume its own flesh to gain back power and health.
Scientific Name
Cursed Humanoid
Origin/Ancestry
Unknown
Lifespan
Immortal
Average Height
8 to 10 feet
Average Weight
Varies dependent on host and diet.
Geographic Distribution
Related Ethnicities
Comments