Kulish

Kulishes are a variety of nechist'. They are usually found in swamps. They can take the form of frogs, but can also transform into scaly, bumpy, googly-eyed humanoids, roughly three feet in height, that are quite repulsive, and can cause anyone near them to be overcome with disgust. They can also slam into people with their bumpy foreheads, causing nasty wounds, and rend flesh with their claws. They seem to attack in waves. Like other nechist', they are susceptible to being turned away by priests. However, they later conversed civilly with Zalyn, and allowed her to spend the night in their pond. As she later related, they are sometimes referred to as "water devils". They were encountered by the Serpent Slayers by a mucky pond outside of Sitnitsa, where they nearly slew Yuri, and only Augusta's forceful act of faith drove them back. They were subsequently encountered again in the Cave of the Sleeping Bogatyrs, where they summoned out of thin air by Viy. Their purpose was to try to lift his terrible eyelids by long metal forks, which fortunately, they never succeeded in doing. Viy kept summoning more and more, but they kept being annihilated by Malina's beams of moonlight.

Genetic Ancestor(s)