Rot-Demon

The Stalkers of the Wilds, shortly known as Stalkers, are a race of semi-predatory carrion feeders.

Not much is known about this elusive creature, as these nocturnal creatures are never one to stray far from their woods. However when they do, they can be a danger to the local inhabitants. No one knows exactly where they descended from or how they came to be, but because of their habit of tending to nest in cemeteries, old burial mounds, necropolises, and on battlefields, where they take to roosting in dark areas until night comes, superstitious people often claim that they are the result of the corpses of Heretics or Sinners, who after death, are forced to wander the world in the form of horrible beasts and eat the rotting flesh of the dead as penance for their sin’s, being referred to by many as their common name, Rot-Demons.

While they may not exactly be your gambling uncle risen from the dead, there is no doubt that this beast’s appearance is almost other worldly compared to most creatures. With their emaciated, almost canine-like body form and a skull eerily similar to that of a human, it is no wonder where these beast’s get their demon title from. Short, blunt claws at the ends of their paw’s, make them adapt for digging up graves, and churning earth while strong teeth and even more amazing jaw-strength make short work of shattering bones to eat the decaying marrow from them. From what has been researched, Rot-Demons do have a hierarchy of some sorts, with ‘Alpha’s’, normally known as Arch-Rots, leading the charge. Because of this, a pack so led by a Arch-Rot will terrorize all in its path, attacking not only lone travelers but also caravans and even farmsteads, when the need to hunt live prey, outweighs their normal diet of decaying flesh.

A Rot-Demon’s hunting tactics resemble largely of that of the hunting techniques of a coyote. With a small mouth and sharp teeth they will typically bite the throat just behind the jaw and below the ear when attacking, with death commonly resulting from suffocation. Blood loss is usually a secondary cause of death. In more gruesome cases, when attacking smaller prey, such as young lambs or even children, the kill is made by biting the skull and spinal regions, causing massive tissue and bone damage. Small or young prey may also be completely carried off, leaving only blood as evidence of a kill. Those who survive the attack are also no better off, as their bite is laden with all kinds of bacteria, causing sepsis and infection should it break the skin.

The first recorded sighting of these creatures occurred in Pennsylvania , where reports of several wild animal attacks, six of them with fatal results, began cropping up within a small rural community known as Bellmare. While at first these attacks were blamed on bears or some other carnivore, reports of a lanky creature galloping through the fields near the forest's edge began cropping up, with the inclusion of disappearing or mutilated livestock.

As the attacks continued, the local authority of the community dispatched teams to have the creature killed. While they were successful in bringing down the creature, the attacks still persisted well over the course of a month. It wasn’t until additional aid came in where the threat was finally put to rest. Two months of stalking and dispatching and another one-and-a-half months of cleanup, lead to the discovery of an estimated 32 member pack of these beings, that had been hiding within the confines of the towns old houses and basements. While the community of Bellmare has since never sustained another causality due to these creatures, they remain skeptical about the apparent “disappearance” of these creatures.

Trivia

• Poisonous gases, in the event they are to be used, must only pumped into enclosed nests such as mausoleums due to fear of accidental “Second Hand” poisoning, in which the gas leaks into an open area, putting human and wildlife at risk.

• While it is rare for a Rot-Demon to cannibalize its own, many specimens of deceased Rot-Demon have been found with superficial wounds on the hands and arms made by the teeth and claws of other members. It is often believed that these wounds are caused by overzealous Rot-Demons in a feeding frenzy taking nips at other’s who get in their way of eating.

• Arch-Demon's often always present with a strange mutation, the addition of a third set of limbs that hang down from their sides. While it is unknown as to why it seems only to show in Alpha Arch-Demon's, it is often hypothesized that while this trait is a rare occurrence in their genetics, demon's who present with the extra limbs are believed to indicate greater fertility. This type of pick and choose behavior is often exampled In the Animal kingdom by the African Lion. In the wilds of Africa, lions with darker manes are usually sexually prefered by the females, for a lion with a dark mane is supposed to indicate greater fertility.
  Lionesses of course, cannot usually choose who they mate with, but if they are blessed with a choice - it's the darker ones that get the attention. Same in Arch-Demons. As a result, should a male present with the trait for extra limb's he is more likely to get the ladies then male's who don't. Because the extra limbs also aid in digging and fighting, these extra-limb males often fight better and feed better, resulting in them being larger and more aggressive their their less-limbed counterparts. As a result of this enhancement, they will often take the place of the alpha of the group, even usurping previously ruling male's, often with deadly force.