Wuccha

The wuccha (plural: wucchae) is a humanoid monster home to Borea and the south of Etera. Wuccha are vicious and horrific creatures, vaguely resembling a female human. More horrible than their appearance is their behaviour however. Wucchae are known for habitually stealing female human infants and devouring them or worse – raising them into a monster. Even though the monster itself is somewhat uncommon, their common role in faertales makes them widely known and feared.

Physical appearance

Wucchae are female human-like creatures with horned, ghoul-like heads and long black hair. Their bony figures and tattered skin might make them look oddly fragile, though nothing is less true. A wuccha is exceptionally strong, fast and agile and can be up to 3 metri tall. Sharp claws and equally sharp teeth, together with various odd bone-like protrusions make them look as monstrous as their nature.

Behaviour and procreation

Wucchae are ferocious creatures, aggressively protecting their daughters. Their stolen daughters, that is. To procreate, wucchae abduct and raise human female infants. This behaviour has been documented and researched for a long time.

Contrary to popular belief, a wuccha’s main interest in stealing female human infants does not stem from hunger, but rather from a perverse manifestation of a mother’s love. Wucchae have been observed to nurture and feed their stolen daughters in the same manner that mothers do when their babe is born. It is likely that whatever they feed the infants is causing the transformation of the child into the monster. That is, if the child does not die from poisoning and is promptly devoured by her mockery of a mother.

L. HORTENSIS, Wuccha: Beyond the monster of the faertale (Part 1), Etheria (Thryth), 1850 RC, 202p.

A wuccha feeds her daughter twice per day up until the age of three. An infant that had been fed the wuccha’s milk begins to change drastically. It ages much faster than an infant would and gains monstrous strength and dexterity. At the age of one, the stolen child still looks like a human girl, albeit one of eight to ten cycles old. At three cycles, the girl has a body that is a vulgar mixture between that of an 18-20 cycle old young woman with that of the monster she became. At five cycles, barely any trace is left of the human that the child should be. At this age, the wuccha leaves her mother and starts looking for her own daughters.

L. HORTENSIS, Wuccha: Beyond the monster of the faertale (Part 2), Etheria (Thryth), 1850 RC, 44 p.

Origin

It is not clear how the first wuccha came into being. Since wucchae procreate by stealing human children, the first wuccha must have been a human too once. Many conflicting theories exist on the creation of the first wuccha. From lonely mothers of dead infants using forbidden curse and elemental magic to evil experiments from military opponents, there is no clear answer on how the first wuccha was made. It is, however, clear that the monster has a human origin, which in itself is makes their creators even more monstrous than the wuccha itself.

Cultural importance

Wucchae take a prominent role in many Eteran and Borean faertales and knightstories. A monster that steals babies serves as an easy antagonist to frighten children and adults alike. Since they are included in many fictitious works, not all displays of wucchae are accurate, resulting in much misinformation being told about the monster and its origin.
Additionally, portraying one’s political, religious or otherwise ideological opponents as the creators of famous infant stealing monsters serves as a powerful tool for propaganda. Due to the monster’s disputed origin, such rumours are easy to spread and difficult to disprove. And as it turns out, portraying adversaries as the creators of wucchae makes it easy to fuel any hatred that might or might not exist yet within a monster-plagued population.

A wuccha as displayed in a faertale booklet.

Location: Etera, Borea.
Type: humanoid
Danger: medium (single), high (group)