Deykeh

When the Mountain Spirit died, his power was damaged. This damaged his spirits as well, either their own power or their very heartbeats. Those with damaged heartbeats became corrupted, twisted things that follow no Law but that of their deceased master's final commands. Kill. Hurt. Destroy them who killed their chief. They do a good job of it.
With corrupted heartbeats, deykeh connection to the spirit land is limited, weak. They're still primarily beings made up of spiritual energy, so they don't need to rely on physical sustenance to live and recover from injuries, but their energy is finite. With no connection to the spirit land, the energy cannot be replenished. Eventually, it runs out. When it does, they become vulnerable. Many deykeh don't use their spiritual energy but rely on physical sustenance to keep them alive, hoarding that spiritual strength until they need it. It's unknown whether a deykeh an exist solely by physical means once their spiritual reservoir runs out.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Deykeh are made up of a mix of corrupted spiritual energy and physical substances like rocks and fire. The spiritual energy part resembles dark shadow but lack real mass. Their bodies are twisted, deformed shapes with malformed limbs. Many seem to try and copy human or animal figures, but they fail horribly.

Ecology and Habitats

They live only in the western mountains.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Using spiritual energy to keep them alive drains a lot of it, so most deykeh eat and drink physical things. They seem to thrive on dead things, on blood and decay, and on rocks or fire. They like human flesh.

Additional Information

Social Structure

The clever ones become the leaders of small roving groups. Then it's just whoever's the strongest. The weakest are often eaten by the others. "Strongest" refers to how much spiritual energy they have left. Eating another gives the predator the prey's remaining spiritual power, so it's a popular activity.

Average Intelligence

Most are like mindless, mad beasts, but some are clever enough to organize ambushes and the like.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

When using spiritual energy, deykeh are supernaturally fast and strong, with keen senses. Many seem to be able to track humans by blood.

Civilization and Culture

Major Organizations

Madog is the most infamous deykeh, because he was one of the Mountain Spirit's high servants and is now the cleverest and foulest of the corrupted spirits. He's killed the most of the mountain tribe. He leads the biggest, strongest group of deykeh and has managed to escape every trap laid for him, survive every battle, commit the most atrocities against the mountain tribe.

Major Language Groups and Dialects

They use a corrupted form of the spirit chant to communicate. The roots are the same, so non-corrupted spirits can understand it, but it sounds more violent, angry, wrong. Normal spirits hate hearing it. It's kinda like a translation of their heartbeats, and with theirs so damaged and ugly, their chant sounds like that.

Historical Figures

The Mountain Spirit

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

They hate the mountain tribe and no-heartbeat creatures and all creatures in general. They only want to kill and hurt them, and find pleasure in doing so.
No-heartbeat creatures generally avoid them, because they're so powerful, but they'll certainly defend themselves, and there's been some cases of them helping the mountain tribe kill a few.
The mountain tribe hate them. They hunt and kill as many as they can, and hope to exterminate the whole lot of them. They're the remnants of the Mountain Spirit, representing and continuing every horrible, inhuman thing done to the mountain tribe's ancestors. The deykeh continue to kill their hania, murder and maim, feast on their people.

Genetic Ancestor(s)

• Spirits

Conservation Status

The mountain tribe is actively trying to hunt all the deykeh down and kill them. The sooner they're extinct, the sooner they'll be safe, they believe.