Waldwights

"You know wicked children are a delicious treat to the waldwights, yes? It's true, even here within the walls. Now, perhaps you'd like to reconsider doing as you were told? That's what I thought. Thank you, dear."

Summary

Parents often warn their children of their misbehaving leading to the waldwights, who feed on the wickedness or darkness within a person, hunting them down to eat them. No documented preference of the creatures choosing to assail those who are more evil than others is confirmed, but with no way of measuring proof to the contrary, the assumption persists and spread as a detriment to selfish or harmful ways of living.
With this warning passed from generation to generation for so many years, the tale has passed from stories told by parents to misbehaving children to arguments for righteous living made by religious leaders, as well as underhanded statements made for political gain by noble families.

Historical Basis

Academically considered part of the "Gwylgeist" family, the creatures first appeared in the years following the Shrouding. A monstrous fusion of the once dead and their respective burial grounds, variations of the waldwights appear in tavern tales and literature frequently. Scholars debate the confirmed count of unique sub-types within the Gwylgeist distinction and reports of their behavior or displayed abilities often differ from record to record. Even so, few dispute the presence nor danger of these still mysterious creatures found across all four sister islands of Revne.

Variations & Mutation

While scholars dispute how to precisely subdivide the Gwylgeist family, the generally accepted major distinctions which appear in various legends and stories include:

• Waldwights
• Vuoriwights
• Meriwights
• Vuilwights
• Ildwights

Cultural Reception

Some variation of the ominous threat of "the living dead corrupted by nature" exists from the walls of Chalon to the nomadic orcish tribes in the distant, harsh mountains of Eirlys, though each culture's understanding of their origin and intent varies wildly.

In Literature

Members of the Gwylgeist family appear throughout writings of the last several centuries with the undisputed most popular depiction found in the novel, "World of the Night" which describes a band of hero's sacrificing themselves to save an undeserving and wicked community from an army of Waldwights, an act which ultimately leads to the city seeing the err of their ways.

Date of First Recording

1388